Murray Roman… the man who would be Lenny Bruce.

Murray was a clean-cut observational comedian much in the same vein as George Carlin. And like Carlin, Murray’s act changed when he began dabbling in and experimenting with LSD and marijuana. He managed a few small roles in episodic television, including brief appearances on The Monkees, Batman, That Girl and Rat Patrol. In 1968, he released a comedy album entitled You Can’t Beat People Up and Have Them Say I Love You on Tetragrammaton Records. Tetragrammaton Records was a subsidiary of a production company of which Bill Cosby was a principal partner. The album was a strange amalgam of comedy routines in the style of Lenny Bruce, interspersed with psychedelic music. Murray was able to land a stint on the Pat Boone Show, as Boone also recorded for Tetragrammaton. A fixture on the LA comedy scene, Murray was signed to open shows for The Doors. His comedy album was released through Polydor Records in England. The Who’s Keith Moon became a big fan and supporter of Murray’s.

In 1969, Murray secured a spot on the writing staff of the popular Smothers Brothers Show, alongside such notable writers as Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb and Bob Einstein. According to his fellow writers, Murray wasn’t much of an actual “writer” per se. He was more of a “talker,” explaining his concepts and having the other writers jot them down. Einstein remembered that Murray idolized Lenny Bruce and lived his life like the controversial comedian.

In late 1969, Murray was featured in 2000 Years Later. The film featured Terry Thomas, Pat Harrington Jr, Edward Everett Horton, Casey Kasem and The Reverend Monti Rock III. It was a typical, nonsensical 60s film that joined the cult status of Otto Preminger’s head-scratcher Skidoo.

Murray’s life was cut short by a car crash that left him in a coma for months. He had been working on a spoof of the Marlon Brando film Last Tango in Paris called Last Foxtrot in Burbank. His costar was Sally Marr, mother of his idol Lenny Bruce. Murray passed away in November 1973 at the age of 43, having never regained consciousness.

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At nineteen, aspiring model Mary Hartline was cast in a fifteen-minute radio series called Teen Town. Shortly after its start, the title was changed to Junior Junction. It featured the vivacious blond as the leader of a town inhabited my teenagers — eight boys and eight girls — along with the town’s mayor, played by future Bewitched star Dick York. During the show’s run, she married producer Harold Stokes, who was twenty years her senior.

In 1949, Mary was cast in the ABC television series Super Circus. Amid a cast of clowns and jugglers, Mary was groomed into a sex symbol to appeal to young boys. Super Circus moved production to New York from Chicago, and Mary was replaced… but not before she parlayed her popularity into a lucrative marketing deal. She lent her name and likeness to dozens of products including dolls, clothes and boots, making her one of the first TV stars to capitalize on their popularity and public appeal.

Mary was married four times, including 8 years to John Paul “Woolworth Donahue, heir to the Woolworth retail fortune and cousin of troubled philanthropist Barbara Hutton. Mary lived in Palm Beach, Florida after Donahue’s deatIh, where she was part of the “old money” society.

She lived out her last days in her hometown of Hillsboro, Illinois. Mary passed away in August 2020 at the age of 92.

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Let me be there in your morning
Let me be there in your night
Let me change whatever’s wrong and make it right
Let me take you through that wonderland
That only two can share
All I ask you is let me be there

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In early 1920, teenage Mary Philbin won a beauty contest in her native Chicago. The contest, sponsored by Universal Pictures, put Mary on the road to stardom. She was signed to a contract by famed producer-director Erich Von Stroheim, touting the young actress as “A Universal Super Jewel.”

Mary made her film debut in a supporting role in the 1921 melodrama The Blazing Trail. She made eight films that year. She worked constantly through the 20s, making several pictures per year. In 1925, she was cast opposite Lon Chaney in the classic horror film The Phantom of the Opera. She was the critics’ darling, often being compared to some of the great dramatic actresses of the stage. Later she was featured in The Man Who Laughs to great acclaim. However, in 1929, Mary called it a career, leaving the spotlight to care for her elderly parents. She did, however, dub her lines for a talkie re-release of The Phantom of the Opera.

Mary remained a recluse for the rest of her life. She rarely made public appearances, preferring to stay locked up in her Huntington Beach home. She never married, despite early relationships with Paul Kohner and cowboy star “Big Boy” Williams. Mary’s relationship with Kohner was broken up by her parents who were strict Catholics. They were appalled that their daughter had taken up with a Jewish man. (Kohner later married actress Lupita Tovar and was the father of actress Susan Kohner.)

In 1989, Mary attended the premier of the Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera. It was her final public appearance. She passed away four years later from pneumonia at the age of 90.

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Hopeful drama student Bridget Hanley worked as an office secretary while finding time to audition for acting roles. She landed a part in a Southern California touring company of Under The Yum Yum Tree. After four years, she was signed to a contract by Screen Gems Productions who billed the budding actress as “a young Maureen O’Hara.”

Bridget was featured in a slew of guest roles in Screen Gems properties, including including Gidget, The Farmer’s Daughter, Love on a Rooftop, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Flying Nun. She became a favorite of prolific producer/director E. W. Swackhamer, who cast her as the female lead in his new series Here Come the Brides. During the run of the series, Bridget married Swackhamer.

After Here Come the Brides ended, Bridget continued to appear in sitcoms, Westerns and dramas. In 1980, she was cast opposite Barbara Eden in the sitcom Harper Valley PTA, when she played a member of a stuck-up family who constantly battled Eden’s character. As lesser-known Sherwood Schwartz creation, Harper Valley PTA lasted thirty episodes. She remained active in local theater and still performed in the occasional television production. She later did some teaching and lecturing on the college level.

Bridget was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and passed away on December 15, 2021 at the age of 80.

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