Comedy Icon Jonathan Winters Dies At 87

Jonathan Winters 1925-2013

America has lost another comedy icon of the early days of television, with the passing of Jonathan Winters today at the age of 87 in Montecito, California. Winters was born in Dayton, Ohio on November 11, 1925.

The thing I remember most about Jonathan Winters were the funny faces he could make. He first made a name for himself in stand-up comedy and released 22 comedy albums from 1960-2011.

His first television appearance appearing as someone other than himself was when he appeared, on Omnibus in 1954. He was heard on one old-time radio show Monitor in 1959, before old-time radio died on September 30, 1962.

Winters appeared in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963. This is physical comedy at its best as Winters levels a service station singlehandedly and he earned $130,000 for his appearance in the movie. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZsp8SvJj8

He later appeared as Mearth on Mork and Mindy television series. His last movie appearance was as Papa on Smurfs 2, which is in post-production. He was to have appeared in Big Finish, but it is in pre-production, so he won’t be seen in that film.

Many of his best known television appearances were Tonight Show, Jack Paar Show and Hollywood Squares.

The world has lost of the best improvisational comics ever. Jonathan Winters will be missed by a legion of fans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/arts/television/jonathan-winters-comedian-dies-at-87.html?pagewanted=all&amp&_r=0

Annette Funicello Dies At 70

Annette Funicello 1942-2013

Annette Funicello  died in a Bakersfield, California hospital today at the age of 70. She had suffered from multiple sclerosis for the last 26 years.Her death was caused by complications from multiple sclerosis.

She could longer walk in 2004 and lost her speech in 2009.

Her last movie or television appearance was in Back To Beach film, which was released in 1987.

Longtime fans will remember her as Annette from the Mickey Mouse Club, which debuted in 1955. She starred in several beach movies with Frankie Avalon from Beach Party in 1963 till they co-starred on Back to the Beach 24 years later.

Annette recorded several albums and one of her songs Tall Paul peaked at No.7 on the Billboard charts. She recorded singles from 1958-1983.

I can remember watching Annette on Mickey Mouse Club many years ago and then saw many of her beach movies over the years.

Her husband Glen Holt survives her along with three children, from her first husband Jack Gilardi.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-et-st-mickey-mouse-club-star-annette-funicello-dies-at-70-20130408,0,5659102.story

Mr. Ed Still In Reruns 52 Years Later

Mr. Ed the talking horse shown with owner Wilbur Post who was portrayed by Alan Young.

 

Mr. Ed a comedy series about a talking horse debuted in January of 1958. The owner of the horse in this show was Wilbur Pope, while Alan Young would portray Wilbur Post, when the show became a regular show on the CBS television network.

Mr. Ed was originally named Bamboo Harvester, after being born in El Monte, California 64 years ago in 1949. His name was changed to Mr. Ed after appearing on the show.

Imdb.com says that Mr. Ed died in 1979 at the age of 30,33 or 34, but other sources say that Mr. Ed died in 1968, 1973 or 1974, so in other words nobody seems to really know the date of his death.

Larry Keating, who portrayed Roger Addison the next door neighbor died in the third season and was replaced by Leon Ames of Topper fame and portrayed Col. Gordon Kirkwood.

Katy Rose a singer grew up in the home Mr. Ed lived in many years after the show ended.

The show was owned by George Burns McCadden Production and Burns chose Alan Young to play Wilbur Post, since he seemed like the kind of guy a horse would talk to.

Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who would only respond to his trainer Les Hilton, since Mr. Ed would not respond to his co-stars.

His daily diet consisted of 20 pounds of hay and a gallon of sweet tea to wash it down. If he got tired Mr. Ed would simply walk off the set. Anyone else would get fired for such insubordination, but not Mr. Ed who was the real star of the show.

Allan “Rocky Lane” a cowboy star was the voice of Mr. Ed.

Alan Young and Connie Hines with Mr. Ed in the background.

 

 

Alan Young who portrayed Wilbur Post and Connie Hines who played his wife Carol Post on Mr. Ed shown a few years later.

 

Mr. Ed was the kind of show that was entertaining, without being controversial. It may have been silly nonsense, but who cared if the viewers enjoyed it. I still record it off the Hallmark Channel, then watch the shows later so I can zip past the commercials.

This is typical of the dialogue heard on the show:

Wilbur Post: [after Ed finds a straw hat] What are you going to do with a straw hat?

Mister Ed: I’ll wear it till it goes out of style. Then I’ll eat it!

Alan Young was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England on November 19, 1919. He was heard in the old-time radio show on the Alan Young Show. I recently heard one of the shows for the first time and the show was surprisingly good, since the show is not mentioned much in old-time radio circles. The show kept me entertained from beginning to end.

Young later would be the voice of Scrooge McDuck on the Duck Tales series.

Alan Young is now 93 and lives in Laguna Niguel, California.

Connie Hines who played Carol Post was born in Dedham, Massachusetts on March 24, 1931 and  was seen in the Whirlybirds series for those of us who go that far back.

Hines only acted three more times after Mr. Ed ended, with appearance in one episode each of Bonanza, Love American Style and her last appearance in Mod Squad in 1971. She didn’t appear on TV or in the movies the last 38 years of her life.

She died due to a heart condition on December 18, 2009 at the age of 78.

Mr. Ed may have left the air in 1966, but is still in reruns 52 years later. Mr. Ed was and still remains one of my favorite shows. The interaction between Mr. Ed and his owner Wilbur Post is the highlight of the shows.

This is one of the few remaining shows on television, that you can watch with no bad language and no double entendre jokes, that are so prevalent today on the situation comedies of today. Shows like Mr. Ed, Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best are a refuge, from the shows being shown on the networks today. Some of the older shows, that were so entertaining are seldom seen on television today. I haven’t seen an episode of Amos and Andy, Ozzie and Harriet, Red Skelton Show, Life of Riley and others for years and years. Those reruns are not being shown for some reason. There may be stations or networks telecasting some or all of those shows, but if they are I am not aware of it.

Thanks Mr. Ed for still being around to bring back the memories of years gone by.

 

 

JFK Assassination 50 Years Later: Still No Smoking Gun

Diagram showing key landmarks involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 and the Dallas Police Headquarters, where Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24 of that year.

50 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have passed and yet there is still no smoking gun, that proves that the crime was a conspiracy. I have read a lot of books on the subject, but still have not read anything that proves there was a conspiracy.

I still think it was a conspiracy and think the Warren Commission Report was slanted, to make the American public think Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole person, that was involved in the assassination.

My personal opinion is that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination. He had the most to gain, from the assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson was very unhappy being a figurehead in the Kennedy administration and had the most to gain if the president was dead. He knew he would instantly become president, if Kennedy were to be assassinated. There are many instances, in which Johnson seemed to be involved like it was said that Johnson is the one that insisted that the presidential limousine top be uncovered. The president became an open target to any assassin, once the limousine proceeded toward the killing zone.

There is a report that Johnson told a girlfriend the night before the assassination, that the Kennedys would never embarrass him again as mentioned in this article. The article is missing some photos, but the content of the article is what is important.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2006/300806jfk.htm

One of the key parts of the article is this paragraph, in which his girlfriend mentions that LBJ was on the brink of going to prison, because of hearings going on in Washington. This testimony was supposed to be given on the day of the assassination, but when LBJ became president the hearings were stopped and LBJ averted being sent to prison, now that he had the power of the presidency to protect him, from any further hearings.

“Had the assassination not happened the day that it did, Lyndon Johnson would have probably gone to prison,  they would have gotten rid of him – he was so involved with some of this,”  said Brown.

LBJ more than other person may be the reason, that no smoking gun has ever been found that would blow the lid off a LBJ conspiracy.

Mac Wallace, whose fingerprints were found on a box in the Texas School Book Depository is thought by some, to have fired the fatal shots that killed President John F. Kennedy. The following reader’s review after reading LBJ: The Mastermind Behind The JFK Assassination connects some of the dots that lead to LBJ as the mastermind behind the killing. I read the 658 page book last fall and it details how LBJ systematically got rid of his enemies using his hit man Mac Wallace to kill them. There are some that think Wallace enlisted Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby as part of the assassination and subsequent murder of Oswald. When E. Howard Hunt mentions on his death bed that LBJ was involved in the assassination, then it makes sense, that LBJ was involved in the assassination from the beginning to the end. The book mentions that when the presidential motorcade reached the killing zone, that LBJ ducked down to make sure he wasn’t shot, while leaving his wife and Senator Ralph Yarborough D-Texas exposed, while the assassination was in progress.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and pivotal, bringing coherence to our understanding October 5, 2010

By James H. Fetzer

  From first chapter to last, this is a beautifully written, intellectually captivating, and ultimately persuasive account of the role of LBJ in the assassination of JFK.  I had more than 100 conversations with Madeleine Duncan Brown, one of his many mistresses but the only one who bore him a son.  She, too, became convinced that Lyndon was profoundly involved in the death of his predecessor.  On New Year’s Eve, six weeks after the assassination, they had a rendezvous at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, where she confronted him with rumors, rampant in Dallas at the time, that he had been involved, since no one stood more to gain.  He blew up at her and told her that the CIA and the oil boys had decided that JFK had to be taken out.  She wrote about it in her book, TEXAS IN THE MORNING.  Her account has been reinforced by Billy Sol Estes, the Texas wheeler-dealer who made mountains of money for Lyndon, Connally, and their buddies, who explains in his book, A TEXAS LEGEND, how he became convinced that Cliff Carter, LBJ’s chief administrative assistant, and Malcolm “Mac” Wallace, his personal assassin (by whom Lyndon had a dozen or more persons terminated, including one of his sisters), had been personally involved.  E. Howard Hunt, in his “Last Confessions” in ROLLING STONE, explained to his son, St. John, that LBJ, Cord Meyer, William Harvey, David Sanchez Morales, and others in the CIA had been involved in the assassination.  For an overview, enter “John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, Legacy”, and download Chapter 30.  Or visit [...], “Reclaiming History: A Closed Mind Perpetrating a Fraud on the Public”, and you will understand the context within which it took place.  For a short course, try “Reasoning about Assassinantions” via google.  I also recommend James Douglass, JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE.  Both make profound contributions to the case.

I have no doubt that Jack Ruby was in the Dallas Police station the morning of Sunday, November 24th, with the backing of organized crime and cooperation from the Dallas Police Department.. Assuming there was a conspiracy, it became incumbent for those involved to prevent Oswald from talking any more to investigators or to be brought to trial.

National columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who had interviewed Ruby was found dead and her notes about the Ruby interview were missing, when her body was found in her apartment on November 8, 1965. Her death came two weeks exactly short of the second anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.

Richard Kollmar the husband of Kilgallen was asked about his wife’s interest in the JFK assassination by a friend, but Kollmar said he would take that information to his grave.

Some interesting notes about some of the better known people, that had some connection with what happened that day in Dallas 50 years ago:

President John F. Kennedy - Was gunned down in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 at the age of 46. His death came 13 months after the Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962. His death also came one year and three months, after the death of Marilyn Monroe in August of 1962. Monroe reportedly threatened to tell the media about the sexual indiscretions by the president and Bobby Kennedy. We probably will never know if the Kennedy’s were involved in her death, but if she had disclosed the sexual escapades of the Kennedys, then John F. Kennedy would probably not have been assassinated a year later, because he probably would have been impeached.

John F. Kennedy may or may not have been involved in silencing Monroe, but at the same time he may have lived for many more years, even if he wasn’t president on the day of the assassination and would have no reason to be in Dallas that day. If Kennedy was still alive today he would be observing his 96th birthday on May 29.

President Lyndon B. Johnson – The members of the Kennedy administration were not happy, to be coerced into naming Johnson as the vice president at the 1960 Democratic Convention in 1960. Johnson chafed at being told what to do by the Kennedy staffers. So he had every motive to make sure President John F. Kennedy was erased from the American political scene. Johnson was 55 at the time of the assassination and would be 64, when he died on January 22, 1973. He would be 105 in August if still alive.

Lee Harvey Oswald – He is considered to be the lone gunman that assassinated the president on November 22, 1963. This is precisely the way President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted Oswald to be regarded. If Oswald was thought of as a lone conspirator, then it would protect President Johnson from being mentioned as a conspirator. Oswald was only 24 when he assassinated the president and on November 24, 1963,  when he would be shot in a Dallas Police station two days later.

Jack Ruby who shot and killed Oswald ended any chance of Oswald telling anyone about any conspiracy, in a trial that would have been the trial of the century, if it had been held. Instead, Ruby made sure the American people would never know, if Oswald had been involved in a conspiracy. Oswald would have been 74 in October if still alive.

Officer J.D. Tippit – Jack Ruby not only prevented us from knowing more about the Kennedy assassination, but probably also prevented Oswald from telling his story, about what happened in the J.D. Tippit murder. Officer Tippit had joined the Dallas Police force as a patrolman 11 years before the day of the assassination of the president and his own murder. There are conflicting reports about who killed Officer Tippit. Some reports say two men were involved in his murder.

William Scoggins a taxi driver said he heard three gunshots, then saw Tippit fall to the ground. Scoggins said a man with a gun passed by him saying something akin to “poor dumb cop”. At least four witnesses identified Oswaqld in police lineups, which more or less makes it a sure thing that Oswald murdered Officer Tippit. The police tracked Oswald to the Texas Theater, where he was  overpowered and apprehended by the Dallas Police. Tippit was 39 when he was murdered on November 22, 1963 and would be 89 if still alive.

Jack Ruby – On the day of the assassination Ruby was 53 years old. Ruby would be seen at Parkland Hospital, when President John F. Kennedy was taken there after being seriously wounded. He would be seen again at the Dallas Police station that night. Then on Sunday morning at 11:21 AM Dallas time, Ruby somehow gained entrance to the Dallas Police station, probably with inside help as the entrance he used was mysteriously left unguarded. When Oswald was being led to a vehicle, that was to take Oswald to another jail Ruby stepped in front of Oswald and shot and killed him. Ruby alluded to the fact that people in high places were involved with his murdering Oswald.

This makes me wonder if President Johnson was one of the officials in high places being mentioned. Ruby died on January 3, 1967. He was close friends to Sam and Joe Campisa who were associated with crime boss Carlos Marcello. Jimmy Hoffa reportedly said at one time, that Ruby was to make sure that Oswald was killed by Dallas police, while in their custody. When Ruby failed to insure that Oswald would be killed by the police, then he apparently took on himself to kill Oswald, since his own life could be in jeopardy if Oswald was not killed. Ruby would have been 102 if still alive on March 25.

50 Years Later

With the 50 year anniversary of the JFK assassination approaching in eight months we can only guess at what documents about the assassination may be released in the coming months. The fact that CIA is holding 1,171 top-secret documents about the JFK assassination tells me, that these documents could tell about any conspiracies that may have been involved during the assassination. This is only conjecture, but I think these CIA documents could tie President Lyndon B. Johnson to the assassination. Johnson has been dead for 40 years now, so can’t see any problem with documents being released, even if they connect a former president to the assassination.

I remain a conspiracy theorist, but think the government will continue to keep the JFK assassination documents sealed. The American people deserve to know everything now that 50 years have passed. My personal belief is that these documents lead straight to former President Lyndon B. Johnson and his henchmen.

Will the 50th anniversary come and go, without any documents being released? Even 10-year-old kids at the time of the assassination would be 60 this year. So a middle-aged adult between 30-49 would now be 80-99 years old, so should not be in a government position of power.

How much longer will these documents remain sealed? My only conclusion is that somebody has some dark secrets, that the government doesn’t want released in the near future.

I have no problems with any authors writing books that are pro-conspiracy or anti-conspiracy, but unless the government release these documents we have no hope, of finding out the rest of the story, about what happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

Net Worth of Petula Clark, Fabian, Prince Jackson, Connie Francis and Gordon Lightfoot

Petula Clark – $10 Million

The Celebrity Net Worth website lists 80 year-old Petula Clark as being worth $10 million. Clark has now been singing for 74 years. When I think of Petula Clark I think of her hit song Downtown.

Fabian – $25 Million

Fabian Forte known only as Fabian by most rock and roll fans was 70 last February and although he may not have a lot of hit songs he made his mark in the movies, appearing in a total of 45 movies and TV shows from 1959-1996. Celebrity Net Worth lists Fabian’s net worth at $25 million.

Prince Michael Joseph Jackson – $100 Million

 

Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. may be only 16, but he is already worth $100 million.. He may or may not have access to that money now, but his financial security is insured, if he doesn’t go through his money too fast.

Connie Francis – $25 Million

The net worth of Connie Francis is listed at $25 million despite the fact that she only had three No.1 hits in her 70 year career. The 74-year-old Francis had her first No.1 hit in My Heart’s Got A Mind Of Its Own in 1960. Her next No. 1 hit was released in 1961 when Together was No.1 on adult contemporary chart and her last No. 1 hit was Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You which reached No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1962. Francis has not even released an album since 1969.  One of her best known songs was Who’s Sorry Now, but it peaked at No.4 for her first Top 10 hit in 1957.

Her biggest regret was not marrying Bobby Darin, after her dad chased Darin out of a building at gunpoint. He then said Darin was out of their lives, when the news of his marriage was broadcast on the radio. Francis said she wished their car had been filled with water, while driving in the Lincoln Tunnel and hoping her father would both be killed.

Gordon Lightfoot in 1967 – $30 Million

The 74 year-old Gordon Lightfoot is listed as being worth $30 million.  Lightfoot has been singing since 1956 at the age of 18. Bob Dylan said Lightfoot was one of his favorite songwriters. He wrote Early Morning Rain, which was covered by many well-known singers including Elvis Presley.

His first No.1 song was If You Could Read My Mind, which reached No.1 in Canada in 1970. His other No. 1 hits on Canadian pop charts were Sundown in 1974 and The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald in 1976. Lightfoot had nine songs reach No.1 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. Sundown was the only Lightfoot song to reach No.1 on the U.S. pop charts, but he placed four songs on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts.

He released his last album All Live on Rhino Records in 2012. It includes most of his most well-known hits in this list from Wikipedia:

• “14 Karat Gold”
• “If You Could Read My Mind“
• “Fine as Fine Can Be”
• “Baby Step Back”
• “Early Morning Rain“
• “Restless”
• “A Painter Passing Through“
• “Rainy Day People“
• “Ringneck Loon”
• “Shadows”
• “Sundown“
• “Carefree Highway“
• “Christian Island”
• “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald“
• “Canadian Railroad Trilogy“
• “Let It Ride”
• “Blackberry Wine”
• “Song for a Winter’s Night“
• “Old Dan’s Records“

• All Songs Written By Gordon Lightfoot

Remembering Roy Orbison 25 Years After His Death

Roy Orbison 1936-1988

It doesn’t seem like this December will mark the 25th anniversary of the death of Roy Orbison. Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23, 1936 and died in Madison, Tennessee on December 6, 1988 at the age of 52.

Orbison has left behind a rich musical legacy with his signature songs like Crying, Only the Lonely and Oh, Pretty Woman. He also was a songwriter writing songs like Claudette, which was recorded by the Everly Brothers.

1960 would bring his first Top 10 hit Only the Lonely which reached No.2 on the Billboard charts. Orbison would release  his first No.1 hit in 1960, when he recorded Running Scared and then would also see Crying reach No.2 on the charts that same year.

His main hit in 1963 was  Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) which topped out at No.4 on the Billboard charts. Blue Bayou, one of his better known songs only reached No.29 in the United States, but went to No.1 in Australia. Mean Woman Blues peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard charts that same year.  In fact he only had two No.1 songs on pop charts in the United States, but had nine No. 1 hits in Australia.

Oh, Pretty Woman was his last No.1 hit in 1964, but he released It’s Over, which topped out at No.9 on pop charts, but claimed the No.1 spot on adult contemporary charts in 1964.

Orbison would not record another No.1 hit in the United States in the last 28 years of his singing career.

Opened For Beatles In United Kingdom

Duane Eddy was scheduled to appear in United Kingdom in 1963, but he was replaced by Roy Orbison. He opened for the Beatles and he performed without moving and yet the fans liked him so much that they asked for encores fourteen times. By this time the Beatles finally had to physically hold him back, so they could go on stage.  The crowd was chanting “We want Roy” which was a surprise, since the fans came to see the Beatles that night.

Orbison didn’t even know who the Beatles were and asked what’s a beetle and John Lennon said “I am”. The Beatles and Orbison became good friends later as they admired Orbison for commanding a crowd, even though he hardly even moved.

Wife Has Affair With Contractor

Orbison’s wife Claudette had an affair with the contractor who built their Hendersonville, Tennessee home. Claudette did join him that fall on a tour to England. She gave Orbison the idea for his hit song Oh, Pretty Woman, when she told him that she was leaving for home. He asked her if she needed money and she said ” Pretty woman never needs money” and it was only 40 minutes later before the song Oh, Pretty Woman was finished.

Personal Tragedies

The first of a string of tragedies began for Orbison during a 1965 tour in UK.  He broke his foot in front of thousands of screaming fans and had to perform in a cast. He reconciled with his wife Claudette after the accident, but she would die the next year when she was hit by a semi-trailer while she and Orbison were riding home on separate motorcycles on June 6, 1966.

Tragedy struck Orbison again on September 16, 1968, when he learned his Hendersonville, Tennessee home had burned down and his two eldest sons had perished in the fire. Orbison had now lost his wife and two sons in 27 months time. He would marry Barbara Jakobs of Germany on March 25, 1969.

Orbison would have to have a triple heart bypass on January 18, 1978.

Career Revived in 1987

Roy Orbison started to revive his music career in 1987, after being pushed into the background by the British invasion. He joined the Traveling Wilburys, which played a major part in reviving his career. His stage name was Lefty Wilbury in honor of the late country music star Lefty Frizzell.

Death and Aftermath

Orbison would travel to Europe in November of 1988 and some observers noticed that he looked ill, but he continued to perform. He then returned to Hendersonville to rest, before embarking on another trip to London this time, to film two videos for the Traveling Wilburys.

However, the trip would never take place, because he would fly model airplanes with his son on December 6, 1988 and then visited his mother for dinner and died after dinner that night. Ironically his wife Barbara would die on the same date 23 years later on December 6, 2011 from pancreatic cancer.

Legacy

Roy Orbison left a rich musical legacy behind for his fans. Only Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison have had two Top 5 albums at the same time.  He will be forever remembered for singing while not moving, wearing his sunglasses and being dressed in black. His music is still being sung today as evidenced by Kree Harrison, an American Idol contestant sang Crying last Wednesday night, which reminded me of Orbison singing the original version which can be heard below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls2lC7DQFMI

Dale Robertson of Tales of Wells Fargo Fame Dies at 89

Dale Robertson 1923-2013

 

Dale Robertson who starred in the television series Tales of Wells Fargo died last Wednesday at the age of 89 in San Diego, California at the age of 89.  He died of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia.

Robertson was born Dayle Lymoine Robertson in Harrah, Oklahoma on July 14, 1923. He served during World War II in a tank crew and in the combat engineers in North Africa and Europe. He sustained an injury in both the North African campaign and in the European theater.

Will Rogers Jr. advised Robertson to avoid formal acting training and to just be himself.

Robertson made his movie debut portraying a policeman in The Boy With Green Hair released in 1948. He only appeared in movies till 1956, when he made his television debut in an episode of Ford Television Theatre. He continued to appear in television and movies till 1957 when he became the star of Tales of Wells Fargo was Jim Hardie on the series. The show ran from 1957-1962 and Robertson appeared in all 200 episodes. The show featured several well-known guest stars including Eddie Albert, Chuck Connors, Buddy Ebsen, Michael Landon, Steve McQueen and Jack Nicholson.

He then starred in Iron Horse which was seen from 1966-1968 and 47 episodes of the series were filmed. He didn’t star in another television series until 1987-1988 when J.J. Starbuck ran for only 16 episodes, in which Robertson played the title role. Jimmy Dean portrayed Charlie Bullets in 15 of the 16 episodes.

His last role was as a guest star in two episodes of Harts of the West, with one episode airing in 1993 and the other in 1994.

I will always remember watching the show when it was on network television. The following list shows 10 westerns among the Top 30 shows for the 1957-1958 season, with Tales of Wells Fargo ranked third behind Gunsmoke and Danny Thomas.

http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1957.htm

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/arts/television/dale-robertson-actor-dies-at-89.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1362184005-rXaAXrLVKyE7hF1ocX2f2Q

 

 

 

Bonnie Franklin Of One Day At A Time Dies At 69

Bonnie Franklin 1944-2013

Bonnie Franklin died earlier today in her Los Angeles home at the age of 1969 from pancreatic cancer complications.. One Day At A Time was the television show that catapulted her to fame. She first appeared on the show on the Dec. 16, 1975 “Ann’s Decision” debut episode and would remain on the show till the 208th and last episode “Another Man’s Shoes”, which aired on May 28, 1984.

Franklin was born as Bonnie Gail Franklin on Jan. 6, 1944 in Santa Monica, California. She made her television debut in Shower of Stars in 1954, when she portrayed Susan Cratchit in “ A Christmas Carol “.  She free-lanced in movies and television from 1954-1975 before landing the role of Ann Romano in One Day At A Time.

She was seen on television only sporadically , after leaving her hit show and was only seen seven times from 1984- 2012. Her last two appearances were on Hot in Cleveland in 2011 and an episode of Young and Restless in 2012. She was seen those seven times on television, in the last 29 years of her life.

The reason given for the success of One Day At A Time is that the average viewer could identify with her situation and some who wrote the show said the show was “my life”.

We have lost another television icon today and it makes me wonder, why this show is not being shown on any network  ( that I know of).

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bonnie-franklin-20130302,0,6526075.story

Can’t Place The Name: Henry “Bomber” Kulky

Henry “Bomber” Kulky 1911 – 1965

When I think of Henry Kulky I think of him playing Otto Schmidlap on Life of Riley television series in 16 episodes from 1953-1958.

Kulky was born Henry Kulakowich on August 11, 1911 in Hastings – on – Hudson, New York. He died February 12, 1965 in Oceanside, California at the age of 53.

He was a professional wrestler using the name Bomber Kulkavich, before he made his first movie. You would never guess it by looking at him, but he played the piano in San Clemente, California night spots.

Kulky was extra busy from 1953-1958, since he also appeared in six episodes of Ozzie and Harriet during those years.

His movie career started in 1947, when he appeared in A Likely Story. Kulky’s movie career really took off in 1949, when he appeared in nine films. He would add eight more films to his resume in 1950, with him appearing in 17 movies during 1949 and 1950. 1951 and 1952 were also busy years for Kulky with seventeen more film appearances. He also appeared in the Abbott and Costello, Racket Squad and Adventures of Superman shows in 1952. From 1947-1952 he had appeared in 39 movies and three television shows.

He continued to appear in films and television shows during the rest of the 50′s and would appear in six Red Skelton shows from 1956-1961.

Kulky is best known for his portrayal of Chief Max Bronsky in the Hennessey television series, which ran from 1959-1962,  in which he appeared in 46 episodes. He appeared in 22 episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea television series from 1964 till the year of his death in 1965. Kulky appeared in a total of over 80 movies, in only 17 years of being in the movies.

I had no idea that Kulky was such a prolific actor, before researching for this article.

This website has more info on the career of Kulky, but the wrestling numbers don’t jive, with one portion saying he was 172-3 as a wrestler, while another part says he wrestled in 7,000 matches.

http://www.vttbots.com/kulky_bio.html

Ralph Emery : 79 And Still On Television

Ralph Emery in his early years on television.

 

Ralph Emery got his start with radio station WTPR in Paris, Tennessee in 1951, while earning a salary of $39.50 a week. By 1953 Emery was working for WSIX with shows on both radio and television in Nashville.

Emery has been in radio for 62 years and in television for 60 years and will be 80 on March 10 of this year.

I bought my first AM-FM radio stereo, which was about five feet wide in 1967 from Tony’s Appliance Center and  I remember listening to Ralph Emery on WSM out of Nashville. I enjoyed the way he interviewed the country stars and played the great country songs of that era. It was like being in another world, when listening to the most famous country music disc jockey ever in Emery. He would work briefly in 1956 for WLCS in Shreveport, Louisiana, before returning to Nashville.

 

Moves to WSM Radio in 1957

When Emery was hired by WSM radio in Nashville it was a huge career advancement. He was now being heard on a 50,000 watt station, that reached many areas of the country. He worked the graveyard shift at WSM from 1957-1972.

Emery was seen on WSM-TV off and on from 1963-1991 on various country shows that he hosted. He also hosted a syndicated show named Pop Goes the Country.

He brought country music to the forefront when he hosted Nashville Now on the The Nashville Network from 1983-1993.

Ralph Emery interviewing Merle Haggard on Nashville Now.

Nashville Now did more for country music, than any other television show before or since. Country music fans could see their favorite singers sing and be interviewed by the best country music host Ralph Emery. He was the glue that held the show together for 10 wonderful years.

One thing I will always remember is Randy Travis singing as Randy Ray on one show, then he appeared as Randy Travis the next time he appeared on Nashville Now. His real name is Randy Trawick, so finally settled on Randy Travis as his name.

Fans loved that the show was on five nights a week and gave them a chance to really know the singers, when they were interviewed by Emery. This show was a first class production with regular backup singers and musicians, which complemented the singing of the stars.

 

Emery Can Be Seen on RFD-TV

Ralph Emery started a new show Ralph Emery Live which started on the RFD television cable network in 2007.

For example last week T.G. Sheppard was on the show and Emery asked Sheppard about his days with the Memphis Mafia, that stayed at Graceland. Sheppard was then Bill Browder who worked promoting RCA artists. Elvis Presley was surprised to learn that Bill Browder was recording under the name of T.G. Sheppard. Elvis asked why he didn’t tell him and was told that Browder was afraid of being fired by RCA if the secret came out in the open. Elvis then says “I am RCA” inferring that Browder didn’t have a reason to worry about losing his job. Sheppard tells how he heard about the death of Elvis. He said he got a call from J.D. Sumner, which was unusual in itself, but he had an idea that Elvis had died and told Sumner he knew why he was calling.

Sheppard is then asked questions by viewers who call in to the show, which was interesting as they asked him what songs he liked the most, of the songs that he recorded.

You could tell Sheppard was in awe of Emery and knows what he did for the careers of many country music stars. From the graveyard shift on WSM radio to the television show on RFD TV Emery has been an ambassador for country music.

Have recorded the next show when Emery interviews Lorrie Morgan. In fact Lorrie owes a lot of her success to Emery who hosted a morning show in Nashville, in which Lorrie often sang.

Life has not always been a bed of roses for Emery,  as he had a very rough childhood and entered the world of country music, to escape an unhappy situation at home. His marriage to Skeeter Davis who recorded The End of the World was a rocky one that ended in divorce. Emery has written  his autobiography and other books about country music.

Ralph Emery to me epitomizes country music and what it stands for and he may be the best interviewer ever in any entertainment spectrum.

 

It would be 56 years after his first radio job, before Emery was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Olsen Twins No Show For 25th Full House Anniversary Party

The cast of Full House celebrated their 25th anniversary last weekend, but two of the best known stars of the show decided to not attend the festivities. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen who owe their fame to playing Michelle Tanner on Full House, for some reason didn’t want to spend time, with the rest of the cast.

The Olsen twins more than likely have profited more from being on the show, than any of the other cast members. I doubt if the other members of the cast can match the earning power of the Olsen twins.

They earn $158,333.33 a day, $19,791.66 an hour, $329.86 a minute and $5.49 a minute. I logged in at this website that counts their earnings 10 minutes ago and they have earned another $3,000 in those 10 minutes.

http://www.salary-money.com/the-olsen-twins-salary-38000000.php

Full House made them a household name. Without that name the Olsen twins would never have been able to create their fashion empire and their profiting from the use of their name on various other products.

It wouldn’t have hurt them to show up for the anniversary celebration, but apparently they are too busy making money to associate with their cast mates. This may not even be the case, but their failure to show up cause their fans to question why they didn’t show up.

Full House is the kind of show, that people love or hate. There is no middle ground with this show. I have known people who hated Full House with a passion and others that loved the show, so it was a divisive show.

The following article shows that the cast mates who did show up for the anniversary party had a great time.

I could understand the Olsen twins not showing up if this was a television special, but it seems to just have been a party where the cast wanted to renew acquaintances with the other cast mates.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20632459,00.html

Beach Boys On Verge of Breaking Up Again

When the Beach Boys reunited for their 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour it appeared, that the group would still be together after the end of the tour. However, lead singer Mike Love and band member Brian Johnston plan on splitting from the group, at the end of the current reunion tour.

Before the reunion the Beach Boys had split into three fractured groups, with the Love-Johnston configuration, the Al Jardine group and the Brian Wilson group. Love has announced that  Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks will not be part of the Love-Johnston group.

We are only five days away from the last performance of the 50th reunion tour, when the Beach Boys appear as a group for the last time, unless the various factions can work out their differences.

It is sad to see that apparently the egos of Mike Love and Bruce Johnston are too big to share a stage with the other members of the group.

With Brian Wilson now 70, Mike Love 71, Al Jardine 70, David Marks 64 and Johnston 70, it makes me wonder how willing fans will be to pay to see the fractured groups. In a perfect world the Beach Boys could have been together, as a group for the last 50 years, but instead the band has been fractured by lawsuits of the various factions, that only made things worse as the various groups fought over the right to use the Beach Boys name.

Having being stationed in Hawaii from June 1963 – January 1966, Beach Boys music was a huge part of the music scene during those years. I was fortunate to see Beach Boys in concert at Conroy Bowl at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. I can remember going to the beach on the weekends listening to Beach Boys music, on my transistor radio.

I purchased the Beach Boys Live at Knebworth concert from England video from 1980, which would be the last time the complete group appeared in England. At the end of the video Al Jardine mentions that Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson had died in the years, since that concert. It is my favorite Beach Boys video, since it includes most of their greatest hits.

It would be nice if the members of the Beach Boys would think more about their fans, than their own financial situation, but apparently that isn’t the case. So we probably will see the group split into various factions again, instead of banding together and giving fans to hear them as the group we grew up listening to.

Regardless, I still want to thank all of the Beach Boys for providing years of music for their fans. Just wish that most of them who are mostly in their 70′s could overlook their petty differences, so we could hear them as a group, not as splintered groups from the Beach Boys we knew for the last 50 years.

 

 

Typical Day In Small Town America 60 Years Ago

This ten minute video shows what life was like in small town America in 1952. It is sickening to read the comments made by those who viewed this video. They turn what was a special time to those of us, who grew up in the 50′s, into a platform for hatred of races.

Even the ugly remarks can’t ruin a video that brings so many fond memories  of the past.

I was eight years old when this video was filmed so can identify with what happened during a typical day 60 years ago.

It was a simpler time, before cell phones, I-pods, laptop computers and HD television sets. The television sets back then still had the huge tubes, that made them so bulky, unlike the lightweight television sets of today.

Growing up in the 1950′s was a special time and this video captures the feeling from having grown up in that era.

Chuck Barris: From Gong Show Host To CIA Hitman?

Chuck Barris

Chuck Barris is best known for hosting the Gong Show at various times from 1976-1989. However, Barris told of his life as a CIA hitman in his so-called unauthorized 1984 biography Confessions of  a Dangerous Mind.

The book was made into a movie, by the same name starring George Clooney has the Barris character portrayed by Sam Rockwell killing 33 people. The movie cost $29 million to make and earned only $16 million in the U.S.

Roger Ebert’s Chicago Sun-Times review:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030124/REVIEWS/301240302/1023

 Charles Hirsch Barris was born on June 3, 1929 in Oakland, New Jersey and is presently 83 years old.

A Time magazine article on January 7, 2003 disputes the veracity of his claim. Barris has failed to answer questions about his allegations. The most telling aspect to me is that a CIA spokesman has made this statement: “It is ridiculous and absolutely not true”. On the other hand CIA probably would not reveal if Barris had been a CIA hitman, due to the secretiveness of the CIA.

We may never know if his claims about being a CIA hitman are true, since he refuses to discuss the subject.

Barris was a songwriter, who wrote Palisades Park, which peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1962.

Dating Game fans will be interested to know that he was the creator of the show.

 

 

Steven Franken “Chatworth Osborne Jr.” On Dobie Gillis Dies At 80

Steven Franken who portrayed Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on Dobie Gillis has died at the age of 80 in Los Angeles.

Steven Franken who is probably best known for his portrayal of Chatsworth Osborne Jr. in the Dobie Gillis series has died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Franken made his film debut in 1958 in Stage Struck and then portrayed Willie on Playhouse 90, that same year in his television debut. 1959 would see Franken begin a five-year run in Dobie Gillis, as rich kid Chatworth Osborne Jr. His mom Clarice was played by  Doris Packer. He was in 32 episodes of Dobie Gillis. He replaced actor Warren Beatty on the show. Beatty’s character Milton Armitage was replaced by Franken’s Osborne character.

http://home1.gte.net/res09cc9/chatsworth.htm

He appeared in either a television show or movie each year till 1997, then would not appear on-screen in 2008, 2011 and 2012. Those were only four years, in his 55 year career, in which he didn’t appear on either a television or movie screen at least once.

His last film Reach is in post-production and won’t be seen till 2013.

The list of films and television shows that Franken appeared in is a long one. He appeared in television shows from Perry Mason to Patty Duke Show to Marcus Welby. My favorite movie, that he appeared in was Hardly Working, a Jerry Lewis film that was one of the funniest movies, that I have ever seen, but is difficult to find in circulation.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0291266/

Dobie Gillis is one of those shows that is seldom seen on any television channel today. It is sad how many television shows have disappeared from television screens today. Franken’s death was one more reminder of how much Dobie Gillis is being missed today.

Michael J. Pollard: Face You Never Forget

Michael J. Pollard may not be a household name, but anyone that ever saw him in a film or television show instantly will recognize his face.

He always reminded me of a kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and his face said that he knew no excuse to extricate himself from the situation.

Pollard was born Michael John Pollack Jr. in Passaic New Jersey on May 30, 1939.  He has been acting since 1959 and is still active 53 years later in 2012.

He was married to Beth Howland, who television fans will remember her playing Vera on the Alice situation comedy. They were married from 1961-1969.

Since Pollard was only 5′ 6″ he had to play youthful roles into his 20′s.

One of the most hilarious shows I have seen him in is the April 30,1962 episode of Andy Griffith, when he played Barney Fife’s cousin Virgil who could do nothing right. He was 22 when this episode was filmed.

For more information on that episode:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512464/

Fate intervened when he was cast as Jerome Krebs the weird cousin of Maynard G. Krebs on the Dobie Gillis Show, portrayed by Bob Denver, when Denver was going to be drafted in the Army. However, Denver soon returned when he was classified 4-F, which resulted in the dismissal of Pollard from the series.

Once again fate handed Pollard more bad news, when after starring as Hugo Peabody in the Broadway version of Bye Bye Birdie the role was given to Bobby Rydell, when the role was changed to require a singer.

Pollard played a 14-year-old despite being 27 in a Star Trek episode, when he played Jahn in the “Miri” episode.

He played C.J. Moss in the Bonnie and Clyde film in 1967 and would receive an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Three years later he starred in Little Fauss and Big Halsey with Robert Redford. Another memorable role was when he played the homeless man who thought Bill Murray was Richard Burton in the 1988 film Scrooged.

This more recent photo of Pollard shows he is the same Michael J. Pollard, just a little older. He is still very busy at 73 having released Sunburnt Angels in 2011, completed The Woods this year and is filming The Next Cassavetes presently.

Even though Pollard is not that well-known, actor Michael J. Fox inserted the J in the middle of his name out of respect to Michael J. Pollard.

He made his first television appearance in 1959 appearing in the DuPont Show of the Month in the “Human Comedy” episode. He made his film debut the same year in It Happened To Jane but was uncredited.

This list compiled by the Internet Movie Database shows that Pollard has been a prolific actor for many years and his resume will bring back memories of the television shows we grew up with and a few of the movies we remember seeing him in.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0689488/

Pollard will probably always be known as the man, who has a familiar face but very few will be able to remember his name.

Phyllis Diller: Pioneer Stand-Up Comedienne Dies at 95

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phyllis Diller has died at the age of 95 in Los Angeles California. Diller died Monday, August 20 at her home.

Diller paved the way for female stand-up comediennes when she took up comedy at the age of 37.

She was born Phyllis Ava Driver in Lima, Ohio on July 17, 1917. Her mom Frances Ada Driver was born in 1881 and her father Perry Marcus Driver was born during the Civil War in 1862.

She pursued a career as a pianist attending Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago for three years, but eventually gave up on a career as a musician.                                              

Diller launched her career in an unlikely place, the neighborhood laundromat as she told stories of her life at home and eventually was asked to do her comedy act at PTA meetings.

When she made her comedy club debut in 1938 at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, her two-week engagement lasted a year-and-a-half.

She was seen in many television shows and movies over the years:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0226887/

Phyllis Diller appearing on Ed Sullivan Show 43 years ago in 1969.

She has appeared with 100 symphony orchestras across the United States as a guest piano soloist.

Female comediennes today like Joan Rivers, Ellen Degeneres and others owe a debt of gratitude to Diller, since there were very few female stand-up comediennes when Diller hit the comedy circuit.

Plastic surgery became another source for comedy material, after she had fifteen surgical procedures done according to her 2005 autobiography.

Since Diller has been out of the spotlight for many years, we may have forgotten just how good of a comedienne that she was.

The world has lost another voice of laughter, at a time when the world could use more laughter, instead of less.

Wolfman Jack Still Remembered 17 Years After His Death

A young Robert Smith before he became known as Wolfman Jack, a rock and roll disc jockey.

Robert Weston Smith was born January 21, 1938 in Brooklyn New York. He became better known as Wolfman Jack, when he adopted that name while broadcasting on KCIJ, a country and western radio station. located in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1962.

Part of the inspiration for the Wolfman Jack personna was derived from the style of bluesman Howlin’ Wolf. His love of horror films also influenced him in becoming Wolfman while he picked up the Jack part of his name from hipster lingo, which commonly mentioned Jack.

This is the way most rock and roll fans remember Wolfman Jack.

Wolfman Jack moved to XERF a powerful 250,000 watts station in  Mexico. U.S. radio stations were limited to only 50,000 watts. A car driving from New York to California reportedly would never lose the station during the trip.

After eight months in Mexico, Wolfman Jack was managing a Minneapolis radio station, while still sending his tapes to XERF for broadcast in Mexico. He then moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and sent his tapes to another border blasting station XERB in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.

His popularity was so widespread that artists like Freddy King, Todd Rundgren and Guess Who wrote songs about the Wolfman. George Lucas a film-maker was a Wolfman Jack fan and included a scene in his movie American Graffitti with Richard Dreyfuss walking into his radio station. The Wolfman pretends to not be the Wolfman in this scene:

He was the regular announcer on the Midnight Special on the NBC television network. He is seen on Midnight Special, while the Guess Who sing a song about the Wolfman.

Wolfman Jack died on July 1, 1995 in Belvidere, North Carolina from a massive heart attack. He reportedly had just finished a promotional tour for a book, when he arrived home and died in his wife’s arms.

Music had changed after 1962 and Wolfman Jack said the happy music ended in 1962. Music became a part of the war protests of the 60′s and he longed for the days of happy songs like Short Fat Fanny, as he chose this song to illustrate a happier type of music.

One last clip that lets you hear Wolfman Jack in action:

James Dean: Still Remembered 57 Years After His Death

James Dean
1931- 1955

James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931 in Marion Indiana. His father moved the family to California, but he sent James to live with an aunt and uncle in Indiana, when his mother died.

Dean appeared in five movies from 1951-1952, but they were all uncredited appearances. Meanwhile, he was appearing in many television series and in live theater television productions.

He also appeared in live drama productions on television, including I’m A Fool which was shown on GE Theater. The production also starred Natalie Wood, when it was shown on November 14, 1954.

ImAFoolgeTheater

East of Eden

Dean’s next movie East of Eden would be released in April of 1955.  Dean who appearing in his first starring role as Cal Trask would be nominated, for Best Actor Award for his role. He was nominated posthumously, becoming the first actor ever nominated after his death.

James Dean and Julie Harris in a scene from East of Eden:

James Dean refused to attend the premiere of East of Eden, which almost caused him, to lose his lead role in Rebel Without a Cause. Dean beat out Paul Newman for the role of Cal Trask, when they both were in the same scene, during the screen test.

East of Eden was the only one of Dean’s best known movies to be released before his death.

Rebel Without a Cause

Later in 1955, Dean and Wood would be paired again in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. This movie made a huge impression on me, when I saw it on television. I can still remember the planetarium scene in the movie.

This first clip from Rebel Without a Cause shows James Dean and Natalie Wood:

Romantic scene with James and Natalie:

Natalie Wood is the starter for a chicken race between James Dean and the villain:

James Dean is remembered for his role in Rebel Without a Cause, but Natalie Wood would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Judy, while Sal Mineo would be nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Plato.

Some interesting trivia about the movie: Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) had submitted a script considered for the movie, but was rejected. Jayne Mansfield and Debbie Reynolds were both considered for the Natalie Wood role of Judy.

The three stars of the movie all met tragic deaths, with James Dean dying in a car accident, Natalie Wood dying in a drowning accident, which is still being investigated by the Los Angeles police and Sal Mineo who was stabbed to death. The policeman (Edward Platt) who knocks down Dean in the police station scene, would take his own life in later years. Platt is best remembered for his role as Control Chief on Get Smart television series.

Giant

James Dean would be nominated for Best Leading Actor Oscar posthumously, for his role as Jett Rink in Giant, while Rock Hudson also was nominated for Best Leading Actor. The film was nominated for ten Oscars, but only director George Stevens won an Oscar for Best Director.

James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor seen in a scene from Giant.

James telling Rock Hudson’s character and the others that he just struck oil:

Nick Adams provided the voice for Dean in some lines, due to Dean dying before production ended. Hudson had been given a choice, between Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor and chose Taylor.

Giant was the highest grossing movie for Warner Bros.  until Superman was released. Sal Mineo who had appeared in Rebel Without a Cause was also cast in Giant.

Death

Dean was forbidden to race during the filming of Giant. He had been a successful car racer at the Palm Springs Road Races and had won some races and had placed in the top two in some other races.

He was eager to impress actor Alex Guinness with his new car, a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder and showed the famous actor his car. Guinness was not impressed and made this prophetic statement and told Dean  ”If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week.” Dean was dead seven days later after having been hit in a head-on collision.

This is all that remained of James Dean’s Porsche after the September 30, 1955 accident that ended his life at the age of 24.

September 30, 1955 started off as a normal day for Dean, as he planned to put his Porsche on a trailer on way to racetrack, but his mechanic Walter Wutherich thought it would be better for Dean to drive it to Salinas, California, so he could get used to being in the driver’s seat. Dean was stopped at 3:30 PM PDT for speeding, since he had been driving 65 MPH in a 55 MPH zone.

It was at approximately 5:45 PDT that Dean noticed a 1950 Ford Custom coupe coming toward him at a high rate of speed. He tried to maneuver his Porsche to avoid a direct hit, when the driver Donald Turnupseed crossed the middle line, causing him to hit Dean’s car head-on.

Dean was pronounced dead on arrival at Pablo Robles Memorial Hospital, which was 28 miles from the crash scene. Surprisingly Turnupseed only suffered facial bruises and a bloodied nose from the accident. He was well enough to walk and hitch-hike on his way to Tulare, California.

Legacy

James Dean’s death at the age of 24 raised a lot of questions. Would he have went on to become one of the greatest actors in Hollywood history? We will never know the answer to that question.

What we do know is that is that from 1951-1955 he left behind memories of him being on Broadway, on television and in the movies. His most memorable movies were released in 1955 and 1956, when Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden and Giant were released.

Many actors never are nominated for an Academy Award in their entire career, yet Dean was nominated twice for two of the three movies he appeared in over a two-year span.

Rebel Without a Cause best exemplified for me the James Dean I remember, as a troubled youth in that movie, that couldn’t find happiness in a troubled world.

Ernest Borgnine Dies at 95

Ernest Borgnine 1917-2012

Ernest Borgnine has died in Los Angeles at the age of 95 due to renal failure. He was born as Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917 in Hamden, Connecticut. His wife of 39 years Tovah survived him. Borgnine served in the U.S. Navy from 1935-1945. His mom talked him into pursuing an acting career and he appeared as a male nurse in Harvey on Broadway in 1951.

Ernest Borgnine as seen in a scene in From Here To Eternity.

Two years later Borgnine appeared in the movie From Here To Eternity in 1953 as Sgt. Fatso Judson. Borgnine had appeared in three movies in 1951, including China Corsair, The Whistle At Eaton Falls and The Mob.

He also made his television debut in 1951 in Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He appeared in many television programs including two episodes of Waterfront  in 1954.

Burt Lancaster introduces this trailer for the movie Marty that won Ernest Borgnine an
Academy Award.

Borgnine’s twelfth movie Marty would win him a Best Actor Oscar defeating much better known actors in James Cagney, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.  Marty was only one of six movies that Borgnine would make in 1955.

1956-1961 would be busy years for Borgnine as the free-lanced in television, while making movies on the side. Then he won the starring role in the television series McHale’s Navy. The show would run from 1962-1966 and the show’s popularity caused his marriage to Broadway star Ethel Merman to last only 32 days, since she couldn’t handle seeing him receive the adulation of the fans. She devoted a chapter of her life story, to her marriage to Borgnine which consisted of one blank page.

After McHale’s Navy ended he appeared in an episode of three different television shows, then acted in 12 consecutive movies before appearing in a TV movie The Trackers.

Ernest Borgnine describes his experiences filming Poseidon Adventure.

Borgnine appeared in the blockbuster Poseidon Adventure in 1972. Airwolf would be his next television series that lasted more than a few episodes, with Borgnine appearing in 55 episodes from 1984-1986.

He mostly acted in movies till he appeared in Single Guy which ran from 1995-1997.

One constant of Borgnine’s career was that he made a lot of movies from his first one in 1951 to his last one The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez, which was completed this year and is in post-production. His movie career spanned 61 years from his first movie to his last one.

This list of his movie and television appearances shows just how a prolific an actor, that Ernest Borgnine was:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000308/

One thing about Ernest Borgnine that most fans don’t know is that he was the first center square in the history of the  Hollywood Squares television program.

Other interesting facts about Ernest Borgnine:

He is only actor to appear in all four Dirty Dozen movies.

Lives in same home that he bought in 1965, living there till his death 47 years later.

Earned only $5,000 for his role in Marty, which won him the Academy Award.

His wife Tovah who survived him was 25 years younger than Borgnine.

Just a few quotes from Ernest Borgnine at imdb.com

[on his marriage to Ethel Merman]: Biggest mistake of my life. I thought I was marrying Rosemary Clooney.

[on why he wanted to star in "McHale's Navy" (1962)]: Theater business was disappearing and so were night clubs, which I don’t like to play anyway because they keep me up too late. There were TV guest shots, but how many times can you play Ed Sullivan? My biggest pay was from industrial shows, but they don’t come along too often.

Where can we find the great actors we had yesteryear, guys like Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper and Edward G. Robinson? You know, I was talking to Lee Marvin the other day and we agreed that we were the last of a breed. We’re the last who had the opportunity of working with these fine actors. I feel very humble. It makes me feel that I’ve got to try that bit harder.

Ernest Borgnine may have only won one Academy Award, but that doesn’t mean none of his other movies haven’t entertained theater goers, who saw his movies for the last 61 years and enjoyed watching McHale’s Navy on television.

His New York Times obituary tells more about the life of Ernest Borgnine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/movies/ernest-borgnine-tough-but-tender-actor-is-dead-at-95.html

Aneta Corsaut, Better Known As Helen Crump On Andy Griffith Show

Aneta Corsaut seen portraying teacher Helen Crump on the Andy Griffith Show from 1963-1968.

 

Aneta Corsaut was born November 3, 1933 in Hutchinson, Kansas. She would be best known for being Opie’s teacher, Helen Trump on the Andy Griffith Show. Aneta was also Andy’s girlfriend while on the show.

Aneta Corsaut and Steve McQueen in her movie debut with Steve McQueen in The Blob in 1958.

 

Aneta Corsaut was first seen by movie audiences in her movie debut, in 1958 when she portrayed Jane Martin in The Blob, which was also the movie debut for Steve McQueen.

She was mostly a free-lance actress after being seen in The Blob, until she assumed the role of Helen Trump on the Andy Griffith Show in 1963. She stayed with the show till the last episode and appeared in 66 episodes. She married Andy Taylor on the first episode of Mayberry RFD in 1968.

Aneta returned to free lancing after leaving the Andy Griffith Show and was seen in Days of Our Lives as Blanche Dailey in 1984. She would later appear in Matlock in three different roles, with her most important role being her portrayal of Judge Cynthia Justin. She made her last appearance as an actress in a May 1992 episode.

She died three years later on November 6, 1995 in Studio City, California of cancer at the age of 62.

It has been 17 years since she passed away, but Andy Griffith fans will continue to remember her for years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Griffith Before and After Andy Griffith Show

The late Andy Griffith in a scene from No Time For Sergeants.

 

The first time I heard of Andy Griffith was when he appeared in the movie No Time For Sergeants. He played Will Stockdale a mountain boy, who is drafted into the U.S. Army. He had already played the part in the Broadway play by the same name three years, before the 1958 movie was released.

The funniest scene of the movie to me was when he was named PLO (Permanent Latrine Orderly). He rigged the toilet seats to stand up all at once, which shocked the inspecting officer to say the least. However, this scene of him being tested by a corporal for manual dexterity may be even funnier. Don Knotts plays the corporal, who is utterly frustrated by the way Andy’s character Will Stockdale puts the two links together. Don Knotts appears at about the 1:15 mark.

I hadn’t even known Andy Griffith had appeared in A Face in the Crowd in 1957, in a dramatic role unlike the Andy Griffith I had known in No Time For Sergeants and on the Andy Griffith show.

Andy received top billing in the movie portraying an Arkansas hobo Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes who becomes rich overnight. This is a scene from A Face In The Crowd:

Made Television Debut On U.S. Steel Hour

Andy had made his television debut on the U.S. Steel Hour when he played Will Stockdale on television. He played the role on Broadway, on television and in the movies, which probably has not been done very often, by any actor in the same role.

He also made the movie Onionhead in 1958, so it was a very busy year for him.

Danny Thomas Show Role As Sheriff

Andy got a big break when he appeared on a Danny Thomas episode in 1960, where Danny is given a ticket, by a small-town sheriff.  Andy is perplexed when he finds out that Andy is not only the sheriff, but also the justice of the peace.

The Danny Thomas episode led to the formation of the Andy Griffith show which was shown that same year, on the CBS television network.  249 episodes later the Andy Griffith show would complete its run.

He appeared on Mayberry RFD for two years, then had two series fail in short order, when Headmaster lasted 13 episodes in 1970, followed by the New Andy Griffith show which lasted only 10 episodes. He didn’t return to another series until 1979 when Salvage One only last 19 episodes. He had appeared in three series since leaving Mayberry RFD, but only 42 shows were made of those three series combined.

Seven years later Andy tried again for a hit series and he struck gold with Matlock which ran from 1986-1995. He appeared in various television series and movies till he made his last acting appearance in Play the Game in 2009 at the age of 83.

Andy non only was an actor, but recorded gospel songs. This is Andy singing How Great Thou Art:

I looked at Andy Griffith and saw a role model, for the right way to live life.

My wife and daughter surprised me in 2006, when we went to Mt. Airy, N.C. to see Andy’s boyhood home. I didn’t know we were going to stay there that night and it was the surprise of my life, when I found out we were actually spending the night there. Hampton Inn rents out the home to tourists and it was something I will never forget. I even played baseball with my grandson in Andy’s backyard.

The late Andy Griffith’s boyhood home in Mt. Airy, NC.

Andy had also made some comedy records early in his career. I had the record that has him giving his impression of seeing his first football game. He said in his monologue that 5 or 6 convicts were running up and down the field blowing whistles.  The game was played in a cow pasture and Andy concludes saying that the object of the game must be to keep from being knocked down or stepping in something.

The only remaining actors still alive from Andy Griffith are Jim “Gomer Pyle” Nabors and Betty “Thelma Lou” Lynn.

I was 15 when the first Andy Griffith show was televised in 1960 and was 23 when the last show aired, so have been watching Andy Griffith during the first eight original years and in 44 years of re-runs.

Andy, Thanks for the memories and RIP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Griffith Dies At 86 On Roanoke Island, North Carolina

Andy Griffith 1926-2012

Andy Griffith died this morning at his home on Roanoke Island, North Carolina at the age of 86.

Death has taken another star of the Andy Griffith Show. George Lindsey who portrayed Goober on the show had passed away on May 6.

Andy Griffith’s character Andy Taylor was one of the most beloved characters on television. The show revolved around him and he saw early in the show’s run, that it would be better to play the straight man for off the wall characters like Barney Fife played by Don Knotts, Gomer Pyle who was portrayed by Jim Nabors, Otis Campbell being portrayed by Hal Smith and the aforementioned George Lindsey as Goober.

Life Lessons Taught

Andy taught his son Opie Taylor well, trying to bring him up without a mother in the home. Many shows dwelt on Andy telling Opie, how to deal with life’s problems the right way.

Whatever problem Opie may have been experiencing Andy always had the right solution , to any problem that might arise. This video from the show in which Opie killed a bird with a slingshot is an excellent example of  how Andy taught his son to do the right thing.

 

The interplay between Andy and Barney Fife was a huge part, of the success of the show. Don Knotts suggested that the show needed a deputy and that move guaranteed the success of the show. Andy asks Barney about the Emancipation Proclamation, which shows how Andy could rile up Barney.

 

When Don Knotts left the show after five years, Andy proved he could still draw the fans. as the show’s ratings stayed strong, after the departure of Knotts.

 

I can remember watching Andy Griffith and Don Knotts in No Time For Sergeants movie, many years ago and we watched the movie three times in a row, since that was allowed in the 50′s.

We have lost an American icon in Andy Griffith, one day before the July 4th holiday. Andy Griffith represented everything, that is great about America. He leaves a rich legacy behind of television shows and movies, in which he appeared.

Andy Griffith will be missed.

 

The New York Times obituary for Andy Griffith:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/arts/television/andy-griffith-actor-dies-at-86.html?pagewanted=all

 

Don Rickles: Master of Insults

Don Rickles has been insulting people for over 60 years and is still going strong at the age of 86.

We ran across people who make their mission in life to insult people, during our lifetime but Don Rickles has earned a living for insulting people for over 60 years. Good thing that Rickles doesn’t have to fill out resumes, because when he tells about his last job, he would have to say he insults people for a living.

The 86 year-old Rickles is still active, as he travels across the country putting on his act. He will be appearing at the Trump Taj Mahal on October 12, with tickets priced from $51 to $348.

Born In Queens

Rickles was born in Queens, New York on May 8, 1926. He has been married since 1965 to Barbara Sklar, for the last 47 years.

After serving in the Navy during World War II, Rickles began a career as a night club comedian. When hecklers started giving him problems, his rejoinders were so funny, that they were funnier than his written material.

This episode from the Andy Griffith show brings together two of the greatest comedians in Rickles and Don Knotts as Barney Fife. Rickles is booked in the local jail, which leads to more comedic situations:

Made Television Debut in 1955

He made his television debut in Stage 7 in 1955. Three years later he was cast in his first motion picture Run Silent, Run Deep, in which he is listed fifth in the credits. The actors listed above him were Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden and Brad Dexter.  It was a major accomplishment for an actor making their movie debut to be listed so close to movie giants like Gable and Lancaster.

Rickles would next appear in the Rabbit Trap in 1959 and Rat Race in 1960. It would be four years, before he appeared in The Man With The X-Ray Eyes starring Ray Milland in 1963. He followed that up with appearances in Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach in 1964. He made a third movie in 1964, which was Pajama Party and starrred Annette Funicello. He was also seen in another beach movie in 1965, which was Muscle Beach Party.

Series television was not kind to Rickles as his first show Don Rickles Show lasted only eight episodes in 1972 and C.P.O. Sharkey would last thirty-seven episodes. His third show Daddy Dearest only lasted 13 episodes.

Don Rickles insulting those stars who had just roasted him.

Rickles appearing on the David Letterman Show in April of 2012.

The Toy Story movies featured the voice of Rickles as Mr. Potato Head in 1995. He also appeared in Toy Story 2 in 1999 and may be seen in the announced Toy Story 4, sometime in the future.

Don Rickles has shown that he can bring home a paycheck, for insulting people and is as funny as ever.

Delbert Clinton: Roadhouse Blues At Its Best

Delbert McClinton will be 72 in November.

It doesn’t seem possible that Delbert McClinton will be 72 in November, but he has been active in music business s for 40 years now, since he started in 1972.

Nobody in my opinion epitomizes road house blues better than McClinton. He sings what I call driving road house blues.

Surprisingly McClinton only has had one song that reached the Top 10 in Giving It Up For Your Love peaked at No.8 on the U.S. charts, 32 years ago when he was 40 years old in 1980.

However he has had four No.1 albums on the blues chart. McClinton won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Contemporary Blues Album Cost of Living. He had won a Grammy in 1991, for a duet with Bonnie Raitt when they sang Good Man, Good Woman.

In addition to his vocals, McClinton plays harmonica, piano and guitar.  He wrote Two More Bottles of Wine which topped the charts at No.1 in 1978 for Emmy Lou Harris.

Delbert McClinton singing Thank You Baby in a song that rocks with the roadhouse blues sound.

McClinton singing Shaky Ground on Austin City Limits in 1989.

McClinton singing his No.8 hit Giving It Up For Your Love.

Delbert slows it down with Dreams To Remember

Bekka Bramlett joins Delbert on She’s Living It Up on Austin City Limits.

Delbert singing Squeeze Me In on a Sandy Beaches Cruise in January of 2012 at the age of 71.

Tanya Tucker and Delbert singing their No.4 duet hit Tell Me About It.

Jackie Gleason: From Pool Hustler To Smokey and the Bandit

Jackie Gleason was best known for portraying Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners but also appeared on the big screen from 1941-1986.

Jackie Gleason grew up in Brooklyn, New York and didn’t have much of a childhood, with his father abandoning the family, when Gleason was eight years old. His mother died when he was 16. His brother Clemence had died when he was three, so Jackie was an only child during most of his childhood.

Jackie Gleason as he appeared in Larceny Inc. movie in 1942 at the age of 26.

Gleason’s first foray into the movies lasted only two years, but he appeared in nine movies in those two years, including Orchestra Wives and Larceny, Inc. Then he performed in nightclubs and appeared in some Broadway plays till he received his first television starring role in Life of Riley, portraying the title character. He was not really suited well for the role and it was cancelled, but revived when William Bendix, the voice of Riley on radio became the star of the show.

Jackie Gleason Orchestra Formed

Jackie Gleason saw there was a place for romantic music and formed the Jackie Gleason Orchestra. I have read that there was never an actual traveling Jackie Gleason Orchestra but this article proves that assumption is incorrect, since this review of a performance with Gleason proves they did travel to different venues. Music showed there was a serious side to Jackie Gleason. I was surprised to read that Gleason actually was conducting the orchestra. Bobby Hackett is the one playing the trumpet solos on most, if not all of his albums.

http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/gleason.html

Music For Lovers, the debut album for the orchestra was a tremendous hit and showed their was a market for romantic music:

Gleason’s first album, Music for Lovers Only, still holds the record for the album staying the longest in the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first ten albums all sold over one million copies.^[19]

I have his Best of Jackie Gleason and His Orchestra album and it includes these songs:

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1015597/a/Best+of+Jackie+Gleason.htm

The now defunct Dumont Television network hired Gleason as summer host of Cavalcade of Stars. He handled the hosting duties so well, that he was named permanent host. He introduced his Ralph Kramden character during the series and the sketches would evolve into The Honeymooners in 1955.

Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows in a scene from The Honeymooners television series 1955-1956.

There is no doubt that The Honeymooners television series is what made Jackie Gleason a household word. The show centered around his character Ralph Kramden and the show was clearly focused on whatever hare-brained scheme, that he was planning at the time.

The Jackie Gleason Show was telecast from 1952-1957 and then revived again to run from 1966-1970. In between he also hosted the Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine from 1962-1966.

You’re In The Picture Bombs

Jackie Gleason did have one colossal failure, when he was the host of a new game show named You’re In The Picture in 1961. This article details the failure of the show the first week and how Gleason came back the second week with a new format:

http://www.tvparty.com/picture.html

1961 would see Gleason also have one of his biggest triumphs on the big screen in The Hustler. He played Minnesota Fats the pool hustler and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor but did not win. It was an awesome achievement, considering that he hadn’t appeared in a movie, since appearing in Desert Hawk in 1950.

He is seen with Paul Newman in this pool room scene from The Hustler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TC3kqFUmqQ

The next year Gleason would return in Gigot, in which he played a mute and would be nominated for a Golden Globes Award as best actor. Gleason wrote the screenplay, starred and wrote the music for Gigot. Gleason was the only recognizable name in the entire cast of this movie.  He is seen in this clip from Gigot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la5tyq9gblk

Gleason also appeared in Requiem For A Heavyweight in 1962. He acted well in the movie, but failed to garner any nominations or awards, for his performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54kM1mY86Mc

He appeared in Papa’s Delicate Condition and Soldier in the Rain in 1963 and wouldn’t appear in another movie, till he appeared in Skidoo in 1968. It is strange that he appeared in so many successful movies, than stopped his movie career for the next five years. He could be that filming his American Scene Magazine television show and appearing in movies was too much for him.

Next he appeared in How To Commit Marriage and Don’t Drink The Water in 1969, then took an eight year hiatus from making movies till 1977.  He appeared in Mr. Billion and Smokey and the Bandit in 1977.  I was going to include some clips of Gleason portraying Sheriff Buford T. Justice, but the dialogue was filled with so much bad language, that I decided not to use it, in case some kids were to watch it. He would go on to appear in Part II and Part III of the Smokey and the Bandit movies in 1980 and 1983.

Gleason also appeared in The Toy in 1982 and The Sting II in 1983, before appearing Nothing In Common in 1986, which would be his last movie. His movie career spanned 45 years from 1941-1986.

It is ironic that Gleason only won a Tony Award in his long career for Take Me Along, while never winning a Emmy, Grammy or Academy Award.

Jackie Gleason died of cancer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 24, 1987 at the age of 71. Gleason left his mark on Broadway, in the movies, on television and music. He truly was an entertainer of the first magnitude.

His obituary from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/25/obituaries/jackie-gleason-dies-of-cancer-comedian-and-actor-was-71.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

A road sign with his famous catch phrase:

The burial place of Jackie Gleason in Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami, Florida.

Jackie Gleason kept his sense of humor in death with his famous catchphrase.

Classic Television: Shindig

Sept. 16, 1964, January 8, 1966

Shindig was a show featuring many of the best known singers of that era, that was first televised on the ABC television network on September 16, 1964. The Beatles had started the British invasion, in February of 1964 and the show featured many British singers.

The show featured regular singers like Bobby Sherman, Jackie DeShannon and Donna Loren and Teri Garr was one of the dancers and went to be a movie actress.

Guest hosts on the show were a strange mix of Boris Karloff, Mickey Rooney, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ed Wynn, Hugh O’Brian, Jackie Leonard and others, who were not known for their musical talent.

This video features Herman’s Hermits singing I’m Into Something Good. The harmony from the background singers reminds me of the Beach Boys sound. The next song is Doo Wah Diddy sang by the Manfred Mann. Gerry and the Pacemakers close out the video with Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, their signature hit.

 

The Isley Brothers sing Shout in this video, that also features the Shindig dancers.

 

Bobby Sherman singing the Frankie Ford hit Sea Cruise.

 

Jackie DeShannon sings her hit song What the World Needs Now, which peaked at No.7 in 1965.

 

Donna Loren singing Shakin’ All Over which also features the Shindig dancers.

 

Bobby Vinton singing his classic Mr. Lonely.

 

The Supremes singing Stop in the Name of Love.

 

The Beach Boys singing Do You Wanna Dance.

 

Patty Duke singing Say Something Funny, the only time I have ever seen her sing.

 

The Temptations featuring David Ruffin sing My Girl.

 

Shindig may have ended 46 years ago, but we can still enjoy the videos of the singers from those shows, that lets us go back in time. I had a little portable TV while in the Army in Hawaii and was able to see some of the Shindig shows. Ironically the show went off the air, about the same time that I was boarding a troop ship for Vietnam.

It is just my opinion but the music of today doesn’t come close to the music of the middle 1960′s.

Captain and Tenille: Love Has Kept Them Together

Captain & Tenille both played keyboard for the Beach Boys, early in their careers and Tenille was the only Beach Girl.

It doesn’t seem possible that Toni Tenille was 72 last month and her husband Daryl Dragon will be 70 in August. Daryl was a keyboardist for the Beach Boys. Toni later would play the keyboard for the Beach Boys and was their only Beach Girl. They were married on December 11, 1975.

Their first hit single Love Will Keep Us Together went to No.1 on both the pop charts and the adult contemporary charts. The song won a Grammy for Record of the Year. It  was unusual in that it was their first single and for it to win a Grammy and go to No.1 made it their signature song.  The Way I Want To Touch You also reached No.1 in 1975.

Captain & Tenille had three singles, Shop Around, Muskrat Love and Lonely Night (Angels Face) , that went to No.1 in 1976.  It would be three years later in 1979, when they recorded their last No.1 song in Do That To Me One  More Time.

It has been 33 years now since their last No.1 hit and they haven’t even a song make the charts since 1980, when Love On A Shoestring went to No.27 on Hot 100 chart  and Happy Together peaked at No.27 on Adult Contemporary chart.

There are some performers that you instantly like and Toni Tenille and Captain Daryl Dragon were prime examples.

Toni Tenille singing Love Will Keep Us Together with Captain Daryl Dragon on the keyboard.

Toni Tenille singing Shop Around in a lower quaility video but only video found of it.

Captain and Tenille are still together after 37 years of marriage. Toni has recorded some jazz standards on albums.

There was a six year span, when they were at the height of their popularity from 1975-1980. They may not have not have had the longest career in music, but for six years it was magic when Captain and Tenille took the stage.

Captain and Tenille’s website:

http://captainandtennille.net/

Toni Tenille’s website:

http://tonitennille.net/

Frankie Lymon

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers sing their first and most successful hit Why Do Fools Fall in Love on the Frankie Laine show in 1956.

The Premiers, the original name used before they became The Teenagers were working on a song Why Do Birds Seem So Gay, when Frankie Lymon one of the members of the group decided to change the name, of the song to Why Do Fools Fall in Love. The song became their first single and peaked at No.6 on the pop charts, but was No.1 on the R&B charts.

The group then became known as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. The group broke up the next year, as Lymon became a solo act. Lymon caused Alan Freed’s Big Beat television show to be canceled, when he was dancing with a white girl during a performance, which didn’t set well with television stations in the south.

His records didn’t sell as well as his voice changed and he picked up a heroin habit at the age of 13. Lymon lost his record contract with Roulette in 1961. Then he was married for the first time in 1964, but his only child died two days after her birth. To compound matters, he had married his wife, while she was still married to her husband.

He then married Zola Taylor of The Platters, but the marriage didn’t last long due to his drug habit. He then married his third wife in a three and-a-half year period in June of 1967.

Lymon had not taken heroin for three years, before having a big promotion scheduled to help his career. However, he went back to heroin, to celebrate what he thought was going to be a return to fame. However the celebration didn’t last long, as he died of a heroin overdose on February 28, 1968 at his grandmother’s house.

His legal problems followed him even in death, as all three lives tried to gain access to his estate. Part of the problem was that Lymon had never got around to divorcing his first two wives. His third wife Emira Eagle was finally awarded the right to Lymon’s estate. Lymon had never received a penny for co-writing Why Do Fools Fall in Love, but Emira Eagle did begin to receive royalties from the song.

The following tribute shows his grave and tells about his influence on Motown music at Find A Grave website.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9929

George Lindsey Dies At Age Of 83: Famous As Goober On Andy Griffith Show

George Lindsey 1928-2012

George Lindsey died yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 83. Lindsey was the latest Andy Griffith Show regular to die, as fewer and fewer of the regulars from the show are still surviving.

He was seen in 86 episodes of Andy Griffith and  58 episodes of Mayberry RFD. Only Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Francis Bavier and Don Knotts appeared in more episodes than George “Goober” Lindsey.

It was quite a feat for Lindsey to appear in so many episodes, considering he didn’t appear in his first episode till the fourth year of the show. Lindsey had been a serious actor before joining the show, but his portrayal of Goober made it more difficult to secure serious roles in later years.

Lindsey in real life was much smarter than the automobile mechanic Goober, that he portrayed on the Andy Griffith Show. In fact Lindsey graduated from University of North Alabama with a degree in bioscience. He was a science teacher, before becoming an actor.

It is a little known fact that Lindsey was the first choice of Gene Roddenberry creator of Star Trek to play Mr. Spock in the television series.  He also appeared on Hee Haw from 1972-1992.

These are some of the comments made after his death by his friends from the Zap2it.com website:

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2012/05/george-goober-lindsey-dies-at-83.html

We have lost another member of the Andy Griffith cast who made it the special show it was.

George Lindsey brought a lot of laughter into our lives. He will be missed greatly.

Dave Garroway: First Host of Today Show, Broadcasting Pioneer

Dave Garroway 1913-1982

David Cunningham Garroway was born on July 13, 1913 in Schenectady, New York. Garroway had lived in 13 places by the age of 14, but did settle in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended University City High School and Washington University.  He earned a degree in abnormal psychology.

A broadcasting career didn’t seem to be on the horizon for Garroway, after he finished 23rd in a class of 24 for NBC announcers. He was still able to find work with KDKA in Pittsburgh, which reportedly was the first commercial radio station.

After having moved to Chicago after his stint with KDKA, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was a disc jockey for a Honolulu radio station on the side. Then after the war he returned to Chicago as a disc jockey on WMAQ radio.

Dave Garroway is shown promoting his new show Today with Fred Allen injecting humor during Garroway’s promotional pitch.

Garroway appeared in several radio and television shows before receiving his big break, when he became the original host of the Today show in 1952, including Garroway At Large which was broadcast by NBC from June 1949 to June 1951.

Dave Garroway and his co-host J. Fred Muggs shown celebrating the 5th anniversary of the Today show in 1957.

NBC began telecasting Wide Wide World from 1955-1958. I can recall watching this show often, since there was not much on television on Sunday afternoons.

Dave Garroway introducing the television program Wide Wide World. The video shows scenes from across America, while Garroway comments on what is happening. It is a great way to relive what it was like, on a Sunday afternoon in America 57 years ago.

The key to the success of Garroway was his easygoing style, which made him almost seem to be a family friend, when he was appearing on a television program. I will never forget him holding his hand up and saying “Peace” at the end of some of his programs.

It would have been nice to say that Garroway’s time on Today ended on the best of terms. He reportedly began to be more difficult to work with and even would disappear in the middle of the show. Then his world changed forever on April 28, 1961 when his second wife Pamela Wilde died from drug-related causes. It upset Garroway so much that he announced he was leaving Today and made his last appearance on Today on June 16, 1961.

Garroway didn’t disappear from the television screen, but never came close to being the force on television, that he was when he was the host of Today.

He appeared on the 30th anniversary show ofTodayon January 14, 1982 with his co-host Jack Lescoulie, and the news editor Frank Blair. In addition the anniversary show featured Pat Weaver who created Today.

It is sad to know that Garroway who appeared to be enjoying celebrating the 30th anniversary show, would be dead six months later.

Garroway had open heart surgery prior to taking his own life. He was found dead on July 21, 1982 in his Swarthmore, Pennsylvania home. He was 69 at the time of his death.

The following video of the 30th anniversary of Today was apparently videotaped on a VCR. The video is shaky at first but is better a few seconds later and very watchable.

The video shows the very first Today show from 1952 and will bring back memories to those who watched the show in the early days of the show.

It is ironic to hear that critic John Crosby thought Today would last no longer than 15 weeks. It turned out he was a little off, as the show celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

While doing research on Dave Garroway, it reminded me once again of how little we really know, about celebrities like Dave Garroway. The late Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes did know Garroway better than most of us and knew that he did have a dark side as is revealed in this article written shortly after Garroway’s death:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lNs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=TfsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2343,847687&dq=dave+garroway+obituary&hl=en

This obituary tells more of the details of how his body was found 45 minutes after his wife left the house, on the morning of July 21, 1982:

http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/davegarrowayobit.html

This article doesn’t come close to telling the life story of Dave Garroway. He was a complex man, with a wide variety of interests including jazz music, automobiles and astronomy.

Sadly, Garroway never wrote his planned autobiography, so we will never know his complete thoughts on the events in his life.

However, he does leave a legacy in the memories of each of  us who watched him five mornings a week for nine years on the Today show, watching him on Sunday afternoons for three years on Wide Wide World and countless other appearances after leaving both of those programs, in lesser known, but not any less important programs before his death.

The most lasting impression from Garroway was him holding his hand up and saying “Peace”. Thank you Mr. Garroway for doing your part in sharing the world with us.

Groups With Four In Their Name

The Four Aces singing their 1955 hit Love is a Many Splendord Thing over 50 years later in a PBS special. They do an excellent job, especially considering their voices have changed in the last 50 years.

The Four Preps singing their hits 26 Miles and Big Man in a 2004 PBS special.

The Four Lads singing Moments To Remember which I remember being sung on Your Hit Parade many years ago.

The Four Lads singing their hit song Standing On The Corner on the Mike Douglas Show.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons singing a medley of their greatest hits.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons singing Working My Way Back To You

A later version of the Four Freshmen singing the Beach Boy’s hit Surfer Girl.

The Four Tops singing I Can’t Help Myself in London, England on March 15, 1970. They are seen wearing the famous Nehru jackets of that era.

These are the most well-known groups I can think of, with Four in front of their name. It was fun putting together this collection of the music I grew up with.

I can remember some of these songs being sung on Your Hit Parade. I was amazed at how many ways they presented the same song when it ran for weeks on the show. There are only so many ways of singing Standing On The Corner.

 

 

 

Audie Murphy: Most Decorated World War II Hero

Audie Murphy 1924-1971

 

Audie Murphy who served in Europe for 27 months during World War II was awarded the Medal of Honor, plus 32 other awards by the United States and foreign countries.

 

Murphy was born June 20, 1924 in Kingston, Texas. He had to drop out of school in the fifth grade to support his family as a farm worker. He was a very good shot and said once, that if he didn’t shoot what he shot at that his family wouldn’t eat that day.

 

He tried to join the Marines, Army Air Corps and Navy, but they all said he was underweight at 110 pounds. The U.S. Army did accept him and after passing out during a basic training drill, the Army tried to send him to baker’s school, but he insisted on being assigned to an infantry unit.

 

It didn’t take long for Murphy to be promoted after shooting two Italian officers in Sicily, so he was promoted to corporal. Two months later he was promoted to sergeant after fighting his way out of a German ambush on the Italian mainland.

 

His most heroic action was when his unit only had 19 soldiers remaining out of 128 and he sent the 19 soldiers to the rear while he singlehandedly fought the Germans. Then when he ran out of ammunition, he jumped in a burning tank destroyer and starting firing on the German position. In addition, he also called in artillery strikes. Murphy then gathered the 19 remaining soldiers, as they drove the Germans from the battlefield. He had suffered a leg wound but continued fighting.  His actions in this battle won him the Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor citation credits Murphy with killing or wounding 50 German soldiers in that one battle.

 

Murphy joined the Texas National Guard after the Korean War began, but his unit was never called into combat.

 

He was a private first class when he was part of the invasion force entering Sicily in July of 1943, but by the end of 1944 he had been promoted to corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant and second lieutenant.

 

Starred in Movies, Television

 

Murphy moved to Hollywood and after struggling at first to find movie roles, was seen in 44 movies and is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

He played a copy boy in his first movie Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven  in 1948 and was seen in 33 westerns. He did play himself in To Hell and Back which was based on his autobiography by the same name. He appeared as Jesse James in A Time For Dying which ironically was his last movie before his death.

 

The trailer from To Hell And Back the autobiographical movie about Audie Murphy.

 

The highlight of his television career was when he played the title character in Whispering Smith. Only 26 episodes were filmed of the series.

 

To see a complete list of his movie and television appearances:

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001559/

 

Country Music Songwriting Career

Audie Murphy also was a country music songwriter. He was admitted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1981. His most famous composition would be Shutters and Boards which is heard being sung by Jerry Wallace:

 

Jerry Wallace singing Shutters and Boards written by Audie Murphy.

 

Dies in Virginia Plane Crash

Murphy was flying in a private plane on May 28, 1971 with zero visibility, when it crashed into Brush Mountain near Catawba, Virginia. The pilot had 8,000 hours of flying time but no instrument rating.

 

He had requested before his death to have a simple headstone at Arlington National Cemetery, not wanting  the customary gold leaf surrounding the headstone for previous Medal of Honor winners.

 

Murphy was a humble man who like most war veterans who experienced combat situations, suffered post traumatic stress upon returning from the war and worked to get special compensation for veterans experiencing it.

 

It was ironic that Murphy who risked his life many times on the battlefield would die on a plane, that probably shouldn’t have even been in the air.

 

Murphy was only 45 at the time of his death, but had more life experiences than most of us, who lived many years longer.

 

It is probably safe to say that Audie Murphy is the only person to have won the Medal of  Honor, enshrined on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

 

Audie Murphy was not only the greatest American soldier who was on a battlefield, but also a humble man who never seeked to capitalize on his acts of heroism. In fact he wanted Tony Curtis to play his part in To Hell and Back.

 

We need to keep the memory of Audie Murphy alive for generations to come. He faced adversity as a child and as a soldier on the battlefield, but he overcame adversity to become America’s greatest war hero. America needs more men like Audie Murphy today.

1960′s: When Surfing Music Collided With Hot Rod Music

There was a time when surf music was king. The Beach Boys may not have been the first band featuring surfing music, but they are certainly the best-known from that genre. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones are generally recognized, as the first to record surf music with “Let’s Go Trippin’.

Jan and Dean were an early surfing music group who found a new way of surfing….sidewalk surfing:

Surfin’ USA was the first Top 10 hit for the Beach Boys when it went to No.3 in 1963. The Beach Boys are shown singing two of their early hits Surfin’ USA and Surfer Girl which went to No.7 a few months later.

Jan and Dean had a No.3 hit with Little Old Lady From Pasadena. Used car dealers in California would sell cars telling potential buyers, that the cars had been driven by a little old lady from Pasadena, who drove the car only on Sundays to go to church. Jan and Dean turned it all around in their song, changing the little old lady into a street car racer:

The Beach Boys also got into the hot rod music scene with Little Deuce Coupe and 409.

I Get Around went to No.1 one of only four No.1 hits by the Beach Boys:

Jan and Dean recorded Dead Man’s Curve and Google Maps shows the route taken in the song:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=sunset+%26+vine,+los+angeles,+ca&daddr=34.07918,-118.429441&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&mra=dme&sll=34.079216,-118.422446&sspn=0.01301,0.029182&ie=UTF8&ll=34.086644,-118.380947&spn=0.052034,0.11673&z=13&om=1

Ironically Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was in an accident not too far from Dead Man’s Curve which can also be seen on this Google Map. Those readers who know this area probably will be interested in knowing the exact locations.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=sunset+%26+vine,+los+angeles,+ca&daddr=34.07918,-118.429441&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&mra=dme&sll=34.079216,-118.422446&sspn=0.01301,0.029182&ie=UTF8&ll=34.086644,-118.380947&spn=0.052034,0.11673&z=13&om=1

Italy’s highway system places a whole new meaning when it comes to dead man’s curbs as their highways seem to have no shoulders to change flat tires. Instead of shoulders they have drop offs of hundreds of feet if a car veers off the road. Dead Man’s Curve being sung while showing these treacherous highways adds a new meaning to the song:

This video shows The Ventures playing Wipeout their classic instrumental:

The last video is of the Beach Boys singing Fun, Fun, Fun about a girl having fun driving the car until her daddy takes the keys away:

Disgusted Sponsor Sparked Twenty One Quiz Show Scandal

Charles Van Doren at left, Chuck Barry host and Herbert Stempel as they appeared on the Twenty One quiz Show.

 

Herbert Stempel shown stopping the game, that ended his run on Twenty One quiz show. Pay particular attention to the phony baloney spoken by both Stempel and host Jack Barry, since they both were participants in the rigging of the show.

 

The first Twenty One show aired September 10, 1956 and it didn’t go well, because neither contestant knew many of the answers. Pharmaceuticals, Inc. the maker of Geritol sponsored the show and the sponsor was infuriated, threatening to drop their sponsorship of the show if there was a repeat of the first show. That first show would be the only honest show in its two-year run.

 

The producers were desperate to placate the sponsor, so proceeded to tell the contestants, which questions to answer correctly or when to give the wrong answers. This may be the first time a reality show, turned into a non-reality show as nothing was ever real about this show again.

 

Two months later, Twenty One introduced Charles Van Doren, a college professor who competed against a nondescript Herbert Stempel. The producers wrung all the drama possible out of the shows, between the two contestants, but Van Doren eventually emerged victorious over Stempel.

 

Stempel was told to give the wrong answer to the question of which movie had won the 1955 Oscar for Best Picture. It so happened that the answer Marty was one of Stempel’s favorite movies. He could have thrown the show into chaos, since he thought about giving the correct answer, but decided to go along with the producers and give the wrong answer.

 

The show would remain on the air, despite Stempel was saying that the show was rigged. The show was investigated, but there was not enough proof of wrongdoing to take the show off the air.

 

Another quiz show Dotto came under scrutiny when a notebook with all the answers to the questions, for the other contestant was found. This brought a new spotlight on Stempel’s charges and Twenty One ended when Charles Van Doren confessed before a Congressional committee that he had been given the answers.

 

It would be 11 years before Jack Barry hosted another quiz show Generation Gap in 1969, then Barry would be the successful producer-host of The Joker’s Wild. Barry who had created Tic Tac Dough in the 50′s, now produced the Wink Martindale hosted version of the show in the 70′s and 80′s before Barry’s death.

 

Charles Van Doren’s statement about his involvement in the rigging of Twenty One. It is lengthy but takes us inside the mind, of a brilliant college professor who made some bad choices but told the truth to end tormenting himself for not telling the truth.

 

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6566/

 

Stempel a disgruntled contestant on Twenty One couldn’t prevent himself from disclosing the rigging of the show, despite knowing he would incriminate himself and Charles Van Doren.

 

This is just another reminder that what we see on television is not always real, even if they call it reality television. The sponsor of  Twenty One started the producers down the road of cheating and misleading television viewers. Once they went down that road, there was no turning back.

 

Drama is what sells on television. The sponsor thought nobody wants to see two contestants struggling to guess the right answers, so he scared the bejeebies out of the producers to force them to cheat and manipulate the show to protect their jobs.

 

Nobody would want to watch a reality show like Big Brother if all they did was sit around and talk about the weather. The same goes for quiz shows. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that one of our quiz shows today has been manipulated to wring out more drama.

 

Viewers, beware of what you are watching, because it may not be real, no matter how much the producers deny they are not manipulating a show.

 

 

 

 

1968-1969: Years of Assassinations, Moonwalks and Protests

 

 

 

Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

 1968 and 1969 were years defined by the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, American astronauts being the first to walk on the moon, anti-war protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the New York Jets and the New York Mets were surprise Super Bowl and World Series winners.

 

Super Bowl II would be won by the Green Bay Packers when they defeated the Oakland Raiders on January 14.

 

Mister Roger’s Neighborhood would be seen for the first time on February 19, 1968.

 

March 16, 1968 would be one of the low points of the Vietnam War when between 374-504 unarmed civilians were killed at My Lai by United States troops. 2nd Lt. William Calley was charged with 22 of the deaths and sentenced to life imprisonment, but only served three-and-a-half years of house arrest.

 

President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on March 31 that he would not be running for president in the 1968 election. His decision resulted in the Democrats only having one president elected in the next 24 years, when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. It would be 1993 before Bill Clinton took office as the 42nd president and he would become the first Democratic president to serve two complete terms since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

 

April 4, 1968 started a year of assassinations and demonstrations, when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his Memphis motel room. Ironically only seven days later the Civil Rights Act bill was passed by Congress, which outlawed racial discrimination, which Dr. King had been fighting before his death.

 

Then only two months and one day after the assassination of Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated while celebrating a win in California primary during his 1968 presidential bid. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested for the murder of Kennedy.

 

 If Kennedy had lived to win the Democratic nomination, he may have defeated Richard Nixon in the 1968 election. Instead Nixon defeated Senator Hubert Humphrey by half a million votes.

 

The Yippies led by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman would descend on Chicago and the streets of Chicago turned into a riot zone as the Yippies and other radical groups battled Chicago police, U.S. Army and National Guard, while the Democratic convention was being held.

 

The chaos on the streets of Chicago poured onto the Democratic Convention floor when Senator Abraham Ribicoff denounced the use of Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago. His remarks enraged Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago would could be seen yelling at Ribicoff.

 

Anti-war protesters in Chicago may have hurt their own cause. In retrospect they may have protested at the wrong convention since the Democrats were more on their side than the Republicans. The Republican convention in Miami was turmoil free, in contrast to the chaos in Chicago.

 

Richard Nixon would go on to defeat Senator Humphrey in the general election.

 

1969 was another year with many newsworthy events and January 12 of 1969 would see the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7, after Jets quarterback Joe Namath had predicted the Jets would upset the Colts.

 

Richard Nixon would take office as the 37th president on January 20. The Beatles who had first sang in America almost five years ago would hold their last public concert on January 30.

 

Sirhan Sirhan admits assassinating Bobby Kennedy on March 3. Ironically seven days later James Earl Ray would plead guilty to assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King. Later that month former President Dwight D. Eisenhower died on March 28, 8 years after finishing his second term as president.

 

The first American troop withdrawals of the Vietnam War were made on July 8. Senator Teddy Kennedy would end any hope of becoming president, when he drove his car off a bridge on July 18, in what became known as the Chappaquiddick incident. Mary Jo Kopechne would die at the age of 28 in the submerged car.

 

Two days later on July 20, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, when the lunar module Eagle landed on the moon. It had to be ranked as one of the biggest stories of the 20th century. The first flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903 would have been another major advance in the 20th century. Their flight led to commercial flights by airlines in later years.

 

August 9, 1969 was a day of violence as Charles Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others. The next day August 10, they would murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home.

 

August 15, 1969 will always be remembered as the day the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. The promoters were expecting 50,000 fans, but those numbers were very conservative, considering 500,000 fans showed up.

 

August 17 would be another deadly day, this time because of Hurricane Camille which hit the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing damage of $1.5 billion.

 

The first ATM was installed in Rockville Centre, New York on September 2, while on the same day Ho Chi Minh, leader of North Vietnam died.

 

The Chicago Eight trial begin on September 24 in Chicago, but was changed to the Chicago Seven, when Bobby Seale a Black Panther was sentenced to four-year sentence for contempt of court.

 

Another New York sports team would win a championship, when the New York Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Seven years earlier the Mets had been the laughingstock of baseball when they posted a 40-120 record in 1962.

 

On a lighter note Sesame Street would be seen for the first time on the National Education Network on November 10.

 

While 250,000-500,000 demonstrators were protesting against the war in Washington, D.C. on November 15, Dave Thomas is busy opening the first Wendy’s in Columbus Ohio.

 

American astronauts would walk on the moon, only four months after the initial landing, four months prior to the Apollo 12 landing. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean would both walk on the moon.

 

With the year drawing to a close, a draft lottery was put in place on December 1 and would be the last major event of 1969.

 

A quick rundown of the events in 1968-1969:

 

1968

 

Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy Assassinated

Unarmed Vietnamese Citizens Killed By U.S. Troops

President Lyndon B. Johnson Announces He Will Not Run For Presidency

Anti-war protesters riot during the Democratic National Convention

Richard Nixon is elected president in general election.

 

1969

 

Richard Nixon takes office of presidency

Withdrawal of Vietnam troops commences

Teddy Kennedy drives car off bridge in Chappaquiddick incident

Four astronauts become first men to walk on moon

Charles Manson followers kill seven in two days

500,000 anti-war protesters attend Woodstock Music Festival

Hurricane Camille kills 248 persons

First ATM installed in Rockville Centre, New York

Ho Chi Minh Dies

Chicago 7 Trial Begins in Chicago

250,000-500,000 demonstrate in anti-war protest in Washington, D.C.

Dave Thomas opens first Wendy’s

Sesame Street shown for the first time on National Education Network

Draft lottery is instituted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Nixon’s First Brush With Fame In Alger Hiss Case, Career Highlights

Alger Hiss who was convicted of perjury in 1950 after a House Un-American Activites committee which included Richard Nixon sent the case to a grand jury and eventually led to his conviction.

Richard Nixon was a first term Republican congressman, from California, when he was appointed a member of subcommittee of three to investigate the Alger Hiss case. Nixon, Edward Hebert of Louisiana and John McDowell from Pennsylvania were given the job to determine whether Whittaker Chambers or Alger Hiss were giving truthful testimony.

They found enough evidence to bring the Hiss case to a grand jury, even though FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover had told them, he was told to not cooperate with the committee. The committee  investigators unearthed enough evidence, to bring the case to the grand jury.

Alger Hiss had advanced into a high position in the U.S. government, serving as an assistant to Secretary of State Edward Stettinus. Hiss accompanied Stettinus,to the Yalta Conference in February of 1945. The purpose of the conference ,was for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, to plan the defeat of Adolf Hitler, which came a couple of months after the conference.

Hiss would later be found to have given intelligence to the Russians as early as the 1930′s. The fact that reached such a high standing, in the American government is troubling. It was alarming at the support he received from top government officials during his trials.

Chambers would produce five rolls of micro-film, which would become known as the “Pumpkin Papers”, since Chambers had hidden them inside a pumpkin.

This website has extensive information about the Pumpkin Papers:

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pumpkinp.html

Grand Jury Indictment, Two Trials

A grand jury indicted Hiss on two perjury charges, but he wasn’t charged with espionage, because of the statute of limitations. Hiss then went to trial on May 31, 1949 and ended in a hung jury on July 7 of the same year.

The case against Hiss seemed to take a turn for the worse, when the key government witness, Chambers admitted he had given false testimony in the past. Hiss had friends in high places, in President Harry Truman, who called the trial a “red herring” and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who thought Hiss was innocent.

The second trial which started on May 17, 1949 ended on November 17, 1949 and it ended on January 21, 1950.

Typewriter Key Evidence

The key evidence against Hiss was that experts identified his typewriter, as the one which had been used to type stolen documents, then the top-secret papers were given to the Russians. Hess claimed until he died, that he had been framed and that the government, had committed forgery with his typewriter, to make it appear the documents, had been typed on his Woodstock typewriter.

Hiss Receives Five Year Sentence

Alger Hiss was convicted of two counts and sentenced to five years in prison, on January 25, 1960, on two perjury counts. He would be released 44 months later on November 27, 1954.  Ironically, Hiss would be allowed to practice law in Massachusetts d on August 5, 1975. Hiss died on November 15, 1996 in New York City, claiming his innocence to the end.

Richard Nixon handout from his first Congressional election in 1946 in California which he won.

Nixon Rises to National Prominence

Richard Nixon made the most, of his first national exposure and would be elected a U.S. Senator from California in 1950. Two years later in 1952 he would be chosen to be the vice presidential candidate in the 1952 presidential election in which Dwight D. Eisenhower would become the first Republican president, since Herbert Hoover left office in 1929. Nixon would serve as vice president until 1961.

Checkers Speech

Nixon would make the headlines many times in the future. Nobody who was around back then, can forget his “Checkers” speech, when he addressed questions about his campaign finances.

Nixon Attacked in Peru, Venezuela

He would make news again when he confronted anti-American demonstrators in Peru, then his limousine would be attacked in Caracas, Venezuela, with both events in 1958.

Kitchen Debate With Khrushchev

Who can forget Nixon’s famous “Kitchen Debate” with Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev, over the merits of capitalism and communism in 1959?

Lost 1960 Presidential Election

Nixon would win the Republican nomination. in 1960, but after a poor performance in the first presidential debate, would lose the presidential election, to John F. Kennedy by a slim 120,000 votes.

Loses By 300,000 Votes in California Governor Race

Many wrote the obituary for Nixon’s political career, when he lost to Gov. Pat Brown in the 1962 gubernatorial race, by a margin of 300,000 votes.

Rises From the Ashes in 1968

After his loss in California, Nixon practiced law and supported 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, then supported 1966 congressional candidates. He was nominated to be the 1968 Republican candidate, while Senator Hubert H. Humphrey was nominated by the Democrats, at a tumultuous convention, in Chicago due to demonstrations, by anti-Vietnam war protesters in the streets of Chicago. Nixon wins by a half million votes over Humphrey.

Wins Overwhelming Victory in 1972

Nixon would win every state except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, in an overwhelming victory over Democratic candidate George McGovern.

President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Pat Nixon and former President Richard Nixon walk toward helicopter, that would leave with them for the last time on August 9, 1974 after his resignation.

Watergate Ends His Political Career

Five men broke into the Democratic National Convention offices, in the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1972. There was no reason for the break-in as Nixon won the 1972 presidential election easily.

Nixon would use every political trick imaginable to cover up, White House involvement with the cover-up of the break-in. Nixon’s tactic was to deny, deny and deny some more, that the White House was involved. His own taping system in the White House came back to haunt him. We will never forget his famous “I Am Not A Crook” speech, but eventually admitted he was a crook by leaving office in disgrace, becoming the first president to resign from office. We can only imagine, what Nixon and his wife were feeling as the helicopter, left the White House grounds, for the last time.

 

Jack Webb: From Dragnet to Adam 12 to Emergency

Jack Webb 1920-1982

Jack Webb was born on April 2, 1920 in Santa Monica, California. He died at the age of 62 on December 23, 1982 in West Hollywood California.

His father left home before Webb was born and he never knew his dad. He joined the Army Air Force but asked for a hardship discharge after not making the grade in flight training.

Acted in Old Time Radio

Webb starred in an ABC radio comedy the Jack Webb Show in 1946. He then starred in several detective themed old-time radio shows. Pat Novak For Hire, Johnny Modero, Pier 23 and Jeff Regan, Investigator which were his best known radio programs prior to Dragnet.

His big break came when Dragnet was first broadcast on radio in 1949, then would run till 1954. Webb portrayed Sgt. Joe Friday as a no-nonsense detective, who didn’t mince words.  The television version of Dragnet began televising in 1952 with Ben Alexander cast as Detective Frank Smith, concurrently with the radio version till 1954, when the radio series ended. The televised version would remain on the air till 1959. There was a radio or television version of Dragnet  being heard or seen for ten continuous years.

Webb loved jazz and starred in Pete Kelly’s Blues which on radio for less than two months, but would be the predecessor to the film version, of Pete Kelly’s Blues released in 1955. Then Pete Kelly’s Blues was also shown on television in 1959, but only 13 episodes were aired, before it was cancelled.

Dragnet also had a presence in radio, television and movies and it was successful in all three forms of media. A new television version of the original Dragnet named Dragnet 1967 ran till 1970 with Harry Morgan portraying Officer Bill Gannon.

Jack Webb grew up with severe asthma yet was a heavy smoker as can be seen by this advertisement mentioning that he smoked two packs a day. Smoking two packs a day today would cost roughly $180 a month.

Webb became so involved in production, that he wasn’t seen on the television screen often. He created Adam 12 which ran from 1968-1975 and  Ohara, U.S. Treasury which was shown from 1971-1972.

Julie London former wife of Jack Webb and her husband Bobby Troup on Emergency television program that aired on NBC.

Jack Webb showed he had no animosity toward his former wife Julie London, by hiring her and her husband to appear in his Emergency television program.  They appeared in but two of the 133 episodes that were aired.

Webb was married to Julie London from 1947-1953. He then married Dorothy Towne from 1955-1957, Jackie Loughery from 1958-1964. He widowed his last wife who he was married to from 1980-1982.

Jack Webb was working on a third television version of Dragnet with Kent McCord from Adam 12 lined up to be his partner, but died of a heart attack at 62.

Chief Daryl Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department retired Badge 714 after his death and Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all flags to flown at half-mast in his honor. He would be buried with a replica Badge 714.

Jack Webb’s tombstone is typical of Webb. There is no huge ornamental tombstone, but a plain tombstone, with his name and his life span.

This article written by Ben Alexander, gives us a better idea of  what the real Jack Webb was like. This paragraph tells me all I need to know about Jack Webb. I am inserting it here for those who may not have time to read the article:

Look at Victor Rodman. He had been disabled in an accident, and one of Jack’s joys about creating “Noah’s Ark” was the chance it gave him to employ Victor in a role that didn’t require walking around. Jack was thrilled with “Noah’s Ark” because it gave Victor a chance to prove what a fine actor he is. And a big reason Jack is eager to revive the show is that Victor will be working again.

http://www.badge714.com/

The Internet Movie Database biography includes some interesting trivia about Jack Webb:

Was buried with full honors befitting a LAPD detective, including a 17-gun salute.

Had just over 6,000 jazz albums in his private collection.

At the height of “Dragnet’s” popularity, people would actually call the LAPD wanting to speak to Webb’s character, Sgt. Joe Friday. The Department eventually came up with a stock answer to the large volume of calls: “Sorry, it’s Joe’s day off.”

Was a huge baseball fan, and chose badge number 714 for Sgt. Friday because it was the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit.

 

Jack Webb has created a lot of shows since Dragnet, but will always remember him, telling us what department he was working out of in the police department.

The color version of Dragnet was good, but there was something special, about the black and white version of  the 50′s. Those shows seemed to be more simple.  Who can ever forget the show, about the boy who got a rifle for Christmas and accidentally shoots his friend? This is the three-part The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas episode. Part 3 is very emotional as the father talks to his dead son, telling him what he would have received for Christmas. Then to make it even more emotional, the father of the boy killed,then gives the presents for his son,  to the boy who shot his son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMbWZZVHYZQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_-TNDVb7I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–94KuSo5oM&feature=related

 

 

 

Bob Denver: Best Known For Dobie Gillis And Gilligan’s Island

Bob Denver shown with the cast of Gilligan's Island.

Bob Denver was born January 9, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York one day after Elvis Presley was born and died September 2, 2005 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the age of 70.

Denver was best known for his role as Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island which ran from 1964-1967 on the CBS television network. At one time the opening credits mentioned the professor and Mary Ann as the rest, but Denver had it changed to where they were mentioned as the professor and Mary Ann.

With the passing of Denver only Russell Johnson (the Professor), Tina Louis (Ginger) and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) are still alive of the cast members.

Portrayed Maynard G. Krebs On Dobie Gillis

Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs on Dobie Gillis.

Bob Denver first appeared on television in Dobie Gillis which to me was one of the funnier shows on television at the time. The show aired on the CBS network from 1959-1963.

Denver played the part of Maynard G. Krebs, the beatnik bongo playing friend of Dobie Gillis who shrieked in horror when the word work was mentioned.

There more episodes filmed of Dobie Gillis (142) than there were of Gilligan’s Island (99) but he will be best remembered as Gilligan to most television fans.

However, for me Denver will be best remembered for his work on Dobie Gillis. It is ironic that both Denver and Dwayne Hickman who was Dobie Gillis, attended Loyola Marymount College.

The MeTV network is showing Dobie Gillis and if you have MeTV in your area, it would be worth watching Denver again as Maynard G. Krebs, the beatnik who does not like the word work mentioned.

MeTV may be the best network for watching favorite television shows of the past:

http://metvnetwork.com/programs.php?showID=13

Classic TV:The Wonder Years

January 31, 1988 - May 12, 1993

The Wonder Years was a groundbreaking show since it won an Emmy after only six episodes of the show had aired. In addition Fred Savage was the youngest actor nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of  Kevin Arnold an adolescent who was struggling to find his way in the world.

The show is still being shown on the Hub channel during prime time and late at night when this was written in May of 2011.

Daniel Stern narrated the series, being the grown-up voice of Kevin relating what Kevin was thinking as a youth. Stern is best remembered for being one of the bad guys in the first two Home Alone movies.

Fred Savage shown as a youngster.

FRED SAVAGE

The show is about the Arnold family, but focuses on Kevin Arnold. The main focus of Kevin on the shows is Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper, the girl of his dreams. She was played by Danica McKellar, who today is a world class mathematician.

Kevin uses every tactic he can think of to get Winnie to notice him. The episodes show Kevin gradually reaching the point of  having Winnie as his girlfriend.

The last episode of the series does not end well for Kevin when he sees Winnie kissing another boy and loses his car and money in a poker game, then returns home.

Savage was 11 when the first episode aired in 1988 and will be 35 in July. He is currently a producer for the televison series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Jason Hervey of The Wonder Years seen at a younger age and a more recent photo..

JASON HERVEY

Jason Hervey, who played Kevin’s brother Wayne seemed to make it his mission in life to give Kevin as much grief as possible. Hervey was 15 when the first episode was shown and is now 39 years old.

Hervey has been seen on television rarely since the last episode of Wonder Years.

He was the Senior Vice-President of Media and Communications for HealthSouth. The troubled company was involved in a major fraud scandal, with Hervey suing his employer for $300,000.

Then he became involved with wrestling production as the executive producer of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and currently is executive producer of Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling and has also produced reality shows such as Scott Baio is 45.

Fred Savage and Danica McKellar shown during their "Wonder Years".

DANICA McKELLAR

Danica McKellar, perhaps known better as Winnie Cooper to fans of The Wonder Years, graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in mathematics. Danica combined with a professor and another student to write this theorem, look at Page 3 to really grasp how skilled Danica is at mathematics:

http://www.danicamckellar.com/math/percolation.pdf

Danica McKellar 34, and composer Mike Verta 36, were married on March 22, 2009.

The wedding of Danica McKellar and Mike Verta was held at a church in La Jolla, California at sunset. Dan Lauria and Allie Mills who portrayed the parents of Kevin were present at the ceremony. No mention was made of Fred Savage being at the wedding.

McKellar and Verta had been dating for eight years before their marriage. They welcomed their first child a son named Draco, into the world 18 months later on September 7, 2010.

Dan Lauria and Alley Mills who played Jack and Norma Arnold on The Wonder Years from 1988-1993.

DAN LAURIA

Dan Lauria who portrayed Jack Arnold  was 40 when The Wonder Years was shown for the first time. He was Detective Harry Dupnik on Cagney and Lacy before joining the cast of The Wonder Years. Lauria is 64 today and has been active since leaving The Wonder Years appearing as a free-lance actor in a plethora of television series. He appears in the movie Here’s The Kicker which has been completed, but not yet released to movie theaters.

Alley Mills was 36 when The Wonder Years debuted. She married actor Orson Bean when she was 41 for her first marriage and they have been married for 18 years with her having turned 60 earlier this month. She is currently acting in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful with her playing Pamela Douglas.

Olivia D'Abo who played the daughter Karen Arnold on The Wonder Years.

Olivia D’Abo was born in England 42 years ago and was Karen Arnold the only daughter of  her television parents Jack and Norma Arnold. She seemed to be an afterthought on The Wonder Years with her seeming to be in the background on most episodes and appeared in less episodes (65) than the other actors.

She has been seen since the departure of The Wonder Years in many television series and has done some movie work. Her last major role was as Nicole Wallace on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Olivia can be seen in the following video as she talks about Law and Order and plays the guitar:

Olivia D’Abo seen playing her guitar.

EPILOGUE

Most shows we watch on television quickly seem to evaporate from our memory, but the shows that really connect with us and stay with us forever are shows that are about life itself, the struggles, the joys and the goals that are someday realized.

The Wonder Years is one of those shows. There have not been any new episodes of the show made for 18 years, yet we continue to watch it because it represents television at its best.