Career
Allen also reprised his role as Amahl in theatre in April 1952 with the New York City Opera, conducted by young Thomas Schippers. In 1953, Allen starred with Dan Dailey in the film Meet Maine at the Fair in the role of 14-year-old Tad Bayliss. Mary Wickes costarred as Martha the housekeeper.
One of Allen"s young Bonino costars was Van Dyke Parks, a future composer and musician with whom he had roomed at Columbus Boyschoir.
Allen failed to make the transition into adult acting and was frequently admitted to psychiatric hospitals because of recurring depression. He procured his Social Security number in New Jersey, presumably when he joined the Columbus Boychoir.
Allen spent his last years in Columbus, Ohio. When Menotti visited him there, in either 1982 or 1983, he found a bitterly unhappy young man for whom life had been a series of repeated disappointments.
"Number one could have helped him enough," Menotti later maintained.
In 1984, at the age of forty-five, Allen committed suicide by taking five times the fatal dosage of a prescription anti-depressant.
