Category Archives: ’80s

  • Home
  • Category Archives: "’80s"

Diana Ross NEVER Won a Competitive Grammy? How?

Diana Ross NEVER Won a Competitive Grammy? How?
Every year around Grammys time, a list circulates of top stars who have never managed to win a competitive Grammy — and it is topped by the great Diana Ross, who just turned 78. (Not 96, as some Jeopardy! nerds mistakenly believed.) She deserves Grammys — all over her body of work. (Image via Capitol) Queen…
Read more

50-Year-Old Footage of Prince Discovered

50-Year-Old Footage of Prince Discovered
When a Minneapolis news station unearthed footage of a teachers' strike from 50 years ago, there was another gem uncovered at the same time — the only known video footage of future icon Prince at age 11. One of Prince's archivists reacted with glee over the find. (Image via video still) Asked what he thought…
Read more

Barrie Youngfellow of ‘It’s a Living’ Dies @ 75

Barrie Youngfellow of ‘It’s a Living’ Dies @ 75
From L-R: Youngfellow (bottom) with her It's a Living castmates, on Three's Company with John Ritter & in The Scarlett O'Hara Wars (Images via ABC) One of my favorite-ever TV theme songs has to be the one for It's a Living/Making a Living — it's so ebullient, so Broadway. "Life's not the French Riviera!" it shouts,…
Read more

Debbie Reynolds: A 90th Birthday Remembrance

Debbie Reynolds: A 90th Birthday Remembrance
Today, April 1, marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Debbie Reynolds. Debbie at Cinecon in '12 (Image by Matthew Rettenmund) I first encountered her at her Cafe Carlyle show in NYC in 2009. She was just great! And she guess my partner and I were gay, inviting me to "touch my one good…
Read more

Oscars In Memoriam Snubs & Flubs 2022

Oscars In Memoriam Snubs & Flubs 2022
It was not the most controversial thing that happened at the 94th Oscars, but as usual, the In Memoriam segment had its fair share of detractors. Anne Rice was a writer, but some of her works were made into very famous films. (Image via selfie) First, there seems to be a cultural divide over whether…
Read more

Scoey Mitchell, Comic Trailblazer, Dies @ 92

Scoey Mitchell, Comic Trailblazer, Dies @ 92
Years ago, I started to write an oral history of Tattletales, a game show I believe bridged the gap between average game shows and reality TV. One of the survivors of that show was Scoey Mitchell, who also appeared on Match Game. I was heartened that he was still living. Guessing his wife's answer on…
Read more

‘Better Than Cats’: Where That Came From

‘Better Than Cats’: Where That Came From
If you sarcastically go around saying of new, terrible Broadway shows, "I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats," there are (probably) a couple of reasons for that. Lee Wilkof, Ellen Greene & Hy Anzell in the original Little Shop of Horrors (Image via handout) But one reason you say it is not because…
Read more