RIP Luis Ávalos
Luis Ávalos has passed away as well http://www.latintimes.com/luis-avalos-dies-electric-company-cuban-actor-dead-67-146777
shareRest in peace. You will always be a part of my childhood. <3
shareOh no man.
Beleive it or not everyone,Luis is only the 2nd adult cast member of The Electric Company to pass away. Jim Boyd passed away a year ago this month. Only one member of the Short Circus died too young.
Just over 42 years after the show started and now,nearly,37 years after the end. (Not including the re-runs that ran until 1985.) Avalos was only 25 when the show started and still 30 at the end.
I was 3 when the show started but didn;t watch until 1972 at age 4.
I'll never for get his work on the show. His muscial numbers that come to mind offhand are "Noodles","(I Can Never Tell) A Cabbage From A Lattuce" and "I'm Sloppy/I'm Not Sloppy",where he plays twin brithers who are oposite when it comes to their appearence.
He was a Spider Man villain called The Tickler,one of the odder villains in that sketch. One thing I'll never forget,is he and (Either Hattie Winston or else Lee Chamberlain) did a sketch as an interracial couple.
Which had to be a wonderful first for PBS and children's viewing.
It wasn't about equality but it showed it just the same in their
interaction with eachother as husband & wife.
It was only 48 hourse ago,that i watched him on a "Barney Miller" Season 4 DVD,in the 1977 episode called "Chase". Where Sgt. Wojciehowicz comandeers his taxi to pursue an armed robber.
Avalos gusted in many sitcoms and dramas and in 1983,he even got his own sitcom. Co-starring with MacLwean Stevenson in ABC's short lived "Condo".
Where they play two married dads,whose daughter and son have fallen in love. Trouble is,MacLEan;s character doesn't like Latinos to startwith and Luis's character doesn't want a caucasion boy dating his daughter.
Rest in Peace Luis (and belatedly Jim),we thank you and he and the resst of The Elecgtric Companycast for the early head start on reading,spelling and grammer,which tok with us to kindergarten & elemnetary school.
Who was the member of the Short Circus?
i feel just as sad now as I felt about Jim Boyd. Luis was great on the show. His funny singing voice (which really came across in sons like "I'm trying to live in a trumpet" is just one of the memorable things he brought to the show.
I'm not sure I remember The Tickler but I remember him as The Hum and The Blowhard. The latter was a bit formidable for Spider-Man. He also narrated a Spidey Story or 2.
Luis brought lots of good comedy to the show, such as when he played an orchestra conductor ("That is not the right note!") and the igor-ish mad scientist's assistant and as the Groucho Marx-like doctor- a predecessor of the one the late Les Lye played later on the 1980's Nickelodeon kid's show, You Can't Do That on Television.
RIP indeed, and thanks for the memories, Mr. Avalos!
Gregg Burge (Electric company name Dwayne/African American boy w/ glasses.
Gregg was 40 years old when he died in 1998.
Though the official cause of death was a brain tumor, it
is widely believed Burge was suffering from AIDS at the time of his death.
All the other "Circus" kids are OK.
Love rules & hate's for fools.
(MR.) happipuppi13 *arf,man!*
Actually, the African American male Short Circus member with the glasses was named Charley (Charlie?) from seasons 5 and 6 and was played by Rodney Lewis, Dwayne was in seasons 3 and 4.
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