A Sister’s Inspiration John Travolta Followed Ellen’s Lead Into Acting
John Travolta is a busy man these days, opening in “Phenomenon,” weighing new movie offers, counting up his “Pulp Fiction” residuals.
Still, he found plenty of time a few weeks ago to call and talk about his big sister Ellen and her role in “Gypsy,” which opens Thursday at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre.
He called, he said, for the simplest of reasons: “Well, I love her,” said John.
You’ve got to understand: Ellen was John’s original role model. In fact, Ellen and “Gypsy” share a legendary place in Travolta family history, stretching all the way back to one momentous day in 1961. That’s when Ellen, now a Coeur d’Alene resident, appeared on stage with Ethel Merman in the national touring company of “Gypsy.”
For the first time, a Travolta had broken into big-time show business.
And John, age 7, was soaking it all up. He and the rest of the family sat rapt in that theater in Boston, watching Ellen appear on the same stage with the legendary Merman. Even at that age, he knew then and there that acting was the life for him.
“Oh, 100 percent,” said John. “If you had told me I was going to go on the road with ‘Gypsy’ and play one of the kids, I would have been totally happy, you know.”
John remembers that day clearly, partly because it was such an event for the entire family - they made the trip by train from their home in Englewood, N.J. - and partly because he’d never seen his sister in such an … interesting … costume.
Ellen, age 21, was cast in seven different walk-on roles, including one in which she was a stripper in a gladiator costume.
“The scanty outfit she had on, you could never forget,” said John. “As a family, we were awestruck.”
But mostly thrilled. Their stagehappy mother Helen told Ellen after the show that she was “the best one in the whole show.”
Ellen eventually worked her way up to the role of Mazeppa, the stripper with the horn in the show-stopping number “You Gotta Have a Gimmick.”
After that tour ended, Ellen was cast as Mazeppa in numerous other summer stock and touring versions of the show, all around the country. Everywhere she went, she would always pay for an airline ticket for John, then in his teens, to come see the show.
“So I must have seen her play it maybe 10 times,” said John. “And she was quite, quite brilliant in that part. But I think her dream was always to play the part she’s going to play this year.”
That role is the Ethel Merman part, Mama Rose. Ellen has never played that role, although for the better part of 10 years, Ellen watched Merman and such other stars as Vivian Blaine interpret the role.
So when the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre approached Ellen and her husband Jack Bannon (“Lou Grant”) with the idea of doing “Gypsy,” it was as if her career had come full circle.
The Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre had already cast them together once before, in “Company” in 1990 (John flew in to catch that show). And in 1991, Bannon starred as Professor Henry Higgins in the same theater’s “My Fair Lady.” Now, knowing Ellen’s history with this show, they wanted to cast Ellen as Mama Rose and Bannon as Herbie.
Yet it took Ellen a month to make a decision. She plays a long-running character on “General Hospital” (she flies to L.A. for taping) and she knew that she would have to take herself off that show for at least two months. And she was also apprehensive about taking on one of the most demanding roles in all of musical theater.
“Every Mama Rose I’ve ever played with, except Merman, have all lost their voices doing this role,” she said.
But Bannon and the entire Travolta clan urged her to go for it.
“My family said, ‘Oh, are you kidding? You were born to do that! For your whole life you’ve been getting ready to do this!”’ said Ellen.
What could she do? She said yes.
Brother John, for one, has absolutely no doubts about how it will turn out. He said that Ellen has always “set the standard for acting in the family.”
And furthermore, Ellen can draw on the memories of her own mother, who, like Mama Rose, wanted nothing more than for her daughter to be a star.
“When she was a little girl, my mom put her on TV shows, she modeled, she went up for auditions,” said John. “She really promoted her to be a performer. My mother was never as aggressive as Mama Rose, but she had a flavor of her, for sure.”
Apparently Helen Travolta never crossed the line into being pushy like Mama Rose - she was simply supportive and encouraging. Helen, who did some amateur acting and directing herself, truly believed that theater was the highest calling of all.
“I remember I said to my mother one day, ‘You know my friend wants to be a doctor,”’ said Ellen. “She said, ‘That’s nice dear, but not as good as an actor.’ She had no reality at all! None!
“She would have liked to have been a backstage mother, but she was really too busy having children and taking care of her husband,” said Ellen. “The sad thing is, she wanted to do theater in high school, and at that time her parents said no. So she kind of had a failed dream. She wasn’t encouraged, so she encouraged us all to go and do what we wanted to do.”
As it developed, all six of the Travolta children (Ellen being the oldest and John the youngest) went on to acting careers.
Their father Sam, the proprietor of Travolta Tire Exchange, was not so enthusiastic about acting - at least not until Ellen hit it big.
“At first he was, ‘Boy, what is this?”’ said Ellen. “But pretty soon he had Variety delivered to the tire shop. He started reading the grosses! ‘They’re out of town, but they’re doing well.’ He was very into it.”
In fact, she said that her parents were probably disappointed when she quit theater and chose to get married and have children. She took a number of years off.
When she came back in 1976, it was in TV. She began by appearing with brother John in “Welcome Back, Kotter,” as Arnold Horshack’s mother. From there she went on to a number of other shows in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, including one stretch where she played Scott Baio’s mother in three different series: “Happy Days,” “Joanie Loves Chachi” and “Charles in Charge.”
“I spent 10 years with him,” she said with a laugh.
The “Charles in Charge” job lasted from 1986 to 1991. Since then, she has appeared in numerous TV movies, and a number of soap operas, including her present gig on “General Hospital” as Gloria Cerullo.
She has been married for 13 years to Bannon, who is also a familiar sight from TV movies and series. Neither are strangers to the serious stage - Bannon has won an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award, and Ellen has won an L.A. Dramalogue Award.
They first summered in Coeur d’Alene in 1989. Two years ago, they moved up from Los Angeles permanently, flying to L.A. for occasional jobs.
Both are convinced that the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre is of national quality.
“I don’t think it gets much better than that,” said Bannon.
Ellen said that the “talent is incredible,” and she has nothing but admiration for Roger Welch, who is directing the show, and Jennifer Niederloh, who will play Louise (Gypsy Rose).
Their TV experience should come in handy if only in luring a new audience into the theater.
“If people who watch TV and soap operas go to the show, and they like the theater and they come back, that’s great,” said Ellen. “Because, today, we need people to go to the theater.”
One person in particular hopes to be in that audience. John said he would love to be in Coeur d’Alene for the show. Now that he’s probably out of “The Double,” the movie he was scheduled to make in Paris this summer, the odds are increasing that he’ll be there, watching his sister in “Gypsy,” just as he was 35 years ago.
“I’m very proud of her,” said John.
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Gypsy” Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, Boswell Hall, North Idaho College Opens Thursday and continues Friday, Saturday, July 14, 18, 19 and 20 Showtimes are 8 p.m., except July 14 matinee at 2 p.m. Evening tickets are $19 adults, $14 students; matinee tickets are $17 adults, $12 students Order by calling 1-800-4-CDATIX, or (208) 769-7780