Bruce's early comedy career included writing the screenplays for "Dance Hall Racket" in 1953, which featured Bruce, his wife Honey Harlow, and mother Sally Marr; "Dream Follies" in 1954, a low-budget burlesque romp; and a children's film, "The Rocket Man", in 1954. In 1956, Frank Ray Perilli, a fellow nightclub comedian who eventually became a screenwriter of two dozen successful films and plays, became a mentor and part-time manager of Bruce. Through Perilli, Bruce met and collaborated with photojournalist William Karl Thomas on three screenplays ("Leather Jacket", "Killer's Grave" and "The Degenerate"), none of which made it to the screen, and the comedy material on his first three comedy albums.