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CVLT marks 80th with Chagrin's favorite son
(by Barbara Christian - March 03, 2010)
CVLT marks 80th with Chagrin's favorite son
By BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Chagrin Falls prodigal son and favorite former resident Tim Conway is coming home, at least for a little while sometime in early June.
The television and film actor and comedian has accepted an invitation from the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre to help kick off its capital campaign and celebrate its 80th anniversary.
Mr. Conway will perform his stand-up show at the theater and appear at a reception and/or dinner or another event scheduled around that performance, theater President Thomas Neff said this week.
"He is committed to doing this and amenable to anything we want to do," Mr. Neff said.
There is a lot going on in Chagrin Falls during the early June dates and Mr. Neff said the theater would like to avoid the high school graduation season and Art by the Falls.
He said Mr. Conway is touring with his show and will make his visit between performances in Illinois and Pennsylvania. He has shows scheduled in those two states from May 23 to June 13.
Although the dates for the celebration are not known, Mr. Neff said the place is. Mr. Conway will perform on the CVLT stage.
Mr. Neff said it was appropriate to keep the event focused on the River Street playhouse even though it could have drawn a larger audience at the Chagrin Falls High School Performing Arts Center.
"We want to keep it at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre ... the theater is the best place," he said.
And it's an appropriate place as well. While Mr. Conway was not a regular CVLT performer during his younger years, he did make a special guest appearance in CVLT's 1964 production of "Mr. Roberts."
The comedian had hit the big time by then and the play's Ensign Pulver part fit perfectly with his role as Ensign Parker in his first television series, "McHale's Navy," which ran four seasons between 1962 and 1965.
Tickets to Mr. Conway's stage appearance will be $80 in keeping with the 80th anniversary. Nearby restaurants also will have events, Mr. Neff said.
"We are trying to keep everything right in the neighborhood," he said.
The theater tried to book Mr. Conway for its 75th anniversary, but he was on the road performing with his "Carol Burnett Show" comic sidekick Harvey Korman and their schedule would not allow it, Mr. Neff said.
In addition to his part in kicking off the theater's capital campaign, Mr. Neff said Mr. Conway would serve as its honorary chairman.
Mr. Conway was born in Willoughby, and his parents, Dan and Sofia Conway, moved to the village when he was young. He spent his boyhood here and graduated from Chagrin Falls High School in 1952.
It's unknown what Mr. Conway will include in his act before the local audience, but judging from the past and rare local appearances, subject matter could include his old Chagrin Falls pals and the places and stories from his past.
One of his favorite subjects has been the Chagrin Falls Hardware store, a place where he has said he once aspired to work.
Another recurring subject was life as the smallest member of the Chagrin Falls High School football team and the object of coach Ralph Quesinberry's odd training exercises.
Anecdotes about his parents also have figured prominently into his repertoire and he once credited his father as being the real funnyman in the family.
Mr. Conway was a frequent visitor to Chagrin Falls where his parents maintained the family home on East Orange Street until they died and the house was sold.
He raised his family near Los Angeles, but wanting to keep them grounded in the real world, he arranged to have the children stay with his parents for part of every summer.
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