This happens to me a lot: I'll be watching or reading something and be surprised that someone – particularly a celebrity – is still alive. In public life, the darkening of the spot light, otherwise known as moving on to better things, is often equated with death. But it's not really. I've mentioned this before as it pertains to blogging, in that when people terminates their online lives, it doesn't mean they aren't happy, healthy and otherwise alive and kicking.
Here's a few examples of people gone (but not really) that I've recently been made aware of:
1. Mayor McCheese.
Once a beloved character in McDonald's aresenal, he was apparently voted out of office by the fact that his head – in the shape of a humongous cheeseburger – frightened little children. I'm also wondering if the Hamburgler still visits his parole officer, if the Fry Guys haven't drowned in a pool of ketchup, or if Grimace ever wrestled with Barney to decide who's the reigning purple character.
2. Doris Day.
She was quoted in an Associated Press story about fellow actor/friend Tony Randall, who died last week (a ha!). She is dragging 80, and still quotable in news stories, apparently. Randall's Odd Couple half Jack Klugman (also in Quincy, the long-ago precursor to crime-solving CSIs) is also mysteriously still alive.
3. Burt Reynolds.
He's doing TV commercials now, sometime as himself ("Uh-oh, better get Maaco!"), or as a roll of Bounty paper towels. Who knew?
4. Alan Alda (from TV's M*A*S*H).
He's narrating things and contributing to feel-good causes, such as the plight of TV actors who are now relegated to PBS.
5. Yahoo Serious.
This Austrailian comedian/actor starred in the Young Einsteen movie. He and Whoopi Goldberg formed a charitable foundation for people whose names are exclamations of surprise (Yippee Smith and Ohboy McElroy serve as co-chairmen of the board).
6. Johnny Carson.
He is apparently living in a gigantic house, playing tennis and golf, and growing old. I've heard his favorite late-night show is Ted Koppel's Hairline (um, Nightline).
7. Former California Governor Gray Davis.
I heard he is starring in Terminator 4: Total Recall.
8. Former Texas Governor Ann Richards.
She was defeated several years ago by now-President George W. Bush. She rides a Harley and talks about osteoporosis to women with large, white heads of hair. She is also the wrinkle-depository for the western half of the United States.
9. Boy George.
After a successful string of surgeries, he is now Girl Georgia. He is not to be confused with George Michael, who sang with Culture Club. Oh wait, I mean the Bangles. Oh no, he sang with Wham! Sheesh, it's hard to keep these nancy boys straight over time, isn't it? They're all karma chameleons! And what does that mean?
10. Miss Copenhaver.
Oh, she was never famous. She was the freshly minted teacher of my fourth-grade class. She smelled really nice (like Jean Nate), and was young, single and foxy. I just wonder where she is sometimes. Maybe she and Mayor McCheese have a nice house somewhere, white picket fence, kids in the yard, a minivan. Gee, I hope not!
My dad is so convinced that Dick Van Dyke is dead that he refers to him only as Dick Van Dead. Nothing will convince him otherwise, short of Dick himself showing up on my dad's doorstep and singing "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary." Dear old Dad is turning 50 in a few weeks...Hey, T-Bone, do you think Doris Day or Alan Alda has Dick's number?
might I add:
●Chuck Woolery (maybe that promiscuous Love Connection lifestyle had something to do with it?
●Newt Gingrich
●Gilbert Gottfried (but I am sooooo glad that we don't hear his soothing voice anymore)
●Paul Hogan (although I could imagine him bald and fat, plugging the latest from Ginsu: "Now THAT'S a kniiiive!")
●ESPN's Rich Eisen, now working for the NFL network, a channel obtained by about 43 folks. I miss Rich.
●Gallagher. Whenever I eat watermelon I think of him.
●Countless thousands of one-hit-wonder singers, but that's another post--right, T-bone?
How bad is it that I thought a couple of those people were dead? LOL
Whatever happened to Mr. Belvedere?
:)
Happy weekend, T.
And how about Andy Kaufan, he just came back from the dead right! BTW haven't visited your site in a while, remember me??? :)
CHUCK WOOLERY UPDATE from today's Parade Magazine (i guess that means i have to own up that i do read it occasionally):
He hosts a game show called Lingo on the GSN channel, and flirts with 20-something co-host Stacey Hayes. "...Woolery--still a notorious flirt at 63--is about to shed his third wife, Teri Nelson, the stepdaughter of Ozzia and Harriet's David Nelson. Once the divorce is final, Chuck will be free to play more than word games with Stacey."
(excuse me, I need to wash my hands)
T-Bone email me or call me ~ I need your advise, as well as your local contact to find out more info on a subject matter ~ read my blog you'll understand more and why I ask this of you.......thanks in advance!!!