The Artist Formerly Known as Retarded.

A puppeteer walks into the light.

Benny D’Anofrio had a massive heart attack and did not survive. 

I was fortunate to have known him since 1985. That’s when I first worked with the Famous People Players (FPP). Back then, the performers were “mentally disabled.” Before that, “retards.” In later years political correctness trended them through “differently-abled,” “physically challenged,” “handi-capable,” and “special needs.” Today we refer to “people with intellectual disabilities or impairments.” Tomorrow?

When Benny began his career as a puppeteer, he was just another retard.  

In 1976 Diane Thornton Dupuy founded Famous People Players as a Toronto summertime park project. Diane is a self-proclaimed poster child for ADHD. She’ll tell you it stands for “Amazing Dreams and High Drama.” Diane created a blacklight (UV) puppet company for kids left in the dark because of their physical or mental differences.  

Blacklight puppeteers (with and without any impairments) dress in black velour suits, gloves, and hoods. They create their magic with fluorescent puppets, vividly illuminated by ultraviolet lights. Diane’s company builds hundreds of foam and Celastic puppets. It’s pitch black onstage, where choreography is an intricate ballet of invisible bodies. At the end of each performance, the hooded puppeteers line up for a curtain call. With a flourish, they snatch off their black velour hoods and take their bows. There is never a dry eye in the house. 

In the ’70s, soon after Benny joined, Liberace discovered The Famous People Players. They toured as his opening act and played in Las Vegas. The company tributed their mentor with a life-sized piano-playing puppet. It required five puppeteers to manipulate Liberace. Benny was too green to be entrusted with FPP’s benefactor. His less complicated assignment: two hand-puppet violins flip over to become butterflies and then flit off into the wings. (The music was Barbra Streisand’s Evergreen, in case you’re interested). On opening night, Benny flipped the hand puppet violins into butterflies on cue. Then he just froze. And the two butterflies just froze. No flitting, no flapping, no exit. Just two bright yellow fluorescent butterflies frozen against a black void.  

After the show, stern looks abounded, but opening night jitters were forgiven.

The next night, the butterflies plummeted to the ground. Then the wheels of Liberace’s white puppet limousine crushed the butterflies.

In a rage, Diane flew into Benny’s dressing room, all set to fire him. She found Benny crying in front of his dressing room mirror.  

“Don’t Yell. I know you yell because you love us, but you can’t fire me.”

“Why not?” Diane asked.

“Because I’m going to do it right. I promise. I’m going to get it right next time. I promise you.”

“You promise?”

“And besides, you can’t fire me. The next stop is Toronto, and my parents already bought tickets.”

Diane left the dressing room and pretended to discuss Benny’s future with Liberace and his manager, Seymour Heller. She returned with one more chance.

Later that week, at Toronto’s O’Keefe Center, when Barbra sang EVERGREEN.

“You and I will make each night a first,

Every day a beginning, Spirits rise,

and their dance is unrehearsed,

They warm and excite us ’cause we have the brightest love..”

Those butterflies flew, and flapped, and flitted and soared. In fact, they stayed on stage long after their exit cue. After all, his parents were in the audience. Later that year, Liberace gave Benny a curtain call award: Most Improved Performer. Benny’s confidence and talent grew for the next thirty years. 

Benny appeared as himself with Brooke Adams in the Joseph Cates TV movie “Special People.”

As a touring stage manager and later US board member, I worked with Benny in the dinner theatre and on tours of the US, Canada, and Japan. His enthusiastic over-confidence was infectious. His work ethic and dedication to FFP were unmatched. “Need any help? Can I help you with that? What can I do next?”

 Over the decades, Benny D’Anofrio, like many original performers, slowed down because of the physical demands of FPP. In addition to performing, the puppeteers loaded their trucks, set up their stage, and pre-set the hundreds of puppets required for each performance. 

After thirty years with the company, Benny transitioned from backstage to the front-of-house. Louis Janetta, Matire’d of Toronto’s famous Imperial Room, volunteered to train Benny for his new career as the first Maitre’d for the dinner theatre. Benny became the face of FPP, greeting and escorting guests to their tables with enthusiastic tales of his adventures on tour.

Benny and Sam Ellis, FPP’s Broadway Stage Manager. Benny is wearing the butterfly bow tie I gave him when he ascended to his new position.

Benny D’Onofrio began as a withdrawn, fearful, retarded kid. With guidance, love, and his own hard work, he performed with a group of professional entertainers for four decades. 

Not a big name in the entertainment biz, Benny was 64 when he died. The FPP Facebook page had over 3000 comments, condolences, and memories of Benny.  

Benny D’Onofrio brought joy to everyone he met.

He will not be soon forgotten.

https://famouspeopleplayers.com