Sunday, September 25, 2005

Don Adams, 82


As I've probably mentioned before I spent most of my childhood summers at my Grandma & Grandpa B's. Being an only child in a decaying Detroit neighborhood I wasn't really allowed to go outside and play like normal children my age. I had a set schedule, wake up early, have a cholestral laden breakfast, listen to Amrye Makeupson read the morning news on channel 50, watch morning cartoons, go outside and run through the sprinkler or ride my bike up and down the block, eat lunch, take a nap, watch afternoon T.V., eat dinner, watch evening T.V., go to bed and repeat the same schedule again the following day. There were few shows I enjoyed more then Get Smart it was one of the few shows that was worth watching on channel 20. I loved this show pretty much for agent 99 and Hymie; Maxwell Smart was a bit too goofy for me.
Later in life dear ol' dad took me to see the classic 'The Nude Bomb'. Ahhhh memories.
Mr. Adams didn't start out as an actor, originally he worked as an engineer but turned to stand up comedy where he went on to star in a number of variety shows.

His career went into high gear after getting the part of Maxwell Smart leading him to receive three Emmy awards for his work. In later years he did a huge amount of voice over work in cartoons such as Underdog and Inspector Gadget.

Mr. Adams passed away on September 25th from a lung infection.

A side note, I loved how Mr. Adams looked in his later years. Something about gray hair and a black mustache really do it for me.

April 13, 1923 - September 25, 2005 R.I.P.

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Tommy Bond, 79


The only time my dad went to church was Palm Sunday. I'm not really sure why that was, my mom told me that was because they handed out free stuff, but to go just for a palm branch seems pretty odd. While I was being dragged off to church and Sunday school the other 51 weeks out of the year my dad would stay home and watch 'Abbott & Costello', 'Blondie' and 'The Little Rascals'. If my mom didn't stay after and kibitz with the other women we could rush home and catch the last 15 minutes of whatever was showing that day. I wasn't a big fan of 'The Little Rascals' but it's nice to see that at least one of the actors made it to a ripe old age. This show spawned the original 'child actors gone bad' and a slew of odd and painful lives: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Norman "Chubby" Chaney , Jay R. Smith (aka Freckles), and Robert Blake.

Tommy seemed to keep it all together and continued his career in Hollywood acting in 1948's version of Superman and then moving behind the camara into directing and producing for television.

Mr. Bond passed away this past Sunday from complications due to heart disease.

September 16, 1926 - September 25, 2005

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Tobias Schneebaum, 83


Once upon a time I was proud of the fact that I walked along lonely downtown Detroit street and came back alive. I'm a suburbinite, I fear the seedy underbelly of a busy metropolis. My parents have long told stories of people that go to the big city but never come back the same. But at age 17 I was a bad ass. Oh how things change, now a days I spend my time searching the trecherous world wide web from the comfort of my hand-me-down desk. I AM FIERCE!
I don't think I could live the lifestyle of Tobias Schneebaum. In the 1950's Schneebaum lived amoung cannibals in the Amazon jungle and later wrote the book Keep the River to Your Right
which was turned into a documentary in 2000. Later in life, he wrote, that his passion for exploration derived out a need for community. He found that with the Arakmbut, a cannibal tribe, that his homosexuality was not looked down upon as it had been in the States in the early 1950's.

In addition to exploration Mr. Schneebaum was an artist, anthropologist and an AIDS activist.

Mr Schneebaum passed away from complications of Parkinson's disease.

March 22,1922 - September 20, 2005 RIP

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Friday, September 16, 2005

Constance Moore, 85


My mom was pretty strict, especially about bedtimes. Every night, without fail, I was marched off to bed at 8pm on school nights but got to stay up a bit later on Fridays & Saturdays. My dad wasn't so big on rules so on Thursday nights, when my mom was at choir practice, I could usually stay up until 9:30pm or later depending on when mom got done BS-ing with the rest of the choir junkies. So every Thursday night I got to watch 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' it was so awesome, especially since I had the hots for Gil Gerard (why?).
My 1979 fav series was just one in a long line of Buck Rogers incarnations. The original 1939 movie stared Constance Moore as Lt. Wilma Deering (not Colonel, thank you). Ms. Moore then went on to star in many movies before retiring in 1947 but then popped up in a couple of guest spots on various 60's T.V. comedies.

Ms. Moore passed away from heart failure following a long illness on Friday, September 16th.

January 18, 1920 - September 16, 2005 R.I.P.

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Saturday, September 03, 2005

William Rehnquist, 80


I'm not overly political.
I bitch about the government but I 've never done anything about it.
People actually do stuff in life that counts for something. Bill did. He went through law school was nominated to Supreme Court in 1971 by Nixon and was elevated to chief Justice by Reagan in 1986.
Justice Rehnquist passed away at age 80 on September 3rd from complications of thyroid cancer. The Death Pool fanatics kept an eye on this guy especially since his appearance at G Dubba's inauguration in January.

RIP
October 1, 1924 - September 3, 2005 Posted by Picasa

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Friday, September 02, 2005

Bob Denver, 70


Back in the late 70's when I was banished to Detroit (8 Mile & Groesbeck) during summer vacation. Most of my suburbinite friends spent summers on farms or at least in quiet subdivisions, I got sent to the city to play in my Grandparent itty bitty backyard. Since there wasn't much else to do I watched a lot of TV. Gilligans Island was one of the shows that played mid morning on channel 50...it's funny how seven stranded castaways in the 60's equaled situation comedy with no residuals but in the new century it's a reality series for average citizens to milk 15 minutes of fame.

Bob Denver was best known as Willy Gilligan but before his big break he stared as Maynard G. Krebs in 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' - his beatnik personna persisted even until 1988 when he was arrested for receiving a package of marijuana at his West Virgina home.

Mr. Denver passed away on September 2nd due to complications of thoat cancer treatments

January 3, 1935 - September 2, 2005 RIP little buddy.

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