At 85, Glendale man has been playing piano for 75 years and finds he just can’t stop now.

Melvin Presar was born into a family of musicians.

The 85-year-old Glendale resident learned to play the piano when he was 10 years old.

Presar worked odd jobs after he dropped out of high school, but he always dreamed of going to Hollywood.

After a four-year stint in the Army, Presar went to Tinseltown and started working different jobs. He had hopes of landing work in the entertainment industry.

Presar played at piano bars for free and got a job playing the piano on cruise ships.

But he got his big break when he auditioned and landed a part for the Gong Show.

Presar also went on to take a role in the Gong Show Movie.

Glendale News-Press News Assistant Ani Amirkhanian sat down with Presar at Summerville, a senior residential facility, and asked him a few questions.

What interested you in music and entertainment?

I come from a musical family. When I was 5 years old, I started singing in Sunday school ‘Jesus loves me’ and ‘Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.’

My dad bought his first team of horses in 1896 by playing the fiddle for square dances. I was around music and the whole family was all musical.

Do you have any formal piano training?

The piano, I started when I was 10 years old. My sister showed me how to chord on the piano. I can play two or three chords. I’ve been playing the piano all my life. I did 30 years of entertaining at senior centers. But I don’t play by note. It’s all by ear.

How did you make ends meet in Hollywood?

When I got out of the Army and worked at a number of different jobs, I decided to go to Hollywood. I did a lot of hitchhiking. I went to Hollywood and I was sleeping in an all-night theater in the winter of 1945 and riding in a street car. I met a woman who said don’t sleep in the theater, go to the county hospital where you can get a job and room and board.

From Hollywood, I went up to work in the orchards of Washington, from there I went to Lake Placid, New York. I was a cook there, and an entertainer. From Lake Placid I went back to Hollywood, worked for six months. I lived on hot dogs and root beer; a nickel for a hot dog and a nickel for a glass of root beer.

What was it like being on the Gong Show?

I auditioned for the Gong Show and I did seven Gong Shows with Chuck Barris. I always wanted to be in a movie and it was faith that I ended up doing seven Gong Show shows. And to get in the movie, I became a member of Screen Actors Guild.

The Gong Show is now called America’s Greatest Talent. They had the premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. It was big time.

Who did you play in the Gong Show Movie?

I was the lead weirdo in the Gong Show Movie. The first Gong Show I did I played Dead Pan, the sheik of Hollywood. I had a pan and played it like a tambourine. I played the boom bass on a stick, and I played electric organ. I was a Skid Row bum.

gnp-boomers.1.12-CPhotoInfoF91SRMUT20060712j29vioncTAMMY ABBOTT News-Press and Leader

(LA)Melvin Presar, a resident of Summerville and a life-long entertainer, still plays to an audience in the sitting room. He sang an assortment of songs, including the old favorite, “You Are My Sunshine,” on Tuesday.