Godspeed Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer, the mathematician who saw lasting success as a musical satirist, died on July 26 2025 at the age of 97.

He was born on April 9 1928 in New York City. He grew up in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was only seven years old when he began taking piano lessons. Not only did he prove to be adapt at music from an early age, but mathematics as well. He studied mathematic at Harvard when he was only 15 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1946. He earned a master's degree in 1947. He began work on earning a doctorate, but he never did. Even while he was in school he was writing songs. /His song ""Fight Fiercely, Harvard" was written even as he was attending the university.

Tom :Lehrer began performing his songs at night clubs. In his book In Joy Still Felt, Issac Asimov described a Tom Lehrer performance in a Boston nightclub on October 9 1954. Mr. Asimov described a song performed by Tom Lehrer about venereal disease that is obviously "I Got It from Agnes." Given its subject matter, it would not be released for years. 

Tom Lehrer paid $15 ro record his first album, Songs by Tom Lehrer, at the TransRadio studio on Boylston Street in Boston on January 22 1953. Initially, only 400 copies were pressed. The controversial nature of some of the songs, such as  "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" and 'The Old Dope Peddler," kept Tom Lehrer off the radio, but it proved to be a hit on the Harvard campus. Through word of mouth, interest in the album began to spread to the rest of the country,.  Mad magazine printed two of Tom Lehrer's songs in 1957, "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be" in Mad no. 32 (April 1957) and "he Hunting Song'" in Mad no. 35 (October 1957). 

In 1959 he released his second studio album, More of Tom Lehrer, and his first live album, An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer. They would be followed in 1960 by a second live album, Revisited. In the Sixties Tom Lehrer composed songs for the American version of That Was the Week That Was. Mr. Lehrer did not appear on the show itself, its vocalist Nancy Ames instead performing the songs. Tom Lehrer would later preform songs from That Was the Week That Was at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. The performance was recorded and released as the 1965 album That Was the Week That Was. In 1966 Tom Lehrer composed musical satire for The Frost Report in the UK. Tom Lehrer also composed song for a Dodge industrial film that was shown to dealers in early 1967. 

In the early Seventies, Tom Lehrer composed songs for the educational children's show The Electric Company. During most of the Seventies, Tom Lehrer did not perform live or record new music and continued his career teaching mathematics. His song would often be played on deejay Doctor Demento's show, which started in 1977. It was in 1980 that theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh produced Tomfoolery, a music revue using the songs of Tom Lehrer. Mr. Lehrer served as a consultant on the revue. It was because of Tomfoolery that Tom Lehrer appeared on the British show Parkinson in 1980.

In 1993 he wrote the song "That's Mathematics" for a video of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. On June 7 and 8 1998 he performed as part of Hey, Mr. Producer, a tribute to producer Cameron Mackinstosh, at the Lyceum Theatre in London. In 2000 Rhino Entertainment released the box set The Remains of Tom Lehrer, which included his previous albums as well as unreleased material. 

It was in 2020 that Tom Lehrer placed every song he had written in the public remain. He made this official in November 2022. 

Tom Lehrer was a genius. He wrote songs that were witty, at times darkly satirical, and always hilarious. And while he is always described as a musical satirist, he covered a wide number of subjects in his songs. Many of his songs were parodies of established musical genres, such as "Fight Fiercely Harvard,"which sent up college fight songs.Some were educational, such as 'The Elements (a list of the elements set to Gilbert and Sullivans' "Major-General's Song").  Many of his songs were very darkly humorous, including the aforementioned "I Got It From Agnes" and "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park (inspired by the the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's use of strychnine to kill pigeons in Boston public areas in the 1950). Many also commented on society and politics. "The Vatican Rag" dealt with the Second Vatican Council. "Who's Next?" dealt with the escalation of nuclear weapons. Tom Lehrer  Not only were Tom Lehrer's songs witty and savage as far as satire goes, but they were also catchy and very listenable. What is more, Tom Lehrer took a darker, very nonconformist view of society at  a time, the Fifties, when conformity was counted as a virtue. He would have a lasting influence not only on musicians and satirists, but everyone from comedians to filmmakers.  

"Xanadu" by Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra

It was 45 years ago today that the movie Xanadu (1980) was released in the United States. By sad coincidence, it was three years ago that Olivia Newton-John died from cancer. As a lad I had a huge crush on Olivia Newton-John. I was also a big fan of the Electric Light Orchestra and Gene Kelly (I still am). Quite naturally, I then went to see Xanadu (1980) at the Saturday matinee following its release, which would make tomorrow (August 9 2025) the 45th anniversary of the first time I ever saw Xanadu (1980).

Xanadu (1980) would be a big of disappointment. It received poor reviews at the time and I was inclined to agree with the critics. Regardless, then as now I loved Olivia Newton-John, I loved ELO, and I loved Gene Kelly. It had a fantastic soundtrack that proved to be a hit on the album charts even as the movie bombed at the box office. To this day Xanadu (1980) remains my strongest memory of Olivia Newton-John from when I was a kid. She was a muse in the movie and she remains a muse to this day. In tribute to Miss Newton-John, Gene Kelly, and ELO, here is "Xanadu" from the movie of the same name.

Mi Vida Loca (1993)

From the late Eighties into the late Nineties, there was an increase in films centred on Chicanos and Chicano culture. The period saw the release of such films as La Bamba (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), American Me (1992), and Blood In Blood Out (1993). For most the most part these movies were dominated by male characters. A notable exception was Mi Vida Loca (1993), which may quite possibly be the first movie to ever centre on cholas (young women associated with Mexican American street gang culture). 

Not only is Mi Vida Loca (1993) unusual in focusing on young Chicanas, but in that it has an episodic structure with multiple narrators. Indeed, it is divide into three chapters: "Sad Girls Y-Que,' "Don't Let No One Get You Down," and "Sauvecito." The movie follows a group of cholas, their families, and friends in Echo Park in Los Angeles. The cholas refer to themselves and each other almost exclusively by their gang names. Among the central characters in Mi Vida Loca (1993) are Sad Girl (Angel Aviles) and Mousie (Seidy López). They were best friends since childhood, but find themselves in conflict after each has a child by the same person (Ernesto, played by Jacob Vargas). Another plot line involves Ernesto's highly customized truck, Sauvecito, which older cholo El Duran (Jesse Borrego) claims he was promised. A third plot line involves Sad Girl's sister, Alicia (nicknamed "La Blue Eyes," played by Magali Alvarado), who is not a chola, but a college girl. She begins a correspondence with a prison inmate after reading one of his poems in Teen Angels magazine. Here I have to point out that there are other plots as well in the film. In his review upon the release of the film, Roger Ebert described the storytelling as "anecdotal," and it is a very accurate description.

Mi Vida Loca (1993) was written and directed by Allison Anders, who had earlier written the film Gas Food Lodging (1992). Her inspiration for Mi Vida Loca (1993) emerged after she moved to Echo Park in Los Angeles in 1986. There she became acquainted with members of the chola gang the Echo Park Locas. In an interview with Bomb magazine, Ms. Anders said, " I set out to humanize, not colonize a subculture of working class people, and the voice-over became my tool for imagining the inner life of these feared and stigmatized kids." To ensure the film's authenticity, Allison Anders consulted with actual gang members. In an interview with Screen Slate, she said that they "... read and approved every single draft of the script." She further said, "They were involved and paid and credited in every single department in post and production."It was at the 1992 Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab that Allison Anders developed the screenplay for Mi Vida Loca.

Further adding to the authenticity of Mi Vida Loca is the fact that actual gang members were included in the cast of the film. For the most part they were cast in minor roles, although an exception was Nélida López. Nélida López more or less played herself in the film, using her actual gang name, "Whisper (which she was given because of her soft voice)." She even provided her own costume and id her own hair, although she did dye it blonde particularly for the film. One of the gang members who took part in making of the film, Nica Rogers, died of a drug overdose a few months after the film finished shooting. She left behind a son, whom Alison Anderson eventually adopted. The film was dedicated to Nica Rogers's memory. 

Beyond actual gang members, the cast of Mi Vida Loca (1993) was largely made of unknown actors who were just starting out. Some of them would go onto even greater fame. It was also in 1993 that Jesse Borego, who played El Duran, starred in Blood In Blood Out. Danny Trejo, who was also in Blood In Blood Out, appeared in a small role in Mi Vida Loca (1993). Jason Lee made a brief appearance in the film as a white, teenage drug customer. Mi Vida Loca marked the film debut of Salma Hayek, who appears briefly as one of El Duran's girlfriends. As to star Seidy López, she went onto appear in Mi Familia (1995), Selena (1997), the TV series American Family, and the TV series Selena: The Series. Bertila Damas, who played Giggles's (Marlo Marron) friend Rachel, was already well established in her career. She had played the villainous Marta in the telenovela Angélica, Mi Vida and appeared in the TV series The Golden Palace. She has since appeared in everything from two Star Trek series to Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Shooting on Mi Vida Loca (1993) began in late May of 1992. It was completed in early July 1992. It was shot on location in Echo Park, and the film serves as a document of the neighbourhood as it was in 1992.  According to Allison Anders in the aforementioned interview with Screen Slate, the art department rented set dressing from people in the neighbourhood and even rented homes from people in Echo Park. The wardrobe for the women in the film came from the Woolworth's on Sunset Boulevard that the real life cholas in Echo Park actually shopped.

Mi Vida Loca (1993) premiered at the Directors Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival on May 21 1993. It would be re-cut a good deal after being screened at Cannes. It would later be screened at Mercato Internazionale Del Film e del Documenatrio in October 1993 the Stockholm International Film Festival in November 1993, the Sundance Film Festival in January 1994, and the San Francisco International Film Festival in April. It was released in the United States on July 15 1994.

For the most part Mi Vida Loca (1993) received positive reviews from critics, even if they were not necessarily overly glowing. Emmanuel Levy gave the movie a good review, although he thought it lacked "... a discernible point of view." Roger Ebert gave Mi Vida Loca  (1993) three out of four stars, but wrote of the movie, "The storytelling is not very well organized; the movie is more anecdotal than involving." Owen McNally in The Hartford Courant enjoyed the film, beginning his review with "Three cheers for writer-director Allison Anders for her portrait of young Latino women, struggling to carve out lives and identities all their own in the though, colorful Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park in Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life). In sharp contrast was Todd McCarthy's overly negative review in Variety, in which he complained of the movie,"Unfortunately, the little vignettes Anders has developed of life in Echo Park never coalesce into a proper structure or even a vivid fresco of a community."

Mi Vida Loca (1993) made $3,267,313 worldwide. While that might not sound like much, it was a good amount given the film was made on a shoestring budget. Mi Vida Loca (1993) aired on HBO and Cinemax following its theatrical run. It was released on home video on February 21 1995. It was released on DVD on September 6 2005. Strangely enough, Mi Vida Loca (1993) is not available on streaming beyond copies that have been uploaded to YouTube. In some respects this is not unusual given Blood In Blood Out (1993) did not become available on streaming until last year. In other respects, it is unusual given Stand and Deliver (1988), American Me (1992), Mi Familia (1995), and other classic Chicano movies are available on streaming. Regina Luz Jordan, founder of Hollhywoodland News, has begun a campaign to return Mi Vida Loca (1993) to streaming services. She notes in her post on Hollywood News about the campaign, "It was one of the first films to center the stories of young Latina women in Los Angeles, portraying their struggles and triumphs in a way that was authentic and unapologetic."

Mi Vida Loca (1993) was certainly a historic and groundbreaking film. It was one of the first movies to focus on cholas. Prior movies dealing with Chicano gang culture, such as American Me (1992) and Blood In Blood Out (1993), had centered exclusively on males. And while earlier movies focused primarily on gang activity, Mi Vida Loca deals primarily with the everyday lives of its characters. And for the most part it avoided common Chicano stereotypes. The film ultimately resonated with many young women growing up in neighbourhoods like Echo Park in the 1990s. The cultural impact of Mi Vida Loca (1993) is still being felt over thirty years after its release. 

Godspeed Loni Anderson

Loni Anderson, best known for playing receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the classic sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, died yesterday, August 3 2025, at the age of 79 following a prolonged illness.

Loni Anderson was born on August 5 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota. She grew up in Roseville Minnesota. She graduated from Alexander Ramsey Senior High School there in 1963. She was studying art at the University of Minnesota when she was a runner-up in the Miss Minnesota pageant. 

In Minneapolis she appeared on stage as Billie in Born Yesterday, wearing a blonde wig to do so (Miss Anderson was naturally dark haired). It was the legendary Pat O'Brien, who appeared with her ain another play, who told her she should go to Hollywood. It was then in 1975 that she moved to Hollywood. She also dyed her hair platinum blonde. 

Loni Anderson made her television debut in an episode of S.W.A.T. in 1975. In 1975 she made her movie debut in Vigilante Force. It was in 1978 that she was cast as Jennifer Marlowe, the receptionist of the title radio station on WKRP in Cincinnati. Jennifer was a sharp contrast to most blondes on television at the time. She was easily the smartest person at the station and it could not possibly be run without her. In the Seventies, Loni Anderson also guest starred on the shows The Invisible Man, Harry O, Phyllis, Police Woman, Barnaby Jones, The McLean Stevenson Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Love Boat, The Incredible Hulk, Three's Company, and Fantasy Island. She starred on Jayne Mansfield in the TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story.

In the Eighties, she continued to appear on WKRP in Cincinnati. She starred on the shows Partners in Crime (with Lynda Carter) and Easy Street. She guest starred on Amazing Stories and B.L. Stryker. She appeared in several TV movies, including remakes of A Letter to Three Wives; Sorry, Wrong Number; and Three Coins in a Fountain (as Coins in a Fountain). She was the voice of Blondie Bumstead in two TV specials based on the comic strip, Blondie & Dagwood and Blondie & Dagwood: Second Wedding Workout. She appeared in the movies Stroker Ace (1983) and The Lonely Guy (1984), She was the voice of Flo in the animated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989).

In the Nineties, Loni Anderson starred on the final season of the sitcom Nurses. She reprised her role as Jennifer Marlowe on two episodes of The New WKRP in Cincinnati. She guest starred o the sitcoms Empty Nest, Burke's Law, Women of the House, Melrose Place, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clueless, Movie Stars, and V.I.P. She starred in a few TV movies, including White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. She appeared in the movies Munchie (1992), 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998), and A Night at the Roxbury (1998). 

In the Naughts, she starred on the short-lived sitcoms The Mullets and So Notorious. She guest starred on the show Three Sisters. In the Teens, she was a regular on the sitcom My Sister is So Gay. She guest starred on the show Baby Daddy. In 2023 she made her last appearance on screen in the TV movie Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas. 

Loni Anderson was an enormous talent. There can be no doubt that they she will always be best remembered as Jennifer on WKRP in Cincinnati. She was so good in the role and there can be no doubt that she, along with much of the rest of the cast, was responsible for much of its success. Of course, she also played other roles. Given her looks, it was perhaps no surprise she would be cast as blonde bombshells Jayne Mansfield and Thelma Todd, but she was also very convincing in the roles. She was also great as self-absorbed hospital administrator Casey McAfee. Loni Anderson's talent was obvious even early in her career, as shown in the Incredible Hulk episode "Of Guilt, Models and Murder." In addition to being a talented actress, Loni Anderson was also a kind, gracious woman. My dearest Vanessa Marquez got to work with her on the Nurses episode "The One After the Earthquake" and had fond memories of the experience. Loni Anderson was a remarkable woman who will always be remembered.