Golden Globe Award Winner Pia Zadora!

Pia Zadora won the "Best Female Newcomer" at the Golden Globes for her role in the 1982 neo noir film BUTTERFLY, based on the classic James M. Cain novel. This was after her husband, Turkish cosmetic and liquor mogul Meshulam Riklis wined and dined members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Las Vegas and treated them to Pia's cabaret act, resulting accusations that the award had been "bought". You be the judge.
I personally prefer this performance in an amazing Dubonnet commercial from the 80s.

Jo Anne Worley is BOLD

Among the extras on THE MOTHERS-IN-LAWS dvd set are some great vintage commercials. The best of these is for the detergent BOLD featuring zany LAUGH-IN star Jo Anne Worley. Words cannot describe this commercial, so you'll just have to settle for these screen grabs.

You're Soaking In It...

As all things turn to emerald on St. Patty's Day I've decided to forego my tribute to Irish Spring soap ("Manly yes...but I like it too!") and instead take a look back of one of my favorite TV icons - Madge, the wisecracking manicurist - who sold the world the unmistakably green Palmolive Dishwashing liquid for over 25 years!

Actress Jan Minor started on radio, and played many guests roles on early TV - but it wasn't until the 1960s when her career took off - and Madge became a favorite TV pitch person across TV land.

Jan also had many film roles, including playing  Lenny Bruce's mother Sally Marr, in the acclaimed film LENNY (1974). She can also be seen onscreen in the films MERMAIDS (1990), ENDLESS LOVE (1981) and THE SWIMMER (1968).

Ms. Minor's many TV roles included guest stints on REMEMBER WENN (1997), LAW & ORDER (1994), CAGNEY & LACEY (1983) and ONE DAY AT A TIME (1978).

Jan also famously portrayed lesbian icon Gertrude Stein on stage and on video in the acclaimed Win Wells play, GERTRUDE STEIN AND A COMPANION.

An accomplished stage actress, it was Madge that brought Jan into the homes and hearts of millions - and not only in the USA. She made Palmolive commercials in French, German, Danish and Italian!

Though, oddly, in English-speaking  Australia, she was replaced by an Aussie actress.

Jan was once quoted as saying..."I'd dip my hands in Palmolive the rest of my life," since the money she made on the Palmolive commercials gave her the ability to pick and choose her theater roles.

Jan passed away in 2004, but left behind dozens of enjoyable ads for folks like me to rediscover on YouTube.

EPCOT

Walt Disney's visionary Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow eventually evolved into the theme park we know of today. And I just happen to be there - today!

For my controversial (and quite silly in retrospect) review of the apparently much-loved CAPTAIN EO attraction film from last year go here.

Best TV Commercial Ever

With all the buzz about this year's Super Bowl ads, I've been thinking about a classic TV commercial that I recall as being one that I actually wanted to see over and over again. The Great American Soup commercial from 1970 featured the great American MGM star Ann Miller as a talented housewife, and had the production values of a feature film.Budgeted at $154K, this one minute homage to Busby Berkeley musicals was directed by satirist Stan Freberg and took over four weeks to produce. It was the most expensive TV advertisement ever produced up to that point.The spot employed big band conductor Billy May and a 24-piece orchestra.
Academy Award-winning  choreographer Hermes Pan was brought on and he hired 20 tap-dancing chorus girls to bring the story to life.
Such attention to detail created a most memorable advertisement that ran for years. Unfortunately the product, priced much higher than Campbells and made by Heinz, faded away.

The commercial became so popular that it was referenced in most obituaries for Ms. Miller, who died 5 years ago in January 2004.

It's Supposed to Be Good For Ya...

For those of you who are Facebook friends as well as readers of my blog, you probably know I've been sick with a cold for the past few days. Of course, being ill these days doesn't have to mean being curled up in bed with game shows and soaps. Today, one can find themselves sprawled on their living room sofa with their laptop watching YouTube videos all day. Which is sadly, exactly what I have been doing. I'm not sure if it makes me feel any less sick, but it certainly makes me feel nostalgic.One of the things I always feel  the most sentimental for is Saturday morning television. But not only the cartoons and low-budget live-action shows like BIG JOHN, LITTLE JOHN,but also the commercials and mostly  the network interstitial programs. You know, the educational stuff in between the shows. "It's supposed to be good for ya..." CBS, the Tiffany network, had the most sophisticated interstitial, IN THE NEWS - which took important news stories and condensed them into minute-long segments. The spots often dealt with serious issues like war and politics, but they also covered lighter topics like entertainment and sports.NBC, had, in the 1980s ONE TO GROW ON, which were short soapbox-style preachings from the galaxy of NBC stars about issues that kids were dealing with. Like lying, cheating, stealing, doing drugs...stuff that isn't good for ya.ABC, of course, had the best. SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, which featured lessons in history, politics, math, grammar, science and sex ed (only kidding about sex ed, that was left to the ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL).ABC also had an annoying little guy named Timer that gave nutritional advice.Independent TV stations ran something called THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON, which I believe was originally a segment on CBS's CAPTAIN KANGAROO. These life lessons were probably in part what inspired ONE TO GROW ON, since they originally ran a decade before. So, thanks to YouTube and the folks who have posted these amazing clips, I have been able to relive a part of my childhood that I thought was forever lost...and that DOES make me feel better. That and some good over-the-counter drugs.