Rickie Layne, 81; Borscht Belt Ventriloquist Became a Major Hit on Sullivan’s 1950s TV Variety Show
LA Times
Rickie Layne, a ventriloquist whose frequent appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” with his Yiddish-accented dummy Velvel boosted the former Borscht Belt comic’s career to a new level in the 1950s, has died. He was 81.
Layne, a longtime resident of Northridge, died of heart failure Feb. 11 at Tarzana Hospital, his family said.
Layne was performing at Ciro’s on the Sunset Strip with singer Maria Cole in 1955 when Nat King Cole would stop in each night to watch his wife.
Cole was so impressed with Layne and Velvel that he urged Sullivan to put the act on his popular Sunday night variety show. Layne made his Sullivan show debut on Jan. 1, 1956. Afterward, Sullivan invited him to return in two weeks, and Layne and Velvel made several dozen return visits over the years.
Sullivan was such a fan of Layne and Velvel that he’d often get into the act himself, serving as straight man for the dummy, who referred to the normally stone-faced TV host as “Ed Solomon.”
He later worked occasionally as a character actor in films, including “The Shaggy D.A.,” and on television, including a 1986 guest shot on the comedy series “Night Court,” in which he and Velvel appeared as an aging ventriloquist and his dummy.
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