Frankie Avalon Brings Musical Memories to Citrus College

No longer a “teen idol” at age 70, Frankie Avalon is at the point in his career that he can pick and choose a lot of things. One of those things is performing at Citrus College’s Haugh Performing Arts Center on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“That’s the great thing about my life now is that I get to do what I want when I want to do it,” he said. “And this is right in my backyard (he lives in the San Fernando Valley). The toughest thing about this business is the logistics of traveling – getting to airports two hours early, security checks, delayed flights. This, to me, is just a joy!”

There seems to be no stopping Avalon from getting on stage. He’s been performing since he was 12 playing trumpet on TV. As one of the first "teen idols," he performed with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints. By 1959, he had a hit, Venus, that stayed at #1 on the charts for five weeks and Why went to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100.

He charted 31 Billboard hits in the 1950s including Just Ask Your Heart, I'll Wait For You, Bobby Sox to Stockings and A Boy Without a Girl.

Many of those hits will be featured at his Citrus show, Avalon promised.

It wasn’t long before the handsome teen idol was pursued by Hollywood studios, and soon Avalon was cast in a series of “beach” movies with former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. They hit the sand and surfed the waves in summer hits such as Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo. Back to the Beach reunited the two in 1987 just before Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and retired.

His acting took a dramatic turn in such films as The Alamo with John Wayne and the science fiction adventure Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) with Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie).

One movie role almost didn’t happen, but when it did, it catapulted Avalon back into pop culture for a third decade, and extended his career to 50 years.

Portraying the character of Teen Angel in the smash hit film, Grease (1978), his performance of the song Beauty School Dropout introduced Avalon to a new generation of viewers.

“I turned down the role originally because he had long sideburns and was more like an Elvis Presley character, but they changed it to be more like me,” he recalled. The movie was the highest grossing movie of 1978 and the highest-grossing movie musical ever at the time, even surpassing 1965's The Sound of Music.

 “Grease got a lot of response, and I agreed to do the stage production in about 15 cities,” he recalled. “In the play, my song Beauty School Dropout is performed in the second half. So to have audiences coming out and wait for the second half to see me, that meant so much. When that music started to play and the scrim started to fly (lifted), the response was just wonderful. I never thought it would have that longevity with fans.”

In 2007, he performed Beauty School Dropout with the four remaining female contenders for the role of Sandy on the NBC television reality show Grease: You're the One that I Want!

In 2009, Avalon sang his signature Venus on American Idol, as part of the “songs from the year you were born” show, since Idol judge Simon Cowell was born in 1959, the year the hit topped the charts.

In recent years, Avalon has become involved with The National Arthritis Foundation as the National Ambassador, spent countless hours as the New York host for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon and now heads his own company, Frankie Avalon Venus, Ltd., specializing in natural health products.

Fans attending the Citrus show will be treated to Avalon’s hit songs, clips from his many films, along with films of him “as a kid” and those featuring his family (he and wife Kathryn have eight children and 10 grandchildren).

Son Frank Jr. will be playing the drums for his dad, and Avalon mentioned there will be “a special surprise guest.”

Avalon attributes the longevity of his career to an analogy actor James Stewart told him at a White House Lincoln Center event the two attended. 

“He said, ‘When you’re young and just starting out, you sit at the front of the bus because you’re eager and want to get ahead,’” Avalon explained.

Stewart continued: “Then as you get older, you sit further back, toward the middle, and so on until you get to the very end of the bus.”

“The trick he told me is ‘Never get off the bus,’” Avalon said, and you can bet he won’t.

Tickets for Frankie Avalon’s show are Section 1: $45, $43 for student/senior; Section 2: $40, $38 for student/senior. The Haugh Performing Arts Center is located at Citrus College, 1000 W. Foothill Blvd., Glendora, CA 91741. For tickets and information, call (626) 963-9411 or visit www.haughpac.com.