By Eric Wolf Schoen
Lots of controversy at the Schoen house this week. My sister Carrie claimed that she was the child who cried at the end of Lassie each week and i made the same claim
This all came about when it was announced that the mother in the show, June Lockhart died this week at 100 years old. Frankly, I was shocked Lockhart was still alive because she played an older mother in the show.
Hearing that Lockhart was still with us I ventured to see what other actors and actresses from our great films gave not left us:
Eva Marie Saint dazzled us in Exodus, The State of Israel created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.
Academy Award-winner Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal on October 31, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City, to Witia (Haskell), a teacher and model, and Abraham Rosenthal, an educator and realtor. Her father was of Romanian Jewish descent, and her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Lee made her stage debut at age 4.
Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII.
He was a writer for, Your Show of Shows (1950) Caesar’s Hour (1954) and wrote the Broadway show Shinbone Alley. He also worked in the creation of The 2000 Year Old Man (1975) and Get Smart (1965) before embarking on a highly successful film career in writing, acting, producing and directing.
Brooks is famous for the spoofs of different film genres that he made such as Blazing Saddles (1974), History of the World: Part I (1981), Silent Movie (1976), Young Frankenstein (1974), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), High Anxiety (1977), Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), and Spaceballs (1987).
John Kander was born in 1927 and created musical legends Chicago and Cabaret, both of which were later adapted into acclaimed films. Go on line and you will see hundreds of actors in their 100’s looking as wonderful as they did in their 50’s. Sometimes it’s nice to take a week off from politics and think about the great performances on tv and the theater.
By the way, many of you criticized my support of Curtis Sliwa. If you are concerned that a vote for Curtis is a vote for the Socialist, by all means tell you friends to support Cuomo. I just hope Andrew has learned his lesson and gives us no surprises if he gets elected!
Reach Eric Wolf Schoen at ewschoen@icloud.com.
