from my sketchbook: cathy downs

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Thou art lost and gone forever dreadful sorry, Clementine

A talent scout from 20th Century Fox spotted dark-haired Vogue model Cathy Downs and brought her to Hollywood.

After a few uncredited roles , including State Fair and a biopic about The Dolly Sisters, Cathy was cast in the titular role in the John Ford Western My Darling Clementine, a mostly inaccurate account of the notorious gunfight at the OK Corral. Cashing in on that film’s success, Cathy starred in several detective tales and a few more Westerns. She even took a stab at comedy, co-starring with Abbott and Costello. In 1952, Cathy married her Joe Palooka co-star Joe Kirkwood, Jr. The couple divorced in 1955.

By the 1950s, Cathy found work in low-budget sci-fi films, with 1958’s Missile to the Moon as her last big-screen appearance. She occasionally took roles on television dramas, however, her portrayal of a murder victim on a 1965 episode of Perry Mason was her final acting role.

Cathy died from cancer at 52. She was unemployed for the last eleven years of her life.

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we wish you the happiest, the happiest

My annual Christmas music compilation is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD for a limited time.

This year, it’s 29  holiday songs that run the gamut from big band swing to hipster cool, plus a custom full-color cover with track listings – all for you and all for FREE! (That’s two more songs than last year!)

Just CLICK HERE for “A Non-Traditional Christmas 2014
You will be taken to a new window where you’ll be able to download the zipped folder. Just ask your nearest grandchild how to unzip the folder and put the songs onto that goddamn iPod they bought you last Christmas. I guarantee you’ll be deleting these songs to make room for the latest NPR podcast in no time.

(Please contact me if you have trouble with the download… or just to say “Thanks.”)

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