"I was thinkin' of growing a moustache, but they don't let you wear 'em at Annapolis." - Eddie Haskell, "Leave It to Beaver"
While certainly not the biggest celebrity I’ve ever met, I always did enjoy the performance and good-natured sarcasm of Hal Sparks when he hosted E!’s Talk Soup following the departure of Greg Kinnear when he went on to bigger and better things. I was able to greet Mr. Sparks without incident following his appearance on stage during the reading of Casablanca for the Actors Fund on October 2, 2005 at the Pantages Theater. Read the rest of this entry »
Woodrow Wilson certainly ranks at the top when it comes to the effectiveness of our United States Presidents. As the 28th leader of our country, Wilson came from a devout Presbyterian family and was a noted intellectual and the president of Princeton University. He authored more than fifteen books, one being about President George Washington in one of the very few writings by a President about a President. With William Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected in 1912 and guided the country through its first major crisis since the Civil War – leading us to victory in the Great War and in the meantime, being elected for a second term.
The Summer of 1976 was over and my Mom wanted me the hell out of the house. Okay, it probably wasn’t that drastic, but she did try to get me in to Kindergarten that Fall because she felt that I was in desperate need of a challenge. My birthday, being on October 2, was two days over the deadline to get into school, so I needed to be tested to see if I was ready to be enrolled early. I passed every test with flying colors, except for one thing: I cried for my Mom when they took me in to be tested. I had never done that before (at least since I was a toddler) and never did it again to my knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »
William Janney was the dramatic leading man in Laurel and Hardy’s 1934 feature film Bonnie Scotland. Never mind that his scenes as the romatic interest to starlet June Lang were more-or-less distractions to the boys’ comedy in the picture – that’s not his fault. He was there working alongside the boys and that’s enough to thrill any film buff including me. Other than his work with Laurel and Hardy, his film career mostly entailed bit parts and b-pictures, but I am still thrilled to say that I once was able to meet William Janney. Read the rest of this entry »