Saturday Reads

 Obituary:  Longtime game show host, long retired, Bob Barker, 99, died of natural causes.  He was popular on the original Truth or Consequences show way back in television's early years, and then, in the early 1970s, got hired to host The Price is Right in its revival (Bill Cullen was the host of the original version).  He hosted the show for 35 years:

Nearly everything else about Barker – his tanned and lithe looks, his avuncular ease with contestants, his witty rapport with the audience – remained the same. Even the CBS set where "Price" had been taped five times a week beginning in 1972 didn’t change much: the same mustard-avocado-and-tangerine color scheme, the same Smithsonian-worthy Showcase Showdown wheel.

His wife Dorothy died in 1981 after 36 years of marriage. Later on he got involved with the "animal rights" nutball group PETA, which is a demerit on him. Also not good was his being sued in the 1990s for sexual harassment by seven women.  One of the women, Holly Hallstrom, a former model on his show, won a major settlement in her suit against him.

Barker was born in Washington state in 1923 but raised on a reservation in South Dakota.  He would have turned 100 in December.

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Archangelos came from a layoff after winning this year's Belmont to take this year's Travers Stakes.

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No surprise Hef was an abusive asshole.

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