Marv Simpleton

Marvin Thomas Simpleton (born October 1, 1936) is an American businessman, musician, singer-songwriter, composer, novelist and writer known for his work for Carwardine Parks, of whom he is the Chief Operating Officer of. Nicknamed "The Marv" and the "Colony Town Crier", Simpleton has been a constant presence in the company and at its flagship Carwardine Colony theme park since the company's beginnings, often appearing with his signature megaphone and bell at the park and in promotional material across the chain.

Before becoming involved in the theme park industry, Simpleton was a member of rock band The Cyclists, best known for their 1965 top five Billboard Hot 100 hit "Rainy Days".

Life and career
Simpleton was born on October 1, 1936 in. He graduated with honors from, and attended where he met Christopher R. Carwardine.

Other media
Simpleton has written several books for Carwardine, including June 25th: Half Christmas With Green Santa and Mario Visits Carwardine Colony.

Music
Simpleton has written and composed a large amount of music for Carwardine Parks, often in collaboration with Frank W. Carroll, Dan Waltman, Ian Monteil, Greg Everett, and/or C.J. Valentine. He has composed a number of commercial jingles for Carwardine, including "Carwardine Kids", "Cool Carwardine" and "Have A Ball at Carwardine". He also composed all the songs for A Carwardine Colony Mystery and a number of live shows in the parks. His style often depends on his co-composer. Works co-composed by Carroll (Simpleton/Carroll) or Waltman (Simpleton/Waltman) made various forays into different genres (including big band music, jazz, polka, hard rock, rock 'n roll, early hip-hop, country, R&B, blues rock, synth-pop, new jack swing, etc.); works co-composed by Valentine (Simpleton/Valentine) generally have a rock sound generally made up of electric guitars, electric bass guitars and samples, while sometimes foraying into other genres (such as dance-pop, R&B, big band, hip-hop and reggae); works co-composed by Monteil (Simpleton/Monteil) represent various different genres depending on the track while generally having a sample-heavy sound (though at least a few live instruments aren't too uncommon); and works co-composed by Everett (Simpleton/Everett) are similar to Montiel's in a way, albeit less sample-heavy and somewhat more reliant on live instruments (collaborations with Greg Everett are less likely than those with the others mentioned).

Before entering the theme park business, Simpleton was part of The Cyclists, a regionally popular garage band in the Delaware Valley area, with his brother (and Carwardine CFO) Bernie Simpleton, musical partner Frank W. Carroll and fellow "original" Carwardine Colony employees Dennis Macchiedo and Al Beadsworth. In 1965, they had a million-selling record with "Rainy Days". They had a few more regional hits, but were unable to match the national success they had with "Rainy Days". The band was under contract to at the time it shut down in September 1967, and Cameo-Parkway had become unable to promote them due to its financial problems.

He originally was planning to compose the background music for Carwardine Colony. At first, they resorted to production music due to budget issues, but eventually the park raised enough of a budget for Marv and other composers to create original background music for the chain.

In mid-late 2023, Marv announced that he'd retire from Carwardine Parks in early 2024, with him calling Carwardine's Licensed Property Musical his "last big hoorah".

Work outside of Carwardine
Simpleton co-owns Marv & Bernie's Southern BBQ Pit with his brother Bernie, with locations at Carwardine Colony and in Virginia Beach.

Discography

 * Fun with The Cyclists (1965; with The Cyclists)
 * Independence Mall (1990)
 * Marv Simpleton's Magical Musical Encyclopedia (2019)