Esther Williams the MGM movie star and swimming champion died today at age 91. Esther Williams was born in Los Angeles in 1921. It was in a local pool Williams took a job counting towels to avoid the entry cost and there she was give swimming lessons by the male life guards who taught her the "male only" stokes like the butterfly. It was this stroke that she excelled in winning local and national competitions. Because of World War II she was not able to compete in the Olympic Games. During her senior year of high school Williams received a D in algebra which prevented her from enrolling in UCLA. She enrolled in LA City College and got a job as a stock girl and part time clothing model at I. Magnin department store. While working at I. Magnin she met Billy Rose who offered her a role in his "Aquacade". The Aquacade was part of the Golden Gate International Exposition. Her performance in the Aquacade got the attention of MGM talent scouts. At the time MGM was looking for someone to compete with Fox's ice skating star Sonja Henie. MGM signed Williams to a contract in 1941. There were two interesting clauses in her contract one she was give a pass to swim in the pool of the Beverly Hills Hotel everyday and the other that she was not allowed to appear on camera for 9 months while she was given acting, singing, dancing and diction lessons.
MGM released photos of her in her bathing suit which became an instant hit as a pin up shot. Williams' first movie for MGM was an Andy Hardy movie with Mickey Rooney called "Andy Hardy's Double Life". She was later paired with Van Johnson whom she made five films with. Williams became a huge star at MGM with film hits like "Million Dollar Mermaid".
After refusing to appear in a film titled "The Opposite of Sex" she was suspended at MGM and eventually her contract was voided and she lost millions of dollars. Williams then signed with Universal where she worked with Fernando Lamas. The two eventually married and she stopped making films moving onto television appearances. She also created The Esther Williams Aqua Spectacle and shows at Florida's Cypress Gardens. In the 1960's Williams retired from acting and became the spokesperson for a line of retro swimwear.
Williams was married to Fernando Lamas until his death in 1982. She lived in Beverly Hills and in 1994 she married actor Edward Bell. Esther Williams died in her sleep in her Beverly Hills home at the age of 91.
Don't mess with the Stockholm traffic cops they don't care who you are! Princess Madeleine of Sweden was tooling through town on the way home to the palace when she was pulled over. Her Highness was driving in a mass transit lane and was fined 1,000 Kronor. It is just 4 days before her upcoming royal wedding. Well the cops made one little mistake it seems Madeleine was driving a car owned by the royal mews and they can drive anywhere they want. Madeleine is now off the hook. It's good to be King right?
The DGA announced their list of the 101 best written television programs this week and there was one glaring omission from their list. The did not mention "Green Acres" at all. How they could mention a show like "Modern Family" a relatively bland and predictable sitcom and neglect "Green Acres" is a mystery to me.
"Green Acres" premiered on September 15, 1965 on CBS. The first episode was shot in a "mockumentary" style following the main characters of Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert)and his Hungarian wife Lisa from their home in a penthouse over looking mid-town Manhattan to Oliver's agrarian dream of owning a farm. It was during the second episode when the absurdist element of the show started to take form. They lived in a world where rules of nature, logic and common sense did not come into play. Every character lived in this surreal world except for Oliver who was the voice of reason but then he too lived in his own world, that of gentleman farmer. He was a farmer in the sense that he owned a farm yet he dressed in a suit and tie to plow his fields and feed his livestock. The fourth wall was often broken when characters would speak directly to the camera.
The characters that were created by Jay Sommers and Paul Henning were some of the most memorable in television history. Lisa Douglas (played by Eva Gabor) as the European socialite whose strongest desire is to go back to New York was a woman with a tentative grasp on the English language and minimal house keeping skills. Their hired hand Zeb who was under the impression he was the Douglas' son to the great disturbance of Oliver. There was Mr. Haney the huckster extradonaire who sold them their farm and was always just happening by with a new transparent scheme. One of the most popular and enduring characters was Arnold Ziffel the pig who was the child of the Douglas' nearest neighbors Fred and Doris Ziffel. Arnold watched television and at one point was a film star himself.
The town of Hooterville was not far from Pixley and shared many of its characters with Another Paul Henning TV show "Petty Coat Junction". These included Mr. Drucker and The Monroe Brothers who were actually a brother and sister.
"Green Acres" ran very successfully for 6 seasons until what was known as the rural purge at CBS when the network cancelled their rural themed programs. Because of the caliber of the writing and performances the show lived on in re-runs and one of its episodes is ranked in TV Guide's 100 top funniest sitcom episodes.
It must have just been a terrible mistake on the part of the DGA to have forgotten to mention "Green Acres". Perhaps they will revise their listing in the future and this sitcom satire its just rewards.
If you were a kid in the 1970's you know the face of Nora (Dodo) Denney. Dodo Denney was Mrs. Teevee the elementary school teacher mother of Mike Teevee in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". She played the sort of know it all mother of TV obsessed Mike who does not enjoy her trip to the Wonka factory.
Dodo Denney was a comic character actress and through out the 1960's and 70's she appeared on scores of television shows like "Green Acres", "Bewitched" and "Get Smart". Her career started out in Kansas City, MO where she was Marilyn the Witch a hostess of horror movies. She moved to Los Angeles in the 60's and started acting in sitcoms and then made for TV Movies. It was in 1971 when she got the role in Willy Wonka only after the producers first choice Jean Stapleton couldn't take the role as she was signed to "All in the Family".
Dodo was married to Alan Denney a successful art director and greeting card designer. She had two sons John and Dix Denney the founders of the seminal LA punk rock band The Weirdos.
After her husband died she retired to the Lake Arrowhead area and became an expert gardener. Nora Dodo Denney died in November of 2005 in her home. She was 78 at the time of her death.
Behind those dark sun glasses is the mind of a crazy man. That crazy man is designer Karl Lagerfeld. He has always been a bit creepy with his dark glasses and fans but he just keeps getting ickier and ickier. Lagerfeld is now in love with his cat and wants to marry her. Yes he loves his cat so much he want to marry her.
Choupette is Karl Lagerfeld's white Siamese cat. The cat has three maids that cater to her every feline need. One of the maid's jobs is to write notes detailing Choupette's every move. The pampered cat is also flown around the world in a private jet. Sadly for Mr. Lagerfeld there is not human/cat marriage available at this time. He may not be able to marry his beloved pussy. He has taken crazy cat lady to another level!
The actress Jean Stapleton died May 31, 2013 at the age of 90. Ms. Stapleton became a household name at the age of 50 playing the role of long suffering Edith Bunker on the seminal TV sitcom "All in the Family". The character of Edith became one of televisions favorite characters being the voice of reason to her husband Archie and his prejudices. Stapleton played the character of Edith for 9 years. Edith would also make appearances on the spin-off "Maude". The final year of "All in the Family" the series became know as "Archie Bunker's Place". The new series started with the death of Edith Bunker.
Jean Stapleton was born with the name Jeanne Murray in New York on January 19, 1923. Her career started off on the Broadway stage where she appeared in "Damned Yankees". She later moved to making movies and television. In 1968 she first worked with Carroll O'Connor in a pilot called "Those were the Days" that was not picked up. Three years later it had been re-worked and became "All in the Family" and this lead to stardom for Jean Stapleton who won 3 Emmy awards. Edith the "dingbat" made her a star.
Jean Stapleton was married for 30 years to William Putch who ran a summer stock theater in Pennsylvania where Stapleton would appear.
There are three small communities on three different continents that have one thing in common, their names are well less than exciting. Boring, Oregon is a small town 22 miles out of downtown Portland and was named after William H. Boring. Dull is a village in Scotland and got its name from the Gaelic word meaning meadow. Bland is in New South Wales in Australia and gets its name from an early resident William Bland who was anything but. He was in Australia because he was a convict.
The three towns are now getting together and become sister cities or as thy says in Scotland and Australia "twining". This they hope will bring some level of interest to their towns.
