Even as a youngster, Jesse Belvin was interested in music. He joined several bands as a vocalist early in the 1950s. Even an brief stint in the army didn’t hinder Jesse’s songwriting. His composition “Earth Angel” was a hit for The Penguins in 1955 and became one of the first songs to successfully make the …
On December 7, 2009 at 12:30 am, Josh Powell packed up his two young sons and set out for an impromptu camping trip in a remote area near the family’s Salt Lake City home. Susan Powell, Josh’s 28-year-old wife and mother of the boys, was still asleep in bed. Josh returned home with the boys …
For eleven years, Rusty Hamer traded barbs with showbiz heavyweight Danny Thomas on the popular sitcom Make Room For Daddy. Most often, Rusty got bigger laughs than his veteran co-star. For a kid, his comedic timing was impeccable and rivaled that of actors with many times his experience. Shooting had to be halted quite often …
Twenty-three year-old Debbie Boostrom auditioned, alongside hundreds of anxious and hopeful young ladies, to become the coveted 25th Anniversary Playboy Playmate. Debbie was unsuccessful, but a little over a year later, she was presented in the magazine as Miss August 1981. In the following months, she appeared in several Playboy videos and participated in some of Hugh Hefner’s …
Alexa Kenin began acting as a child, landing her first role opposite Academy Award-winning actor Jason Robards in the 1972 TV movie The House Without a Christmas Tree. She appeared in several more TV productions, including five Afterschool Specials. The 80s brought Alexa her big-screen debut in the Tatum O’Neal-Kristy MacNichol teen camp film Little …
Teenage aspiring dancer Beryl Heischuber answered a casting call ad and landed a role in the 1928 production of Vanities at the Earl Carroll Broadway theatre. Using the more accessible (and more pronounceable) name “Wallace”, Beryl appeared amid dozens of other young dancers billed under the umbrella title “the most beautiful girls in the world”. …
Tsutomu Yamaguchi worked as a draftsman designing oil tankers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki. Japanese industry was suffering as a result of World War II. Resources and materials grew more and more difficult to come by. Tsutomu, like many Japanese, felt Japan should have never started a war. He became despondent over his homeland’s …
Tom Forman was a prolific “triple threat” in the early days of Hollywood. He was an actor in over 50 films beginning in 1913. He wrote seven screenplays and he was a sought-after director, calling the shots on over twenty-seven films. He directed top stars of the day including Lon Chaney and Mary Astor. In …
It was through his piano-playing stepsister that Leon “Chu” Berry was introduced to music at a young age. He stuck with it, playing alto saxophone through high school. He later switched to tenor sax after hearing jazz virtuoso Coleman Hawkins. (Although cited as an influence, Coleman Hawkins considered Chu an equal). Chu began his professional career …
Over thirty years, Sammee Tong appeared in over seventy movies and television shows as houseboys, cooks, waiters and any number if stereotypical roles that Hollywood offered Chinese-American actors. Sammee worked regularly in Westerns and in the “Charlie Chan” and “Mr. Moto” detective series. He even tried his hand at comedy as a laundry owner in …
