Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Mickey "Guitar" Baker aka MacHouston Baker

Guitarist -- via L'Express. (Here's a more complete writeup from the New York Times.) As half of Mickey and Sylvia, had his biggest hit with the novelty ballad "Love is Strange" in 1956.



However, he was a vital bridge between R & B and rock and roll, playing guitar on these key recordings:











Erazm Ciolek

Photojournalist -- via thenews.pl.


Bryce Bayer

Scientist and inventor; "the father of digital imaging" -- via the Philadelphia Inquirer.


Fernando Casanova aka Fernando Gutierrez Lopez aka Fred Canow

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

John Hefin

TV director -- via the Telegraph.


Anne Sullivan

Stage manager -- via Broadway World.

Marvin Miller

Union official -- via the New York Daily News. As leader of the baseball players' union, and destroyer of the infamous reserve clause, either loved or hated depending on one's labor sympathies. A revolutionary figure!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Welton Taylor

Microbiologist -- via the Chicago Tribune.


John Frederick aka John Merrick aka Frederick Stiffler

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Elizabeth W. Alexander

Film producer -- via Variety.

Austin Peralta

Jazz pianist -- via the L.A. Times.

Gene Bua

Actor and acting teacher -- via the Burbank Leader.


Anne Voss Bark aka Anne Bennett

Actress, hotelier, fly fishing expert, writer, and marriage counselor -- via the Telegraph.


Margaret Yorke aka Margaret Beda Nicholson

Crime novelist -- via the Telegraph.

Vladka Meed aka Feigele Peltel

A member of Warsaw's Jewish underground; later, a key Holocaust educator -- via the New York Times.

Bryce Courtenay

Novelist -- via the New York Times.

Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya

Chess grandmaster -- via the New York Times.


Earl "Speedo" Carroll

Doo-wop vocalist -- via the New York Daily News. Best known as the singer of their biggest hit, "Speedo," Carroll ang with the group off and on for five decades, with some stints as a member of the Coasters as well.

The Cadillacs were the group that really helped doo-wop and R & B crossover to white listeners. They also pioneered the use of flashy matching stage ensembles and choreography.










Saturday, November 24, 2012

Jane Holtz Kay

Writer on the environment and architecture -- via the New York Times.


Leah Gottlieb

Swimsuit designer -- via the New York Times.

Larry Hagman aka the Mad Monk of Malibu

Actor -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Remembered either as a gleeful villain (J.R. in the TV drama "Dallas") or as a hapless, affable comic lead (Major Anthony Nelson in "I Dream of Jeannie"), Hagman
could actually act, as shown through his brilliant supporting performance as the translator for the U.S. President played by Henry Fonda in "Fail-Safe."

His mother was Broadway superstar Mary Martin. An epic partier, he later quit drinking alcohol and smoking (tobacco at least) and became a vegetarian.









Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Pete La Roca aka Peter Sims

Drummer -- via Jazz Times. Played with all the greats of his time -- Coltrane, Mose Allison, Farmer, McLean, Sonny Clark, Freddie Hubbard, Rollins . . .





Bonita Lynn Fields Elder

Dancer and Mouseketeer -- via the San Francisco Chronicle.

Christian Larde



Flautist -- via artsjournal.com.

Wendell D. Garrett

Antiques expert -- via the New York Times.


Billy Scott

Lead vocalist for The Prophets -- via the Washington Post.

Pete Eneh

Actor -- via allafrica.com.


Khim Maung Toe

Musician -- via irrawaddy.org.

Frode Thingnaes

Trombonist, composer, and conductor -- via nrk.no.

Howard Wallace

Gay rights and labor activist -- via bilerico.com.

Gail Harris

Former MLB player -- via tricities.com. He is the answer to a great trivia question -- he was the last person to hit a homer for the New York Giants.