Perry Como

Honoring Mr. Casual

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One of the many factors in his success was Como’s insistence on his principles of good taste; if he considered something to be in bad or questionable taste, it was not in the show or broadcast. 

When a remark made by Julius La Rosa about television personality Arthur Godfrey on The Perry Como Show was misconstrued, Como offered an on-air apology at the beginning of his next show, against the advice of his staff. 

While his performance of “Ave Maria” was a tradition of his holiday television programs, Como refused to sing it at live performances, saying, “It’s not the time or place to do it”, even though it was the number-one request of his audiences.

Another was his naturalness; the man that viewers saw on television every week was the same person who could be encountered behind a supermarket shopping cart, at a bowling alley, or in a kitchen making breakfast. 

From his first Chesterfield Supper Club television show, if scripts were written at all, they were based on Como’s everyday manner of speaking. Though Como was widely known for his amiability, laid-back and easygoing style, he was not devoid of a temper, and it could be seen at times as a result of the frustrations of daily life. 

Mitchell Ayres, his musical director from 1948 to 1963 said, “Perry has a temper like everyone else. And he loses his temper at the normal things everyone else does. When we’re driving, for instance, and somebody cuts him off, he really lets the offender have it.”

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