Monday, May 6, 2024

Couples in show biz (part 2)

Reader Emma Springfield in Iowa thought of two more couples in show biz:

60. Paul Hogan & Linda Kozlowski (his co-star in Crocodile Dundee)
61. Paul Simon & Carrie Fisher

so Australia has made it into the list (a shout-out here to Kylie Tai in the suburbs of Sydney).

Emma said in her comment that this list is contagious, and so it is. I thought of a few more couples in show biz, some of whom go back decades:

62. Bing Crosby & Dixie Lee
63. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford
64. Franchot Tone & Joan Crawford
65. Howard Duff & Ida Lupino
66. Jim & Marion Jordan (Fibber McGee & Molly on the radio)
67. Harrison Ford & Calista Flockhart
68. Dick Powell & Joan Blondell
69. Mike Todd & Joan Blondell
70. Gary Merrill & Bette Davis

and hare are two that I probably should have thought of first but they never occurred to me until just now:

71. Ronald Reagan & Jane Wyman
72. Ronald Reagan & Nancy Davis

In case you were wondering, it is perfectly normal to make lists of things. I say that with confidence because in the encyclopedia of Brague, normal is whatever I do and abnormal is what other people do.

I shall not pass this way again, but I may drop in and add a P.S. if one is warranted.

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P.S. - The list continues in the comments and is up to #81 at this writing (3:40pm EDT, May 6, 2024)

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Couples in show biz

...are more common than you might think. Here are some that come to mind:

1. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. & Mary Pickford
2. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. & Billie Burke
3. George Burns & Gracie Allen
4. Clark Gable & Carole Lombard
5. Jack Benny & Mary Livingston
6. Phil Harris & Alice Faye
7. Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
8. Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn
9. Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe
10. Arthur Miller & Marilyn Monroe
11. Michael Wilding & Elizabeth Taylor
12. Mike Todd & Elizabeth Taylor
13. Eddie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds
14. Eddie Fisher & Elizabeth Taylor
15. Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor
16. Martin Landau & Barbara Bain
17. Mel Brooks & Anne Bancroft
18. Willam Holden & Stefanie Powers
19. Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson
20. Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn
21. Gene Wilder & Gilda Radner
22. Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
23. Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman
24. Ted Danson & Mary Steenburgen
25. Danny Kaye & Sylvia Fine
26. Allen Ludden & Betty White
27. Jack Klugman & Brett Somers
28. Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston
29. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
30. Bruce Boxleitner & Melissa Gilbert
31. Timothy Busfield & Melissa Gilbert
32. John Astin & Patty Duke
33. Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle
34. Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontaine
35. Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
36. Mickey Rooney & Ava Gardner
37. Artie Shaw & Ava Gardner
38. Frank Sinatra & Ava Gardner
39. Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow
40. André Previn & Mia Farrow
41. Woody Allen & Mia Farrow
42. Vincent Minelli & Judy Garland
43. Sidney Luft & Judy Garland
44. Roberto Rosselni & Ingrid Bergman
45. Fred MacMurray & June Haver
46. Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball
47. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé
48. Robert Wagner & Natalie Wood
49. Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward
50. Les Paul & Mary Ford
51. John Lennon & Yoko Ono
52. Dick Powell & June Allyson
53. Harry James & Betty Grable
54. Orson Welles & Rita Hayworth
55. Dick Haymes & Rita Hayworth
56. Burt Reynolds & Judy Carne
57. Burt Reynolds & Dinah Shore
58. Burt Reynolds & Sally Field
59. Burt Reynolds & Loni Anderson

It occurs to me that most of the people in my list are Americans and I do apologize to my UK and Australian readers. Maybe you will be inspired to draw up your own list. Then again, maybe not.

I compiled the list in pretty short order, in just a few minutes actually. I probably left many people out. Most of the couples are (were) husband and wife but a few (numbers 8, 18, 20, 41, 57, and 58) were in long-term relationships without benefit of clergy, the currently popular term for which is "partners".

One couple, number 31, is (are?) unique in that although each person had a successful individual career in show business, each had left the industry before meeting and marrying one another. Timothy Busfield was in the television series thirtysomething and The West Wing as well as the motion picture Field Of Dreams. Melissa Gilbert portrayed the young Laura Ingalls for several years in Little House On The Prairie. For several years they lived on a farm in rural Michigan, as opposed to living on a farm in urban Michigan, I suppose.

One must be very careful and attentive to detail when writing a blogpost to keep from saying something dumb. Sometimes I am and sometimes, obviously, I am not.

In conclusion, happy Cinco de Mayo.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

It’s Star Wars Day!

May the fourth be with you!

I know it's corny but I couldn't resist. Incidentally, Mrs. RWP (the lovely Ellie) and I recently discovered the Rescue 911 channel on Pluro TV and have been binge-watching episodes of it for hours every day. Well, I suppose that is the very definition of binge-watching, isn't it, to watch for hours and hours every day? Of course it is. The stories are riveting, and seeing and hearing Willam Shatner narrate them in the years after Star Trek and before Boston Legal is semi-interesting too. I can't remember whether Rescue 911 was before or after his T.J. Hooker series. I'm guessing after, based on nothing more than his age.

A little trip down television memory lane today, and I'll say it one more time just because I can:

May the fourth be with you!

Hold the fort! It just occurred to me that Willam Shatner was Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek television series and had nothing whatever to do with the Star Wars films. Dumb me.

Star Wars was Obi-wan Kenobi and Darth Vader and Luke Skywalkee and Princess Leia and Han Solo and all thise guys, not Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and Uhura and Bones and Scotty and all those other guys. I repeat, dumb me.

I guess I boldly went where no man has gone before.

Beam me up, Scotty.

.

Thursday, May 2, 2024

How’s that again?

Tonight on Wheel Of Fortune when host Pat Sajak was eliciting introductory remarks from each contestant at the beginning of the program, one woman said, and I'm not kidding, "Pat, I'm engaged to my wonderful fiancé [here she said his name]. We have a beautiful blended family of seven children, three boys and three girls."

Either the jury is still out on the seventh child or Mom should refrain from helping the children with their math homework.

I may be showing my age. There probably isn't such a thing as math homework any more.

That's all there is, there isn't any more.

Do you know who said that?

<b>Couples in show biz (part 2)</b>

Reader Emma Springfield in Iowa thought of two more couples in show biz: 60. Paul Hogan & Linda Kozlowski (his co-star in Crocodi...