The actor Frank Bank died last month in Los Angeles at the age of 71. Who the hell is Frank Bank you are probably asking yourself. Frank Bank played the character of Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on "Leave it to Beaver". Bank played the character of Lumpy who along with Eddie Haskell were Wally Cleaver's best friends. Lumpy's father was played by Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley). After "Leave it to Beaver" went off the air Bank tried to get more work but the Lumpy character kept getting in his way. He was supposed to play Archie in a live action version of the comic book but the sponsor said he was too "Lumpy".
What did Frank Bank do? He became a stock broker and a damned good one. He was The Beaver and June Cleaver's stock broker. He also lead a rather wild life for a time in the 70's claiming in his autobiography that he had slept with over a 1,000 women.
In the 1980's he took up playing the character of Lumpy again when "The New Leave it to Beaver" had its cable television run.
Reports on the internet stated that John Waters died yesterday. It was on the internet so it must be right but OH NO it turns out that it wasn't. John Waters is alive and filthy. This is the kind of press that he must love. If anyone would enjoy reports of his death it would be John Waters. The reports came out oddly the day before the anniversay of he greatest star Divine's death. So stop your mourning for John Waters!
The film director Mel Stuart died yesterday in his home in Los Angeles. Mr. Stuart was most known as the director of the classic film "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". He was also a documentary filmmaker. He won an Emmy award for his documentary "The Making of the President 1960". Other films on his resume included "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and the comedy "If it's Tuesday, this Must be Belgium".
Willie Wonka will forever be in my opinion his masterpiece. The film is now a cult classic and seen by children and adults everywhere. At the time of its release Willie Wonka was considered a flop as it didn't recoup its costs even though it received Oscar nomination for best original score. It took television to bring the film to cult status.
"Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" was based of the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. Mr. Dahl loathed the film version! He especially hated the belching scene. The film is truly a classic. The characters are completely believable. Everyone knows a Veruca Salt and a Mike Teevee or a Augustus Gloop or a Violet Beauregarde we all went to school with them. Charlie and Uncle Joe are uber heroes and completely lovable. Slugworth the scariest of villians and Willie Wonka is just the kind of guy who should own a chocolate factory!
Thank You Mel Stuart!
If you watched 60's TV like I have you will know "My Three Sons". The sitcom about an all american family the Douglas family was sort of a ground breaker. Steve Douglas played by Fred MacMurray was a widow raiseing his 3 sons with the help of irracible Uncle Charlie (William Demerast). Robbie the oldest was played by Don Grady, Chip the second son was played by Stanley Livinstone and Ernie was played by Barry Livingstone, Stanley's younger brother. Robbie the oldest was in a band and went to college where he met Katie and married her eventually having a set of triplets. If you know all that and other facts I have left out you have watched too much 60's TV.
Don Grady who played Robbie has died at age 68 in Thousand Oaks, California. Before he was on "My Three Sons" he was on "The Mickey Mouse Club". After the show went off the air he performed in a few other TV shows and then movied onto a career in music for film and television. Including the "Phil Donahue" theme song.His sister was Lani O'Grady the eldest daughter on "Eight is Enough" She died in 2001 from a drug over dose.
The last of his subspecies Lonesome George has died in his home on the Galapagos. His age is unknown but estimated to be in the vicinity of 100 years. George was found 40 years ago alone on the island of his birth by a group of hunters who were on his island to remove goats. The goats had been introduced to the island but devastated the enviornment leading to the demise of the giant tortoise. George was the last of his subspecies. He was rescued and moved to an enclosure in Equador's Galapagos National Park. As there are no more of George's subspecies it was hoped he would mate with a female of another subspecies from a neighboring island. Unfortunately this did not happen.
Another day and yet another extinction.
Today in Burbank, California a photographer named Otto Jensen was stuck and killed while crossing a street. The driver of the car that struck him was a 91 year old woman named Mary Beaumont. The victim was reprtedly jaywalking. Mr. Jensen was a well know photographer and had one time been a boxer known as the "Bone Crusher". He was killed while crossing the street in Burbank where he ran his photography studio. He opened the studio in 1952. Mr. Jensen was a well known celebrity photographer. A sad but ironic story.
Do you love to lie on your sofa channel surfing? Well if you are are you need to tip your hat today to Eugene Polley the inventor of the remote control. Mr Polley an engineer for Zenith died today at the age 96. It was his invention that made channel surfing and couch potato phrases that have meaning to our 21st century world. His big clunky device changed the world. Humans being basically lazy have always yearned to have tasks done for them and Mr Polley's invention eliminated one of these tasks; getting up to change the channel of the TV. When it was first released as the "flash tuner" by Zenith in the 1950's the device was a hit with the naturally lazy. The flash tuner turned the TV on and off, changed channels and lowered the volume so you didn't have to listen to commercials. What would life be like today if it weren't for Mr Polley. Imagine have to use a dial to go through the 100 channels we have today! When you turn your TV on today thank Eugene Polley!
