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The source of this article is the Sun Post: http://tinyurl.com/9se3a Entertainer copes with Parkinson’s while still having fun By Matthew Janda Sun Newspapers (Created 4/21/2005 9:52:21 AM) Wally Leslie has one of those faces you’ve seen, but you’re not sure where. When he tells you exactly how he’s so familiar, a story that almost requires a heap of hard evidence to prove unfolds. But his piles of proof appear without hesitation. For more than 20 years, Leslie lived the other American Dream, the one that has movie stars, the showgirls and glittering lights of Las Vegas in it. The Wally Leslie story chronicles the good times and hard times that go with being an entertainer in Sin City and anywhere else a engagement may call. Leslie, a Columbia Heights native, recently returned to the Twin Cities – he lives on Robbinsdale’s border with Minneapolis – to cope with Parkinson’s disease, which he discovered he had after recovering from a heart attack in 2001. But Leslie, born to entertain, continues to book shows as a ventriloquist, balloon artist and magician in local senior homes and for those who don’t mind a clever double-entendre or two. He got his start in the mid-1970s as a clown with the Minneapolis Aqua Jesters, where he spent nine years learning the finer points of physical comedy. That’s where Leslie learned how to make balloon sculptures, a craft he would later hone under a world-renowned balloon artist. He also authored six books on balloon artistry between 1983 and 1991. On top of his years-long gig at the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, Leslie has performed in Eastern Europe, at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba, in Death Valley, at the White House, in Panama and on the Arsenio Hall show. “On that show, which was in 1991, I twisted balloons with my feet,” he said while making a balloon dog with one hand. “After the show, they gave me so much junk – posters, t-shirts. So much junk.” In 1988, Leslie appeared in the Oscar-winning film “Rain Man,” where he played the Wheel of Fortune dealer at Caesar’s Palace. His picture of himself, in costume, with a young Tom Cruise, is just one highlight in his album of photos with celebrities. He said he got the part because he had a good agent. “And I was reliable. I showed up and they [the film crew] were like ‘Here, do this.’ I wound up as the dealer. I had a speaking part, but they cut it out in edit,” he said. Leslie said he met hundreds of celebrities and knew some personally, of various personalities. He carried on a written correspondence for years with legendary comedian Red Skelton, whom he said was the most gracious celebrity he knew, after he sent Skelton a get-well card. “I bought four of his paintings, so I got invited to his birthday parties,” Leslie said. “But he fell off a stage in Hawaii once and spent some time in the hospital, so I sent him a card. He sent back a thank-you note. We wrote each other until he died in August of 1997.” A history of helping Most entertainers, however, can’t live on showbiz alone. That’s the reality of the life, Leslie said. He has had to fill his downtime with nine-to-five jobs like substitute teacher and bank employee. He also found out what it feels like to help people. In 1977, Leslie, then 32 and living near Colorado Springs, Colo., made his second trip up Pikes’ Peak. There was a kicker, of course. Leslie gained a bit of local fame by making the trip blindfolded with three guides. A year earlier, he had made the 14-hour trip backward, a slightly less difficult feat, but no less impressive. Both times, he collected pledges and donated the proceeds to local cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy foundations. “I was just on a kick. I was working at the Post Office at the time, and I heard on the radio that a guy pushed a peanut along a trail with his nose,” Leslie said. “I thought, ‘I could do something more difficult than that.’” In 1983, after he returned to Minnesota but before leaving for Las Vegas, Leslie and a handful of his fellow ventriloquists produced the first benefit show for the greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. “It was great. We had a guy who was national ventriloquist of the year, and we had Sister Cabrini, a retired nun who did ventriloquism,” Leslie said. He said that he got a tremendous feeling from helping people. “I found it’s important to give back and to try to make people laugh and entertain them,” he said. “It’s the best medicine. I try to make people feel better about themselves.” Tables turned Since he learned he had Parkinson’s disease in 2003, Leslie has had to rely on other people for help. He currently lives with his cousin, and often has to get rides to his shows. “People with Parkinson’s get tired easily,” he said. “My main problem is my balance gets out of whack. But I work with Parkinson’s support groups. There are a number of them around the Twin Cities.” He mainly performs in senior homes and hospitals, the places people tend to need the most cheering up. Sometimes he needs it, too. With Parkinson’s, there are good days and bad days, he said. He takes his three ventriloquist figures – Stretch, Mabel Monroe and Cornelius – to all his shows, and tailors each show to his audience. He tends to work his old Las Vegas routine. “It’s a comical bit, but it isn’t really for elementary kids,” he said. “I can tone it down if I need to.” Ventriloquism is making a comeback, Leslie said, which makes his puppets all the more valuable. They were all made by Verna Finley of Florida, a world-famous ventriloquist figure maker. He said he would like to someday move back to Las Vegas and experience the entertainer’s life again, if his health is willing. Leslie, a classic good-timer, isn’t letting an illness put a stop to his good times. “People don’t realize what they have until they lose it. But there’s always someone worse off,” he said. “We should make the most of the capabilities we do have. I’m doing what I want and I’m having fun. People need to remember to be all they can be. I know because I am.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn