MY VIEW
Barbara G. Herrick: Husband’s great spirit endeared him to all
A year has passed since the death of a remarkable man, Buddy Herrick. Old vaudeville performers are scarce these days, for their heyday was in the early 20th century. Back in the 1930s, Buddy was a superb acrobat, hand balancer and juggler who traveled the vaudeville circuits all over this country with a troupe, then settled in Los Angeles.
He was just breaking into the movies, doing stunts and acrobatic work and meeting celebrities, when World War II came along. He joined the Navy. During the war he taught combat judo to sailors, and continued his show-biz connection, producing entertainment at the Naval base, and meeting stars such as Glenn Miller.
After the war it was back home to Buffalo, where he found that show business as he had known it was in decline. He still performed in night clubs here and in nearby
Canada and Pennsylvania. But eventually he found a new career, as athletic director at the Saturn Club. Although he was in his 40s, he learned the game of squash, and stayed at the club for 25 years.
This was a far cry from his rough early days in a poor neighborhood. He became an exercise instructor and squash opponent for many members of Buffalo’s grand old families. He taught their kids in Saturday morning classes — some acrobatics and team sports, some habits of discipline, fair play and cooperation, all in a spirit of great fun.
As time marched on he needed knee braces and a cane, and used to hobble around painfully, until he got back on the squash court and summoned up that old agility, which along with his squash wisdom enabled him to play an astonishingly good game. (He loved to bamboozle unsuspecting new squash opponents with this routine.) He made many close friends during his years at the club.
Buddy lived into his 92nd year, and his last illness was an aggressive form of cancer. Yet less than two months before his death he enjoyed a casino visit, the latest of many in recent years. There, the glamour and clangor and general razzmatazz reminded him of his exciting early life as a performer— plus, his luck wasn’t too bad. Any winnings were saved for his annual birthday parties. To entertain his guests at these parties, he used to perform as a juggler and baton twirler and, as age took a toll on his physical abilities, as a comedian in the old vaudeville style.
There are other show-biz veterans here in the Buffalo area — singers and dancers and magicians and comedians who also used to perform at his fun-filled parties, and who gathered once again this September, along with many other friends, at a party in tribute to Buddy.
His physical prowess was the basis of his career, but it was his great spirit that lifted us up and endeared him to all. Wherever he went, there was laughter. He was deeply devoted to his family, and with his irrepressible sense of humor, he made that domestic world a happy place.
In his last days he made more new friends and admirers among the nurses and other excellent medical workers at Millard Fillmore Hospital, and then among the visiting nurses and the wonderful Hospice personnel who came to our home and helped us to ease his affliction.
Unfailingly strong, he kept his sense of humor to the end. I’m his wife, I love him forever. And while we will never stop missing him, we have a priceless treasure in our memories of this remarkable man.
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