THE HAT SQUAD: MOLLIE SUGDEN

Over here in America, Mollie Sugden may not be remembered by name by the general public, but they will always remember her character of Mrs. Slocombe from 'Are You Being Served?' With hair in colors that shouldn't exist except on the planet Arcturus, and with a pussy that kept her preoccupied most of the day, Mrs. Slocombe will live on in TV Heaven. Even as Mollie Sugden has joined her former co-star Wendy Richard... one step beyond.

But over in the United Kingdom, Mollie Sugden left an impressive body of work with roles on such famous shows and mini-series as 'The Bill', 'Coronation Street', 'Z Cars', 'Up Pompeii', 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII', and 'Steptoe And Son'. She had starring roles in other Britcoms like 'The Liver Birds', 'Come Back, Mrs. Noah', and 'Hugh And I'. But it will always be Mrs. Slocombe who will come to mind first when we think of Mollie Sugden, who passed away the other day at the age of 86. Because of their participation in 'Are You Being Served?', movie and series, and in the sequel 'Grace And Favour', the employees of Grace Brothers will one day be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, probably en masse. This will probably happen just as soon as... I'm free.....

Ms. Sugden, good night, and may God bless.

Here are the roles she contributed to the Tele-Folks Directory: "The Bill" .... Lally (2003)

"Revolver" (2001) .... Mother

"The Liver Birds" (1976 - 1996) .... Mrs. Thelma Hutchinson

"Dennis the Menace" .... Vilhemina Slop Bucket (1996)

"Romuald the Reindeer" (1996)

"Just William" .... Great Aunt Florence (1995)

"Oliver's Travels" (1995) .... Mrs. Robson

"Grace & Favour" (1992-1993).... Mrs. Betty Slocombe

"Cluedo" (1991) .... Mrs. White

"My Husband and I" (1987-1988) .... Nora Powers

"That's My Boy" .... Ida Willis (1981-1986)

"Are You Being Served?" .... Mrs. Betty Slocombe (1972-1985)

"Tickle on the Tum" (1984) TV series .... Bessie Bagwash

The Talking Parcel (1978) (voice) .... Hortense, the Flying Train

"Come Back Mrs. Noah" .... Mrs. Noah (1977-1978)

Are You Being Served? - The Movie (1977) .... Mrs. Betty Slocombe

"Three Comedies of Marriage" .... Mother (1975)

Holiday with Strings (1974) .... Doris

"Love Thy Neighbour" .... Sister Martin (1974)

"Coronation Street" .... Nellie Harvey (1965-1974)

"Son of the Bride" .... Mum (1973)

"The Fenn Street Gang" .... Mrs. Greer (1972)

"My Wife Next Door" .... George's Mother (1972)

"A Class by Himself" .... Lesley Charles (1972)

"Emma" .... Mrs. Goddard (1972)

"Doctor in Charge" .... Mrs. Waring (1972)

"Six Days of Justice" .... Mrs. Dunne (1972)

"Steptoe and Son"
- Oh What a Beautiful Mourning (1972) .... Minnie
- And Afterwards at... (1965) .... Mother Of The Bride

"Mandog" (1972) .... Mrs. Morris

"Comedy Playhouse" .... Lady Wright (1972)

"Please Sir!" .... Alice Larch (1971)

"For the Love of Ada" .... Nellie Pollitt (1971)

"Doctor at Large" .... Mrs. Mollett (1971)

"The Goodies" .... Minister for Trade and Domestic Affairs (1970)

"Up Pompeii" .... Flavia (1970)

"The Six Wives of Henry VIII" .... Lotte (1970)

"Oh Brother!" - (1969) "Just Jimmy" .... Mum
- Harem Scarem! (1968)
- Chips with Nothing (1964)

"Jackanory" .... Storyteller
- The Unwelcome Guests: Welcome at Last (1968)
- The Unwelcome Guests: Lost and Found (1968)
- The Unwelcome Guests: The Golden Coin (1968)
- The Unwelcome Guests: The Beachcombers (1968)
- The Unwelcome Guests: The House on It's Own (1968)

"Z Cars" .... Vera (1967)

"Armchair Theatre" .... District nurse
- I Am Osango (1967)

"Hugh and I" (1962-1966) .... Mrs. Crispin

"First Night" .... Mrs. Phillips
- Maggie (1964)

"Benny Hill" .... Woman Tenant (1962)

"Suspense" .... Belle
- Killer in the Band (1962)

BCnU.....





















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THE HAT SQUAD: GALE STORM

When I was growing up in Connecticut, 'My Little Margie' was part of my afternoon viewing habit. (By this time it was already in rerun syndication.) Even then as a little kid, I thought Margie was too old to be the way she was; nowadays an actual teenager would be cast in the role. Maybe a character like 'Blossom' was a latter-day version of Margie Albright.

But I've been looking at some online photos of Gale Storm these last few days, and I can see the real reason I kept coming back to the series. She was cute - even with that horrible hair style! And just this morning I discovered the website tv4u.com where I caught an old episode of the show and was able to admire her again, from a more adult viewpoint. (At least as best of one that I can conjure up!)

Ms. Storm passed away this past week, part of one those blasted "They Go In Threes" curses. (Her companions for the journey were Billy Mays and Fred Travalena.) She was 87 years old.

After 'My Little Margie', she had another successful run with 'The Gale Storm Show', in which she played a cruise ship's social director, Susanna Pomeroy. But as Toobworld primarily exists within my own cranium, I prefer the title of the show as 'Oh, Susanna!', as that's what it was known as when I watched that in reruns as well.
I never could figure out why I saw so little of her on the TV screen after that - two episodes of 'Burke's Law', a 'Love Boat' and a very funny performance in an episode of 'Murder, She Wrote'. I just assumed she withdrew for a while to raise her family, but now (after reading her obituary in the L.A. Times) I wonder if it might have been due to her battle with alcoholism. Once I read about how she successfully fought back, I came away with a new admiration that was deeper than just because of her talents.
As Red Skelton would say, "Good night, and may God bless."

Here are the characters she contributed to the citizenry of Toobworld:

"Murder, She Wrote" .... Maisie Mayberry
- Something Borrowed, Someone Blue (1989)

"The Love Boat" .... Rose
- Never Say Goodbye/New Woman, A/Trial Romance (1979) "Burke's Law"
- Who Killed Wimbledon Hastings? (1965) .... Dr. Nonnie Harper- Who Killed His Royal Highness? (1964) .... Honey Feather Leeps

"The Gale Storm Show" .... Susanna Pomeroy (1956-1960)
... aka "Oh! Susanna"

"Shower of Stars"- Cloak and Dagger (1957)

"The Ford Television Theatre" .... Hope Foster
- Johnny, Where Are You? (1955)

"Celebrity Playhouse"- Mink Does Something for You (1955)

"Robert Montgomery Presents"- Tomorrow Is Forever (1955)

"My Little Margie" .... Margie Albright (1952-1955)

"The Unexpected" .... Eileen
- The Puppeteers (1952)

"The Bigelow Theatre"- The Hot Welcome (1951)
- Mechanic on Duty (1950)

"Hollywood Theatre Time" (1950)

BCnU.....



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The Fourth is for sunburn, hamburgers, and TV
marathons

Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free

I'm not a big Fourth of July person. You'll pretty much see me in front of the television as much as you'll see me in front of the television on July 3. I'm not a big cookout/parades/fireworks/beach type of guy.

Are you that way too? There are some marathons on TV tomorrow that you might like. A sampling:

• Sci-Fi will continue their Twilight Zone marathon.
• TCM has Fourth of July/historical movies all day long.
• USA will have James Bond movies all day long starting at 9AM.
• Discovery has a Deadliest Catch marathon at 9AM.
• TV Land will have a Leave It To Beaver marathon starting at 11AM.
• At noon, HGTV has a marathon of HGTV's $250,000 Challenge.

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AS SEEN ON TV: ELMO ZUMWALT, JR. & ELMO ZUMWALT
III

THE ZUMWALTS

AS SEEN IN:
"My Father, My Son"

AS PLAYED BY:
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr. - Karl Malden
Elmo Zumwalt III - Keith Carradine

Adapted from Wikipedia:

Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr. (November 29, 1920 ? January 2, 2000) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran, Zumwalt reformed Naval personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions.

During his son Elmo III's illness in the early 1980s, Admiral Zumwalt was very active in lobbying Congress to establish a national registry of bone marrow donors. (Such donors serve patients who do not have suitably matched bone marrow donors in their families. This was ultimately a disinterested act, since his son was able to receive a transplant from his own sister, but many patients don't have close relatives who are able and willing to help in this heroic way. His efforts were a major factor in the founding of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) in July 1986. Admiral Zumwalt was the first chairman of the NMDP's Board of Directors.

Admiral Zumwalt said he felt his son's cancer was most definitely due to Agent Orange. However, Zumwalt said he did not regret ordering the use of Agent Orange, because it reduced casualties by making it difficult for the enemy to hide and find food.

Admiral Zumwalt, along with his son Elmo III and writer John Pekkanen, authored a book called "My Father, My Son", published by MacMillan in September 1986, where they discussed the family tragedy of his son's battle with cancer. The book contains chapters narrated by Admiral Zumwalt, Lieutenant Zumwalt, and other family members.

After treatment in a number of hospitals, Elmo III went to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, where he received a bone marrow transplant from his sister Mouzetta, whose tissues fortunately matched his well enough for this treatment to be feasible. Results were promising at the end of "My Father, My Son", but he died in 1988.

That same year, 1988, "My Father, My Son" was adapted for a TV movie of the same name, starring Karl Malden as the elder Zumwalt and Keith Carradine as his son.

BCnU!

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GOING FOURTH

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE FOURTH OF JULY!
And in the words of Sgt. Esterhaus:

"Let's be careful out there...."

BCnU!


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How Well Do You Know "American" TV

With the Fourth of July weekend upon us, I'm bringing back an old favorite quiz about TV shows that search for America's best. In recent years, we've turned to television to find some of our hottest singers, greatest inventors, young talents, and even cute dogs. In honor of Independence Day, this quiz is all about reality shows with "America" or "American" in the name. How well do you know this intersection of entertainment and national pride? Good luck!

Take the quiz

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Commercial break: fancy a North Korean beer

As oddities go, this one is a pretty good one. It seems that over in North Korea - a country which you generally only hear about on the news if they're testing missiles or 'waging war' against the Western World...



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Timely, Masterful HBO Documentary about The First
Amendment

Just in time for July 4, HBO debuted its First Amendment documentary, "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech," this past Monday. Its perspective - that the First Amendment has not been under such fire since the 1950s - is something that[...]

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Orville Redenbacher and his popcorn weren't
always well-known

Filed under: Video, Game Show, Reality-Free

I could stay online all day long and watch clips from old game shows. Classic Television Showbiz posted this clip the other day of Orville Redenbacher on the original To Tell The Truth with Garry Moore. This was before all of those commercials and he wasn't as well-known as he would later become. Look at that panel! Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle, and Joe Garagiola!

video details and more

 

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Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman secretly
dealt with cancer

Filed under: Dancing With The Stars

Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman recently announced that he is recovering a surgery that removed a tumor in his prostate. The interesting fact was that he found out about the cancer back in March, but decided not to deal with it until the eighth season of DWTS ended.

Len is a trouper for going through a whole season of Dancing with the Stars. He kept the news under wraps not only to America and Britain, but also many of the judges and crew for both Dancing with the Stars and British counterpart Strictly Come Dancing.

Continue reading Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman secretly dealt with cancer

 

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