Paul Winchell was an unusual character. He was an accomplished ventriloquist, taking up the hobby to overcome a pronounced childhood stutter and to bide his time while confined to bed as he battled polio. He eventually returned to school, where he constructed a ventriloquist dummy in exchange for class credit. He cobbled together jokes and …
Diana Sacayán came out as transgender when she was a teen. She became very active in the pursuit of maintaining human rights for her contemporaries. She was arrested and jailed at different times because of her leanings towards Argentina’s Communist Party. Once released from jail, Diana created the Anti-Discrimination Movement of Liberation in Argentina. The …
“All I can say to people who hate their mothers for giving birth to them is ‘get the fuck out of your scared-y shells and kiss the world.’” ― Jay Woodman
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin (1924 – 1987)
“Stranded in the Jungle” was a novelty pop song written by Ernestine Smith and The Jay Hawks tenor James Johnson. The song, a playful comparison between life in the jungle and life in the big city, was recorded and released by The Jay Hawks in 1956. Just a few weeks later, The Cadets, a former …
Eric Campbell was performing in local theater in Scotland when he was recruited by entertainment impresario Fred Karno. Karno was a slapstick comedian in his own right and is credited with popularizing the “pie-in-the-face” gag. Karno had assembled a roster of entertainers, including Charles Chaplin and Chaplin’s understudy Arthur Jefferson, later known by the stage …
The Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence …
Fred Willard played the clueless fool the way a virtuoso plays the violin. He passed away in May 2020 at the age of 86.
Norma Zimmer wanted to become a violinist, but her father, a violin teacher, told her that her hands were too small to properly handle the instrument. Disappointed, she perused a career as a vocalist instead. While singing in her local Idaho church choir, Norma was approached by a visiting guest singer to travel to California …
A native of Hollywood, Julie Bennett found work as a character actress in radio and on television including bit parts on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Adventures of Superman, and Dragnet. She found her true calling, however, as a voice actress, a career she worked at for over fifty years. Julie was an in-demand voice …
