Today, most of the entertainment in Atlantic City comes courtesy of seasoned veterans and nationally known recording artists. Once, however, the city was a mecca for amateur performers seeking applause—all courtesy of one man, whose name became synonymous with young talent.    

A staple on Steel Pier for 32 years, Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow show gave thousands of children their first taste of the performing arts.       

Born Antonio Grande in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1907, Grant gained a love of show business early on. In his sophomore year of high school, he took first place in a state-wide dancing contest and never looked back. 
He subsequently dropped out of school to take a job as a dancer with the Guy Hall band, as part of a traveling vaudeville show.  Paying $150 a week—about $1,900 in value today—it was a good job doing what he loved. He then went out on his own as one of the Two Barons dancing team on the vaudeville circuit.   

When the market for touring dancers dried up, Grant returned to Wilkes Barre, where he ran a dance studio with his wife, Topsy. In 1945, Grant moved his school to Ventnor. He’d been traveling to the area for a while, bringing students from his dancing school to perform in Daddy Dave’s Juvenile Revue, a featured attraction at Steel Pier’s Little Theater. “Daddy Dave” Tyson, who billed himself as “the Radio Friend of the Kiddies,” ran shows with child talent from the early 1930s until his death in 1947.   

After Tyson’s death, Grant took over the show. In a 1973 interview with the New York Times, he spoke about his commitment to his child stars.   

“This is not a job,” he said. “It’s something I believe in. When I see the children progressing from the first day they arrive until the last day of the engagement, it makes me so proud.”   

When Grant took over the children’s revue, it had about 16 young performers. Over the years, he enlarged that number to 250. Children came to Atlantic City from across the country to audition for Grant in hopes of landing a spot on his show. At its busiest, Grant auditioned 5,000 different acts each summer.   

He soon found a steady format. A child act, be it singers or dancers, performed once in each show for seven days straight. After that, another act got its chance. With 12 acts in each show, Grant had his hands full. At one point, he presented eight shows per day but soon reduced that number to allow his young charges to enjoy their week in Atlantic City.     

By the 1970s, he had settled on using three separate casts to stage three shows per day—at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 6 p.m., thus giving audiences in the 1,700-seat theater ample opportunity to see a show, but allowing plenty of time for the youngsters to visit the beach.   

Grant had a keen eye for talent. In 1948, 10-year-old Concetta Franconero was a featured performer, playing the accordion and singing. Grant handed her two records, one in Spanish and one in French, and told her she’d be singing them the next day. Though she had no familiarity with either language, she mastered each song under his guidance and performed them to rave reviews. As an adult, as Connie Francis, the popular star recorded songs in 13 different languages.      

Other graduates of Grant’s revue were Frankie Avalon and Broadway star Andrea McArdle. Featuring stars from 4 to 19 years of age, the shows became an institution at the Steel Pier, known as “the Showplace of the Nation.” The Midway Theater, which hosted the shows, was the only venue in the United States solely dedicated to juvenile performers. The Stars of Tomorrow remained a fixture on the pier through good times and bad.      

Grant’s son, Tony Grant, Jr., followed him into the theater, becoming assistant producer and director of the show. His granddaughter Roxanne got started early, working as a stagehand, and eventually emceed the shows.      

“It was an unbelievable experience,” she remembers today of her time with her grandfather’s productions. “It was like a family there on the Pier—everyone was so close. And we’d have celebrities coming over all the time to the house in Ventnor.”   

Following Topsy’s death in the early 1970s, Grant gave the Tony Grant Dance Studio to longtime dance teacher Lucille Parker, who continued his legacy by giving instruction to the next generation of dance students. By this time, Grant’s legacy was considerable. An entire generation of children had grown up performing under the watch of “Mr. Wonderful,” as he was known to them.   

In a 1976 remodeling, the children’s theater was officially renamed the Tony Grant Theater, a mark of the respect and admiration that Grant had earned over the previous three decades. The following year, he was honored by the Dance Masters of America, an international association of dance educators, for his long work with aspiring dancers. At the time, he estimated that he had given more than 50,000 young entertainers a chance to perform before live audiences.   

But the show could not go on forever. Steel Pier closed in 1978, and without a home the Stars of Tomorrow revue was shelved. When Grant passed away in October 1979, it marked the true ending of an era.   

Today, Tony Grant alumni stay in touch through Facebook (“Tony Grant Stars of Tomorrow”), swapping pictures and reminiscing about the old days. And an annual reunion, which raises money for the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, makes sure that Tony Grant’s legacy continues to shine.

By David Schwartz

David G. Schwartz is the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a noted author, speaker and consultant. You can learn more about his work at http://www.dgschwartz.com.