josh pincus is crying

Twenty-three year-old Debbie Boostrom auditioned, alongside hundreds of anxious and hopeful young ladies, to become the coveted 25th Anniversary Playboy Playmate. Debbie was unsuccessful, but a little over a year later, she was presented in the magazine as Miss August 1981. In the following months, she appeared in several Playboy videos and participated in some of Hugh Hefner’s celebrity events at the Playboy mansion. Eventually, with her brief, minimal fame fading, Debbie married and settled in Kansas with her husband. When her marriage failed, Debbie returned to her Florida roots and started a small business designing jewelry. Although she acted in a handful of infomercials, for the most part, she stayed out of the public eye.

On July 29, 2008, Debbie, now 53 and diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, put a gun to her head and shot herself.

(HERE’S my original sketch of Debbie.)

Alexa Kenin began acting as a child, landing her first role opposite Academy Award-winning actor Jason Robards in the 1972 TV movie The House Without a Christmas Tree. She appeared in several more TV productions, including five Afterschool Specials.

The 80s brought Alexa her big-screen debut in the Tatum O’Neal-Kristy MacNichol teen camp film Little Darlings. After more guest roles on episodic television, Alexa found herself in a supporting role alongside Clint Eastwood in Honkytonk Man  in 1982.

Soon, Alexa was cast in her most-remembered role as Jenna in Pretty in Pink  with Molly Ringwald. Just after Pretty in Pink  wrapped production, 23-year-old Alexa was found dead in her Manhattan apartment. Although still officially classified as an unsolved crime, the belief is that she was murdered by a jealous ex-boyfriend.

Teenage aspiring dancer Beryl Heischuber answered a casting call ad and landed a role in the 1928 production of Vanities  at the Earl Carroll Broadway theatre. Using the more accessible (and more pronounceable) name “Wallace”, Beryl appeared amid dozens of other young dancers billed under the umbrella title “the most beautiful girls in the world”. She performed in six more variations of Vanities  at Earl Carroll’s venue, most notable for their risqué premises, scantily costumed females and full nudity for the first time on Broadway.

Beryl began a relationship with theatre owner Earl Carroll, who was 16 years her senior. When Carroll opened his Hollywood location of the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in 1938, the building’s facade boasted a 20-foot high portrait of Beryl in neon. Beryl was featured in small roles in several “B” Westerns with co-stars like Tom Keene and Roy Rogers, but her primary job was star performer at Earl Carroll’s Theatre.

On June 17, 1948, Beryl and Earl Carroll were aboard United Airlines Flight 624 from New York City to Los Angeles when the flight crew received warning of a fire in the cargo hold. Although it turned out to be a false alarm, procedure dictated that CO2 be released into the area to extinguish the flames. However, relief valves were not opened and carbon dioxide seeped back into the cockpit, incapacitating the crew. The aircraft was put into an emergency decent. It struck a high voltage power line, burst into flames and crashed into a wooded hillside near Aristes, Pennsylvania. All 39 passengers, including Beryl Wallace and Earl Carroll, were killed.

The Earl Carroll Theatre continued operation after its founder’s death. In the 1950’s, it fell on hard times and was purchased and re-opened as The Moulin Rouge nightclub. Later, the TV game show Queen for a Day  was broadcast from the theatre during its nine-year run. Once again, the venue changed hands and became the Hullaballoo Rock and Roll Club, capitalizing on its popular TV namesake. In the 1960s, it was renamed “The Aquarius Theatre” and was home to the long-running musical Hair  during its West Coast run.  The Doors even performed there in 1969. In the 80s, the theatre served as the studio for nine seasons of Star Search  and for many Jerry Lewis Telethons. In the early 90s, it was once again renamed, this time ”The Chevy Chase Theatre” for five weeks, until the comedian’s disastrous talk show was canceled. More recently, the location is known as “Nickelodeon on Sunset” and is the filming location for current shows like iCarly  and Victorious,  as well as past favorites like All That  and Drake & Josh.  Although a reproduction is displayed at Universal Hollywood’s CityWalk, the original neon portrait of Beryl Wallace vanished decades ago.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi worked as a draftsman designing oil tankers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki. Japanese industry was suffering as a result of World War II. Resources and materials grew more and more difficult to come by. Tsutomu, like many Japanese, felt Japan should have never started a war. He became despondent over his homeland’s situation and considered secretly poisoning his family if Japan was not victorious at the war’s end.

In 1945, 29-year old Tsutomu went on a three-month business trip to Hiroshima for his employer. On August 6, he and two colleagues were preparing to return to Nagasaki when Tsutomu realized he had forgotten his hanko  (a printing stamp used instead of a signature to authorize documents in most Asian countries). As Tsutomu hurried back to his workplace to retrieve his stamp, American bomber Enola Gay  was dropping an atomic bomb on the center of Hiroshima just under two miles away. There was a great flash and the subsequent explosion ruptured Tsutomu’s eardrums, burned him on the left side of his body and left him temporarily blind. He crawled to shelter and, after resting for a bit, set out to find his colleagues. He was happy to find that they, too, had survived and the three spent the night in an air-raid shelter where they received proper medical attention. They returned to Nagasaki the following day. Tsutomu was given additional treatment. Despite being heavily bandaged, he returned to work on August 9th.

At 11 am, while Tsutomu was describing the horrific ordeal he experienced in Hiroshima to his supervisor, American bomber Bockscar  dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, just under two miles from Tsutomu’s workplace. This time, Tsutomu was unharmed in the explosion. His bandages, however, were damaged and contaminated. In the following days, he suffered a high fever from infection.

In later years, Tsutomu became a vocal opponent to nuclear arms, actively campaigning for disarmament. He participated in a documentary about nijū hibakusha  (double atomic bomb survivors). Although there were approximately 165 claims of double atomic-bomb survival, Tsutomu is the only one officially recognized by the Japanese government.

Although he lost his hearing in one ear, Tsutomu led a relatively healthy life. He experienced health issues much later in life and eventually succumbed to stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 93.

Tom Forman was a prolific “triple threat” in the early days of Hollywood. He was an actor in over 50 films beginning in 1913. He wrote seven screenplays and he was a sought-after director, calling the shots on over twenty-seven films. He directed top stars of the day including Lon Chaney and Mary Astor.

In November 1926, Tom was scheduled to direct the Columbia production of The Wreck.  The night before filming was set to begin, Tom shot himself through the heart. He left no explanation. Tom was 33 years old.

It was through his piano-playing stepsister that Leon “Chu” Berry was introduced to music at a young age. He stuck with it, playing alto saxophone through high school. He later switched to tenor sax after hearing jazz virtuoso Coleman Hawkins. (Although cited as an influence, Coleman Hawkins considered Chu an equal).

Chu began his professional career at the age of 21, playing with Sammy Stewart, the first of many swing bands. He moved on through several more swing bands, sticking around for two or so years each. He played with Fletcher Henderson before joining up with the great Cab Calloway in 1937. Along the way he gained popularity and respect as a sideman, backing up such musical luminaries as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Lionel Hampton. The riff from Chu’s original composition “Christopher Columbus” made its way into Jimmy Mundy’s famous arrangement of “Sing Sing Sing” as performed by Benny Goodman.

In October 1941, Chu was travelling between gigs in Ohio and Toronto on a night that was thick with fog. Just outside of Conneaut, Ohio, with poor visibility, the car in which he was a passenger skidded and crashed at the end of a bridge. Chu suffered a skull fracture and other internal injuries. He was taken to a hospital where, due to the severity of his injuries, Chu passed away three days later. He was 33 years old. His funeral was attended by over a thousand mourners, among whom some of the greatest names in jazz and swing were represented.

The term “Chu Berry Sax” is used in reference to any saxophone made by the C.G. Conn Company from 1910 through the mid-1930s, including soprano, alto, baritone and C melody models — none of which Chu ever played. The moniker is misleading since there is no definitive style or model to which it refers.

Over thirty years, Sammee Tong appeared in over seventy movies and television shows as houseboys, cooks, waiters and other stereotypical roles that Hollywood offered Chinese-American actors. Sammee worked regularly in Westerns and the Charlie Chan  and  Mr. Moto  detective series. He even tried his hand at comedy as a laundry owner in the madcap It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World  in 1963. On television, Sammee was a regular cast member, playing “Peter Tong”, houseboy to playboy attorney Bentley Gregg (played by John Forsythe), on five seasons of the sitcom Bachelor Father.  When Bachelor Father  was canceled, Sammee was again cast as a houseboy, this time on the new ABC sitcom Mickey  starring Mickey Rooney. The show faced tough competition in its Wednesday night time slot, as it was opposite the popular Dick Van Dyke Show  on CBS. ABC executives debated whether to renew the series. Sammee, a heavy gambler, depended on a regular salary to pay off his serious gambling debts. Fearing the show’s cancellation, Sammee committed suicide on October 27, 1964, effectively ending ABC’s dilemma.

In 1939, Shirley Temple lost the part of Dorothy in MGM’s The Wizard of Oz.  Although she was the foremost child star of the day, her singing was no match for the vocal talents of Judy Garland. In an attempt at consolation, her contracted studio, Twentieth Century Fox, gave Shirley the lead in The Blue Bird,  a fantasy musical co-starring Gale Sondergaard (who had turned down the role of the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz  on objections to the hideous makeup). The film presented little Shirley in the role of a bratty child. The role didn’t sit well with the movie-going public and after six years as America’s Sweetheart, Shirley was faced with her first bonafide flop. Six months later, Fox released Young People,  another flop for the twelve-year-old movie veteran. It was her last film for Fox. Shirley announced her retirement from show business to attend the exclusive Westlake School for Girls. Her retirement was short-lived, however, as MGM coaxed her back to the screen to star in Kathleen  in 1941. It, too, flopped and Shirley severed ties with MGM after mutual consent. Shirley went on to appear in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer  and Fort Apache,  two successful pictures among a crop of clunkers until she retired again - this time for good - in 1950.

Four-year-old Caryll Ann Ekelund appeared in a small role as an unborn child in Heaven in a sequence in The Blue Bird.  Despite her brief screen time, director Walter Lang and producer Darryl F. Zanuck felt she showed potential and promise as a young actress. On Halloween 1939, little Caryll was excitedly preparing for an evening of fun with friends in her Beverly Hills neighborhood, when her costume caught fire from a jack o’lantern that was displayed on her home’s front porch. She received severe first and second-degree burns and died in the hospital four days later.

Caryll was buried in the toga-like costume she wore in The Blue Bird  and a graveside choir sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, her favorite song.

As a visitor and patient of John Harvey Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitarium, C.W. Post was impressed and inspired to start his own cereal company. Concerned with his own health, Post invented a cereal alternative to coffee that he dubbed “Postum”. Postum was made from wheat bran, wheat, molasses, and maltodextrin from corn. It was never presented as a coffee substitute. Instead, it was marketed as a healthful, caffeine-free alternative. The beverage was slow to catch on at first, but became increasingly popular among those worried about the negative effects of caffeine. The Mormon culture endorsed Postum due to their abstention from coffee. During World War II, Postum enjoyed a huge rise in popularity as the population sought a replacement for government-rationed coffee.

In 1897, Post introduced another of his inventions - Grape Nuts cereal. Originally marketed as “brain food”, Grape Nuts became a popular breakfast food, owning to its unique flavor and texture, although it contains no grapes and no nuts.

As Post’s business increased, he introduced more varieties of cereals, including his own corn flakes, first called “Elijah’s Manna”, then later Post Toasties. Post was one of the first companies to offer a discount coupon as enticement to try their product. Through advertisements, a “One Penny Off” certificate was made available to the public.

As his business grew, Post amassed one of the largest fortunes of the early Twentieth century. However, in late 1913, his declining health forced him to cancel public appearances. In 1914, convinced he was suffering from stomach cancer, Post committed suicide by gunshot. His only child, 27-year-old Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited his company and his fortune. (Marjorie went on to marry financier E.F. Hutton. Their daughter is actress Dina Merrill.)

James Byrd, Jr. was murdered for no other reason than because he was black.

On June 7, 1998, 49-year old James was walking home from a party. He couldn’t afford a car so he walked everywhere, but he didn’t mind walking. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer and John King drove up to James in a pick-up truck and offered him a ride. Shawn recognized James from town. Happy to accept a lift, James climbed into the open bed of the truck. The three men in the truck’s cab were acquainted with each other from various meetings in and out of prison; their common bond was an active and twisted belief in white supremacy. They had no intention of driving James home.

The truck stopped on a remote road just outside of Jasper, Texas where the three men beat James unconscious and urinated on his battered body. Then, they chained him by his ankles to the back of the truck and dragged him for nearly three miles. James was whipped around and tossed about behind the vehicle until he hit a culvert (a large concrete pipe used to channel water) and his head and right arm were severed. The truck stopped, James’ body was untied and dumped in front of Jasper’s oldest Black church and cemetery.

In the morning, the county sheriff’s department found several items strewn among the blood and gore on the dirt road, including a wrench with “Berry” written on it and a lighter engraved with “Possum” (John King’s prison nickname) and three interlocking “K”s, signifying allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan. The perpetrators were soon picked up. After trial, King and Brewer were given death sentences. Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

A long-time Texas prison tradition was ended as a result of James Byrd Jr.’s murder and Lawrence Brewer’s arrogance. Texas, as well as other states that have the death penalty, offers the condemned a last meal of their choosing. The meal options and combinations are nearly limitless (alcohol requests are regularly denied). The weblog Dead Man Eating has chronicled these requests, noting an overwhelming demand for cheeseburgers, traditional Mexican fare, ice cream and Dr. Pepper. The occasional insistence that the contents of a final meal be kept secret or the refusal of a meal altogether are also included in the list. On the evening before his September 21, 2011 execution, Brewer asked for an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover’s pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks. It arrived at his cell around 4 p.m. and he refused it.  This final act of audacity prompted Texas State Senator John Whitmire to write to prison officials saying, “Enough is enough! It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.”

The “last meal” practice in Texas was ended the next day.