Remembering... Audra Lindley

She was, of course, unforgettable as Helen Roper, the over-sexed middle-aged landlady on Three's Company, which was itself a remake of the UK sitcom Man About The House. So memorable was Audra Lindley's chemistry with Norman Fell, in fact, that their characters were spun-off into another show The Ropers - which was itself a remake of UK sitcom George and Mildred, and which had itself been spun-off from Man About The House. Got all that?

The Ropers was also notable for costarring Jeffrey Tambor; despite the abundance of comedic talent, the show lasted just 28 episodes. Following the cancellation of The Ropers in 1979 Lindley had a memorable turn in the 1985 film Desert Hearts, and finally played Phoebe's grandmother on Friends.

What I didn't know was that she was also in Bridget Loves Bernie, an obscure bit of TV from the 1972-3 season that gave Meredith Baxter Birney her first break, or that she'd appeared on Another World, playing Liz Matthews for six years from early on (1964-69).

To me, though, she'll always be Mrs. Roper. Though she was clearly in the show initially for comic relief, she rapidly became its heart and soul, exuding warmth and humour as she connived with Jack, Janet, and Chrissy, to put one over on Mr. Roper in episode after episode.

Born on this day in 1913, when Audra Lindley died of leukemia in October 1997 she was still working, appearing on Cybill. She was survived by her husband, actor James Whitmore, and five children by her first marriage to Dr. Hardy Ulm, to whom she was married from 1943-60.
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Phil Hartman: Gone But Not Forgotten

It's amazing the stuff you learn when blogging. Today I learned that, even when what you know about someone is impressive, you can always learn something new about them that makes them more impressive still...

For instance, today I learned that Phil Hartman was Canadian, born on this day in 1948, although his family moved to the US when he was 9. He was fluent in German, which always impresses me, mainly because it's my least favourite language; I have to admire the intestinal fortitude of anyone who dares to speak it. He was also a graphic designer who created the iconic line drawing of a running horse on the Poco album Legend.

Phil Hartman has long been my favourite cast member from Saturday Night Live; on a show renowned for the talent and variety of its performers, Hartman was clearly the most talented, the most varied of them all. Whether doing an impersonation (Reagan, Sinatra, Clinton) or a character of his own (the recurring Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the one-off - and my personal favourite - Suzan, or a score of others) his commitment and focus were admirable. When he left after eight seasons his tenure was then the longest of any cast member to date.

Hartman's considerable gifts were also well-used on The Simpsons, where he memorably voiced both Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz. He played Captain Carl on Pee-wee's Playhouse. He added to the pool of talent on Newsradio and made a couple of brilliant appearances on 3rd Rock from the Sun; a cliffhanger on that show had to be re-written to accommodate his untimely death.

In May 1998 his evil bitch of a wife murdered him before killing herself (at the time she was also drunk, coked off her tits, and taking Zoloft); she's now burning in Hell, the world has been deprived of his many gifts, their children are orphans, and as you can tell I'm still bitter.
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Happy Birthday Steve Whitmire

Steve Whitmire was ten years old the first time he wrote to Jim Henson; amazingly (or not, considering) Henson wrote him back. Thus began a long and distinguished career for Whitmire which, given his relative youth, is still in its prime.

Whether on The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, or in any of the scores of movies and other projects in which the Muppets have appeared, Whitmire has brought his particular verve and love of puppetry to everything he does.

Currently the voice of Kermit the Frog, Whitmire's other characters include Rizzo the Rat, Wembley Fraggle, and Andy Pig. He has also taken over the characters of Beaker, Ernie, and Statler, which were created by others.
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"Bein' Green" by Kermit the Frog

Seeing as today would have been Jim Henson's birthday (as well as being Steve Whitmire's) a little Kermit the Frog is in order. Of course, I could just as easily say 'seeing as the sun came out today' or 'seeing as I woke up today'; every day a little Kermit is in order.

Bein' Green was written by Joe Raposo for the first season of Sesame Street in 1969 - which is where this performance comes from - and it has since become Kermit's theme song.
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In Memoriam: F. Scott Fitzgerald

In a way it seems apt that he excelled at short fiction, for the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald was both short and a brilliant fiction itself...

The ease with which he moved among the idle rich belied the fact that he needed to be anything but idle in order to be rich enough to pay for merely the appearance of wealth. Throughout the 1920s, while still productive, he produced an extraordinary array of short stories, and three novels: in 1920 This Side of Paradise, from 1922 The Beautiful and the Damned, and in 1925 his masterpiece The Great Gatsby.

By the 1930s, of course, the decade-long party of the Jazz Age was over, the cafes to which Cafe Society had flocked all shuttered; his wife Zelda's descent into madness and his own alcoholism seemed to mirror the Great Depression into which the nation had fallen, and henceforth there was never enough money or time to revive the early promise he'd shown.

Born on this day in 1896, Fitzgerald died in December 1940.
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In Case You Missed It...

...the lyrics to the previous song.

Load up on guns
Bring your friends
Its fun to lose
And to pretend
Shes overboard
Myself assured
I know I know
A dirty word

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

Im worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea
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"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

As difficult as it may seem to believe, my musical taste was not always as broad as it is now...

For instance, I didn't like Nirvana when the Nevermind album was released, on this day in 1991. As was so often the case back then, if the fans of a given band frightened me, I tended to stay away from both the fans and the band. And in those days, nothing frightened me more than the very scary people who were raving about Nirvana.

In my defense, at that time I was living in Kelowna, where most of the radio stations were talk AM, and the only FM station played extreme easy listening*. I also didn't have Muchmusic then, and so all I listened to was Madonna, whatever cassettes I could afford to buy, and the music that got played one night a month at the local gay dance.

It wasn't until I saw Nirvana on MTV Unplugged that I got what everyone else was going on about. It was only a short while later, of course, that Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

I get it now, though, and Smells Like Teen Spirit is seldom off my iPod these days.

*I mean, like, Mantovani's version of Anne Murray's hits... Pure elevator music.
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