Gladys Horton of The Marvelettes R.I.P.

Gladys Horton of The Marvelettes, the girl group who set the stage for the Motown girl groups to come, passed on January 26, 2011 at the age of 66. The cause was complications from a stroke.

Gladys Horton was born in Detroit in 1944. She took an interest in singing while still fairly young. She was only fifteen when she formed the Casinyets with Georgeanna Tillman, Katherine Anderson and Juanita Cowart. and Georgia Dobbins. A performance at a 1961 talent show led to one of their teachers arranging an audition for Barry Gordy at Motown. The label signed The Marvelettes, making them Motown's first girl group. It was in the summer of 1961 that Motown released their first single, "Please, Mr. Postman," which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group would have another hit with "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789" in `1962.

From 1963 to 1964, none of The Marvelettes' singles reached the top forty, but they would make a comeback in late 1964 with "Too Many Fish in the Sea," which went to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in 1965 with "Don't Mess with Bill," which went to #7. They would have three more hit singles, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," "When You're Young and in Love," and "My Baby Must Be a Magician." Gladys Horton would leave The Marvelettes in 1967, in part to care for her disabled son. Miss Horton would later reunite with The Marvelettes in the Eighties, performing as Gladys Horton and The Marvelettes.

The Marvelettes would have an huge impact on the history of pop music. As Motown's first girl group, they paved the way for such groups as Martha and the Vandellas and The Supremes, as well as girl groups on other labels, such as The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las. Much of the reason for the group's success was Gladys Horton's powerful voice. She sang lead on their major hits, including their first one, "Please, Mr. Postman." It is significant that the group's fortunes declined after she left in 1967. As a lead vocalist for one of the earliest girl groups, Gladys Horton will be remembered.

The Late,Great Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne, the man who advocated fitness and good nutrition for over seventy years, passed Sunday afternoon, 23 January 2011 at the age of 95. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

Jack LaLanne was born Francois Henri LaLanne in San Francisco, California on 26 September 1914. It was his older brother who nicknamed him "Jack."  At age fifteen Mr. LaLanne was a troubled teenager and not particularly healthy. His mother took him to talk held by health food guru Paul C. Bragg at a local women's club. The talk literally changed his life. He began working out, studied Gray's Anatomy to learn about the muscles of the body, and improved his diet. He attended and graduated from Oakland Chiropractic College in San Francisco, but instead of opening a chiropractic practice, instead in 1936, at age 21, Jack LaLannne opened his first health spa. The spa was the predecessor to all modern health clubs, not only including a gym but a store and a juice bar as well.  He designed the ancestors of modern exercise machines, complete with leg extensions and pulleys. He also encouraged women, the elderly, and even the disabled to exercise. There was a good deal of initial resistance to Mr. LaLanne's message of exercise and good nutrition, with many physicians believing him a charlatan.

Despite his naysayers, Jack LaLanne proved to be a success. It was in 1951 that The Jack LaLanne Show debuted on local television in San Francisco. In 1958 it went nationwide. Its success lie in the fact that Mr. LaLanne addressed each member of the audience as if they were in the studio with him.In the early days he often featured his white German shepherd Happy. The Jack LaLanne Show ran 34 years. It would later be rerun on ESPN and is now available online at YouTube and elsewhere.

Over the years Jack LaLanne would perform a number of incredible feats. At age 40 he swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge under water and with 140 pounds of equipment strapped to him. At age 41 he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf while handcuffed. In 1976, in commemoration of the American Bicentennial, Mr. LaLanne swam one mile in Long Beach Harbour while handcuffed, shackled, and towing thirteen boats containing 76 people. At age 70 he swam one mile from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbour while handcuffed and shackled, and towing seventy rowboats, one with many people aboard.

Jack LaLanne would eventually have over 200 Jack LaLanne European Health Spas nationwide. He later licensed them to Bally. He also published several books on fitness and nutrition, as well as made videos and marketed a number of electric juicers. He also recorded a record album on fitness, released in 1959. Starting in 2007, he also appeared on Voice America Health and Wellness Radio Network on the radio show Jack LaLanne Live with his wife Elaine and his nephew Chris LaLanne. He also appeared in movies and TV Shows, including guest appearances on the shows Peter Gunn, Mister Ed, The Addams Family, Batman, Laugh In, The Simpsons, and Life with Bonnie. He appeared in the telefilm More Wild Wild West. He appeared in the films The Ladies Man (1961), The Happy Ending (1969), and Repossessed (1990).

It would not be exaggerating to call Jack LaLanne both a pioneer and a revolutionary. Almost fifty years before the fitness craze of the Eighties, Jack LaLanne was preaching fitness and nutrition to America. Thirty years before the first work out videos, he was guiding Americans through workouts on The Jack LaLanne Show. In fact, I dare say it would not be exaggerating to say that Mr. LaLanne virtually created the fitness craze. After all, for years he had been the only one telling Americans about working, nutrition, and good health. Even after the fitness craze of the Eighties established fitness as part of the American landscape, Jack LaLanne would be a pioneer. He showed Americans how to grow old gracefully, working out well into his nineties.

I can remember watching Jack LaLanne as a very young child, and even then I know why Jack LaLanne was so successful. He was no dumb jock by any means, but a man who was intelligent, charming, and personable, making you feel right at home watching his show. What is more it seemed as if he truly cared about his viewers, not encouraging to live healthier lives to sell more books, but instead to live better lives. A true pioneer who virtually crated the fitness industry, Jack LaLanne will be remembered for a long time to come.

My Video Tribute to Scarlett O'Hara

I have had Windows Movie Maker on this PC ever since I bought it six years ago, but I had never used it. This weekend I finally decided to make a video using it. A lot of my friends have made tribute videos of their favourite actors and actresses, so I thought I should join in on the fun. Of course, I then decided it would not be a tribute to an actress so much as a famous movie character--Scarlett O'Hara. I then decided that rather than going with some standard, I would go with power pop band's remake of The Monkees' "She." My reasoning is that if Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara had lived in the 1960's instead of the 1860's, he probably would have identified the song with her!

So here it is, my video directorial debut (at least using a PC--I have made videos with a camera)....

The Comics Code Authority R.I.P.

Last week on 20 January 2011 DC Comics made the momentous announcement that they were leaving the Comics Code Authority. The next day Archie Comics announced that they were also leaving the Comics Code Authority. Archie Comics also stated that their decision was not influenced by DC Comics, as they had made their decision to leave a year ago. DC and Archie were the last two members of the Comics Code Authority. With their departure, then, the Comics Code Authority is effectively defunct.

For those who are wondering, the Comics Code Authority was a body for self censorship founded by members of the Comic Magazine Association of America. It was established in 1954, a year when public outcry against violence contained in comic books reached its peak. It was the year that the book Seduction of the Innocent, the famous attack on comic books by Dr. Fredric Wertham, was published. It was also the year that a hearing was held on comic books by the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver. As shocking as it might seem now, comic books were even burned in some areas.

Despite the moral panic over comic magazines in 1954, it was important to remember that at no point was there any threat of government censorship of the medium. Kefauver's hearing on comic books was itself inconclusive. That having been said, the industry was under fire from the public at large to the point that creating a self censorship body must have seemed like a wise move at the time. The Comic Magazine Association of America itself described the Comics Code as "...the strictest in existence for any communications media (sic)." The Comics Code in its original form was indeed strict. It forbade the use of the words "horror," "terror," or "crime" in titles, and even forbade the portrayal of vampires and werewolves.

Over the years the Comics Code would be revised. In 1971 the Code was revised to allow "...vampires, ghouls and werewolves... when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high calibre literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world" and "... corruption among public officials...as long as it is portrayed as exceptional and the culprit is punished." The Comics Code would be revised again several times over the years, each time growing less strict than it had originally been.

Indeed, various comic book companies began publishing magazines for more adult audiences, an example being DC Comics and its Vertigo imprint. These more adult titles were not submitted to the Comics Code Authority for approval. In 2001, Marvel Comics abandoned the Comics Code in favour of their own ratings system. It was then perhaps only a matter of time before DC and Archie would abandon the Code.

While many may claim that the Code had little authority in the past several years, its passing is still significant. The Comics Code in its original form was indeed strict, more so even than the Motion Picture Association's Production Code in the Thirties and Forties. It is not without good reason that many blame the Comics Code Authority for reducing comic books to little more than children's literature for many, many years following its implementation. Indeed, the changes wrought by the Code in the industry were enormous. The vast majority of horror titles disappeared almost overnight. Batman went from battling such deadly foes as Two Face and Catwoman to fighting aliens and travelling through time.In the wake of the Comics Code sales dropped to the point that many comic book companies went out of business (in fact, what is now known as Marvel very nearly did). Even as the Comics Code weakened over the years, it remained as a reminder of a dark period in comic book history, when the industry was under attack from all sides. That the Comics Code Authority no longer exists in then significant. It shows that the comic book industry at last feels safe enough to be free from what perhaps the strictest self censorship body in the world.

Costume Designer Theoni Aldredge R.I.P.

Theoni V. Aldredge, who designed costumes for films from Stella (1955) to The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), passed on January 21, 2010 at the age of 78.

Theoni V. Aldredge was born Theoni Athanasiou in Greece on August 22, 1932. She decided to become a costume designer after seeing the movie Caesar and Cleopatra (1946). When she was around 17 she immigrated to the United States where she attended the Goodman School of Drama, at that time part of the Art Institute of Chicago. She married Tom Aldredge in 1953.

Miss Aldredge first designed costumes for Stella (1955). She would go onto to design costumes for such films as Never on Sunday (1960), The Three Sisters (1966), I Never Sang for My Father (1970), The Great Gatsby (1974), Network (1976), The Cheap Detective (1978), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Rich and Famous (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Moonstruck (1987), Other People's Money (1991), Addams Family Values (1993), and First Wives Club (1996). She won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for her work on The Great Gatsby.

Theoni V. Aldrege also worked on Broadway. She designed costumes for such plays as Sweet Bird of Youth, The Best Man, The Devil's Advocate, Mr. President, Any Wednesday, P. S. I Love You, Happily Ever After, Little Murders, Weekend, That Championship Season, A Chorus Line, Annie, 42nd Street, Dreamgirls, Chess, and Nick and Nora.

Actor Paul Picerni Passes On

Actor Paul Pircerni, who was a regular on the TV series The Untouchables and appeared in the movie House of Wax (1953), passed on 12 January 2011. He was 91 years old. The cause was a heart attack.

Paul Picerni was born on 1 December 1922 in New York City. During World War II he joined the United States Army Air Force, where he served as a bombardier. He made his film debut in 1946 as an extra in In Fast Company. He had bit parts in Beyond Glory (1948) and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Mr. Picerni appeared in several films in 1950, including The Secret Fury, Dial 119, and Breakthrough. In 1950 he also graduated from Loyola University in Los Angeles, California with a bachelor of arts.

Paul Picerni began the Fifties starring in more substantial roles. He appeared in such films as I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), Fort Worth (1951), and Mara Maru (1952). In 1953 he played the hero in the classic horror film House of Wax opposite the great Vincent Price. He finished out the Fifties appearing in such films as The Beat From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954), To Hell and Back (1955), Miracle in the Rain (1956), The Big Caper (1957), The Brothers Rico (1957), Majorie Morningstar (1958), and The Young Philadelphians (1959). Mr. Picerni appeared on television frequently in the Fifties, in such shows as The Lone Wolf, Dragnet, Fireside Theatre, Mr. and Mrs. North, The Red Skelton Hour, Studio 57, Climax, Goodyear Television Playhouse, Four Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Zorro, Maverick, and The Loretta Young Show. In 1959 he appeared as Tony Liurgi in the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode "The Untouchables." When the episode was spun off into the TV Series The Untouchables the following year, Mr. Picerni was cast as Treasury Agent Lee Hobson. He appeared on the series from 1960 to 1963.

Throughout the Sixties Paul Picerni appeared on such shows as Perry Mason, The Fugitive, The Big Valley, Batman, Combat, Hogan's Heroes, The Virginian, Hawaii Five-O, and The F.B.I. He appeared in such movies as Fury River (1961), The Age of Violence (1964), The Scalphunters (1968), Che! (1969), and Airport (1970). In the Seventies Mr. Picerni appeared in such shows as The Immortal, Love American Style, Here's Lucy, Emergency, Marcus Welby M.D., Adam-12, Gunsmoke, Kolchak the Night Stalker, Mannix, Barnaby Jones, and Kojak. He appeared in the films Kotch (1971), The Fearmakers (1971), Capricorn One (1977), Escape to Athena(1979), and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979). From the Eighties into the Naughts, Mr. Picerni appeared in such shows as Trapper John M.D., Quince M.E., Sledge Hammer, and Diagnosis: Murder. He appeared in the film Three Days to Vegas  (2007), his last appearance on film.

Paul Picerni was a versatile actor. Gifted with the good looks of a leading man, he was actually a skilled character actor. Throughout his long career, Paul Picerni played everything from lawmen like Agent Hobson on The Untouchables to gangsters to Catholic priests to medical doctors. And he performed all of those roles quite well. If he appeared frequently on television, it is perhaps because he was an actor who could be counted upon in any guest part he was given.

Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes

Today the news media, not to mention such social networkings sites as Twitter, were all abuzz with Ricky Gervais' performance as host of the Golden Globes ceremony last night. The majority of opinion was that Mr. Gervais was overly rude and disrespectful to the people the show was meant to honour. Indeed, he made reference to Robert Downey Jr.'s past problems. He joked about the age of the cast of Sex and the City 2. He even announced that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the folks who hand out the Golden Globe Awards) "took bribes." HPFA president Phil Berk stated that when one hires a comedian like Mr. Gervais, one must expect outrageous humour. He went onto say, "The HFPA would never condone some of his personal remarks. Overall, however, the show was among the best we've ever had." Despite the stance of the HPFA, however, the consensus of most of the press and many others is that Ricky Gervais should be fired as the show's host.

My own thought is that to a large degree the controversy over Ricky Gervais' hosting duties on the Golden Globes Awards is a tempest in a teapot. While I certainly do not condone many of Mr. Gervais' comments and I would not blame anyone if they took a horse whip to him, in the end I do not see that they are all that newsworthy.

First is the fact that I do not think the Golden Globe Awards themselves are newsworthy. In fact, I did not even bother to watch the ceremony last night (Ghost World was on KPLR--I only know of Ricky Gervais' remarks from coverage on television and internet). After all, it is hard for me to see how anyone could take the Golden Globes seriously. They are not given by the industry itself, as the Oscars or the various guild awards are. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association are simply a small group of journalists (only about 80 to 90 in all) who report entertainment news. To me this gives the Golden Globes about as much clout as the People's Choice  Awards. It should then not be surprising that the Golden Globes are not a good forecast of the Oscars, no more than the various critics associations' awards. Finally, I guess I need not point out that the Golden Globes is nearly as well known for its scandals as it is for its awards (just read my first post on the subject). It seems to me that Hollywood and the media place an importance on the Golden Globes ceremony that it does not deserve.

Second, as HFPA president Phil Berk pointed out, when one hires a comedian like Ricky Gervais, one expects outrageous humour. Much of Mr. Gervais' comedy comes from being rude, disrespectful, and even hurtful. It is unrealistic to think that he would pull any punches simply because he is hosting an awards ceremony. Quite simply, the news media and Hollywood should not be shocked that Mr. Gervais insulted many celebrities. Being shocked at Mr. Gervais being insulting is like being shocked at there being water in the ocean.

Quite simply, between the relative unimportance of the Golden Globe Awards and the fact that Ricky Gervais was only doing what one would expect him to do, I fail to see why so much of the coverage of the awards focused on his hosting. Ricky Gervais insulted people? This is news? Next the press will be reporting that it is summer and it is hot....