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ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

Props Are Gone, But Melody's Memories Remain

by Cindy Marvell Friedberg

Within the seemingly endless annals of vaudeville juggling, Mel Ody (born Richard Earl Luby) stands out as a performer who valued equally technical expertise and the ability to make an audience laugh. An inspiration to many of his peers, Mel Ody is now remembered both for his innovative dexterity and for his delightful personality.

Born Sept. 24, 1913, in San Francisco, he moved with his family to Denver at a young age. He first encountered juggling when his father -- unsuspecting of where it would lead -- took him to circuses and vaudeville shows. These early memories stayed with the youngster until age 17, when he decided to become a professional juggler. ,

Under the name of Mel Ody -- symbolic of his goal to make a simultaneously comic and aesthetic impression on his audiences -- he received his first professional engagement at age 21. In what must truly have been a baptism by fire, it took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York. He was so well received there that he returned many times.

After his New York debut, Mel Ody juggled on many east and west coast television shows, including an appearance on Captain Kangaroo with Lumpy Branun (a.k.a. Mr. Green Jeans). In following years, his career took him through Asia and Europe, and led to introductions to such notable jugglers as Lottie Brunn and Tommy Curtin. A true performer, he loved his audiences, and during World War II he met and married an acrobatic dancer named Ruby Rae Wolf (Ruby Luby?!). At 33, he voluntarily joined the Marines, but this did not put a stop to his juggling. In 1943 he was willingly drafted to perform in U.S.O. shows. Witnesses recall that one of the more illustrious spectators, President Harry Truman, found the performance hilarious and had to be held in his seat by Secret Service personnel.

Although he worked without an assistant, Mel Ody used a wide variety of props in his show. His career also traced the development of popular juggling equipment. As a teenager, he constructed his own crude clubs with broom handles. Later, he used Harry Lind's wooden clubs, and in the early

1960's he befriended Jay Green and used some of the first plastic clubs that Green ever produced.

Instead of cigar boxes, Mel Ody manipulated wooden spools with felt tips. Jay Green, a close friend and colleague, maintains that Mel Ody was the first (and possibly only) person to spin a miniature tire on the inside of a Chinese parasol. His son, Richard Luby, recalled that, in addition to spinning plates, Mel Ody performed a unique routine in which he spun felt hats by whipping the sticks around their outer rims. Richard also remembers seeing his father do many tricks too subtle to perform in his act, including some complex coin manipulations. Like his friend, Bobby May, Mel Ody frequently juggled on ice, using the two skills to compose a graceful melody of motion and speed.

Mel Ody's last formal performance, at age 59, took place on ice in 1972 at the opening of the Manhattan Savings Bank. He died on March 10, 1976. In addition to his son, Richard, Mel Ody is survived by two daughters, Leslie and Janine.

Since his death, the city in which Mel Ody began and ended his career has taken back its own. In a recent housebreaking incident, the suitcase of props which Ody left behind was stolen from his son's apartment. Richard, who now attends juggling meetings in New York, said, "My father devoted his life to juggling and entertaining people. I wish I still had some of his props. "

Fortunately, not: even New York can steal memories!

Cindy Marvell is a performing juggler living in New York City