Memories from a Catskills performer: Larry Ravdin

From a very early age, Larry Ravdin was drawn to a career as a musician. Born in Newark, NJ in 1940, he was raised in a home where “there was always music on the radio.” He grew up listening to the popular big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Harry James, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and singers like Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore.

His earliest recollection about music’s lure comes from his fourth-grade classroom, situated next to the school auditorium. “Every Wednesday I heard the orchestra start up, and I really got excited about that. I knew it was something I wanted to participate in.”

Ravdin wasn’t sure which instrument he wanted, so his parents waited a year. Then he started taking music lessons in school. “Somehow I started with the saxophone, and within a year, at age 11, I was in the orchestra.”

At that point, Ravdin was studying privately with Al Senerthia, a former Big Band musician who played with the Dorseys, Vaughn Monroe and others. Anticipating his student’s progression into dance and jazz bands, Senerthia got him into swing studies. And upon entering high school in 1954, Ravdin immediately joined the stage and dance bands.

As his career choice became more evident, his parents were mostly supportive. “My mother was not too happy about it, because of the security angle, and also because of the lifestyle. But my father wanted me to have the opportunity.” Ravdin’s mother eventually came around, and he reports that his parents were even able to share his life, traveling to the hotels to see shows and celebrate the religious holidays. Before she passed, his mother thanked him for “bringing music into the house, and she said ‘your father and I had different plans for you. But this is the way your life turned out. And we’re very happy about it.’”

He isn’t sure just what his parents’ plans were, but he thinks they probably included teaching. Based on an uncle’s suggestion, Ravdin took up accounting, but by mid-term he realized, “I can't be doing this for the rest of my life.”

Music was always present

By a circuitous route he got back into music, having stopped playing completely between ages 18 and 21. He started studying with Joe Allard, professor of saxophone and clarinet at Julliard. In 1964, Allard told Ravdin, “I have an opportunity I think you’d be interested in.” There was an opening with a “territory band,” playing golf and country clubs, military bases and Grange halls out in the rural areas. He went out with the band from March till July.

Coming to the mountains

Through friends who were working at the Tamiment, Ravdin was introduced to some band leaders, and he spent the 1966 summer season in the Poconos. Then friends from New Jersey got him into Grossinger’s.

In 1967, Ravdin met Frank Petrocelli who brought him to the Concord Hotel. “And here I am today. … 52 years ago I was a novice, and now I’m kind of the keeper of the history.” He considers the Catskills his “university.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m a musical actor. I’ve had to play so many different styles over the course of my career, for people like Jan Peerce and Robert Merrill, from the Met to Broadway, Motown, Las Vegas, Basie-band kind of performers, people like Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, and so many others. … I had a whole bag of skills.”

Those skills include not only his main instrument, the saxophone, but also the clarinet and flute. Ravdin remembers playing for Vic Damone - his first “big celebrity” - at the Pines Hotel in South Fallsburg. “And it just took off from there,” he says.

"Took off” is an understatement, as the list of celebrities he worked with reads like a “Who’s Who” of musical entertainment, and includes Red Buttons, Paul Anka, Liberace, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Rydell, Shirley MacLaine, Rita Moreno, Ben Vereen, Liza Minelli Jim Nabors, Natalie Cole, Jerry Lewis, Lesley Gore and dozens of others, in addition to two of his favorite performers Gregory and Maurice Hines. And besides the hotels already mentioned, he also worked at Kutsher’s, the Raleigh, Nevele, Fallsview, the Granite, and a host of bungalow colonies.

“Every show I did I enjoyed. I loved the dancers; they were very devoted,” he says speaking about Juliet Prowse, Shirley MacLaine, Rita Moreno, Chita Rivera and others.

Ravdin can tell stories for hours about people he’s performed with, like when things got a little heated during a rehearsal with Jan Peerce during the Jewish holidays, and some expletives began flying. “Peerce turned around from the microphone and said, ‘Boys, please, it’s a holiday.’”

On the high seas

In 1993, thanks to another friend, Ravdin began working with the Holland America cruise line. Because some of the musicians got stranded in Bali, the gig became permanent. “I was able to spend the winters on the cruise ships doing shows and entertainment. And then I would come back in the spring and work the balance of the season in the resort hotels.”

Around that same time, Ravdin could anticipate the end of the resort hotel era. Indeed, the Concord Hotel closed in 1998, but fortunately, the cruise gig lasted till 2012.

Because of the work with the cruise line, Ravdin got to see the world. Favorite ports of call include Sydney, Australia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Hong Kong; and Cape Town, South Africa. He was fortunate, he says, to visit the homes of some famous composers and authors including Edvard Grieg, Robert Lewis Stevenson and Ernest Hemingway.

Another highlight of performing on the ships included working with Burt Bacharach, who was going on tour in Australia. “I guess in lieu of paying passage, he did a show on the ship,” said Ravdin. “And that was one of the most memorable shows I can ever remember playing. I was getting compliments left and right. It was very saxophone friendly. …”

Retirement?

Ravdin officially retired in 2012, forgoing a world tour and choosing to be with his sister Marilyn during the last stages of her fight with cancer.

But the pull of music is still very strong, and Ravdin performs weekly at Sorella’s in Kauneonga Lake. “It’s basically playing background music, dance music, same kind of stuff I did in the hotels, but it keeps me active … and it keeps my skills and the gray matter going. So, I’m happy for that.”

Ravdin also plays in the Callicoon Center Band during their summer concerts.

Looking back on a very full life, Ravdin says the only thing he would change would be to get a college degree. But he got to see the world, and learn about different cultures through the music he studied and played. “I met so many interesting people. I met journalists, attorneys and business people.”

He met children of Holocaust survivors who had been sent away to the country to keep them safe. “I was literally getting history from the people who lived it.” Ravdin will be 82 in April, and is now at a time in life where people might ask for life advice. “I would tell people to follow your dreams … follow the things that make you happy … be ready, be open to change.

Ever humble, Ravdin boils down his life simply, “I was just a musician in the orchestra.” But then he reflects, “I had a wonderful life experience. … I really can’t believe this wonderful thing that happened to me.”

You can listen to the full interview on the Sullivan County Democrat Podcast channels on SoundCloud, Overcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and TuneIn. This is the first installment of a series that will run monthly.

THE ENTERTAINERS

Larry Ravdin played with and for the following celebrities:

Al Martino; Alan Jones; Alan King; Anthony Newley; Ben Vereen; Bette Midler; Billy Davis & Marilyn McCoo; Billy Eckstine; Bobby Darin; Bobby Rydell; Bobby Vinton; Buddy Hackett; Burt Bacharach; Cab Calloway & Billy Daniels; Chita Rivera; Connie Francis; Dana Valery; Danny Thomas; Diahann Carroll; Donna Summer; Eddie Fisher; Englebert Humperdink; Erskine Hawkins; Fifth Dimension; Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons; George Burns; Gladys Knight; Glen Campbell; Gordon MacRae; Guy Lombardo Orchestra; Herschel Bernardi; Hines, Hines & Dad; Jan Peerce; Jay Black & The Americans; Jerry Lewis; Jerry Vale; Jim Nabors; Joan Rivers; Joel Grey; Johnny Mathis; Joy Behar; Julius LaRosa; Keely Smith; Kenny Rogers; Lesley Gore; Liberace; Little Anthony; Liza Minelli; Machito; Mel Torme; Melba Moore; Melissa Manchester; Milton Berle; Molly Picon; Natalie Cole; Neil Sedaka; Nipsey Russell; Paul Anka; Paula Wayne; Petula Clark; Phylicia Rashad; Red Buttons; Red Skelton; Rita Moreno; Robert Alda; Robert Merrill; Sammy Cahn; Sammy Davis Jr.; Sergio Franchi; Shecky Greene; Shirley Bassey; Shirley MacLaine; Stephanie Mills; Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé; The Four Tops; The Spinners; The Temptations; Theodore Bikel; Tom Jones; Tony Bennett; Tony Martin & Cyd Charisse; Vic Damone; and Yul Brynner