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Home My WebLink AboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-02-08, Page 25Wednesday, February 8, 2017 • Signal Star 25 Guy Lombardo brought to life on Blyth stage Mr. New Year's Eve to premiere June 28 Lynda Hillman-Rapley Postmedia Network It's a story that needs to be told. Since 2008, David Scott has been developing a play about Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Lom- bardo launched his career playing in places like Port Stanley, Grand Bend and other small towns in south- ern Ontario. He eventually became world famous, with the Royal Canadians selling more than 300 million records. Scott's story about Lom- bardo will be told on the Blyth stage, from June 28 to Aug. 19, in Mr. New Year's Eve: A Night With Guy Lombardo. Lombardo's road to suc- cess wasn't easy, notes Scott. Lombardo's father was so upset with the way his sons were treated by a promoter of a Grand Bend concert that he had their instruments locked up and told them they were fin- ished with the music business. But Guy and his brothers Carmen and Lebert and other band members quit high school to play music full-time. Guy eventually left London to find success with the Royal Canadians in Cleveland, Chicago and finally in New York. He went from job to job and tried his hand on the unforgiving vaudeville cir- cuit, but eventually saw radio as a means to reach a bigger audience. Live radio in the 1920s was the key to the band's success. "It actually has a lot of parallels with the rise of the Internet and the ability to reach thousands of people he wouldn't have been able to by just touring and play- ing concerts," said Scott. "Playing in Chicago in the 1920s was dangerous stuff. Al Capone and other gang- sters ruled the streets — and many venues and musical acts. The Royal Canadians had more than one brush with mobsters during their early days." Lombardo sold more than 300 million records internationally. To this day, his recording of Auld Lang Syne is still played as the official ball drops on the annual festivities in New York's Times Square. A son of Italian immi- grants, Lombardo wa`s born and raised in London, but it was his summers in Grand Bend where he learned to play both his many instru- ments and the teeming crowds. "I think people will be surprised about the things they learn about Guy Lom- bardo in this play," said Scott. "In his last few dec- ades of performing, his music lost popularity and he was often mocked as being stale and square and past his prime. But there is no doubting the success the Royal Canadians obtained over five decades. It's an exploration into the drive behind this second -genera- tion Italian immigrant and what made him a world- wide success in both music and speedboat racing." Scott's first play, There's Nothing in the Paper, was a comedy about a small-town community newspaper. It remiered at the Blyth Festi- val in 1997. The playwright worked as a reporter for the Seaforth Huron Expositor, Goderich Signal Star and Lakeshore Advance, and as editor for the Expositor and Advance. Scott currently works at Western University as a lec- turer, and teaches writing and speech. He also teaches writing at Fanshawe College. CALL TODAY & BOOK YOUR SPOT! 524-2614 LIFE IXSURAXCE 8 LVVESThiEXTS GODERICH ELECTRIC LTD & BAYFIELD ELECTRIC • Sun Life Financial 56 East St. Goderich, ON N7A 1N3 519-524-5591 Vickie Jones-Aitcheson Insurance Specialist Sytke Hickey cam, CLU Investment Specialist COLDWet.L BAN!(eR C7 138 Court House Square Goderich. 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