Roy Radin (13 November 1949 – last seen 13 May 1983, remains found 10 June 1983) was an American show business promoter who packaged vaudeville shows and
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...
music nostalgia tours in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was probably best known for his attempts to help finance the film ''
The Cotton Club'' (1984), and as the subsequent victim of a murder-for-hire at age 33. The trial in which four people were sentenced related to Radin's killing became known as "
The Cotton Club Murder." The story of Radin's murder became the subject of a book, ''Bad Company: Drugs, Hollywood and the Cotton Club Murder''.
Career
Radin was the son of Broadway promoter Al Radin, who owned a speakeasy and promoted Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s. Roy Radin was a high-school dropout who joined the
Clyde Beatty
Clyde Beatty (June 10, 1903 – July 19, 1965) was a famed animal trainer, zoo owner, and circus mogul. He joined Howe's Great London Circus in 1921 as a cage boy and spent the next four decades rising to fame as one of the most famous circ ...
Circus at the age of 16 doing publicity work. A year later, Radin signed
George Jessel and
J. Fred Muggs
J. Fred Muggs (born March 14, 1952) is a Common chimpanzee, chimpanzee born in the African colony of French Cameroon that forms part of modern-day Cameroon. Brought to New York City before his first birthday, he was bought by two former NBC pages ...
as part of his first traveling show. Radin continued to put together vaudeville shows and became a millionaire before the age of 20. Shows were packaged with Roy Radin's name getting first billing (e.g., The Roy Radin Vaudeville Revue, The Roy Radin Variety Show, Roy Radin's Vaudeville '77). The shows featured comedy acts including
George Gobel
George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, ''The George Gobel Show'', broadcasting from 1954 to 195 ...
,
Frank Gorshin,
Jack Carter,
Jackie Vernon,
Shecky Greene
Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield; April 8, 1926) is an American comedian. He is known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a headliner in the 1950s and '60s. He has appeared in several films, including ' ...
,
Milton Berle, Jessel, and The Roy Radin Orchestra. Berle and Jessel were among the regular masters of ceremonies. Comedians had a love-hate relationship with the tours, with Radin routinely becoming the butt of jokes. Reflecting on one tour, George Gobel told
Johnny Carson on ''
The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
'', "Roy Radin knows as much about show business as a pig knows about church on Sunday."
Throughout the 1970s, Radin's company Roy Radin Enterprises had multiple shows running at the same time. The tours were creatively financed, always showing as sold out but sometimes sparsely attended. Tickets were often sold as benefits for handicapped children, police officers, fire fighters or local causes. Advertisements by local communities were purchased in the souvenir magazine distributed at the venue. The financing was investigated by
New York state Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...
Louis Lefkowitz
Louis J. Lefkowitz (July 3, 1904 – June 20, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the Attorney General of New York State for 22 years. He was a Republican.
Early life and education
Lefkowitz was born to a Jewish famil ...
in 1975 after he found that only 27% of the funds were going to one of the attributed charities.
Radin expanded his shows to concentrate not only on comedy revues but also musical acts largely consisting of fading 1950s and 1960s performers. The performances were often in poorly equipped high school auditoriums and gymnasiums requiring lengthy bus rides. Musical performers included
The Drifters
The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...
,
Eddie Fisher,
The Serendipity Singers,
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFad ...
, and
Danny & the Juniors
Danny & the Juniors are an American doo-wop and rock and roll vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania originally consisting of Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova. Formed in 1955, they are most widely recognized for th ...
.
In April 1980, actress
Melonie Haller claimed that she had been beaten and raped during a party hosted by Radin at his
Southampton, New York
Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...
home, and that the events had been filmed.
[Haden-Guest, Anthony.]
Melonie Haller's Lost Weekend
. New York Magazine, May 12, 1980. Radin countered that Haller had willingly taken part in sadomasochistic sex games. He was charged with menacing Haller, criminal possession of LSD and cocaine, and illegal possession of a handgun. Radin pleaded guilty to the weapon possession and the other charges were dropped. He was fined $1,000 and given three years' probation on the weapons charge. Businessman Robert McKeage IV, also in attendance at the party, plead guilty to assaulting Haller and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
29 April 1981, URL retrieved 03 April 2010.
''Cotton Club'' movie
Hoping to diversify his company, Radin worked to establish contacts in the television and movie industry. According to associates, Radin became "obsessed" with the film and Broadway business and began to neglect the vaudeville and music revues. One of Radin's film contacts at this time was film producer
Robert Evans
Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930October 26, 2019) was an American film producer, studio executive, and actor, best known for his work on '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), and ''Chi ...
, who was introduced to Radin by one-time drug dealer Karen Greenberger (aka Lanie Jacobs). Radin was trying to break into the film industry with a movie about the legendary New York nightclub, the
Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...
. Radin's financial situation was reportedly quite challenged due both to neglecting his live tours and reported drug-related situations.
The deal being arranged on the film ''The Cotton Club'' would have Evans and Radin establishing a production company in which Radin and Evans would each own 45% of the film with the remaining 10% split between two other parties. Radin offered Greenberger (aka Jacobs) a $50,000 finders fee for her efforts which she found unsatisfactory.
Death
As ''The Cotton Club'' film financing was being arranged, the 33-year-old Radin was murdered. He vanished en route to a scheduled
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
conference on May 13, 1983, and was reported missing days later by his personal assistant.
[United Press Internationa]
Movie Producer's Remains Identified
June 12, 1983 His remains were found a few weeks later by a beekeeper and a forest ranger near
Gorman, California
Gorman is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County. It is located in Peace Valley south of the Tejon Pass, which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. Due to this location, the ar ...
, about north of Los Angeles.
Several years later, contract killer William Mentzer was among four people sentenced for shooting Radin multiple times in the head and using dynamite to make identification by authorities more challenging.
["'Cotton Club' Defendant Says Evans Not Involved: Trial." ''Los Angeles Times'', 27 April 1991.] At the trial, Karen Greenberger was convicted of second-degree murder and kidnapping. Her involvement was said to be motivated by anger about being cut out of a producer's role and potential profiting in the ''Cotton Club'' movie. As a result, the case was dubbed “The Cotton Club Murder.” Film producer Robert Evans was a person of interest in the Radin investigation. Two witnesses told police that Evans was involved in the murder and when asked under oath if he knew Radin, Evans invoked his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
However, Greenberger later testified that Evans had no involvement in the crime.
In popular culture
* The ''
Law & Order'' episode "
His Hour Upon the Stage" is based on the Roy Radin Case.
* The Netflix docuseries ''
The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness'' explores a speculative connection between Roy Radin and the
Son of Sam
David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer who pleaded guilty to eight shootings that began in New York City on July 29, 1976.
Berkowitz ...
murders in Episode 3.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radin, Roy
1949 births
1983 deaths
People murdered in California
Vaudeville producers
Deaths by firearm in California