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Category Archives: In Memoriam…

Patrick Swayze Loses Battle With Pancreatic Cancer at Age 57

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Patrick Swayze

patrick-swayze-now

The world of entertainment lost one of its nicest stars when Patrick Swayze lost his 20 month battle with Pancreatic Cancer on Monday evening at the all too young age of 57.  I can’t say I was shocked when I heard the news since I knew as well as everyone else, that it was going to happen someday, I guess I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

Swayze will forever be immortalized in roles such as that of the dance instructor in n, you know? 1987′s Dirty Dancing, which became a huge hit and for recording “She’s Like The Wind” which was featured on the film’s soundtrack, and for his role opposite Demi Moore in the 1990 smash hit Ghost, in which he plays a ghost (hence the catchy title) who returns to protect his grieving girlfriend (Demi Moore) from his killer.  Of course, there was the film The Outsiders in 1980, where he was first introduced to movie-goers thanks to Francis Ford Coppola.  Then, he tried his hand at being an action hero in such films as Roadhouse and Point Break.

But, probably his most underrated and under appreciated role of all came in 1995′s campy classic To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar in which Swayze along with co-stars Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo portray drag queens on a road trip to self-discovery.  But unfortunately, this film hardly gets its due for what it is, which, in MY opinion is a brilliantly acted and directed film, but because of the subject matter, seems to get swept under the rug all too often.

Sadly in March 2008, he had the unfortunate task of announcing to the world and his fans that he had pancreatic cancer.  Yet by July of that same year, he was in good enough health to begin working 12-hour days (while still undergoing chemotherapy) on a TV series, The Beast for the A&E cable network starring as an undercover FBI agent which premiered in January 2009 to 2.4 million viewers and it seemed he was on his way to re-inventing himself. The show ran for 13 episodes, but the long working days ultimately took its toll on Swayze, who started missing shows and the cable network chose not to renew it for a second season without their headliner. Early this year, he told ABC’s Barbara Walters that he hoped to live long enough “until they find a cure,” but he was “not going to chase the idea of staying alive….I’ll be here, or I won’t.”

He may no longer be with us, but his body of work, and unwillingness to give up the fight will be an inspiration for generations to come.

May God Bless and Keep You, Patrick Swayze…

And Until Next Time…

I AM…

Michael Queenstown

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Karl Malden Passes Away At Age 97

March 22, 1912 - July 1, 2009

March 22, 1912 - July 1, 2009

KARL MALDEN PASSES AWAY AT

AGE 97

In a career that spanned more than seven decades, Oscar winning actor Karl Malden was featured in classic films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and One-Eyed Jacks, as well as roles in Baby Doll, How the West Was Won, and Patton. His best known role was that of Lt. Mike Stone on the television series The Streets of San Francisco, and during the 1980′s was the spokesman of American Express, who reminded us card members, “Don’t leave home without it!“

Malden was born Mladen George Sekulovich on March 22, 1912 in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Gary, Indiana.  He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden when he was 22.  Switching the “a” and “l” in Mladen and making it Malden. He then took his grandfather’s first name, and it became Karl Malden. The reason for this was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for the marquee. He thought they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse, so he changed it not to give them the excuse.

In September 1934, Malden decided to leave his home in Gary, Indiana, to pursue formal dramatic training at the Goodman School, which was then associated with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and would later become part of DePaul University. Eventually, he made his way to New York City and appeared as an actor on Broadway in 1937, did some radio work and made his film debut with a small role in the film They Knew What They Wanted.

He began acting in several plays with the Group Theatre, and it was during this time he would be introduced to a young Elia Kazan who he would later work with on A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951 and in 1954′s On The Waterfront, both starring Marlon Brando.

He starred in dozens of films from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, such as Fear Strikes Out (1957), Pollyanna (1960), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Gypsy (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Patton (1970), playing General Omar Bradley. After Summertime Killer (1972), he appeared in the made-for-television film The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989) (as Leon Klinghoffer).

In 1972, Malden starred as Lt. Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco. Filmed originally as a made-for-television movie, ABC  quickly signed on to carry it as a series.  Michael Douglas was hired to play Lt. Stone’s young partner, Inspector Steve Keller. The series ended in 1977, when ABC cancelled the series after Michael Douglas left the show to pursue other projects and the show’s ratings took a nose dive.  Malden was nominated for this role four times for a Primetime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, but never won.

In 1980, Malden starred in Skag, an hour-long drama that focused on the life of a foreman at aPittsburgh steel mill. Malden played a character named Pete Skagska, a simple man trying to keep his family together. The pilot episode for the series had Skag temporarily disabled by astroke, and explored the effects it had on his family and co-workers. Skag suffered poor ratings, but critics hailed it, even going to great lenghts to keep it on the air by taking full page ads out in the newspapers. Nevertheless the series was canceled after only a handful of episodes.

Malden’s last role in film or television was in 2000 in the highly acclaimed first season episode of the The West Wing titled “Take This Sabbath Day“.  Malden portrayed a Catholic priest and used the same Bible he had used in On The Waterfront.

One of his more familiar and often duplicated roles on television was that of spokesman for American Express Travelers Cheques in the 1970′s and 1980′s and his famous tag-line, “Don’t leave home without them”, became a household phrase.

On December 18, 1938, Malden married Mona Greenberg, who survives him.

Their marriage was one of the longest in Hollywood history, lasting more than 70 years.  In addition to his wife, Malden is survived by daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three granddaughters, Alison, Emily, and Cami, and four great-grandchildren, Mila, Stella, Charlie, and Thomas Karl.

In 1997, Malden published his autobiography, When Do I Start?, written with his daughter Carla.

Many of Malden’s career achievements include winning the 1951 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for A Streetcar named Desire, and a nomination for his supporting role in On The Waterfront. He was a past president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his performance in 1985′s Fatal Vision, and awarded an honorary degree in fine arts by Emporia State University the same year. In 2001 he received an honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from Valparasio University, and on  November 11, 2004, his ex-Streets of San Francisco co-star Michael Douglas presented him with the Monte Cristo Award of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service renamed the Los Angeles Barrington Postal Station as the Karl Malden Postal Station in honor, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Malden died at his home in the Brentwood section of  Los Angeles on July 1, 2009 at the age of 97. He is said to have died of natural causes, although it has been said he was in poor health for the past few years.

Malden’s manager said “It could be many things. I mean, he was 97 years old!”



Until Next Time!

“Don’t leave home without reading my blog!!”

Michael Queenstown

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Mollie Sugden Dead At Age 86

Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Betty Slocumbe

Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Betty Slocumbe

L-R: Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocumbe, John Inman as Mr. Humphries, and Frank Thronton as Captain Peacock

L-R: Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocumbe, John Inman as Mr. Humphries, and Frank Thronton as Captain Peacock

Mollie Sugden, Star

of Are You Being

Served?

Dead At Age 86

Sad news from across the pond. Comedic actress Mollie Sugden passed away July 1, 2009.

The Yorkshire, England born star of the hugely popular Brit-com Are You Being Served? passed away after a long illness in the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guilford.  According to her agent Joan Reddin, Ms. Sugden’s twin boys Simon and Robin Moore were at her bedside when she passed.

Mollie Sugden was 86 years of age.

Ms. Reddin began representing Mollie in the 1960′s, more than a decade before she became famous for the role of Mrs. Betty Slocumbe on Are You Being Served? “She was a lovely, lovely person” Reddin said.

Mollie was born Mary Isobel Sugden on July 21, 1922, and at the young age of 4, she realized she had the gift to make people laugh when at a village concert she heard a woman reading a poem which was making the audience roar with laughter. The following Christmas when she was asked if she could do something, she got up on a chair, read the poem, and had everyone rolling on the floor in laughter. Later in life she recalled that incident and “realized how wonderful it was to make people laugh.”

And the rest, as they say is history.

Mollie Sugden’s first regular sitcom role was from 1962 to 1966 when she played Mrs. Crispin in the sitcom Hugh and I.  Molly also played the role of Mrs. Hutchinson on The Liver Birds from 1971-79, and in 1996 when the series was revived.

But by far the biggest role of Mollie’s career was that of Mrs. Betty Slocumbe of the fictional Grace Brother’s Department Store on Are You Being Served? the long running BBC hit sitcom which ran from 1972-1985, and was a huge hit, maybe even more so here in the United States, and still is. The role gave her nation-wide fame as the department store saleswoman with the superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, a passion for bouffant, pastel colored hairdos, and of course, her pussy “Tiddles”. That’s her pet pussycat, of course.

Fans of Are You Being Served? will remember that the show was spun-off in 1992 as Grace and Favour, or Are You Being Served, Again? here in America and Mollie and Frank reprised their roles for the spin-off as well as did co-stars John Inman who played Mr. Humphries and Wendy Richard who played Miss Brahams.  Sadly, Wendy passed away of breast cancer at age 65 on February 26, 2009, and John Inman passed away at age 71 on March 8, 2007 from complications due to Hepatitis A.

L-R: Wendy Richard as "Miss Brahams" and Mollie as "Mrs. Slocumbe"

L-R: Wendy Richard as "Miss Brahams" and Mollie as "Mrs. Slocumbe"

Molly was married to actor William Moore whom she met in 1956 when she worked in the theatre. She was 35 and he was 39, and two years later they were married.  Mollie gave birth to the couple’s twin boys Simon and Robin six years later. The two were happily married until William’s death back in 2000.  Mollie’s agent Joan Reddin said she believes that Mollie never fully recovered from the loss of her husband, saying “They were very much in love, and started to go down-hill when he died.”

The character of Mrs. Slocumbe, along with John Inman’s portrayal of the flamboyant Mr. Humphries, will stand as two of the most iconic television characters of all time in the LGBT community, and Mrs. Slocumbe was an inspiration for countless drag routines the world over, including Australian comedian Barry Humphries who credits the character of Mrs. Slocumbe as an inspiration for Dame Edna Everage.

Frank Thornton, one of the very few surviving cast members who played Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?  said: “Mollie, of course, was an excellent comedian. She was a jolly good actress.”

Yes she was.

You will be truly missed by fans like myself all over the world, Mollie.

“And I am unanimous in that!”

Until Next time!

Michael Queenstown.

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John Callaway Dead at 72

Callaway

1936 - June 23, 2009

Legendary Chicago journalist John Callaway passed away Tuedsay evening July 23 in Racine Wisconsin.  Wife Sandra says John died of a heart attack after feeling faint in a Racine store.

John Callaway was 72.

Callaway founded and was the host of WTTW-11′s Chicago Tonight for 15 years until his retirement in 1999, and wasn’t out of the limelight long before he returned to WTTW’s airwaves a year later as host of the Chicago Stories documentary series, later hosting Friday Night, a segment of Chicago Tonight that featured in-depth interviews with people in the news.

He Hailed from New Martinsville, West Virginia where he lived with his parents and sister.  His father was editor of the town’s newspaper, a boozer who couldn’t hold a job, and the family was poor for most of John’s early years according to a 2001 Chicago Tribune story about his one-man-show, “John Callaway Tonight.” After arriving in Chicago as a college dropout — with, as he often said, 71 cents in his pockets — Callaway began his journalism career at the City News Bureau of Chicago and soon rose to radio and television eminence, the story said.

Callaway later was news director at WBBM-780 AM and in 1968 helped change the station to its current all-news format. According to his biography on the WTTW website, he was named CBS Radio’s vice president for development of all-news stations around the country.He returned to Chicago a few years later and joined WTTW in 1974 as the station’s news director.

“It has been said that John Callaway, who has won more than 60 awards, including seven Chicago Emmys, is the best interviewer on television,” according to a 1994 Tribune article. “He can be tough, like when he told Sen. Paul Simon he hadn’t mastered his own campaign material. He can be sensitive, like when he delicately asked director Gordon Parks about the death of his son. He can elicit quotable sound bites. Mike Ditka, when he was Bears coach: ‘My motives are right, even if my methods stink.’ Rich Daley, when he was state’s attorney: ‘I could subpoena you overnight if you became my enemy.’ He made the Frugal Gourmet cry. When Johnny Carson asked William Buckley who was the best interviewer, Buckley answered, ‘That chubby fellow in Chicago.’ “

Callaway is survived by his wife Sandra, two daughters, Liz Foster Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway (both of whom are singers and actresses), from a previous marriage, and four stepchildren of Sandra’s

The City of Chicago, and maybe even the world,  has lost a great journalist.

Rest In Peace Mr. Callaway

Until Next Time

Michael Queenstown


Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62

February 2, 1947 - June 25, 2009

February 2, 1947 - June 25, 2009

On the morning of June 25, 2009 at approximately 9:28 a.m. PDT Farrah Fawcett lost her long battle with cancer in the intensive care unit at Saitn John’s Health Care Center in Santa Monica, California with long-time boyfriend Ryan O’Neal and friend Alana Stewart by her side.

Farrah Fawcett was 62 years old.

Born Ferrah Leni Fawcett on February 2, 1947 in Corpus Christi, Texas the younger of two daughters. Mother Pauline was a homemaker and father James was an oil field contractor. A Roman Catholic, Farrah was educated at the parish school of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church of Corpus Chrisi.  She graduated from W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi in 1965. From 1966–1969, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she appeared in a photo of the “Ten Most Beautiful Coeds” from the university, which ran in Cashbox magazine. A Hollywood publicist saw the photo, called Farrah and urged her to move to Los Angeles, which she did in 1969, leaving after her junior year with her parents’ permission to “try her luck” in Hollywood.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fawcett appeared in TV commercials for consumer products, including Noxema shaving cream, Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam shampoo, and the 1975 Mercury Cougar.  Later in 1978, after achieving TV stardom, she appeared in a series of commercials for her own brand of shampoo, marketed by Faberge. Fawcett’s first TV series appearance was a guest spot on I Dream of Jeannie in the 1968–1969 season, followed by guest appearances in Owen marshall Counselor at Law She later appeared in The Six Million Dollar Man with Lee Majors, which first aired in 1974, The Dating Game, and several episodes of Harry O . In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged. The company hired photographer Bruce McBroom.  From 40 rolls of film, Farrah selected 6 pictures, marking as favourite the one that made her famous. The resulting poster, of Farrah in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million to 8 million to as high as 12 million copies.FARRAH2On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels was aired as amovie of the week. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jacyln Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as “Angels.”

The series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program.

Her appearance in the TV show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie’s Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a “Farrah Do” or “Farrah Hair” and the hairstyle was even spoofed in various media, including Redd Foxx’s variety show on ABC.

Fawcett left the show after only one season and Cherly Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill’s younger sister Kris Munroe.

Following a series of commercial and critical flops, Fawcett won critical acclaim for her 1983 role in the off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, replacing Susan Sarandon in the role, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were only able to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.

The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based TV movie The Burning Bed earned her her first of three Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first TV movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse.  It was also the highest-rated TV movie of the season.

In 1986 Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well-received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.

She appeared in Between Two Women and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as  in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a Cable ACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking Life magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White.  Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs  in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination.

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors,  star of TV’s The Six million Dollar Man, from 1973–1982, though the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

From 1982 until her death, Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O’Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond O’Neal, born in January 1985. In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, he was arrested for possession of narcotics, while Fawcett was in the hospital. On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times reported that Ryan O’Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough and was able to say “yes”.

Sadly, that day will never come.

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon, “TV had much more impact back in the ’70s than it does today. Charlie’s Angels got huge numbers every week. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant.”

Playboy founder Hugh Heffner said “Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page.”

Charlie’s Angles co-star Kate Jackson said “She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her… I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile…when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.”


And that’s how we’ll always remember Farrah.  With a smile!

Until Next Time!

Michael Queenstown

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Michael Jackson’s Death Stuns World

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson “King of Pop” stuns world, death at age 50.

After letting a couple of days go by, I had a chance to reflect on the June 25th shocking death of Michael Jackson.

This celebrity death has hit me harder then I thought it would. When I found out, I was just finishing up a video tribute to Farrah Fawcett who died earlier in the day. Although Farrah’s death was sad, you had time to mentally prepare for it, after all she had been in the media for a while and we all knew she was battling anal cancer.

At approximately 4:25 p.m. CST I went to Twitter to share my link to the new tribute video for Farrah, when all of a sudden the news started flooding in, when I saw the first link I thought to myself, thats a really sick way to advertise on Twitter, then the second, third…I quickly switched to my MSN home page, and there it was. The headline…”Michael Jackson dead at 50 due to cardiac arrest.”

Still in disbelief I then checked my facebook page, and my friends were already sending in their condolences, now everything felt like a dream, quickly shifting gears to CNN live, it started to hit me, my childhood idol was gone.

michael-jackson3As a DJ/Music Producer at the age of 15,   I was already remixing “Billie Jean”, “Thriller”, “Bad”, “Smooth Criminal” ect. In fact I remember the first time I got “Billie Jean” to sync up with “Like A Virgin”  from Madonna, I was in heaven. But back to Michael’s death, could it be? would I not be able to look forward to seeing him live in concert one last time?michael_jackson

Well after I had dinner and the evening set in, I kept noticing how slow the internet was, I couldn’t believe just how fast the news was traveling. Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, every single media outlet was crushing the net with the countless speculations and stories.

Yesterday I had a chance to reflect on MJ a little bit more,  I was reminded of the time when I participated in  ”Hands Across America” I remember holding that strangers hand a hearing Michael’s sweet angelic voice after the seemingly forever minute of silence. I recalled what I was doing when on the radio they broadcasted that “Thriller” had just broken the record for how many weeks it was on the chart. Back then it was through the Casey Kasem show, and I was able to remember his words 26 years later.

Speaking of charts, I was reading on Billboard that  sales of 5 albums have skyrocketed and that brick and mortar stores can’t keep up with the demand. So next week it’s more than likely that we will see Michael Jackson on top of the pop charts more time, but this time he WILL break his own records and smash the records of every artist, making him truly the King of Pop.michael-jackson-thriller

Having all these found memories prompted me to do a tribute video, and I worked hard on it till one in the morning the day he passed away. It got me thinking though, that maybe I should do a mega mix remix and a video remix, and that’s what I have been working on this entire day.

I’ll remember these past days with wonder, nostalgia, and a sense of accomplishment. For if it weren’t for my childhood hero, I may not be who I am today. Thank you Michael for your musical genius, your spectacular live concerts, for being a trailblazer, for having the vision to create small video clips of your music that know will live on in hearts of millions and millions of fans. Thank you for your humanitarian contributions.

These are the things I hope this legend is remembered for, not all the court room dramas and strange behaviors of his later life.

To close this blog I’m reminded of a certain MJ song “Heal the World”, “Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race.” Let’s hope this line of song stays true.

Nitrogen-E

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Nitrogen-E’s Mega Mix tribute video pt.2

Nitrogen-E’s first tribute video for dragqueendiaries.com

Ed McMahon Dead at 86

ED2

March 6, 1923 - June 23, 2009

Ed McMahon, best known as the long-time side-kick and announcer of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, passed away on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California after a long battle with pneumonia, bone cancer and other medical problems.

Ed McMahon was 86 years old.

Born Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. on March 6, 1923 to Elenor and Edward McMahon in Detroit, Michigan, Ed grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended Catholic University of America where he majored in speech and drama, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. McMahon served our great country during World War II as a fighter pilot in the USMC decorated with six  Air Medals until his discharge in 1946, and remained in the reserves until returning to active duty after college. Sent to Korea in 1952, he flew unarmed OE-1 Bird Dogs on 85 tactical air control and artillery spotting missions.  He remained in the reserves retiring in 1966 with the rank of Colonel before being commissioned as a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard.

Before The Tonight Show, he co-hosted a game show opposite the late, great Johnny Carson called “Who Do You Trust?” which ran from 1957-1962, before the dynamic-duo left to join the Tonight Show in 1962 and enjoyed a very successful 30 year run until Carson retired in 1992.  During that time, McMahon found time to host the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search beginning in 1983, which helped launch the careers of many of today’s actors, singers, and comedians which include Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Rosie O’donnell. McMahon stayed with the show during its entire run until it ended in 1995. In 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the CBS revival of the show hosted by Arsenio Hall.CARSON

McMahon was also co-host until 2008 of the annual Labor Day Jerry Lewis Telethon for MD appearing 41 times, second only to Lewis himself. In 1982, he and Dick Clark hosted NBC’s TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. He stayed with the show intil 1998 when Clark decided to move the show to ABC.

In 2004 McMahon became announcer and co-host of Alf’s Hit Talk Show on TVLand, along with authoring two memoirs, Here’s Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 years of Friendship and For Laughing Out Loud.

ED

In 2007, McMahon was injured in a fall, and in March of 2008, it became public that he was recovering from a broken neck and follow-up surgeries.  He subsequently sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two of its doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, accusing them with dicharging him with a broken neck after the 2007 fall and botching the two later neck surgeries.  In 2009, it was reported that McMahon was in an undisclosed L.A. hospital (which turned out to be in later reports as Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month in serious condition and the ICU. Reports were that he was admitted for pneumonia, but reports that he had been diagnosed with bone cancer would never be confirmed or denied.  McMahon would remain here until his demise.

For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with a drawn-out “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” His larger than life persona and hearty laughter alongside the “King of Late Night” earned him nicknames such as “The Human Laugh Track” and “Toymaker to the King, and Conan O’Brien, present host of the Tonight Show, paid tribute to McMahon later that evening of his passing by saying “It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson without Ed McMahon. His laugh was really the soundtrack to that show”, adding that along with Carson, they created “the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history.”

There will never be anything like that or him ever again.

Rest in Peace, Ed McMahon

Until Next Time!

Michael Queenstown

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Remembering Judy Garland

JUDY

June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969

Forty years ago on July 22, 1969, one of the world’s brightest stars went dim and the  LGBT community lost one of its most cherished  icons when Judy Garland passed away.

Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, and through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her work in films, as well as Grammy Awards and a Tony Award.

JUDY2JUDY3

After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to MGM as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney, and of course, the film with which she would be most identified, 1939′s The Wizard of Oz.  It took 15 years, but Garland was released from the studio and gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a critically acclaimed concert at the legendary Carnegie Hall, a well-respected but short-lived series on television , and a triumphant return to the silver screen beginning with 1954′s A Star is Born.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and overweight. Plied with drugs to control her weight and increase her productivity, Garland endured a decades-long struggle with addiction. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, and her first four of five marriages ended in divorce. She attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, and Lorna and Joey Luft.

JUDY4The Grammy Awards posthumously awarded Garland the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 Garland was posthumously awarded and several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. and in 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI)  placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American Cinema.

Garland always had a large fan base in the gay community. The reasons often given for this status (especially by gay men) are her ability as a performer, the way her personal life struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the peak of her fame and her value as a camp figure.  Also, coincidental or not, the timing of her death and funeral in June of 1969 and the Stonewall Riots (which for most marked the starting point for the modern day Gay Liberation movement) has become a part of LGBT lore.

Of an up-coming feature film based on the life of Judy Garland (who would have turned 87 on June 10) called “Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland” and starring Anne Hathaway in the leading role, Garland’s daughter, the equally as legendary Liza Minnelli has urged the makers of the film to not just depict the dark side of her mother’s life by focusing primarily on her drug addiction phase, and though Minnelli has no problems with Hathaway playing the role of her mother in the movie, her mother’s talent and virtues should be highlighted.

“Well, I love Anne Hathaway. And I hope it’s a good movie and I hope that it’s true.  You know, they just don’t concentrate on crap like they used to”, says Minnelli.  People usually end up talking about her mother’s problems and forget to talk about the real Judy Garland, like her doting mother quality and how wonderful a human being she was.

“I Hope”, says Minnelli, “that they talk about her the way she should be talked about which was she was a fabulous entertainer, a great mother and just a wonderful human being.”


JUDY5

We ALL hope for the same thing, Liza. And we STILL love and miss you Judy!!

Until Next Time,

Michael Queenstown

Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/MQueenstown


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