DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[LizzieMaine]

Radio actress/writer Peg Lynch died today at the age of 98. She was best known as the creator-star of the comedy serial "Ethel and Albert" in the mid-1940s over ABC, and its successor series "The Couple Next Door" over CBS until the end of daytime radio in 1960, and yet another successor series, "The Little Things In Life," in syndication during the mid-1970s.

Peg was one of the many creative, innovative women in radio during the Era. She wrote every word she performed on the air herself, and she refused to do a "dumb dame" character. Although she worked in the traditional domestic husband-and-wife format, she always played a smart, level-headed woman who didn't snipe or snark for laughs -- the humor on her programs grew out of close observation of human nature and the realities of married life, not cheap jokes and gags. Although she did television in later years, her heart always remained with radio, and she was still performing, both on-air and at Old Time Radio conventions right up until a few years ago.

I knew her -- not well, unfortunately, but I had the privilege of conducting her last interview earlier this year. She was still sharp and enthusiastic about her life and her career -- and really wanted me to come visit her so we could continue our conversation. I'll always regret that I never had the chance to do that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bandleader/arranger Van Alexander has died at the age of 100. Although he had a long career in film and television scoring, and led his own dance orchestra in the 1940s, his most lasting claim to fame was his work, under his birth name "Al Feldman," as an arranger for Chick Webb's band in the late thirties -- where he not only provided many of the driving, hard-swinging arrangements that inspired dancers at the Savoy Ballroom, but also the novelty tune that made Webb's teenage vocalist Ella Fitzgerald a full-fledged star. "A-Tisket-A-Tasket" was the most prominent ear-worm of 1938, and Fitzgerald rode its success to a career as a jazz legend.

 

[brendanm720]

Bandleader/arranger Van Alexander has died at the age of 100. Although he had a long career in film and television scoring, and led his own dance orchestra in the 1940s, his most lasting claim to fame was his work, under his birth name "Al Feldman," as an arranger for Chick Webb's band in the late thirties -- where he not only provided many of the driving, hard-swinging arrangements that inspired dancers at the Savoy Ballroom, but also the novelty tune that made Webb's teenage vocalist Ella Fitzgerald a full-fledged star. "A-Tisket-A-Tasket" was the most prominent ear-worm of 1938, and Fitzgerald rode its success to a career as a jazz legend.

I actually have that single on a 78 RPM record.

 

[2jakes]

I have that single,"A-Tisket,-A tasket” on a 78 RPM.

Ride ‘Em Cowboy (1942) Abbott & Costello film.

My favorite scene is a young Ella Fitzgerald singing that song !

 

[jlee562]

It's being reported now that Roderick Toombs, AKA WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper has passed at age 61.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

67 yr old Lynn Anderson.
Of 'I Never Promised You A Rose Garden' fame died.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Probably the best left-handed pitcher in the American League over the course of the 1950s has died at 88. Billy Pierce starred for the Chicago White Sox from 1949 to 1961 as the workhorse of their pitching rotation, and there are still White Sox fans today who damn the name of manager Al Lopez for his inexplicably failing to give Pierce a starting assignment in the 1959 World Series.

 

[MisterCairo]

It's being reported now that Roderick Toombs, AKA WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper has passed at age 61.

Yes, sad but true:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/rowdy-roddy-piper-wwe-legend-dead-at-61-1.3176387

 

[Frunobulax]

RIP Hot Rod. He was an institution.

 

[MisterCairo]

The lovely and talented Cilla Black has died. She was only 72. One of Brian Epstein's "finds" from Liverpool and the north of England generally (she was the hat check girl at the Cavern Club where the Beatles played). Not as well known in North America, she was a star in England for nearly 50 years.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/cilla-black-british-singer-and-tv-host-dead-at-72-1.3178032

 

[1mach1]

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

The lovely and talented Cilla Black has died. She was only 72. One of Brian Epstein's "finds" from Liverpool and the north of England generally (she was the hat check girl at the Cavern Club where the Beatles played). Not as well known in North America, she was a star in England for nearly 50 years.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/cilla-black-british-singer-and-tv-host-dead-at-72-1.3178032

I Was very sorry and sad to hear about the passing of Cilla Black, (I used to be in her fan club in the 1960s and 1970s.) She really had two careers, one as a singer in the 1960s then in the 1980s to 2000s as a TV Presenter, she used to get huge numbers of viewers on Saturday night TV. There has been alot of coverage in the UK media and a book of condolence in Liverpool which does not happen very often. She will be sadly missed.

 

[PHIL1959]

the sad passing of George Cole,an English gent.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-final-project-wanted-make-one-film-died.html

 

[Warden]

There is a vacant seat at the Dorchester :cry:

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hall of famer Frank Gifford has died at age 84

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Now all three -- Howard Cossell, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford -- are broadcasting from the big booth in the sky.

Monday Night Football was always a good show when that trio had the gig. It might be a lousy game, but Cossell was always saying something that had us throwing our empties at the TV, and Meredith could make a joke out of most anything, and Gifford played the straight man.

Turn out the lights, the party's over.

 

[Bamaboots]

^ Well said, sir.

 

[MisterCairo]

Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier from the film "The Artist" had to be euthanized due to cancer. He was 13:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/uggie-dog-performer-from-the-artist-dies-1.3188551

 

[hatsRme]

I'm a little late to the table with this news, but since we have a fair share of drummers around here.... On July 26 of this year, Vic Firth, legendary Boston Symphony Orchestra timpanist, world-renowned educator and founder of Vic Firth Company, passed away at 85.

Everett "Vic" Firth, the legendary musician, educator and entrepreneur who performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for fifty years and founded the world’s leading drumstick manufacturer, the Vic Firth Company, died on Sunday in Boston. He was 85. His obsession with creating the perfect sound lead to a lifetime of accomplishments both on and off the stage.

 

[Bushman]

Lenny B. Robinson, better known as the "Baltimore Batman", who went around to sick children dressed as Batman was fatally struck by a car last Sunday when checking the engine of his Batmobile on the side of the highway. May he RIP.