She was Hollywood’s first cowgirl. Mary Louise “Texas” Guinan burst out of Waco, Texas and kept her home state’s name as a moniker when she appeared in a slew of silent films in the early part of the twentieth century. She earned herself the nickname “Queen of the West.” but soon, the always opportunistic “Texas” set her sights on something else. Something bigger.

“Texas” opened the 300 Club in Manhattan around the time that Prohibition came into law. Even after numerous arrests, she claimed she never served an alcoholic drink in her life. But those members of high society knew where to turn when they craved forbidden liquor and provocative entertainment. And “Texas” always came through. She greeted each guest to her establishment with a hearty “Hello, Sucker!” Her club presented a floor show with forty beautiful fan dancers. Each performance ended with “Texas” demanding that the audience “give the little ladies great big hand,” a phrase she coined that went on to become a show business staple. Among her clientele were such well-known members of society as Irving Berlin, John Barrymore and George Gershwin. Future stars George Raft and Ruby Keeler were company dancers at 300. “Texas” rubbed elbows with and was loved by her customers and the club became a huge money-maker. She took in $700,000 in ten months, despite being raided regularly by police.

“Texas” took another stab at performing and ventured to Europe. Her shady reputation preceded her and she was denied entry at every major European port. She laughed the incident off and created a new show called Too Hot for Paris when she returned to the United States. During a tour stop in Vancouver, “Texas” contracted amoebic dysentery and passed away at the age of 49. Her death was one month to the day before the repeal of Prohibition.

Whoopi Goldberg’s character in Star Trek: The Next Generation was named as an homage to “Texas.”

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Meredith MacRae was born with show business in her blood. She was the eldest daughter of actor-singer Gordon MacRae, the star of movie musicals Oklahoma and Carousel and his wife, actress Sheila MacRae, best remembered as succeeding Audrey Meadows in the role of “Alice Kramden” in The Honeymooners, as performed in sketches on  Jackie Gleason’s variety show. Despite her parents popularity and subsequent wealth, they kept Meredith and her siblings grounded. They shunned the pretentious life of Beverly Hills, opting instead for a home in the modest San Fernando Valley. The children were expected to perform household chores and work for the things they wanted. It made for a very caring (and realistic) foundation.

In the early 60s, Meredith played “Sally Morrison,” fiancée of oldest son Mike (played by Disney protégé Tim Considine) on the popular family sitcom My Three Sons. She kept the role for three seasons until Considine’s character was written out of the show as the result of a production disagreement. During her time on My Three Sons, Meredith released the pop ballad, “Image of a Boy.” It did not chart. She also appeared in two installments of the Frankie and Annette “beach movie” series, playing Annette’s pal “Animal.”

After My Three Sons, Meredith became the third actress to take the role of blond daughter Billie Jo on the TV comedy Petticoat Junction. She played a slightly different version of the character than her predecessors, portraying Billie Jo with strong independence and aspirations of a singing career. Meredith stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1970.

Throughout the 60s and 70s, Meredith was a frequent guest star on episodic television, like Fantasy Island and Love American Style. She was also a staple on a number of game shows, often appearing with her second husband, actor Greg Mullavey on Tattletales.

In the 80s, she embarked on a new career as anchor of a local Los Angeles talk show, for which she was awarded an Emmy. That show was the springboard for hosting duties on a PBS program called Born Famous, in which she interviewed children of celebrities (like herself).

As the 90s began, Meredith experienced crippling headaches and bouts of vertigo. After several misdiagnoses over a period of years, it was determined that Meredith had a Stage 4 brain tumor. She was subjected to surgeries, chemotherapy and even an experimental drug, but finally lost her battle in 2000 at the age of 56.

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Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was born in Santiago, Cuba to the city’s youngest mayor. After the 1933 Cuban Revolution led by Fulgencio Batista, Desi’s grandfather, a wealthy executive with the Bacardi Rum Company, was jailed and his assets confiscated. He was released six months later and the Arnaz family fled to Miami.

In the United States, Desi tried his hand at show business, playing guitar in Xavier Cugat’s band and landing a part in the Broadway production of Too Many Girls. He went to Hollywood to make the film version of the stage musical and he met its star, Lucille Ball. In 1940, he married Lucille.

In 1951, Desi co-starred as a fictional version of himself opposite his wife in the ground-breaking sitcom I Love Lucy. The couple founded Desilu Productions, overseeing such TV shows as The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Star Trek.

After the pair divorced, Desi formed his own production company. He made guest appearances on television including one week as a co-host on the popular daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show. He served as host of a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live, where he spoofed I Love Lucy in one sketch and sang his signature song “Babalu.”

Desi retired from show business in 1982. He owned a horse farm in southern California and raced thoroughbreds. He taught a few acting classes at San Diego State University. In 1986, the 69-year-old Desi was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away before the year was out.

How he kept himself from killing Lucille Ball, I’ll never understand.

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Born to a Secret Service officer who had protected President Woodrow Wilson, Whitney Blake attended sixteen different schools as she traveled the country with her family. An appearance in an amateur stage production led to a role in the 1957 film My Gun is Quick, a big-screen version on Mickey Spillane’s gritty Mike Hammer mystery. The same year, Whitney was featured in the first episode of the long-running courtroom drama Perry Mason.

After guest spots in television and motion pictures, Whitney landed the role for which she is best remembered. She was cast as Dorothy Baxter, wife of  irascible attorney George Baxter (played by Don DeFore) in the NBC-TV sitcom Hazel, starring Oscar winner Shirley Booth in the title role. Whitney stayed with the show for four seasons, until a budget cut relieved her and DeFore of their duties before a move to rival network CBS.

Whitney continued to take guest roles on episodic television and even tried her hand at hosting a local talk show in Los Angeles. Then Whitney turned her efforts to producing and directing. In 1975, she (and Alan Manning, her third husband) created the sitcom One Day at a Time, which ran for nine seasons on CBS and made actress Valerie Bertinelli a star.

Several years earlier, Whitney’s daughter, actress Meredith Baxter debuted on her own sitcom, Bridget Loves Bernie.

On Whitney’s 76th birthday in 2002, she gathered her family for a celebration and revealed a diagnosis of esophageal cancer. She assured her family that she was a fighter and was determined to overcome the disease. She passed away seven months later.

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