Jane Kean: The Other Trixie
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
What better autograph and celebrity encounter to share on Valentine’s Day than a star of the most romantic comedy ever to come down the pike – The Honeymooners! Jane Kean was the fourth and final actress to play the role of Trixie Norton on The Jackie Gleason Show when the show moved to Miami Beach. She remained in the show for the small handful of reunion specials in the 1970’s as well. Admittedly, the later color shows were inferior to the Classic 39 and earlier episodes from Gleason’s show. But the fact that this is one of my all-time favorite series made her autograph highly desirable, even before I had actually been able to revisit these Miami Beach episodes when a handful were finally released in 2006. Two more sets are on the way too, and I’m excited.
Dad decided to take Denise and me on a vacation during July of 1991. He had always been fond of the white sands of the Florida panhandle so we decided on a stay in Panama City Beach. We brought along our cousin Susan to help keep Denise occupied. I can’t remember a whole heck of a lot about the trip except I was anxious to get away for a week. Christi had moved into our house temporarily and even though I left for the week, she was mostly staying there with Ashleigh. 
The Spring brought forth new life for our family. Carolyn, Ashleigh, and I were all comfortable gliding into our time together. Ashleigh’s 11th birthday came on Wednesday, March 21. Since this is smack dab in the middle of the week, I’m not sure if we celebrated early or late, but we allowed Ashleigh to have a gathering of her friends over for a slumber party. Like always, Carolyn went all out to make this a special party, decorating, and making two cakes. 
Even with my somewhat limited knowledge of the Laurel and Hardy canon in 1980, I was especially excited to get to meet Rosina Lawrence when we went to the Hollywood ’80 Sons of the Desert convention. She was best-known to me as playing the lead role of Mary Roberts in one of L&H’s best films Way Out West. She also played schoolteacher Miss Jones in several of the Our Gang films including the Academy Award winner Bored of Education and their only feature film General Spanky.