Remembering The Passed

Remembering The Village Voice, Jay Thomas, Tobe Hooper, Felo Ramirez, Bea Wain

For 62 years, The Village Voice was New York City’s premier alternative newspaper. It featured stories uncovering corruption, classified ads, and the writings of such luminaries as Nat Hentoff and Norman Mailer, as well as the drawings of Jules Feiffer.

Jay Thomas was the disc jockey turned comedian turned actor who was featured on a number of television shows, and had a prominent turn with Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995). Tobe Hooper was the groundbreaking horror film director responsible for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Poltergeist (1982). Felo Ramirez was the legendary Hispanic baseball announcer, who called games for 72 years. Bea Wain was one of the last female singers to accompany the Big Bands of the 1940’s.

Remembering Jerry Lewis, Barbara Cook, Dick Gregory

Jerry Lewis was one of the most recognizable show business figures in America for over seven decades. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s he was paired with Dean Martin as one of the most popular duos in show business. Then he became a solo act and starred in his own brand of comedy movie. Finally, he was the face of the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon from the 1960’s until 2011. Barbara Cook was the lyric soprano who started on Broadway in the 1950’s and became one of the leading interpreters of the songs of Stephen Sondheim and a top cabaret singer as well. Dick Gregory was the African-American comedian discovered by Hugh Hefner in the early 1960’s. Gregory went onto become a well-known activist and civil rights supporter.

Remembering Haruo Nakajima, Joe Bologna, Don Baylor, Frank Broyles, Betty Cuthbert, Yisrael Kristal

Haruo Nakajima donned a heavy rubber suit to play one of the movies’ most recognizable monsters, Godzilla. Joe Bologna was the handsome actor best known for playing the Sid Caesar character King Kaiser in the 1982 comedy/drama My Favorite Year (1982). Don Baylor was one of the keys to several Major League teams. He won the MVP Award in 1979, and the Manager of the Year Award in 1995, the only person to do so. Frank Broyles was the longtime football coach and then athletic director at the University of Arkansas. His team won the National Championship in 1964. Betty Cuthbert was the Australian track star who won three gold medals in Melbourne in 1956 and a fourth in Tokyo in 1964. At 113, Yisrael Kristal was the oldest living man and oldest living Holocaust survivor.

Remembering Jeanne Moreau, Ty Hardin, Geoff Mack, Drs. Ted Stanley and Jacob Samuel

Jeanne Moreau was one of the great French actresses of the 20th Century. Her breakout role was in Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim (1962), often voted one of the best international films ever made. Ty Hardin was the rugged cowboy actor who starred in the Warner Brothers television Western “Bronco” (1958-1962). Geoff Mack was the Australian songwriter who penned the classic country tune “I’ve Been Everywhere”, popularized by Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and Lynn Anderson. Dr. Ted Stanley was the anesthesiologist at the University of Utah who developed the fentanyl lollipop, used as a tool to calm children in the emergency room and operating room. Dr. Jacob Samuel was the brilliant intensive care physician at Cook County Hospital for nearly 30 years.

Remembering Cena, Sam Shepard, Ara Parseghian, D.L. Menard

Cena was the bomb sniffing black Labrador that served three tours with the Marines in Afghanistan. He retired in 2014 and for his heroic service he was given a military funeral with full honors. Sam Shepard was the multitalented playwright, actor, author and musician. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his play Buried Child. He is best known for his Academy Award nominated portrayal of military pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. Ara Parseghian was one of the era’s top football coaches, first at Miami of Ohio, then at Northwestern and finally at Notre Dame, where he won two national championships. At Notre Dame, he is second in all-tie wins behind Knute Rockne. D. L. Menard was the “Cajun Hank Williams”. His wrote and performed the song “The Back Door”, one of the most popular and best-selling Cajun melodies.

Remembering June Foray, Margaret “Gretel” Bergmann-Lambert

June Foray was the rarely seen, but often-heard voice of many cartoon characters. She was the voice of among others, Grammi Gummi for Disney, Granny for Warner Brothers, Cindy Lou who, and Dudley Do-Right’s girlfriend Nell Fenwick. She occasionally did voices for television shows and it was she that was heard as the doll Talking Tina in the memorable 1963 Twilight Zone episode starring Telly Savalas (she was also the voice of the original Chatty Cathy doll). Unquestionably her most famous voice-over was as Rocky The Flying Squirrel for The rocky and Bullwinkle Show (where she also did the voice of the spy Natasha Fatale). Margaret Lambert (her prewar maiden name was Gretel Bergman) was the greatest female high jumper in pre-war Germany. Her jump of 5’3” was a German record and would have been good enough for Olympic gold in 1936, but she was banned form participating in the Berlin Games because she was Jewish.

Remembering Glen Campbell

Glen Campbell came form Southwestern Arkansas to become a hit recording artist, one of the most popular television hosts of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and an actor in True Grit (1969). He won many country music awards and several Grammys and is unquestionably the finest interpreter of the Jimmy Webb songbook. However, he is underappreciated as perhaps the most versatile guitarist of our generation, one of the masters of both rock and country guitar, and did as much as anyone to fuse the two genres. He was a celebrated member of the Los Angeles studio group, The Wrecking Crew, with whom he played on many of the most well-known hit records of the 1960’s. He stood in for Brian Wilson on tour for the Beach Boys, played for Elvis and Frank Sinatra, and also with the country greats including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Bob Wills, and Willie Nelson. No other guitarist can claim to have played with such a diverse set of artists.

Remembering Snooty, John Heard, Chester Bennington, John Kundla, Bob Wolff

Snooty, the oldest manatee in captivity, died after his 69th birthday party. He came to the Bradenton Aquarium in 1949 and entertained over one million visitors. John Heard was the handsome actor who played Macaulay Culkin’s father in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2 (1992). He also did a tour-de force role in the art house movie Cutter’s Way (1981). Chester Bennington was the front man for the successful California rock band Linkin Park. John Kundla was one of the first great NBA coaches with the Minneapolis Lakers. He won five NBA titles in six years. Bob Wolff was a national sportscaster for 75 years who called Don Larsen’s perfect game in the1956 World Series and the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

Remembering George Romero, Martin Landau, Babe Parilli

George Romero was the director of the 1968 low-budget horror film, Night of The Living Dead. Although the film was a black-and-white film shot with no stars in Pittsburgh, it became a cult classic and then spawned many other zombie films, including some directed by Romero. Martin Landau was the actor known for his versatility who first came to prominence in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, North by Northwest (1959). He is best known for his role in the 1960’s television series “Mission Impossible”, and in later life he won a best supporting actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s 1994 film Ed Wood. Babe Parilli was one of the great quarterbacks for the Boston Patriots in the early days of the American Football League. He also led Bear Bryant’s University of Kentucky football teams to three consecutive bowl appearances in the early 1950’s.

Remembering Liu Xiaobo, Gene Conley, Geri Allen, Bertha The Hippo

Liu Xiaobo was the Chinese activist who won the Nobel Peace prize in 2010 for his opposition to the repression of the Communist Chinese government. He first came to prominence during the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, and was jailed by the government four separate times including during the time he was supposed to accept the Nobel Prize. Gene Conley was a Major League pitcher and NBA player who became the only man to win a World Series (1957 Milwaukee Braves) and an NBA title (three with the Boston Celtics). Geri Allen was a jazz pianist and jazz composer who worked with some of the most prominent names in jazz. Bertha the Hippo was the world’s oldest surviving hippopotamus, who came to the Manila Zoo in 1959.