# Will B. Able, actor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 11, 1999, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865 "1999-10-11T12:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/1 "1999-10-11T12:59:00Z")
There were a couple of “filmed plays” that I used to see as a kid (on TV). One was “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and the other was “Aladdin.” Both were musicals, both starred an actor named Will B. Able as “the Giant” and “the Genie,” respectively. These are not listed among his credits on IMDB, and I also can’t find these “movies” on IMDB–(again, they were actually videotaped plays, as opposed to real movies, like Mary Martin’s "Peter Pan). Has anyone else ever seen these? ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/2 "1999-10-12T18:54:00Z")
Ask Nobby D. Nose. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/3 "2022-10-19T23:36:45Z")
@Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker, pardon the late reply–23 years later!–but I only just now stumbled upon your post (I was not a member of SD at the time you posted this.) Unfortunately, there is not much online information available regarding Will B. Able (born Willard S. Achorn, 1923 - died 1981) apart from his having been married to Graziella Able, and having been a member of the Prince Street Players (PSP). I also saw these PSP musicals on TV when I was a kid during the 1960s…and I just watched them again on YouTube. You can find them here: [P.S.P. Presents "Jack & The Beanstalk" - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC8OTYqI-Zg) [Aladdin TV Movie 1967 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvhclsNxWHk) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/4 "2022-10-20T08:09:26Z")
Now that’s a revival of a zombie if I’ve ever seen one. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/5 "2022-10-20T12:49:32Z")
And a successful one. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/6 "2022-10-20T13:17:17Z")
I remember watching them as a kid. “I am a Genie… a good genie, not a meanie!” As a kid, they were great fun. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/7 "2022-10-20T15:03:26Z")
This thread belongs in CS I think. [Here is a brief obituary for Will B. Able.](https://images.app.goo.gl/soverAKD9DgHUt24A) He was born here in Rhode Island but I haven’t found any significant information about his time in this state. The obit mentions his show at the Evening Dinner Theater in Elmsford NY. I’ve been to that theater and sometime in the 80s I saw a trailer parked at a home in a nearby town displaying the sign ‘Will B. Able’s Baggy Pants’ on it. He passed away in 1981 so he was likely gone by the time I saw that. [His IMDb page shows a variety of roles](https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0008810/filmotype/actor?ref_=m_nmfm_1), mostly kid’s entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/8 "2022-10-20T15:21:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > This thread belongs in CS I think. Undoubtedly, but I think that CS didn’t exist when this thread was created. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/9 "2022-10-20T22:30:09Z")
But it does now, so I’ve moved it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/10 "2022-10-21T00:44:22Z")
And thanks to even more Internet resources, we now know that Will B. Able appeared both [on Broadway](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/will-b-able-101324) and [off Broadway.](http://www.iobdb.com/CreditableEntity/24150) Not a deep resume, but they all seemed to be musicals. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/11 "2022-10-21T01:08:45Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Now that’s a revival of a zombie if I’ve ever seen one. I love it when a zombie thread is resurrected and is an actual response, not just a comment from someone on google. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/12 "2022-10-21T22:16:18Z")
Thanks, everyone. Also in 1999 we didn’t have youtube. He appears in “The Night They Raided Minsky’s,” but he’s just an ensemble player (one of the vaudevillians). I remember the “All in the Family” episode where the Rev. Felcher makes an appearance. I think he had been mentioned in earlier episodes, but that might have been the only appearance. Coincidentally or not, both were Normal Lear productions. And. . . Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I was the one who dug up his birth name some years ago and contributed it to IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-b-able-actor/3865/13 "2022-10-21T22:49:26Z")
FWIW, back in the late ‘70’s he had a touring company that did old-fashioned burlesque, I believe the show was called Baggy Pants. At the time, I was right out of college and working my first job as lighting director at a dinner theatre in NC. They performed at our venue a couple of times a year for a month at a time, so I worked with them maybe three times. They were really nice people and I always looked forward to their residency. One of the actresses and I became good friends so I spent a lot of off-work time hanging out with the cast, and I even got invited to their production meeting. I even made a suggestion once and they incorporated it. Here’s a gift link to an old review of the show > **[Theater; 'BAGGY PANTS' A HIT AT EVENING DINNER (Published 1981)](https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/30/nyregion/theater-baggy-pants-a-hit-at-evening-dinner.html?unlocked_article_code=cmP6G_SyytL8E18nAbjqFu4_6uAdnLhWJ-0ZC_uqwDghxc9XyK33F9gTynVI_cm_LPzwYxai8FaSLZ7EDmVxGZBJ_J_lJrGoCL8BP4ueVbUGPZ77P24x_uIAUg5_QUTtAt0RYSCydf_xfi_b8iSdComvZ99uM2E999aCTh8m6HtCyvcPWFqSvAds6uxAPqhnCKjuMdO4CU3bxNV2fPeImtnodUreMuIuxY2_TsFLLph1n3d6tauAKu_LAbizwB4B-rmNOSXSe622rUdxDurH6odN81CdU7IR4bfr4pwqXAkITEZou4YAGgDPsOdIwUjWzW-wng0459B5E3C5rPFUES2Z4_brq1GPW2yaQvMN1xUYSjCk9_Q&smid=share-url)**