Tuesday Night on the Obituary Page

 I missed this obituary of Lawrence Welk "family" member Jo Ann Castle, 86, who died on May 8 after being saddled with years of pain.  The announcement was made on various social accounts by former members of Welk's television series.

Jo Ann specialized in the "honky tonk" piano or ragtime or whatever you want to call the genre of piano. She was so fast and made it look easy.  My parents used to watch the Welk show back when I was a kid, and I liked her the best of all of the performers on that show. She was so good, she didn't have to look at the keys and would have that big smile on her face.  She would have given Art Tatum, one of the greatest jazz pianists if not THE greatest, a run for his money.  She was that fast and that good.

Jo Ann had a lot of personal turmoil in her life.  Her final years were marred by poor health.

Here is a link from the Lennon Sisters Facebook account:  link

Here is an example from the show of her work.  She was a regular on the Welk show for about a decade starting in 1959:

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There is more here.

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Another obit:  William Smithers, known for his role as Jeremy Wendell in the original Dallas television series, died years before his time at the age of 98.

He was also known for a lawsuit he filed against MGM.

Snip:

Smithers — who died on May 26, in Santa Barbara, at age 98, per the Santa Barbara Independent — appeared on the short-lived CBS series Executive Suite from 1976 to 1977.

It was in 1976, during his time on the show, that he sued MGM in a highly publicized case, in which he alleged the studio had violated a contract that stipulated that no other actors in the series (with three exceptions) could receive more money or better billing than he did.

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Not a specific obituary, but it is no surprise men make up the overwhelming majority of deaths in national parks.

Predictably, they engage in a lot of high-risk behavior.

Snip:

Overall, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, located near Las Vegas, recorded the most overall deaths in the NPS system. Lake Mead attracts anglers and boaters, and the park reports multiple drownings every year. Three of the top five parks—Blue Ridge Parkway, Natchez Trace Scenic Byway, and Great Smoky Mountains—are located within major highways and annually see a high number of vehicle deaths. NPS data from previous years show that motor vehicle accidents are overwhelmingly the highest cause of death, followed by drowning.

• Lake Mead National Recreation Area: 11 deaths
• Natchez Trace Scenic Byway: 11 deaths
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park: nine deaths
• Blue Ridge Parkway: nine deaths
• Yosemite National Park: nine deaths

Some Monday Reads

 The Hoosier Lottery should make good to the lottery ticket buyers.  It wasn't the latter's fault the cards were misprinted or misaligned.

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I worry a lot more about the deterioration of the country rather than the deterioration of Trump.

At least he has an excuse.  His supporters do not.

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Obit:  Actress Anne Schedeen, 77,  known for her role in the television series ALF, has died.

Snip:

Schedeen got her start in summer stock theater, before scoring a recurring role on the NBC medical drama “Emergency!” and guest-starring as the daughter of the title character in ABC’s “Marcus Welby, M.D.” She also appeared opposite Rock Hudson and Diane Ladd in the 1976 sci-fi horror film 
Embryo” and alongside Lucie Arnaz and Craig Wasson in 1983’s “Second Thoughts.” She would co-star in 1984’s “Paper Dolls” with Lauren Hutton and Morgan Fairchild, but the ABC soap opera was pulled after 14 episodes.

It was on “ALF” that Schedeen found fame as Kate Tanner, a no-nonsense mom trying to keep the government from discovering the extraterrestrial who has crash landed in their garage. The sitcom ran from 1986-1990 and was initially a ratings hit for NBC. However, because “ALF” relied on hand-operated puppets it was a technical challenge and after moving the series from its traditional Monday night slot to Saturday and then Sunday, it was cancelled due to declining viewership.

Saturday Morning on the Obituary Page

 The first one to note is the death of actor/comic Ronnie Schell, 94, known for his many television appearances and roles, including Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and a completely forgotten sitcom of the 1960s but one of the best, Good Morning World.  It was an absolute classic and featured Billy De Wolfe, who stole every scene he was in.

He died of natural causes.

Snip:

Schell got his start in entertainment as a stand-up comedian while a senior at San Francisco State University and later performed at supper clubs around the country. He made his television debut in 1959 on "You Bet Your Life," the quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx.

In 1964, he landed the role of Marine Pvt. Duke Slater, the best friend of the title character on "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." Three years later, he starred opposite Goldie Hawn in the CBS sitcom "Good Morning World." His other television credits included "That Girl," "General Hospital," "Yes, Dear" and Disney's "Phil of the Future." He also appeared in more than two dozen films, including "The Revenge of the Red Baron" and "Fatal Instinct."

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Film critic, author, television personality, and author Gene Shalit, 100, also passed away.  He was best known for his regular appearances on the Today show.  He had a trademark fuzzy mustache and what can only be termed as frizzy hairstyle, which distinguished him from just about everybody else on the planet.  Unlike the caustic late critic Rex Reed, who died a few weeks ago, Shalit was quite likeable.

He had turned 100 in March.

Snip:

Shalit started his career as a print journalist. He was the senior film critic for Look Magazine and wrote the “What’s Happening?” page for Ladies Home Journal for a dozen years. He published articles in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour and McCall’s.

He composed and broadcast a daily “Man About Anything” essay on NBC’s coast-to-coast radio network from 1969 to 1982, according to his profile on the “TODAY” show website. He was also a regular panelist on the game shows “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell The Truth.”

In other words, Shalit packed a lot of living in the brief time he had on this earth.

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Friday Reads

 At TPUSA, a woman's "leadership conference" is designed to tell women they have no business being leaders in a "man's world."

Don't you just love the hypocrisy?

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Good for the judge to recognize the national park system is for everybody, not just for white males.

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Upper Table Rock Hike

 For the first time in two years, I embarked on a hike to the top of Upper Table Rock, a noted landmark in southern Oregon's Rogue Valley.  Lots of turkey vultures were around today.  Mount McLoughlin is in the background.

Thursday Reads

 Just in case you are wondering what Eloon has been up to.

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Obit:  Jane Yolen, author of an incredible 450 books, both for children and adults, has died at the age of 87.

Snip:

The author, known for her work in children's literature, began her career in 1963 with Pirates in Petticoats. From that point on, she would go on to write and publish 450 books. Her final book, Terror Birds, is set to be released posthumously on July 14.

Yolen penned 40 novels, multiple book series, and hundreds of poems. She is known for her 1988 Holocaust novella, The Devil's Arithmetic, which earned her a World Fantasy Award. Before The Devil's Arithmetic, she was president of the Science Fiction Writers Association, according to her website.

Wednesday Whatnot

 It might be time for PFAW to stop featuring Joel Webbon (and Nick Fuentes, among others), especially on its YouTube channel.  This man thrives on publicity and gets more and more outrageous the longer he is allowed to spew the horseshit that he does.

He is pure KKK without the robe.  When Democrats finally get into power, this guy and others like  him should be the subject of investigation by the FBI.

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Tuesday Stuff

 Pete Hegseth so embarrassed the U.S. at the D-Day remembrance in Normandy, he got roundly condemned all over the world.

About 2,500 American soldiers died there on that single day, with around 9,400 of them having been killed altogether in that campaign.  It isn't known how many who survived there out of the estimated 73,000.  Only about 45,000 WW II vets survive today out of the 16 million who served.

Hegseth shit on these soldiers' memory and on those who survived the invasion.

Par for the course for this administration.

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One of Ken Paxton's lawyers during his impeachment trial has endorsed his US Senate race opponent.

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These whack jobs may want women to shut up, but it is clear they are ultimately shit out of luck.

These misogynists have always been out there, but the internet has amplified them and made it much easier for them to connect.

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