How often do you get to chat with a cast member of one of your favorite movies from your childhood? Most people never get that opportunity, but that's exactly what I did. I couldn't wait to ask Harvey about his experience in the classic motion picture Mary Poppins. He shared some memories from those days, and also highlights of his 44 years in show business.

NR: Tell me where you grew up.

HE: Cincinnati, Ohio.

NR: I understand that you went to high school with Ron Bohmer's father.

HE: Yes, I did. We graduated the same year, 1955.

NR: That's so cool! Did you ever keep in touch at all? Did you know Ron when he was little?

HE: Oh yeah, we kept in touch! No I didn't know Ron. I didn't know Ron until we did Sunset Boulevard together and he introduced himself to me and said that I graduated with his father, which was a shock. (laughs)

NR: That's really nice though. When did you decide you wanted to perform?

HE: Before I knew what was happening. My mom and dad, for some reason, said I was shy when I was really young, like three or four, and they put me into dancing school - tap dancing school. I guess I picked it up fast. I had this little partner, Patsy Heffron, and we'd go out on the weekends and do shows at the Elks, or the Masonic, or the Eagles, or the Workhouse, or something, and would get paid five dollars. So I grew up as a kid performing, thinking that was the norm. I didn't think it was anything special. I thought that every kid did that. And then, if we were good, our parents would take us to the Chili Parlor (Cincinnati's got great chili), and then they'd go to some saloon and have a nice drinking evening, and we'd play in the back room of the saloon. So that was my childhood.

Then early on, Song of Norway came through Cincinnati, and I saw my first Broadway show. I immediately thought, "That's it! That's what I want to be." I didn't think "God, I want to be a star." I didn't want to be in the movies. I just wanted to be in a Broadway show. And I would stay at the stage door and watch them all come out, just so awestruck by it. So as early on as I can remember, I just planned on coming to New York and being in a Broadway show.

NR: Since you took it so in stride, I guess you didn't have stage parents.

HE: No, they weren't at all. No, they were just fun, fun parents.

NR: That's great. They didn't discourage you?

HE: Not at all. I didn't know why they put me in dancing school. That's curious because they're not musical, they're not from the arts, or anything like that. I would take show albums home that my art teacher would lend me, and they'd say "Turn that off!" I remember Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I would play it so loud, and they'd say "Turn that off!"

NR: "Go listen to Rock and Roll like the other kids!" (laughs)

HE: They were very, very supportive. Incredibly supportive. They said, "You have a choice. Here's a thousand bucks; go to New York, or you can go to college. You can do whatever you want with it, but we want you to go to New York and try." And within three months, I got into the road company, the national company of Damn Yankees.

NR: Has this career been everything you hoped it would be?

HE: I guess I would have to answer, "Yes." Yeah, there have been ups and downs like any life, but I'm totally devoted to the theater. I love it. I'm happiest when I'm here.

NR: What do you like most about it?

HE: Oh God, many things. I love to perform! There's nothing like getting a laugh! Just nothing. It's the greatest thing in the world, to get a laugh. And to know that you're making people happy, as corny as it sounds. I love the community of the theater. I think actors are remarkable people. Even though we might be children, we're remarkable people. The comradery and the community is amazing as witnessed by Broadway Cares, all the Easter Bonnet things. I'm so proud to be a part of that for this many years. And to have worked and stuck it out for this many years.

NR: How do you make it through the lean times?

HE: Well, financially I am able to do that because I guess I worked enough, but mentally, it's very hard. Rejection is certainly a part of it, and you have to learn to throw it off whatever way possible. I don't know. I have no rule. Mary Testa said the best thing. She said "Go out and spend money. Buy something. Buy yourself something."

NR: That's good, as long as you can do it. Now you didn't help me too much with your bio. Can you tell me some of those credits from those 44 years?

HE: Well, I've been lucky. I got to do four (Stephen) Sondheim shows. I was the first replacement in West Side Story on Broadway.

NR: What part?

HE: Gee-tar - a Jet part. I also did the movie of West Side Story. Then I did Gypsy, with (Ethel) Merman. I understudied Tulsa and played it for a month. I did Anyone Can Whistle which is also Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, and then I did Follies. So that thrilled me to do four Sondheim shows. Plus, I did Barnaby in Hello Dolly!, and that's a major one.

NR: I heard you did the movie of Mary Poppins.

HE: Mary Poppins. I was a chimney sweep.

NR: OK, you were a chimney sweep. I'm going to have to find you. Of course, I have the video.

HE: Is it the newest version of the video? Because at the end, there are little rehearsal shots in it, and I'm in green shorts. You can't find me in the movie. I'm one of two guys who always does what Dick Van Dyke does. If there's three on the screen, and Dick Van Dyke is there, then I am one of those two, but I can't tell.

NR: That's one of my favorite movies.

HE: Oh good.

NR: And you can't even tell. (laughs) That must have been a lot of fun to do.

HE: Oh, so much fun, so much fun to do!

NR: Did you have any idea that it was going to be the classic that it was?

HE: No. Nobody did. What happened... in my entire career, I've gone from acting, to dancing, to whatever. It's just gone up and down like crazy. I was in L.A. and acting on a soap opera called The Brighter Day and did a little part in a movie called Experiment in Terror opposite Stephanie Powers, when these friends of mine, Marc Breaux and DeeDee Wood, said "We're doing a movie, and we need acrobats." (I'm an acrobat.) "Would you do it?" I thought, "No, I don't want to go back to dancing, I want to stick to acting now." and all that. They convinced me, and I just thought it was a nice job. We got paid well, and had no idea it was going to be the epic until they had a wrap party and they showed part of the film. Then we all thought, "Oh my God." We knew that (Walt) Disney loved it because he would always watch us rehearse. He'd bring Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons back, and all that kind of stuff. We rehearsed on the backlot under a tent and it was very hot. Because the number was so strenuous, we'd break it at 4:00 in the afternoon because that's when you start getting hurt - when you get tired. It was a labor of love.

NR: I bet you have a lot of experiences that you could share.

HE: Yeah. This is not for ego or anything, but I'm blessed with the fact that when I started in the business, all the greats were around doing a show a year. I really sort of tutored or apprenticed under Bob Fosse, and Gower Champion and Jerry Robbins. I remember on the movie of West Side Story, he gave us a ballet barre every morning. I was a tap dancer really and he would specifically tell us what our problem was. I remember thinking, "This is remarkable. It's Jerry Robbins that is teaching me dancing." So, I was blessed with that. I feel sorry for younger people in the business because there are no people that continually do shows like there was. Gower did a show a year. Bob Fosse did a show a year. Joe Layton did a show a year. Jerry Robbins did.

NR: That's incredible. Of all the roles you've done, what's your favorite?

HE: Ah, I don't know. I have a few favorites. I did a production of Our Town on Broadway with Henry Fonda as the Stage Manager, and it consisted of every major character performer in the world - Margaret Hamiltion, Ed Begley, Sr., Irene Tedrow, John Randolph, and wonderful character people. That was a favorite because I was in such incredible company. Mildred Natwick - people like that - incredible company. As a role, I loved ZaZa in La Cage aux Folles, and I loved Mayer Rothschild in The Rothschilds. I replaced in that Off-Broadway. That's a lovely role. You go from 19 to death in it. So you really have to work and age. But Follies, I guess, will be the one that everyone will always say, "Oh God - he was in Follies". I get that a lot. "You were in Follies! Oh my God!" So it might be Follies.

NR: Do you have one that was so bad that you couldn't wait to get it off your resume? That you just look back and really laugh?

HE: Well I don't put one on my resume. It was an Off-Broadway show called Sextet. However, the cast was remarkable. Dixie Carter - it was her first sort of big, big deal. Jerry Lanning. It was wonderful, but it was a terrible property. Terrible.

NR: Looking back, do you have choices you made, like a role you took, or one you didn't take, that you look back and say "Wow, that was really the right decision" or "Wow, that was really the wrong decision"? Is there anything that sticks out like that?

HE: No because that's... I usually felt privileged just to work. But I did turn down... I was going to be in Bye, Bye Birdie originally because I had worked for Gower Champion before in a movie. This understudy in Gypsy came along and I turned down Birdie at the very last minute and sort of made an enemy of a few people over there to do the understudy of Tulsa in Gypsy, but then I got to play it for a month with Merman, so it wasn't the wrong move. Then Gower hired me to do Barnaby in Dolly.

NR: What has the experience as Ozzy been like?

HE: Oh, it's lovely. I love it. I thought Ed Dixon was brilliant in the original production. I love the people. I love the show. I love getting the laughs. I spent so many years...I was doing the juvenile stuff when I was 29. So, it's nice to not have to worry about being an older character man.

NR: Were you thrilled when you found out you had to jump rope?

HE: (laughs) It wasn't so bad then, but I didn't realize it was going to be quite as tense as it is.

NR: Well, you're wearing a dress...

HE: Yeah. You don't know if it's going to work or not. There's no way. You can practice and practice and practice, but there's still that certain percentage of it hitting the dress or hitting your heel. It's just a percentage thing. It's going to not work sometimes, so there's always that little tiny fear. I know that it's fun and it works and I don't like to mess up on it.

NR: I heard you have an interesting story about your wig.

HE: It's not that interesting. They changed the wig but the hard thing about that is, you get used to one wig and how it fits with the hats and how it fits with everything else. If it's suddenly abruptly changed, it throws your show. It sort of threw my show.

NR: Has it been tough adjusting? You lost three Bounders. What does that feel like?

HE: I prefer it the old way, (laughs) just to be truthful about it. And, this theater is very hard to deal with because it's so small backstage that you can't visit. You can't be communal. If you go to someone else's dressing room, you're in the way. At the old theater you just saw everybody. I don't see the people on the other side of the stage except on stage.

NR: You've got three different leads with totally different interpretations. Has that been hard to adjust to?

HE: No, I love it. I love when something's different, to work off of it. I've loved everybody that's played. And, to work with Ron again is terrific.

NR: Have you ever experienced anything like the League before?

HE: NO! In all my years...West Side Story was wonderful because at the matinees the teenage girls would come over and over again, and that was the only thing similar to the League. I think the League's remarkable.

NR: Was it a surprise when you got here?

HE: Uh huh.

NR: Are you interested in touring with SP?

HE: I would tour. I have no commitments here and I like touring. I'm sure as Kirk told you, the tour was immensely successful. I'm not sure about financially, but everybody loved it. I haven't been to L.A. in eight years and I have so many friends out there. It will be lovely to see them.

NR: Are you planning on slowing down any time soon?

HE: No. I can't. I haven't done enough yet.

NR: What do you still want to do?

HE: Keep working in the theater.

NR: Any specific part?

HE: Nope. No specific part. Just keep working.

NR: That's great. Thank you and good luck.

HE: You're welcome.

I think Harvey's lasted so long in this business because of his attitude. He just wants to keep working, so he manages to take things in stride. I really enjoyed talking to him and I'm glad he's going to continue his tenure with The Scarlet Pimpernel.

One final note - after such an extensive career, Harvey finally managed to impress his nieces by being on the Internet. They convinced him to create a more complete bio, so you can now see many of Harvey's credits by reading his bio on this site.

Questions suggested by:

Stephanie C., Lois and Elizabeth Colpo, Amy Lovett, Laura Cutler, Vi Janaway, Chris Miller, Stephanie Henkin, Anne Teitelbaum, CJL, Emily Friedman, Jan Combopiano, karen, Susan Cassidy, Leona Hoegsberg, Pat Wafer, Amy Lynn Nuttall, Renee Girard