"The 'In' Crowd' by The Fourmost

It was sixty years ago today, on March 7, 1966,  that rhythm guitarist and vocalist Mike Millward of The Fourmost died from leukaemia at the age of 23. Mike Millward had been with The Fourmost since the band was called The Four Jays way back in 1961.

As to who The Fourmost were, they were a Merseybeat group from Liverpool whose peak years were from about 1963 to 1965. Their first single, "Hello Little Girl," had been written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and had even been recorded by The Beatles themselves for their audition with Decca. It went to no. 9 on the UK singles chart. They would only have a few more hits, the biggest of which was "A Little Loving" in 1964, which went to no. 6. While other British bands would do well in the United States, The Fourmost never really had an impact there. The best they did was their cover of The Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere," which bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 at no. 120 in 1966. I have to suspect that The Fourmost never quite recovered from Mike Millward's death, so that while they continued to record into the Seventies, they never did as well as they had from 1963 to 1965. 

In the Sixties, The Fourmost released only one album, First and Fourmost. On that album was a cover of Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd" on which Mike Millward sang lead. Here it is, in memory of Mike Millward, a talent who died far too young.

"Who's On First?" by Abbott & Costello

Today would have been Lou Costello's 120th birthday. He was born on March 6, 1906 in Paterson, New Jersey. Aside from Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello have always been my favourite comedy team. What is more, they have been one of my favourite comedy teams since childhood. I believe it was KPLR out of St. Louis showed an Abbott & Costello movie every Saturday afternoon, while the local stations in the Columbia/Jefferson City market would show them regularly. Regardless, by the time I had reached my teen years I had already seen most of their oeuvre.

To this day, Abbbott and Costello's most famous routine remains "Who's On First?." The origins of the sketch go back to earlier wordplay routines in the history of comedy. Bud Abbott always said its immediate predecessor was a crosstalk routine from minstrel shows called "Who's the Boss?." In the routine, Who was the boss. He had employees named  What and Ida Know, and sometimes Hee and Issy. In the 1880s, the comedy team of Joe Weber and Lew Fields had a crosstalk routine called "I Work on Watt Street." "Who's the Boss?" would give rise to other wordplay routines in the 1910s, including "The Baker Scene (dealing with a bakery)," 'Nuttin' for a Living (dealing with a nuts and bolts factory)," and "Dying to Live (dealing with a dry cleaner)." 

What is more, "Who's on First?" was apparently not the first baseball wordplay routine. Reportedly, a predecessor of "Who's on First?" called "Baseball's Who's Who" was popular on the Mutual burlesque circuit. But Abbot's wife Betty said of "Who's on First," "Bud had done the baseball bit a long time before he worked with Lou. That was public domain. He did it with some comic. I can't remember who." Bud Abbott's nephew, TV director Norman Abbott, claimed that Lou Costello had become fascinated with baseball and came up with the idea of transposing "Who's the Boss?" to baseball. At the time, Lou Costello was working with comedian Joe Lyons.

Audiences apparently weren't thrilled with the Lyons & Costello version of "Who's on First?." It was in 1935 that Lou Costello and Bud Abbott joined forces, and the two of them developed the routine into the one we currently know and love. It was in the fall of 1937 that Variety referred to it as the hit of a travelling stage revue called "Hollywood Bandwagon." It was first performed on radio on The Kate Smith Hour in 1938. It made its first appearance on film in what was also Abbott & Costello's film debut, One Night in the Tropics in 1940. 

Curiously, while most everyone calls the routine, "Who's on First?," Abbot and Costello simply referred to it as "Baseball." When they copyrighted it in 1944, it was as "Abbott and Costello Baseball Routine," Regardless, it has left behind a legacy. In 1956, a gold record of "Who's On First?" was placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. In the Seventies, Selchow and Righter (perhaps best known for the game Scrabble) put out a "Who's on First?" board game. In 1999, Time named it the greatest comedy routine of the 20th Century. In 2002, a recording of the routine from October 6, 1938, was included in the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. 

Abbott and Costello performed "Who's On First?" many times during their career. Here's one of their most famous performances of the routine, from their movie The Naughty Nineties (1945). 

Godspeed Animator Jane Baer

Animator Jame Baer, who worked on the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty (1959) and the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), died on February 16, 2026, at the age of 91.

Jane Baer was born Jane Shattuck on October 30, 1934, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended the Art Center in Pasadena. In 1955, she went to work at Disney on Sleeping Beauty (1959), on which she would be a cleanup artist. In the early Sixties, she worked at Ed Graham Animation. She moved to Europe for a time. Once back in the Untied States, she worked at Filmation Associates on such shows as Aquaman and Journey to the Centre of the Earth in the mid to late Sixties. She then wen to work at Pantomime Studios on such shows as Speed Racer, Hot Wheels, and Skyhawks in the mid to late Sixties. She also worked on the animated feature film Santa and the Three Bears (1970).

In the Seventies, among her feature film credits were Journey Back to Oz (1982), The Rescuers (1977), and Pet4e's Dragon (1977). She worked on animation for the comedy The Naked Ape (1973). In the early Eighties, she worked on the Saturday morning cartoons Laverne & Shirley in the Army and The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang. She was a character designer on Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp  (1982). It was in 1984 that she and her husband Dale Bear founded  Baer Animation, which would later include Baer Animation Camera Services. As part of Baer Animation, Jane Baer worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), including the sequences in Toontown and the character of Benny the Cab. She served as an assistant animator on The Black Cauldron (1986) and The Great Mouse Detective (1986). She provided animation for the film Fletch Lives (1989) and worked on the shorts "Tummy Trouble" (1989) and "The Prince and the Pauper." On television, she also worked on the TV series Smurfs. 

In the Nineties, she worked on the films Rover Dangerfield (1991) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). She provided animation for The Last Action Hero (1993) and The Beautician and the Beast (1997). She was a founding member of Women in Animation and also served on its advisory board. She also produced and co-wrote Annabelle's Wish (1997).

Jane Baer was  true pioneer in animation. At a time when there weren't that many female animators, she ran Baer Animation, at which she oversaw supervised anywhere from 50 to 100-plus artists and people, depending on the project they were working on at the time. She also worked on such truly legendary movies, from Sleeping Beauty to Beauty and the Beast. She leaves behind a legacy that only a few other animators can match. 

Maria O'Brien Passes On

Maria O'Brien, who was a regular on the TV show The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts an appeared in the movie Protocol (1984), died on February 24, 2026 at the age of 75. 

Maria O'Brien was born on August 14, 1950 in Los Angeles. Her parents were both legends. Her father was Oscar-winning actor Edmond O’Brien , while her mother was actress, dancer, and comedian Olga San Juan. Her first credit came while she was very young, a guest appearance on the TV show Sam Benedict.It was in 1980 that she began her stint as a regular on the short-lived TV show The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts. In the Seventies, she guest starred on the shows Ironiside, Police Woman, Tabitha, Viva Valdez, Chico and the Man, The Love Boat, How the West Was Won, Number 96, and Quincy. She made heer movie debut in Smile in 1975. She appeard in the movies The Choirboys (1977), American Raspberry (1977), and Psi-Factor (1980).

In the Eighties, Maria O'Brien guest starred on the shows CHiPs; Quincy, M.E.; Magnum, P.I.; Good Morning, Miss Bliss; L.A. Law; Matlock; 1st & Ten; and Jake and the Fatman. She appeared in the movies The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), Table for Five (1983), and Protocol (1984).

In the Nineites, Maria O'Brien guest-starred on the shows Murder, She Wrote; Nash Bridges; Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction; Suddenly Suan; and Jack & Jill. She appeared in the movie Good Luck (1996) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2000). In the Naughts, she guest starred on the TV shows Spyder Games and For the People. In the Teens, she appeard in th emovie Dead on Arrival (2017). She was a regular on the web series Ave 43.

Maria O'Brien was also an acting coach on Days of Our Lives. 

"Next Door to an Angel" by Neil Sedaka

I am feeling under the weather today, so rather than a full blog post I thought I would just leave you with a song. Here is my favourite song from Neil Sedaka, who recently died. It's "Next Door to an Angel." It was released in October 1962 and peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.