As you know, we love old variety acts on this blog and have enjoyed introducing you to some of the great performers of the past. Here's Gene Sheldon, who performed mime and played the banjo on every variety show of the fifties. Walt Disney was a tremendous fan of his and often employed Sheldon in the Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland and even stuck him in a couple of TV shows (like Zorro) and movies (like Babes in Toyland).
When I was a kid, my parents took me to a Disney Night at the Hollywood Bowl where performers from Disney projects and costumed characters from Disneyland performed. The two highlights I remember vividly were a Zorro sketch involving Henry Calvin (Sgt. Garcia) and a man in a Zorro costume…and Gene Sheldon, who came out and held that huge audience captive with his pantomime and banjo playing. To those in the cheap seats, he must have been the size of an ant and there were no big projection screens then…but the crowd still loved him.
Here he is on Stage Show, which was a TV show from 1954 to 1956 hosted at first by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, then later by Jack Carter. This is from the Dorsey days and you'll get to hear Tommy Dorsey introduce the act as "Gene Nelson," then make a point of mentioning the correct name at the end. I'm sorry Sheldon doesn't play the banjo in this clip because that was usually his big finish…