Angela Lansbury. THR. Appreciation. Variety.
Everybody has something to say about this, and I don’t have anything profound to add.
Obit watch: October 12, 2022.
October 12th, 2022Headline of the day.
October 11th, 2022Obit watch: October 11, 2022.
October 11th, 2022Austin Stoker, actor. Other credits include “Riding with Death” (“Dimwitted, meaty guy foils criminals by turning invisible.”), “Airwolf”, “Lou Grant”, “Chopper One”, “McCloud”, and “Airport 1975”.
Lawrence sent over an obit from Publisher’s Weekly for Jill Pinkwater, author, illustrator, and spouse of Daniel Pinkwater.
Eileen Ryan. Credits include “Eight Legged Freaks”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Cannon”, and “Marcus Welby, M.D.”.
NYT obit for Nikki Finke, just for the record.
Firings watch.
October 10th, 2022Matt Rhule deposed as head coach of the Carolina Panthers, in the first NFL coach firing this season.
…
As with the offensive coordinator dilemma, Rhule never identified a long-term, efficient quarterback. The team signed journeyman Teddy Bridgewater to lead the offense in 2020, but he was traded to the Denver Broncos following a 5-11 debut season under Rhule.
The Panthers traded three draft picks to the New York Jets for former first-round pick Sam Darnold last offseason. Darnold faltered as the franchise QB in Carolina, as he did in New York, and the Panthers remained on the hook for his salary through this season after picking up his fifth-year option following the trade to acquire him.
This summer, the Panthers tried to upgrade the QB spot by trading for former first overall pick Baker Mayfield. Through five games, Mayfield has struggled mightily, completing just 54.9% of his passes for 962 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.
Obit watch: October 10, 2022.
October 10th, 2022Anton Fier, noted drummer.
His career rose to new heights in the mid-1980s: He toured with the jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock following Mr. Hancock’s 1984 pop-funk crossover hit “Rockit,” and played on Laurie Anderson’s acclaimed 1984 album, “Mister Heartbreak.”
By that point his musical ambitions could not be contained behind the drum kit, so Mr. Fier formed the Golden Palominos, an ever-evolving indie-rock supergroup that attracted a parade of guest stars, including Michael Stipe, John Lydon and Richard Thompson, through the rest of the 1980s and into the ’90s.
Peter Robinson, crime writer. (“…DCI Alan Banks, hero of a series of Yorkshire-set novels that spanned 35 years and sold more than 10 million copies.”)
Douglas Kirkland, celebrity photographer.
(Hattip on the previous two to Lawrence.)
Nikki Finke, founder of Deadline.com.
At L.A. Weekly, Finke headed its Deadline Hollywood Daily column from 2002-09. In 2006, she launched Deadline Hollywood Daily, an around-the-clock online version, and became a key source of news surrounding the 2007 WGA strike.
That year, The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter wrote that Finke’s blog had “become a critical forum for Hollywood news and gossip, known for analyzing (in sometimes insulting terms) the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of moguls,” with her reporting on the strike ultimately solidifying “her position as a Hollywood power broker.”
She went on to sell the site to Penske Media for $100 million in 2009.
Speaking to her legacy and that of Deadline‘s in a 10-year anniversary post for the publication, she wrote that the concept behind her original blog — using a URL purchased for “14 bucks and change” — was to get breaking news out faster than she could with her column.
“I didn’t set out to be a disruptor,” she wrote. “Or an internet journalist who created something out of nothing that put the Hollywood trades back on their heels, and today, under Penske Media ownership, is a website worth $100+ million. Or a woman with brass balls, attitude and ruthless hustle who told hard truths about the moguls and who accurately reported scoops first.”
Hoplobibliophilia, finishing the catch-up (for now).
October 7th, 2022What was that some jerk said about “you know you have a problem when you start buying bibliographies“?
About that…
Firings watch.
October 7th, 2022Mike Matheny out as general manager of the Kansas City Royals.
Also out: pitching coach Cal Eldred.
While they avoided a 100-loss season, the Royals (65-97) finished in last place in the AL Central and recorded the fifth-worst record of any club in the majors. They went an MLB-worst 26-55 on the road.
Matheny inherited a 103-loss team in 2019. In his first season, the Royals went 26-34 playing a pandemic-shortened 2020 schedule.
The Royals went 74-88 last season after adding veteran pitcher Mike Minor, first baseman Carlos Santana and left fielder Andrew Benintendi.
ESPN:
Obit watch: October 7, 2022.
October 7th, 2022Charles Fuller, playwright. He won a Pulitzer in 1982 for “A Soldier’s Play” (which was later adapted for film as “A Soldier’s Story”).
Günter Lamprecht, German actor.
IMDB. For the record, he was in “Das Boot”.
Gun book post tomorrow.
October 6th, 2022Just ran out of time today to get it up. I’m sure some of my readers will be happy I’m skipping a day, but I have a really nice one I want to document…
Obit watch: October 6, 2022.
October 6th, 2022Kitten Natividad, Russ Meyer star. (Alt link.)
Mr. Meyer also fell for Ms. Natividad, who was married at the time, and they began a relationship that lasted for the rest of the 1970s. And he made her the star of his next movie, which would be his final feature film: “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens” (1979).
The movie is often described as Mr. Meyer’s riff on “Our Town” — for instance, it employed an onscreen narrator named “The Man From Small Town U.S.A.” Ms. Natividad plays a woman whose husband’s preoccupation with anal sex leaves her sexually frustrated.
Critics didn’t have much good to say about the movie, which Mr. Meyer wrote with Mr. Ebert.
Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune, Mr. Ebert’s television partner on the film review show then known as “Sneak Previews,” wrote that Mr. Meyer’s “Vixen,” released in 1968, had been “an enjoyable nudie film because it featured the first joyfully aggressive woman we’d seen in a skin flick.” But he added, “Meyer hasn’t grown up in 10 years; if anything, he’s deteriorated.”
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In 1973 she won the Miss Nude Universe title in San Bernardino, Calif.
She was dancing at the Classic Cat, a club in Hollywood, when a fellow dancer, Shari Eubank, who had starred in the 1975 Meyer film “Supervixens,” suggested she introduce herself to the director. She is said to have done so by poking him in the back with her bare breasts.
…
IMDB, probably not safe for work. (In case you were wondering: “Bouncy Topless Woman on Plane (uncredited)”. Also “Airplane II” as “Woman in ‘Moral Majority’ Shirt (uncredited)”.)
Laurence Silberman, noted judge and legal scholar. Lawrence sent over a nice obit from the Volokh Conspiracy.
Pop culture programming note.
October 6th, 2022I usually don’t do this, but I’m making an exception today. I know that there are some readers of this blog (including one prominent blogger) who are “Perry Mason” fans.
Tomorrow morning’s re-run on MeTV is “The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor“, which is my personal favorite from the run.
Why?
- The episode is set at a hunting and fishing club. “Perry Mason” is pretty good about guns in general (for reasons) and it is nice to see gun usage (not just hunting, but defensive carry) treated as perfectly normal and reasonable.
- The plot of the episode boils down to: a friend of Hamilton Burger is charged with murder, and Burger asks Perry to defend him. Which is a twist…
- …but it’s a good twist. This is one of the episodes that attempts to humanize Hamilton, and more or less succeeds. There’s a nice scene between Hamilton and Perry, where Hamilton explains why the accused is so important to him. It’s a good character moment: I wish the writers had been a little more consistent about Burger through the rest of the series.
If you happen to be in a position to watch this episode, and haven’t, I encourage you to do so.
And yet another dose of hoplobibliophilia.
October 4th, 2022A while back, great and good FotB (and official trainer to WCD) Karl Rehn introduced me to the work of the Snub Gun Study Group. From there, I learned about Stephen A. Camp.