Geri Jewell, Cousin of Blair
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Okay, I’ll admit I was always a bit uncomfortable whenever Cousin Geri would show up at Leland Girls School on the TV series The Facts of Life. Her character was the cousin of teen socialite Blair Warner. Geri looked different and acted different because she had cerebral palsy…for real. But I can’t help but admire the producers of the show for bringing this disease into the public eye and at the same time give a chance to a talented comedienne with an alarming disability. Read the rest of this entry »
Rob Bradford was certainly one of the nicest guys in the whole elementary school. In fact, he was probably a little too nice for the likes of me. But that notwithstanding, I went through periods of time during my days at Fairbrook Elementary when Rob and I were the best of friends. In fact, I’d say that he was probably about my best friend during our fifth grade year in Mrs. Owens’ class, where we had become the two resident chubby boys. And with the short similar names, people were always getting us confused with each other. 
So who doesn’t love The Brady Bunch– either openly or secretly? I was actually a little later than some of my friends at getting into the series, not having watched my first episodes after school until about 1983 or so. But I quickly got hooked on the corny adventures of America’s favorite family with afros. I felt like I was right there being cool with Greg, being a loser with Peter, getting in the way with Bobby, drooling over Marcia, wanting Jan to fail miserably, and being protective of little Cindy. 
Many uneducated laymen may think that Rose Marie’s career began with her role as wisecracking Sally Rogers in The Dick Van Dyke Show, but in fact her original moniker was Baby Rose Marie, performing in vaudeville, radio, and short and feature films. One short bore the eponymous title Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder. She even starred in the W.C. Fields vehicle International House. 
OK, there aren’t many gals who I’ve known in my life that would take too kindly to being strangled by me, as seen at left in a photo taken in early 2000. But Sarah Boian was obviously quite good-natured and good-humored. In fact, she was one of my very favorite people to work with. I began working in the front office with Sarah at the beginning of 1998 when I first transferred to the Kroger on Forrer Blvd. This store closed a month later and we were transferred to the new Dorothy Lane Store. For the next two years, I had the pleasure of working with Sarah in that store until I transferred to Xenia in 2000.