Frankie Ray and Maryellen became Marco’s stars when they turned a two-week gig into a six-year stay at the new Marco Beach Hotel.
Development of modern-era Marco Island was bursting at its seams in 1976 when Frankie Ray and Maryellen burst upon the scene at the Marco Beach Hotel for a two-week gig at the Voyager restaurant and lounge.
Entertainment was a central theme of Deltona Corporation’s plan for developing – and selling – the Marco Island dream. Deltona’s crown jewel, the Marco Beach Hotel, opened in 1971 with 400 rooms. It was the Island’s entertainment mecca, with live music venues strategically placed throughout the resort. And while all of the entertainment was top notch, it was Frankie Ray and Maryellen who became the people’s choice.
Maryellen was a beautiful, statuesque brunette with a disarming smile, gentle personality, and the voice of an angel – a stunning gown was the finishing touch.
Charismatic Frankie Ray was as handsome as Maryellen was pretty. A fourth-generation descendant of a circus family, Frankie Ray was literally born and bred to entertain. Equally adept as a singer, guitar player, and storyteller, Frankie Ray had the audience eating out of his hand night after night.
Entertainment on Marco Island, it could be argued, was ahead of the Island’s infrastructure throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The Deltona Corporation, led by Frank Mackle, Jr. and brothers Robert and Elliott, knew that first-rate entertainment was a huge ally in selling the Marco Island lifestyle. Prospects from around the country were flown to Marco weekly to be wined and dined in high style at the Marco Beach Hotel and the beautiful new Marco Island Country Club. A-list celebrities were flown in for the annual Tony Lema Memorial golf tournament and accommodated at the hotel and country club.
Meanwhile, Marco’s streets and canals were still being built as part of a massive fill and dredge operation. There was no development south of the Marco Beach Hotel (now the JW Marriott) through the 1970s. In fact, the only structure on Marco Beach south of the hotel was the old missile tracking station on the point at Caxambas Pass. Today, the Cape Marco condominiums occupy that property.
Frankie Ray and Maryellen were regular entertainers at the Diplomat Hotel on the east coast of Florida when their agent booked them for their fateful gig at the Marco Beach Hotel.
“Coming to Marco was a big mistake,” said Frankie Ray Ortiz. “We were at the Diplomat and we were under contract. The owner asked me, ‘Can I count on you for another year at the Diplomat Hotel?’ We were treated like a king and queen there. One night there was a special party for the big stars like Tony Bennett. Frankie Ray and Mary Ellen had to be at the party to mix with the stars. We were supposed to be there another year, and our agent went and booked us here for two weeks for less money than we were making over there. And I couldn’t do anything about it because the contracts were signed. So, we came to Marco Island for two weeks, and it turned out to be six years. Three years with Marco Beach Hotel and for three years after Marriott bought the hotel.”
Frankie Ray’s earliest childhood memories as a three-year-old centered around the circus, where everyone in his family sang, danced, and did aerial work. They were also ventriloquists, fire-eaters, clowns, musicians, and magicians. He remembers watching his mom on drums, his brother Steve and his father on trumpet, and his brother Ruben on trombone playing their music in front of the circus tent to entice people to come inside to see the show. At six, he began playing guitar and singing.
“I knew I had to do something in show business to prove myself and be part of my family,” Frankie Ray said in his just-released book, Frankie Ray and Maryellen, We Walked Among the Best.
When he says they walked among the best, he isn’t kidding. Their list of friends is a Who’s Who of the entertainment industry: Nat King Cole, Liberace, Count Basie, Jimmy Durante, Harry James, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Lawrence Welk, Tom Jones, Caesar Romero, Jackie Gleason, Marvin Hamlisch, Don Rickles…the list goes on and on. Oh, and they mingled with the most famous athletes: Jesse Owens, Roger Maris, Rocky Graziano, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey…to name a few.
A nice publicity piece for Frankie Ray and Maryellen. The Deltona Corporation must be credited with having an eye for talent. They brought Frankie Ray and Mary Ellen to the Marco Beach Hotel in 1976. They were there for six years.
And with each celebrity encounter, there is a story that Frankie Ray is happy to delight you with.
“Jesse Owens,” Frankie Ray said, “was sitting right in front of us at the Voyager for three nights in a row. And I went over to him and I said, ‘Mr. Owens, you must really like the food here. You’ve been here three nights in a row.’ He said, ‘No, baby, I love your singing. You and your wife are really good.’ We took a picture with him, and he made out an autograph for my father-in-law, who was a runner in high school and had a lot of awards. And he put on the autograph: To my friend, Jesse Owens.“
Then there was the time with Telly Savalas and Jackie Gleason.
“We finished our show with a medley of rock tunes,” Frankie Ray said. “And the last one was Amen. So, Jackie Gleason had to get the microphone and come up and sing with us. We finished the thing and he says, ‘Come on, kids, we’re going to eat at my dinner table.’ So that night we had dinner with Jackie Gleason, Morey Amsterdam, Telly Savalas and Denise Darcel, a French movie star.
“All these big time entertainers would walk through the lounge while we were singing there,” Frankie Ray said. “We were in the lobby when Telly Savalas was leaving the hotel. He came over and said, ‘Frankie, Maryellen, I’m leaving. By the way, I enjoyed your music. Then he turned around and said to Maryellen, ‘Who loves you, baby?’”
Frankie Ray reflects on a photograph of him with Jimmy Durante, the famous comedian, actor, singer, and pianist.
“It was at the Copacabana,” Frankie Ray said, “my manager at the time got me to take a picture with him. He told him, ‘I’m trying to build up this young man.’ And so Jimmy Durante comes out to take the picture. When it came time to take the picture he told me, ‘You look like a star.’ I said, ’Thank you, thank you!’”
Liberace was among Frankie Ray’s friends.
“He would stand at the bar because he and my boss had something going,” Frankie Ray said. “He would come to the bar in his jeans and just a t-shirt, and he’d say to me, ‘Frankie, I love the material,’ as he felt my shirt sleeve. And I said, ‘Lee, I’m straight.’ I have his autograph at home, because I told him I was going to go to California on vacation. He wrote his address and everything. I still have it. I’m going to frame it. It says, ‘You come here, I’ll take you out on the town.’ I mean, really, Liberace? I’m sorry that I never once said to him that I thought he was a phenomenal talent. He was so great. Oh, my God, that man was great. You know, I met so many people.”
It was in New York City that Frankie Ray met Maryellen. He was looking for a female singer to work with. He was making a business call when he met her. She was part of the company’s typing pool.
“I called her and asked her if she could come to my house and audition. She came to my house, and before she sang one note, I looked at her and said to myself, ‘This woman is going to be my wife for the rest of my life.’”
It was the beginning of a marriage that would last 47 years.
A framed Frankie Ray and Maryellen poster from the Voyager at the Marco Beach Hotel.
“She had a dream in her life that she wanted to get married, have a little girl and sing for people and have somebody accompany her,” Frankie Ray said. “A girlfriend of hers who knew her when she was 18 called me from out of nowhere and said, ‘You made her dreams come true.’ Another dream she had was that she was singing and somebody was playing guitar next to her, and it turned out to be me.”
After wrapping up their six years at the Marco Beach Hotel, Frankie Ray and Maryellen decided to open their own restaurant. In 1986, they opened La Casita in the Shops of Marco shopping center, where they had a long and successful career.
Frankie remembers getting a call from CNN anchorman Don Farmer, who lived on Marco Island for decades.
“Don calls me up and he says, ‘Frankie Ray, I’m Don Farmer, I’m with CNN. We’re going to come to Marco Island. Could you write us a song?’ I said okay, then I forgot all about it. Time went by, and all of a sudden, I get a phone call. ‘Hello, it’s Don Farmer. Frankie, do you have the song?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ But I didn’t. I got the guitar. I went into the bedroom and because of the love we had for the island – going fishing and seeing the pelicans, all those things I experienced – it just took me 15 minutes to write.”
In 1984, the Chamber of Commerce honored Frankie Ray by making his song, Marco Memories, the official song of Marco Island.
Through all his brushes with fame, Frankie Ray didn’t hesitate when asked about the highlight of his life.
Frankie Ray wrote the official Marco Island song, Marco Memories, in 15 minutes.
“Meeting my wife,” Frankie Ray said, his eyes filling with tears. My wife and I, it wasn’t a marriage. It was a honeymoon all the time. We were together for 47 years. We were very much the same. Our humor and everything. She would laugh at any of my dumb jokes, and she came up with some jokes once in a while. But we were very much the same.
A woman was coming to do the rosary for Mary Ellen when she was sick. One day, I said, ‘Could you stay a little longer today?’ So I came to the Marco Island Historical Society and brought them one of our big pictures. And they said, ‘You’re going to be in the museum.’ So, I went back and I whispered, ‘Maryellen, by the way, your name is going to go on forever.’ And she says, ‘Why?’ I said, “We’re now in the Marco Island Museum. And she smiled. She was very ill at the time. I couldn’t believe that she was going to die.”
Maryellen died on December 19, 2019. Now Frankie Ray, 83, is left to make sure that the show goes on.
Frankie and Maryellen, We Walked Among the Best, is available on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
