Great and good friend of the blog Borepatch, who has probably forgotten more about popular music than I know, sent over a couple of obits that I missed.
Bonnie Guitar passed away in January at the age of 95.
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And Sanger D. “Whitey” Shafer also died in January. He was perhaps most famous for writing “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” and “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind”.
Tribute from “Austin City Limits”. Obit from Saving Country Music. Obit from WFAA.
Frank Robinson, who became the first black manager in MLB when he took over the Cleveland Indians:
Robinson made his debut as the majors’ first black manager with the Cleveland Indians on April 8, 1975, 28 years after Jackie Robinson (no relation) first took the field with the Dodgers. Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s widow, threw out the ceremonial first ball.
Frank Robinson, who was still an active player, punctuated the historic occasion by hitting a home run in his first at-bat, as the designated hitter, leading the Indians to a 5-3 victory over the Yankees.
Remember, folks: when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have frozen pork chops.
(Hattip for the submission: Mike the Musicologist. We also would have accepted his suggested title: “Roald Dahl, call your office, please.” even though that’s not quite technically accurate. Hattip for the title.)
Also by way of Mike:
Boston cop on leave after service weapon allegedly stolen by strippers
Strippers. Always the strippers.
Note that the arrest report values the Glock at $5,000. Should we be calling the unnamed police officer “The Man With the Golden Gun” from now on?
Autopsy: Man died of meth overdose before being eaten by bear at national park
Drugs are bad, kids. Mm’kay?
This one goes out to Borepatch and Weer’d Beard: Jacqueline Steiner, who co-wrote “M.T.A.”. That song (also known as “Charlie on the M.T.A.”) later became a huge hit for the Kingston Trio:
Thing I did not know: it was originally written for a guy running for mayor in 1949. He only got one percent of the vote, and was later blacklisted as a Communist.
Also among the dead: Albert J. “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap, notorious corporate raider.
By way of Lawrence, THR obit for Julie Adams.
Edited to add: NYT obit.
She was most famous for “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (which I still haven’t seen). But her list of credits is extensive, including “McQ” and “The Last Movie”.
And she did a whole bunch of TV work: Jimmy Stewart’s wife on “The Jimmy Stewart Show”, guest shots on “Perry Mason”, “Ironside”, “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”…
…and “Mannix”. (“Then the Drink Takes the Man”, “Little Girl Lost”). And she was the drunken wife of the dead scientist in the “Mr. R.I.N.G” episode of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker“.
(Oddly enough, she came up in passing Saturday night. The main topic of discussion was the annoying (to me, anyway) tendency of “Kolchak”‘s writers to kill off the more attractive women. The hot girl in the bathing suit in “Firefall”, the lab worker in “The Energy Eater”, the Air Force captain in “Legacy of Terror”, etc.)
As an administrative side note: I’ve been thinking about posting this for a while, but finally decided to make it explicit. If your IMDB credits include an entry for “Mannix”, you will automatically get an obit watch entry here. Please feel free to contact me with any omissions.
This one goes out to Mike the Musicologist: Sanford Sylvan, noted baritone. He did a lot of work with John Adams: among other roles, he was the first Chou En-lai in “Nixon in China” and Leon Klinghoffer in “The Death of Klinghoffer”.
Finally, Captain Rosemary Mariner, United States Navy (ret.). She was one of the first six women to go through naval flight training, the first to fly an attack jet, and the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. She also had a leading role in removing the restrictions on women flying combat missions.
When she retired from the Navy in 1997, Captain Mariner “had become one of the nation’s leading advocates for equal opportunity in the military,” Deborah G. Douglas wrote in “American Women and Flight since 1940” (2005).
Captain Mariner logged 17 landings on aircraft carriers and more than 3,500 flight hours in 15 different aircraft.
Lawrence sent me the “Variety” obit for character actor Dick Miller.
He was hella prolific. Among his credits: the pawn shop guy in “The Terminator”, the sleezy land developer in the original “Piranha”, “Gremlins”, “Chopping Mall”, “Twilight Zone: The Movie”…
…and a lot of TV guest shots, including “Police Squad!” (“In Color!”), “Dragnet 1967”, and, yes, “Mannix” (“Falling Star”, “The Cost of a Vacation”).
He also appeared in “W*A*L*T*E*R”, which is one of those curious side notes in television history.
Speaking of curious side notes, Meshulam Riklis passed away a few days ago at the age of 95. He was a prominent financier, but became somewhat famous in the 1980s for what happened after he married his second wife…
…Pia Zadora.
His devotion to Ms. Zadora included inviting Golden Globe Awards voters to private screenings of “Butterfly” (1982), a film he produced for her, and promoted her candidacy in a media campaign — all for someone considered a lightweight competing with the likes of Kathleen Turner, Howard E. Rollins Jr. and Elizabeth McGovern for best new star of the year in a motion picture.
When Ms. Zadora won the award — a shock in Hollywood and beyond — it was assumed that Mr. Riklis had somehow engineered her victory, although he and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which runs the Golden Globes, denied the accusation.
Mary Boyd Higgins, trustee of the Wilhelm Reich estate and legacy.
When she was appointed trustee, in March 1959, Ms. Higgins had her work cut out for her.
She quickly discovered that most of Dr. Reich’s personal papers, which he had wanted sealed for 50 years before anyone could see them, had been stolen; she had to start litigation to retrieve them. He wanted his Maine property turned into a museum; she would need to become an expert in museum design. She also studied copyright law in seeking to have his books republished.
I wasn’t originally going to post this, but then it occurred to me that this obit gives me a flimsy excuse to embed this video:
Russell Baker, Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the NYT.
Kaye Ballard, noted actress.
I apologize for giving these short shrift, but Ms. Ballard was before my time.
I also want to call out this one, not out of any malice or ill will, but because when you read the details in the obit, it’s kind of disturbing: Brandon Truaxe, “the founder of the disruptive Canadian cosmetics company Deciem”.
If you need help, please don’t be ashamed to ask for it. Anyone who would shame you for needing help…well, their opinions don’t matter.
Bob Sutton out as defensive coordinator for Kansas City.
To steal a riff from Tuesday Morning Quarterback, “Sure, you got us to the AFC championship game and into overtime against New England. But what have you done for us lately?”
To steal a riff from TMQ Watch: “Gave up two touchdowns at the end of regulation and failed to stop New England in overtime.”
Tony Mendez, legendary CIA officer.
He was most famous for his role in smuggling six US diplomats out of Iran during the hostage crisis.
Before their rescue, the six had managed to escape from a building near the American Embassy. They were sheltered and protected for two months by Canadian diplomats, including the country’s ambassador to Iran, Kenneth D. Taylor, who helped engineer their rescue.
Canadian and American officials were trying to figure out how to get them out when Mr. Mendez devised the elaborate plan that would carry the day. He had them pose as a Canadian film crew scouting for a place in Tehran to shoot a movie. He supplied them with fake Canadian identities and instructed them in the proper mind-set to pass through armed Iranian security; and he led the way, pretending to be the crew’s production manager.
As I’m sure everyone knows, this became the basis for the movie “Argo“. He also wrote several books (the only one I’ve read is “Argo”) and has another one forthcoming.
Some of the six State Department employees whom Mr. Mendez had escorted to safety, euphemistically called “houseguests,” said in emails to his wife that he was the bravest man they had ever known.
“Not a surprise that Tony slipped away quietly,” two of them, Mark Lijek and Cora Amburn-Lijek, wrote. “What else would you expect from the master of disguise?”
I’m not going to do a full Lawrence here, but I want to mention a couple of interesting things I’ve found at Half-Price Books recently:
Not much to say about this one: anybody who knows me well, or even regularly reads this blog, understands why I had to pick this one up.
Spoiler: that “bizarre menace” is…LSD.
I actually already have, and have read, The Ravens, and rather liked it. (Christoper Robbins also wrote Air America, which the Robert Downey Jr./Mel Gibson movie was based on.) But prices on this seem to be all over the place, and I thought it might be worth taking a flyer on for $7.99…
…and then I took a look at the title page:
If you can’t read it, this appears to have been signed to somebody named “Chris” by multiple former Ravens. I think this is kind of nifty, and will probably hang onto this copy. (I might flip the other one.) I don’t think the “Chris” in question is the author, as he died in London in 2012, and his bio doesn’t say anything about military service. I suspect there’s a sad story behind this ending up at HPB that I don’t really want to think about, but I hope wherever “Chris” is, he knows that someone values his book.
Also, just to drive one or two of my friends crazy: I picked up some more Jack O’Connor. The two volume Hunting on Three Continents, which I found for $14.99 (minus 20% because it was after Christmas), and the Jim Casada edited The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor. which I probably overpaid for. But both are in mint shape. I actually do not remember if I already have Lost Classics, but if I find it in one of the boxes I’ll flip it. I know I didn’t have Three Continents previously: that was a real find.
Probably the next thing I’m going to curl up with, though, is Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour which was a Christmas gift from my beloved and indulgent sister.
I wanted to give the Carol Channing obit a chance to shake out before posting it. I’m kind of glad I did: now they’re leading off the obit with the Hirschfeld drawing, which fills me with delight down to the bottom of my coal black heart.
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As Lawrence pointed out to me yesterday, she was also in “Skidoo“. (Honest to Ghu, I thought that had been released on Criterion, but apparently not.)
This one goes out to my friend Todd: Alan R. Pearlman, synthesizer pioneer and founder of ARP Instruments.
ARP’s analog synthesizers — particularly the compact, portable ARP Odyssey, introduced in 1972 — grew ubiquitous in pop and electronic music. By the mid-1970s, ARP was the leading synthesizer manufacturer, commanding 40 percent of the market and outselling its predecessors and competitors, Moog and Buchla.
ARP sounds were central to numerous songs, including Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein,” Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon,” Kraftwerk’s “The Robots,” Underworld’s “Rez,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds” and the early-1980s version of the theme to the television series “Doctor Who.”
The five-note signature motif of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was played on an ARP 2500 synthesizer, which is seen in the film. An ARP 2600, mixed with natural sounds, provided the voice of R2-D2 in the first “Star Wars” movie.
Carlos Sánchez, best known as Juan Valdez in the commercials for Colombian coffee.
(Hattip on this to my beloved and indulgent sister-in-law.)