Ann Morgan Guilbert Passes On

Ann Morgan Guilbert, who played Millie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Yetta Rosenberg on The Nanny, died on June 14 2016 at the age of 87. The cause was cancer.

Ann Morgan Guilbert was born in Minneapolis on October 16 1928. She studied theatre arts at Stanford University. Her professional career began as a featured performer in the Off-Broadway music variety act called The Billy Barnes Revue in 1959. It was there that writer, producer, and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Carl Reiner, first saw her. When casting The Dick Van Dyke Show, he hired her for the role of Millie Helper, the Petries' neighbour and Laura Petrie's perky best friend. Miss Guilbert remained with the show for the entirety of its run.

In the Sixties she also guest starred on My Three Sons, Hennessey, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Good Morning World, The Andy Griffith Show, I Dream of Jeannie, Adam 12, Room 222, and Dragnet. She was a regular on the sitcom Hey, Landlord. She also appeared in the movies Two for the Seesaw (1962), The Man from the Diners' Club (1963), One Man's Way (1964), A Guide for the Married Man (1967), How Sweet It Is! (1968), and Viva Max (1969).

In the Seventies Ann Morgan Guilbert was a regular on The New Andy Griffith Show. She guest starred on The Partridge Family; Love, American Style; Emergency!, The Ghost Busters, On the Rocks, and Maude. In the Eighties she guest starred on Barney Miller, Cheers, Newhart, and Murder, She Wrote. She starred in the short lived sitcom The Fanelli Boys.

In the Nineties Ann Morgan Guilbert played Fran's doddering yet feisty grandmother Yetta Rosenberg on The Nanny. She remained with the show for its entire run. Before that she had a recurring role on Picket Fences. She guest starred on the shows Blossom, Home Improvement, Room for Two, Herman's Head, Empty Nest, and Seinfeld. She appeared in the films Grumpier Old Men (1995) and Sour Grapes (1998).

In the Naughts she guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm, State of Mind, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She appeared in the film Please Give (2010) and on Broadway in A Naked Girl on the Appian Way.

In the Teens Miss Guilbert guest starred on Happily Divorced, Modern Family, Grey's Anatomy, and Life in Pieces. She was a regular on the show Getting On.

Ann Morgan Guilbert was an incredibly talented performer with a particular knack for comedy. She had perfect timing and a gift for delivering lines in the funniest way possible. What is more she could play a wide variety of characters. Indeed, her two best known characters are very different. As Millie Helper she was bright, hyperactive, and just a little bit nosy. As Yetta Rosenberg she was absent minded, but at the same time a bit scrappy. What is more she played a wide variety of characters throughout her career. On The New Andy Griffith Show she played the neurotic, constantly complaining, and interfering Nora. In the I Dream of Jeannie episode "Jeannie for the Defence" she played the wife of a man seeking to defraud Tony Nelson after a minor fender bender. It was rare that she ever played the same sort of character twice. It should be little wonder that Ann Morgan Guilbert had such a long career. She was an immensely talented comic actress who could play nearly any role she wanted.

Ronnie Claire Edwards R.I.P.

Ronnie Claire Edwards, the actress perhaps best known for playing Corabeth Godsey on The Waltons, died June 14 2016 at the age 83. The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ronnie Claire Edwards was born in Oklahoma City on February 9 1933. She made her film debut in a small role in All the Way Home in 1963. In the Seventies she guest starred on such shows as The American Parade, Paper Moon, and Future Cop. She began her run on The Waltons in 1974 and remained with the show until it went off the air in 1980. In the Seventies she appeared in the films Five Days from Home (1978) and Getting Wasted (1980).

In the Eighties Ronnie Claire Edwards was a regular on the short lived shows Boone, Sara, and June in Time. She guest starred on the show Dallas, Falcon Crest, Dynasty, Murder She Wrote, Designing Women, and In the Heat of the Night. She also appeared in the various Waltons TV reunion movies. She appeared in the films Perfect (1985), Nobody's Fool (1985), and The Dead Pool (1988).

In the Nineties she guest starred on The Torkelsons and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She appeared in the TV movie Inherit the Wind, as well as more Waltons reunion movies. She appeared in the films 8 Seconds (1994) and Sordid Lives (2000). In the Naughts she appeared in the film A Day Out with Gordy (2002). She was a regular on the TV show 12 Miles of Bad Road, which HBO elected not to air.

Ronnie Claire Edwards will always be remembered as Corabeth on The Waltons and with good reason. She was extremely convincing as Ike Godsey's persnickety wife. It was not a particularly easy role for any actress to play, having to straddle the line between making the character slightly dislikeable and yet making the character sympathetic at the same time. Of course, Ronnie Claire Edwards was quite capable of playing different roles. On Star Trek: The Next Generation she played a much more likeable role, that of a teacher who tries to help the character Data regain his memory. In The Dead Pool she played a much less likeable role, that of an ill-fated movie critic. Ronnie Claire Edwards may be best remembered as Corabeth, but she played many more roles.

Why HootSuite's New Streams are a Failure

Ever since Twitter dramatically changed their interface in 2012 I have relied upon HootSuite as my Twitter client of choice. Even before then I used HootSuite to schedule tweets. HootSuite had several advantages over Twitter's interface. One could reply to a single person (the individual who originated the tweet) rather than everyone mentioned in a tweet. One could hide inline images. Retweets and mentions appear in separate streams. What is more HootSuite has always had great customer service. Every time I had a problem with HootSuite (which was rare) I could rely upon HootSuite's customer service to help me out. What is more, they are not only prompt, but kind and courteous as well.

Unfortunately just last week HootSuite made what may be the biggest misstep of their existence. They introduced New Streams. In theory New Streams were supposed to be an improvement over the old Streams. In fact a large number of HootSuite users (perhaps the majority of HootSuite users) have expressed outrage at the old Streams being replaced by the New Streams. On both Twitter and HootSuite's feedback page there have been a large number of complaints about the New Streams. Many of the complaints are about the appearance of the New Streams, while a large number are due to a loss of functionality when compared to the old Streams. In fact, there appear to be more complaints about the New Streams than almost anything else in HootSuite's feedback pages in the past two years--this in only a few days time.

The biggest complaint with the New Streams seems to be the size of the New Streams. The old streams were highly customisable, so that one could easily maximise the number of posts one sees. The New Streams only have "Compact", "Standard', and "Comfortable" views, all of which take up more space than the old Streams. Quite simply, even the "Compact" view is not exactly compact! Even with images turned off (as I always do) I can see at most about three to four tweets per stream. This is in stark contrast to the old Streams, where I could see many more.

Part of the problem with the size of the streams in the New Streams comes down to the replacement of the old Streams' drop down menus for "Like", "Assign to", and so on by overly large buttons. The buttons take up far too much space, resulting in users seeing fewer posts per stream. It seems pretty clear to me that many users dislike the buttons and much prefer the drop-down menus for the simple reason that they took up less space and thus maximised the number of posts one could see.

Yet another complaint also arises from the size of the New Streams. In HootSuite one can choose the number of columns of streams that are displayed. I only ever display one, but other users sometimes displayed several. From the many complaints, it would appear now that users are able to view fewer columns than on the old Streams. As an example, a complaint on Twitter from just today was from someone who has three columns set up and could see three columns in the old Streams, but can now only see two columns in the New Streams. As someone who only ever views one column at a time in HootSuite this isn't a problem for me, but many users obviously seem upset about it.

What might be the second biggest complaint is that the New Streams do not give the exact time of a post as the old Streams did. To wit, while the old Streams would give "2:51pm" on a post, the New Streams only give "2 hours ago". This can be problematic for those who frequently schedule posts and really need to know the exact time something will or has been posted. Now one can hover over the timestamp ("2 hours ago") and get the exact time (2:15pm), but it would seem much easier to have the exact time right there on the post to begin with.

Another loss in functionality regards the way in which replies are handled on the New Streams versus the old Streams. In the old Streams when one replied to a tweet, the reply was only to the person who initially made the tweet, not everyone mentioned in it. If someone wanted to reply to everyone mentioned in a tweet, he or she would click the drop-down menu and choose "Reply All". This was particularly useful if one wanted to thank someone for a "Follow Friday" tweet and it came in useful in other circumstances as well. Indeed, it was one of the many advantages the old Streams had over Twitter's interface. Unfortunately, in the New Streams there is no way to reply to only a single person; it is always set to "Reply All". This means that if one wants to reply to only the person who made a tweet and not everyone mentioned in it, he or she will have to highlight every other name and delete them. I would hardly call this an improvement.

Aside from the loss of functionality in the New Streams, there have also been complaints that the New Streams are buggy. I haven't experienced any bugs beyond my Streams changing height (which is simply fixed by clicking on "Compact" again), but I have seen enough complaints on the feedback page and on Twitter to know that the New Streams are not functioning smoothly for many. For some people the streams are being very slow to update and for others they have to refresh to get them to update at all. Yet others have other problems. I have seen complaints that individuals can't retweet anything, people not being able to add lists to their streams, and people not being able to see replies or mentions.

While I do think the New Streams are a big step down from the old Streams and I would be very happy if HootSuite ditched the New Streams and returned to the old Streams, I am not going to stop using HootSuite. To me it is still superior to Twitter's interface and better than most any other Twitter client out there. Unfortunately I am not everybody. I have seen many tweets and even posts on the feedback page from people saying that they are giving up HootSuite in favour of Tweetdeck or even Twitter's interface. Clearly, at least to me, when long-time customers start talking about leaving a product for another product, a very big mistake has been made. I think HootSuite made a huge miscalculation with regards to how the New Streams would be received.

Indeed, on Twitter I have only seen one or two tweets in favour of the New Streams compared to countless numbers of those complaining about them. The feedback page is filled with complaints about the New Streams. A common refrain is that people want the old Streams back. What is more, people are being very specific in their complaints, so it is not simply a case of people disliking change. HootSuite insists that the old Streams will not return in order "to support a smoother transition to upcoming features and improvements." That having been said, I think I can speak for most Hootsuite users when I say that the only features and improvements we want are those that were lost when the change was made from the old Streams (a compact appearance, exact times on posts, the ability to reply to only one person, and so on).

Given the outrage over the New Streams, I think HootSuite really has only two choices. The first (and the one users seem to favour) is to get rid of the New Streams entirely and restore the old Streams. They would probably have to forget any "features and improvements" they have in mind, but at this point I think it would be worth it to keep their users happy. The second is a dramatic makeover to make the New Streams look and behave like the old streams. Replace the buttons with drop-down menus to save space and make posts more compact. Make the size of columns adjustable again. Restore the exact time to posts. Give individuals the ability to reply to only one person in tweets. The downside with this is that it would probably be so much work that it would perhaps be easier to restore the old Streams.

Regardless, it would seem HootSuite has made a serious misstep with the New Streams, to the point that many (if not most) of their users are very angry. It seems clear to me that they are going to have to take action immediately, whether that is bringing back the old Streams or making drastic changes to the New Streams. Either way, if they either do nothing or wait too long to make changes, I worry that HootSuite will lose a very large number of users to other Twitter clients. As someone who has used HootSuite for years and intends to continue using it despite my extreme dislike for the New Streams, I would really hate to see that happen.

The Late Great Willis Pyle

Animator Willis Pyle died on June 2 at the age of 101. He had worked on Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), and Bambi (1942) at Disney and later worked at UPA on such shorts as "Ragtime Bear" (the debut of Mr. Magoo) and "Gerald McBoing Boing".

Willis Pyle was born on September 3 1914 in Portis, Kansas. His brother was actor Denver Pyle. He was studying art at the University of Colorado and working as an advertising illustrator for a clothing store when he noticed a poster for Walt Disney Studios about hiring animators. It was then in November 1937 that he moved to Los Angeles and began working for Walt Disney.  He began work there as an office boy, but soon he was an assistant animator on Pinnochio.

Willis Pyle went on to serve as an assistant animator on Fantasia and Bambi. Afterwards he left Walt Disney to work for Walter Lantz. During World War II he served U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City. After the war he worked as an artist for Vogue and went to work at UPA. He would work on some of UPA's most famous theatrical shorts, including "Ragtime Bear" and "Gerald McBoing Boing". He also worked on the very last Fox and Crow cartoon, "Punchy De Leon".

After the era of theatrical cartoons had ended, Mr. Pyle worked on the feature films Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) and The Mouse and His Child (1977). He worked on several television specials, including Really Rosie, Noah's Animals, Halloween Is Grinch Night, A Special Valentine with the Family Circus, and This Is America, Charlie Brown. After his animation career ended he took up painting. Many of his works were displayed at Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery in Manhattan, New York City.

Along with Don Lusk, Willis Pyle was one of the oldest surviving animators from the Golden Age of Animation. He was also one of the most versatile. Indeed, he worked on Disney's animated features (which strove for a degree of realism), Walter Lantz's theatrical shorts (which used more traditional, American "funny animal" animation), and UPA's shorts (which eschewed realism for limited animation). It was this adaptability, as well as his sheer talent as an artist, that allowed him to have such a long career. Indeed, it is not many animators who can boast that they animated Pinocchio, Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing, and the Grinch.

Beth Howland R.I.P.

Beth Howland, perhaps best known for playing Vera on the sitcom Alice, died on December 31 2015 at the age of 74. The cause was lung cancer. Her death was not made public until May per her request.

Beth Howland was born on May 28 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts. She made her debut on Broadway in 1959 in the play Once Upon a Mattress. That same year she made her film debut in an uncredited role as Clem's wife in Li'l Abner. In 1960 she appeared in Bye Bye Birdie. During the Sixties she appeared on Broadway in High Spirits, Drat! The Cat!, and Darling of the Day.

In the Seventies Miss Howland appeared on Broadway in Company. In the Seventies she made her television debut in an episode of Love, American Style. She guest starred on Cannon, The Rookies, Bronk, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Little House on the Prairie before being cast as Vera on Alice. Vera was neurotic and a bit scattered brained, as well as clumsy. The show proved very popular, and Beth Howland played Vera for the whole of its nine year run. While still appearing on Alice, she guest starred on The Love Boat. She also appeared in the film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

In the Eighties Beth Howland guest starred on American Playhouse, The Love Boat, Comedy Factory, and You Can't Take It With You. In the Nineties she appeared on Murder, She Wrote; Sabrina the Teenage Witch; and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She was a guest voice on Batman Beyond. She appeared on Broadway in a revival of Company. In the Naughts she guest starred on The Tick and As Told By Ginger.

The Late Great Janet Waldo

Legendary voice artist Janet Waldo died June 12 2016 at the age of 96. She was the star of popular radio show Meet Corliss Archer and provided the voices of such cartoon characters as Judy Jetson on The Jetsons, Penelope Pitstop on Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, and Josie McCoy on Josie and the Pussycats.  The cause was an inoperable brain tumour.

Janet Waldo was born in Yakima, Washington on February 4 1920. She attended the University of Washington. Bing Crosby discovered her after she had won a talent contest. She was signed to Paramount Studios. She made her film debut in an uncredited, bit part in Coconut Grove in 1938. She appeared in bit parts in several movies in the late Thirties, including such films as The Arkansas Traveller (1938), Paris Honeymoon (1939), I'm from Missouri (1939), Unmarried (1939), The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), and The Farmer's Daughter (1940). She had more substantial roles in the films Tom Sawyer Detective (1938), Zaza (1938), Persons in Hiding (1939), and Waterloo Bridge.

It was with the B Western One Man's Law (1940) that she received her first leading role. She played opposite Don "Red" Barry. She played opposite cowboy star Tim Holt twice, appearing in The Bandit Trail (1941) and Land of the Open Range (1942). She appeared in a smaller role in the film So Ends Our Night (1941). Land of the Open Range would be the last film Janet Waldo would make in the Forties. While she had played bit parts in several films and the lead female role in in three B Westerns, she found stardom in the medium of radio.

Miss Waldo made her radio debut in an episode of Big Town in 1941, but her big break would come with Lux Radio Theatre. From 1941 to 1943 she appeared on several episodes of the show. From 1941 to 1945 she was a regular on the popular soap opera One Man's Family as Irene Franklin. She was also a series regular on The Gallant Heart and played the tile role on Lady Of The Press – Sandra Martin. From 1944 to 1954 she played teenager Emmy Lou on the popular sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. She was also a series regular on the shows The Eddie Bracken Show and People are Funny. It was in 1945 that Janet Waldo assumed her most famous role in radio, taking over the title role on Meet Corliss Archer from Priscilla Lyon. In her eight year run on the show Miss Waldo would become the actress most identified with the character, despite the fact that Shirley Temple played Corliss Archer in two films (Kiss and Tell in 1945 and A Kiss for Corliss in 1948).  From 1949 to 1950 she played the lead female role on the sitcom Young Love. In her long and prolific career on radio, Janet Waldo also appeared on such shows as Dr. Christian, Mayor of the Town, Cavalcade of America, The Dinah Shore Program, The Great Gildersleeve, The Mel Torme Show, Philco Radio Time, Four Star Theatre, and many others.

In the Fifties Janet Waldo continued to work on radio, appearing on such shows as The Halls of Ivy, My Favourite Husband, and Stars Over Hollywood in addition to her ongoing role on Meet Corliss Archer. She made her television debut in 1953 in the I Love Lucy episode "The Young Fans", playing a teenage fan of Ricky Ricardo. Just as she had on radio, Miss Waldo played the recurring role of Emmy Lou on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. She guest starred on The Phil Silvers Show. 

It was in the Sixties that Janet Waldo began providing voices for animated TV shows. In fact, the very first animated character she voiced would be among those for which she was best known. Miss Waldo voiced Judy Jetson, the teenage daughter of George and Jane Jetson, on the primetime animated series The Jetsons. During the Sixties she went onto voice Granny Sweet in the "Precious Pup" cartoons on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Nancy on  Shazzan, Lana Lang on the "Superboy" segments of The New Adventures of Superman, Jenny on The Space Kidettes, Penelope Pitstop on Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, and Josie McCoy on Josie and the Pussycats. She also provided various voices for such shows as The Flintstones, A Laurel and Hardy Cartoon, and The Fantastic Four. She was a regular on the sitcom Valentine's Day. She guest starred on the shows Saints and Sinners, The Lucy Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The F.B.I., Petticoat Junction, and Julia. She provided the voice of Princess Serena in the television special Jack & the Beanstalk. She also provided the voice of Emmy-Lou in Loopy De Loop theatrical cartoons.

In the Seventies Janet Waldo provided the voice of Morticia in Hanna-Barbera's animated version of The Addams Family, the voice of Belinda in the animated series Around the World in 80 Days, the voice of Mrs. Anders in the Saturday morning cartoon Jeannie, and the voices of  Princess and Susan in Battle of the Planets. She also provided various voices for such TV cartoons as The Roman Holidays, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Inch High Private Eye, Hong Kong Phooey, The Scooby Do/Dynomutt Hour, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. She also Hollow Log Chief and Traag Child  in the English version of the animated feature Fantastic Planet (1973--original title La planète sauvage).

In the Eighties Janet Waldo reprised the voice of Judy Jetson for a new series of The Jetsons. She was the voice of Hogatha on The Smurfs. She provided additional voices for such animated series as The Dukes and Alvin & the Chipmunks. She reprised her role as Penelope Pitstop in two episodes of Yogi's Treasure Hunt. She did voice work for the TV animated films Daniel Boone, Heidi's Song, Beauty and the Beast, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, and The Canterville Ghost. She provided the voice of the West Wind in the English language version of Unico in the Island of Magic (1983). She reprised the voice of Judy in Jetsons: The Movie (1990), only to have her voice replaced by pop star Tiffany at the insistence of studio executives who though Tiffany would attract a younger audience. Casting director  voice director Andrea Romano objected to the change, while voice director Gordon Hunt reportedly insisted that Tiffany sound more like Janet Waldo.

In the Nineties Janet Waldo provided voices for the TV films I Yabba-Dabba Do! and Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby. She provided the voice of Edgar's mom in the feature film Once Upon a Forest (1993). She guest starred on the prime time animated series King of the Hill. Her last work was on the video game Wacky Races, where she reprised the voice of Penelope Pitstop.

Janet Waldo numbers among the greatest voice artists of all time. Two of her best known characters were teenagers (Corliss Archer and Judy Jetson), but she was certainly capable of other voices as well. Penelope Pitstop sounded like a twentyish Southern belle. Hogatha on The Smurfs was an elderly witch with a voice to match. Granny Sweet in the "Precious Pup" cartoons sounded like a nice, old lady. 

Janet Waldo was blessed with a mellifluous speaking voice (in real life she sounded a lot like Corliss Archer or Judy Jetson), but it was also a voice that was extremely versatile. Of course, much of Janet Waldo's success as a voice artist was due to the fact that she was a very good actress to begin with.  Indeed, on I Love Lucy she was convincing as a teenage girl, even though at the time she was around 32 years old. She was convincing in the B-Westerns she made. Janet Waldo was exceedingly talented, and truly one of the last great voice actors from Old Time Radio and  television's early days.

Announcing the Margaret Lockwood Centennial Blogathon

Legendary British actress Margaret Lockwood was born on September 15 1916. This September will then mark the 100th anniversary of her birth. It is for that reason that I have decided to hold the Margaret Lockwood Centennial Blogathon.

1. Posts can be on any topic related to Margaret Lockwood. One can write about one of her films, her career on stage, her television shows, or anything else related to Miss Lockwood one might wish to write about.

2. While Margaret Lockwood made several films, the sad fact is that many of them are not widely available, not even in the United Kingdom. I am then allowing duplicates. That having been said, I do not want to see every other post addressing The Lady Vanishes (1938) or The Wicked Lady (1945). While I love both films (in fact, they are my favourite films she ever made) and they are her most famous, she did make more films than those two!

3. I am not going to schedule days. I only ask that posts made on September 13, 14, or 15.

If you want to participate in the Margaret Lockwood Centennial Blogathon,  you can simply comment below or get a hold of me on Twitter at mercurie80, Google+, or at my email:  mercurie80 at gmail.com.

The Stop Button: Give Us the Moon (1944)

Caftan Woman: The Stars Look Down (1940)

The Wonderful World of Cinema: "Tribute to Margaret Lockwood"

Once Upon a Screen: The Lady Vanishes  (1938)

Crítica Retrô: Give Us the Moon (1944)

Wolffian Classic Movies Digest: The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945)

Realweegiemidget Reviews Movies, TV, Books, and More: The Slipper and the Rose (1976)

Cinema Cities: The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Night Train to Munich (1940)

The Owl Wagon: Love Story (1944)

Charters and Caldicott--"I Say Old Man!": Margaret Lockwood

Old Hollywood Films: Bedelia (1946)

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood: Bedelia (1946)

Below is a roster of participants and the topics they are covering. Come September 13 I will make a post that will include all of the posts in the blogathon.

Below are a few banners for participants in the blogathon to use (or you can always make your own):