Pete Smith began his career, humbly, as an aide on the vaudeville circuit. He soon found work with Louis B. Mayer as a publicity manager for Mayer’s studio. He was promoted to doing voice overs and editing on short subjects and sports-related newsreels. Based on his sense of humor, Pete was given his own series …
Nathan Sawaya attended and graduated from New York University with bachelor’s and law degrees. He began practicing law in Hollywood, California with the international law firm of Winston & Strawn. In 2004, Nathan left his career in law to create sculptures out of Lego full-time. While not an employee of the Lego company, he has …
Louise Harrison came to the United States from her native England in the 1950s. She settled in Illinois with her husband, a Scottish expatriate. She lived the unassuming life of a mid-Western housewife. In the early 1960s, Louise’s younger brother George formed a rock band with two young men he had recently met. The pair …
“Slice! Shit!”
As a student at Northern Illinois University, Cynthia Ann Cichorski took DJ duties at the campus radio station. She parlayed her communications degree as a reporter for a local radio station using the more “radio-friendly name “Morgan.” After graduation, Cindy worked as the on-air weather forecaster at a Rockford TV station. Eventually, she made her …
Much like Lou Costello, Tom Smothers was a character. His stammering naiveté was a concisely conceived and performed character. That’s right — a character. Tom was a star competitor in track and field at San Jose State College, as well as a competitive unicyclist. Tom, along with his younger brother Dick, set out to be …
In 1941, after a few roles in live-action films, Kent Rogers kicked off his career as a voice actor with a role in Goofy Groceries, a “Merrie Melodies” animated short directed by Bob Clampett. Just two months later, Kent’s talents were given a chance to shine, as he voiced 14 different characters in the famous …
For someone who didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas, I sure do love Christmas movies. The end-of-the-year holiday season has produced some great films, including classics like Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas in Connecticut, It Happened on 5th Avenue (recently discovered on Turner Classic Movies), White Christmas (and its cringe-inducing predecessor Holiday Inn), It’s A Wonderful …
