The above Video Slideshow – Eric Michael Gillett singing Larry Kerchner’s song
The above Video by Magda Katz at the National Arts Club in 2010
by Sandi Durell
As I search through the years, I find I’ve met and had friendships with some of the most memorable people who made a mark on my life, like Ervin and Edith Drake. They became good friends and many years ago, 2008 to be precise, both Linda Amiel Burns and myself did an interview with the ‘love couple,‘ a tell-all about when and how they first met and how it took 35 years later for them to reconnect and finally 7 years more to tie the knot. It’s one of the great love stories.
I recall the many parties they hosted at their home in Great Neck, L.I. where the hoi polli of the theater and cabaret world would attend and entertain, with Jon Weber or Steve Ross and others at the piano. As a couple, they were seen everywhere – both dressed to the nines!
Why it was only on April 25, 2014 that I produced a tribute benefit evening to Ervin Drake. He was 94 years of age. So many wonderful memories of those who took part: Charles Grodin who hosted, with performers including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Anita Gillette, Steve Ross, Sal Viviano, T. Oliver Reid, KT Sullivan, Jeff Harnar, Sidney Myer, Eric Yves Garcia, Carole J. Bufford, John Gabriel, Christine Lavin, Joe Sirola. Ervin passed away January 15, 2015, and Edith died in September of 2015.
Here are photos I’ve retrieved that are but a drop in the bucket of the many people in their lives.
Ervin, Jake LaMotta, Gary Marshall, Joe Sirola (photo Magda Katz)
Pat Addiss, Edith Drake, Tovah Feldshuh, Ervin Drake, Linda Amiel Burns
Ervin, Sandi, Edith, Laura Slutsky ?
Lynn DiMenna, Ervin, Edith, Sandi
Jane Klain, Edith, Sandi
Russ Weatherford, Edith Drake
PHOTOS BELOW AT THE BENEFIT CONCERT ON APRIL 25, 2014 (most are in the video above)
THE INTERVIEW CABARET SCENES JUNE 2008
