The Gentlemen of the Follies!
At age 13 (with Ed Sullivan) Wayne Albritton
Baseball lost a hot prospect when Wayne Albritton, a college shortstop, opted to become a dancer. At 68, he returns for his 11th season at the Fabulous Follies. He discovered dancing when he got a severe case of measles at 6, and the doctor recommended it to regain his strength. At 19, he left his native Jackson, Mississippi, for New York and was immediately cast in the Broadway production of Carnival.
Wayne migrated west to become a Moro Landis dancer at the Sahara Hotel and the principal singer and dancer for Ann-Margret's Las Vegas debut. He was lead singer for 13 years in four Donn Arden shows, including the Lido de Paris at the Stardust Hotel and Hallelujah Hollywood at the MGM. After owning and operating two Las Vegas taverns for a decade, he returned to performing and "being a kid again" with the Follies cast.
Wayne and his wife Greta, a professional dancer, too, are now full-time Palm Springs residents.
What is your favorite memory from the Follies? "I used to lift one of our dancers overhead and she did a handstand on my shoulders. One day, she whispered to me just before the launch, ‘I forgot to put on my underpants.' I laughed so hard, I almost dropped her!"
MORE FUN FACTS:
- His main athletic pursuits now are golf and playing basketball, and romping with Peanut, a hairless dog with hair, and a Yorkie named Jazzie.
- The first Broadway show he saw was West Side Story, and it still remains his all-time favorite.
- His penchant for oldies extends to early black-and-white television shows; Gone with the Wind, made 70 years ago, tops his movie choices; the old cowboy, Roy Rogers, is #1 among his heroes.
- The most interesting experience of his performing career was tap dancing on The Ed Sullivan Show at the age of 10. When Sullivan held a talent competition throughout Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, Wayne was one of only three performers chosen from the Tri-State Area.
- Backing up during a dance number in a Las Vegas show, he fell off the stage and landed in a front-row lady's lap. She kissed him. He got up nonchalantly and kept dancing.
- Surviving the rigors of nine Follies shows a week follows a simple formula: "We just do it. We show up. We suit up. And we shut up. And thank goodness for the mineral waters in Desert Hot Springs."
- Wayne wouldn't change a thing if he had it to do over: "The Higher Power is in control of my life."
