Friday, January 4, 2019

FRIDAY HALL OF FAMER - ROCCO BARBELLA




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! 


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