Interview: Joe Giamalva starring in LIFE IS SHORT AND SO AM I at Jagco Entertainment.

Living in Palm Springs sitting down with Broadway gypsy Joe Giamalva who has played in many arenas from stage to screen as a sought-after actor/dancer/producer. He also entertained several generations of television viewers on Saturday morning children’s classics H.R. PufnStuf, Land Of The Lost, and Disney Channel favorites. Joe is working on a brand new one-man show about his life and career.

Joe: I was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston, Texas.  My life in the spotlight began when my parents used to take me to their square dancing night. When the music played I’d be standing up in my bassinet bouncing to the music. When the music stopped, so did I.  All night long I’d be feeling the groove of those hot square dance tunes.

The night I got bitten by the showbiz bug it was at the Halle Prichard school of dance.  The recital was 4 hours long.  I was placed at the end of the show line-up... who does that to a little boy?  I actually fell asleep in the lap of the teacher during the other lackluster performances. Suddenly, I was awakened and immediately thrown on stage – they adjusted the microphone for me and, sleepy-eyed, I let loose with a show-stopping, “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”.  I was a hit and there was no looking back.

As a young man, Joe began to further his education by performing with future superstars. His mature eyes sparkle when he talks about his past accomplishments and the professionals he worked with that helped him to grow as a performer. 

Joe:  At age 12 I joined Theatre Incorporated where we performed some classic musicals, Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. My lovely dance partner was a girl by the name of Lynn Smith.  Who later grew up to become Charlie's most beautiful Angel.. Jaclyn Smith..  from TV’s Jiggle Hit..  “Charlies Angels”.  She was taller than I was... so lifting her up over my head was a painful tragedy. Dead weight. I buckled under the pressure.

After I graduated Reghan High School I promised my parents that I’d continue my education. I went to Lon Morris -- Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas. It was the only school affiliated with the United Methodist Church.  The best liberal arts school with impressive alumni as Tommy Tune – Sandy Duncan – and Amanda McBroom; She wrote the Bette Midler hit, ”The Rose”.  It was there I met my best friend, Suzie Ewing – who later became one of Dean Martin’s original Golddiggers.

Doors easily opened for Joe even when skeptics told him he was too short to enjoy a career or make a living as a dancer.  His spitfire attitude and Texas upbringing wouldn’t allow his height to be the roadblock that kept his dreams from being a reality.

Joe: After college, I moved to California on my own in 1969 – lived there with my two ballet/tap teachers – Al & Harriet Derrae.  And I studied every day. One day in VARIETY magazine I read about an audition at Disneyland to be Cast in The Kids Of The Kingdom. There were 6 guys and 6 girls and we danced on the Tomorrowland stage. We did 8 shows a day and we got paid $125.00 a week.  One day “the Suits” came down to watch us.  3 Execs were checking us out – One producer Bob Yawny kept specifically looking at me.  And I turned to my partner at one point and asked, “Is my zipper down?”

Afterward, back in the trailer, they told me that they were going to produce a brand new show and wanted to cast me as Mickey Mouse for “Disney On Parade”.

This was a turning point in my life.  For 3 years I toured the United States and Canada in this stage production.  I was even flown first class to Australia for a segment on television’s “Wonderful World Of Disney”.  A familiar name and face who played the Prince for Snow White was none other than Dirty Dancin’ and GHOST star, a young Patrick Swayze.  

That was in the 70s, but in the 80s the Disney Channel began. It was just as big as MTV. I was offered a job in one of their first live-action children’s series...  “Welcome To Pooh Corner”.  I played Winnie-The-Pooh himself.  We did 220 episodes in that series – which is the show that bought my first house. I call it,  “The House I Bought With Pooh”.  I was reunited with Mouseketeer Sharon Baird, and I enjoyed working with Van Snowdon  --  We all lived in the same apartment unit. We worked, played, and lived as an extended family.  As “Welcome to Pooh Corner” was coming to an end we were all immediately contracted for the next series for the Disney Channel.

“Dumbo Circus” for which I was playing the flying pachyderm DUMBO in 240 episodes. POOH and DUMBO were a fantastic double hitter for the Disney Channel. I tell everyone it was a bear and an Elephant that allowed me to buy my first home in Burbank, California.

A generation of eager Saturday morning television watchers who are now in their 60s and 70s would have no idea how often you touched their lives.

Joe: I received a call from Sid & Marty Kroft for their new series “H.R. PufnStuf”. The green-light was given and H.R. PufnStuf would become a huge hit for the CBS Network.

For me, this was an easy audition. I was referred to the Krofft brothers by a puppeteer friend Van Charles Snowden. I was cast as Ludicrous Lion... the talking anthropomorphic lion and a resident of Living Island who made a living as a peddler.  I played him for two years.

Also, cast alongside of me was Mouseketeer Sharon Baird. We shared many television jobs throughout the Sid & Marty Krofft years.

This was a one-camera shoot. Like a film. Originally cast as the voice of PufnStif was Gomer Pyle himself, Jim Nabors.  He laid down the initial vocal tracks, but his recordings were unusable, so he was replaced by voice mimic Lennie Weinrib, who played the voice from 1969 to 1971.

Young British actor Jack Wild played the co-starring lead role of Jimmy. Playing the terribly wacky Witchiepoo was the fabulous Billie Hayes. Only two actresses auditioned to play Witchiepoo. Penny Marshall was first, but they felt that she was too young and not quite right for the part. Then our Billie came in next, let out a maniacal cackle, and hopped up on a desk. She got the part right on the spot and no other actresses were seen for that role.

Billie was a consummate professional and a kind lady.  We grew to be very close friends. I’d go over to her house for parties and social events. “Pufnstuf” was a wonderful and exhausting experience.

Joe remained a member of the Krofft family through several TV series and stage shows performed in Las Vegas; always maintaining a high level, credible, wholesome career in family entertainment.

Joe: Yes, after “PufnStuf” was finished both Sharon Baird and I moved on to a brand new Sid & Marty Krofft series called “The Land Of The Lost” (1973-1974).  The live-action and stop-motion film series details the adventures of the Marshall family -- father Rick played by Spencer Milligan, and his two children Will, played by Wesley Eure,  and Holly, played by Kathy Coleman – This extremely good-looking family is trapped in an alternate universe or time warp inhabited by dinosaurs, a primate-like people, and aggressive humanoid/lizard creatures (described as similar to insects) called Sleestak. The children discover futuristic pods of electronics that help to manipulate weather and the time warp vortex opening.

I played TA  - A domineering, egotistical, and treacherous Paku – primate. The script description referred to Ta as a "small, furry Hitler" who never comes to trust the human Marshall family.

Famous make-up artist Michael Westmore was on board and was best known for his work in various Star Trek productions, winning nine Emmy Awards, and he won the Academy Award for Make-up in 1985 for his work on the film Mask. Other than Land Of The Lost his earliest TV work was best known from THE MUNSTERS. 

Because of the prosthetics used on “Land Of The Lost,” my day started at 4AM and continued for another 10 hours.  I was told years later that my face mold for my prosthetics was used again for multiple monkeys on the film “The Planet Of The Apes”.  All these years later, I still don’t know whether I should consider that a compliment or not...?

My third and final TV series with Sid & Marty was “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters”  (1974-1975) Starring Johnny Whitaker, Scott Kolden, Rip Taylor, Mary Wickes, Margaret Hamilton, and Billy Barty.

Actor Billy Barty was an advocate for the handicapped and disabled. He went to Washington and helped with sidewalk regulations throughout every major city around the country to provide ramped curbs on street corners.  When you stand at a crosswalk and you see a ramped corner – think of the wonderful Billy Barty.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters followed the adventures of a sweet young sea monster, Sigmund, who escaped from his nasty family of monsters. Johnny and Scott play brothers who find a lost and confused Sigmund on the beach, befriend him, and help hide him from his cruel relatives and from other humans. The series began in 1973 and ran for only 29 episodes.  I was cast as Big Daddy Ooze -- The patriarch of the Ooze family. Voiced by Walker Edmiston. He had it easy; walking into an air-conditioned recording studio, and I had to sweat my ass off playing a mean squid!

Through his years in Texas, it was always his dream to be on Broadway. “Dancers are tall” he was often told and laughed at for having such a big dream. Their laughter was fuel for his drive and that motivated him to say, “Yes”, to every offer he was given.

Joe:  Opportunity knocked again in the form of Patsy Swayze – mother of Patrick  Swayze – she got word that Legendary Choreographer Gower Champion was scouting the country for young dance talent for a new musical “HAPPY TIME” starring iconic Broadway star Robert Goulet. Texas was going to be one of his stops.  I moved back to Houston and started taking lessons with Patsy.  I was fortunate that fate took me seriously and I was cast in the ensemble.

The Happy Time was a musical with music and lyrics by  Kander and Ebb, and a book by N. Richard Nash. Our illustrious producer was the self-proclaimed Abominable Showman, David Merrick.  Abominable was right!  During rehearsals, he used to scream at us from the Balcony.

I dreamed of this moment all my life. The original Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Champion. The production was nominated for 10 TONY AWARDS. It earned Kander & Ebb a Tony nomination for Best Score.

However, the winners that night were Gower Champion for Direction and Choreography.  We won Best New Musical Adaptation. And Robert Goulet won Best Actor in a Musical.  I’m proud to say that I was at the TONY AWARDS that night.  Yes, I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the nose bleed seats, but this short dancer from Houston Texas was in the balcony, because I was in a Broadway musical that was being acknowledged by the TONYS.  I felt 10 feet tall that night!

 Sammy Williams, who later went on to play Paul in A Chorus Line, and won the TONY for his role was my roommate. I remember Sammy was the SWING for every single male dancer in the show.  Our rent was a whopping  $95.00 a month.  The winters in New York were awful, but, I remember we used to put the orange juice on the window sill outside to keep it frosty cold.  Sweet memories.  Sadly, HAPPY TIME ran for only 286 performances.

He often stood tall next to some gorgeous leading ladies – Las Vegas, Television and movie starlets were his dancing partners.

Joe:  During the Sid&Marty Krofft days they sent me to Las Vegas for a variety stage show starring Raquel Welch.  Welch got a contract to play the Hilton in Las Vegas. She was friends with the Krofft Brothers and they joined forces for her first night club act. Broadway choreographer Joe Layton was hired.  I played several Krofft characters.

Another “leading lady” was Paul Lynde -  I was cast as Santa Claus in “The Paul Lynde Christmas Special: Twas The Night Before Christmas”.  It was a beautiful little show. And I was cast to play Santa Claus.  This television special was loosely inspired by the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. It first aired on December 7, 1977 on ABC. Directed by Tim Kiley, it starred Paul Lynde, Anne Meara, Martha Raye, and Alice Ghostley. You would think it would have been a huge hit. My little dance role was to use the magic power of Santa to bring toys and things to life to prove my existence to Paul. The cast was incredible.

Two more gorgeous ladies I got to dance with were Cheryl Ladd; another of Charlie’s Angels’.  In this same show, my darling friend Suzanne Sommers was just getting started reinventing herself as a powerful song-and-dance stage entertainer. I taught her to tap dance to the 1942 Andrew Sisters' hit, “Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree”.  I spent a lot of time with Suzanne, and I thought she did an excellent job in that really sweet number.

And finally, working on the film SEXTETTE – with the legend herself -- Mae West.  During one of the breaks I saw her alone and I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk with her. She was leaning up against a reclining rest board because she couldn’t sit down in her tightly fitted costume.  So I went over to the fabulously famous Diva and said, “Hello, Miss West, my name is Joe Giamalva and I’m from Texas. I just wanted to tell you how really happy I am to be a part of this movie.”   Mae turned and looked at me... her eyes followed my body from my head down to my toes, and back up again... Catching my eyes Mae West asks me, “Where did they get you from?  An Orphanage?”

Two outstanding famous Mormons who sang and danced their way through life gave Joe a life-changing opportunity. Good kids who practiced what they preached. The Osmond brand has been reinvented many times over the decades due to the resilience of the Showbiz family.

Joe:  Yes, they gave me a blessed opportunity to travel the world. I was picked to be a dancer on The “Final” World Tour with Donny & Marie Osmond. How many have they had since then?

The choreography was Carl Jablonski who I will be eternally grateful for his casting me. In most show dancers are six-feet tall or taller. At that time I was 5’2”...  But, Carl cast two short dancers and two tall dancers to be that production. I always respected him for taking that chance and giving me the opportunity of a life-time.

For the next three (3) years I had the greatest time of my life traveling the world. The Osmonds are often ridiculed for their wholesome reputations, but they are the real deal. They were amazing to work with. They had their own private jet and many times for domestic flights we flew Osmond Airlines and we traveled to just about every country you could name on a Globe. 

Of course, the natural question people always ask me is, “Did the Osmonds try to convert you to Mormonism?” I did notice that D&M would come onto the tour bus with their Bible in hand. I would often sit with Marie in the first seat where we would gab, gossip, and giggle like two lifelong girlfriends. Not once did they ever thump the Bible at us. I respected both Donny and his sister for that.

We played at some of the biggest venues around the world. We always flew 1st class. There were 70 people working production and we never had to share a room – always private accommodations.

It was truly one of the greatest and most fulfilling times of my life.

His entire union working life kept unfolding for him with various jobs that bounced from television, to the stage and movies, and back to television.

Joe: Ask any old workhorse – we will go where the jobs are in order to keep our Union insurance. When my telephone rings I don’t say, “Hello!”, when I pick up... Instead I say, “This is Joe. Whatever it is, I’ll take it!”  and WHAM!  -- I was recommended by my friends Roz Kern and Stephen Poser to work on the Tv series The Nanny starring Fran Drescher.  Because there were children on the show we never worked past 5pm. 

The writers would often give Roz, Stephen, and I lines in an episode. Under Five they called it. In the Season 5 finale when Fran Fine and Maxwell Sheffield got married there was a huge reception and you can see Roz and I dancing all the camera wipes. That means when they would transition between dialogue and areas within the reception hall... we would dance passed the lens in order to keep the camera action moving. They show that episode all the time in reruns – “Cha-ching! Do I hear another 12-dollar residual check being printed!?”

The other actors I adored on the show were Ann Morgan Guilbert, you might remember her from The Dick Van Dyke Show.  Also, Lauren Lane, Renee’ Taylor , Daniel Davis, and the handsome Charles Schannessey –  He became a super friend and was one of the nicest men in show-biz.  The three children were Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Salisbury, and Madeline Zima. The Nanny ended in 1999 after 6 seasons and 146 episodes. After “The Nanny” had ended Fran Drescher still remained friends with her husband Peter Jacobson. In 2011 they co-produced another funny series called  “Happily Divorced” which ran from 2011 to 2013.  Rita Moreno played her mother and Robert Walden played her Dad.  I wasn’t asked to work on that show, but I did go to several of the tapings.

Throughout the 90s and all the 2000s I worked all over the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley areas teaching at various dance studios: Billy Blank Dance Studio, Madeline Clark Dance Studio, and The Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood. Dancing feeds my soul and keeps my heart happy.

We all got through the CoVid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.  In 2023 joined a Spiritual Community called The Global Truth Center – I was trying to remember who I was because I had kind of lost myself.  

I started to pursue getting back into my dancing.  I packed up my life and moved to the Palm Springs desert.  Of course, I got cast in a show called “All That Glitters”.   The show was really well-received and it started to fuel my confidence. I started to get my life back on track the minute I stepped back on the stage. I realized this was what I was born to do.

My father always use to say, “At the end of the day when your life is over you should have No Regrets!”

It just happens one evening at the Global Truth Spiritual Center the talk was about having “No Regrets”.  What do you want to do?  What still haven’t you done that you want fulfilled? Doing something out of your comfort zone.

 I raised my hand and I said, “Well, I wanna write a book, or I wanna write a one man show”.  And, the head Minister, Dr James Mellon (RIFF from the 1980 Broadway revival of “West Side Story” starring Debbie Allen – and a long list of credits from touring companies) said, “It’s not an either or. You can do both. Write the book and then do the show” 

After church Dr. Rev. Lori Savage approached me and said, “I have the perfect writer/director for you. This is his phone number.”

She handed me his number. I called him the next day and we talked on the phone for two hours.  Two days later we met face to face. I loved the idea of meeting for a “showbiz brunch” to discuss MY life story. The creative stream of consciousness came to together at that moment. The idea of putting together a one man show grew into a reality.  I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished in my life. Sure, there are minor things I’d change, who wouldn’t, but I have no regrets.

I’m thinking of calling my show, “Life is Short and So Am I”.

But, it doesn’t have to feel short. As long you can live life to its fullest!  And that is what I feel I’ve done.

It was a pleasure talking with Joe.  Between Hollywood autograph shows the finishing touches are being ironed out on Joe Giamalva’s one-man show – a play with music – as he tells his life in detail and charms his way into your hearts. The proposed opening night will be Saturday evening on January, 18th,  2025.  Start your New Year with Giamalva!

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