Flying High with Crystal Bernard
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
I first fell in love with actress Crystal Bernard when I saw her in the cult-classic TV movie High School U.S.A. She was virtually unknown at that time, but subsequently became famous for her role as Helen Chapel in the sit-com Wings. I had always liked Wings too, but it somehow became the entire theme of my wedding weekend in 2003 when Jimmy visited to both lend support and videotape the ceremony and reception. It was a spontaneous thing – quoting Wings – and as much as we’ve tried to re-live it since, it never had the same comedic impact as it did on that wacky weekend that I got married to Carolyn. Read the rest of this entry »
She lucked into eternal film fame when her sister, who was slated to play the part, became too old-looking by the time her scenes in Gone with the Wind were ready to be filmed. So Cammie King ended up with the role of a lifetime, that of Bonnie Blue Butler, beloved but doomed daughter of Rhett and Scarlett in the Academy Award winning film from 1939. Incidentally, she also played the young Faline in the Disney classic Bambi. 
Although Sidney Kibrick would go on to make a few further appearances at other Way Out West Tent functions, Hollywood ’80 was his one-and-only convention appearance. And thereby, it was the only opportunity I have had to date to meet him. Mr. Kibrick played the freckle-faced, red-headed sidekick to Tommy “Butch” Bond in the Our Gang series. Kibrick’s character name in the films was “The Woim.” He didn’t have a slew of lines in the films, but his menacing presence left an impression on me in his 26 film appearances. I remember specifically being very excited to meet “Woim”, whose name (I had no idea at the time) was derived from a Brooklyn-esque pronunciation of “Worm.”