Ursula and Others
March 15th, 2012
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. 
It was my first Disney visit of the year, but it wouldn’t be my last. Nonetheless, like any of my visits to any Disney theme park, it was a unique, fun, and awesome experience. It came on Sunday, February 12, 2012, following another very fun and exhausting day in the Los Angeles area. I had stayed at David’s house the night before and we were up bright and early and ready to begin our day at the butt crack of dawn. We left the house in Burbank around 7:45am and met Jimmy at Knott’s Berry Farm, where we would have breakfast at Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner Restaurant. I had the Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Hash to kickstart the day. In a bold and dramatic move, I spilled my entire glass of water across the table. 
Neither I nor Patti LaBelle are strangers to Billboard’s Number One Hits charts. I’m a student and collector of music, while Ms. LaBelle actually had two songs hit the coveted number one position. The first one came in 1975 when the song Lady Marmalade by LaBelle, the band she was fronting before become a solo act, topped the charts for a week in March. The second came as the result of another collaboration – this time with Michael McDonald. The song On My Own capped out at number one for three weeks in June in 1986.