Larry Cutrone star of Manhattan Alive TV show and the Manhattan Alive Players are now available on DVD in a newly restored DVD compilation.

(PRWEB) October 3, 2004

Larry Cutrone and the Manhattan Alive Players of the 1970's TV show Manhattan Alive are once again ready for prime time TV viewing!

In 1977 life was a little zanier when a New York Cable TV show called Manhattan Alive switched formats from a talk show to a sketch comedy series. At the center of that switch was writer-director-star Larry Cutrone.

Larry Cutrone had been doing quite well as a night club entertainer and radio personality. In fact his 1973 radio show "The Trailmaster's Country Cousins Show" on WPJR 1310 AM later went on to be admitted into the New Jersey AM Radio History Museum.

Carlson International approached Larry Cutrone and asked him if he was up to the task of writing and directing Manhattan Alive. Unknown to Carlson International Larry had been planning to make the move and already had over a hundred "bits" stockpiled and ready for the right mix of players to deliver the sketches.

Larry accepted the challenge of the weekly show and then began the task of finding the right players. His first choice was Andrea Stolese whom he had know all his life from school. Larry Cutrone: "In Andrea Stolese I had maybe one of the greatest untapped resources of female comediennes in the NY area"! Little did she know all the physical aspects she would have to endure. I mean we hit her, threw her, pushed & shoved her, slapped her, and she never once complained although I was always expecting to see her show up in a neck brace each week from the previous shows punishments! Then we got Gunthar Evdokimov, Nancy Pagano, Chris Yentema, and finally on a tip from Dick Roffman we got Roxanne Mellita. The rest as they say is history. We went on to do two years and I wrote around thirty three shows (almost 400 sketches) and gave the NY & NJ audience an alternative to Saturday Night Live.

In 1978 after completing the last televised show Lou Fernicola sold all the remaining shows to Larry Cutrone as Fernicola was planning to degauss the tapes in order to reuse them for other shows. Sadly by that time only 6 shows remained and still exist to this day in a compilation DVD called the best of Manhattan Alive. To order online go to: http://www.larrycutrone.com