Daisy Jane Riley, Uptown's 'gatekeeper'

THE UPTOWN Theater was the place to go in the '50s and '60s if you wanted to see the top rock 'n' roll and doo-wop performers of those jumpin' decades.

You could see 10 big-name acts on the same bill for $1.75. The late Georgie Woods, the "Guy With the Goods," was the MC and he'd sometimes interrupt the music to talk about the civil-rights struggle.

The Uptown, at Broad Street and Susquehanna Avenue, was Philly's answer to Harlem's Apollo Theater. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, if you could make it at the Uptown you could make it anywhere.

And presiding over the box office was a tiny woman with an upswept hairdo, usually gowned in dresses often of her favorite color - red - fancy hats and long, graceful fingernails.

Daisy Jane Riley was the Uptown's "gatekeeper" from 1954 to 1964, when she was nearly as well-known and popular as some of the acts.

"Although little in stature [4 feet 11], she carried herself with elegance and style," said Olivia Phillips Riley, one of her daughters.

"She was definitely the complete package."

Daisy died June 27. She was 86 and lived in Mount Airy.

When her cousin Jimmy Merchant, one of the original members of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers ("Why Do Fools Fall In Love?), arrived to perform with his group at the Uptown in 1959, he was surprised to find her there, Olivia said.

So, before the show he and another member of the group, the late Sherman Garnes, visited Daisy and her mother, Mary E. Carter Nelson. "That was the only day I was allowed to stay home from school," Olivia recalled. "I was 15, Jimmy was 19."

Jimmy will speak at Daisy's funeral.

Daisy was born in Philadelphia, the first of the 15 children of Clarence and Mary Nelson. She attended Simon Gratz High School and went to work as a sales clerk, then as a cashier at local theaters: the Booker at 11th Street and Fairmount Avenue; the Colonial at 42nd and Lancaster, and the Avenue at Germantown Avenue and Somerset Street, all now out of business.

At the Uptown, she worked her way up from cashier, selling tickets, to managing the operation.

Later, she worked in food service at the Home for the Jewish Aged and in the small-parts department of Reco Penn Metal & Welding Co. She retired in January 1978.

Her later jobs paled in comparison to her experiences at the Uptown. She got to meet many of the performers there, including James Brown, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, the Platters, the Comets, Bo Diddley, the Drifters and others.

"Daisy was known for speaking her mind," her daughter said. "Even during her sickness she would make some unique and comical remarks.

"Nevetheless, she was not only beautiful, but she was intelligent, kind, loving, fun and generous, and loved to travel."

She had a brief first marriage to William E. Stewart Sr., in the mid-'40s, and later married Herman Riley Sr., who died in 1978.

Daisy was very close to her late sisters, Anna and Liz. They went everywhere together.

Daisy enjoyed the family's numerous gatherings, given by her mother, known as Nan-Nan, in North Philadelphia and later in West Oak Lane, including those held every year on Daisy's birthday.

She was a member of New Gethsemane Baptist Church in Germantown, where she served on the senior usher board.

Besides her daughter, she is survived by three sons, William E. Stewart Jr., Herman Riley Jr. and Steven Riley; four other daughters, Saundra Pace, Juanita Riley, Joyce Freeman and Denise Riley; 22 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. today at New Gethsemane Baptist Church, 917 E. Chelten Ave. Friends may call at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in Chelten Hills Cemetery, Washington Lane and Woolston Avenue. *