Mr BioFile Interviews by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Actor, former dancer/host on Dance Party USA and Dancin On Air from the USA Network in the 80s, podcaster, entrepreneur, has begun working on autobiography.
First Dancing Memory: Dancin On Air – I saw the show locally in my home, wanted to be part of it. I was at a club dancing and producers of Dancin On Air were there and they gave me a pass. The first day on the show I wore sunglasses and danced in the middle and nobody saw me. The sunglasses were like my Batman mask.
Inspirations: I wanted to be in the entertainment business, not necessarily as a dancer, maybe an actor or part of a music group. I fell into acting with different workshops in New York City and acting classes.
Last Book Read: T.H. White’s The Once and Future King. I’m not an avid reader like I used to be. Now I have a 4 year old and we sing nursery rhymes all day!
Favorite Movies: I love sci fi. Star Wars, the original trilogy. Gladiator. The Expanse on Amazon Prime. Anything to do with medieval. I also love 80’s fims. Too many to list but Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Can’t Buy Me Love, Back To The Future, and St. Elmo’s Fire to name a few.
First Job: Delivering newspapers, ride my bicycle and do my route.
First Car: I was a big Smokey And The Bandit fan, my dad (Robert) got the black Trans Am like in the film as his main driving car. He was a single dad but he got that car to make me happy. I never got to drive it but I got to sit in the passenger seat. My first car was an IROC, 1987 (gray).
Favorite Meal: Anything Italian, pizza, pasta, manicotti, ravioli, lasagne.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Rocky Road.
Greatest Career Moment: I’ve had a few businesses. I had a car business, I’d go to car dealerships and fix bumpers. It was a mobile car business. Built it up from one van to twelve vans. I did that in the 2000s. Proud of that.
Most Painful Moment: Skip that one. I’ll talk about that in the book.
Funny Career Memory: Girls sending me money in the mail, gifts, girls would send pubic hairs in an envelope. One girl from Mexico invited me to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a fully paid trip. Her parents paid for it. A girl and her family. And I went! I could have been kidnapped. We went parasailing and went to see Elizabeth Taylor’s house which was on the market.
Embarrassing Memory: I remember driving to the show on the highway and a school bus was next to me. I had my sunglasses on and the girls saw me and were coming out of the windows, going crazy. I was embarrassed. The show was recorded in a small studio in Philadelphia. You didn’t know or realize the reach and impact the show had.
Favorite Vacation Spot: When I was young I loved going to Disney World in Orlando. That was a big highlight. To be able to go to Disney World and go on the rides. I was an only child so I had to go on the rides by myself.
Favorite Artists: Besides Wham, George Michael… 80s music, Belinda Carlisle – who I talked to once on the phone for the show, REO Speedwagon, Duran Duran, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince. (Any painters?) Fabian Perez from Argentina. I have a painting he did, of a woman dancing. Pino Daeni from Italy.
Favorite Dancers: Michael Jackson – that guy was pure magic. I got to see him on the Bad Tour in 1987 or 1988 at Madison Square Garden on the side of the stage with Janet Jackson there, because of Dance Party USA. I saw him live three times in the 80s.
People Qualities Most Admired: Definitely be yourself. Be honest. Just be real. Have integrity. Everybody who came on the show, I tried to make them comfortable. Some of the people who came for the first time were nervous. I tried to make them comfortable.
Bob Catalano 1986 Dance Party USA performance of Wham smash hit Careless Whispers video
(Note: Bobby Catalano lives in Las Vegas now with wife Lizeth and son Leonardo. I will help him format, create and publish his autobiography titled Bobby Catalano: The Man Behind The Shades.)
