Dawn & More
RIP Gilligan’s Island heartthrob Dawn Wells, 82, who succumbed to complications from Covid. She was in 98 episodes of the iconic series, which has never gone off the air, in syndication till this every day. Her character, Mary Ann, is beloved by generations. She was Miss Nevada 1959 and participated in Miss America 1960. There are 63 other titles under her name at IMDb, before and after her involvement in the show that has made her famous worldwide. She appeared in four different roles on 77 Sunset Strip, two each on Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Bonanza and Growing Pains, and a two-parter on The Love Boat. Her career spanned 1961–2019. She also has five credits as a producer. She did tours of the plays Love Letters and The Vagina Monologues, and appeared in 100 stage productions overall. In 1998 she founded the Dawn Wells’ Film Actors Boot Camp in Idaho. In 2004 she established The Spud Film Institute in Idaho and Wyoming. She also has her own clothing line for the physically challenged, Wishing Wells Collections, and her own skin care line. Here’s a fun bit of trivia: She received an Associate degree from Stephens College in Columbia, MO, from which Joan Crawford was expelled in the early 1920’s. Here’s a quote attributed to her: “I have been a working actress for nearly 50 years. In those 50 years, my only source of income has been from my acting career. Not many actors can say that! I feel very lucky that I have been able to earn a very comfortable living my entire adult life from this work that I love so much. But what I tell younger actors all the time is that you have to think of yourself as a brand. Much of the money that I make has been from being a spokeswoman. I have made millions of dollars by doing commercials, endorsing products and producing. If you want to be wealthy in this business, you have to do more than Shakespeare!” Well done, madam. Thank you.
From an article at nypost.com: “Carolina Panthers tackle Russell Okung has agreed to receive half of his $13 million salary in the form of Bitcoin.” He said: “When we are all paid in Bitcoin, no one can tell us what to do with the value we create.” I have no idea what that means.
Headline from NYP: “Mom-to-be conceives a third baby — while pregnant with twins.” She said: “… So our first two babies are 10 and 11 days older than our third baby.” I had no idea this was possible.
Excerpt from NYP article about releasing felons, edited by yours truly: “As of 12/20, NYC murders are up 40% this year, burglaries 42%, auto thefts 68% and shootings nearly double. How high must the figures go — how many New Yorkers must be violently attacked — before lawmakers, prosecutors and judges decide enough is enough?” I have no clue and, apparently, neither do the Big Apple’s pols.
From an article at NYP, reworded by yt: Several years ago a 15-year-old white girl who had just obtained her learner’s permit posted a short video to social media boasting: “I can drive, [slur].” A classmate sat on it for a few years, then posted it to hurt her. She lost her spot on the University of Tennessee’s cheerleading squad and was eventually pressured to withdraw from the school. She now attends a community college. Okay, fine, but what about all those artists who profit from the use of the N-Word, several who are elevated to spokesmen by pro sports leagues? When will this cancel culture madness end? No clue.
Here’s a link to a great article that deserves to be read in full. It’s approximately a five-minute read: The Top 10 Suppressed News Stories of 2020 by Frank Miele: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/12/29/the_top_10_suppressed_news_stories_of_2020_144929.html
There was just enough sunshine today to keep me from ducking into the car to warm up while I waited for customers to show. I’m not sure if the plea to the universe for books sales worked today, but the two kind young women who made purchases each overcompensated me. They bought Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Time magazine’s Book of the Year in 1997. It also was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize. It sold at least 800,000 hardcover copies plus 1,760,000 in paperback. The film version, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, was released in 1997. 1300+ users at IMDb rate it 5.7 on a scale of ten.
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