In 1947 as a child Don was hired to open the play, Galileo, by Bertold Brecht and starring Charles Laughton, at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles. In later years Don related stories of Brecht and Charlie Chaplin in the audience during rehearsal, teasing him with his new nickname, “Porky.”
In the summer of 1948 at the age 13 Don began his acting career as Don Pietro by appearing in a number of major Hollywood productions including his first film The Boy with Green Hair with Robert Ryan and Pat O'Brien followed a year later by Mrs. Mike with Dick Powell. In the 1950s there came a string of nice roles like Follow the Sun with Glenn Ford, The Gene Autry Show as Pepito Garcia and Girls in the Night with Harvey Lembeck. In 1957 Don played an ocean liner Page in the film "An Affair to Remember" opposite Cary Grant.
Pietromonaco served in the Army in the late 1950's. He was stationed in Germany the same time Elvis was and met him there. He worked on Armed Forces Radio as an announcer in Frankfort. And, he also met and married his wife while in Germany and brought her back to the U.S. with him when he was discharged.
Rabbitt was a perfect match for the Gaslight Square Playboy Club in downtown St. Louis.By 1960 Don made a transition from the big screen to Don Pietro, Disk Jockey at KROG, Sonora, California where he began toying with various character voices while developling an on air persona that became one of the country's most theatrically gifted air talents. In 1963 program director Guy Williams aka L.David Moorhead hired him for the all important early evening slot at legendary top forty rocker, KRIZ.
Using the air name "The Purple Pizza Eater", Don along with his sidekick Bruno J. Grunion, a mythical teenage ne'er-do-well voiced by Pietro (unbeknownst to the listening teen audience, the two garnered huge ratings in the Phoenix market and his reputation as an on air entertainer began capturing national attention and the management of KXOK-AM 630.
Johnny Rabbitt Show 1965/68.
Johnny and Bruno in 1966.
Known to thousands of radio listeners as "Johnny Rabbitt", Don along with his faithful companion Bruno J. Grunion, the two would delight their predominantly teen audience from 7 pm to midnight with outlandish antics such as Rabbitt feeding Bruno to a "man-eating plant." But of course Bruno would always survive because the plant would spit him out. Johnny and Bruno in 1966.
The throngs of teens calling the station's request lines with their problems or dedications could simply, "Blab it to the Rabbitt." From 1964 through 1968 Don would enjoy some of the highest ratings ever recorded in the St. Louis market.
GO Magazine November 1, 1969After his departure from live radio in 1971, Pietromonaco began teaching film production and voiceovers in Hollywood, as well as voicing numerous commercials.
At the age of 61, Don Pietromonaco, actor and veteran voiceover coach, died on April 18, 1997, from complications due to emphysema.
WHERE DID JOHNNY WORK? Here is the list: KROG, KAFY, KXOK, and KRIZ.
