For Dennis Olivieri, Come to the Party, his 1969 album on VMC Records, was a short intelude in a life of performing and acting that encompassed Broadway and California charity events as Happy Bo Happy the Clown. Born and raised on the East Coast, Dennis had child acting roles in "Gypsy" and "Auntie Mame" under ths stage name of Dennis Joel. To promote his son's acting career, Dennis's father sold his share of the family business, the makers of Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink, and the family moved to Los Angeles, where Dennis graduated from Grant High School in 1965.
On the West Coast, Dennis appeared in "Leave It to Beaver," "Gidget," "The Fugitive," "Family Affair," "Combat!" and the Disney film, "Toby Tyler." He also starred in the series "The New People," about exchange students who end up on an island when their plane crashes. It lasted only a year.
Come to the Party was produced at the Hollywood Sound Recorders by the Association' songwriter Tandyn Almer ("Along Comes Mary"). Musicians included Dennis on piano, Jack Elliott on guitar, Ronnie Brown bass, Eddie Greene percussion. Tommy Scott sax, and Tandyn Almer on Rocksichord.
He settled in Palmdale where he was active in theatre, meeting his wife when he directed her in a local production. He started his clowning career when he invented Happy Bo Happy in 1988, eventually starring in the Happy Bo Happy Television Show on KPAL and recruiting his children Garson as Snappy Bo Bappy and his daughter Emily as Flappy Bo Bappy.
DJ Shadow sampled "I Cry in the Mroning" from Come to the Party in his "Six Day War" major-label release, bringing new interest to Dennis's musical career.He died in Palmdale at the age of 58 on September 27, 2006 after a long battle with cancer.
