Update 3-1-11

Hi,

A couple of quick tributes lifted from The New York Times, where the full versions are.

Duke Snider, the Hall of Fame center fielder renowned for his home run drives and superb defensive play in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ glory years, died Sunday at 84.  From 1949, his first full season, until 1957, the period generally considered the golden age of New York baseball, Snider was a colossus, one of three roaming the center fields of New York.  The others were Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees. The Dodgers won six National League pennants during Snider’s 11 seasons in Brooklyn, and they had a roster full of stellar players -- Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese and Gil Hodges among them -- but Snider was perhaps the star among stars.  A swift outfielder, a slick fielder and a No. 3 hitter with reliable power in the clutch, he hit 40 or more home runs in five consecutive seasons.  He was the only player to hit four home runs twice in a World Series, including in 1955, when the Dodgers ended decades of frustration and defeated the Yankees, bringing Brooklyn its only World Series championship.  As if for good measure, in 1957, before the Dodgers left for Los Angeles, he hit the last home run at their famous Brooklyn ballpark, Ebbets Field.

Jane Russell, the voluptuous actress at the center of one of the most highly publicized censorship episodes in movie history, the long-delayed release of the 1940s western “The Outlaw,” died on Monday at 89.  Ms. Russell was 19 when Howard Hughes cast her as the tempestuous Rio McDonald, Sheriff Pat Garrett’s girlfriend, in “The Outlaw.”  A movie poster -- which showed a sultry Ms. Russell in a cleavage-revealing blouse falling off one shoulder as she reclined in a haystack and held a gun -- quickly became notorious and seemed to fuel movie censors’ determination to prevent the film’s release because of scenes that, by 1940s standards, revealed too much of the star’s breasts.  The Roman Catholic Church was one of the movie’s vocal opponents.

In less stellar company, Marc Jonas -- responding to last week's "Car 54" theme -- wrote:  Toody and Muldoon?

[Rich -- I wrote Marc:  Specifically, Francis Muldoon and Gunther Toody.  And don't think I knew that -- I didn't even remember Toody and Muldoon.  It sounded right when you wrote it, but I had to check online.  Now which actor played which?  I didn't think to check that.]

Marc:  I'm going with Fred Gwynne as Muldoon.

[Rich -- While checking to see if Marc's answer was right -- it was -- I came across the following trivia, which I also sent to Marc:  For casting the new series, producer Nat Hiken originally wanted Mickey Shaunessey as patrolman Francis Muldoon and Jack Warden as Gunther Toody.  But when he failed to reach an agreement on fees with the actors he went back to ‘Bilko’ for actors he had worked with before.  Fred Gwynne had appeared in two memorable ‘Bilko’ episodes, the best of which was probably ‘The Eating Contest.’  In this, Gwynne played a character called ‘The Stomach,’ a lovelorn soldier who could eat his own bodyweight in food.  Bilko sets up an eating contest that he is certain to win but in the end gets an attack of conscience and reunites Gwynne with his girlfriend.  The part of Toody went to Joe E. Ross who had starred in ‘Bilko’ as the regular character Mess Sergeant Rupert Ritzik, a comic foil to Bilko who often ended up the target of his scams.  Other ‘Bilko’ veterans were also employed as both regular and guest characters, notably Al Lewis as patrolman Leo Schnauser.  His wife, Sylvia, was played by Charlotte Rae.]

In other notes:

From Jane Ruzow Tiell:  Hey, Barnet, don't feel guilty about being banned from Newberry's.  Your girlfriend, Gwen Camhi, was also caught shoplifting there.  I was with her and almost died.  They let us go with a warning, but I never entered the store again.  My father also bought all his clothes in Tress, and I worked in Bakers shoe store in the mall for two years.

From Judy Hartstone:  Does anyone remember Shurry's, a women's clothing store?  It was in a little house on a side street somewhere.  They had great box-pleated skirts in wonderfully nubby material -- burlap? -- and matching blouses.  I think it was the "in" place when we were in 8th or 9th grade.

From Peter Rosen:  Barnet brought back some great memories about Tress.  My grandfather came in from Brooklyn to shop there, and he went to the cadet department.  My father and I also shopped there, and I can’t forget the time I had a “kid’s tantrum” until my mother took me to Tress on a horrible rainy night to get a pair of red slacks.  Does anyone remember the clam diggers?

From Jay Tuerk:  I received this link to a video that I think everyone will find enjoyable -- a memory of WPIX, one of New York's independent TV stations in the 50s.  So, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njs9NuDopC4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Related:  The Archive of American Television at:  emmytvlegends.org.  Their promo:  Search through our list of hundreds of interviews or navigate our site by show title -- such as The Academy Awards, Bonanza, and The Jeffersons -- interviewee professions -- such as Animation Professionals, Executives, or Hosts -- or by topic -- Historic Events and Social Change; Pop Culture; Television and the Presidency.

From Barbara Blitfield Pech -- This site tops everything we've seen -- Rockaway Avenue historic pictures:  http://arrts-arrchives.com

Also from Barbara:  Long Island, years ago.  Take a stroll back in time.  Not Valley Stream, but we never stayed "home" much anyway:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregchris/sets/72157615727651159/show/

From Ira Levy:  I would like you to update your address book to enter my new e-mail address, which is: Iraslevy1@gmail.com.  Best to all

And this isn't a contest, but maybe the best story this week came from Steve Gootzeit:  At one time, my mother was the head cashier at Tress, and I even worked there during one summer.  I would assist the head tailor when customers came in to try on their altered suits.  Even if they were satisfied, the tailor might shake his head, slash chalk marks across part of the suit, and then turn to me and say, "Take this downstairs for styling."  I would then take the suit down to the other tailors, and one of them would press out the chalk marks and return to the suit to me.  After a respectable period of time, I would go upstairs, the head tailor would have the customer try on  the suit, announce that it was now "perfect," and pocket the larger-than-usual tip in recognition of his keen eye and quick service.  This is exactly how teen-age cynics are created.

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65


Rich