REMEMBERING MITZI GAYNOR (1931-2024)

 I am sad to have to report that Mitzi Gaynor, Bing's co-star in 1956's Anything Goes has passed away. She appeared with Bing in that movie and on television. She was a talented all around entertainer and will be missed...

BING: 47 YEARS LATER

It has been 47 years since Bing Crosby died now. I was three. Some people my age only know Bing as the Christmas carol singer if at all. Bing in my fifty years has meant so much more to me. Bing is what brought my Grandfather, and I together. Our love of music not only helped me to have a good relationship with my Grandfather, but it helped me to overcome a lot in my early years.

Bing to me represented a simpler time in the world. It was not neccessarily a better time, but a more laid back and relaxing time. 2024 is so busy and hectic, that I still listen to Bing to relax me. After a long day of work stress, nothing soothes me more than to listen to Bing Crosby on the way home. If more people listened to Bing that I think there would be a drop in anxiety, stress, and maybe even violence! 

In 2024, Bing Crosby still means the world to me. Yes Bing has been dead since 1977, but his memory is very much alive to me!

REMEMBERING NICK NARDELLA (1943-2023)

 I lost a dear friend this week with the passing of Nick Nardella of Chicago. He was a lifelong member of The International Club Crosby, and Bing Crosby was one of his favorite singers. I personally met him in 1999, and we started a taping correspondence. He was there in my life for all of the important points of my life like my marriage and birth of my children. I have known Nick longer than I have known my wife. He always had encouraging words for me, and he was a geniune and good person. His music collection was as big as his heart.

Nick passed away peacefully on November 19, 2023. Nick is survived by his loving wife of 44 years, Laverne M. Nardella nee Peterson; caring brother of John Nardella and Geraldine Kruger; cherished brother-in-law to the late Jim (Kathy) Peterson, Marilyn (James Sr.) Nemecek, the late Eileen Tomazin; fond uncle to Michael and Richard (Kim) Kruger, James Jr. (Michelle) Nemecek, Tracy (Joseph) Buchholz, Eric Peterson, Julie (David) Westerman, TJ Tomazin; caring great-uncle to Brooke (Cody) Mudd, Seth and Emily Kruger, Justin, Jacob, Jared, and Makayla Buchholz, Charlie and Danny Westerman; devoted great-great-uncle to Amberleigh Mudd. He is preceded in death by his parents Henry and Antoinette Nardella.

Nick proudly served in the Army as an Administrator, stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War era. Upon returning from his time in the service he fondly worked at World Book, and several years later went on to meet the love of his life, Laverne. Music and sports were Nick’s second love, being a devout fan of artists from the 1940’s and all sports teams from Chicago. He also was a member of "The Browsers", a Chicago based record collector group that shared their knowledge on local radio. 

I am a better person because I had the honor of knowing Nick Nardella....

REMEMBERING ANGELA LANSBURY (1925-2022)

 Bing and the late Angela Lansbury never worked together, but she visited him at Paramount Studios in 1949. Bing showed off his Christmas present to Angela Lansbury on Jan. 7, 1949. Cameraman Crosby is all excited about his new camera.

RIP - Angela Lansbury...

REMEMBERING BRUCE KOGAN (1947-2021)

 Many of my fellow blog readers will be familiar with the name of Bruce Kogan. He did the guest reviews for this blog and many others. He has countless review on IMDB. Being a movie lover, as well as a music historian, Bruce had a wide knowledge of the great world of nostalgia. Bruce died on April 26th, after a long and brave battle with cancer. He was 73.

Bruce Kogan was a powerhouse. He came to Buffalo (from NYC) to RETIRE - which says multitudes about him right out of the gate. He was a pit bull for justice to all in the Empire State, but especially LGBTQ New Yorkers. He was an advocate in Buffalo and anywhere his help was needed. His insights into the mechanisms of government, including but not limited to Law Enforcement, the Crime Victims Board, and countless policy issues were uncanny. Once he was involved with a case, he just couldn't do enough for you. And he did it with compassion.

Born in Brooklyn, Bruce Kogan spent his life in the service of others. In the late 1990s, Bruce moved to Buffalo and became a part of our family. During his career at the NYS Crime Victims Board, and his lifetime spent as an advocate of equality and justice for all communities, especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, Bruce never gave up the fight. A former president of SDWNY who served our organization in many roles throughout the years, Bruce is forever an essential part of the work of SDNWY and all LGBTQ advocacy in WNY, across New York State and throughout our nation. With every meeting attended, lobby visit made and heart changed, Bruce helped bring about the monumental progress the LGBTQ community has made in the last decades. Whether LGBTQ youth protections, Marriage Equality, transgender civil rights and every issue that touched our community, Bruce was there. Every woman, man and child in our community is the better and more equal for Bruce and his life’s work.

A central passion of Bruce’s life was his advocacy for LGBTQ crime victims. Bruce never stopped being an advocate for those victims, and pressing the issue of their justice. Among his work on this issue, Bruce never stopped fighting for justice for Winthrop “Winkie” Bean, writing the play “Call Me Winkie,” which has been performed multiple times here in WNY. We commit now and every day to continuing that advocacy in Bruce’s name.
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Our hearts and thoughts are heavy, are they are with Bruce, his family, friends and all who loved and knew him. There are no words that will ever properly thank Bruce Kogan for dedicating his life to making the world a better place, for more people than will ever be known. Thank you, Bruce. Happy trails.

I will miss you friend...

REMEMBERING RHONDA FLEMING (1923-2020)

Rhonda Fleming, star of the 1940s and ’50s who was dubbed the “Queen of Technicolor” and appeared in “Out of the Past” and “Spellbound,” died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif., according to her secretary Carla Sapon. She was 97.

Fleming appeared in more than 40 films and worked with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock on “Spellbound,” Jacques Tourneur on “Out of the Past” and Robert Siodmak on “The Spiral Staircase.”

Later in life, she became a philanthropist and supporter of numerous organizations fighting cancer, homelessness and child abuse.

Her starring roles include classics such as the 1949 musical fantasy “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” alongside Bing Crosby whom she later dated, 1957 Western “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and the noir “Slightly Scarlet” alongside John Payne.

Her co-stars over the years included Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Rock Hudson and Ronald Reagan, with whom she made four films. Other notable roles included Fritz Lang’s “While the City Sleeps,” “Pony Express” and “The Big Circus.” One of her last roles was in the Don Adams farce “The Nude Bomb” in 1980, and she spoofed herself as “Rhoda Flaming” in 1976 comedy “Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood” along a bevy of other vintage performers from Dorothy Lamour to Stepin Fetchit and Rudy Vallee.

Born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, she attended Beverly Hills High and was discovered by the famous agent Henry Wilson while on the way to school, she told the Warner Bros. podcast. Wilson changed her name to Rhonda Fleming and she was then signed to a contract with David O. Selznick. Her first major part was as a nymphomaniac in “Spellbound,” and she said she was so naive she had to look up the word in the dictionary when she was cast.

In addition to cinema, Fleming made her Broadway debut in Clare Boothe Luce’s “The Women” and toured as Madame Dubonnet in “The Boyfriend.” In 1957, Fleming made her stage musical debut in Las Vegas at the opening of the Tropicana Hotel’s showroom. Later she appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in a one-woman concert with compositions from Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. In 1960, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Fleming also routinely guest-starred on television in series including “Wagon Train,” “Police Woman,” “The Love Boat” and a two-hour special of “McMillan & Wife.” Along with Maureen O’Hara, she was bestowed the nickname of “Queen of Technicolor” for how well her red hair and green eyes photographed in vivid color.

In 1991, Fleming and her late husband Ted Mann of Mann’s Theaters established Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Comprehensive Care for Women with Cancer at UCLA in memory of her sister Beverly, and in 1992, she founded the Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center at UCLA. She opened the Reflections boutique to help cancer patients with items including wigs and prostheses.

She also supported Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., where she established the Rhonda Fleming Carlson Inspiration Garden in 2014.

Her other charitable efforts include being an ambassador of Childhelp, dedicated to the care and treatment of victims of child abuse, and P.A.T.H. (People Assisting the Homeless), where she established two Rhonda Fleming Family Centers.

After her sister Beverly died of cancer, she became a supporter of cancer research and with her then-husband Ted Mann of Mann Theatres, established the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Women’s Comprehensive Care at UCLA Medical Center. She also supported the Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center for Women with Cancer at UCLA. To further research and treatment for women’s cancer, she created The Rhonda Fleming Mann Research Fellowship at the City of Hope Hospital.

Her sixth husband, Darol W. Carlson, died in 2017.

Fleming is survived by her son, Kent Lane, granddaughter, Kelly Harman (Morgan Harman), granddaughter, Kimberly Coleman, as well as well as great-grandchildren, Wagner Harman (Lindsay Harman), Page Harman, Linden Harman, Lane Albrecht, Cole Albrecht and two great-great grandchildren, Ronan and Kiera Harman. She is also survived by step-children, Candace Voien, Cindy Jaeger, Jill Lundstrom and Kevin Carlson...

BING'S DEATH: 43 YEARS AGO

In this photo, Bing tees off on the La Moraleja golf course near Madrid, Spain, on the afternoon of Oct. 14, 1977. He finished 18 holes of golf -- carding an 85 -- and, with his partner, club president Cesar de Zulueta, defeating 2 Spanish golf pros, Manuel Pinero and Valentine Barrious...

After his final putt Bing bowed to acknowledge the applause of some fans and remarked ""That was a great game of golf, fellas." As he was walking to the clubhouse about 6:30 he collapsed from a massive heart attack. Bing made no attempt to break his fall and landed head-first on the red-brick pavement, producing a large bruise on the left side of his forehead. "We thought he had just slipped," said one of his golfing companions. "Bing had shown no sign of fatigue. He was happy and singing as he went around the course." His 3 golfing companions carried Bing the remaining 20 yards to the clubhouse where a physician administered oxygen and adrenalin without success.

Bing's funeral began at 5 a.m. Oct. 18, 1977 at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. Bing's will specified that only his wife and 7 children should attend, but Kathryn invited Bing's siblings as well as Bob Hope, Rosemary Clooney and Phil Harris. The ABC reporter who covered the funeral, Geraldo Rivera, noted the early morning hour was when the blue of the night met the gold of the day...

REMEMBERING: ZIZI JEANMAIRE (1924-2020)

French dancer and singer Zizi Jeanmaire, an iconic cabaret showgirl whose grace and glamour was celebrated on stage and in film the world over, died Friday in Switzerland aged 96, her family told AFP.

"My mother passed away peacefully last night at her home in Tolechenaz," a town bordering Lake Geneva, her daughter Valentine Petit told AFP by telephone.

Jeanmaire starred in ballets, cabarets, musicals and film, mixing styles but never compromising on the rigour of her classical training.

Many of her roles were created by her husband Roland Petit, the renowned choreographer who died in 2011.

It was her leading performance in Petit's modern interpretation of "Carmen" in 1949, which featured the short-cropped hairstyle that became her trademark feature, that launched her into the spotlight.

The new-look production caused a sensation when it was performed in Paris, London and New York.

Jeanmaire and Petit met in 1933, when they were around nine years old and students at the Paris Opera Ballet. They married in 1954 and had a daughter.

"They became the power couple of Sixties Parisian cultural life, wearing Yves Saint Laurent and collaborating with Andy Warhol," The Telegraph wrote in an obituary of Petit.

Jeanmaire was born in Paris on April 29, 1924, her real name Renee Marcelle Jeanmaire. Her nickname is reportedly rooted in her childhood pronunciation of "Mon zizi" for "Mon Jesus" (My Jesus).

She left the Paris Opera Ballet at 19, saying she wanted to see the world and eventually making her way into Hollywood and New York.

Her leading films roles were in the 1950s, including in the Hollywood musical "Hans Christian Andersen" (1952), about the life of the Danish storyteller, and "Anything Goes" (1956) starring Bing Crosby.

She triumphed at Paris' Alhambra music hall in 1961 with a performance of "Mon Truc en Plumes" -- her legendary costume of huge, pink ostrich feathers designed by Saint Laurent -- and in 1966 danced alongside Rudolf Nureyev for the film version of Petit's ballet "Le Jeune Homme et la Mort" (The Young Man and Death).

Saint Laurent, who dressed her for 40 years, once said she "only had to walk on stage for everything to take life, fire and flames."

Sealing her place in stardom is a reference in the opening line of Peter Sarstedt's name-dropping classic "Where Do You Go to My Lovely" (1969), which says: "You talk like Marlene Dietrich, And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire."

A public ceremony in her honour will be organised in September, her daughter said...

REMEMBERING: F.B. WIGGINS (1929-2019)

This is a huge loss to the world of Bing Crosby fandom...

Frontis Burbank (Wig) Wiggins, Jr., retired Foreign Service Officer and internationally recognized Bing Crosby expert, died on October 29, 2019, at his home in Arlington, Virginia at the age of 90.

He was born in Thomasville, Georgia, on April 7, 1929 to Frontis Burbank and Emma Louise (King) Wiggins and grew up in Albany, Georgia, where his father owned a small business. After earning an Industrial Engineering degree from Georgia Tech (1950), he attended the University of Birmingham, England, on a Rotary Club scholarship, leaving in 1951 with a Graduate Commerce (MBA) degree plus lifelong friendships with fellow students and a permanent disgust for Brussels sprouts. While working for Standard Oil in Baton Rouge in 1952, he was called to naval service. After the Korean War he entered the University of California at Berkeley on the GI Bill, earning a 1956 Master of Political Science for his thesis on the election dispute that in 1946 briefly left Georgia with 3 simultaneous governors.

He entered the Foreign Service in 1956 and served his country at home and abroad for nearly 35 years. His first posts were Kenya and Guatemala, followed by Indonesia, where in 1960 he married an Embassy colleague, Laura Ponnone of Farmington, Connecticut, and where their daughter Joanne was born. His next post, Italy, was the birthplace of his son, Frontis Burbank III. His next overseas appointment was Deputy Chief of Mission (and frequent Chargé d’Affaires) for Malta. After serving on, then heading, the Board of Examiners (which selects new Foreign Service officers), his final post was U.S. Consul for Brisbane, Australia. He retired in 1991.

He loved music of all kinds, from Hot Jazz and the Weavers to opera and Broadway, but his favorite by far was Bing Crosby. He was a serious collector, serving for decades as the American Representative for the International Club Crosby. He developed enduring friendships with Bing enthusiasts all over the world and contributed to the preservation of Crosby’s musical legacy. His encouragement sustained John McNicholas’ mission to issue all Bing’s recordings via the Chronological Bing Crosby, AKA the Jonzo Series. In 2015, he and co-author Jim Reilly published “The Definitive Bing Crosby Discography: From 78s to CDs.” He was invited by MCA records to edit a series of re-issues of Bing’ recordings, and he selected the music for over a dozen CDs featuring Bing’s wide range, including 21 gold records, Hawaiian, Irish, and Western songs, and of course Christmas music, the genre Bing pioneered. He was also closely involved with Hofstra University’s 2002 “Bing! Crosby and American Culture” conference.

He lost his wife Laura in 2007 after 47 years of devoted partnership. He is survived by his brother, James Marvin (Adele Cooke), of Glen Eden Beach, Oregon, his daughter, Joanne (Shelley Platt), of Richmond, and his son, Frontis Burbank III, and grandson, Frontis Burbank (Primo) IV, of Fairfax...

SOURCE


  https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/arlington-va/frontis-wiggins-8907487

REMEMBERING: TIM CONWAY (1933-2019)

Funny man Tim Conway (1933-2019) made us laugh for decades. Here he is with Bing from his appearance on the Hollywood Palace. Rest in peace...

REMEMBERING: GLORIA JEAN (1926-2018)

Child actress Gloria Jean passed away on September 1, 2018.She was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959, as well as making numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.

After moving to Scranton, Pennsylvania, Gloria Jean sang on radio with Paul Whiteman's band. When she was 12, "she was engaged by a smallish New York opera company and became the youngest member of an opera troupe in the United States." Gloria Jean was being trained as a coloratura soprano, when her voice teacher, Leah Russel, took her to an audition held by Universal Pictures movie producer Joe Pasternak in 1938. Pasternak had guided Deanna Durbin to stardom, and with Durbin now advancing to ingénue roles, Pasternak wanted a younger singer to make the same kind of musicals. Up against hundreds of others, Gloria Jean won the audition.

Under contract to Universal, she was given the leading role in the feature The Under-Pup (1939) and became instantly popular with moviegoers. Universal's publicity department initially claimed the singer was 11 years old instead of 13; her actual age was not well known for many decades. For her next two vehicles, she co-starred with Bing Crosby in If I Had My Way (1940) and starred in the well-received A Little Bit of Heaven (also 1940), which reunited her with many from the Under-Pup cast. Her best-known picture is her fourth, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), in which she co-starred with W. C. Fields.

Gloria Jean made a successful transition to young adult roles. Her dramatic tour de force, as a blind girl being menaced by an escaped killer, was filmed as one of four vignettes for Julien Duvivier's Flesh and Fantasy(1943). Her performance won raves at the film's advance preview, and her segment was the best-received of the four. However, Universal removed the half-hour sequence and shelved it until 1944, when it was expanded into a feature-length melodrama, Destiny. She co-starred with Olsen and Johnson in the big-budget Ghost Catchers (1944), and in her last two Universal features, released in 1945, she was teamed with singer-actor Kirby Grant.

She resumed her movie career as a freelance performer appearing in United Artists, Columbia Pictures, and Allied Artists productions, the best-known being Copacabana (1947) with Groucho Marx. Some stage and television work followed in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as four feature films. Wonder Valley (1953), produced on location in Arkansas, was Gloria Jean's first color movie and is now a lost film. Her next feature was Air Strike (1955), a minor military drama.

After Air Strike Gloria Jean was hired by the owner of the Tahitian restaurant in Studio City, California, as a hostess, greeting and seating dinner guests. She enjoyed the experience and occasionally ran the restaurant in her employer's absence. Show-business patrons were surprised that a film star was now involved in restaurant work, resulting in sympathetic feature stories in the national press. Veteran Hollywood producer Edward Finney, himself a Gloria Jean fan, saw one of these reports and hired her to star in the lightweight comedy Laffing Time (filmed in 1959, re-released as The Madcaps in 1964). Jerry Lewis also read that Gloria Jean was working in a restaurant, and signed her for a singing role in his latest production, The Ladies Man (1961).Lewis removed almost all of her footage from the finished film; she appears only as an extra and has no dialogue. It was her last theatrical motion picture.

After her retirement from Redken, Gloria Jean lived in California with her sister, Bonnie. After Bonnie died in 2007, she moved to Hawaii, where lived with her son and his family. Very late in life she suffered health problems, including two serious falls that slowed her mobility, and an impaired heart condition. She died of heart failure and pneumonia in 2018.

Her authorized biography, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, was published in 2005. A tribute website, GloriaJeanSings.com, followed, again with Gloria Jean's cooperation. Her Internet presence includes a series of videos showing the actress as she appeared in recent years...

REMEMBERING: MARY CARLISLE (1914-2018)

One of Bing Crosby's earliest co-stars has passed away. Mary Carlisle made her last movie in 1943, but she was one of the most beautiful actresses of her time. She made three memorable movies with Bing, as he became a superstar in the 1930s.

She also appeared in Garbo's Grand Hotel and opposite the likes of Jack Benny, John Barrymore and Basil Rathbone.

Mary Carlisle, the lovely blonde actress who was the object of Bing Crosby's crooning affection in three breezy musical comedies of the 1930s, has died. She was 104.

Carlisle, who appeared in more than 50 films in the decade, died early Wednesday morning at the Motion Picture Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, a spokeswomen for the home told The Hollywood Reporter.

Carlisle also played a giggling honeymooner in Greta Garbo's Grand Hotel (1932) and showed no favorites when it came to one of college football's biggest rivalries back then, starring in Hold 'Em Navy (1937) and then Touchdown, Army (1938).

The 5-foot-1 Carlisle displayed a cozy chemistry with Crosby in the Paramount movies College Humor (1933), Double or Nothing (1937) and Doctor Rhythm (1938).

In their first pairing, Crosby performed "Moonstuck" as she looked on, and in the second he employed shadow puppets as he sang "It's the Natural Thing to Do" to her. And in the last, Crosby serenaded a park statue with "My Heart Is Taking Lessons" as Carlisle watched on horseback nearby.

Carlisle's co-stars also included Jack Benny (It's in the Air), John Barrymore (Should Ladies Behave), Basil Rathbone (Kind Lady), Will Rogers (Handy Andy), Buster Crabbe (The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi), Maureen O'Hara (Dance, Girl, Dance) and Lloyd Nolan (Tip-Off Girls).

After appearing with George Zucco and horror-film icon Dwight Frye in Dead Men Walk (1943), she retired from the movies.

Carlisle was married to James Blakeley — an actor and later a film editor and head of postproduction at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on such series as Peyton Place and Batman— from 1942 until his death in 2007 at age 96.

Born Gwendolyn Witter in Boston on Feb. 3, 1914, she was brought to Hollywood by her widowed mother. At age 14, while they were having lunch at the Universal commissary, the blue-eyed girl was spotted by producer Carl Laemmle Jr. and given a screen test, though she did not sign with the studio.

After completing high school, however, Carlisle met a casting director at MGM, then showed up in uncredited roles in such films as Madam Satan (1930) — as Little Bo Peep — The Great Lover (1931) with Adolphe Menjou and then Grand Hotel.

In 1933, Carlisle received a big career boost when she was selected as a "Baby Star" — a young actress thought to be on the threshold of stardom — by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers. (Others picked that year included Gloria Stuart and Ginger Rogers.)

After she was finished with acting, Carlisle managed an Elizabeth Arden beauty salon in Beverly Hills.

Survivors include her son, James Blakeley III, and two grandchildren...

REMEMBERING: WAYNE MARTIN (1930-2018)

A sad day for fans of Bing Crosby. Earlier this year Wayne Martin, the editor and vice-president of Club Crosby until 2003 died...

Wayne LeRoy Martin, 87 of Higginsville, Missouri died on Friday, February 23, 2018, at his home. Born Tuesday, March 11, 1930 in Corder, Missouri, he was the son of the late LeRoy Martin and the late Golda Belle Welliver. He married Sandra Hostetter Martin on July 16, 1974. She survives of the home. He was a Veteran of the Korean War serving in the United States Army. He received a masters degree in Library Sciences from the University of Colorado and a masters degree in English from Central Missouri State University.

He was a former editor for the Bing Crosby magazine and the Director of Libraries for Brentwood, Missouri school systems, retiring in 1989. He was a member of United Church of Christ in Kirkwood, Missouri prior to moving to Higginsville in 2011. Surviving are one daughter, Robin Teter and her wife, Sandra Martin. A funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at the Hoefer Funeral Home with Rev. Dr. Tommy Faris officiating. Interment will be in the City Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at Hoefer Chapel. Memorial contributions may be sent to Beacon of Hope in Oak Grove, MO...

REMEMBERING: RUTH PRIGOZY (1930-2017)

Writing about movie director Alfred Hitchcock, Ruth Prigozy once noted, “He gets to the heart of human experience.”

Prigozy, a longtime Hofstra University film and literature professor — who died July 16 at the age of 87 — did the same through the enthusiasm she exuded for her subjects, say former students and colleagues.

At barely 5 feet tall, Prigozy was nevertheless an outsized presence in her field. Over 41 years at Hofstra, she published books or led academic conferences on numerous titans of the arts, including Hitchcock, singer-actor Bing Crosby and, her prime focus, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“ ‘Spitfire’ is kind of cliché, but her stature was small and her personality certainly made up for it,” said Michelle Jonas Sroka, 37, a Los Angeles public relations and marketing consultant who first took Prigozy’s class in 1998 and would form a 20-year friendship with her.

“She was passionate about what she taught and . . . wanted us to see its relevance to everyday life,” Jonas Sroka said.

Prigozy died in her sleep after a series of recent mini-strokes, said daughter Susan Prigozy-Duffy, of Sound Beach. She had lived with her daughter for the last three years, after some time in Florida and many years in Manhattan.

Before that, Prigozy raised her family in Great Neck, not far from Fitzgerald’s inspiration for “The Great Gatsby.”

“She took people on tours of the Gatsby sites,” said Prigozy-Duffy, 57. “She’d do it for free. They didn’t have to pay her.”

Ruth Prigozy was born and raised in Brooklyn, graduating from James Madison High School and Brooklyn College. She worked in advertising in the 1950s, before obtaining her master’s from New York University in 1962 and doctorate from the City College of New York in 1969.

That year, she began teaching at Hofstra, where she gravitated toward Fitzgerald’s work. Prigozy was considered a leading scholar on the author when she helped found the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society in 1992.

In a 2012 interview with Hofstra, Prigozy said it was “the language” that drew her to Fitzgerald: “There are passages that make you stop. You feel you have to read them over again.”

The society allowed her to travel across the world, including Cuba and Nice, France, for conferences and symposiums. At home, Prigozy was also a tireless organizer of events that brought scholars together.

“She was a dynamo, never sat still,” said Natalie Datlof, the former executive director of the Hofstra Cultural Center. “And always inclusive with students. She wanted everyone to be excited about the things she was excited about.”

That extended to friends and family. A film and theater buff, Prigozy loaded her daughter’s DVR with classic films and urged people to see the Broadway play “The Boy from Oz” starring Hugh Jackman, which she attended 22 times during its run in 2003-2004.

Jonas Sroka, who worked as Prigozy’s assistant at the Fitzgerald Society, said she had a “motherly” quality.

“She was really invested in what we wanted to become, making sure we became these perfect human beings with intellect and morality,” she said.

Prigozy retired from teaching in 2009 and from the Fitzgerald Society in 2013. She was predeceased by her husband, Hofstra professor and Mark Twain scholar Stanley Brodwin.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Ted Prigozy, of Fort Myers, Florida; sister, Florence Kerstein, of Las Vegas; and a granddaughter.

A private funeral service will be held and a public memorial is being planned for the fall...

SOURCE

REMEMBING: BUDDY BREGMAN (1930-2017)

Buddy Bregman, the talented orchestra leader who was a driving force on many great LPs of the 1950s and 1960s has died. Bregman backed Bing on his excellent album "Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings" in 1956...

REMEMBERING: DEBBIE REYNOLDS (1932-2016)

Rest in peace legendary actress Debbie Reynolds. She appeared with Bing in the movie Say One For Me (1959), and she appeared on his televisions special celebrating Bing's 50 years in show business in 1977...

REMEMBERING: JOAN CARROLL (1931-2016)

Joan Carroll, a former child star who appeared in Meet Me in St. Louis opposite Judy Garland and The Bells of St. Mary's with Bing Crosby, has passed away, it was recently accounced.

Carroll died Nov. 16 near her home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, her son, Joe Krack, said.

Carroll played Garland's younger sister Agnes, who pulls a dangerous prank with the youngest sister, Tootie (Margaret O'Brien), in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). The actress was sidelined for a few days during filming after she needed an emergency appendectomy.

Carroll then portrayed the struggling eighth-grade parish student Patsy who at first doesn't get any sympathy from Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945).

Carroll made quite the impression as Ginger Rogers' younger sister Honeybell in Primrose Path (1940), then was loaned by RKO so she could appear on Broadway as Geraldine in Panama Hattie, a Cole Porter musical comedy about sailors in the Panama Canal Zone that starred Ethel Merman and ran from October 1940 to January 1942. (Shirley Temple had turned down the part.)

"For sunshine and sentiment, little Joan Carroll, who is now fully 8 years old, is wholly captivating," Brooks Atkinson wrote in his review for The New York Times. "She and Miss Merman get along together beautifully, and gruff old codgers are going to choke a little this Winter when tot and temptress sing 'Let's Be Buddies' and bring the house down."

Carroll also appeared opposite Ruth Warrick in two films: Obliging Young Lady (1942), in which she played the daughter of wealthy divorcing parents, and Petticoat Larceny (1943), where she was a young radio star who goes undercover to better understand her roles (and then gets kidnapped).

The Bells of St. Mary's was her last film. She continued to live in Beverly Hills, got married and then moved with her family to Colorado, her son said.

Born Joan Marie Felt in Elizabeth, N.J., Carroll and her folks came to California in 1936 when she was 5. She made her film debut in One Mile From Heaven (1937) opposite Claire Trevor and later appeared in Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939), Basil Rathbone's Tower of London (1939), Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) and Tomorrow, the World! (1944).

Survivors include her other children Ann Marie, Mary Anne and James; her brother James; 14 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. A donation in her name may be made to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, P.O. Box 128, Los Gatos, CA 95031.

Carroll was 85 years of age.

REMEMBERING: FLORENCE HENDERSON (1934-2016)

Florence Henderson was everyone's favorite mother on TV's "The Brady Bunch", and she appeared with Bing on his TV special. She was also friends with his widow Kathryn Crosby...

REMEMBERING: ARNOLD PALMER (1929-2016)

One of the greatest golfers and one of Bing's pals Arnold Palmer passed away...

              

      

REMEMBERING: BOB COWLEY (1920-2016)

Last month I lost another dear friend who inspired me in my Bing Crosby collection. Bob Cowley made a tribute tape for Bing Crosby in 1974 that he sent to the crooner, and he got a personalized letter back from him. Bob Cowley was a genius with anything dealing with radio, and in the days before the computer and CDs, he made this tape for Bing sound better than anything I have ever heard. I corresponded with Bob from the late 1990s until 2010 when ill health ended our communication.

Robert C. “Bob” Cowley, age 96, of Toledo, passed away on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, at Vibrant Life Senior Living-Jackman Lodge, Temperance, MI. He was born on May 11, 1920, in Lincoln, Nebraska to the late Charles Harold and Gladys (Nelson) Cowley. He began an interest in radio and electronics in his early teens, experimenting with old radios and amplifiers. The Cowley family moved to Toledo in 1941 where Bob worked at Strong Electric for 2 years before his career at WSPD began as an engineer in 1943. During those early years he worked in radio, traveled around northwest Ohio, with Art Barrie of WSPD radio doing remote live radio broadcasts. In the 50's at the inception of TV Broadcasting, he switched to WSPD Television studios.

He married Ruth L. Wollenweber on April 14, 1948, and in their early years of marriage he repaired radios and televisions for friends and neighbors for a little extra cash. While the children were growing up, he took a lot of home movies which he later transferred to video tapes. He built a Schober Electronic Organ with a full 32 range of pedals from a mail order kit. It was used in their home until donated to Our Savior Lutheran Church in Cincinnati. When their house was built in 1956, Bob did all the wiring and majority of the woodwork.

On Sunday mornings he taped the church services which were taken to “shut-ins”. He also did recordings at home of sermons by area pastors for a Sunday morning radio broadcast called “Lutheran Chapel of the Air” on WCWA for 25 years. He was a member of Hosanna Evangelical Lutheran Church in Monclova.

Bob is survived by his loving wife of 68 years, Ruth; their children, Susan Sturtz, Judy (Ralph) Fuehr, Linda (Mike) Maas, and David (Jennifer) Cowley; 9 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, 4 great-great-grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Betty Cowley. He was also preceded in death by sisters, Margaret Putnam, Mildred Hites, and Marie Eighmey, and a brother, Paul Cowley.

Funeral services will begin at 12 Noon on Monday, June 20, 2016, at David R. Jasin-Hoening Funeral Home, 5300 N. Summit St., Toledo, OH 43611, with Pastor Scott Mosher, officiating. Visitation will begin in the funeral home at 10 a.m. and continue until the time of the service. Burial will follow in Ottawa Hills Memorial Park, Toledo.

Those wishing to make a contribution in Bob's memory are asked to consider Hosanna Evangelical Lutheran Church, Monclova, or Hospice of Northwest Ohio. Many thanks to Foundation Park, Hospice of Northwest Ohio and Vibrant Life of Temperance for the special care given to Bob.

I will never forget the videos and audio tapes that Bob sent me, and if anyone wants a copy of Bob's excellent tribute to Bing, please contact me. Rest in peace dear friend...