Billy Booth made a handful of appearances on television in the early 1960s, including an uncredited role in the classic Twilight Zone episode “A Stop at Willoughby.” Soon, Billy was cast in the role for which he was best known. He played Dennis’s best friend “Tommy” in 112 installments of the sitcom Dennis the Menace. …
The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “lesson”. “Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn’t speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.” Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk couldn’t wait to get the hell out of North Dakota. He was the sixth of eight children born to …
Donald Turnupseed inherited his father’s electrical contracting business, turning it into a multi-million dollar enterprise known all over parts of California. He married twice, had three children and five grandchildren. He passed away from lung cancer in 1995 at age 63. When Donald was 23 he was a student at California Polytechnic State University. On …
Hollywood is a fickle, fickle place. As presented countless times in this blog, the entertainment business can be cruel, heartless, unrelenting and unforgiving. Beginning way back in the infancy of the motion picture business, hundreds and hundreds of eager young actors and actresses have had their dreams dashed and have been cast aside when the …
Karen Bach had just finished studying communications and business when she married a DJ from her native Lyon, France. At her husband’s insistence, she began appearing in adult films in an effort to help alleviate the couple’s debts. Using the name “Karen Lancaume” (a play on the renowned French cosmetic company), she made over 40 …
Karyn Kupcinet, the daughter of popular Chicago columnist Irv Kupcinet, was a young and aspiring actress. She was given access to producers thorough her father’s connections. Using the name “Tammy Windsor”, she landed a small role in the campy Roger Corman original Little Shop of Horrors. In 1961, she was offered a small role in …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “bottled”. “Now, Jeannie, we gotta get you bottled up. Dr. Bellows will be here any minute!” (I would have completed this illustration over the weekend, but I was otherwise occupied HERE.)
He would have you believe that he landed on this planet from some far off galaxy, but in reality, Klaus Nomi was born in Germany (on planet Earth) in 1944. In his youth, he worked as an usher at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he’d entertain the other ushers and the maintenance staff …
Jeanne Deckers was a nun in the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Waterloo, Belgium. She wrote, sang and performed her own songs, which were so well received that the monastery decided to let her record an album, which visitors to the monastery would be able to purchase. In 1963, Jeanne (who chose the name Sister Luc …
Character actor Joseph Kearns began his career in the heyday of radio in the unlikely role of a pipe organ player. He soon was performing regularly on radio programs like I Married Joan, December Bride, Burns and Allen, Sam Spade and many others. He was the mysterious announcer “The Man in Black” on the radio …
