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 …
Dorothy Dell aspired to fame from the time she was a child. She won a “Beautiful Baby” contest in her native Hattiesburg, Mississippi at one year old and continued to enter and win others throughout her childhood. In high school in Louisiana, she made friends with Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton, another aspiring actress. The pair became known …
After meeting while filming the Sid and Marty Krofft special Fol-de-Rol in 1972, tap dancer Lorene Yarnell married mime Robert Shields in a flamboyant, but silent ceremony in San Francisco’s Union Square. Soon, the duo were cast as regular performers on The Mac Davis Show and later, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. They performed …
This week’s Monday Artday challenge word is “villain”. Here is the first of two illustrations for this suggestion. (Here is the second.) She spent her entire screen time in “The Wizard of Oz” tormenting Dorothy Gale. Whether it was in her role as Miss Almira Gulch, the wealthy but crotchety landowner who takes Dorothy’s beloved …
After her husband passed away at the age of 31, desperate and destitute Angela Raubal took her three children and sought refuge with her half-brother. Angela became his housekeeper and he allowed her family to move into his home in the Bavarian Alps in Obersalzberg, Germany. Angela’s half-brother took an unnatural affection to Angela’s youngest …
Thuy Trang was born in Vietnam around the time Communist forces overtook Saigon. Fearing for his life, Thuy’s father, a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam fighting against the North Vietnam army, fled to Hong Kong with his family after the Communist victory. The family was interred in a detention camp in …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “stir”. Poor Thurman Munson. Despite an array of meritorious accomplishments seven-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion, three-time Gold Glove Winner, 1970 Rookie of the Year and 1976 American League Most Valuable Player the popular catcher and captain of the New York Yankees took a lot of …
The current Monday Artday challenge word is “samurai”. John Belushi a more fearsome samurai there never was.
