Sybil Bruncheon’s “Who’z Dat?”… Birthdays on March 1st...!!!

Birthdays on March 1st...!!! We all feel that tiny hint that Spring might just be in the air....even with last minute snowstorms still popping up to vex us. But March! The month of MARCH! Is it possible that we've survived another Winter??...and what a doozy this one was! So here are all the pretty faces of March 1st birthdays! All warm, and sexy, and succulent, and dewy-eyed, and reminding us of "Youth" or, well.. "Youth-ISH"...

(Top row left to right: Tim Daly, Roger Daltrey, Javier Bardem. Center: Justin Bieber. Bottom row left to right: Robert Conrad, Harry Belafonte, and Ron Howard)

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

Sybil Bruncheon's "Who'z Dat?"... Happy Birthday to Jerry Goldsmith! (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004)

Jerry Goldsmith (born Jerrald King Goldsmith) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for such films as STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) and four other films within the Star Trek franchise, THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), PLANET OF THE APES (1968), PATTON (1970), LOGAN'S RUN (1976), PAPILLON (1973), CHINATOWN (1974), THE WIND AND THE LION (1975), THE OMEN (1976), THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978), CAPRICORN ONE (1978), ALIEN (1979), OUTLAND (1981), POLTERGEIST (1982), THE SECRET OF NIMH (1982), GREMLINS (1984), HOOSIERS (1986), TOTAL RECALL (1990), BASIC INSTINCT (1992), AIR FORCE ONE (1997), L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997), MULAN (1998), THE MUMMY (1999), and THREE RAMBO FILMS.

In May 1997, with the release of Steven Spielberg’s THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, he gained more popularity with his fanfare of the 1997 Universal Studios opening logo, which would be among the most iconic studio logo music of all time. He worked on both dramas and for many lighter, comedic films such as the family comedy THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS (1966), and the James Bond parodies OUR MAN FLINT (1966) and its sequel IN LIKE FLINT (1967).
During his career, he composed both classical music for orchestra concerts and themes and background music for television shows. He collaborated with some of film history's most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Michael Winner, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. His work for Donner and Scott also involved a rejected score for TIMELINE (2003) and a controversially edited score for ALIEN, where music by Howard Hanson replaced Goldsmith's end titles and Goldsmith's own work on FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION was used without his approval in several scenes.

Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards (he won only one, in 1976, for THE OMEN). He composed the Paramount Pictures Fanfare used from 1976 through 2011. Over the course of his career, Goldsmith received a total of 18 Academy Award nominations, making him one of the most nominated composers in Academy Awards history. Despite this, Goldsmith won only one Oscar, for his score to the 1976 film THE OMEN. This makes Goldsmith the most nominated composer to have won an Oscar only on one occasion.

Goldsmith died at his Beverly Hills home on July 21, 2004, from colon cancer at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife Carol and his children Aaron, Carrie, Ellen Edson, and Jennifer Grossman, and Joel (who also died of colon cancer on April 29, 2012).

This closing credits composition from THE MUMMY expresses just one beautiful example of his work; Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8d_gMWVujY

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

Sybil Bruncheon's TV reminiscences... The ups and downs of "the little screen"...

You know, folks, at the end of every television season, I get kind of melancholy about all the amazing TV shows that I was cast in over the years... but that didn't make it past a season or two... or even the pilot. Ah well...

TOUCHED BY A CARROT (1971-1973): A nice lady gardener falls in love with a huge orange vegetable she has grown. After winning blue ribbons at county fairs, it abandons her and later runs for president. Comedy ensues.

TAMBOURINE MAN-GIRL (1969): A lady gym-teacher decides that dodgeball offers no fulfillment and takes up with a traveling jug-band as their bouncer. Sadly, her nickname is "Mr. Debbie".

MR. POOF'S PIXIES (1973-1974): A Saturday morning children's show involving cartoons, guest appearances by zoo animals, carnival clowns, and pain-free dentists. I was hired to teach table manners and ballroom dancing to the preschoolers in the live audiences. I often smelled of urine, especially when we did "Kiddie-Tango"...

BUT I LIKE VEGETABLES! (1978-1979): A spin-off of TOUCHED BY A CARROT. The lady gardener, now single but still nice, makes her own way into the world of politics as a vegan candidate for governor of an unnamed but cattle-centric state, probably Texas. Her carrot-lover, now president, has an on-again-off-again romance/rivalry with her. Comedy ensues.

WHATTSUP? (1975-1976): A lady teacher in an inner city school has heartwarming (and life-affirming!) adventures with a gang of quadriplegic graffiti-thugs. She turns their lives around by making them into Bergdorf-Goodman make-up artists to the rich and famous. They hold their tools in their mouths.

HEY, GURRRRRRRRRRL! (1981-1982): A spin-off of WHATTSUP?, the lady school teacher takes students who've lost their arms in bizarre shop-class accidents and opens a hair salon on the roof of Saks Fifth Avenue. They do color, cuts, and blow-outs using their feet. Also heartwarming and life-affirming.

SCHOOL'S OUT …AND BURNED TO THE GROUND (1982-1983): Broad sit-com set in an end-of-the-world dystopia. Lady school teacher opens orphanage for children and childish adults, and makes due with radishes, foraged styrofoam, and common sense. A message at the end of every one of the three completed episodes.

I MARRIED MY DOG (1983-1984): A nice but awkward young paleontologist claims his bichon-frisé, Bitzy, is his reincarnated fiancée and marries her. Comedy ensues when the police find him walking her in a collar, leash, and negligée. I provided Bitzy's voice.

ZORT & THE POOOSIES (1984-1985): A man from another planet lands in suburban Milwaukee and gets a job at a brewery. He forms a garage band with three beautiful policewomen and they solve crimes on the side. I played their housekeeper, Bertha.

I'M A KID! BITE ME (1985-1986): A nice lady from a Republican gardening club, bumps her head, and through amnesia, becomes a wacky neighborhood troublemaker with a slingshot and a penchant for practical jokes on her former friends. Comedy ensues when she burns down the statehouse.

HI! MY FACE IS ON A MILK CARTON (1987-1988): An eccentric lady-performance-artist in NYC's downtown art scene begins meeting and saving street urchins during her sidewalk presentations. Each week, she rescues a new child and starts them on a new life... comedy ensues along with heartwarming, life-affirming messages and mild violence and nudity.

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

Sybil Bruncheon’s Christmas Memoirs: My Adventures on Christmas TV Specials...

Have I told you about my adventures with one of my favorite photographers over the years?? Lawrence Hunter was by my side for so many of those planned (and UNplanned!) moments in one's career! Here's one from a Christmas television special that almost was!!!......

Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) and I had known each other for years and traveled in the same circles in New York during the 40s and 50s. It was in that vein that, as television became bigger and bigger an entertainment medium, he suggested that I play a new character he came up with in the Christmas of 1956, "Mrs. Finch", a charming and slightly mischievous creature who would bring toys and treats for underprivileged children on Christmas eve in a flying saucer!!... from the planet Uranus!!! 

The concept ingeniously incorporated charity to the poor, social awareness, interplanetary brotherhood, and the birth of the space industry in the newly created NASA. Sadly, our sponsors at Nabisco felt that any mention of "Uranus" was ..."unappetizing for a brand of breakfast cereals and cookies", as Cuthbert Cubbins, the chairman of the board described it.

This, despite the fact that the Nabisco logo had always reminded people of a flying saucer...and that "Nabisco" did NOT in fact mean "National Biscuit Company", but was an anagram for “Bascion”, a Gaelic word from the Renaissance that loosely translated to “ baked goods from other worlds” (the Irish always had a fanciful sense of so-called wee-people and the color green).

Anyway, Theodor and I lost the argument, and the project was ..um... shall we say, re-imagined in a more conventionally acceptable way… although, the story became more of  a diatribe against J. Edgar Hoover, Roy Cohn, Joseph McCarthy, and the neo-fascistic metaphor of the Jolly Green Giant… but that’s a story for another time!

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... HENRY JONES (August 1, 1912 – May 17, 1999)…

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Well, here’s a face that no one ever forgets either in film or on television… and he was known for playing comedy and drama, even dark suspense, and then doing the nearly impossible by combining all of them in single performances.

                It’s Henry Jones (August 1, 1912 – May 17, 1999). Jones was born Henry Burk Jones in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen (née Burk) and John Francis Xavier Jones. He attended the Jesuit-run Saint Joseph's Preparatory School. After a start in regional theatre and on Broadway in 1931, his major Broadway debut came in 1938 in Maurice Evans’ HAMLET where he played both Reynaldo and the second gravedigger. He went on to appear in THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (1939) and MY SISTER EILEEN (1942). Jones served in the army in World War II, and afterwards returned to Broadway in THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC (1954), and SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO (1960), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Performance in a Drama. In 1956, Jones originated the role of handyman Leroy Jessup in the premiere of THE BAD SEED (1956), a role that he then recreated in the film and was instantly famous for. After 1961, he devoted his entire career to film and television, where he made over 150 appearances on the major network shows, usually as ministers, judges, janitors, and dour businessmen. His TV credits included ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE ELEVENTH HOUR, NIGHT GALLERY, EMERGENCY!, THE MOD SQUAD, DANIEL BOONE, GUNSMOKE, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, ADAM 12, FATHER KNOWS BEST, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, and THE GEORGE BURNS AND GRACIE ALLEN SHOW. He played Dr. Smith's cousin in a 1966 episode of LOST IN SPACE, "Curse Of Cousin Smith". On television, Jones' best remembered role was as the title character's father-in-law in the 1970s CBS sitcom PHYLLIS with Cloris Leachman. His movies included such well-known titles as WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER (1957), VERTIGO (1958), 3:10 TO YUMA (1957), BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969), 9 TO 5 (1980), THE GRIFTERS (1990), DICK TRACY (1990), ARACHNIPHOBIA (1990). Jones was married twice, and had two children. He died in Los Angeles, California at age 86, from complications from injuries suffered in a fall. To this day, he remains one of the great character actors film fans love-to-hate, and then love again! Short in stature, he was a giant of a talent and respected by all who worked with him. To this day, his lines from THE BAD SEED can be quoted verbatim with gestures and facial expressions by his legions of fans!!!

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

Sybil Bruncheon's "Crime Time Tales for Children"... HOWDY-DO!

The kidnapping had been planned for months. It wasn't going to be one of those failed attempts that ended in cross-country chases, false leads, haggling over ransoms, easily spotted look-outs, needless injuries or deaths, and of course apprehension, arrests, and executions, because back in that time, kidnapping was still a "capital offense". Oh yes, you could be executed for kidnapping, and if it was a child or a famous celebrity, or the "ultimate", a famous (and much beloved!) child-celebrity, you would be lucky, if caught, to even be handed over to the authorities. Because in those early years of the new fangled "television", its stars rose to international fame overnight, and the public was fierce in its loyalty and defense of their new friends that visited them in their actual home every night in the little box. Television brought everything glamorous, magical, and exciting right into your own home.... no need to go to the decaying movie theatres anymore with their enormous chandeliers, their gigantic pillars, their miles of dusty velvet draperies, and their strange murals of other times and exotic lands.... India, China, Zanzibar, Katmandu... no more sticky floors, sticky armrests, and seat cushions that leaned this way and that with the sharp little spring that poked you in the behind! Now, you could stay home and see everything and eat dinner off a little tray right there!...a dinner your Mom had made in 7 minutes......

That was why, when the news came on at 6 that terrible Tuesday night in February, that homes all across the nation erupted in fury.. Howdy Doody!... yes, HOWDY DOODY had been kidnapped from his dressing room, right in front of stage hands, technical persons, staff writers, interns, producers, co-stars, and even the studio audience. When questioned by frantic police and representatives from the Mayor's office, the only clue was that what appeared to be a nice married couple with their own little girl who had come to see the broadcast, had left before it began carrying (inexplicably!) a 1955 American Tourister suitcase; the new "Jet-Streamer Line" with the woven wicker grass-cloth sides that resisted rain and scuffing and retailed for the extravagant price of $29.95 for just the overnight size! It was a warm, honey-amber color with brown leather edging, stitching and a handle...and the two horizontal stripes woven into the fabric were a rich teal blue that matched the luxurious satin and "stain-resistant" interior with its zippered pockets.

The couple had looked ordinary enough, like any other from Levittown or Mamaroneck...or Sayville...or Ronkonkoma. But a few more observant stage hands had noticed that their little girl was odd.... they overheard her asking questions about Howdy, and Buffalo Bob...and of course, Clarabell. She even managed to engage them in a short chat.... Buffalo Bob was carrying a bottle and busy looking for a glass as he passed. He smiled at the child, patted her head which, for some reason, spun completely around. Clarabell was next but pushed by her and the adults muttering something unpleasant about an axe and kindling.... and then it was Howdy! He was accompanied only by his agent, a nice Mrs. Trefeeley, who showed him some changes in the show's script, and the fact that a giraffe and a lemur would be doing a political sketch. Howdy was pleasant, even jolly, and when he was introduced to the little girl (her name was thought to be Irene or Ilene...or was it Lulu?....whatever..) his eyes twinkled.

After all, he was only 11 and he had started to get crushes on his prettier fans.... and she was pretty indeed.... in a ....well... somewhat "society debutante" way. Her eyes had that cool, appraising look to them... the kind that go up and down you "like a searchlight"! That's what they said in the movies! Howdy had heard a lady say that about his Aunt Joan (Crawford!). But he still liked the little girl and her nice parents. They asked if they could meet him after the show for ice cream..or maybe some martinis.... Mrs. Trefeeley saw they were all getting along so nicely, that she excused herself, and went over to scold some stagehands who had pinched her bottom with their rough hands right before lunch...and she wanted to make sure they understood that meant they had to all take her out for dinner that night...to Schrafft's... not someplace cheap! When she turned back around, the married couple was gone...so was Irene/Ilene/Lulu...and Howdy!.. HOWDY!! GONE! Not in his dressing room! Not at the shoe-shine stand with Mr. Clem. Not at the snack table, or in the prop room, or in Wardrobe, or...anywhere.

People began murmuring...then calling out...and finally yelling, and even screaming while out in the studio, the waiting audience began to panic and even cry and scream themselves. ..especially the adults. Buffalo Bob was grabbed by a couple of big policemen and dragged to his dressing room. His bottle and the full glass got spilled and broken, and someone said he cried and threw up. Clarabell was found in the alleyway smoking a $2.00 cigar and talking to himself. The police didn't bother to bring him inside... they just slapped him around out there, and when he sassed them, they slapped him some more, and one of them kicked him in the ass and honked his nose. That shut him up, and he apologized to them. They made him curtsy...like a little girl!..and make donkey-sounds to make sure he got the message! But no matter what everyone was doing inside and out, no trace of Howdy was found. Finally, everyone began to put the couple with the suitcase and the strange little girl together with his disappearance....maybe they weren't from Ronkonkoma after all...

That night's broadcast was canceled while the "Special Reports" went out across the country. Two hours later a note scrawled on double-spaced lined notebook paper and in Crayola's "Eggplant Whimsy" arrived at the studio..... "We want $36,048 in ones and twos in a Donald Duck lunch box by midnight. We'll tell you where to drop it. If you don't, we'll send you Howdy's left arm ..and the hinge! Here's some proof we have him!" ... and there, tacked to the note was...oh God, no! NO!! Mrs. Treffeeley screamed and fainted. So did Buffalo Bob...and a stagehand! The detectives covered their mouths in horror... tacked to the note was a wad of...string...wadded up STRING!!!... oh God!! NO!... and that's when Clarabell, for the first time sounding concerned about his little co-star, that bright and sunny, freckle-faced kid with the big smile for everyone!..that was when Clarabell snarled to anyone listening, "This is why they still send kidnappers to the gas chamber! TO THE GAS CHAMBER!!... C'mon Sergeant! Let's go find my little buddy!" .....And out they all went...but then ...well... you remember how it all ended...

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... THOMAS MITCHELL (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT?"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. And feel free to share them with your friends! Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships". (I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???)… Well, this actor qualifies absolutely as an icon of the "Character STAR" set.... bumbling, wise, a smart aleck, a doddering fool, comedies, dramas, even tragedies! His face, and voice are unforgettable and irreplaceable.... he's one of the folks that I hope is waiting to sit and have coffee ‘n’ croissants with me in a Heaven-For-Actors cafe.... He’s Thomas Mitchell (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962). In addition to being an actor, he was also a director, playwright, and screenwriter.

         Born Thomas John Mitchell was born to Irish immigrants in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the youngest of seven children. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders. Both his father and brother were newspaper reporters, and his nephew, James P. Mitchell, later served as Dwight Eisenhower’s Secretary of Labor. The younger Mitchell also became a newspaper reporter after graduating from St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth. However, Mitchell soon found that he enjoyed writing comic theatrical skits much more than chasing late-breaking scoops. He became an actor in 1913, at one point touring with the Charles Coburn Shakespeare Company. Coburn provided young Mitchell with some much-needed experience in the works of William Shakespeare. In late 1916 Mitchell debuted on Broadway in the original play UNDER SENTENCE and would be a fixture on the Great White Way steadily from then to 1935, working on a total of 29 plays. Even while playing leading roles on Broadway into the 1920s Mitchell would continue to write. One of the plays he co-authored, LITTLE ACCIDENT, was eventually made into a film (three times) by Hollywood, and with CLOUDY WITH SHOWERS (1931).

          Although, Mitchell's first credited screen role was in the 1923 silent film SIX CYLINDER LOVE, his first breakthrough role was as the embezzler in Frank Capra’s film LOST HORIZON (1937). Over the next few years, Mitchell appeared in many significant films. Known for his amazing range in both comedy and drama, and even in tragedy, Thomas Mitchell was respected by directors Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, and John Ford as one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest films of the 20th century. Forty-three of the fifty-nine films in which he acted, were made in the 10-year period from 1936-1946. In 1939 alone he had key roles in STAGECOACH, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON with James Stewart, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS with Cary Grant, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME with Charles Laughton, and GONE WITH THE WIND with Vivien Leigh. He has the distinction of having performed in three of the Oscar nominated films of that year….an unbroken record. Having been nominated for an Oscar for his complex and very sympathetic Dr. Kersaint in THE HURRICANE (1938), and probably better remembered as Scarlett O'Hara's loving but doomed father in GONE WITH THE WIND, it was for his performance as the drunken Doc Boone in STAGECOACH, co-starring John Wayne (in Wayne's breakthrough role), that Mitchell won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. In his acceptance speech, he quipped, "I didn't know I was that good". Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Mitchell acted in a wide variety of roles in productions such as 1940's SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, 1942's MOONTIDE, 1944's THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, (as an atheist doctor) and HIGH NOON (1952) as the town mayor. He is probably best known to audiences today for his role as sad sack Uncle Billy in Capra's Christmas classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) again with James Stewart.

         From the 1950s and into the early 1960s, Mitchell worked primarily in television, appearing in a variety of roles in some of the most well-regarded early series of the era, including PLAYHOUSE 90, DICK POWELL'S ZANE GREY THEATER (in a pilot episode that became the CBS series JOHNNY RINGO), and HALLMARK HALL OF FAME productions. In 1954, he starred in the television version of the radio program, MAYOR OF THE TOWN. And in 1955, he played Kris Kringle in THE 20TH CENTURY-FOX HOUR version of THE MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET opposite Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey. In 1959, he starred in thirty-nine episodes of the syndicated television series, GLENCANNON, which had aired two years earlier in the United Kingdom. In the early 1960s, Mitchell originated the stage role "Columbo", later made famous on NBC and ABC television by Peter Falk. Columbo was Mitchell's last stage role. His last film role was in POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961) with Bette Davis and again directed by Frank Capra.

          In 1953, Mitchell became the first man to win the "triple crown" of acting awards (Oscar, Emmy, Tony); the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1939's STAGECOACH, an Emmy 1952 for Best Actor for TV’s THE DOCTOR, and the following year a Tony Award for best performance by an actor, for the musical HAZEL FLAGG, based on the Carole Lombard film NOTHING SACRED (1937).

          Mitchell died at age 70 from peritoneal mesothelioma in Beverly Hills, California. He had been married twice; Rachel Hartzell (1937 to 1939) and Ann Stuart Breswer, first from 1915 to 1935, and remarried to her 1941 to 1962, by whom he had one daughter, Anne. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for his work in television at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard, and a second star for his work in motion pictures at 1651 Vine Street.

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!] 

Sybil Bruncheon's "ADS THAT FAILED!"... That's Show Bzzzz....

Sybil Bruncheon's "ADS THAT FAILED!"... Boys and girls! Did you know that many of the products and services that we use and love every day almost went out of business because of poor advertising? Well, it's true! Here's one! The first commercial for the Lady Norelco Razor!

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... ARTHUR O'CONNELL (March 29, 1908 - May 18, 1981)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? And while you’re considering it, here’s a face and voice that  embody all the warmth and heart that any character actor could hope for. He definitely was one of those people that passers-by might snap their fingers at and have trouble recalling the name, but they’d never forget how he made them feel in his film roles. It’s Arthur O’Connell (March 29, 1908 - May 18, 1981).

Arthur Joseph O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage and film actor. He was born on March 29, 1908 in Manhattan, New York, and made his legitimate stage debut in the middle 1930s, at which time he fell within the orbit of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Welles cast O'Connell in the tiny role of a reporter in the closing scenes of CITIZEN KANE (1941), a film often referred to as O'Connell's film debut, though in fact he had already appeared in FRESHMAN YEAR (1938) and had costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Leon's conniving brother-in-law.

After numerous small movie parts, O'Connell returned to Broadway, where he appeared as the erstwhile middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in the Pulitzer Prize winning PICNIC by William Inge, a role he would recreate in the 1956 film version opposite Rosalind Russell, directed by Joshua Logan, and co-starring William Holden and Kim Novak. He earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the process. O’Connell’s reliability as a steady character actor resulted in his constant work with great directors and stars including BUS STOP (1956) also written by William Inge and directed by Joshua Logan and starring Marilyn Monroe. Later the jaded looking O'Connell was frequently cast as fortyish losers and alcoholics; in the latter capacity he appeared as James Stewart's boozy attorney-mentor in ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959) co-starring George C. Scott and Ben Gazzara and directed by Otto Preminger, and the result was another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1959, O'Connell also played the part of Chief Petty Officer Sam Tostin, engine room chief of the fictional World War II submarine USS Sea Tiger, opposite Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in OPERATION PETTICOAT. In 1961, O'Connell played the role of Grandpa Clarence Beebe in the children's film classic MISTY, the screen adaptation of Marguerite Henry's story of “Misty of Chincoteague”. He appeared with Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Thomas Mitchell, Ann-Margret, and the all-star cast of POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961) directed by Frank Capra. In 1962, he portrayed the father of Elvis Presley's character in the motion picture FOLLOW THAT DREAM, and in 1964 in the Presley-picture KISSIN' COUSINS. In that same year O'Connell was in YOUR CHEATIN’ HEART (1964), the Hank Williams story starring George Hamilton and directed by Gene Nelson; and in THE 7 FACES OF DR. LAO, he portrayed the idealist-turned-antagonist Clint Stark, which has become a cult classic, and in which O'Connell's is the only character other than star Tony Randall to appear as one of the "7 faces."

O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both television and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing. He appeared as Matt Dexter, an aging Irish drifter in the episode "Songs My Mother Told Me" (February 21, 1961) on ABC's STAGECOACH WEST series, and on Christmas Day, 1962, O'Connell was cast as Clayton Dodd in the episode "Green, Green Hills" of NBC's modern western series, EMPIRE, starring Richard Egan as the rancher Jim Redigo. This episode also features Dayton Lummis as Jason Simms and Joanna Moore as Althea Dodd.

In 1964, O'Connell played Joseph Baylor in the episode "A Little Anger Is a Good Thing" on the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, BREAKING POINT, starring Paul Richards. In 1966, he guest-starred as a scientist who regretfully realized that he has created an all-powerful android in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode titled "The Mechanical Man." In the February 1967 episode "Never Look Back" of the TV series LASSIE, he played Luther Jennings, an elderly ranger manning the survey tower at Strawberry Peak, who takes it hard when he finds he'll lose his job when the tower is slated for destruction.

O'Connell accepted the part of a man who discovers that his 99-year-old father has been frozen in an iceberg on the 1967 sitcom THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS, having assumed that he would be billed first per the producers' agreement. Instead, top billing went to newcomer Monte Markham in the dual role of O'Connell's father and his son. O'Connell accepted the demotion to second billing as well as could be expected, but he never again trusted the word of any Hollywood executive. During the span of his career, O’Connell had appeared in more than seventy-five films and television projects. By the 1970s, his work schedule had dropped to occasional but memorable roles; in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) he played the self-sacrificing ship’s minister opposite five Academy Award winners Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters, and Red Buttons. He made his final film appearance in THE HIDING PLACE (1975), portraying a watch-maker who hides Jews during World War II.

Although ill health forced O'Connell to reduce his acting appearances in the middle 1970s, the actor stayed busy in commercials as a friendly pharmacist for Crest toothpaste. At the time of his death from Alzheimer's disease in California in May, 1981, O'Connell was appearing by his own choice solely in these commercials. O'Connell had been married once, in 1962, to Ann Hall Dunlop (1917–2000) of Washington, D.C. Arthur O'Connell and Ann Hall Dunlop divorced in December 1972 in Los Angeles. O'Connell is interred at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

A New SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT?"... ESTELLE WINWOOD (January 24, 1883 - June 20, 1984).

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Our guest this week is Estelle Winwood (January 24, 1883 – June 20, 1984)!!!

No! You’re seeing those dates right folks!!! She lived to be 101 years old….all the way back in 1984!! Did Willard Scott do a tribute??? Born Estelle Ruth Goodwin in England, she decided at five years of age to be an actress, and with her mother’s support she trained with the Lyric Stage Academy in London, before making her professional debut in Johannesburg at the age of 20. During the First World War she joined the Liverpool Repertory Company in Liverpool, Lancashire before moving on to a career in the West End theatre in London. She moved to the U.S. in 1916 and made her Broadway début in New York City; and, until the beginning of the 1930s, she divided her time between New York City and London. Throughout her career, her first love was the theatre; and, as the years passed, she appeared less frequently in London and became a frequent performer on Broadway, appearing in such plays as A SUCCESSFUL CALAMITY (1917), A LITTLE JOURNEY (1918), SPRING CLEANING (1923), THE DISTAFF SIDE (1934), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (which she also directed, 1939), WHEN WE ARE MARRIED (1939), LADIES IN RETIREMENT (1940), THE PIRATE (1942), TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1944), LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN (1947), and THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1948). Like many stage actors of her era, she expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented and made her film début in NIGHT ANGEL (1931), but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in THE HOUSE OF TRENT (1933), followed by QUALITY STREET (1937).

During the 1940s she continued her stage work with no films whatsoever, but in the 50s she began to take an interest in the new medium of Television. Because of her eccentric appearance and delivery, she guest starred on a wide variety of tv shows including the TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE DONNA REED SHOW, DR. KILDARE, PERRY MASON, BEWITCHED, BATMAN, LOVE AMERICAN STYLE, THE REAL McCOYS, DENNIS THE MENACE, and several others. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s she continued both onstage and in television making only occasional but unforgettable appearances in films like THE GLASS SLIPPER (1955), THE SWAN (1956), DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (1959), THE MISFITS (1961), THE MAGIC SWORD (1962), THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY (1962), DEAD RINGER (1964), CAMELOT (1967) and THE PRODUCERS (1968). Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in MURDER BY DEATH (1976), was as Elsa Lanchester’s character's ancient nursemaid. In this film, she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries. When she made her final television appearance in a 1979 episode of QUINCY she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison’s mother in his final MY FAIR LADY tour in 1983.

In the 1930s she was very good friends with Tallulah Bankhead and actresses Eva Le Gallienne and Blyth Daly. They were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, because of their appearances together at the "Algonquin Round Table". Winwood was married four times but bore no children. She died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984, at age 101. She was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. When Estelle was asked, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, how she felt to have lived so long, she replied, "How rude of you to remind me!".

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]