Rifael Ronald "Riff" Markowitz (born 1938) is a Canadian-American television and theatre producer,[1] most recently the managing director, MC and co-founder of The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies,[2] which performed at the historic Plaza Theatre in downtown Palm Springs, California until 2014.
Markowitz was born in New York City but grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
[1] He ran away from home at the age of 15, worked as a clown for a year, then secured a job as a radio announcer on CJKL in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
[1] He later moved into television with CHCH-TV in Hamilton, producing several of the station's early forays into television syndication, including The Randy Dandy Show,[3] The Hilarious House of Frightenstein,[3] and Party Game.
[1] He moved to Palm Springs in 1991 intending to retire, but his continuing interest in theatre led to the offer to restore a vaudeville theatre, which became home to The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies.