“45 Minutes From Broadway” debuts on WVOX
By Tim Gray

When electric trains first carried riders from New Rochelle to New York City in 1907 it took 45 minutes.  The trip and the city’s new train station inspired George M. Cohan to write the hit comedy “Only 45 Minutes From Broadway.”  Now, almost 100 years after the play put the Queen City on the map, a group of New Rochelle residents have resurrected its memory.

The creative team of Art Zuckerman, his wife, Susan Zuckerman, and radio partner Robb Pruitt have put together a show of the same name, detailing everything that is happening on the Great White Way.

“As they say, today WVOX… tomorrow the world,” joked Art Zuckerman.  He and his wife are regulars at New Rochelle’s legendary WVOX studios as co-hosts of “Z” Travel and Leisure Hour on 1460 A.M.

“But seriously, with all the same talk shows on politics, sports and shock it’s about time the world gets a format covering theater with behind-the-scenes interviews, previews, stand-up comedy, writers, producers, directors and more for the sophisticated public,” said Zuckerman.  “Here we like to have a good time.:

The new show, which is presented after the “Z” Travel and Leisure Hour, is attracting some big names on Broadway and providing a wealth of information to the theater-going public, said Zuckerman.  Guests include Frank Gorshin, Frances Sternhagen, Rebecca Luker (nominated for a Tony award for her role in “The Music Man”), to name a few.

The program’s guest this past Monday was comedian and impersonator Rich Little, who is currently on a national tour appearing in “The Presidents.”  Little kicked off the programming with a four-minute segment in which he played:  Richard Nixon behaving badly; Ronald Reagan talking with Jimmy Stewart; Bill Clinton denying his denials to James Carville, a democratic consultant to the former president (played by co-host Robb Pruitt).

“it was a blast,” said Pruitt, an actor and voice-over specialist (he is the blue M&M in the candy commercials) who has performed with Little in the past.  “It just worked really well.”

Riding on the success of their other program, the show has not had problems lining up guests, according to Art Zuckerman.

“We used to share what we know about the theater with our friends,” he said.  “Now we’ve carried it over to radio and share it with everybody.”

The show can be heard on WVOX, Mondays at 9:00 p.m. immediately following “Z” Travel and Leisure.
 
Robb Pruitt is a graduate of Florida State University with an Honors BA in English and a MFA in Theatre.  As a stand-up comedian he has appeared all over the country, but not since the early nineties.  He’s got this thing about drunks and bars.  Long story… On television he has been seen as a comic spokesman for Ramada Inns, Wendy’s, Kuppenheimer’s, Nissan, and comic spokes-chef for Knoor.  Currently he can be seen in spots for LendingTree.com, Johnson & Johnson, Scott’s Lawn Care and Road Runner.  But his two kids, Robbie, age 10 Marie, age 6, would like you to know he is the voice of the Blue M&M.  Just this past fall he starred, opposite his boyhood (and manhood) hero, Rich Little, in the PBS special, The Presidents, doing the impressions of Bobby Kennedy, Bob McNamara, Chuck Colson, Marlon Fitzwater and James Carville.  Other television credits include, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Law & Order, Now and Again, and the Bad Good Samaritan on Spin City.  He also stars as Johnny Miller in the British farcical chat show “Miller Time” filmed in the UK for Channel 4. 

On the New York stage he has starred in the original cast of Only Kidding, Andrew After Dark at the New Group, Voodoo Economics, Incommunicado, Pot at the End of Your Elbow, and The Presidents at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Nyack, New York.  In other incarnations he has also appeared as both a comedy writer and performer on television with MTV and Comedy Central, as well as in New York on the stage with such comedy groups as Brain Trust at Manhattan Punchline and Presents of Mind.  He also has an extensive radio resume, writing and performing in syndicated shows The Less You Know About Sports and Lost America with Milo Digsby, and most recently as writer/performer/associate producer of The City Zoo, a live radio sketch comedy show recorded for public radio.  He is the author of two plays, Pot at the End of Your Elbow, (New York) and A Prisoner’s Dream, (New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles).  His satirical mock-umentary Billy and Bobby; the Hollywood Years, written/directed/performed with Bill Lobley, received awards at both the Sarasota Comedy Festival and at Film Fest New Haven for best comedy short, and won the panel’s choice for outstanding merit at the New York Film Expo in 2002.  Recently the film is in development with American Movie Classics.  His short screenplay The Big Day recently won the 2002 Westchester Film Festival and the Bucks County Film Festival and he is currently working on two more short films, My Life as a Cat and The Security Cam Festival (the latter with Harry Prichett, star of the up coming Off-Broadway show Work=Pain=Success).  Look for them at a Film Festival near you.  He is married to cabaret singer Joan Crowe (2002 MAC award winner) and they make their home with the critters in New Rochelle, New York.