final credits - october 2005
month & page index | name index | lives by subject | sources
Tom Cheek | Len Dresslar | Mike Gibbins | George Hislop | John Hollis | William Hootkins | Bob Houston | Gordon Lee | Louis Nye | Rosa Parks | Raju Patel | Charles Rocket | Tom Schwalm
Rosa Parks >permalink<
Reluctant mother of the U.S. civil rights movement
On December 1, 1955, it was after another long day on the job as a department store seamstress when Rosa Parks at last found comfort and solace on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, finally bound for home. She was tired and her feet hurt. As other passengers boarded the bus, Parks barely looked up when a man stood by her seat. The colour of the man's skin was white, and because Rosa was black, she was expected to stand up and give up her seat. On that December day nearly forty years ago, Parks remained in her place. It soon became a place etched in history.
When Parks failed to rise, bus driver James F. Blake ordered her to do so. When she did not comply, he had Parks arrested. Four days later, she was found guilty of violating state segregation law and was fined $10 plus a $4 court fee.
Parks was not the first black to defy segregationist law as enforced on Alabama's buses. Nine months before, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for the identical crime, being charged with misconduct, resisting arrest, and violating municipal segregation laws. On October 21st of that same year, 18-year-old Mary Louise Smith was also arrested for defying a bus driver's orders to relinquish her seat.
Parks' case had an eerie coincidence. Twelve years prior to her 1955 charge, she had a similar experience with the same bus driver, Blake. It was usual practice for blacks to pay their fare, exit the bus and re-enter by the back door. In 1943, Parks had boarded a bus to register to vote. Instead of stepping off to go to the back door, Parks walked down the aisle. After Blake demanded that she disembark and re-board at the rear of the bus, Parks got off and waited for the next bus. She swore to herself never to ride with that driver again.
By the mid-1950s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was looking for a test case to challenge America's segregationist laws. While Colvin and Smith acted no differently than Parks, the NAACP felt the background of their personal lives would prejudice the effort. In Parks the NAACP found a defensible character -- a church-goer, employed in a middle-class job, and an active participant in a community cause (by chance, perhaps, as the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP).
Parks was bailed out of jail by NAACP activist E.D. Nixon, civil rights lawyer Clifford Durr and his activist wife, Virginia. When they all gathered at Parks' home later that day, Nixon asked if she would be willing to be the plaintiff in a test case against the bus segregation law. Rosa's husband feared that she could get her killed but she said yes. After all, her grandfather had kept a shotgun by his side in case the Ku Klux Klan dropped by, and Rosa was tired that day in December ... not from her job but from the years of "giving in."
A boycott was announced. Blacks would not ride Montgomery buses. The boycott was to last a day, but it stretched to a year and two weeks, nearly bankrupting the city's public transit system. On November 13th, 1956, segregation on buses in Montgomery was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Montgomery boycott ended but sprang anew in Birmingham and other cities in the South. Shootings of blacks boarding buses and bombings of black churches greeted the court decision, and Parks reluctantly left Montgomery and moved to Detroit where she had family.
The birth of the American civil rights movement can be traced without qualification to Montgomery and the Rosa Parks trial. It was then and there that a 26-year-old preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. became the new pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. King was drafted to head the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organisation formed to direct the nascent civil rights struggle.
After years of conflict and unrest, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 that decisively ended racial segregation and disenfranchisement.
The Parks case has echoed across continents and decades. When a lone Chinese student faced down an army tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989, Nelson Mandela characterised it as "a Rosa Parks moment."
Parks received a lifetime achievement award from the American Public Transit Association and the International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. In 1996, President Clinton bestowed the Medal of Freedom, and in 1999, Congress awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal. In recognition of her contribution to humanity, she also was blessed by Pope John Paul II.
Time Magazine named Parks as one of the 100 most important people in the history of the U.S. In 2000, a library and museum were dedicated in her name on the very spot in Montgomery where she was arrested five decades earlier.
The state of Missouri named a portion of Interstate 55 south of St. Louis the Rosa Parks Highway - the same stretch of highway once favoured by the Ku Klux Klan. Angela Bassett received an Emmy nomination for portraying Parks in the TV movie "The Rosa Parks Story." Parks herself won the Image Award's Best Supporting Actress Award for an appearance on the TV series "Touched By an Angel." Her life was the subject of a number of documentaries including "Eyes on the Prize," "In Remembrance of Martin," "Intimate Portrait: Rosa Parks" and several others.
James F. Blake, the Montgomery bus driver who ordered Rosa Parks to give up her seat and had her arrested died at the age of 89 in March, 2002.
Rosa Parks once said "I want everyone to remember me as a person who wanted to be free."
October 24, 2005 at age 92.
William Hootkins >permalink<
Actor
"Accelerate to attack speed. This is it, boys!"
With those words Bill Hootkins plunged into battle and the memories of "Star Wars" fans as ill-fated X-Wing pilot Jek Porkins aka Red Six in the first-filmed episode of the George Lucas series. However, his fifteen-lightseconds of fame in that film obscured a three-decade career and over 90 film and television appearances. He also recorded numerous audio books and was fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Russian and French (at university he studied astro-physics before transferring to oriental studies).
On London stages, Hootkins will be best known for his impersonation of Alfred Hitchcock in Terry Johnson's play "Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court Theatre." Hootkins came to study acting and living in England on the advice of his friend John Lithgow. Hootkins earlier attended St. Mark's school in Dallas, Texas with a classmate by the name of Tommy Lee Jones.
Hootkins' other screen roles included two Peter Sellars films ("Curse of the Pink Panther" and "Trail of the Pink Panther"), 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1989's "Batman," 1992's "A River Runs Through It" and 1996's "The Island of Dr. Moreau." His last appearance was in the oddball 2005 true-story film "Colour Me Kubrick," playing a theater critic interviewing a man (John Malkovich) who posed as the famed director.
Speaking of his small role in the "Star Wars" saga Hootkins observed, "In a sense, my career's been downhill ever since. Fans still come to greet me at the stage door with action figures of my character and embarrassing photographs for me to sign." Hootkins has a Bacon number of 2.
October 23, 2005 at age 57. Pancreatic cancer.
John Hollis >permalink<
Actor
Character actor John Hollis will be best remembered for playing Lobot, Lando Calrissian's silent aide in the 1980 "Star Wars" installment "The Empire Strikes Back." A human/cyborg, Lobot was directly wired into the Cloud City's central computer via a device worn on his skull.
It was that skull that set Hollis apart. Fans of British TV will remember Hollis as one of the sinister cybernauts in a memorable episode of "The Avengers," while others will recognise him as one of the Elders in the "Superman" series of movies. All told, Hollis appeared in over 40 film and television roles.
Hollis was also one of five actors who played the James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, appearing uncredited in the pre-title sequence of 1981's "For Your Eyes Only." After thrashing Bond about in a remote-controlled helicopter, Bond drops what is supposed to be the wheelchair-bound Blofeld character to his death.
The sequence was the coda on a dispute the Bond-franchise filmmakers had to deal with concerning ownership of the "Thunderball" story and its characters (for more about the legal wranglings, check the Wikipedia articles here and here). Hollis has a Bacon number of 2.
October 18, 2005 at age 74. Lengthy illness.
Gordon Lee >permalink<
Little Rascal
For the second time in a month, "Our Gang" has gotten a little smaller. Lee was the chubby child actor who played Spanky McFarland's little brother "Porky" in the "Little Rascals" comedies. On September 24, 2005 another member of one of cinema's longest-running series, Tommy Bond passed away.
"Our Gang" started in 1922 as a series of films that featured the misadventures of a group of poor neighbourhood children. Hal Roach produced the shorts at his own studio until 1938 when he sold the franchise to MGM, who continued the series until 1944 using Roach's story ideas. By the time the series ended, a total of 220 shorts and one feature film had been made. Roach syndicated his shorts, the ones he produced during the sound era, to television as "The Little Rascals" (MGM retained ownership of the name "Our Gang").
Lee played one of the younger members in the "Our Gang'' shorts, appearing in more than 40 installments from 1935 to 1939. One of the titles, "Bored of Education,"' won an Oscar for best one-reel short subject in 1937. It was Lee's mother that helped him get started, sending in a picture of him when he was just 2 years old. MGM studio executives were seeking an actor to play McFarland's brother. Lee and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas often teamed up against older boys Spanky and Alfalfa, and his Porky character is credited with originating the catchphrase "otay."
Lee's career ended when a growth spurt at the age of six made him thinner. He would eventually grow to become 6 feet 4 inches. Lee became a schoolteacher and a emergency services trainer, moving first to Colorado and then Minnesota. For years he kept quiet about his celluloid past, and only after four decades had passed since his debut did he begin to celebrate his association with the films appearing in public for interviews and cast reunions.
Recently, Lee reached a settlement in a lawsuit seeking $1.9 million over the unapproved use of his character in a cartoon series. The payoff, however, was "not stupendous." Previously, Lee's legacy was hijacked by an imposter who made personal appearances and signed autographs claiming falsely to have been in the films. The fraud was finally unmasked by several film buffs. Lee's place in the film comedies taken over by a young actor named Mickey Gubitosi (who later changed his name to Robert Blake).
For a photo gallery of children who appeared in the "Our Gang" and "The Little Rascals" series, visit Thomas Staedeli's web site. For more about the Hal Roach series, visit Wikipedia's "Our Gang" entry. Lee has a Bacon number of .
October 16, 2005 at age 71. Lung and brain cancer.
Len Dresslar >permalink<
Voice actor
It is one of the most memorable tag lines in advertising history: "Ho Ho Ho -- Green Giant!" The "Ho Ho Ho" belonged to Len Dresslar.
It was 1925 when the Minnesota Valley Canning Company decided to put a distinct name on their new large green pea variety. They chose "green giant" and today it is the world's largest selling vegetable brand. Taking their inspiration from the Brothers Grimm, the product's first mascot was a grumpy, grey gnome in a scruffy bearskin. The company changed ad agencies and the project was taken on by Leo Burnett as one of his first assignments. Burnett stood the character up, cheered him up, gave him a leafy-green toga and placed him in a valley of crops to show his height. He also named the giant "Jolly."
In 1958, the first Jolly Green Giant spots were aired on television with unexpected results. Despite various attempts to use animation or actors painted green, Jolly came off like a monster. The solution was to show just enough of the Giant to establish his presence and to give him a 'jolly' voice to go along with the perky "Good things from the garden" song. Enter Len Dresslar.
After attending the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Dresslar toured nationally with the musical South Pacific for 2 1/2 years before coming to Chicago. From 1955 to 1960 he appeared nightly on the CBS-Chicago live variety show "In Town Tonight" (during the run of the show he was twice voted the most popular singer in Chicago by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences).
The Green Giant spot was among the first of many that Dresslar lent his voice to. He spoke or sang in commercials for United Airlines and for the Marlboro and Kent cigarette lines. He was "Snap" in the Snap-Crackle-Pop Rice Krispies trio and was "Dig'em," the frog that sold Sugar Smacks for Kellogg's. And he sang, "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer." He worked on so many campaigns that his family could only keep track of his projects by hearing his voice on radio or television.
In the 1960s, Dresslar also sang with a vocal group, "The J's with Jamie," which recorded easy-listening music along with commercials and jingles. He later recorded fifteen albums with a jazz vocal group called "The Singers Unlimited." Dresslar was also active in the Chicago chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, serving a term as president of the union local in the 1970s.
In the early 1990s, the Green Giant was relegated to a shadowy presence in the hills when his company began focusing on frozen meal-solution products, leaving normal-sized "Sprout" (introduced in 1973) to pitch the product. In 1999, the company revived the original concept and Dresslar recorded new vocal tracks for the commercials.
The man who portrayed the Jolly Green Giant in the 1960s live action spots was Keith Wegeman, an Olympic long-jump skier (his daughter, Katherine Kelly Lang, stars on the CBS daytime soap opera "The Bold and The Beautiful," one of William J. Bell's creations).
The Minnesota Valley Canning Company re-named themselves the Green Giant Company in 1950 and their corporate site has a timeline documenting their history. Advertising Age magazine once ranked the Jolly Green Giant as the third most recognisable advertising character behind only Ronald McDonald and the Marlboro Man. Leo Burnett, the Giant's creator, also came up with Charlie Tuna for StarKist, Morris the Cat for 9-Lives, and the Keebler Elves. His company also developed the Marlboro Man for Philip Morris.
The greatest tribute to an ad campaign is to have it embedded in popular culture. In 1979, the citizens of Blue Earth, Minnesota (birthplace of the ice cream sandwich) paid homage to the Jolly Green Giant and erected a 55-foot statue in his honour. In Vietnam, the USAF Sikorsky HH-3E helicopters were nicknamed "Jolly Green Giants." In 1964, The Kingsmen had a Top-40 hit with "Jolly Green Giant." The first verse went ...
In duh valley of duh jolly (ho-ho-ho) Wow! ...
Heard about the Jolly Green Giant (potatoes) / He's so big and mean (artichoke hearts) / He stands there laughing with his hands on his hips / And then he hits you with a can of beans
... and the song can be heard here. For the record, Len Dresslar stood 6 foot 1 inch tall.
October 16, 2005 at age 80. Cancer.
George Hislop >permalink<
Survivor beneficiary
Hislop was in a longtime relationship that saw his partner pay for years into the Canada Pension Plan. When his friend died two decades ago, Hislop applied for survivor benefits but was turned down. Challenging the decision, Hislop became a pioneer in the battle to win benefits for widowed same-sex partners.
Eventually, a November 2004 Ontario Court of Appeal decision prompted the federal government to begin making payments to Hislop despite the fact it planned to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down the ruling. Hislop received his first cheque in August, 2005.
At issue was federal legislation passed in 2000 that allowed same-sex partners to collect survivor benefits under the CPP but restricting payments to those whose partners had died after January, 1998. Hislop and other claimants suggest the cut-off point be set to 1985 when the Charter of Rights took effect, allowing gays and lesbians to win equal treatment with heterosexual couples in pension matters. Ottawa says the case could end up costing the federal treasury up to $80 million to cover other social programs that would be affected.
A friend once described Hislop as Canada's first official homosexual. After Canada's Criminal Code removed references to homosexual acts between consenting adults in 1969, Hislop founded Toronto's first gay rights group. Gay Day soon followed in 1970, which eventually evolved into Pride Week.
Hislop had studied theatre at the University of Toronto in the 1940s, and acted in live television on the CBC. He once performed as singer Robert Goulet's hands in a du Maurier cigarette commercial.
October 9, 2005 at age 78. Illness due to esophageal cancer, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and a weak heart.
Louis Nye >permalink<
Comic
In the late 1950s, Louis Nye had a business card that listed the 15 accents that he could do. What he could also do was make comedy out of thin air.
Steve Allen once put him to that test. As part of early live television's groundbreaking "Steve Allen Show," Nye was often cast in sketches that needed rescuing. Once Allen tipped the audience beforehand that they had deliberately created a piece where Nye had funny to do. The sketch ended with Allen in tears reacting to Nye's ad-libs.
Nye, whose first name was pronounced "Louie" and whose exact date of birth is shrouded in apparent deliberate confusion, first worked in radio in the 1930s, appearing on soap operas playing rotten Nazis, rich uncles and emotional juveniles. His gift for comedy gave him the job of running the recreation hall when he was called up for service in World War II, making sure the entertainment was good enough to stop recruits from going into town.
Nye soon appeared on "The Jack Benny Program" and "The Jimmy Durante Show." He met Steve Allen on an elevator and quickly found himself cast beside Don Knotts and Bill Dana as a regular on Steve's show, establishing "Hi, ho, Steve-a-reeno" as his catchphrase.
Nye released several successful comedy LPs that skewered the Madison Avenue advertising business and became the most popular guest character on "The Beverly Hillbillies," playing banker Mr. Drysdale's spoiled stepson Sonny. Despite the character's popularity, CBS dropped the role bowing to internal or sponsor thinking that Sonny was too much of a "sissy."
Nye's film credits included "Cannonball Run II," "Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood," "A Guide for the Married Man," "Good Neighbor, Sam" and "Sex Kittens Go to College." He also guest starred on TV shows such as "St. Elsewhere," "The Love Boat," "Laverne & Shirley" and "The Munsters." He frequently appeared on "The Jackie Gleason Show," "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "The Andy Williams Show." Nye also provided voices for the "Inspector Gadget" series that starred Bill Dana's protégé Don Adams. Nye was most recently seen on the cable series "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Nye has a Bacon number of .
October 9, 2005 at age 92 or 83. Lung cancer.
Raju Patel >permalink<
Film producer and director
When Raju Patel first came to Hollywood at the age of 21, he was carrying a print of his father's docudrama about Ugandan dictator Idi Amin under his arm. The 1981 film, "Amin: The Rise and Fall," was notoriously graphic in depicting the rule of the wildman of Africa. Just two years later, Patel found himself contributing to the screenplay and production of one of Tom Hanks' first movies, "Bachelor Party."
Patel then directed "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro," a fact-based account of 90,000 starving Kenyan baboons who attacked humans while in search of food. Despite the film's poor reception (Gene and Roger both pointed downwards), Patel found himself partnering with Disney to develop and produce a live action version of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book." He made the sequel, "The Second Jungle Book," for Columbia-Tristar.
Patel's most recent production "Kaante" was the first Indian-American co-production to be shot entirely in the United States using an American crew and modern Hollywood technology. The film has been described as a singing and dancing "Reservoir Dogs." He also worked with Michael Jackson to set up a production company called Neverland Pictures. The Kenayn-born Patel was the son-in-law of Indian matinee idol, Rajendra Kumar.
October 9, 2005 at age 45. Colon cancer.
Tom Cheek >permalink<
Blue Jays announcer
Sports fans know the value of a great home town team announcer. Despite team fortunes, he is the constant that makes the games enjoyable. Toronto baseball fans lost one of the greatest in the business with the passing of Tom Cheek.
Cheek's affiliation with the Blue Jays began when he called the club's first game on April 7, 1977. He called 4,306 consecutive games, a streak that ended June 3, 2004 when he skipped a game to attend his father's funeral. All told, Cheeks brought the play home for over 4,500 games, including 41 postseason contests.
On June 13th, 2004, his 65th birthday, Cheek underwent surgery to treat a brain tumour. He underwent chemotherapy afterwards and returned to call some games last summer while fighting short-term memory loss. He was to be back in the booth in 2005 when a second round of cancer hit him in the spring, forcing an another operation that took place in March.
Cheek called his games without catchphrases or gimmicks -- he simply laid the facts bare. When Joe Carter rounded the bases on his 1992 World Series winning home run, Cheek encouraged him with "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life."
Cheek made his last visit to Toronto in 2005, taking in a few games from a private box. When he was shown on the videoboard, fans stood and cheered. A crowd of 44,072 acknowledged him August 29th when the Blue Jays added him to their Level of Excellence with the number 4,306 by his name, paying tribute to his streak. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame when he was named as one of ten finalists for the Ford C. Frick Award, recognizing baseball broadcasting excellence. Cheek was also the first recipient of the Tom Cheek Media Leadership Award, created by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame to recognise individuals from the media who played important roles in promoting Canadian sport.
Cheek attended the Cambridge School of Broadcasting in Boston and began a radio career that took him to Plattsburg, New York and Burlington, Vermont where for nine years was a sports director for a group of three radio stations. Moving to Canada in 1974, he served as swing man on Montreal Expos radio broadcasts on television nights before landing the Blue Jays job in 1977. A web site has been set up in his honour.
October 9, 2005 at age 66. Brain cancer.
Tom Schwalm >permalink<
Film editor
It falls to the editor to pull together hours of film, selecting the right angles and performances, and piece it all together to form a cohesive work. Tom Schwalm had earned a place among the best.
For example, taking live comedy footage shot over four nights using four cameras, Schwalm made the event appear to be a seamless single concert now known as 1979's "The Secret Policeman's Ball."
Schwalm had earlier edited 1973's "The London Rock and Roll Show, " a record of the festival held at Wembley Stadium that featured Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Bo Diddley and ... Screaming Lord Sutch. Schwalm also cut "Pleasure at Her Majesty's," the 1976 film that can be best described as Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe. "Pleasure," along with the two "Policeman's Ball" films were fundraising efforts for Amnesty International.
Schwalm was one of the original founders of the production company Films of Record, a documentary unit that prided itself on an unstaged observational style of filmmaking that they called "fly on the wall" filming. His feature film work included 1982's "The Grass Is Singing" with Karen Black and John Thaw, and Franco Rosso's 1981 "Babylon," a groundbreaking drama about Brixton's black community. A full record of Schwalm editing credits can be found at the Films of Record site.
October 9, 2005 at age 62.
Charles Rocket >permalink<
Actor
After Saturday Night Live's first five years, wholesale changes were made to the successful NBC show. Head honcho Lorne Michaels was replaced by Jean Doumanian and a cast of fresh faces filled the screen for the 1980/1981 season. Charles Rocket was given the role of anchoring the Weekend Update segment.
Reviews for the rookie roster were merciless and longtime fans agree it was the show's worst season ever. Perhaps sensing a sinking ship, Rocket bailed out of the picture by uttering one particular word that was beamed live to the Eastern time zone.
Rocket's exit occurred on February 21, 1981 -- right in the middle of the important late-winter ratings sweep. The host was "Dallas" star Charlene Tilton, and boxing promoter Don King also made an appearance (the musical guests were Todd Rundgren and Prince). During the last segment of the program, the cast gathered to say their goodbyes while incorporating a reference to the "Who Shot J.R." episode of Tilton's series. Rocket, with a cigarette in his mouth, sits in a wheelchair wearing a robe with a white bandage on his shoulder.
Tilton: Charlie, how are you feeling after you've been shot?
Rocket: Aw man, it's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who the fuck did it.
Nervous laughter rippled through the cast, the audience and the broadcaster's board room. Rocket was gone and Doumanian soon followed.
Rocket was born Charles Claverie in Bangor, Maine. At the Rhode Island School of Design he formed the Fabulous Motels, a rock band that featured not one, but two accordionists, Rocket and Stevie Thunder. Rocket worked for KOAA-TV Channel 5, an NBC affiliate in Pueblo, Colorado, where he was the weatherman and host of a daily afternoon show called "Super Show" which showed vintage serial TV shows from the 1950s. During his broadcast career he first used his real name before adopting monikers such as Charles Hamburger, Charles Kennedy and Charlie Rockett.
After the SNL incident, Rocket embarked on a career filled primarily with guest appearances on numerous television shows. Rocket was particularly brilliant as rival network president Ned Grossberg on the 1980s cyberpunk series "Max Headroom." His most recent notable TV role was as "Adam," the first male angel on "Touched By An Angel."
Rocket's film credits include "Earth Girls are Easy," "Dances with Wolves," "It's Pat" and "Dumb and Dumber." Rocket also played accordion with Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie on a tribute album to Fellini composer Nino Rota.
Rocket was found on field near his home in Canterbury, Connecticut. His throat was slit, and a knife was found next to the body. The state medical examiner determined the cause of death to be self-inflicted.
Rocket was not the only SNL anchor to be fired for remarks made on the air. Norm MacDonald once uttered the f-word during a Weekend Update report, getting a big laugh by making a sotto voce remark about that night being his "farewell performance." Remarkably, he stayed on the job. MacDonald drew gasps from the audience when he stated "In case viewers are confused, we'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is in fact a homosexual pedophile." Still no job action.
However, when MacDonald turned his attention to O.J. Simpson's not guilty verdict ("Well, it's official: Murder is legal in the state of California") it seems he picked on somebody's friend. That friend was NBC West-Coast Executive Don Ohlmeyer. MacDonald was gone, with Ohlmeyer citing that the comedian wasn't funny enough as the reason. Ironically, it was Ohlmeyer who pushed producer Lorne Michaels to give MacDonald a shot at the Weekend Update desk in 1994.
To view a video of Rocket's pre-Janet Jackson faux pas contact us and we'll send you the footage by e-mail. For more about the "Max Headroom" series, visit Wikipedia's entry, James Gifford's tribute site or the Museum of Broadcast Communications page. Rocket has a Bacon number of 2.
October 7, 2005 at age 56. Suicide.
Mike Gibbins >permalink<
Drummer, Badfinger
When the Beatles folded in 1970, fans of their melodic style and harmonies had to look no further then Badfinger to carry on the memories. Indeed, it was Paul McCartney that saw to the band's early success.
Gibbins learned to play the drums by listening to Sandy Nelson. In 1965, he joined The Iveys who three years later had one of the first releases on the Apple label, an album called "Maybe Tomorrow." In 1969, McCartney renamed them Badfinger (once the working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends") and they performed on the soundtrack for the film "The Magic Christian" released that same year. The film starred Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, and McCartney wrote "Come and Get It" for the credit sequence. It became Badfinger's first top ten hit.
Badfinger was a mainstay on the pop charts of the early 1970s with songs like "No Matter What," "Day After Day," and "Without You," which became an even bigger hit for Harry Nilsson. In addition to their own work, Badfinger backed George Harrison on the single "It Don't Come Easy," the album "All Things Must Pass," and George's "Concert for Bangladesh." They also worked on John Lennon's "Imagine" album.
The mid-1970s saw the collapse of Apple and the group's fortunes. The only people making money from Badfinger were lawyers. Despite their immense popularity and gifted songwriting, the group never realised their potential. Guitarist Pete Ham committed suicide in 1975, hanging himself in his garage. In 1983, the group's bassist, Tom Evans, also hung himself. Gibbins died in his sleep at his Florida home.
For more about the Badfinger story with all of its legal wranglings, visit their entries at Wikipedia and allmusic.
October 4, 2005 at age 56.
Bob Houston >permalink<
Rock journalist
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, serious fans of British pop music turned to Melody Maker and Creem Magazine for their reading needs. Bob Houston had a hand in the success of both of them.
When Houston came to Melody Maker in 1963 as an assistant editor, he helped transform the long established weekly music paper in a bold tabloid style. Melody Maker first began publishing in 1926 and its readership was primarily musicians, with a focus on jazz. Houston, himself a fan of jazz and the avant garde, saw the evolving pop market and soon splashed the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who and Frank Zappa on the cover while moving articles about Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp into the middle section.
Seeking an outlet for more serious rock journalism, Houston edited the Detroit-based Creem from his home in north London. The magazine's name was inspired by Houston's friendship with Jack Bruce, the musical group Cream's bass player. Writing for Creem was a crop of now-respected writers that included Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus, Patti Smith, Nick Tosches, and Cameron Crowe (now a filmmaker who incorporated fellow Creem staffer Lester Bangs into his pop music homage "Almost Famous").
Houston left Melody Maker in 1970 and soon diversified his interests. He edited a labour periodical called The Miner and worked as a sports writer for The Observer and The Telegraph. He launched his own magazine, Royalty, just as Princess Diana ascended to public idolatry. Some saw it ironic that the left-wing Glaswegian son of a steelworker should see his greatest success come from covering the like of the Royal Family.
Creem survived in various forms until shutting down in 1988, and Melody Maker merged with New Musical Express in 2000, ending its reign as the world's oldest weekly music newspaper.
October 3, 2005 at age 66. Cancer.