A Couple of Obits to Note

 Entertainer Jaye P. Morgan, real name Mary Margaret Morgan, died on August 24 at the age of 94.  She was a singer and actress, enjoying a long career, but her greatest claim to fame or notoriety was her long stint on that horrible turkey "game show" called The Gong Show, created and hosted by Chuck Barris.  She pushed the envelope one too many times during her tenure:

Not that she had that much to show, but it was still outrageous and would be considered outrageous even now.

Snip:

The vocalist died Aug. 24 of natural causes, her representatives confirmed in a statement shared with USA TODAY. She had been living with her nephew and niece, Duke Morgan Spencer and Peggy Sue Spencer, in Longview, Washington. There will be no memorial service, with Morgan's family planning to honor her wishes and mourn privately, her representatives said.

The performer made a name for herself as a singer in the 1950s with recordings of the songs "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" and "That's All I Want from You," though she is largely remembered for her time on TV. From 1954-55, she was a vocalist on the ABC quiz show "Stop the Music" around the time she was a regular on the CBS' daytime variety program "The Robert Q. Lewis Show."

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Rocky Horror Picture Show actor Tim Curry has died at the age of 80.

Snip:

A classic character actor, Curry often portrayed supercilious Brits, crafty villains (he played the devil more than once) and befuddled sidekicks.

He demanded attention as soon as he walked on screen as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s “Rocky Horror,” boldly strolling past rows of acolytes and ripping off a robe to reveal a corset and stockings. His Lord of Darkness, from 1985’s fantasy film “Legend,” was equipped with giant horns and a tomato-red face, but it was Curry’s casual delivery, dripping with menace, that elevated the role to more than a caricature.

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Obituary: Dolly Parton

 Today Dolly Parton's family announced she had passed away after having had some recent health issues.  Of course, she was a giant in the music field, one of the biggest stars  who ever came out of country music with the added bonus of  being a popular crossover artist.  She was 80 years old, the same age as her mentor and original duet partner Porter Wagoner was when he died in 2007.  She had also acted in films and was prominent in philanthropic work.

I don't think there is anybody who ever had a bad word to say about Parton.  What set her apart from many performers is she had real charisma, with her kindness, good humor, and so many other positive character traits showing.  She was somebody who seemed to be unaffected by all the fame and money and seemed to be approachable.   Of course, she had the talent with her distinctive style and her songwriting.

I don't have much to add.  Who could add anything more about somebody who was such a fixture in popular music for some sixty years?

Dolly had been married to contractor Carl Dean for almost sixty years.  He died last year at the age of 82.  They married in 1966, right as she was beginning her career and right before she partnered with Porter Wagoner and hit the big time.  He always stayed out of the limelight and lived a more or less normal life.  

Unlike many people who think her best work was after she left Wagoner in 1974, I regard their music as nothing short of magical.  They made a perfect duet.  Dolly Parton seemed born to do duets, and she was never better than she was with Wagoner.  I could listen to their work all day.  They were that good.

However, good things have to come to an end, and Dolly decided in 1974 to strike out on her own.  Her famous song, "I Will Always Love You," later covered by Whitney Houston, whose massive hit version got played to death over the radio, movies, videos, CDs, whatever, was written as a farewell to Porter Wagoner.  Dolly knew as well as anybody that he was the person most responsible for her having the massive success she had. Wagoner was rather hurt over her leaving, but whatever animosity there was between the two, they long buried the hatchet at the time of Wagoner's death.  Dolly was with him when he died in 2007.

She died after a brief bout of cancer.  Snip:

Born Jan. 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River near the town of Sevierville, Parton was the fourth of 12 children.

Her father, Robert Lee Parton, could not read or write and often supplemented the family's meager income from their farm by working construction jobs.

Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, ran the household and was fond of singing traditional Appalachian ballads. The future superstar said it was her mother who instilled in her a love for music.

Vintage Dolly and Porter:

Later on with "Jolene":

Some Reads for Sunday

 Obituary:  Actress Shelley Fabares, 82, who was a staple of many years on television including a long stint on The Donna Reed Show and even recorded a hit song, "Johnny Angel" during her time there, has passed away.  She had had health problems for a number of years.

With husband Mike Farrell

Shelley, born Michelle Ann Marie Fabares, was the niece of actress Nanette Fabray.  

She also made a number of appearances in film in addition to television.  She co-starred with Elvis Presley in three of them.  She was also on the popular television series Coach.

Fabares was once married to record producer Lou Adler, but she ended up marrying actor Mike Farrell in 1984.  Farrell, 87, survives her along with her stepchildren.

She passed away yesterday.

Snip:

Fabares was born in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1944. Her aunt Nanette Fabray (who changed the family’s last name to the phonetic spelling) was already a working actress. Fabares’ mother got her into modeling at the age of 3, and at 10 years old in 1954, she made her TV debut in Letter to Loretta.

The life of a child actor, she told The Roanoke Times in 1994, could be tough. “It’s hard to know who you are and what you are,” she explained. “The things that go into the making of a child — you’re not totally disciplined, you don’t always behave, you have a sense of freedom — those things are not allowed on a set.” 

In 1958, she began starring in The Donna Reed Show as Mary Stone, the teenage daughter of Reed’s Donna and Carl Betz’s Dr. Alex. The family was completed by son and brother Jeff, played by Paul Petersen. Fabares became extremely close to Reed, telling PEOPLE in 1984, ​”She was a role model before I knew what a role model was.”

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For fans of horse racing, here is a list of possible contenders for next Saturday's Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

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Some Saturday Stories

 A couple of quasi-political obituaries to note:

Former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, 94, has died, her son Bill Kassebaum announced.  The daughter of one-time presidential candidate Alf Landon, who himself lived a long time (100), she served three terms in the U.S. Senate.  She was the first woman elected to the Senate not replacing a deceased spouse or other relative.  

One could argue Margaret Chase Smith also didn't follow a husband to the U.S. Senate.  She did, however, serve in the House upon the death of her husband, Clyde Smith, in 1940, several years before serving in the U.S. Senate.

Later on, Nancy Kassebaum married former senator Howard Baker in 1996.  He died in 2014.

Snip:

Kassebaum Baker was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 and served three terms. Her modest demeanor endeared her to voters of all political stripes, though she shared the moderate, progressive Republican politics of her father, Gov. Alf Landon, the unsuccessful 1936 GOP nominee for president. Even after leaving the Senate early in 1997, she continued taking on public service roles.

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They don't make Republicans like this anymore.  They did exist before in droves in national politics before Reagan came into the presidency and with him the dregs from society.

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Nancy Kissinger, who since the early 1970s was married to one-time Secretary of State (and many would say war criminal) Henry Kissinger, died the other day at the age of 92.

She was known for her philanthropy.

Snip:

The daughter of a New York City lawyer, she met Henry Kissinger while working for New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. The couple wed in 1974.

She was described by one profiler as a brainy, Blass-bedecked blonde. She was often seen at high fashion openings and was a strong presence on the New York philanthropy scene.

“Nancy Kissinger can pick up the phone and get right through to the CEO. Nobody keeps her waiting,” philanthropist Judy Peabody said after chairing a successful hospital charity event in 1989.

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Stories for Thursday

 The right-wing "war on woke" is falling on hard times in Florida.

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Religious bullshit disguised as "sex education" has no business in schools.

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Some Stories for Wednesday

Voters in a few states, including Idaho, will vote on abortion rights and access. 

Ten cents says red Idaho will vote to approve abortion rights.

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So where are the state seats that were red but flipped blue in recent special elections?

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Schools allowing for staff to assault students, also called "corporal punishment," is still allowed in a number of states.  This despite the high chance of lawsuits being filed, regardless of parental consent.

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Some Stories for Tuesday

 A couple of obituaries of very old actors and actresses are noted here.

Director/actor  Mark Rydell, 97, has died at a Los Angeles nursing facility.  He was nominated for his work as director of 1981's On Golden Pond.  

He died on August 14.

Snip:

Born in New York, he was raised in that corner of the city by his parents, Sidney, a stockbroker, and Evelyn, whose passion and talent for the piano rubbed off on him: Mortimer – a name that he traded for Mark early in his career – trained at the Juilliard School of Music under the great jazz pianist Teddy Wilson, then worked on the New York and Chicago club circuits for five years before abandoning that career to avoid the temptations of heroin. “Knowing that I have an addict’s personality … I knew I was in danger,” he said. He served in the army and later won a scholarship for Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse, where he studied alongside McQueen and was instructed in dance by Martha Graham. From there, he joined the Actors Studio and appeared with his classmate Dean in 1953 in a TV version of William Inge’s play Glory in the Flower.

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In the article, he said directors should try their hand at acting.  A lot of them did, of course.

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Radio actress Peggy Webber, 100, died on August 15.

She was known for her work with Orson Welles.

Snip:

Webber died Saturday of natural causes at an independent living facility in Napa, California, her son, Rob Sinskey, told The Hollywood Reporter. She had moved north from Los Angeles after she had to be evacuated from her home amid the fires in January 2025.

Webber worked on thousands of episodes of radio shows, among them The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce; The Story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lionel Barrymore and Lew Ayres; The Man Called X, starring Herbert Marshall; and Escape, starring William Conrad.