Horn-Rimmed Harvey

The current hit at Manhattan's snooty St. Regis Maisonette is a young man with a crew cut and horn-rimmed spectacles. His tenor has a shower-room exuberance about it, and he looks more like a fugitive from an Ivy League library than a nightclub entertainer. As he picks up the beat of Happy Go Lucky or It's a Lovely Day, he bounces on the balls of his feet, catches his thumbs in his trouser pockets and flashes a boyishly toothy grin. With his air of the self-satisfied sophomore, 26-year-old Russell Nype has made quite a name for himself in the entertainment world.

Six months ago, Russell was just one more ambitious young singing actor with wavy hair and a pleasant voice. When Nype was signed for the juvenile lead in Call Me Madam, Co-Author Russell Grouse got him to put aside his contact lenses and put on horn rims. For the show's sake, willing Russell Nype has had his hair mowed down to a studious stubble. On opening night, he and Ethel Merman stopped the show with the hit duet, You're Just in Love, have been stopping it ever since.

Off the stage, Russell found that his new guise could be a show-stopper too. In a bemused, horn-rimmed way, Russell has become something of a matinee idol, has done for the morale of the spectacle-wearing bookworm what Ezio Pinza did for the middle-aged man. His television appearances have brought him fan mail from all over the country. Grateful mothers often write to thank him for helping reconcile their teen-age sons to glasses.

One veteran Harvard professor wrote Midwesterner Nype, sometime of Lake Forest College, that he epitomized all the Harvard men the professor had ever taught.

With television and radio commitments Russell's income is already well up in five figures, and there is a three-month picture-making stint in Hollywood coming up "I'll never be conceited," he says. "I've just got something to sell and my job is to sell it."

This winter Russell began singing informally at supper parties. At the Byron Foys, Russell's singing pleased the Duchess of Windsor. "She said I reminded her of Harvey [the rabbit], and she would call me Harvey," Russell remembers. With such an accolade, Russell's party-singing flourished. Among the many hosts and hostesses who have invited him around are the Windsors themselves. "The Duke's quite a person," Russell says. "I sing The Surrey With the Fringe on the Top for him."

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