Entertainment
After serving in Japan as a sports announcer and radio broadcaster for the Far East Network of the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Shelly came home to the U.S. and began a career working for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports. He went on work as an executive for WBZ-TV in Boston and WJW-TV in Cleveland, making his mark as a promoter by doing such things as holding a press conference in a submarine underneath Boston Harbor for the TV show The Silent Service, picking up the press in helicopters to promote the show Whirlybirds, and broadcasting the world’s first “live birth” on television from a hospital in Cleveland, an act which brought him national attention.
From Cleveland he moved on to a position as a Vice President for MCA in New York, working for what was then the largest and most influential talent agency in America. While there, he promoted such shows as the network music/dance hit The Lloyd Thaxton Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, and created a sensation by promoting “cheapskate” comedian Jack Benny’s comeback by hosting a press conference in a coin-operated Automat lunch cafeteria. He also worked promotions for the syndication of Leave It To Beaver, Mr. Ed, and in his early years organized major charity fundraisers to raise money for blindness, public polio vaccine programs, and cancer research.
Shelly left MCA and New York after several years, accepting an offer from the Los Angeles talent agency of Bernard, Williams, and Price to focus his talents on promoting the international career of singing and recording star Andy Williams (. While in Los Angeles, Shelly worked as a public relations consultant, promoter, and/or manager for numerous performers including actor Jack Albertson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Roger Miller, and worked as the first national publicist for The Osmonds.
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