After The Dick Williams' Kid Singers group, now a teenager, I began working in the commercial and film industry. As my moms personal management business was growing, so were the calls into her office for talent. By 1971 FiFi had a dozen signed clients and was getting the respect of top agents and casting directors in New York. Still in high school, I would rush home from school and help mom 'man the phones' which started to ring like crazy! My sister Jan Tanzy had long since left the business and I was now the only soldier left standing. Although I was a talented kid, mom always seemed to push me aside. I often felt like 'Louise' in the show 'Gypsy', wanting her mother Madame Rose to notice her. It was ironic that Jan actually played the role of 'Baby June', the daughter of 'Madame Rose', who 'Rose' felt, was the only one with real talent. Poor 'Louise' always got pushed into the background until she finally broke away from 'Rose' and became 'Gypsy Rose Lee'....the stripper! I'm happy to say that I didn't have to shed my clothes to get my mothers attention. Mom finally woke up and realized that her neglecting me and my talent was an emotionally bad thing to do to me. Finally, after agents begging her to let ME audition for things, she began to work for me.....not against me. I don't think she did this deliberately. I think that she was so sad and disappointed that my sister Jan left the business, that she honestly felt she was doing the right thing; protecting me from the horrors of 'showbiz'.
Around this time my mother met a woman by the name of Sandy Garrison, who was a casting director. Sandy went back many years in the industry having been an assistant casting director on the Brando film "On The Waterfront". Sandy was now working with casting director Louis DiGiamo getting ready to cast "The Godfather". Because of Sandy's friendship with my mom, Sandy asked mom to help her cast a lot of the 'extras' in the film. Because there were so many of them, I jumped in and handled a lot of the booking and scheduling of the extras with them. I dicovered that I enjoyed the production side just as much as I did the performing side. But it was something I would keep on a back burner for many years.
In 1971 another business associate called moms office, a gentleman by the name of Arthur Allan Seidelman, who was casting a film entitled "Rivals", which had attached comedian Robert Klien and the brilliant actress Joan Hacket. I was 15 at the time and was to audition for the lead role of 'Mary', (the babysitter), which Arthur wanted me to audition for. The role was that of a 12 year old little girl. Although I was a bit too old for the part, Art insisted that I come in and read for it anyway. The script was written and (eventually), directed by Krishna Shaw. A lovely Indian man. On my first audtion I came in looking as young as I possibly could. Even flattened my tiny breasts under my dress. Krishna loved my reading but admitted that I was too old for the role. (Guess I didn't get the part....ya think?) About three days later Arthur called my mom at her office and told her that Krish, (nick name), really loved my reading and that he was really torn because I was a few years too old for the role. So Arthur came up with this crazy idea; unbeknownst to Krish, Arthur dropped my name into the final auditions callback sheet. The day of the final auditions I dressed in a little girls school dress, wore my long black hair in braids dawned with bows in them, Mary Janes and ankle socks with lace trim. To complete the look I came into the studio licking one of those giant color wheel lollipops. This, of course, was Arthur's idea. When Krish looked up at me from the pile of headshots on his table he broke out in laughter. He then shook his head back and fourth, looked up at Arthur and said; "I wonder whose idea this was?" Then he smiled at me and said; "OK, OK, you got the part". He then added, "when you leave this room, do not tell anyone what I just told you". You see, there were many young kids in the waiting room on call backs for the role, which of course, out of courtesy, Krish would have to continue auditioning that day.
After I left the Variety Arts building I remember I skipped down the street laughing, pulling the bows out of my hair and on the corner, threw the lollipop into a trash can.
We shot the whole film in New York City out of an apartment on the upper west side and on locations throughout New York. I had the fourth staring role and it was a great experience for me. I loved working on camera. The film was about a precosious nine year old boy, played by Scott Jacoby, whose father had died and his mother was a sort of snub nosed society woman who ran an art gallery in the city. Because of the close relationship between mother and son, when Robert Klein's character enters the picture as the new man in mothers life, this smart ass little precocious child gets ideas about getting rid of this new man in his mothers life. In my role as Mary the babysitter I had a topless scene with young Scott Jacoby. It was quite an innocent scene between two young kids discovering the excitement and sexuality of their little bodies. The day of the shoot for that scene I was very scarred. So much so that on the first take when I had to drop my dress and take off my tiny trainers bra, I fainted dead on the floor. It was, of course, a closed set, meaning no one but actively needed crew would be there. But of course the crew that remained, i.e., camera man, boom operator, director, script girl, lighting men, etc., etc. was quite enough to make me feel, well.... strange to say the least! After I came too... the camera man admitted to having no film in the camera for that first take. Guess he instinctively knew it would be a wash. By the end of that days shoot I was pretty relaxed on set even in my nudity and actually traded jokes with the crew. Krish was a wonderful director but unfortunately, although the script was decent, the production was low budget and it turned into a pretty poor grade 'B' movie. But the joke of it was, me and Scott Jacoby ended up being nominated for 'Best Child Actor' that year by the Academy. The category of 'Best Child Actor' was dropped before the award ceremony but I still have, to this day, the beautifully embossed letter from the Academy telling me of my nomination!
Although my 'nude' scene was quite well done and 'innocent', my mother and I agreed to never tell my Catholic, Italian raised father Eugene about it. Mom and I went to the Hollywood premier of the film and to show you how low budget the film was, on the same night of the premier in Hollywood, the film was also being shown in a drive-in theatre in Los Angeles, and God knows how many other drive-in theatres throughout the US! During the showing in the theatre that night, when 'that scene' came on the screen, my mother shouted out, "Good God, look at the size of your breasts!" Needless to say the theatre filled with laughter and it certainly broke the tension I had inside of me in anticipation of seeing the scene for the first time on a 70 foot screen!
My mother FiFi passed away in 2007 and my father Eugene Tanzillo passed away at the age of 93 in 2009. BTW....he never did find out about 'that scene'! Although he did see it on network TV many years later, the scene, of course, was edited out because of it's content. Another interesting point about it is that because I was under age at the time, it would now be considered 'kiddy porn'. So although I never became a 'stripper', I can honestly say I was probably one of the first 'child porn stars'! LOL
Foot Note: Even the smallest of breasts look extremely large on a wide screen!
Around this time my mother met a woman by the name of Sandy Garrison, who was a casting director. Sandy went back many years in the industry having been an assistant casting director on the Brando film "On The Waterfront". Sandy was now working with casting director Louis DiGiamo getting ready to cast "The Godfather". Because of Sandy's friendship with my mom, Sandy asked mom to help her cast a lot of the 'extras' in the film. Because there were so many of them, I jumped in and handled a lot of the booking and scheduling of the extras with them. I dicovered that I enjoyed the production side just as much as I did the performing side. But it was something I would keep on a back burner for many years.
In 1971 another business associate called moms office, a gentleman by the name of Arthur Allan Seidelman, who was casting a film entitled "Rivals", which had attached comedian Robert Klien and the brilliant actress Joan Hacket. I was 15 at the time and was to audition for the lead role of 'Mary', (the babysitter), which Arthur wanted me to audition for. The role was that of a 12 year old little girl. Although I was a bit too old for the part, Art insisted that I come in and read for it anyway. The script was written and (eventually), directed by Krishna Shaw. A lovely Indian man. On my first audtion I came in looking as young as I possibly could. Even flattened my tiny breasts under my dress. Krishna loved my reading but admitted that I was too old for the role. (Guess I didn't get the part....ya think?) About three days later Arthur called my mom at her office and told her that Krish, (nick name), really loved my reading and that he was really torn because I was a few years too old for the role. So Arthur came up with this crazy idea; unbeknownst to Krish, Arthur dropped my name into the final auditions callback sheet. The day of the final auditions I dressed in a little girls school dress, wore my long black hair in braids dawned with bows in them, Mary Janes and ankle socks with lace trim. To complete the look I came into the studio licking one of those giant color wheel lollipops. This, of course, was Arthur's idea. When Krish looked up at me from the pile of headshots on his table he broke out in laughter. He then shook his head back and fourth, looked up at Arthur and said; "I wonder whose idea this was?" Then he smiled at me and said; "OK, OK, you got the part". He then added, "when you leave this room, do not tell anyone what I just told you". You see, there were many young kids in the waiting room on call backs for the role, which of course, out of courtesy, Krish would have to continue auditioning that day.
After I left the Variety Arts building I remember I skipped down the street laughing, pulling the bows out of my hair and on the corner, threw the lollipop into a trash can.
We shot the whole film in New York City out of an apartment on the upper west side and on locations throughout New York. I had the fourth staring role and it was a great experience for me. I loved working on camera. The film was about a precosious nine year old boy, played by Scott Jacoby, whose father had died and his mother was a sort of snub nosed society woman who ran an art gallery in the city. Because of the close relationship between mother and son, when Robert Klein's character enters the picture as the new man in mothers life, this smart ass little precocious child gets ideas about getting rid of this new man in his mothers life. In my role as Mary the babysitter I had a topless scene with young Scott Jacoby. It was quite an innocent scene between two young kids discovering the excitement and sexuality of their little bodies. The day of the shoot for that scene I was very scarred. So much so that on the first take when I had to drop my dress and take off my tiny trainers bra, I fainted dead on the floor. It was, of course, a closed set, meaning no one but actively needed crew would be there. But of course the crew that remained, i.e., camera man, boom operator, director, script girl, lighting men, etc., etc. was quite enough to make me feel, well.... strange to say the least! After I came too... the camera man admitted to having no film in the camera for that first take. Guess he instinctively knew it would be a wash. By the end of that days shoot I was pretty relaxed on set even in my nudity and actually traded jokes with the crew. Krish was a wonderful director but unfortunately, although the script was decent, the production was low budget and it turned into a pretty poor grade 'B' movie. But the joke of it was, me and Scott Jacoby ended up being nominated for 'Best Child Actor' that year by the Academy. The category of 'Best Child Actor' was dropped before the award ceremony but I still have, to this day, the beautifully embossed letter from the Academy telling me of my nomination!
Although my 'nude' scene was quite well done and 'innocent', my mother and I agreed to never tell my Catholic, Italian raised father Eugene about it. Mom and I went to the Hollywood premier of the film and to show you how low budget the film was, on the same night of the premier in Hollywood, the film was also being shown in a drive-in theatre in Los Angeles, and God knows how many other drive-in theatres throughout the US! During the showing in the theatre that night, when 'that scene' came on the screen, my mother shouted out, "Good God, look at the size of your breasts!" Needless to say the theatre filled with laughter and it certainly broke the tension I had inside of me in anticipation of seeing the scene for the first time on a 70 foot screen!
My mother FiFi passed away in 2007 and my father Eugene Tanzillo passed away at the age of 93 in 2009. BTW....he never did find out about 'that scene'! Although he did see it on network TV many years later, the scene, of course, was edited out because of it's content. Another interesting point about it is that because I was under age at the time, it would now be considered 'kiddy porn'. So although I never became a 'stripper', I can honestly say I was probably one of the first 'child porn stars'! LOL
Foot Note: Even the smallest of breasts look extremely large on a wide screen!
Interesting stuff Jeanne. Looking forward to the next installment. Denny O'B
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