On A Pale Horse

The inspiration for Neil Simon's 'The Odd Couple', one of my favorite shows and movies, passed away on Tuesday, July 26th of heart failure. Simon who was the older brother of Neil was an accomplished writer in his own right penned for such shows as 'Diff'ent Strokes', 'My Three Sons' (yeah Uncle Charley), and Sid Ceasers 'Your Show of Shows'. Brother Danny helped Neil meeting great writers such as Carl Reiner, Larry (Cheers & MASH) Gelbert, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen.
In addition to writing he also directed and contributed to Broadway Shows.

December 18, 1918 - July 27, 2005
R.I.P. Felix

Labels: 1918 births, 2005 July deaths, related to someone famous, stroke, strokes, writer

I rag on Detroit a lot. The city deserves it. We clean up nice for the cameras (All Star Game, Superbowl XXL) but the city is still a shithole. We've got the Tigers, the Red Wings, the Pistons, the Shock, MSU but we don't have a football team and we haven't had one since William Clay Ford Sr bought the team in the early 60's. But that doesn't mean we haven't had great players like Barry Sanders, Billy Sims, Lem Barney, Gus Frerotte - well I liked him. We've had our share of jokes: Scott Mitchell, Wayne Fonts, Monte Clark, Charlie Batch but even though these guys performed they never really got us anywhere.
But enough bitching...
Ray Oldman, a corner back, played with the Lions 1980 - 1982 passed away on Saturday, July 23rd during a bicycle ride.
By the time he reached the Lions he was a seasoned veteran having won the Super Bowl in 1978 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played with the New York Giants and the now defunct Baltimore Colts. He finished up his 10 year career and moved to Tennessee where he was working as a consultant for FranChoice.
I know this is horrid time to mention my personal creed but that is just my style "Eat Well, Exercise and Die Anyway"

February 22, 1951 - July 23, 2005
R.I.P.

Labels: 1951 births, 2005 July deaths, Michigan, sports

The man that invented TV dinners passed away on July 21st.
This man is credited, in our little dysfunctional family at least, for feeding the family when there wasn't enough cash for McDonalds or Little Ceasers. The Swanson dinner aided in the downward spiral of the nuclear family. Mom can rush out to the bar and get hammered while the kiddies can dine on gelationous mystery meat, dried out corn and blazing hot styrofoam mashed potatoes with the icy cold center. I remember skipping the first 6 aisels at the grocery store then stocking up on Tide, Bounty then finishing off with six or seven 2 Liters of Diet Coke and rounding out the trip by picking out two weeks worth of turkey pot pies, Stoffers Mac & Cheese, and Swanson's Heat and Eat. Ahhh memories...
Here's to you Mr. Thomas.

1922 - July 21, 2005

Labels: 1922 births, 2005 July deaths, heart attack, personality

I love how these Star Trek guys just embrace the quirkiness of the show and it's fans. A few weeks ago Encore was showing (again & again) the documentary "Trekkies". One of the scenes I loved the most was 'Scotty' telling of a woman that was really depressed and they started a correspondence and finally met at a few of the Trek conventions. He said that she just looked so miserable and he just gave her some words of encouragement. He went on to say that the letters stopped coming and he didn't keep her home address to find out what happened but kept hoping that she was alright. Then a few years later she came to another convention and he hardly recognized her, she was smiling and happy and told him that she went back to school got things together in her life and it had a lot to do with the encouragement that he gave her. He said this with tears welling up in his eyes. It was pretty touching. But I guess that's pretty telling of what sort of guy he was.
In recent years he was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease this with bout of pneumonia caused his passing.
I'm not going to be cliche like the headlines on CNN.com and MSNBC.com all I'll say is that you will be missed.

March 3, 1920 - July 20, 2005
R.I.P.

Labels: 1920 births, 2005 July deaths, actor, pneumonia

When I was a my parents both worked back then so I spent A LOT of time with my Grandparents and in the days before Cable TV or Channel 20's ON there was a whole hell of a lot of TV programs that we could chose from which meant I was at the mercy of their old school tastes. There was a ton of variety shows to choose from back then: The Osmonds, my favorite, the Sonny & Cher show, One of the programs that they absolutely loved was the Lawrence Welk show...god did I hate that shit. It was too hard on the eyes - the pastels the bubbles the damn polka music with the Lawrence Welk dancers. I would rather spend my time playing Monopoly solo...but I could hear that music down the hall of their East Detroit bungalo.
Myron Floren was the main guy on the Welk show, I don't remember him though. Something about accordians makes my ears bleed. But

RIP
November 5, 1919 - July 23, 2005

Labels: 1919 births, 2005 July deaths, musician, television, undisclosed causes

This ex-con turned writer was best known as Mr.Blue in Quentin Tarentino's 1992 classic "Reservoir Dogs". At the age of seventeen he became an inmate in Californias SanQuentin prison, later due to a parole violation he was listed on the FBI's most wanted list which landed him for a stretch in Folsom prison. His last stint in prison he spent writing "No Beast So Fierce" which caught the eye of Tarintino. His post prison life included writing other novels, writing a screenplay which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and acting. His latest role was as Skitchy Rivers in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard.

RIP
December 31, 1933 - July 19, 2005

Labels: 1933 births, 2005 July deaths, actor, author, surgery