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Jim Bickel

Actor - Dancer

About the artist: JIM BICKEL is a veteran musical comedy performer, having worked with nine Bay Area companies. He received early song and dance training in his native city of Peoria, Illinois. He was a staff vocalist (during school years) at radio station WMBD (NBC) in Peoria for 7 years. He and his older sister did short stints in vaudeville in Peoria during the "last gasps of vaudeville) and it was here that he developed his true love of performing "live" on stage. A very long hiatus ensued while Jim was raising a family and holding down an accounting job (he holds an accounting degree from San Francisco State University) with ideas of "show business" in the back of his mind. Thus, he entered the musical comedy field late in his life. His first production (in 1978) was "Guys and Dolls" which he thoroughly enjoyed and it has been more-or-less "non-stop" since. His latest performance is the role of "Windy" the pilot of the "Cotton Blossom" in SHOWBOAT (Foothill Music Theatre) under the direction of Jay Manley. Showboat is Jim's 41st production.

Favorite shows are GOOD NEWS (Chabot College Theatre Hayward) for which he received a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nomination (for his role of "Pooch Kearny") and ME AND MY GIRL (playing "Sir Jasper Tring") for American Musical Theatre of San Jose. For his "Sir Jasper" role he received San Jose's "Ginny Award". He was one of the four tap dancing "gangsters" in SUGAR (the musical version of "Some Like It Hot) in San Mateo. He has had many supporting roles plus many, many "ensemble" parts.

A number of years ago he appeared (in the opening sequences) as a "tap dancing street performer" in the Warner Brothers film (starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta) "MAD CITY". He says it was interesting work but he still likes being on the stage in front of a "live audience" best of all. He is grateful to all of his fellow performers.