Redd Foxx was a guest on a 1965 episode of The Tonight Show. Johnny Carson asked the renowned comedian: “Who is currently the funniest comedian?” Foxx — without hesitation — answered, “Flip Wilson.” At the time, Flip Wilson was a regular at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. The budding comic — who had honed his skills …
June is Pride Month. Lee Brewster was born in a log cabin in southwestern Virginia. He worked as a file clerk for the FBI until he was fired for being a homosexual. Unfettered, he took his meager savings and headed for Manhattan, where he joined the Mattachine Society, a fledgling gay rights organization. Lee organized …
Dorothea Gray Puente grew up in an orphanage after her abusive, suicidal, alcoholic father abandoned the family and her abusive alcoholic mother died in a motorcycle accident. While at the orphanage, Dorothea claimed abuse of herself and her siblings — numbering either 6 or 17. The actual amount is unclear because Dorothea was a pathological …
Jean Willes appeared in several Three Stooges shorts, as she became a favorite of director Edward Bernds. She later landed roles opposite Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Bing Crosby and Paulette Goddard. She played a nurse in the original sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the 50s and 60s, she made a smooth transition …
After stints as a nanny and a horseback riding trainer, 21 year-old Mercedes Grabowski entered the lucrative adult film industry, using the screen name “August Ames.” She began associations with some of the top distributors of pornography and was featured in some 270 films with titles like Dirty Talk, Don’t Tell Hubby, Flesh Hunter and Naturally Delicious. August was nominated …
