RIP in 2009

[Strangler Lewis]

Albano's 80s shtick was mildly amusing. His true contribution to the sport was as a heel manager of villainous tag team champions throughout the 70s.

[Not Afraid]

I don't know about this Lou person, but I learned yesterday that Brenden Mullen - creator of LA's first punk club - The Masque - amazing talent booker at Club Lingerie died of a stroke. He was only 60. I saw many an amazing show that he organized - one of the most amazing being Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thorton and Eddie Cleanhead Vincent (on the same bill!).

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Gn2Dlnd

When I first scanned this I thought it said, "He was on his way out just when I was entering my very brief (maybe 2 years all in all) employment in professional wrestling." And I thought to myself, "Huh."

I had the EXACT same experience

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b148...mdb_topstories

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."
Al Martino, the goombah behind perhaps the most famous line in movie history, has died at 82 in his native Pennsylvania, according to his publicist.


Despite a five-decade music career that included a handful of hits ("Volare," "Can't Help Falling in Love"), Martino is destined to be remembered as Johnny Fontane in The Godfather. The Sinatra-esque singer is granted a big Hollywood break by Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone, who uses his power of persuasion to convince a stubborn movie producer to hire Fontane, at the expense of the producer's prized horse.
Martino, who crooned the movie's love theme, also popped up briefly in the 1990 sequel, The Godfather Part III. No doubt it was an offer he couldn't refuse.

[flippyshark]

A personal entry - Another of my fellow actors in Orlando has left us. Peni Lotoza was wicked funny and wonderful to share a stage with. Unlike the surprise death of my friend and coworker Mark Priest last month, Peni's illness was well known and this sad event was expected. But I will cherish the (very bizarre) show we got to do together about six months ago at the Hard Rock Casino. She also did an amazing job in Die, Mommy Die less than a year ago, refusing to let her illness stop her from giving fantastic comedic performances that completely belied her condition. Terrific lady, and I wish you all could have seen her.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Taken from www.newsfromme.com

RIP - George Tuska - fantastic artist...

George Tuska, whose career in comics dates back to 1939 and his work in Will Eisner's studio, died around midnight on October 16 at the age of 93. The son of Russian immigrants, Tuska was born in Hartford, Connecticut on April 26, 1916 and grew up to attend the National Academy of Design. Even before graduation, he was assisting on the Scorchy Smith newspaper strip and making his way into the then-new form known as the comic book. In addition to the Eisner-Iger shop, he worked for a half-dozen other publishers and studios, including Fiction House, Fawcett, Harvey and Standard.

Drafted into the army, he served during World War II working as a technical illustrator at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. By the time he got back to New York and civilian life, the trend in comics was swinging from super-heroes to crime comics. He went to work drawing gangster stories for Lev Gleason and quickly became the star artist for that publisher's best-selling books, including the ironically-titled (because of how well it sold) Crime Does Not Pay. Not only did he draw most lead features and the occasional cover but other artists imitated his style. One, an illustrator named Pete Morisi, went so far as to call Tuska and ask for permission to draw like him. Tuska was flattered and told him to go right ahead.

Though Lev Gleason kept him busy, Tuska chose to freelance occasionally for other publishers, especially for Stan Lee at Timely Comics. When the comic book industry imploded in the mid-fifties, he segued to newspaper strip work, taking over Scorchy Smith for a time, followed by a long run drawing Buck Rogers. In the sixties, he was tapped to draw for Tower Comics on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and returned to work for Stan Lee at the newly-successful Marvel line. Lee found him to be a valuable utility man and he worked on many titles including The Avengers, X-Men, Captain America and Daredevil. He was the first artist on Luke Cage, Hero for Hire and became the primary artist on Iron Man for some ten years. From time to time, he picked up assignments for DC, where he was usually assigned to "team" comics including Challengers of the Unknown, Teen Titans, Justice League of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

At times, Tuska was regarded as a solid "work horse" artist — dependable but not spectacular. One month, DC assigned a Legion story to a young artist who was considered "hot" in the business but who was not particularly reliable. The young artist missed his deadline and at the last minute, the DC editors turned to Tuska to quickly draw the same script. To the relief of the staff, Tuska delivered efficiently...and the same day his pages arrived in the office, the young artist suddenly delivered his — so DC had two versions of the exact same story. The editors studied both, decided that Tuska's was more skillfully drawn...and published the Tuska version. In the late seventies, they also employed him to draw a newspaper strip featuring Superman and other star characters called The World's Greatest Superheroes.

Tuska was much admired by his fellow professionals for his drawing skills. A few openly admitted to envy at something else. Apparently, as Al Williamson once put it, "George couldn't walk into the office without all the secretaries wanting to sleep with him." But Tuska remained faithfully wed to his charming wife Dorothy for 61 years. He is survived not only by her but by three children and an unknown number of grandchildren and great-grandchilden.

I had the honor of interviewing George at the 1997 Comic-Con in San Diego — not an easy task for he was almost completely deaf for the last few decades of his life. Al Williamson was one of many peers who asked to be there to honor Tuska and at one point, Al called him, "The artist everyone wanted to be when I got into the field." George spent the rest of the convention being mobbed by fans and doing sketches of his past characters. That was his main source of income for the last twenty years and he had a constant stream of commission orders...proof of how many fans he had and how much his work was enjoyed for some seventy years.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

A personal entry - Another of my fellow actors in Orlando has left us. Peni Lotoza was wicked funny and wonderful to share a stage with. Unlike the surprise death of my friend and coworker Mark Priest last month, Peni's illness was well known and this sad event was expected. But I will cherish the (very bizarre) show we got to do together about six months ago at the Hard Rock Casino. She also did an amazing job in Die, Mommy Die less than a year ago, refusing to let her illness stop her from giving fantastic comedic performances that completely belied her condition. Terrific lady, and I wish you all could have seen her.

Me, too, Flippy. :-(

[Deebs]

Vic Mizzy

da-da-da-dah
da-da-da-dah

[3894]

Originally Posted by Deebs

Vic Mizzy

da-da-da-dah
da-da-da-dah

Thank you for "ooky", one of the all-time best words, Mr. Mizzy. R.I.P.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Deebs

Vic Mizzy

da-da-da-dah
da-da-da-dah

One of the truly great TV theme songs. Along with his music for that dubious classic The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. RIP Vic.

I've not looked, did he ever do work for The House of Mouse?