Long Live Raquel
RIP my all-time Hollywood crush, Raquel Welch, 82. Born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, her career spanned 1964–2017. Her dad was of Spanish-Bolivian extraction, her mom a WASP. She was the 21st great-granddaughter of King Edward I. She was winning beauty pageants while in her teens, and worked as a cocktail waitress, TV weather girl and fashion model. Although she did not appear in any great films, many were good: Fantastic Voyage (1966), Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), The Last of Sheila (1973), Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976). I’d say her best is The Three Musketeers (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy. There are 73 titles under her name at IMDb. I counted 54 appearances on TV shows, the most memorable the Cat Fight episode on Seinfeld. She was part of Bob Hope’s 1967 USO Christmas Show in Vietnam. She starred as a replacement in two popular Broadway shows: Victor/Victoria and Woman of the Year, touring America in the latter as well. She also did a successful one-woman nightclub musical act in Las Vegas. I was unable to find how many times she appeared on talk shows. Married four times, she was a mom of two. In a great bit of trivia from her IMDb profile, she kicks men in the groin in 15 of her films, more than any other living actress. Here’s a quote attributed to her: “Americans have always had sex symbols. It’a time-honored tradition and I’m flattered to have been one. But it’s hard to have a long, fruitful career once you’ve been stereotyped that way. That’s why I’m proud to say I’ve endured.” Love you, Madam. Thank you.
There’s been a lot of web commentary on this, photo from GI:
Here’s some hope, nypost.com headline: “Scientists ‘switch off’ autism symptoms using $3 epilepsy drug: discovery.”
Get to work sci-fi writers, headline from NYP: “Microsoft AI chatbot gets into fight with human user: ‘You annoy me’.” I’m sure it’s been said many times in books and films. Bogie says it to Gloria Grahame in In a Lonely Place (1949).
The benign winter weather and February book shop revival both continued today. My thanks to the kind folks who donated and bought books, especially the gentleman who dropped off about 50 hardcovers in Russian. Here’s what sold: eight titles in Russian, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins; The Breakfast Club (1985) DVD; Sh-t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern; and the massive Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond by Hans Holzer.
