Jeff Conaway Before He’d Gone Away
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Jeff Conaway’s presence at the Hollywood Show on February 12, 2011, was a surprise. He hadn’t been on the celebrity schedule, and not knowing who he was, I’d nearly smarted off to him when he interrupted my encounter earlier in the day with Kim Darby by starting a conversation with her. There was another odd circumstance about his appearance too. He was there with a lady named Helen Darras who had authored a book about Butch Patrick called Eddie Munster Aka Butch Patrick: The Untold Story of His Early Hollywood-a, Could-a, Should-a Years. Clearly there was some feud between her (and Mr. Conaway) with Mr. Patrick. But Jeff, being a professed Christian, encouraged her not to bad-mouth him. Read the rest of this entry »
Pat Carroll is a classic. It is a bit ironic that her most famous role came in the 80’s, when her career in television went all the way back to the early 1950’s. Among those early parts, she could be seen in the recurring role of Bunny Halper in 12 episodes of The Danny Thomas Show, as well as parts in The Red Skelton Hour, and appearances in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, My Three Sons, Too Close for Comfort, and in voiceover in the 1988 Superman animated series. 
The title of this posting is not meant to be an insult in any way. It merely refers to some of the hot batchicks who appeared on the cult classic TV series Batman for three seasons from 1966-1968. It’s unfortunate that this fun and colorful series has not yet seen DVD release, or else I might actually appreciate it more. My memories are relegated to the occasional rerun seen now and then over the years. Yet still I could appreciate the large gathering of Batman celebrities that took place at the Hollywood Show on October 8, 2011. These are the batgals that I made the effort to meet: 
Not being a tremendous fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it was no surprise that I nearly held out in my haggling with Patricia Quinn, who portrayed Magenta in the film, over the cost of getting a signed glossy and an photo with her. However, knowing the cult status of the film and the fact that it is Ms. Quinn’s lips that were used in the promotional posters and material related to the film’s release, I caved a bit and paid the $30 for the combo (although the original price was $40). Her handler was pretty nice though and invited Jamie to get into one of the pictures as well, so we got a bit of a two-fer there.