Paul Winchell was an unusual character. He was an accomplished ventriloquist, taking up the hobby to overcome a pronounced childhood stutter and to bide his time while confined to bed as he battled polio. He eventually returned to school, where he constructed a ventriloquist dummy in exchange for class credit. He cobbled together jokes and …
When I was a kid, it was common knowledge among my peers that killing a praying mantis was against the law. The neighborhood kids would go on to say there was a fine if you were caught. At various times, that fine would range from ten dollars to thousands of dollars… and jail time! Of …
I first became familiar with Red Skelton when I was a kid. My family, like most families across the country, watched Red Skelton’s variety show every Tuesday night. I didn’t know who Red Skelton was or why he had such an unusual first name, but my parents watched, therefore I watched it too. Red had …
I am not embarrassed to admit that one of my all-time favorite movies is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. The film was released in 1966 and starred comedian Don Knotts who had just left a five season run on The Andy Griffith Show. Knotts played nervous deputy “Barney Fife,” a role which earned him (incredulously) …
Carol Lynley started off her career as a child model, eventually transitioning to actress in such films as the controversial Blue Denim with Brandon deWilde and Otto Preminger’s Bunny Lake is Missing. She is best remembered for her role as ingenue “Nonnie Parry” in The Poseidon Adventure, wherein she sang (actually lip-synched another actress’s voice) …
This past weekend celebrated the 50th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock music festival that took place over three days on Max Yasgur‘s 600-acre dairy farm in upstate New York. Thirty-two acts performed at various — sometimes drastically-postponed — set times, filling the days and nights with an eclectic mix of folk, rock and blues. The …
“I’m a muscle fa-an!”
And now, Kelloggs proudly presents a show that has the whole town-cooking! A-speaking of meat, let’s tell them what happened down at the chicken coop, eh? A hungry fox boldly walked in through a hen house door. Too bad for him, he met a hen, who stood at ten foot four! He won’t forget the …
Malachi Throne was a busy guy in the 60s and 70s. The veteran actor had roles in nearly every popular TV series. He was featured in Westerns like The Big Valley and The Virginian. He was in science fiction shows like Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space. He …
In 1695, two years before he wrote Cendrillon (“Cinderella”), celebrated French author Charles Perrault wrote a tale called Peau d’Âne (“Donkey Skin”) that included elements of Cinderella. But Peau d’Âne was just a little strange. Once there was a wealthy king who got his riches from a donkey that he owned. The donkey was special, in that it …
