When Mike Nesmith answered an ad in Variety that read:

“Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, age 17–21. Want spirited Ben Frank’s-types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview.”

he thought this was his chance at rock and roll stardom. However, he saw something in the ad that wasn’t really there.

The call was for actors for a new TV series about a down-and-out rock group called “The Monkees.” Broadway and singing star Davy Jones had already been contracted. Screen Gems producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider just need three more guys to fill out the cast. Mike Nesmith fit the bill. Not for his musical ability or his songwriting prowess. Out of the 437 applicants, Rafelson and Schneider wanted him because they remembered the guy with the wool hat.

Mike was determined to use his role in The Monkees as a springboard to bigger and better…. much to the chagrin of Screen Gems Head of Music Don Kirshner. Kirshner was onboard with Rafelson’s and Schneider’s vision. Mike was not.

Nevertheless, the “band,” under the leadership of a disgruntled Mike Nesmith, was successful in ousting Kirshner from the production and taking over their own destiny.

But it seemed that Mike was still not satisfied. After the demise of the group, Mike Nesmith experimented in the budding video technology, as well as movie producing and other creative endeavors. He humbly backed out of the later reunions that The Monkees staged, however he did pop up for a performance here and a performance there.

After Davy passed away, Mike joined his remaining band mates for another tour, this one heavy on “Mike” compositions. More recently, he teamed with Micky Dolenz for one final tour in 2020… eventually postponed for a year by the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.

Mike passed away in December 2021 at the age of of 78, just weeks after the tour ended. I hope he finally found what he was looking for.

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In 2010, 58-year old Leroy Fick won two million dollars in the Michigan State Lottery. As chronicled on the reality television show Lottery Changed My Life, Leroy took his winnings on the “lump sum” option. He netted a little under one million dollars after taxes. Leroy’s first order of business was to demolish his house and rebuild a new structure on the same plot of land. Then he purchased a new Chevrolet Camaro, as well as other extravagant accoutrements — including swords, slot machines and a significant amount of fireworks.

Two years after his sudden monetary windfall, Leroy was broke, having squandered all of his winnings. He was receiving financial government assistance amounting to approximately $1100 per month. Leroy also faced legal troubles, including a 45-day jail stint in 2012 for a drug conviction. That was followed by another prison sentence the same year for felony possession of a firearm.

On June 5, 2021, after a police investigation, Leroy Fick’s body was found floating in the Tittabawassee River. He was 69 years old. No official cause of death was released.

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In 1955, Charlaine Karalus was working hard in the subscription department of Playboy magazine, the fledgling publication started by Hugh Hefner, a former copy editor for Esquire magazine. For the first year of its existence, Playboy used professional models in the magazine’s famous pictorials. But Hefner want to portray a different type of woman. He was looking for the proverbial “girl next door.” He didn’t have to look any further than his subscription department. After a little convincing, Charlaine agreed to pose for the July 1955 issue, with one stipulation. In exchange for topless photos, Charlaine would receive a brand new addressograph for the office. This machine would help with addressing the numerous correspondence sent out by the magazine, specifically from Charlaine’s department.

Provocative (for the time) photos appeared in Playboy, identifying Charlaine as “Janet Pilgrim,” a name chosen by Hefner as a joke on on sexual “puritanism.” Janet’s centerfold showed the pretty blonde 21-year-old alongside a decorated Christmas tree — wrapped strategically in a fur — with a shadowy tuxedoed figure in the background (rumored to be Hefner himself). The photo spread was so popular among readers that it prompted additional appearances by Janet in the magazine — a rarity. Janet became just one of just two women to make three centerfold appearances. Janet’s July 1955 was the first two page “centerfold” spread in the magazine’s history.

In the early 80s, Janet gave up on her modeling career and enrolled in nursing school. Now in her 40s, Janet went into the field of geriatrics. She loved her new profession and worked until her retirement. Janet moved to Connecticut to be near her extended family, including five grandchildren.

Janet passed away in 2017 at the age of 82… just a few months before Hugh Hefner.

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Eddie Mekka was more than “Carmine Ragusa,” the singing-dancing, on-again-off-again tough guy boyfriend of Shotz Beer bottle capper “Shirley Feeney” in the 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley.

Before landing the part of “The Big Ragu,” Eddie performed on Broadway in the rock opera The Lieutenant, a role that earned him a  Tony Award nomination. Post-Laverne & Shirley, Eddie stayed busy with guest roles in TV comedies and dramas, like 24, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Bold and The Beautiful and many others. He was cast by his former Laverne & Shirley co-star Penny Marshall in a small, but memorable, role as Madonna’s dance partner in A League of Their Own, where he matched the Material Girl step for step. A decade later, he popped up in the critically-acclaimed film Dreamgirls as a club manager.

Eddie toured in various musicals like Grease (where he teamed up with Cindy Williams) and Fiddler on the Roof in the starring role of “Tevye.” He also starred in a run of Hairspray at The Luxor in Las Vegas and in the off-Broadway comedy My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m In Therapy!

From his humble show biz beginnings as a voice instructor in the local opera company in his native Worcester, Massachusetts, Eddie Mekka achieved a career to be proud of. Sadly, he passed away at the young age of 69 on November, 27, 2021. By all accounts, he was a nice guy, too.

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