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ROME CITY — It was an entertainment billing the Rome City Alumni Banquet will have trouble topping — George Burns, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Elvis, Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong.
He performs in front of much larger crowds, but impersonator Richard Chapman of the Orlando, Fla., area admitted to a few butterflies before his latest gig — being the featured act at the 117th annual Rome City Alumni Banquet.
“I perform in front of 1,000 people in Florida,” Chapman said Tuesday. “(But) it was a little nervous feeling for me (at the banquet).”
The banquet was held at the East Noble High School cafeteria on June 27.
Chapman, who goes by the stage name Rick Chapman, was nervous because he knew a lot of people in the audience. He was a 1967 graduate of East Noble High School, who had gone to Rome City School.
For the banquet, he brought along Burns, Benny, Carson and others.
“It was fun,” Chapman said. “I had a good time.”
At least one of the comedic moments happened outside the stage.
“I hadn’t been back to East Noble since 1967 when I graduated,” Chapman said. “I even got lost trying to get there.”
The crowd of approximately 175 alumni were glad he made it.
“We just about fell off our chairs laughing,” alumnus Cynthia (Nowels) Rensberger said. “It was very much a success.”
Rensberger is Chapman’s cousin, and she knew he still came to the area on occassion to visit his mother in Rome City. She made a call, the banquet’s entertainment committee of Carolyn Heller, Howard Adams and Rensberger made it happen.
Adams got into the comic act as Ed McMahon, and Ernie Cook was a hoot as “Cousin Clem,” according to Rensberger. Ford Frick also joined in the fun.
But the star of the show was Chapman, 59, who started doing impressions in 1969.
Chapman said he was at a fraternity party at Tri-State University in Angola, and there was a student there doing an impression of Ed Sullivan.
“He had all the girls around him,” Chapman said.
That’s all it took. An introvert growing up, Chapman said he went home, telling himself he’d learn to impersonate the next person he saw on television. That person turned out to be President Lyndon Johnson.
He learned to impersonate the former president, and it “cured” him of his relatively shy nature.
“The impressions really helped bring everything out,” he said.
Chapman left college after his junior year to join the Air Force, and soon found himself performing for USO-style shows all over the country.
He has opened for the likes of Jimmy Durante, Rodney Dangerfield and B.B. King.
Chapman, who includes singing impersonations of Johnny Mathis, Willie Nelson and Martin, performs approximately 100 shows a year. He does have a performance scheduled for mid-August in the Pittsburgh area, but most of his shows are in Florida. He said 75 percent of his work happens during the winter months from December through April.
“I just love doing what I do,” Chapman said. “I make people happy.
“It’s the greatest feeling to be an entertainer.”
The banquet began at 5 p.m. with a social hour, followed by a dinner catered by Twin Six Cafe in Wolcottville. The evening ended at 10 p.m.
Rome City Alumni president Michelle Barranda said the event was a lot of fun.
Rensberger said the banquet was a success despite some controversy about holding the event outside Rome City.
“We looked everywhere for something that could hold us,” Rensberger said. “We couldn’t find anything (in Rome City) that was air conditioned.”
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