The Sinkable Tammy Grimes

Actress and singer Tammy Grimes died at the spry age of 82.

Girmey originated the role of Molly Tobin in the 1960 musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”  Hm.  I wonder who played Molly Brown?

Grimey was born in Lynn, Ma.  Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin, you’ll never come out the way you went in, what looks like gold is really tin, the girls say ‘no’ but they’ll give in, Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin.

On May 16, 1960, Grimey acted and sang as Mehitabel in an abridged version of the musical “Archy and Mehitabel,” about a young boy in Riverdale who woos the lovely Mehitabel with the help of Jughead and the gang.

1966’s “The Tammy Grimes Show” lasted for only a month.  The show was about a modern-day heiress who loved to spend money.  Don’t know why audiences didn’t identify with a character like that.  The critical reviews were pretty terrible.  The decision to cancel the show after only four episodes was almost unheard of at the time.

So, in a way, Tammy was a trailblazer for shows like, “Cavemen,” (featuring the Geico

Wait, this only lasted four episodes?

Cavemen) “Ford Nation,” (A talk show starring Rob Ford and his brother), “The Hasselhoffs,” (no explanation needed) and “Heil, Honey, I’m Home,” (a sitcom about the home life of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun).

Grimes was the wife of Christopher Plummer (that’s “plummer” as in sells and trades purple fruit, not “plumber” as in guy who fixes pipes) and was the mother of Amanda Plummer (that’s Amanda as in “Any of you fucking pricks move and I’ll execute every motherfuckin’ last one of ya!”)

This hit goes to: Gianna!  I know, Gianna getting a theater person?  Whaaaat?  This moves Gianna up to 130 points, still 110 points behind our presumptive winner, Occupy the casket!

Happy pooling,

SPMI

PS: I will email the list out when I get the rest of jodi & Husband’s names.

Current Standings:

Occupy the Casket: 220 – (Natalie Cole – 40, Vanity – 50, Boutros Boutros-Ghali – 10, Geoffrey Eglinton – 20, Addie Fausett – 100)

Jami: 210 – (Scott Weiland  – 60, Pat Harrington, Jr. – 20, Umberto Eco – 20, Rob Ford – 60, Erik Bauersfeld – 10, Edward Albee – 20, Chris Sizemore – 20)

Tailgating w/ Jesus: 140 (Dolph Schayes – 20, Meadowlark Lemon – 20, Monte Irvin – 10, Muhammad Ali – 30, Pat Summitt – 40, Buddy Ryan – 20)

Gianna: 130 (Robert Stigwood – 20, Lois Duncan – 20, Herschell Gordon Lewis – 20, Pete Burns – 50, Tammy Grimes – 20)

Joanne: 130 (Joey Feek – 60, Joe Garagiola – 10, Julius La Rosa – 20, Buckwheat Zydeco – 40)

Lee Kwang-Soo (Giraffe): 130- (Daniel Fleetwood – 70, Abe Vigoda – 10, Nancy Fucking Reagan! – 10!, George Martin – 10, Elie Wiesel – 20, Mike “Mighty Atom, Jr.” Greenstein – 10)

Occupy the Casket: 120 – (Natalie Cole – 40, Vanity – 50, Boutros Boutros-Ghali – 10, Geoffrey Eglinton – 20)

The Girl on Fire: 120 (Wayne Rogers – 20, René Angélil – 30, George Gaynes – 10, James Noble – 10, Doris Roberts – 10, Marni Nixon – 20, Fyvush Finkel – 10, Steven Hill – 10)

Harmony: 100 (Harper Lee – 20, George Kennedy – 10, Frank Sinatra, Jr. – 30, Gene Wilder – 20, Arnold Palmer – 20)

Team Sushi: 80 (Chyna, aka Joanie Laurer – 60, Morley Safer – 20)

Imaginary Steve: 60 – (King Bhumibol Adulyadej – 20, 谢家麟 – 10, 劉令名 – 30)

Mostly Mike: 60 (Marvin Minsky – 20, Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros – 30, Janet Waldo – 10)

Age of Aquarius: 60 (William Guest – 30, Merle Haggard – 30)

Nathaniel: 50 (Alan Young – 10, Kenny Baker – 20, Glenn Yarbrough – 20)

Mortician’s Daughter: 50 – (Justice Antonin Scalia – 30, Bud Collins – 20)

Babysitter: 10 – (Kay Starr – 10)

Well Albee a Monkey’s Uncle!

Hack playwright, Edward Albee died at the spry age of 88.

In 1959, his first produced play, “The Zoo Story,” opened in Berlin.  The play zeroed in on the existential terror at the heart of Eisenhower-era complacency, presenting the increasingly menacing intrusion of a probing, querying stranger on a man reading on a Central Park bench.

The play was famously re-made into the unforgettable smash 2001 movie “We Bought a Zoo” with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.  Cameron Crown may have missed the point on that one…

His 1962 Broadway debut was “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”  It was the happy-go-lucky, laugh-riot, feel-good-play-of -the-year, about couple whose relationship has been corroded by dashed hopes, wounding recriminations and drink.  (Frankly, I took away that the drinking made their horrible existence easier to endure… but I’m Irish)

The play won him a Tony for Best Musical.  …I think it was best musical…    I suppose I could Google that…. Nah, I’m, like, 79.2% sure it was Best Musical.

The 1966 film adaptation, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, turned the play

Albee also won the Nobel Prize for shadow puppets.

into Mr. Albee’s most famous work; it had, he wrote,“hung about my neck like a shining medal of some sort — really nice but a trifle onerous.”  …he said all the way to the bank.

In 1985, Albee was inducted into the American Theater Hall of fame.  Wait-  That’s a thing?

Albee’s adoptive parents kicked him out when he refused to become a “corporate thug” and did not approve of his aspirations to become a writer.  Three Nobel Prizes later, Eddy’s annual Christmas card to his parents just read: Suck it!

He was also honored by New Zealand’s fourth-most-popular folk duo, Flight of the Conchords, in their song “Albee the Racist Dragon.”  According to the duo, the song ended racism in New Zealand.

This hit goes to Jami!  She extends her lead, making it much tougher for anyone to overtake her (with only 47 days left to die).  But who knows?  Maybe we’ll have a Chris Farley come-from-behind win this year!

Happy pooling,

SPMI

PS: Draft night is 11/5 – a mere 47 days away (as alluded to above)!

Current Standings:

Jami: 190 – (Scott Weiland  – 60, Pat Harrington, Jr. – 20, Umberto Eco – 20, Rob Ford – 60, Erik Bauersfeld – 10, Edward Albee – 20)

Tailgating w/ Jesus: 140 (Dolph Schayes – 20, Meadowlark Lemon – 20, Monte Irvin – 10, Muhammad Ali – 30, Pat Summitt – 40, Buddy Ryan – 20)

Lee Kwang-Soo (Giraffe): 130- (Daniel Fleetwood – 70, Abe Vigoda – 10, Nancy Fucking Reagan! – 10!, George Martin – 10, Elie Wiesel – 20, Mike “Mighty Atom, Jr.” Greenstein – 10)

The Girl on Fire: 120 (Wayne Rogers – 20, René Angélil – 30, George Gaynes – 10, James Noble – 10, Doris Roberts – 10, Marni Nixon – 20, Fyvush Finkel – 10, Steven Hill – 10)

Occupy the Casket: 100 – (Natalie Cole – 40, Vanity – 50, Boutros Boutros-Ghali – 10)

Joanne: 90 (Joey Feek – 60, Joe Garagiola – 10, Julius La Rosa – 20)

Harmony: 80 (Harper Lee – 20, George Kennedy – 10, Frank Sinatra, Jr. – 30, Gene Wilder – 20)

Team Sushi: 80 (Chyna, aka Joanie Laurer – 60, Morley Safer – 20)

Mostly Mike: 60 (Marvin Minsky – 20, Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros – 30, Janet Waldo – 10)

Age of Aquarius: 60 (William Guest – 30, Merle Haggard – 30)

Nathaniel: 50 (Alan Young – 10, Kenny Baker – 20, Glenn Yarbrough – 20)

Mortician’s Daughter: 50 – (Justice Antonin Scalia – 30, Bud Collins – 20)

Gianna: 40 (Robert Stigwood – 20, Lois Duncan – 20)

Who the hell is Elaine Stitch?

Broadway actress, and Alec Baldwin’s mom, Elaine Stritch, died at the sry age of 89.

Stritch had an incredibly long career that included widely hailed turns in plays by Noel Coward, Neil Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Gilbert & Sullivan, William Shakespeare, Euripides… She rocked Athens as Oedipus’ mom.

Stritch moved to Michigan after living in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City for years.  How awesome is that?  Living in a hotel.  In

Stritch auditioning for the part of “Oscar the Grouch.”
The guy on the right got the part.

Manhattan.  You never have to clean your room… you can order room service any time for any meal… there’s a bar right down stairs… hell, its NYC, there are bars everywhere… a doorman opening the door for you… free continental breakfast… a bunch of strangers having keys to your home…

“I was reading a self-help book yesterday,” Stritch once said, “and it said: ‘Make your own bed.’ I

said to the book: ‘Fuck you! I don’t have to make my own bed! That’s why I live at the Carlyle.’ ”

According to the awesome website http://fuckyeahelainestritch.tumblr.com/,  Stritch experienced her first orgasm took place onstage during Act II as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”  I don’t think I really need to add a joke for that.

She was poor when she raised her son.  So, in order to make their Christmases special, she prostituted herself to an older Frederick August Otto Schwarz.  While they had so many presents that “you couldn’t see the tree,” the experience seemed to do more damage to her son than good.

Stritch was killed when her son hit her with his car and waited eight minutes to call 911.

This hit goes to: Dick in Town!  And while he is far from the lead and therefore not gloating, he is one of the people who have not paid up from last year’s pool… so he’s still earning his title. (and the public humiliation continues)

The 20 points bumps him up to 50, which is just 140 shy of the leader.

Happy pooling,

SPMI

Current Standings:

Jami: 190 (Ariel Sharon – 20, Philip Seymour Hoffman – 60, Peaches Geldof – 80, Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter – 30)

Tailgating with Jesus: – 120 (Jerry Coleman – 20, Ralph Kiner – 10, William Clay Ford – 20, Ralph Wilson -10, Jack Ramsay – 20, Don Zimmer – 20, Chuck Noll – 20)

Joanne: 100 (Ace Parker – 0, Nelson Mandela – 10,  Ray Price – 20, Maximilian Schell – 20, Connie Marrero – 0, Al Feldstein – 20, Casey Kasem – 20, Eli Wallach – 10)

“Imaginary” Steve: 100 (Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci – 10, Cardinal Ricardo Carles Gordo – 20, Emmanuel III Delly – 20, Marco (Polo!) Cé – 20, Cardinal Simon Lourdusamy – 10, Cardinal Bernard Agre – 20)

Starving Writer: – 100 (James Avery – 6’ 5” – 40, L’Wren Scott – 6’4” – 60)

SPMI: 90 (Peter O’Toole – 20, Joan Fontaine – 10, Sid Caesar – 10, Dave “Sick-motehrfucker” Herman – 30, Terry Richards – 20)

Gianna: 80 (Tom Laughlin – 20, Alicia Rhett – 10, Mae Young – 10, Ruth Robinson Duccini – 10, Pete Seeger – 10, Fred Phelps – 20, Marc Platt – 0)

Babysitter: 70 (Mikhail Kalashnikov – 10, Russell Johnson – 20, Mickey Rooney – 10, Ann B. Davis! – 20, Stephanie Kwolek – 10)

Good to the Last Drop (© Maxwell House): – 60 (Frederick Sanger – 10, Maxine Kumin – 20, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. – 10, Gary Becker – 20)

Dick in Town: 50 (Hiroo Onoda – 10, Dick “Dickie” Jones – 20, Elaine Stritch – 20)

Team Sushi: – 50 (Bob Hoskins – 30, Maya Angelou – 20)

The Girl on Fire: 50 (Eleanor Parker – 10, Dave Madden – 20, Ralph Waite – 20)

Occupy the Casket: 40 (Ronnie Biggs – 20, Harold Camping – 10, Dick Ayers – 10)

Nora the Explorer: 30 (Jeremiah Denton – 20, Ruby Dee – 10)

Mostly Mike: 20 (Shirley Temple Black – 20)

Carol’s 1%: 20 (Harold Simmons – 20)

 

His Head on a Platter

Actor Marcel Emile Gaston LePlat, Americanized into Marc Platt (just like Freedom Fries….), died at the not-so-spry age of 100.

Born to French immigrants in California, Platt felt great pressure from his father to run the family business.  But he didn’t want to be more than just a beret-wearing, baguette-totin’ mime.  He wanted to dance, Dance, DANCE!

Platt landed a role in the original closeted-gay cowboy movie.  He was one of the seven brothers for the seven brides in “Stagecoach.”

He then landed a small part in the original gay-cowboy movie, “Oklahoma!,” which would later inspire such classics as “Brokeback Mountain,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “The Wild Bunch.”

I don’t know what’s manlier, the kerchief or the cow-patterned chaps.

After he stopped dancing, he ran the Radio City Music Hall ballet for several years.  He was known for his little pep talk at the beginning of the year:  “You want fame?  Well, fame costs.  And right here is where you start paying… in sweat.”  That scared ‘em every time.

He also appeared in an episode of “Sky King,” because he apparently had a life-long dream to get his name on a Trivial Pursuit card.

This hit goes to: Gianna!  Gianna gets a whopping zero points for this hit, making it the second biggest hit so far this week!

Gianna moves from second place into second place, trailing by the same amount as before.

Happy pooling,

SPMI

Current Standings:

Starving Writer – 100 (James Avery – 6’ 5” – 40, L’Wren Scott – 6’4” – 60)

Gianna 80 (Tom Laughlin – 20, Alicia Rhett – 10, Mae Young – 10, Ruth Robinson Duccini – 10, Pete Seeger – 10, Fred Phelps – 20, Marc Platt – 0)

Jami: 80 (Ariel Sharon – 20, Philip Seymour Hoffman – 60)

Tailgating with Jesus – 60 (Jerry Coleman – 20, Ralph Kiner – 10, William Clay Ford – 20, Ralph Wilson -10)

The Girl on Fire: 50 (Eleanor Parker – 10, Dave Madden – 20, Ralph Waite – 20)

Joanne: 50 (Ace Parker – 0, Nelson Mandela – 10,  Ray Price – 20, Maximilian Schell – 20)

Babysitter: 40 (Mikhail Kalashnikov – 10, Russell Johnson – 20, Mickey Rooney – 10 )

SPMI: 40 (Peter O’Toole – 20, Joan Fontaine – 10, Sid Caesar – 10)

Good to the Last Drop (© Maxwell House) – 30 (Frederick Sanger – 10, Maxine Kumin – 20)

“Imaginary” Steve: 30 (Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci – 10, Cardinal Ricardo Carles Gordo – 20)

Occupy the Casket: 30 (Ronnie Biggs – 20, Harold Camping – 10)

Dora the Explorer: 20 (Jeremiah Denton – 20)

The Girl on Fire: 20 (Ralph Waite – 20)

Mostly Mike: 20 (Shirley Temple Black – 20)

Carol’s 1%: 20 (Harold Simmons – 20)

Dick in Town: 10 (Hiroo Onoda – 10)

Knots Living

“Gorillas in the Mist” star and “Knots Landing” recurring player, Julie Harris, died at the spry age of 87.

Oh, she also starred in “East of Eden” with James Dean… did I forget to mention that too?

Harris starred in more Hallmark TV movies than any other actress including the classics “Stubby Pringle’s Christmas,” and “Amahl and the Night Visitors.”

Harris was able to parlay her role on “Knots Landing” into a stint on “Family Ties” which lead her to…“The Love Boat?”  Wait.  “The Love Boat” was still on in 1987?  I always thought that “The Love Boat” was safely contained within the confines of the 70s.

Either way, you can see she was a real go-getter!

Harris lived in Chatham, Mass in CapeCode where she worked with the Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theater.  She enjoyed belting back bourbon at The Chatham Bars Inn and skinny-dipping in the ocean. But mostly, she liked driving up to Provincetown to go clubbing while on Ecstasy.

Oh, she also did some theater… won five Tony Awards… yadda yadda yadda…

KennedyCenter honoree… you get the gist of it.

This hit goes to: Imaginary Steve!  I’m just gonna say it: “Imaginary” Steve is on “Imaginary” fire!  He now has broken the 3-digit mark and is just 20 points shy of The New Dick in Town!

Can I-Steve get another 80-points in the next 62 days to pull off the win?

I doubt it.

Happy pooling,

SPMI

PS:  I am looking for a typing volunteer for Draft night (on Saturday night, November 2^nd!)  We need someone who can type, but more importantly, someone who can spell.  If I do it again, it will add another 2 hours to the night.

Current Standings:

Dawn-n-Mike – 170 (Oscar Niemeyer – 0, Norman Joseph Woodland – 10,Patti Page – 20, Reg Presley – 30, Hugo Chavez – 50, Frank Thornton – 10 – George Jones – 20, Tompall Glaser – 30)

Babysitter – 140 (Clive Dunn – 10, Ravi Shankar – 10, Margaret Thatcher – 20, Chi Cheng – 60, Pat Summerall – 20, Douglas Englebart – 20)

The New Dick in Town – 120 – (Jack Klugman – 10, Mindy McCready – 70, Jonathan Winters – 20, Jeanne Cooper – 20)

“Imaginary” Steve – 100 (Al Neuharth – 20, Ken Venturi – 20, Art Donovan – 20, Elmore Leonard – 20, Julie Harris – 20)

Joanne – 100 – (Freddy Schmidt – 10, Robert Bork – 20, C. Everett Koop – 10, Moon Mullen – 10, Virgil Trucks – 10, Dr. Joyce Brothers – 20, Eydie Gorme‏

– 20)

Gianna – 100 – (Lucille Bliss – 10, Bonnie Franklin – 40, E. L. Konigsburg – 20, Deanna Durbin – 10, Margaret Pellegrini – 20)

Team Sushi – 90 – (Conrad Bain – 20, Roger Ebert – 30, Deacon Jones – 30, Helen Thomas – 10)

Tailgating with Jesus – 70 – (Marvin Miller – 10, Earl Weaver – 20, Jerry Buss – 20, Gus Triandos – 20)

Sean P. McFeeley I – 50 – (Patty Andrews – 10, Dick Trickle – 30, Jean Stapleton – 10)

Council of Geeks – 50 (Richard Griffiths – 40, Ray Harryhausen – 10)

Jami – 50 – (Larry Hagman – 20, Annette Funicello – 30)

The Girl on Fire – 50 – (Dear Abby – 10, Ed Koch – 20, Milo O’Shea – 20)

Carol – 20 – (Stan Lynde – 20)

Nikki the Bad-Ass – 10 – (Stan Musial – 10)

“Sister” Mary Sheila – 10 (Lee MacPhail – 10)

The Odd Casket

Actor and former People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Jack Klugman died at the spry age of 90.

His family says that his health was on the decline, but his coroner thinks that there’s more to the story.  He’s going to take time out of the morgue to get to the bottom of these suspicious circumstances.

Stardom came to Klugman with his role in “12 Angry Men,” after that, it was all swimsuit calendars and screaming teenyboppers.  The photo of him in his speedo was the best selling picture ever until Farrah Faucet’s poster in the 70s.

The women could never get enough of that sweet, sweet Klugman.

In 1970, he reprised his Broadway role for TV (how many people can say that?  Huh?  Gianna?  Really… how many people can say that?) in “The Odd Couple,” which is still one of the funniest shows ever on TV.

In 1976, he landed the title role of “Quincy, M.E.” where he played a smarty-pants coroner who should have just let the police do their own damn job.

He also starred in such pictures as “Hail, Mafia,” and the poorly punctuated “Who says I can’t Ride a Rainbow!”

And even though Klugman was a guest on the love Boat, Jay was even a dick to his wife and held him over for his own selfish gain.

Well that gain just paid off in a small way!  10 Points to the New Dick in town!

Happy pooling,

SPMI

Current Standings:

Joanne – 30 – (Freddy Schmidt – 10, Robert Bork – 20)

Babysitter – 20 (Clive Dunn – 10, Ravi Shankar – 10)

Jami – 20 – (Larry Hagman – 20)

The New Dick in Town – 10 – (Jack Klugman – 10)

Dawn-n-Mike – 10 (Oscar Niemeyer – 0, Norman Joseph Woodland – 10)

Tailgating with Jesus – 10 – (Marvin Miller – 10)

Gainna – 10 – (Lucille Bliss – 10)

“Sister” Mary Sheila – 10 (Lee MacPhail – 10)