Who’s What and What’s Where December 2003

PPB News edited by Sue Clark Chadwick

The November luncheon started the holiday season off with a bang when the Honoree was the multi-talented TOM BOSLEY, whose long career includes a Tony Award for his performance in the long-running Broadway musical Fiorello. Film clips from his long career on Broadway, in films and on television (edited by PPBer PAT GLEASON) were shown during the lunch period. PPB President GIL STRATTON introduced the dais, and Entertainment Chair JEANNE DeVIVIER BROWN read congratulatory notes from William Windom, Dr. Hazlet on “Murder She Wrote”; GARRY MARSHALL, producer of “Happy Days”; Ron Howard and Henry Winkler from “Happy Days” and Mariette Hartley, who were unable to attend because of conflicting commitments. STRATTON introduced BOSLEY’s wife, Patricia, who talked about their life together. Singing his praises as an actor and friend were co-workers MARION ROSS, Anson Williams, Danny Most and Erin Moran from “Happy Days”; Tracy Nelson from “The Father Dowling Mysteries”; Barbara Eden (“I Dream of Jeannie”), neighbor and friend; Ernest Borgnine, who appeared several times with TOM in “Touched by an Angel”; David Nelson and our own HAL KANTER. It was truly a great and well-deserved tribute. What a career!!!

Founding President and Chairman of the Board ART GILMORE presented the Diamond Circle Award. In order to not miss a word that was said, we are presenting GILMORE’s words in their entirety:

“This assignment, that causes me to be up here five times a year, is always a challenge. In the first place, I try to make you guess who will be the Honoree for the Diamond Circle. So, listen closely, and if you think you know.well, let me say that it is a person of the feminine gender. She is a Westerner—born in Prescott, Arizona—raised in Phoenix and graduated from the University of Denver with a B.A. in radio. Her first job was at KFBC in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1949. There she did some writing and some voice work.

“Then on to Sacramento, KFBK, where she progressed to her own weekly interview show. Those of you out there who once worked in a 250-watt teakettle know that you do lots of things while there. You are a copy-writer, salesperson, on-air personality and an off-air workhorse.

“Nineteen fifty-two was a good year to move to Los Angeles and work at KNBH, first in sales and later as associate producer for any show that hit the air from six a.m. to seven p.m. That included such personalities as John Conte, Helen O’Connel and Curt Massey. She soon found herself booking celebrities for telethons, talk shows—even game shows for such production companies as Ralph Edwards, Dick Clark and Goodson-Todman.

“She finally wised up, and 30 years ago started her own company called Star Trackers. She books ’em all—from Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield, Phyllis Diller and many, many more. She has the fattest Rolodex in town!

“In her spare time she reads each week, for over 30 years, for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, so students with handicaps can keep up with their studies.

“Now, if you don’t know whom we are talking about, you just aren’t awake. It’s the lady who sees to it five times a year that we have an honored guest up here and a full dais, to boot. She is our Program Chairman, the lady who typifies the heart and soul of PPB, former President JEANNE DeVIVIER BROWN.”

The deadline for the Newsletter sometimes doesn’t work out too well, as is the case with this one. Nostalgia Night, December 4, was after the deadline of November 18, but I am sure it was terrific because the guest was ART GILMORE, who has covered all fields of the entertainment business—it can’t be easy to cover 69 years in radio and television. ART started in radio at the age of 12 in Seattle and his career took off in Seattle and later Hollywood until the present. One of his first radio shows was with a guy named Leonard Sly, later known as Roy Rogers, the trio was three of the group who became The Sons of the Pioneers; Spike Jones was the staff drummer. That was 1936 at KFWB. He moved on to CBS for a show with Mary Martin. He announced the last “Truth or Consequences” radio show that RALPH EDWARDS, creator and host, PPB Chairman of the Board Emeritus, hosted from Las Vegas. Another radio series was “Movies Are Your Best Entertainment.” This was The Motion Picture Academy’s fight against television and featured the stars from six movies from each Hollywood studio. SUE CLARK CHADWICK was the writer and ART did the interviews. Moving to television, he did “The Dr. Christian Show” for 17 years, “Red Skelton” for 16 years, “The George Goebel Show” with producer HAL KANTER; acted in “Dragnet,” “Emergency,” and “Adam 12” (he planned to show clips from “Adam 12”). Then there was “Stars Over Hollywood,” and he was the narrator for all 156 “Highway Patrol” episodes. That’s just a sprinkling of his shows. I am sure all that attended really enjoyed it.and those that didn’t, really missed something. The next Nostalgia Night is January 22. Nostalgia Night co-chairs LINA ROMAY and RAY BRIEM did not have the guest set as of this writing.but, don’t miss January 22, at our Clubroom, on the lower level of Washington Mutual, Sunset and Vine. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and close promptly at 7:30 p.m.

Twenty-seven television and film executives have collaborated to share personal show biz stories in Fridays with Art: Insiders’ Accounts of the Early Days of TV and Some of the Guys Who Made It Work. The new book is the brainchild of PPBer DICK COLBERT, Prez of Colbert TV Sales, and the Editor is Dick Woollen, retired VP of Programming at Metromedia. Each of the twenty-seven icon-authors has contributed a chapter. They are members of a Friday luncheon klatsch organized by TV distributor Art Greenfield in 1973. DALTON DANON, another PPBer, is also a contributor. The book is published by Parrott Communications of Burbank and is available in Barnes and Noble bookstores as well as Amazon.com and eBay. Fridays with Art is priced at $27.95. DICK COLBERT says if you need more information, feel free to call him at (310) 203-8705.

TRAVELS—PPB Board member BEA WAIN spent Thanksgiving with her daughter in Sonoma and was singing in Palm Springs at five different venues from December 8 until December 13 in a tribute to “Your Hit Parade,” the show in which BEA starred for so many years. LOUISE ARTHUR spent much of November traveling with daughter, Donna, and missed the TOM BOSLEY luncheon. And PPB Board member GERRY FRY missed the JACK KLUGMAN luncheon as he was in Pullman, Washington helping his “big sister” celebrate her 90th birthday with family and friends. New member JOHN COUCH spent Thanksgiving week in Stockton and San Jose.

MORE TRAVELS—FRANCES ROBERTS took her family for a super-heated visit to Paris in August. The temperatures started to soar three days into the trip, FRANCES says, so they moved from their apartment to an air-conditioned hotel when the inside temperature reached 104. They cooled off with subsequent trips to San Francisco and Southern America. They traveled hundreds of miles down the Andes in Ecuador and Peru (Elderhostel in Peru), visited fantastic pre-Incan pyramids on the coast and then up to Machu Picchu and Cusco at around 12,000 feet—“dizzying, but impressive,” adds FRANCES. “In Ecuador a private tour up hill and down dale by train and car was hair raising.” In December she was off on The Nation magazine cruise in the Gulf of Mexico with Molly Ivins, Frank McCourt and other writers.

HONEYMOON TRAVELERS—PPB member JOHN GRIFFIN and Chriss Sedwick were married September 13 and delayed their honeymoon until the holidays going to Canada, and like a lot of honeymooners, took in Niagara Falls. Congratulations!!!

CRUISING ALONG—Long-time PPB member SHARON DOUGLAS writes that she has been unable to attend meetings lately because of family matters, but hopes for changes in the near future. SHARON was a Board member when EDGAR BERGEN was Chairman of the Board. SHARON and her husband, Jim Fox, were gifted with a marvelous Thanksgiving cruise on the Holland America M.S. Zuiderdam, leaving out of Fort Lauderdale and sailing to the Bahamas in the Caribbean, among other ports. This was all courtesy of their son, Jim Fox, Jr., who, after the cruise, invited them to spend time at his lovely home in Panama before returning to their home in West Hills and, hopefully, PPB luncheons.

CHER MacQUEEN attended the 60th AFN reunion in Baltimore in September, arriving a day before the hurricane. In spite of the weather, 120 persons attended the Saturday night banquet. Then it was on to Bakersfield to join her uncle, Bill Turner, whose barbershop quartet was participating in the conference competitions. It was a white Christmas for PPB Publicity Director CHUCK PANAMA and his wife, Gerry. They flew to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and exchanged presents with their daughter and son-in-law, Carrie and Tony Requist, and "the three most beautiful granddaughters in the world,"—Melissa, 6 and twins Laurel and Olivia, 4. When the twins were born, CHUCK suggested naming them Pearl and Harbor as they were born on December 7. No takers. Out-of-town member BILL DANA tells us he has moved from Hawaii to Nashville, Tennessee, but failed to give us more information.

Former Board member BERNARD WEITZMAN did his fourth lecture cruise on the Celebrity Summit in October. It was a 12-day cruise in the western Caribbean visiting St. Thomas, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Barbados and St. Kitts. BERNIE says lecture tours are fun, as you get to talk about yourself without appearing to brag. BERNIE talks about his fifteen years with Lucy and Desi, the studios then and now, the 76-year history of the Academy Awards and his management of such studios as MGM, Lorimar and Universal.

BOBB LYNES reports that there was great attendance at the SPERDVAC convention in November. In the last Newsletter, some performing PPB members were left out because they were not set at the time. Apologies to BARBARA FULLER, TOMMY COOK, FRANK BRESEE, EDDIE KING and DON McCROSKY who were very much a part of the entertainment. Also, PPB President GIL STRATTON received this year’s Byron Kane Award.

Great story (seven pages, to be exact) in the Lifestyle section of The Fresno Bee about our Golf Chairman and motivational speaker, JIMMY WELDON, titled “He Owes it All to the Duck,” referring to JIMMY’s famous sidekick, Webster Webfoot. The story told of JIMMY’s great life and career.

PPBer ORMLY GUMFUDGIN celebrated his 81st birthday in November and also came out with his first CD. It features ORMLY and his bazooka. ORMLY seems to be the world’s only living bazooka player. As far as he knows, he owns the only bazooka in the world. If you would like your own copy of the CD, send $15.00, which includes S&H, to ORMLY at 2606 Upper Terrace, La Crescenta, CA 91214-2132. Members JUNE FORAY, RAY ERLENBORN and GARY OWENS once knew ORMLY as Stan Locke when he was a writer on “The Hank McCune Show,” 45 years ago—before he created his present moniker.

This has been a big year for former PPB Board member, sportscaster MIKE WALDEN. Earlier this year he was inducted into the Southern California Sportscasters Hall of Fame, before 300, at Lakeside Country Club. WALDEN is the only person to be the voice of the USC Trojans and, later, the voice of the UCLA Bruins, on both radio and TV. This, after years in the Midwest doing play-by-play for the Universities of Illinois and Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Braves and seven Rose Bowl games for NBC radio. In October he made personal appearances in St. Louis, Champaign, Illinois and visited his father in Springfield, Illinois, who was celebrating his 100th birthday. In addition, MIKE has been doing radio commercials all year for Cerritos Auto Square with Dave Osbourne.

ESTHER GEDDES McVEY, a long-time member of PPB, says that she has heard a rumor that she was moving to Oregon very soon, and is happy to report that it is just a rumor. She is remaining in the home in Ranch Mirage that she shared with her late husband, TYLER McVEY.

CHUCK CECIL, PPB Vice President, emceed the Orange County Musicians Festival in Newport Beach over the Thanksgiving holiday, and says the big band seems to be coming back as there were ten big bands performing. Board member JIM POLLOCK and wife, Carri, celebrated Thanksgiving with their daughter, Dana, and her fiancé and son, Darren, here from Princeton, where he is a theology major.

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Membership Chairman MARGOT EWING reports:

New Members

DEKA BEAUDINE

ROSS EASTTY

JACK T. OGBORN

RUTH ASHTON TAYLOR

We will remember with admiration

MR. KAY KUTER

MRS. JACK SMITH (Vickii)

Please send your news and that of your PPB friends to:

SUE CLARK CHADWICK

1841 Outpost Drive

Hollywood, CA 90068-3721

Fax (323) 851-2401

hmpwebsite.org and hmporgwebsitesite@aol.com

NOTE

THE DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER IS

January 26, 2004