Geremi González led the Chicago Cubs with 11 wins in his rookie season with the team. However, he struggled in subsequent season and spent some time in the minor leagues with hopes of improvement. He bounced around the majors with the Rays, the Red Sox and the Mets until he landed in Milwaukee, pitching for …
Hadji Ali performed for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Judy Garland proclaimed him her favorite vaudeville performed. More recently, magician David Blaine cited him as his favorite magician and a personal inspiration. Hadji Ali’s “talent” was impressive and decidedly unusual. Born in Egypt somewhere between 1888 and 1892, young Hadji developed an affinity for swimming in the …
Chicago transplant Mary Webster — in all honesty — had a pretty unremarkable career. As a twenty-year old aspiring actress, she took roles portraying teenage characters in episodic television. She made her big screen debut in 1957 opposite Jerry Lewis in The Delicate Delinquent, his first full-length motion picture after his split with partner Dean …
Considering the nature of his chosen profession and the fun-filled products with which he was associated, Leo Hirschfield led a complicated life. The son of an Austrian candy maker, young Leo came to the United States and began working for Manhattan confectioners Stern & Saalberg. While in the employ of Stern & Saalberg, Leo was …
Many, many years ago, my mom’s friend Arlene recommended a film called Little Shop of Horrors. She told my mom, in a phone conversation, that she had stumbled upon this little gem while trying to find something to watch during a a late-night bout with insomnia. Arlene settled upon this quirky little flick after watching …
For many years, I collected autographed photos of celebrities. “Celebrities,” I will admit, is a relative term and can only be defined as “someone who more people have heard of than have heard of me.” I obtained a good portion of my collection by attending local collector shows and conventions where promoters would gather together …
Budding actress Gloria Chin was in the Paramount Pictures commissary when she was spotted by the wife of Hollywood screenwriter and producer Sidney Buchman. Gloria was quickly cast in the 1947 film noir Singapore alongside Ava Gardner and Fred MacMurray. Gloria was also given a new name — the exotic-sounding mononym “Maylia.” Favorable reviews led …
On the advice of a numerologist, Terry Garr changed her name to “Teri,” a name containing no repeating letters. She was told this would lead to a successful career. Teri appeared as an uncredited go-go dancer in a number of youth-oriented film and television productions, including Shindig!, Hullabaloo, Shivaree, as well as a musical special …
The second series — “Horror Actors of the 1940s” — concludes with George Zucco. British actor George Zucco gained fame as an upper-crust, but often villainous, character in dozens of dramas, mysteries and serials of the 30s and 40s. He was cast as the nefarious “Professor Moriarty” in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1939. …
