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Friday, May 11, 2012

Laverne & Shirley - Making Their Dreams Come True


Hello, everyone!  Happy Friday to everyone here!

I certainly hope you’re enjoying the end of your week, and that you have a fantastic weekend.  I’ve got some special themed weekend entries coming up this week for Mother’s Day, and I hope that you all get a chance to read them.

Before we get into that however, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about a popular show that started off as a spin-off, and ended up lasting for eight seasons.

It all began on November 11, 1975. 

That was the day that the forty-ninth episode of “Happy Days” aired for the first time.  It was an episode that was titled “A Date With Fonzie” (if you click on the episode title, you can actually watch the episode for however long it stays up on YouTube).  The episode synopsis was that Richie Cunningham was having a lot of trouble finding a girl to date.  Fonzie tries to help out by setting Richie up with a woman fails, Fonzie decides to set himself and Richie up on a double date with a couple of women.


The two women were Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, played by Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams.  And their guest appearance on “Happy Days” was received so warmly that Happy Days creator Garry Marshall made the decision to create a brand new series for the guest characters who made such an impression in their short appearance in that episode.

(Though, considering that Penny Marshall and Garry Marshall were siblings, I suppose that was one main reason behind the spin-off.)

Anyway, just two months after that episode aired, in January 1976, a new series debuted on ABC.


“Laverne & Shirley” took place in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Laverne and Shirley lived together in an apartment and worked at the fictional Shotz Brewery.


Laverne was the blond-haired, tough-talking, wise-cracking tomboy of the duo.  She always wore poodle skirts and a sweater with the letter “L” stitched onto them (an idea that Penny Marshall herself came up with).  She was quite cynical and sarcastic most of the time, but she was also the type of woman whose feelings were easily hurt.


Contrast that with Shirley.  She may have dark hair, but her personality is anything but dark.  She’s almost always perky, and tries to look at things in a positive manner.  She also happens to be quite timid and quiet, which are all adjectives that Laverne is not.  She’s fully capable of standing up for herself when the need arises, but she’s not as ‘in-your-face’ about it.  Her prized possession is her beloved “Boo Boo Kitty”

But when you put Laverne and Shirley together, hilarity and slapstick comedy usually ensues.  Have a look at this clip from an early episode, and you’ll see what I mean.


Throughout the course of the series, other cast members would come and go as the need arose.  Most often than not, you would see appearances by the girls’ upstairs roommates, Lenny (Michael Keen), and Squiggy (David Lander), two obnoxious goofballs who often drop in on Laverne and Shirley unannounced.  There were also appearances by Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka), Laverne’s father Frank DeFazio (Phil Foster), and landlady Edna Babish (Betty Garrett).

The first four years of the series took place in Milwaukee (which made sense, given that the show it spun off from was also set in Milwaukee).  But at the beginning of the show’s fifth season in September 1980, the show changed locations from Milwaukee to Burbank, California.  The way the show handled this was by having Laverne and Shirley lose their jobs at the Shotz Brewery, and the two of them deciding to start all over in California.  Weirdly enough, almost everyone else in the cast decided to move along with Laverne and Shirley to Burbank, so there were very little cast disruptions during the initial first season.

As a result of the move, two new cast members were added.  Ed Marinaro played the role of Sonny St. Jacques, a stuntman who acted as the girls’ new landlord, and Leslie Easterbrook played Rhonda Lee, a neighbour of Laverne and Shirley’s who wanted to make it big in Hollywood.

The show ended up running for four more seasons, ending its run on May 10, 1983.


Now, I suppose you’re interested in hearing some never before seen trivia about “Laverne & Shirley”, and well, as it so happens, I have found quite a bit of information about this program that may surprise you.  Some of it you probably know already, but other facts may blow you away.  It’s been a while since I did one of these “behind the scenes trivia” blogs, so I hope you enjoy this deeper look at “Laverne & Shirley” almost as much as I did.

So, without further hesitation, let us begin.

01  - I suppose you want to know what Laverne and Shirley are actually singing in the opening credits just before the song kicks off.  The rhyme goes “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Schlemiel, Schlemazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!”  The rhyme is a combination of English and Yiddish.

02   - In case your Yiddish is rusty, “Schlemiel” is a clumsy person, and “Schlemazel” is a chronically unlucky person.  I wonder if Laverne and Shirley were singing about themselves or someone else?

03   - When the show started airing, the original title sequence read “Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney”.  It was shortened at the beginning of season two.



04   - Laverne’s favourite drink is milk and Pepsi, which coincidentally also happens to be a favourite of Penny Marshall.  Can’t say I’ve ever tried it myself.

05   - Much like “Happy Days”, “Laverne & Shirley was set in the 1950s and 1960s.  More specifically, between 1959 and 1967.



06   - The theme song from “Laverne & Shirley was recorded by Cyndi Grecco.  It actually made the Billboard Top 100 charts in 1976, peaking within the top 30!

07   - Shirley’s father was played by actor Scott Brady.  Brady was offered a part in a show before guest starring on “Laverne & Shirley”, but he turned it down.  The part?  Archie Bunker on “All In The Family”.

08   - Ed Begley Jr played the role of Shirley’s alcoholic brother.

09   - Ted Danson had a guest role on the series, playing Laverne’s firefighter boyfriend in the memorable episode “Why Did The Fireman...?”  You can watch the episode by clicking on the show title (it's in two parts, so the link is split), but be warned.  It is a tearjerker.

10   - The set of Laverne & Shirley’s first apartment in Milwaukee was previously used in a different sitcom...”The Odd Couple”.

11   - “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley “ taped one soundstage apart from each other, making it easy for actors from both shows to cross over.



12   - Squiggy’s real name was Andrew.

13   - Despite the show’s popularity and critical acclaim, the show failed to win a single Emmy award.

14   - Cindy Williams once walked off the set in 1976 as a protest against Penny Marshall getting all the better lines.  She ended up returning two days later.

15   - In 1982, Cindy Williams ended up leaving the series for good.  In August of that year, Cindy was expecting a baby, and she felt that producers were using her pregnancy as an excuse to get her off the series.  She stormed off the set, and filed a twenty million dollar lawsuit against Paramount Pictures.  The case was settled out of court.

16   - Despite Cindy Williams leaving the program, the show managed to continue on for one more season, with Laverne going solo.  Weirdly enough, the show was STILL called “Laverne & Shirley”, even though Shirley had left the series.

17   - The reason given for Shirley’s sudden departure from the series was explained in a letter she left for Laverne, stating that she had moved away to join her Army medic husband overseas.



18   - David Lander and Michael McKean were originally hired as writers for the program, but ended up writing Lenny and Squiggy in. 

19   - Lander and McKean created Lenny and Squiggy during their college years.



20   - An animated series based off the show debuted in October 1981, which was called “Laverne & Shirley in the Army”.  Both Marshall and Williams voiced their respective characters.

21   - Products that were made to promote the series included dolls of the four main characters, a Hot Wheels version of the Shotz Brewery delivery van, Halloween costumes, board games, and colouring books.

22   - Vicki Lawrence guest starred on the program as a drill sergeant named Alvinia T. Plout.

23   - The show ran for 178 episodes.



24   - Shirley’s middle name was Wilhelmina, the name of her deceased grandmother.

That’s about all that I have to say about Laverne and Shirley.  To end this blog off, I always loved watching bloopers of television stars screwing up their lines...and well, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams did a lot of that.



Thursday, May 10, 2012

Losing My Religion


Hello, everyone!  Before I begin this blog entry, I'd like all of you to take a look at the "Additional Links" section of the blog on the sidebar.  There, you'll see a link that says "Interview - May 9, 2012".  If you click on that, I did an interview for a blogging website.  So, definitely check it out, because you'll learn a lot more about the person who keeps bringing you these blogs to read.


Now that we have that out of the way, we can begin with this week's installment of the Thursday Confession.  And unlike last week, where I waited until the very end to confess, I'll come right out with it and post my confession now.






THURSDAY CONFESSION #19:  I consider myself more spiritual than religious and probably haven't set foot in a church pew in over 15 years.


And I'm perfectly okay with that.


Because this post is the story of how I ended up "losing my religion", so to speak.




Now, the above song was recorded by R.E.M.  It was a huge hit for the band in 1991.  But it also happens to be a song that best describes what my own religious stance is.  I know that it seems a bit odd for me to bring up the subject of religion in a blog about pop culture, but these days, it seems as though religion is talked about a lot in the entertainment industry, in the media, and even in political firestorms (all you need to do is look at the recent news coming out of North Carolina for more information on that one).


The below story is one that I ended up writing a few years ago (I think in 2007 or 2008), but surprisingly it still holds up in 2012.  And, I wanted to share this with everyone just so everybody could see where I'm coming from.  It's not intended to attack certain groups, but it is designed to make people think.  No matter what kind of reception this entry gets, I am happy that I wrote it.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


There are some big mysteries out there in the world. Mysteries that have remained unsolved for billions of years.

Do ships really disappear in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle? Whatever became of Amelia Earhart? 






Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

These are questions that have plagued mankind for years.

Another biggie? Is there a God?

Of course, I don't know for sure if there is or not. I don't think it's ever been proven. Or, if it has, I must have dozed off during that news report.

I would like to think that there is some sort of spirit or guiding force steering us throughout this life. I would also like to believe that when our bodies die, our souls go on living. Of course, I can't really say that it will ever happen. I am not dead. I haven't even had one of those near-death experiences that you hear about. You know, the ones where you are out of your body and trying to process whether or not to stay living or have Jennifer Love Hewitt guide you towards the light (on the now defunct series Ghost Whisperer). But, I still like to believe that we have guardians looking out for us while we live our lives.

So, I guess in answer to the above question, I believe in the concept of there being some sort of God out there.

But, does this mean that I feel as though I have to show my faith by waking up at the crack of dawn every Sunday morning, putting on a double breasted suit and tie, head down to the church and syng hymns and pray for a couple of hours?

Not on your life.

I get that some people are church goers, and I respect that. For some, going to church can be a calming, and peaceful thing. Some really get into the sermons, and the hymns, and the general feeling that they are in the house of God.


 

And, don't get me wrong...I did attempt to give the church a good try. As a child, I liked going to Sunday school, and we did a lot of fun things there. And, I have to say that I did seem to get some of my current belief system from the short time I was there.

But, as I grew older, I developed my own belief system, and along the way, going to church on Sundays became less and less a part of my belief system to the point where I stopped going altogether.

I do not mean to offend anyone by writing what I am about to write next. These are my beliefs and my beliefs alone. I don't expect all of you to believe the same way that I do...all I ask is that you respect my beliefs, and I will do the same for all of you.

The truth of the matter is that I don't really need to sit in a church pew to have strong feelings of faith. If there really is a God out there (and I do believe in the concept of God), wouldn't he want you to show your faith and love towards your fellow man (or woman, as the case may be) anytime and everywhere?

At my job, I often work most Sunday mornings or afternoons (which according to the Bible is a sin...GAWSP!!!), and during the hours that church is in service, the store is completely devoid of all customer activity. Then sometime around noon, we get a mad rush. I often joke about the sudden rush of customers that seem to crowd the stores around that time. It's almost as if they were told at the sermon that they must shop or they will be subjected to eternal damnation or something of that nature.

So, it kind of makes one scratch their heads when you see people coming into retail establishments after going to church, and just being absolutely rude to everyone around them.  Did they learn absolutely nothing?


It's one thing to sit in a church and promise to be respectful and courteous to your fellow man, your community, and God himself (or herself). It's quite another to do it outside of a church setting. It's absolutely astonishing how some people seem to have one personality inside church, and have a totally different one somewhere else. How can one can pretend to be kind and good while singing hymns, and the next day be evil and selfish in a different venue?

It's fine to be religious, and it's fine to practice whatever religion you want to pursue. I admire people who have such a strong belief system, and am friends with quite a few people who do.  But, it really annoys me when people act religious when it suits them, and when it doesn't, they seem to feel that it doesn't matter.

I feel that if you are to practice a religion, whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Protestant, or whatever other religions there are out there, then be proud of whatever it is you follow.

At the same time though, I never could stand people who had this superiority complex that their beliefs were the best and that nobody else mattered. As far as I'm concerned, this is where the respect comes in. I may not believe in the same things you do, but that doesn't mean that I think mine are any better than yours.  Be proud of who you are, but also be respectful of who others are.

And, you know what? Don't force a religion onto a person. Let them make up their own minds. I am a strong believer in the fact that a person should choose what religion is right for them when they are old enough to decide for themselves. I believe in this so much that as of right now, I haven't even been baptized anything yet.  You see, my family always believed in letting all of us children make up our own minds when it came down to making our own choices.  If we decided to follow Christianity, they'd support us.  If we decided to become Buddhists, they'd support us.  If we decided to worship Satan...well, I'm not sure how they'd react.

The point is, I'm glad that I have the power to make my own beliefs and choices.  Over time, I may find a religion that best suits me. Then again, I might not. 

I don't mean to compare choosing a religion to buying a new shirt at the Gap, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that we all have our own distinct personalities, and that we all have choices to make it our lives. And, if given the choice between having a religion chosen for me, or choosing my own, I'd rather have the choice myself.



I guess you could say that I'm a believer in "individualism". Not exactly a word I'd use to describe a religion, but for now, it's how I live my life. And, frankly, I've never been happier.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Sendak's Concoctions of the Night Kitchen


Yesterday was a very sad day in the world of children’s literature.


On May 8, 2012, Maurice Sendak passed away at the age of 83.  He had suffered a stroke a few years earlier.

Hearing about Sendak’s death really got to me.  As someone who has wanted to make an impact in the world of writing, I’ll admit that I had quite a few role models to look up to for inspiration.

Maurice Sendak was one of those role models for me.  I used to read his books back in elementary school, as did all the other children in my school.  His books were unlike any other book by a children’s author, with dark, grotesque imagery and bizarre storylines.  Come to think of it, I think those were the reasons why kids gravitated towards the works of Sendak.

(Well, that...plus the fact that parents were opposed to his works because of content and sought to have them banned, thus making us children want to read them more.)

I initially had another topic planned for today, but I’m going to put it on hold for now.


This blog is going to be a celebration of the life and career of Maurice Sendak.

Sendak was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 10, 1928 to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents.  Sendak had described his childhood as being particularly unhappy, largely due to the fact that a lot of his extended family ended up dying as a result of the Holocaust.  At an early age, he was forced to face death and mortality...something that would inevitably influence his later works.

What was interesting about Maurice Sendak was that he initially didn’t want to be an author at first.  Although he loved reading as a child (they had kept him entertained while he was bedridden due to a childhood illness), his real passion was animation and illustrations.  After seeing Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” at the age of twelve, Sendak made it a goal to become an illustrator.

TRIVIA:  One of Sendak’s first jobs involved creating window displays for the New York City based toy store, F.A.O. Schwarz.


Beginning in 1947, Sendak’s illustrations began appearing in the textbook “Atomics for the Millions”, written by Dr. Maxwell Leigh Eidinoff.  Shortly thereafter he began illustrating various children’s books for various authors during the 1950s, including the “Little Bear” series written by Else Holmelund Minarik.

It wouldn’t be until the late 1950s that Sendak would begin writing his own stories in addition to providing the illustrations for them.  Some of Sendak’s earliest works included “Kenny’s Window” (1956), “Very Far Away” (1957), and “The Sign On Rosie’s Door” (1960).

And then in 1963, Sendak created his most famous work.


I’m sure most of you have probably heard of the book “Where The Wild Things Are”.  It was later adapted into a motion picture in 2009 featuring Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara, and James Gandolfini.  Well, that book ended up becoming such a huge part of my life.

I’ll never forget the first time I read it.  It was second grade, and our teacher read the story to us in class.  I was mesmerized from the very first page and onward.

The story surrounds a nine year old boy named Max, a little boy who is most content wearing a wolf costume and causing mischief all over the house.  When his mother punishes Max by sending him to his room without dinner, Max’s imagination goes into overdrive.  Soon, a magical forest and sea appears, and Max sets sail to a far away island.

An island where the wild things were.

In the story, the monsters appear to be wild, scary, ferocious monsters, each with their own distinct look.  But as the story goes on, Max proves that he is the “fiercest monster of all”, as he has the power to conquer them by “staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once.”

Max is made the “king of all wild things”, and the monsters celebrate with Max by dancing around in a “wild rumpus”.  But when Max starts getting homesick, he returns back to his bedroom, and goes downstairs to eat his dinner.

TRIVIA:  The monsters in “Where The Wild Things Are” were named after actual relatives of Sendak.  These names include Aaron, Bernard, Emile, Moishe, and Tzippy.

I enjoyed the book very much.  As a child, I always loved the way the monsters looked, and found the idea of the boy making friends with the wild things to be a great thing.  Even monsters needed to have friends.  As an adult, I can see that the book’s meaning runs a lot deeper than that.  I think that Max had a lot on his plate, which could explain the reason why Max often acted out.  I even think the 2009 film explained it better than the book.  Max created the “Wild Things” world as a way to escape his anger over getting punished by his mother, but it also his way of escaping the frustration he felt in his life.

It was a great message...and one that I can definitely relate to.  No, I didn’t wear a wolf suit and dream of scary creatures...but I know what it is like to create an imaginary world where things were more “perfect” than they were.  I’ve done it many times.

It’s funny though.  When “Where The Wild Things Are” was first published, it was critically panned.  Parents were concerned about the grotesque appearance of the monsters, and Sendak claimed that some libraries had actually banned the book.  But when children made an extra effort to seek out the book, teachers and librarians soon realized that maybe they were wrong about their feelings about the book, and relaxed their views.  The book eventually became a best seller, and won the Caldecott Award in 1964.


Of course, this wasn’t the first book that netted controversy for Sendak.  His 1970 book, “In The Night Kitchen”, was subject to censorship due to the fact that the story depicted a young boy running around completely nude...and the book showed every angle.  I myself have read the book, and I didn’t find anything wrong with it at all. 

It actually reminds me of the time that I was volunteering at a daycare center when I was in my early 20s, and we took a field trip to the public library.  We ended up seeing the animated movie of “In The Night Kitchen”, and if you could see the looks on the daycare providers faces when the movie aired, it would have stopped one dead in their tracks.  They were not happy with the movie at all, and they actually were worried that these kindergarten aged students would tell their parents everything. 


(Though, secretly I was chuckling to myself, as the most vocal complainer was also the one staff member who I felt had a huge chip on her shoulder...but that’s another story altogether.)

Anyway, “In The Night Kitchen” has been challenged in several American states including Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, and New Jersey, and ranked at #21 on the list of “Most Challenged Books from 1990-1999”.

There’s a part of me that wondered if Sendak was intentionally trying to push the envelope with his illustrations.  At any rate, he seemed to let the criticism slide, as he should have.

And besides, after “In The Night Kitchen” was published, he ended up releasing other widely successful books.  1977’s “Seven Little Monsters”.  1981’s “Outside Over There”.  2011’s “Bumble-Ardy”.  These are just a few of the many accomplishments that Sendak had to his credit. 

In addition to the Caldecott Award he won in 1964, he has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for children’s book illustrations in 1970, the National Book Award in 1982, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1983, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and shared the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2003 with Christine Nostlinger.  He even has an elementary school named after him, which is located in North Hollywood, California.


Maurice Sendak’s contribution to the world of art and literature is nothing short of incredible.  While his road to success may have been filled with criticism and controversy early on, he managed to rise above it, and had quite the rewarding experience.

Fare thee well, Mr. Sendak.  May you rest in peace, and may your soul forever be where the wild things are.


Maurice Sendak
1928-2012

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

May 8, 1999


It’s that time of week again!  Today is the day we open up our history textbooks and pop culture reference books for another trip back through time.

The Tuesday Timeline has had phenomenal success since I kicked off this theme day at the beginning of 2012, and it is now my most viewed day of the week.  I know success when I see it, so the Tuesday Timeline will be continuing for the foreseeable future.

Today happens to be the 8th of May, and I have a topic that looks back on a supposed “curse”.  But, we’ll get to that a little bit later.

We have quite a few celebrities celebrating a birthday today.  Blowing out the candles on their birthday cakes today are David Attenborough, Don Rickles, Toni Tennille, Emilio Delgado (better known as Luis from Sesame Street), Gary Glitter, Bill Legend (T. Rex), Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads), Alex Van Halen, Melissa Gilbert, Darren Hayes, Enrique Iglesias, Martha Wainwright, and Matthew Davis.

Wow...lots of musical talents celebrating a May 8 birthday...who knew?

And, some of the happenings in history for May 8 include the following...

1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist is tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day in Paris...talk about the worst day of your life!

1861 – Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America

1877 – The first Westminster Kennel Dog Show is held in New York City

1886 – Chemist John Smyth Pemberton begins selling a patent medication...a carbonated beverage known as Coca-Cola

1902 – Mount Pelee erupts in Martinique, killing over 30,000 people, and destroying the town of Saint-Pierre

1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded

1919 – The proposal of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistace of World War I is made by Edward George Honey, leading to the creation of Remembrance Day and Veterans Day

1927 – French war heroes Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappear in the attempt to make the first transatlantic flight from Paris to New York

1945 – Combat ends in Europe, one day after V-E Day is established

1970 – Hard Hat Riot erupts in New York City as blue-collar workers clash with demonstrators opposing Vietnam War.

1972 – Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571

1976 – First steel roller coaster with vertical loop, Revolution, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain

1980 – The eradication of smallpox is announced by the World Health Organization

1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California

1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers a wide spread telephone outage...the worst telecommunications disaster to happen on Mother’s Day (Mother’s Day was on May 8 in ’88)

Quite a list of achievements, don’t you think?  We saw the birth of a soft drink, the end of conflict in Europe during World War II, and the end of smallpox. 

So, what date are we going to focus on today?


We’re going to take a look back on May 8, 1999.  On that date, a former child actress ended up taking her final breath in what could be considered a life filled with addiction and terrible choices.  But she wasn’t the only one from the show that made her a star that ended up having a terrible fate.

In fact, this blog entry will talk about a so-called “curse” that befell many of the young stars of a particular sitcom which aired between 1978 and 1986 on both NBC and ABC.  As we talk about the life and death of today’s blog subject, I’ll also bring up some information about this “curse” along the way.


On May 8, 1999, actress Dana Plato was found dead inside an RV in Moore, Oklahoma.  The cause of death was linked to an overdose of Vanadom and Lortab.  She was just 34 years old.

Certainly Dana Plato’s death was a shock to the entertainment world back in 1999.  But, looking back on it, I don’t think that anybody was all that surprised.  And as we look back on Dana Plato’s life, we’ll also talk a bit about the show that made her famous.

Dana Plato was born as Dana Michelle Strain on the 7th of November, 1964 in the town of Maywood, California.  Dana was born to a sixteen-year-old unwed mother who already had an 18-month-old at the time she was born.  Unable to take care of two children, Dana’s biological mother put her up for adoption.  She was adopted by Dean and Florine “Kay” Plato in the summer of 1965, and was raised in the San Fernando Valley.


Dana’s childhood suffered a setback when her adopted parents divorced when she was just three, but as Dana grew up, her mother took her on various auditions all over Los Angeles.  By the time Dana was seven years old, she had already filmed commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dole, and Atlantic Richfield.  A few years later, when Dana was just thirteen years old, she made her film debut in the 1977 feature film, “Return to Boggy Creek”.

TRIVIA:  During this period, Dana Plato had a keen interest in figure skating, and she even went into training to join the American figure skating team for the 1980 Winter Olympics!

But then came the year 1978, and Dana Plato was offered a lucrative acting gig on a new sitcom set to debut on NBC.  Dana’s mother felt that she should cut back on skating so she could take on the new role, and Dana decided that her mother was right.

So, Dana hung up her ice skates and joined the cast of this show, which debuted on November 3, 1978.


I’m sure most of you know what the show is about.  The show chronicled the life of wealthy businessman Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) who adopted two African-American brothers named Willis and Arnold after their mother passed away.  Willis was played by Todd Bridges, Arnold by Gary Coleman.

And Dana Plato assumed the role of Kimberly Drummond, the daughter of Phillip.


For the first few seasons, Dana seemed to thrive on the show, and Diff’rent Strokes quickly rose up in the ratings.  A spin-off show, The Facts Of Life, came along in 1979, and new cast members eventually joined the program including Dixie Carter and Danny Cooksey.

But by 1983, things began to go sour for the young starlet.

Plato would later reveal in an interview that she had started doing recreational drugs and consuming alcohol while she filmed the series.  In late 1983, Dana had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend, Lanny Lambert, which normally would have been a happy occasion...but when you consider the fact that Kimberly Drummond was being raised as the all-American girl who never acted out at all, the pregnancy caused quite a problem for producers.  So, the decision was made to write out Kimberly Drummond, and Dana was dropped from the show in early 1984.  There were rumours at the time that proclaimed that Dana was fired for her excessive drug use on set, but the producers denied this.

Whatever the case, Dana ended up giving birth to her only son, Tyler, in July 1984.  Afterwards, Dana was invited back for sporadic guest star appearances on Diff’rent Strokes right up until the show’s cancellation in 1986.

With Diff’rent Strokes off the air, Dana Plato tried to get back into the limelight as a serious actress, but ended up doing spreads in Playboy magazine and even consented to her appearance being used in the 1992 video game “Night Trap”.

But a series of personal tragedies in her life would inevitably send Dana Plato down a steep slope of self-destruction.


Nineteen-eighty-eight was a rough year for Dana.  On January 2, 1988, her mother died of scleroderma at the age of 49.  Not even seven days later, her marriage to Lanny Lambert busted up, the divorce finalized in 1990.  To add salt to the wound, custody of Tyler went to Lanny, with Dana only being granted visitation rights.


Three years later, Dana was arrested in Las Vegas for robbing a video store at gunpoint.  The arrest made headlines all over the world, and many people were left wondering what went wrong...not just with Dana Plato, but with the other child stars of Diff’rent Strokes.

With the exception of Danny Cooksey (who has lived a relatively normal life in comparison), all the child stars of Diff’rent Strokes had trouble with the law.  Todd Bridges was arrested in 1994 following an incident involving him ramming into another person’s car following an argument, and his drug use has been widely covered in the media.  But, Todd managed to break his addiction, and can still be seen acting in bit parts today.

Gary Coleman’s story didn’t have a happy ending.  He died on May 28, 2010 at the age of 42 following a fall which caused a fatal hemorrhage.  Prior to his death, he had a charge of assault laid against him in 1998, filed for bankruptcy in 1999, and cited for disorderly conduct in 2007.


Is it any wonder why some people believed in the “Curse of Diff’rent Strokes”?

Dana Plato’s story would end a lot like Gary Coleman’s did.  Desperation soon set in, and eventually, Dana would end up doing acting in roles that could be considered soft core pornography, and ended up getting arrested once more for forging a prescription for Diazepam in the early 1990s, of which she served a 30-day stint in jail for violating her probation.

Dana’s final appearance in the media was an interview that she did with Howard Stern less than 24 hours before her death.  In the interview, she discussed her engagement, her past run-ins with the law, as well as her financial situation.  She was incredibly open about her life.  Looking back on it, I wonder if she was trying to make peace with everything she did, as if she knew that this interview would end up being her last. 

Of course, Howard Stern allowed listeners to call in to ask Dana questions, and while some were quite supportive of her, and offered her nothing but support, there were a few who made fun of her, calling her everything from a ‘has-been’ to an ‘ex-con lesbian drug addict with mental problems’.  But, to Stern’s credit, he defended Dana, and Dana herself even said that she would take a drug test on the show to prove that she was sober.

After that interview, Dana and her fiancé were driving back to California.  Along the way, they stopped off to visit the mother of her fiancé in Moore, Oklahoma, and not feeling well, Dana would go inside their RV to take a nap.


She never woke up.

Thus ended the life of Dana Plato...on May 8, 1999.

So, what have we learned about the life and times of Dana Plato?  There are a couple of things, actually.  Firstly, I don’t believe in curses, and I certainly don’t think that there is such a thing as the Diff’rent Strokes curse.  It was a coincidence that three of the four child stars ended up riding off the rails, but other child stars have had the same problems.  In the case of Coleman, Bridges, and Plato, all three of them were bestowed with success and fame at early ages, and I’m not entirely sure that they were quite ready to deal with the stress and the expectations that the film industry had.  I’m certainly not excusing their behaviour...certainly none of the three child stars of Diff’rent Strokes even attempted to make excuses.  They owned up to their mistakes several times since then.  At the same time, I think that more could have been done.  What exactly could have been done, however, is hard to say.

But secondly, I think that when it all comes down to it, Dana Plato had her own personal demons, and she honestly had no idea what to do to slay them.  Despite the fact that people tried to help her (Wayne Newton reportedly posted her $13,000 bail when she was arrested for the 1991 robbery), Plato somehow ended up losing her way.  I think that had she not felt that drugs, alcohol, and appearing in soft core movies was the only way to get noticed in the entertainment industry, she could have found her way back again.  It may have taken a great many years, but I believe that she could have found a way.  Unfortunately, Dana threw it all away, and we’ll never know now.


One final footnote to add to this grim story...on May 6, 2010, almost eleven years to the day that Dana passed away, her son Tyler committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  He was only twenty-six years old.

Before his death, it was reported that he had been experimenting with drugs and alcohol before he died, and that he had never really gotten over his mother’s death.

I know that history sometimes has a way of repeating itself...but having it happen like this...it kind of makes one speechless, doesn’t it?

Monday, May 07, 2012

Caddyshack




I don’t know about anybody else, but for the most part, I have a strong dislike for golf.

To me, golf is one of those sports that I haven’t any interest in.  I may have enjoyed playing the odd game of miniature golf in my youth, but miniature golf was fun!  Trying to avoid windmills, pitfalls, and rainbow coloured obstacles was my idea of fun.

It’s the adult version of golf that I don’t enjoy.

And this isn’t a slam against professional golfers such as Arnold Palmer, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Phil Mickelson, or Tiger Woods.  All five of those men have earned much respect in the sport of professional golf, and are widely respected in the world of sports.

It’s just that I always saw golf as being one of those sports that ended up being a great cure for insomnia.  For whatever reason, I find that watching the sport of golf on television bores me to tears.

The same deal goes for entertainment based on the sport of golf.  I tried playing golf themed video games only to turn it off fifteen minutes later in favour of Tetris.  I tried watching golf themed television shows, and ended up changing the channel.

And there are all of those golf-themed movies that have been released over the years.  In most cases, I find most of these golf movies to be just as uninteresting as the sport itself.  “Happy Gilmour” had that lovely scene where Adam Sandler and Bob Barker got into a catfight, but that was the only moment of that film that stood out.  “Tin Cup” was a movie that didn’t garner much of an impact at all on me.  And, I would comment on “The Legend Of Bagger Vance”, but I think that movie ended up putting me in a coma.

Try as I might, there was no way that I could make the sport of golf entertaining or interesting.  Not even the world of pop culture could change my mind about the sport...

...or could it?

It wasn’t until I watched a particular movie on a cable channel that made me look at the sport of golf at a different angle.  I didn’t get a chance to see the film when it originally came out (it was released in 1980, which was the year before I was born), but watching this film for the first time, I found it quite funny.  To my surprise, the film actually made golf seem fun.  And, the film itself didn’t just focus on golf.  It had a decent story (aside from the crude humour peppered throughout the film), a fantastic cast, and iconic scenes that everybody remembers...such as this clip in which a “Baby Ruth” candy bar ended up causing so much trouble.


I’m sure that you know what the movie we’re discussing is by now, but here’s one more clue.


“Caddyshack” was released in the summer of 1980, and starred Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael O’Keefe, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray.  The film was written by Douglas Kenney and Brian Doyle-Murray (who also had a minor role in the movie), and was the directing debut of Harold Ramis.  And what made the film stand out was that the plot was largely based on the real-life experiences of both the writer and director of the film.

For instance, you know the Baby Ruth scene that I showed you earlier?  That was based on a real-life incident that occurred at the high school that Doyle-Murray attended in his youth!  So, believe it or not, that scene was inspired by a true story!  Who would have thought it?


Truth be told, the whole plot of Caddyshack was based entirely on one of Doyle-Murray’s first jobs.  He worked as a caddy at a Illinois country club, and as it turned out, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray also had experience working as caddies.

TRIVIA:  I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now, but Brian Doyle-Murray and Bill Murray are brothers. 

I actually have a lot more trivia that I’ve found out about this movie, but I want to save that until the end of the blog.  For now, here’s a brief summary of the plot.


We’re introduced to Danny Noonan (O’Keefe), a teenager who is eager to get into college.  Problem is, his family can’t afford to send him, and his grades were too poor to get an academic scholarship.  His only hope was to get a job and raise the money himself.


So, he gets a job at Bushwood Country Club working as the caddy for Ty Webb (Chase), the playboy son of one of the club founders.  At first, the pairing worked great, as Ty taught Danny all about the finer things in life in between practicing trick shots.

But then Danny started to caddy for Judge Elihu Smails (Knight), the stuffy co-founder of the club.  The reason Danny did this was to seek the approval of Smails, in hopes of netting the Caddy Scholarship, which could make his dream of going to college a reality.

Soon, Danny is suddenly surrounded by Smails’ golfing group, which includes his obnoxious grandson, Spaulding, Bishop Fred Pickering, Dr. Beeper, and Smails’ niece, Lacey Underall, who is visiting for the summer.

At the same time, a subplot is happening which has Carl Spackler (Murray), the assistant of the Bushwood Country Club head greenskeeper searching for gophers...in particular one mischievous gopher who likes to dig tunnels underneath the green.

During a golf game, Smails is constantly picked on by the larger-than-life Al Czervik (Dangerfield), a real estate tycoon, who boasts that he will wager a thousand dollars that Smails will miss the putt.  Czernik’s loud speech attracts a crowd of spectators, which makes Smails incredibly nervous.  He misses the putt, and is so angry that...well...this happens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB0YmVrOPS0

Unfortunately, the clip cuts out before the end, but long story short, the club hits a woman, and Smails thinks that he will get in serious trouble.  But Danny, in an effort to get Smails to respect him, takes the blame.  Smails is impressed that Danny would do such a thing, and encourages him to apply for the Caddy Scholarship.  Shortly after that, Danny and his girlfriend Maggie are working as servers for the 4th of July banquet where Danny instantly takes notice of the sensuous Lacey.  Maggie warns Danny that Lacey is very promiscuous, but Danny doesn’t seem fazed by it.  In fact, Danny isn’t the only one who seems to be taken in by Lacey’s good looks, as Ty is also left smitten by Lacey.

Some time passes, and Danny ends up winning the Caddy Day golf championship, seemingly sealing the deal for his scholarship for school.  Smails is thrilled for Danny, and immediately invites him to the christening of his new yacht.  During the christening, Danny and Lacey slip away towards Smails house as Smails takes his new boat out for its maiden voyage.

Too bad it ended up being the LAST voyage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGD-tUsySPs

As if Smails day wasn’t bad enough, imagine his surprise when he arrives back home to see Lacey and Danny in bed together.  A furious Smails chases Danny around the room and tries to beat him up with a golf club!  Goodbye scholarship...

...but wait!  Smails decides to give Danny the scholarship anyway...provided that he didn’t say a word of the embarrassing incident involving Lacey to anybody.  And when Czervik announces his plan to buy the country club to erect condominiums on the site, Ty Webb comes up with the idea to have a golf match contest for $20,000.  Both men agree to the terms, and the competition goes ahead.  Czervik and Ty against Beeper and Smails.

But when Czervik ends up tanking terribly after nine holes, he realizes that if the match was to go on, his team would lose.  So he stages an accident which would force Ty to choose a replacement.

And Ty decided to choose Danny for his replacement, and Smails is not happy about it.  He even threatens to take away Danny’s scholarship if he went along with Ty’s request.

So, what’s a guy, who has an entire scholarship riding on this game to do?

Well, first off, watch the movie.  You’ll love it.  There’s even a twist in the ending that involves the gopher subplot that I’m sure that all of you will love.  Just trust me on this one.

So, that’s Caddyshack in a nutshell.  I’d recommend this movie highly, and if you can get around the adult humour, it really does have a great story to it.  Hey, if it can give me a new appreciation for the sport of golf, it has to be good, right?



Now, as promised, some trivia about Caddyshack, courtesy of Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia...

1 – The film took eleven weeks to shoot, taking place during the autumn of 1979.

2 – The scene in which Ty Webb’s golf ball crashes into Carl Spackler’s house was not originally included in the movie.  Ramis noticed that in Caddyshack, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray didn’t share one scene together, so he ended up adding it into the movie after the three met for lunch one day.

3 – This movie is the only movie that has Chevy Chase and Bill Murray sharing a scene...they reportedly were feuding back when both appeared as cast members on Saturday Night Live.


4 – Bill Murray’s Cinderella story scene was completely improvised.

5 – Cindy Morgan (who played Lacey) is legally blind without contact lenses or glasses, so there was some concern about the scene where she was to dive into a pool from the diving board.  Morgan climbed up the ladder to the board, but a stunt double was used for the actual dive itself.

6 – Tiger Woods has listed Caddyshack as one of his favourite movies of all time.  I wonder if he still feels that way considering the reports of how his marriage ended...

7 – If the gopher’s voice sounds familiar, it’s because the same sounds were used for the 1960s television series “Flipper”.

8 – The movie made almost $40 million at the box office.

9 – A sequel to Caddyshack was released in 1988, but wasn’t as successful as the original film.

10 – The main theme song for Caddyshack was the first of many film soundtrack appearances by singer Kenny Loggins, who also released songs for the soundtracks of “Top Gun” and “Footloose”.  To end this entry off, here’s the song from Caddyshack that he released.


ARTIST:  Kenny Loggins
SONG:  I’m Alright
ALBUM:  Caddyshack Motion Picture Soundtrack
RELEASE DATE:  September 1980
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #7