Corporal Rocco
Barbella was stationed at Fort Baxter in Kansas during the 1950s into the early
60s. Along with Cpl. Henshaw, Rocco
served as Sgt. Bilko’s assistant – not only in the motor pool at the camp, but
also in a variety of con games and shady deals.
Barbella was played by Harvey Lembeck, who seemed to make his career out of
playing men in uniform (“Stalag 17”, ‘Ensign O’Toole’ chief among them.) Lembeck is also well-known for his role as
Eric Von Zipper in the “Beach Blanket” movie franchise. He played Rocco Barbella in over 140 episodes
of ‘The Phil Silvers Show’ as well as in the alt-dimension pilot (now known as
“The New Recruits”) and in a spin-off TV musical “Keep In Step”.
He may have been stationed in Kansas, but Barbella was a Noo Yawkuh through and
through. He grew up in the City; his
family included a brother named Angelo.
And when his service was ended, Rocco headed back there to make his
fortune, armed with the skills honed under the tutelage of his mentor, Sgt. Ernie
Bilko.
‘HAWKINS’
“MURDER ON THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR”
By 1974, we saw how those skills paid off for Rocco. RJ Hawkins, the cousin of noted defense
attorney Billy Jim Hawkins who worked for him as an investigator, visited a bar
in search of a drug dealer known only as “Coffee Cup”. There RJ met Rocco who not only worked as the
bartender, but he also owned the joint.
(He had won it in a game of chance. I would not be surprised if it
turned out that he used surreptitious ploys to gain the upper hand.)
It appears in the series finale of ‘The Phil Silvers Show’ that Bilko, Henshaw,
and Barbella ended up not just in the stockade at Fort Baxter, but also in a
military prison which effectively ended his Army career. After he got out, he probably headed home to
regroup and perhaps severed ties with Bilko and Henshaw because he blamed them
for getting him into trouble.
SHOWS CITED:
The New Recruits
This is the unaired pilot for the Phil
Silvers Show You'll Never Get Rich. This episode is known as the Audition Show
and is titled The New Recruits, which was later re-filmed with the same title
and a few different actors in different roles. The re-filmed, more polished
version later aired as the first episode of the You'll Never Get Rich TV
series.
The Phil Silvers Show
Sergeant Ernie Bilko is the ultimate con man. He
runs the motor pool at a small Kansas U.S. Army Camp. Colonel Hall, nominally
in charge of the base, tries to keep Bilko's plans in check. Bilko runs every
money making scheme that he thinks he can pull off. Midnight cruises on landing
craft, tank rides, poker games, and an interesting deal with local service
stations for spare parts for Jeep tires.
143 episodes
Keep in Step
Bilko learns that a movie is to be made about him - but just who will play
him? (Broadcast live as a one-hour special titled "The Phil Silvers
Pontiac Special: Keep In Step")
O'Bservation - It may be part of the syndicated line-up now, but as it was
first broadcast as a special, Toobworld Central is leaving it as a separate
entity.
Hawkins
- Murder on the Thirteenth Floor (1974)
... Bartender
Hawkins defends the son of an old flame, who has been charged with murdering a
drug-addicted young woman whom he had put into a room at the hotel his mother
runs.
I suppose there could be other characters whom he played who could be Rocco Barbella, especially those listed only by their descriptions in their respective episodes. Also, "Rocco" may have been just a nickname, so that opens up other options - characters listed only by their first names.
Lembeck as Wally
'All In The Family'
[Could also be Rocco Barbella?]
But to make those work, I'd have to go pretzel logic on the splainins and I prefer to keep it simple. The bartender works perfectly and is a credit that is already an extra. Let's leave it at that.
Welcome to the Hall, Rocco!
