HELLO FROM FRED & ETHEL'S HOUSE

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hooty Sapperticker Day

June 22 is Hooty Sapperticker Day. From what I remember listening to WLS in Chicago back in the 1960s, Hooty Sapperticker was a man who dedicated his life to doing nothing. In honor of Hooty every June 22 you are supposed to spend the entire day doing nothing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . MERYL STREEP

Born June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey, actress Meryl Streep turns 62 today. She has received 16 Academy Award nominations, winning two, and 25 Golden Globe nominations, winning seven, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . DAVID L. LANDER

Born in Brooklyn on June 22, 1947, actor David L. Lander turns 64 today. He is best remembered as Squiggy on the 70s TV show "Laverne and Shirley". In addition to acting, David, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, has a small stake in the Portland Beavers. He has worked as a baseball talent scout since 1997, first for the Anaheim Angels, and now for the Seattle Mariners.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Fuller Brush Girl (1950)

Starring Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Jerome Cowan, and Jeff Donnell. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. A scatterbrained woman gets a job as a Fuller Brush salesgirl. Her attempts at selling cosmetics door-to-door are disastrous and things go from bad to worse when one of her customers is murdered and she becomes the prime suspect.

Sitting Pretty (1948)

Starring Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, Clifton Webb, Ed Begley, Betty Lynn, Richard Haydn, Minerva Urecal, and John Russell. Directed by Walter Lang. A suburban couple with three sons are in serious need of a babysitter. She puts an ad in the paper for a live-in babysitter, and the ad is answered by Lynn Belvedere. But when she arrives, she turns out to be a man. And not just any man, but a most eccentric, outrageously forthright genius with seemingly a million careers and experiences behind him.

Born Yesterday (1950)

Starring William Holden, Judy Holliday, and Broderick Crawford. Directed by George Cukor. An uncouth, loud-mouth tycoon descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, an ex-showgirl. He hires a newspaperman to soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in capital society.

I Was a Male Bride (1949)

Starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. Directed by Howard Hawks. A French officer is assigned to work with a female American lieutenant. They fall in love and marry but when her army unit gets recalled back to the USA, the only way they can stay together is by invoking a law allowing the spouse of American army personnel to enter the country, under the War Bride's Act.

Father Was a Fullback (1949)

Starring Fred MacMurray, Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, Betty Lynn, Jim Backus, Thelma Ritter, and Rudy Vallee. Directed by John M. Stahl. A college football coach has more than enough problems on the job without his teenage daughter complicating his life at home. Convinced she's unattractive to the opposite sex she resigns herself to a loveless existence. When a fictional article she pens about a teenage bubble dancer appears in a confessions magazine, the boys come calling. The young author dates a high school football star from across town who chooses to attend her father's college to be near his new-found sweetheart. Papa's gridiron and domestic problems are solved.

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)

Starring William Powell, Ann Blyth, Fred Clark, and Irene Hervey. Directed by Irving Pichel. A middle-aged man goes on vacation with his wife to a Caribbean resort. While there, he hears singing coming from a distant key and takes his boat to do a little fishing. To his surprise, he reels in a beautiful mermaid. He takes her home and, although she cannot speak, he falls in love with her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . MEREDITH BAXTER & MICHAEL GROSS

Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross, who played the parents on Family Ties, both turn 64 today, June 21, 2011.

Monday, June 20, 2011

IN ONE OF THOSE MOODS TONIGHT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . JOHN MAHONEY

Actor John Mahoney turns 71 today, June 20, 2011. Born in Blackpool, England, in 1940, he came to the United States as a young man sponsored by his older sister, a war bride living in rural Illinois. He studied at Quincy University before joining the United States Army to speed up the citizenship process and to become a U.S. citizen; he received citizenship in 1959. He lived in Macomb and taught English at Western Illinois University in the early 1970s before settling in Forest Park, Illinois and later in Oak Park. He made his film debut in 1980 at age 40.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . ANNE MURRAY

Canadian singer Anne Murray turns 66 today, June 20, 2011. Born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, in 1945, she is a singer in pop, country, and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies.