Spoiler : Julius La Rosa, the celebrated 1950s singer who reinvented himself as a television, stage and nightclub performer after his young career was thrown into turmoil by a bizarre and humiliating on-the-air firing by Arthur Godfrey before a national audience, died on Thursday at his home in Crivitz, Wis. He was 86. His death was confirmed by his wife, Rosemary. Like many fresh talents discovered by the powerful Mr. Godfrey, Mr. La Rosa had been plucked from obscurity, taken into the “Little Godfrey” family, paid a salary beyond his wildest dreams and exposed to colossal television and radio audiences. For a Brooklyn kid just out of the Navy, it was a dream come true. With his chunky-cheeked, boyish grin and dark, curly hair swept back from a widow’s peak, he crooned pop favorites for 35 million people from 1951 to 1953 on CBS’s “Arthur Godfrey Time,” a weekday morning television and radio show, and for “Arthur Godfrey and His Friends,” a Wednesday night variety program. The news media explored his life. Fans swooned. His mailbag brought 7,000 letters a day (more than Mr. Godfrey’s), and his salary grew to $900 a week. But it all came at a price. Mr. Godfrey — a folksy, sentimental ukulele strummer to his audiences but an imperious, tyrannical boss behind the sets — ordered all his entertainers to take dancing lessons. Mr. La Rosa refused. He also insisted that his performers not work for outside interests and not be represented by personal agents. Feeling exploited, Mr. La Rosa did both. He signed with Cadence Records, a label owned by Mr. Godfrey’s musical director, Archie Bleyer, and made several recordings, including his first hit, “Anywhere I Wander.” He also hired an agent to renegotiate his CBS contract and manage his outside interests. On Oct. 19, 1953 — 23 months after Mr. La Rosa’s debut — Mr. Godfrey retaliated in a morning segment heard only on the radio. Mr. La Rosa had just finished singing “Manhattan” when Mr. Godfrey delivered the sentence in his solemn foghorn voice.

Spoiler : Born in Brooklyn, New York 1/2/1930. Married to Rosemary Meyers (1956-?). LaRosa served in the US Navy from 1947 to 1951, and was discovered by Arthur Godfrey while singing in a service show in Florida. After his discharge, he went to work for Godfrey.