OUR GANG & SUPERMAN MOVIE STAR JACKIE COOPER DEAD AT 88

Jackie Cooper, a top child star of the 1930s, dies at 88 - KansasCity.com

Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Jackie, Farina and Chubby are forcing Miss Crabtree's brother to wear a dress.

50's B-MOVIE BAD GIRL YVETTE VICKERS FOUND DEAD

People magazine has the sad story of 50's B-movie bad girl Yvette Vickers death.
She played the sexy "other woman" in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Attack of the Giant Leeches.

TURA SATANA DIES

The star of the 1966 cult film, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!, has died. Tura Satana played the tough go-go dancer Varla in the Russ Meyer's film.
Dave Itzkopf of the New York Times has a story about her.

I have this gem of Naughty Springfield history.

BEST OF DESDINOVA: OZARKERS WERE AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF BUT NOT FASTER PUSSYCAT!

COMPOSER JOHN BARRY DIES AT 77

Many of my favorite film scores were composed by John Barry. Barry is best know for his work on the James Bond films. One of his first film scores was for a 50's juvenile delinquent film Beat Girl. That song, featuring the twangy guitar of Vic Flick, was recycled by Fatboy Slim into the 90's hit song "Rockefeller Skank."

He died over the weekend at age 77. Here is the BBC news obit. If you want to check out his music you can find a whole page of downloads at Amazon.com.

IMPRESSIONIST DAVID FRYE DIES AT 77

One of my favorite comedy LPs of all time is I AM THE PRESIDENT by David Frye. One of the tracks features President-elect Richard Nixon taking a tour of the White House at 2 a.m. from lame duck President Lyndon Johnson. My favorite line is President Johnson yelling to his wife, "Company is coming up, Lady Bird! Beautify yer self!"

In a skit on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour entitled "A Fairy Tale for Our Times," Frye played Presidents Johnson and Nixon, as well as Sen. Hubert Humphrey and Gov. George Wallace.

Impressionist David Frye dies in Las Vegas at 77 - Entertainment / Neon - ReviewJournal.com

DON KIRSHNER DIES AT 76

Obituary: Don Kirshner dies at 76; music mogul, host of 1970s TV show - latimes.com

"BAKER STREET" SINGER GERRY RAFFERTY DIES AT 63

Obituary: Gerry Rafferty dies at 63; Scottish pop singer-songwriter had a hit with 'Baker Street' - latimes.com

R.I.P CAPTAIN BEEFHEART 1941 - 2010

Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart, has died at age 69. Here is his obituary from the Guardian. Also a film of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band on Cannes Beach.

LESLIE NIELSEN 1926 - 2010 "And don't call me Shirley."

Actor Leslie Nielsen has died at age 84. Here is his obit from The Wrap. I wonder if they will put Bracken's World: the Complete Series on DVD, like they did Police Squad!

Trivia that links Ingrid Pitt and Leslie Nielsen? Christopher Lee, who co-starred with Pitt in the House That Dripped Blood and The Wicker Man, turned down the Dr. Rumack role in Airplane! The reason was he didn't want to be called Shirley.

INGRID PITT 1937 - 2010

She was one of the sexiest female vampires in movie history. Buxom Hammer Horror film icon Ingrid Pitt died this week at age 73. The Baltimore Sun has her obituary. Her life story would make a great movie. Unlike the women she played in movies, she died without a stake through the heart. Rest in peace Ingird.

Note: Ingrid Pitt is no relation to local boy turned movie star Brad Pitt. Just wanted to make sure you knew that.

TONY CURTIS aka BERNIE SCHWARTZ aka DANNY WILDE DIES

Actor Tony Curtis died Wednesday night. He was 85 years old. Here is IMDB's obit. Curtis was the guy who popularized the "ducktail" haircut in the 50's (before Elvis). He was also the star of the 70's action series The Persuaders with Roger Moore. Here is a clip (little fuzzy) from the pilot with a nice sunshine pop song by Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch called "Gotta Get Away." Nothing like combining sunshine pop with road rage.

KEVIN McCARTHY DEAD AT 96

"They're here! You're next!" Invasion of the Body Snatchers star Kevin McCarthy has died. Here is his obit from the N.Y. Times.

COREY ALLEN - LAST SURVIVNG STAR of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE DIES

Reuters is reporting that actor/director Corey Allen (above right) has died at age 75. For one whole month, he was the last surviving member of the main cast of the 1955 film, Rebel Without a Cause.

LONG LIVE ROCK & ROLL- RONNIE JAMES DIO DEAD 67

Here is the obit from CNN on the Rainbow, Black Sabbath and solo heavy metal vocalist. Dio also host several syndicated radio shows during the heavy metal boom of the 80s. My favorite Rainbow song is "Long Live Rock & Roll." Long Live Ronnie James Dio.

SEX PISTOLS MANAGER MALCOLM McLAREN DEAD AT 64

It was one of my goals when I got into the radio industry was to get more of the Sex Pistols music on local radio. With the boom in alternative stations in the 90's, there was at least some recognition by the industry of this groundbreaking group. Sadly, the radio industry felt country music and right-wing talk radio would make more money. WRONG!!! That is one of the reasons radio is in the financial pickle it is today.

The man who guided the Sex Pistols flash fire career, along with Bow Wow Wow and the New York Dolls, Malcolm McLaren has died of cancer in Switzerland at age 64. Here is the BBC story.

FESS PARKER DIES AT 85

Actor Fess Parker died today at age 85. Here is the AP/Yahoo! story. Most stories are focusing on his role as Davy Crockett. I'm a Generation Xer, so my memory of Fess Parker was from the reruns of Daniel Boone that KOLR ran in the afternoon when I was very small. I remember getting a coonskin cap on vacation because Daniel Boone had one. By playing both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, Parker caused the same sort of pop culture confusion that Buster Crabbe did when he played Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

There are ways to tell the characters apart (The above photo was labeled as "Davy Crockett" but it is a "Daniel Boone" photo).

Davy Crockett's coonskin had was all grey fur, while Daniel Boone's hat was a mix of colors and had an raccoon head still attached.

Davy Crockett wore all buck skin, while Daniel Boone wore a leather vest over a red shirt.

Davy Crockett sometimes had stubble, while Daniel Boone was clean-shaven.

Davy Crockett was a widower, while Daniel Boone had a wife Rebekah and two kids, Israel and Jamima.

Davy Crockett's sidekick was played by Buddy Ebsen, Daniel Boone's sidekicks were Ed Ames, Dallas McKennon, Rosey Greer, Jimmy Dean and Albert Salmi.

I hope this was some help.

T-40 RADIO OWNER/SYNDICATOR GENE CHENAULT DIES AT 90

Gene Chenault, who along with Bill Drake helped create the Boss Radio sound of Top 40 radio in the 60's & 70's, has died. Don Barrett's L.A. RADIO has a good tribute.

I'll have more to say about this later.

TV WRITER AND PRODUCER AARON RUBEN DIES

I'm getting to this story late as well, but I found a quote from this gentleman that I had to mention, because I knew it would upset some Ozarkers. And you all know how I love to do that! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Aaron Ruben, who was a TV writer and producer, died last Saturday at 95. He produced the first five year of the Andy Griffith Show as well as Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Here is the L. A Times story about him. The Times also had an excerpt from a 1970 interview about a failed project with Andy Griffith called The Headmaster.

"Both Andy and I said we won't come back on television with one of the old formula shows," Ruben told Smith. "They won't work anymore. I wouldn't put the old Griffith show on today. I started 'Gomer Pyle,' but I wouldn't consider a show like that now.

"It's a different world. You can't expect an audience that's been to see [the movies] 'MASH' or 'Medium Cool' to be concerned about whether Aunt Bee finishes the patchwork quilt in time for the bazaar."

As many of you know, I feel some of the Mayberry fans take the show too seriously and get really obnoxious when they say they "wish there was a show like Andy Griffith Show on TV these days." Funny, Aaron Ruben felt the show was outdated in 1970 and he was the producer.

I tend to agree, Mr. Ruben. Great show, but lets move on. Of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I STARTED BEING THIS WAY IN KINDERGARTEN

I wanted to mention the passing of a wonderful lady. Her name was Edythe Miller and she was my kindergarten in Lebanon, MO. She made going to school fun and comfortable for children entering the scary world of public education (and Mark Twain Elementary could be very scary at times). Mrs. Miller had a elaborate costume for every holiday or special event. She wore everything from a bunny outfit at Easter to a Betsy Ross outfit for the Bicentennial. At the end of every school day she kissed every child on their way out the door. It didn't matter if they were rich or poor, clean or dirty, sick or healthy, white or black. They got a goodbye kiss.

One of the things you have to learn in kindergarten is left and right. When it came time to be tested, I got the answers wrong and she calmly corrected me. In my typical style I announced to Mrs. Miller, "I have decided that from now on things shall be changed. The right is now the left and the left is right. We will all adhere to the change at once!"

Mrs. Miller handled this gracefully. She didn't smack me around or pummel me into the ground, as the other teachers at Mark Twain Elementary would have done. She just wrote a note to my parents on my report card "You son expresses strong opinions."

And it is those "strong opinions" that make me the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

J.D. SALINGER DIES AT 91

J.D. Salinger - latimes.com

Above is the link to an article on the late, great J. D. Salinger - David Copperfield crap and all. Also check out this educational website about Salinger's greatest work, The Catcher In the Rye.

Excuse me, I have to go catch some little kids before they go over the edge of that cliff.