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Oh My Gosh, It’s Robert Pirosh
April Fool’s Day birth notwithstanding Robert Pirosh (1910-1989) may have been the least characteristic and least-suited writer the Marx Brothers ever had. A former advertising copywriter, as well as...
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The Descent of Denise Nickerson
Denise Nickerson (1957-2019), or, as some clever soul might contract it, “D’ickerson”, is surely best known as the child actress who played Violet Beauregarde, the obnoxious gum-chewing child who...
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The Hard Boiled Haggerty Centennial
I think it would be really funny if some terrible and yet physically rambunctious actor claimed to have studied at HB Studio, but the H.B. turned out to stand not for Herbert Berghof, but for Hard...
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A Tip of the Hat to Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born 220 years ago today, and died 150 years ago this year — now would seem a propitious time to add him to our annals. I love the photo above! “Action” photos...
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Happy International Children’s Book Day
I just learned from researching my new post on Hans Christian Andersen that (on account of his birthday) April 2 is celebrated as International Children’s Book Day. In honor of the day, I have created...
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Dead Man’s Curve: The Jan and Dean Story
The Jan and Dean saga deserves remembrance, not just because their binary star rates a bona fide place of significance in the pop firmament, but because theirs is a good yarn, with the same kind of...
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The Upcoming Revolution Re-Enactment
So…the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution is coming up in just a couple of weeks. Remember? The war started at Lexington and Concord, over a year before the signing of the Declaration of...
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The Other John Brown
John Brown (1904-1957) was a beloved comedy character actor in his own time, and a bit of a legend in the biz, though his name has gone unremembered, largely one imagines because he shares it with a...
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My New Profile in The Queens Gazette!
Taken at Grove 34, Astoria, Last Week I got a pleasant surprise (well…pleasant, but not a surprise) this morning when I grabbed a copy of the Queens Gazette and saw that my profile/interview had...
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Zeppo from A to Zed
You don’t know with what pleasure I rode through New York on buses and trains this past Tuesday (April 1), conspicuously reading Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother in hopes that some stranger would...
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