It's a Living with Paul Kreppel

Welcome to Eighties TV Ladies, part of the weirding Way Media Network. Please note we recorded our interview with Paul Kreppl before the sag After strike, and we stand in support of the writers and actors Strikes Bay and so Pretty the City. It's Eighties TV Ladies time, where we look back in order to leap forward with your hosts Susan Lambert Headham and Sharon Johnson. Hello, I'm Sharon and I'm Susan. I'm so pleased to continue our look at the eighties sitcom It's a Living.

It's a Living, also known as Making a Living, was created by Stuci, Jenna McMahon and Dick Claire and produced by wit Thomas Productions. It ran on ABC from October thirtieth, nineteen eighty to June nineteen eighty two, did successful in reruns enough to become a syndicated show from September twenty eighth, nineteen eighty five to April eighth, nineteen eighty nine. Between the broadcast and the syndication run, one hundred and twenty episodes were produced over six seasons. It's a Living was an all female situation work comedy set in a fancy restaurant at the top of a hotel skyscraper, The Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. It centered around the lives of the waitresses, but Cook, the manager, and the wise cracking piano players Sonny.

The first season starred An Julian Susan Sullivan, Barry Young Fellow, Gail Edwards, Marion Mercer, Wendy Shawl, Bert Remsen, and our guests today the wise cracking piano player himself, Paul Kreppel. He's a multi award winning actor, director, and producer. He starred in the national tour of Jerome Robbin's Broadway and as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Paul starred in all one hundred and twenty episodes of Its Living. He also directed six episodes and directed several shows in the eighties and nineties, including Simon and Dave's World, and he has directed numerous stage productions.

Paul won a Tony Award and Ovation Award for co producing, directing, and conceiving the show Jay Johnson, The Two and Only. He has served on the governing bodies of Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild, and is a teacher and guest lecturer for Acting and Directing. Paul Krepple, Welcome to Eighties TV Ladies. Thank you so much for joining us. What a pleasure.

We're really really looking forward to having this conversation with you and min Persia. I know we started even beforehand. I know, well the eighties. That's when I was doing most of my television in the eighties. So I'm here on the show I was on that was mainly women driven, and you are eighties ladies.

Did you grow up now? I'm going to ask the question did you grow up watching TV in the eighties? And that's oh yeah, oh yeah, just likes the rhyming quality of the eighties ladies. We grew up watching eighties television. I grew up watching eighties television.

Sharon and I met in the eighties through a mutual friend talking about mutual love of movies and television, and so we've known each other for a long time. And during pandemic I, my husband and I started rewatching eighties shows and s seventies shows, and I was like, God, I have a lot of thoughts and questions and things, and so I called up Sharon and said, you want to do a crazy podcast with me and she said yes, and so we thought a lot of fun. We have a a group of crazy kids called the nineties TV Babies that come on and then give their opinions. We show them episodes from these shows and go what do you think? So it's just been really fun.

And then we've been able to talk to amazing people like you and Sharon Glass and Tyne Daily and stephanie's En Bliss and Robin Bernheim and writers and creators and it's been just really neat. Yeah, but how are you today and where are you currently? Because you've been on the road right now, I am in New York for the week and I leave tomorrow and go to Chicago for two weeks. Because I am on tour. We don't call it a shore.

I am traveling with the Broadway Company of Into the Woods and we are doing some exclusive sit down engagements around VideA the country and some wonderful cities. So we opened at the Kennedy Center after taking up in Buffalo, which was a beautiful experience. Actually after they have a gorgeous there, five hundred seat house that we we just you know, rehearsed him for a few days in froment put the finishing touches on before we went to the Kennedy Center for a month, and then we went to Boston a couple of weeks, which is where I began my career, So that was thrilling to see some old friends and to walk the streets where I used to live many years ago. And then Philadelphia, which was also lovely.

I spent more than ten hours in Philadelphia before. And we just spent a week in Charlotte, which is a lovely town where I also got to see some friends. Some eighties television, seventies and eighties television friends would live down there. And the people that I toured within Wicked who also are living down there. Oh who did you get to see?

Who lives down I don't know my love to say that he lives Stadiah. Why not? Fred Grandy lives in Charlotte. You know, I was thinking about him. He's doing a theater, Fred Brandy for un Loved Boat.

I was wondering. Daughter Mariah, wonderfully talented woman who I've known pretty much since she was born. How neat and now I'm back here for a week when we go to Chicago. So she's an into the woods. She it is the Wonder Studies.

We have a team of Wonder Studies, and that's what I am. They asked me to join the Broadway Company when they moved to Broadway from Encourse, and they have gotten amazing reviews. It was going to be the first show on Broadway, they called. They said, but you under study standby for the mysterious man narrator and actually it also the steward, which is a fun role. And I said, be the first show back after COVID doing Sondheim on Broadway with Brian Darcy, James, Sarah Barrels, Philippa Sue with an amazing cast, and then even the people who came in to do it, Fsheyenne Jackson came into, Amity Carl and Christa Rodriguez, just an amazing group of people.

We have more fun. And right now we're doing it with Stephanie j. Block and her husband Sebastian Arcelists. They're doing it with us on the road, along with a lot of the people I already mentioned. Yeah, and when we're having the time of our lives presenting a beautiful production of beautiful show.

I have heard so much great stuff about this production. Nobody paid me to say that, and you're with Diane Diane Felon, I am Diane has playing Cinderella, and she's just dear friend. I adore her. We've been doing it since the beginning. She was one of the wonder studies who took all of her And I'm still standing by for the person.

I've known him for almost fifty years who created the role of the mysterious man narrator and he is a wonderfully mysterious, mystical, magical creature and wonderful singer. We worked together, as I said, fifty years ago, and so it's fun for us to be in the same show again after all these years. I am so impressed by actors in general. Like I've been around actors all my life and I still think it's magical what actors can do. And in particular they're the understudy.

Holy crap, Like there's no time you'll always get a rehearsal. It's you're you just have to be ready to go at all times. I my hats off to you. Yeah, And there are times when, especially during previews when you're starting, where you haven't had a rehearsal. It goes through putting on the show and you don't.

You don't really get to rehearsals understudy slapt or show opens really unless somebody gets sick on our list. There's a reason to put And so the people that have gone on have been pretty amazing, just being able to watch take the notes and be ready. And boy, they have ice in their games these days. I mean, I think from a generation we got nervous people. We also didn't have any musical theater programs.

So these people are trained at such a high level. They are humanoids. They all are quadruple threats. They all sing, dance, play musical instrument, and act, sit read. You know, it's really a different read of a performer.

And I take I take my hats off to them all the time. I don't remember being surrounded by this much. Just glorious and it feels like they did background checks on everybody in the show. What a wonderful ensemble of people who are there to support each other. It's been beautiful.

That's awesome, that's fantastic. That's a theater portunate that that was the ladies of the theater. No, we want to hear everything. So I'm a big theater nurse. So we got to always talk theater and a creator and the creator and your sister.

Yeah, so tell us how you got started in theater and music and what your beginnings were and performing. You know, I came from a family that there was some DNA in the theatrical tradition, but I didn't know any of those people. I had an uncle who had been an actor, where he died before I was born. But I was singing and jumping around and I wasn't acting. I would have been happy to be in the clown and do children's theater.

And we would go on the weekends to the Cats Skills when I was growing up and sneak in the back of the clubs and listen to the stand ups. So I was thinking, oh, this is interesting to me, and I learned a lot from all of that. I always liked comedy and music, and I feel like guy, I was inspired by the people who did that really well in very different forms, whether it was Spike Jones or a man named Mickey Katz who was Joel Gray's father, or Victor Bordman or Danny Kay or Jerry Lewis. I mean, I can go on and on. Are the harmonicats?

I mean, anybody who incorporated music and Chevy Chase used to do some wonderful things that were musical and both musical and the Jerry Lewis kind of tradition musical and comedy, and like, I really could find another gene blows another half dozen the banana man. I could really go on a you could. We could have a podcast about it, Yeah, we could. These are the people that really are that really touches all of the things that I just love that I feel that I kind of vibratetion the song, dance comedy. I was doing that from the time I was like two two and a half three.

I think I performed on the stage when I was about three or three and a half. I think I was a nervous wreck. And then I sang with a girl from my hometown named Janie Murphy, and we used to sing together. She was we were at the same age. She's tiny, little cute people, and she would sing I would saying give me a little kiss, will yah huh, which was an old song, and she would sing my eye he's making eyes at me, and then together we would sing the bells are ringing for me and my ca.

That was our little routine that we did as a little storytelling. And we are still we are still in touch. We are still in touch. And her daughter is a wonderful writer who was a writer creator of the show Made, which is enough for some awards. Yeah, the may West.

Yeah, it's great. Oh yeah, Molly, miss, there's something about the Oh yeah, absolutely. When did you start playing piano? I don't play really. I saw that you'd gone to Emerson College in Boston, so I thought maybe you had taken some We're playing an instrument and wait, all right, so you Emerson didn't have a music department.

Okay that I was always very musical, but I played accordion for about two minutes. I played. I played a mean dash forward at a car and I was going to broadband and I did play a couple of songs on the organ that we used. I can kick butt on ninety six tiers. And when I got hired to do It's a Living, they knew I didn't play the piano.

I was gonna say, did you say, did you do the actor thing? Of like, oh, yeah, of course no. But I knew that I could play some block cords, and I said I can do the pilot. Let you know, because I knew what was in the pilot and it was simple stuff. But I walked on this set and by then I think we rehearsed on the set and I met all of those wonderful women, and I said to the producers and my manager at the time, a wonderful man named Scott Choked.

He was a keyboard player and a singer, and so he was going to help me just learn some block courts because all I had to sing were like two little songs that were My character was an afterthought. They just kind of threw in a couple of bits into the pilot after everything else was riding. And I was only going to be in six episodes, and then I ended up doing every episode, so that was a blessing. So I was going to say that I looked at the set and I said, you know what, the block courts are not good enough. I coach, I can't get through the pilot, but if this goes on, he should play better than I can play.

And I think that he's a man who has great talent but no taste. And that's the way I explained it to them, and they liked that idea, and so after we got going there was a first. There was a musician strike, so that was very difficult because I wouldn't work if they had a scab and a screen actors guilt strike was it around the same time. Actually, the Screen Actors Skilled Strike started the day before we were going to tape our first episode after we got picked up, so we had had camera blocking. I think I'm pretty sure we had camera blocking and then we were shut down.

Either that or we were going to have camera blocking. But we shot down that first week for ten weeks, which was a blessing and disguise because I got involved with the Screen Actors Guild of doing a benefit at the Hollywood Bowl that I was one of the producers of and we got everybody in the world to participate in that. And now I'm sitting in meetings without I've been in the front about eight months by the time September came around, and my show hadn't been shot yet, we hadn't air anything. But I'm sitting in a room with all of these other people from television shows who I admired and ended up watching, and it's like, Oh, I'm in Hollywood and now I'm now I'm with all the people who are working in Hollywood on television, and I'm still very close to most of those people to this day.

That was pretty much. That was amazing. That's pretty amazing. And because you got so let's back up a little bit to how you ended up on It's a Living because you had just come to La from what I've read, Yeah, I moved to Ella Angelo Lie and my agents basically in New York because I was starting to really build a nice beginning career of theater in New York and doing musicals and and he said, you know what, give me three months and come to Hella. So I did.

And I had never been, but I had friends out there. So I got off the plane and I felt the weather and I knew where my head was at that point, and I said, this is going to be good for you. This is going to be good. I just needed that other that next step or other step I've always bounced around. So it was another another community that I could go and live in.

And all the people I knew embraced me, and I started meeting people, and I think the first job I got was just one line on a thing called Movieola, directed by a man named John Ermine, and it was about looking and we did. The episode I did was because there were three short movies when they were doing like movies of the Week, and I think there were three of them. It was called the Scarlett o'harro Wars, so they were looking for the woman to play Scarlett o'haro. And my scene was with Tony Curtis. So the people who were watching your watching you and your show probably know who Tony Curtis is.

I'm always amazed that younger people had no idea who Tony Curtis was until I mentioned his daughter Jamie and I had a scene with him, and I I scene, I had a line with him, and he couldn't have been nicer. And I said to the director John Erman, can I looked to the camera. That was my first day in the first job, and he looked at me and he went, sure, I'm one of the looks through the lens because I directed the theater and I knew I'd be interested in doing it, and it was a lovely experience. And that was the first thing I ever did. And very young fellow who became possibly my best friend throughout the It's a Living years, played Joan Crawford on that and we didn't know each other yet, so I don't know everything ties together.

And it was cast by dear people who are their family is now my dearest friends. I was cast by Pat Harris, and I had met her, and she just found a way to give me a line. She said, I like your voice, and I got a line making delivery to a Tony Curtis. And I was still very close to both of her daughters to this day, who are both in the industry. You know, I like people, and I like the energy of what I do, like the creative energy to performing arts.

And if I wasn't having this career that I have managed to bounce around and have, I would have been happy doing anything else as long as I was in the movie. That is so cool. So let's go back to how you got on It's a Living. Do you remember, well, fascinating enough, one of my agents, man named Peter Young's sister, Ronda Young, was the casting director for Its Living And when you got to see this guy and when they added the character, she called Peter, I don't think I had met Ronda yet, and he called me right out because he knew that I had just come out from from New York. Where I was doing a lot of musicals, and they said they need somebody and he knew it could be a jerk, and they need somebody who's going to be a lounge lizard on the show.

And they don't really know what he's going to do yet, but you know, they just want somebody who can play that kind of similar to a build the Bilmer character from Saturday Night Live. And also Lily tom And also did a character like that. And I did have something in my pocket that was similar to that that. We used to play around with a couple of my theater friends, man named Bill Pattery and T. G.

Gibson doing a show together. They would walk around, oh hey baby, you know, holding a cup and a cigarette in our hand and being a loundertag and I kind of played with them and so it felt like a real easy thing. I was in an Imperor group, so I had been developing characters over the years. That was how I started my career. And I was always musical, like I said, and I knew the keyboard.

So once they brought somebody in, the person who did most of the shows was a man named Paul Smith, who when he wasn't with us, he walked in and I went, I don't know if this man can be in my hands. He was about six too. We looked like a next marine. He had a shaved head and he was kind of high, and he was one of the most extraordinary players on the planet and had done a lot of television over the years, and he couldn't do all of our shows because he also was all of Fitzgerald's penis at that point. Well yeah, well, nothing like that.

But they allowed me to orchestrate everything. I think I showed them that I kind of knew what I was doing, and they would basically give me a song and made a joke within the song or before or after, and gave me free reign. They told me that it was always fun to come down to see the run through, just to see what I would come up with, because they I'd see it. And then I go over to the prop guy and I said, give me a clown nose, a gong and you know, and because zo and two seconds later I'd have these things and I would just create. It was magic.

It was maybe one of the most fun things I've ever had to do in my life. Got a chance to do. Well, there's so many musical numbers in that show. Like I was sort of surprised looking back at it again, how much is you playing piano bits? It was part of the big part of the show.

Yeah, and then they just because the talent that you guys had. There's total musical numbers in these episodes. It's fantastic. Well you've got Marion Mercer who wanted Tony Award for promises, Promises. Gale Edwards was a musical performer.

Crystal Bernard recorded and and Jillian also when she was in Sugar Babies on Broadway, and when I first met her she was doing a musical in Chicago. And also chr Lee Ralph, you know who has never stopped and has always been a force. S gott bless her and she came in, you know, she started. I didn't know her and when she did dream Girls. But we got to do some things.

I love the Attila the Hunt musical, which you know, my character could not be done anymore because everything I said was inappropriate. My character was always sitting on the women. And I just watched an episode the other day and I said, boy, you really are you do cross the line. But I was not. I was not an imposing, kunnish person.

I was not really any bigger than any of them. I mean, I'm not short, but I was slight, and you always kind of knew that he was very insecure. He wasn't kind of you know, in their face, and it didn't come out in a way that it was like it was silly, and they would just look at him and go, oh please, Well, I think there's one episode we should keep slamming your fingers. Yeah. We have clips of how many times my fingers got and I always had to try and come up with a different reaction.

I think my favorite was on the bench. It happened and I sat, I stood there, and then I just went totally backwards. In an episode, I think that you can hear me falling on the floor or something. So I did like that that they gave as good as you they got from you, And I think that's one of the things that evened it out. And again it was it was clear that you weren't getting anywhere, so it sort of defanged that the venom of what in other situations might actually be oh yeah, no, that's sexual harassment.

Yeah, And I think and I think it was clear that we all kind of liked each other, yeah, and which shows that context is key in situations, and it's all about not just what said, but how it said, who says it, what situation. And I think in this situation, I perhaps in a slightly different direction, but I think this kind of a character definitely has a place, whether it be in sitcoms or elsewhere, because they exist in the world, and I think there is a way to do it in a way that speaks to today's sensibilities. I'm not a writer, so I don't know how. I can't tell you. I love you said it that way, because it's true that to ignore what people are people you disagree with, or to think that they have no right to be that unless they're really doing harm to people, it's like, you know what, those judgments really aren't necessary.

I feel like it's game of thrones of these people who live a totally different kind of existence than you, and you know that's their culture. And as long as you're on the same page about something, you know, I've always said that, you know, I was really going to take us to be invader from outter of space to get this planet to to let down their guard about each other. I don't know. It's a very tumultuous time. And I think it's hard because people are people's lives are at stake in real things.

So it's we're getting into a very philosophical discussion. Let's get back to the wacky ladies. How the world has changed and in the way what we're talking about is is the way the world has changed from those times? Well, and I'm curious. I'm curious.

In the eighties, you're working around all these amazing ladies and these these amazing talent, and you're basically being kind of the you know, the Schmidt in New Girl. You're you're being kind of a jerk, right, Yeah, how did that play out? Just like amongst you? Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, Yeah, I think for the most part, we all had just made your crushes on each other as a team, we all loved each other, we all worked together, we all played together.

There's some people that I still see why I just lost Barry, And I say I because it was very personal. She was a dear friend and her husband was somebody who I knew before I knew Barry. You know, he was in the improv group Sam Freed and and she had she had gone through enough and it was time, and it was. But it doesn't make it any easier to lose those people. And I think of Marion Mercer, who was maybe one of the easiest going, most brilliantly talented comedians.

Like I said, she wanted Tony for promises, promises, and everybody just adored her. I was. I was directing once and it was like, what could you say to What could you say to her? I was directing, and I came out and I gave everybody notes and I said, oh, Barry tried to think that end Gail and I looked at Mary and I said, married nice dress, and I walked through it. Now we had fun and we were there to support each other.

The four last seasons we did the show, we had no audience, we had no network, and so we just were on the set, keeping an eye on the monitors for each other. When people would commence. Sometimes new directors would come in and everybody would be like, well, you know, it was really an amazing team. I think it was Tony Thomas, one of our executive producers, who said this was sitcom heaven, and he was the reason that came back on the air, and my character was the reason you didn't see the show for the last twenty five years before that, because they had to go back. You said, there was a lot of music use it.

They had to negotiate with each owner of every song and you had to track them down, so there were a good hundred songs. Tony went to Paul Brownstein, who does all of those shows. His name is on the end of all of those shows that you're probably watching because he got the rights to him and he edited, He had them for the format and has to make adjustments. Tony said, this is show that we always love that's never been done. Would you want to take it on.

We don't really even have a record of the songs from the eighties, and you did so many and they were they were big songs that you were singing like it's not like, oh, this obscure song, you're doing big stuff sometimes. Yeah, when we could, I think we lost seven episodes when he made the transfer, just because he said he had to go and find these people. But he said, look, this is just you know, it's favorite nations. Here's how much I can tell. And if they said no, it was like okay.

If they took it out of the episode because they had to make them a little shorter anyway, or if it was integral to the plot. Just he said, well, this is one episode we won't be using. Oh that's so interesting. I hadn't thought of that. I went into He spent a lot of time and he got in touch with me and he said, I just wanted to know IM editing these shows, and you are making me laugh, and so he and I have become for instance.

That's so that was kind of sweet. That was nice to hear. That is so nice to hear. And it's one of the things we talk about when we can't figure out why a show doesn't have outing, It's like, okay, it might be the music. So it was awful ring that we were off the radar for like twenty five years before it came.

I think infamously, Wonder Years was one of those shows had had a lot of clearance issues because of the music on that show. And for some reason, China Beach is coming to mind, I mean mostly eighties shows. Obviously, this was before the the VCR came along. Sharon, that's who I haven't heard China Beach mentioned in years. Yeah, I could be wrong, but Usill Award in China Beach.

For some reason, her name just popped into my head when you said it, But I don't remember Dana Delaney. I know Mark Heldenberger was one of the nurses. Also, yes, maybe I'm thinking of actually, And of course this was a time when when one couldn't watch all the shows. Susan mentioned our mutual friend who introduced us, and I used to tape some things for her because she wasn't able to tape them for her, and also because she went like like, we needed to tape something on ABC and CBS because we were we were both in film school at the time, our friend Brittany, and so I'd be like, Okay, I'm going to tape this, you tape that, and then we'll trade tapes now and now we can do all of that. In the seventies, if you were doing theater in the seventies, you never really saw new television because you were working during prime time, right and now the way of taking things necessarily, and so I think some people were telling me that they had never I had never seen The Odd Couple, which was even before that the television show, because they were doing theater and they was like, that was good.

Yeah, the show says you hadn't seen it didn't make it not good. You just were you see it until later on. It's it's been interesting to be alive and old enough to pay attention to all these things. Is this evolution has happened from you see it or you you watch it when it airs, or you miss it too. Everything just about it, your fingertips, accept some of the things from from back before they had to think about clearing things like music and having music rights.

It's it's it's been very interesting. You're at the beginning of that journey. I imagine how I feel. I pretty much remember the beginning of television. I mean making that the first day.

I was like, I remember early fifties television because I was from upstate, New York and stennected. He had one of the first stations, w RGB. I don't remember, don't don't. I won't quote you, but I remember dinner Time six thirty to six forty five. I think it would be the Earl Putney trio or quartet would play dinner music for fifteen minutes.

But I remember that name. Earl Putney to me is like a great name how do you forget that? You don't forget that, you know. So I just remember watching a lot of the development of teaving, of the experiments, you know, the Ernikofaxs and and said Caesar at all of the beginnings of these creative people who are experimenting with with the form and coming up with some really unique things. And so I'm curious speaking of the creators, the creators of It's a Living were stucased.

I know, I'm going to keep bringing us back around, but I love hearing about all this other stuff too. Did you work closely with Declare and Jenna McMahon. I believe that that was an idea that they had and they approached Tony and Paul. They were never involved. I think they bought me.

I don't know how the arrangement they made, but I think it was their idea. And then Tony and Paul decided to do it about eighties women, and and then they brought in who else his name you have there? I I know that the Tom Wheedon came on I think later seasons. Yeah. I loved Tom Yeah, and his family.

I actually am still in touch with his kids, Josh and Jeb and well Josh I saw his memorial and we had a nice long talk. Is just came on the set when he was like in his early twenties a couple of times, and he was around and I remember him well. I like people's kids, I like knowing people's families. I like to see it all of that, and so I was I felt very blessed that I got to just be there for Tom's memorial because a dear man and he used to write. We got to a point in the show the last two seasons where they were trying to save some money.

All of a sudden, an episode came along along and I didn't have anything to say, okay, and then the next episode didn't have a song. So I went in to see them and I said, Okay, guys, this is me as really an observer of the show. It's going to sound like it's me the ego of Paul Crapple. But one of the unique things about this show is my character send me the outage itself and silly. It's an energy that isn't integral to this show, that doesn't exist in any other show.

And they went, yeah, we just didn't want to spend too much money on getting the rights to other songs, and so Tom out of He was a Harvard guy who used to write for Harvard Lampoon and he would do other hasty putting shows. He said, I'll write some songs and I'll do it for you know, whatever the minimum costs would be, and so he did so until of the Hunt is something that he wrote, or there would be songs about girls that you know, somebody would say, Hi, isn't my friend? You know whatever. I can't even remember the names of the songs, but then I'd write a song about them, and it was always some silly funny and he would write them all Oh, that's great, And Mark Sotkin said, Sotkins, Yeah, Mark had been on Laverne Shirley.

He may have been around there when I didn't my next job after No that two jobs player. But the first time I really had a nice role on a sitcom was Laverne Shirley, and he was over there. And so let's talk about Laverna Shirley for a second, because it is a show that technically start in the eighties, but I mean seventies, but ran through the eighties. How was that show to work on and how were those ladies. I was there when they were having a tough time with each other they I mean, that's not a secret.

I think there was at a time where they were not having a good time. But boy, they minute the camera's roles. They were brilliant with each other. Yeah, I mean, they weren't fighting. It was just a little chill in the air, you know.

But it was a fun episode because I think in the episode, I think that Penny was going but she was very good friends with Arc car Funckle and it was her birthday, so and it was the Beatnick Show, and all of a sudden arts now in the show, and so I'm there working with Arc car Funcle, who being or an old rock and roller and an old folk singer. I love Balsimo an car Funcle, and I was just thrilling for me to be there. But the night of the show at the table because he was in the show. Her the friends were there, and I think it was Terry Garr was at John Hurd. Terry I had already met once and just thought that she was just one of the most lovely, funny, adorable, smart people on the planet.

And I think she probably still lives. Although I hadn't been in touch with her for a few years, number of years, so that was magical to be a part of that show because it was a hit show at the time. But when the cameras rolled, they were matching together. They really were. And then you worked on a Remington's steal.

I did a Remington steal with Pierce and Stephanie, and Stephanie because of other people in our lives have kind of remained friends and that was kind of a cool thing to be able to do. I got to do some some fun our stuff, actually, and that was that was one of them. I didn't like my performance in it, but I thought that, but I always liked the show. It was like, that was a good show. I would say that was one of the goofier episodes.

I think it was the television If I was in it, then it's how you know it's a goofy episode. Faith Prince, who was a Broadway person, a wonderful actress who wanted to Tony when she did Guys and Dolls. She played my wife on that and whenever we see each other, she always says, Paul was my husband on the first television that I ever came and we actually stay in touch too, and she's she's a delightful person. Yeah. One of the fun things about going back and revisiting these shows is catching glimpses of somebody of people like faith Prints and others that you go, oh, oh, you know, yeah, she was doing a little she was doing a little shop at that point.

You know, it was a great time to be out there. Certainly for me, it was a great time to be out there for things I got to do, whether it was love both, Fantasy Island, you know, to do Fantasy Island with Bob Denver, Fantasy Island, Welcome to Fantasy Denver. How was that? He was so sweet. We had a really good time.

We were talking about It's a Living was on the air for a few years at that point, had been on and off. And he said, I really liked your working in that show. And I said, and I go back far enough, remember you from Jobie Gillis playing Manergy Cramps. And he went, oh, it's that's nice to hear because everybody always says Gilligan Gilligan, and which means a lot to me. But you know, it's nice to know that people know me for other things.

And then he started talking about being pigeonholed. He said, you know, because yet it's so hard to break out when you're recognized and thought that as being one thing, and I said, oh, I know, because because of even just doing it's a living. It's like every role I get is for somebody wearing a tuxedo. And I said, once I got hired to play a magician at a wedding, he wasn't wearing a tuxedo, but you knew he owned one. And we laughed about that.

And then the ad came over and said, okay, first team, you're in, and we were getting ready to go in and the guy said to Bob, Bob, are you going to wear that hat? He said, I gotta the hat. I don't wear the hat. Nobody's gonna know who I am. Oh, Bob, don't you know you just said we're all conver safe.

The one he's a chance not to hear the hat. He was a doll. We had a good time, yeah, And Apolonia was on it. Before she was Apolonia, her name was Patty and I haven't seen her forever, but the last time I ran into her, I went over and said, hey, we did it. And before I could get out of my mouth.

She says, I know who you are. We did Fantasy on it together. She was lovely. Oh my gosh, that is fantastic. And that's actually another thing that's changed about television these days, because back then, you know, you would see actors on Fantasy Islands and guests starring on other shows while they were doing their show, and there's just not a lot of that these days, probably because of scheduling and people have other things to do.

But I kind of missed that too. It's kind of fun. It was kind of fun. But now with all the streaming shows, people are gonna do three serious. We're doing three serious.

We're gonna make these five episodes here and then you're gonna go and work on that show. But because of my union involvement, I ended up knowing a lot of people. But one night I was leaving and people said, oh, Tom Hanks is here to see the show, and I went, you know, if I have to go, No, he's here to see the people that did the show, and I'm not gonna. I don't want to go and say have to remind him of who I am. I haven't seen him in thirty years.

So I started to leave, and they said, Martin Shorten and Andrea Martin are here. I went, Okay, I gotta go back in. I went to college with Andrea, and I've known Marty forever and they both are godspelled people, so we were part of that same universe. And I had just been in touch with him. So I walked in, and you know, they yelled at my name, and I went over to give him a hug, and I looked at everybody else in the cast and I said, I told you I know famous people I've known as the person who knows everybody in the business.

And then Tom and I talked for two seconds and we already went all the way back to doing promos for ABC. He said, you know, I think we probably were good actors, and first of all, that Tom Hanks would even put me in the sentence with him I was being a good actor. And he said, I think we're probably were good actors, but I think we got hired because of our hair, because he remembered, I mean we both had hair. And when he was doing Bosom Buddies says, when we were doing the first season of It's a Living So and we had this similar same director, so we knew each other through those times, and that was just such a treat to see the three of them. Yeah.

At one point I said to Tom and said we've got to get a picture and he said yeah, yeah. So I looked at Marty said, Marty, I want to get a picture with somebody famous, would you take it? But we got a picture of all of us and Tom is looking in like he's he's photo bombing me with Andrew and he's like, Oh, that's fantastic. You know. It's because these people just have such good spirits and they're all just enjoying the laughter.

You know, these are people who enjoy doing what they do. I don't think anybody would disagree with knowing just how passionate and care and Tom Hayes's because he's presses it all out. But Andrew is the same way, and Marty's the same way. You know, they just love what they do and that makes it a treat. And my cast and into the Woods is filled with people who love what they do.

When we support each other, every time a new person goes on in a new role, we meet right before the curtain, getting a circle. We do a whole thing with a circle. You know, just to lift them up and then send them into the woods and it's pretty pretty beautiful. That's awesome. Okay, back to back to TV in the age, back to TV in the eighties.

Well, actually I have a question. It's being about us a living. Can you tell us how it came about that you began directing some episodes of the show. Su Silver was the one who created my characters the He's the other name you didn't get to on the list of the writers, Su Silver, who now lives in Rochester. And we just saw each other a couple of years ago, and I started directing because I've been directing theater and I was interested in pursuing it, and I just started following people around and a lot of that had to do with Jay Sandra, who was my mentor maybe one of my dearest friends.

He was my father, uncle, brother, friend, mentor dear dear man lost him back two years ago now, and he really and we thought the first time we saw each other, he would tell the story about how I got into space, about something, and then by the end of that day, I was a lot. I just thought he was just the best person I would want to know. And so we had like a forty year relationship in terms of just being dear friends. And he mentored a lot of people. Jim Burrows credits him with having with the career that he's had, and just a wonderful man who taught me the TV roes and so that was part of my deal.

We you know, we did it for two half seasons and then I was even thinking of moving into production. And then they said, you were going to do the show again. Do you want to do it? And I said, and they had already talked to other people, and I said, I would love to, but I would love to direct. I'd love to be able to direct.

And they say, we will do everything we can kind of make that happen. And because Anne was going through things when we first came back that first season, they said, you know what, we're going to be around one what season, So we don't want to put any stress in anyone, not that it would have been, but I said, I understand. So the next season I got to direct, I think cho and then the next season three, I forget how many I AMDB says six, you directed six, I think, So I did direct six, And then there were a couple of compilation shows. But I was ready for it, and I knew the entire crew. When I knew the cast, and then they were there to support me.

It was the best way to be able to get into it. It was just always something I was interested in doing. That's fantastic you're able to get that opportunity. And I still direct. We created a show with Jay Johnson who was on soap who I knew, and we approached him about creating a show for my girlfriend Deny, and we did and we didn't.

It's always to me, it's always about the process. My goals are not you know, build it and they will come or they won't. And it's never about the result. It's like, was it a good process? You feel like you created something?

Then it's ten people saw it and found it great. Great If a million people did, I guess better. As long as it was a good process. So we went to Broadway with Jay's show, which was pretty darned wonderful if I do say so myself, because he was so compelling and he's so good at what he does, and it was a hard sell on Broadway. But we want a Tony.

We want to special theatrical event Tony for that show, and so tell us a little bit more about that, I mean winning a Tony. Yeah, did you think you were going to win? Well, there were only kids things in the category. Oh my gosh. They still created the category because they said both shows are worthy, so let's do it.

We didn't know, we really it was. It was a toss up for our listeners. This is Jay Johnson, the two and only is at the name of the show. Yeah, and actually in the show is seventeen years old. There is a video of it that is on Amazon, actually rented, and it's it's pretty representative.

I think they did a really beautiful job. I was not involved with the actually making of the videos when I was on tour doing a wicket and having a blasting that I'm going back to doing more theater, but I'm looking forward to going back to La and Passa. I want to be the old malf I want to be the old man. People say, well, first of all, you've seen me younger than you are, because I am getting old, And I say, but you know what, I don't mind being in this age. I've waited a long time to be this age.

Do you think this is this is one of your ages? This is one of your good ages. Oh I've been playing the old man for fifty years, but now I actually don't have to put on any makeup. Yeah. I don't know what the future is for me in terms of how much work I'll be doing that.

I don't pursue it. I never really did. I don't pursue it per se. This thing fell into my lap on Broadway. I had no audition for it when they did it at Encourse and I got a call on a Friday saying, you know very quickly when I'm moving moving to Broadway, and the casting people who had done Wicked, I thought you'd be great for it.

Are you interested? But the creatives don't really know you. They want to hear you sing, and I couldn't. They couldn't find anything on YouTube, and I went, there's about one hundred and twenty half hours someplace on YouTube forty they're forty years old. So I said, well, when do they want to hear it?

And they said, well, you have to make myself take now. So I had him. I got all this equipment here for self things, but it was like, now, okay, I had it, Murphy and my phone. I picked up my guitar, which is over my shoulder place. I see it's the guitar.

I see it is. I picked up my guitar. I sang one verse of an eight A sixty song during the pacemakers don't let the Sun catch a crying. I sent it to him Monday morning. They said, you start tomorrow.

I said, that's my Broadway Broadway audition. And I died going at this the wrong way. Yeah, I just like throw it out there, you know. And it's been a treat. It's been a treat, and I have two amazing kids.

What more can I say. I felt very much a part of the television scene in the eighties and the relationships that I have out there. I missed the people out in LA because I've been in New York since before COVID most of the time. You did one season with Louise Laster. I'm curious about that.

Oh, Louise is such a unique talent. She does what she does like nobody else. I always just said, and she's teaching, And I said, so, Louise, if people know she is. Louise was married to Woody Allen. She started in a couple of his first films.

She did Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, she went through some tough times with that. While that was going on, they did a half an hour a day and it was a comedy. And after I got to meet her, I thought, wow, that that had to have been tough for her and everybody else. She has her own way of doing things. I mean, I'm not here to tell bad about anybody.

It was not easy. But I always said that if she's teaching comedy, because everybody always knows a secret of comedy and first of all, faster and louder, but Louise was brilliant, and so for her it was the secret of comedy's slower and softer. You know, she was like because she and she did the on and one could pull it off because she was just so unique. At the first reading, you sit down and you read the script and it's for the producers and the writers to hear it so they can go and make corrections. And she's just meeting us all and she sits down and Jay Sandrick they brought him into direct the first episode, and her name of her character is Maggie, and so the stage direction is Jay reads it and he goes, all right, everybody welcome and welcome to Louis Slasher.

Again, Maggie enters and crosses to Jan and then Louise said, Hi, Jan, Can I say Jan? Hi? He goes Hi, Jan seems very intimate and I'm just meeting herself. Can I say jam high? And we all went.

Jay said sure and he said. Maggie enters and crosses the jam and she says hello Jan. I feel that high was too intimate, and I wanted can I say hello? And that's kind of what it was like for God bless her. She I got along with her great because I just I respected her talent and moved it.

That is fantastic. Everybody has their own process and again, very unique characterization. It stands out and you're sitting there going, well, this doesn't feel like a the right fit, and yet somehow she's still hilarious in the show. Yeah, yeah, but it was. It was for one season and they the name I think they thought it's a limiting, sounded ethnic, and then they got rid of Susan sud didn't get rid of They did not bring back Susan Sullivan and Wendy Shawl and they brought in Louise zach Lad certain changed the two making a living, so that I brought a very New York Jewish sensibility into the show and got rid of these two you know shakes the goddesses.

Yes, it was a very different cast, and I loved that first guest. You know what, every cast was pretty wonderful to work where they were all just wonderful people. It was a treat and we treated everybody that came into be on the show with more than respect. And it was something that some of us had talked about. Sometimes you would go up to a show, you would walk on the sound stage.

You're walk into a show. You didn't know where anything was or who anybody was, and you didn't really talk to anybody until he sat down to read. And every week Gall and I especially would pretty much treat him at the door and say, craft services over there. You can use that phone and you know you're dressing them. If you need to know what you need anything, just come to us.

And then we would sit down and by the time they would do the read, they would feel like they were part of the show. And that's the way we were trained, and that's you know, that's for me, that's the theater way of doing things and that's the way everybody should be doing things. Marian Mercer. I was there when she went to the network for It's a Living and I think being in the room with her calmed me down because she was so nervous, and I already knew and loved her and was just thrilled to be standing next to her to go in front of the big shots at ABC at the time, and the fact that she was nervous kind of calmed you down. Yeah.

It was like, well, if she's nervous, then it's okay to be nervous. And then I wasn't as nervous. Now you're going physically into the network at the time. Yeah, when you go to the network, you basically sign a piece of paper that tells you how much money you're going to make for the next seven years, which makes your head explode because you've already spent it now in your money. You haven't even gotten the job yet, so now you're going to go it's like it's the sixty four you know, it's it's I wanted to be a millionaire, the sixty four thousand dollars question.

This is the first question. It's all and there's no guarantees but that's you know, psychologically, but it's almost a test. If you can do that, then you're gonna be okay on the show. I think there's some and maybe doing how don't think anybody thought about it, but I'm very aware of psychologically what each step does. And when you're in there, don't expect them to laugh unless the head of the network is laughing.

They're all kind of looking out at the corner of their eyes see if their boss is liking it, and then they'll all laugh, Oh my god. And so I am curious about that, Like, because it's on for two seasons, you get canceled, and then we were off the three and a half years, and in that little lapse of time, somebody who is very good at syndicating things put a package together all of all of the Thomas shows because they had four shows on that one year make Room for Daddy Us anyway, there were four shows are three and they put them together as a package Summer Gold, and they started showing it down in Texas and our show started getting these ratings through the RU down there, and somebody said, let's syndicate it, let's do it, let's go after let's work with Laura Mar which was a company that I think was eventually bought by Warner Brothers and then named Dick Robertson was the president, and he agreed and they left us alone.

Nobody was there telling you I think that the person just clothes were wrong, or I think you know nobody. They did know network executives. And I remember at one Christmas party one the year, at a Christmas party for Lauramar, I was talking to Dick Robertson. He said, I really like you on the show. And he said, I think you guys made around next year kind of inferred that we hadn't gotten I said, from your mouth to your ears.

It was all up to him. So you heard rumor that it was coming back before. It wasn't just like a cold call of like, oh we're back, can we put the band back together? You kind of heard it was happening. No, they kind of worked out a deal that if they could get certain members I think together, that we would do it again with the second cast.

And we all loved doing the show with each other. It was it was it was like it was like summer stock. It was like doing theater. It didn't feel like we were doing it, and there are shows to have that feel, and especially for a sitcom, you're doing a news script every week. You know, on an hour show, sometimes you don't see your co stars.

You don't see the people who were in the show because you're in a shot here and working with one other person. And sometimes you don't see the other stars because they are doing other things in that episode. And it's locations. But when you're doing a sitcom, you show up on their day of rehearsal, read around the table, and you hang out. It's different.

Now it's different. I went and I observed on a show and it was a little upsetting to me because I do love people. They were rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing, and then it was time said, okay, we're on a break. Well, when we used to be on a break, that's when we would talking to each other. Maybe you could get something drink, you know, some water or a tea, or go to the bathroom.

And now when they say okay, we're on a ten minute break, everybody sits there and they kick out their phone and they stare at the phone for ten minutes and then they go, okay, we're back and I's say, you guys don't talk to each other, how do you get to know each other? What a concept talking to each other? And you know, that's a different time. That's a different and it's and I understand it, and it's you know, I'm not exactly saying get off my lawn, but it's me. It's it's the experience that I've been through saying things that's different.

I don't know how I feel about it. First, Angelians like you have shot to fame, Like she became the sex symbol from that show in the first season. Basically, yeah, that's that way. She has done Broadway in Sugar Babies, she kind of took off playing Yeah, that's a similar kind of character. And she was good at it.

And she's been around for a long time. She's in the movie of Gypsy as little Baby Junior. So she had a good theater background and she had done so ChIL work. But it was kind of expected with her character. I think I don't think anybody was surprised.

And she and I used to do some things for ABC together. We would go and do stuff together and so, and she was just a theater She's just one of those people who loved hanging around. She was abroad, she was you know the guys, you know, it's just those people who you hang around and the camaraderie there, and they're all talented. So yeah, so she kept she she was the breakout character in terms of getting on covers of things. The other women were all all fine and great and worked wonderfully well together.

I'm still in touch with Gail. I had not seen Crystal, and I adored Crystallion and seen Crystal in years. I hope she's well. I run into Cherley because she we both did Wicked. She.

I actually went to see the show because a friend of mine me is going on in the New York Company. And I walked past the stage manager's office and I see this beautiful woman sitting there, and I walked back and my friend said to me. At the same moment, the stage manager said to her, that's so and so they you know, my friend is saying, that's our new maurable Cheryl Lee Ralph, and the stage manager was saying, oh, he played the wizard at paulk Repel. And you can hear us both yelling out the other person's name and then running into each other. And she divorced.

She knows what she wants and she just puts it out there and makes things happen. And I respect that. I respect that, all right, And so I have a couple of the questions from my sister. She's like, I have questions, so you can answer them or not because they're not a official from us. Okay.

Were there any romances amongst the it's a living cast. If not romances, maybe just dalliances. What's a dalliance whatever? We wanted to be a dalliance. There was a lot of flirting.

It was a lot of flirting. I had a crush on all the women, and I think that there were times when they maybe not all but you know that it was reciprocal. But I but nothing ever, no brothers and sisters and just loving. Because of the way my character interacted with them, anything that I said that that wasn't just totally inappropriate was acceptable, you know. So Yeah, there was a lot of flirting and a lot of fulness and just we just we were there together.

It was a beautiful time, I think for everybody. I think in retrospect, I don't think anybody could say that it was a horrible time or it was a bad time or a bad experience. Everything had in moments. We did one hundred and twenty episodes. But you know, Barry always knew that my mother was obsessed with her hair, so she made me obsessed with my hair.

Barry I knew I was obsessed obsessed with my hair. So anytime it was a close up of me, that was like, okay, Paul, we're gonna do it. Just a shot of you. Anytime it was that, right, okay at five four three, she would just walk by and go, you're gonna wear a hair like that and just keep walking. And so it's like you might as well have said your flies open.

You know, I love that. It feels like a theater troop, right, It feels like you guys were very much a theater troop. And then we Dick Shawl lit the last four years, who was just dry and wonderful, funny, and he and Marry it together or magic. Over the years that everybody made a contribution to the show, every cast we had, and it was always strange when they know the first year when they made some of the changes, I'm not sure why. It certainly didn't.

Her careers, Wendy has had a lovely career doing a lot of voice stuff. I think Susan has probably done seven seventh series since then. Yeah, I think she went on to Falcon Crest right after that, a lot of Falcon Crest, and then she was on George Carlin's show. It's kind of a little of interest for him. And then she was one of the mothers in Garman Greg.

You know, she doesn't stop working, and she is one of the most delightful, smartest, just present, beautiful, a great spirit, a dear, great spirit. So I watched a little an episode in my wife. We always had an a and be and sometimes to see story in the show. Because of the short the show moved around so much. You didn't usually see people in the workplace really working while the show was going on.

That was part of the energy of the show. You know, they could be there talking to somebody there and then they go in the kitchen or they go into their lounge area. But it was called the episode's name was Ginger's Baby, and playing the baby was my son Will, And his name on the episode was Will. And he's an infant with a little nook in his mouth for most of it. And I'm thirty seven years old, and I'm just sitting there looking at Yeah life, that is fantastic.

That was me. That was me whimpering holding back of appreciation. Life well lived and not only need me in mine, I just whoever had a well lived life. Thank you so much for sharing somebody wonder for stories with us. I hope I shared stories that are actually part of the programmer.

We were, we went all over the place, We had a holographic conversation we did and we liked those. Yes, and so do our listeners. I think. So It's been fantastic to have you on. I'm so glad that Gordon put us in touch and that my sister met you.

Thanks so much, this was a treat. You guys are great. Oh thank you. Where can people find you online? Paul Krepple dot com.

I do have who website Paul Krepple dot com. I'm on Twitter or Paul Krepple. Although my niece has become very popular. Who's your niece? Her name is Kelsey Krapple.

Oh, she's my only niece, so she's my favorite niece. I have two incredible kids. I really feel blessed. Oh that's fantastic, that's great and My girlfriend wrote a play that we're doing a reading of. It's called Hoofer's and it's about dancers getting together for the fiftieth anniversary reunion of a Broadway show they did, which is now being having a revival.

And when they did it, it was the fiftieth anniversary of the show's original production. So it's like no known dancing, but they were doing it fifty years later. But it's funny and touching and look further they first. I like it for it's fantastic. Mercy Cross and her daughter or Fiona Landers, they wrote it together.

Awesome, What a creative family. You know. This is what I say to young actress. And I'm not the only one that says this. What else do you love doing?

Do everything you love doing, create other things if created creating is what you love to do, and then find the other areas to create them. Don't sit around any for the phone ring. If that means finding writers or directors or actors who are like minded, who inspire you or that you're inspiber, get together with them and create your own stuff. I'm in New I came to New York because I was in an in property that they've already been in existence, and I came in and then I contributed to it. We contributed to me.

It brought me to New York and all of a sudden, I didn't know anything about the business. I didn't even want to come to New York. But now I have agents and I'm being out. You know, it's just you've got to create the opportunity for yourself. Because I do know a lot of actors who the newer kids actually figured that out.

But I know a lot of people sometimes don't, but stay inspired, and some people just say, make sure you have a life to do it. Yeah a scene. Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you, citizen. It's been a treat. Thanks.

Take care for our audiography. Check out Paul's niece Kelsey Krepple on YouTube. The link is in our description. Learn more about Paul at Paul Krepple dot com. Check out Into the Woods at Into the Woods Bway dot com.

And that's all for this week's show. Tune in for our wrap up on It's a Living, where Susan and I dive deeper into some of our favorite episodes and tasks. We hope Eighties TV Ladies brings you joy and laughter. And lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch, all of which will lead us forward toward being amazing ladies of the twenty first century. Sty and so pretty the city