Our Daily Dead

LA Times
Ronald Winans, 48, a Grammy-winning member of the Winans, the first family of contemporary gospel music, died Friday at a hospital in Detroit of a heart ailment. Winans had suffered a heart attack in 1997 and was recently readmitted to the hospital.

The second of 10 children, Winans was born in the family’s hometown of Detroit. Along with his brothers Calvin, Marvin and Michael, Ronald Winans began singing in the choir at the Zion Congregational Church of God in Christ. In 1975, they formed a gospel quartet.

In 1981, the group recorded their first album, “Introducing the Winans.” Later, their siblings Benjamin and Priscilla would make big names for themselves as the gospel act BeBe and CeCe Winans.

Though the siblings gained fame singing religious songs, their music was tinged with the sounds of contemporary R&B, which annoyed some gospel traditionalists. Winans dismissed such criticism, saying in a 1995 interview that his music catered to young people and those who wouldn’t normally go to church.

LA Times
Phil Ford, 85, a comedian who with singer Mimi Hines created one of the more successful husband-and-wife teams in show business, died Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas. The cause of death was not reported.

Ford and Hines first performed in Las Vegas after a breakthrough appearance in 1958 on “The Tonight Show,” hosted by Jack Parr. The duo toured as a nightclub act and appeared in “Funny Girl” on Broadway; Hines played Fanny Brice after Barbra Streisand left the play in 1965, and Ford had a supporting role in the cast. They also appeared in the 1965 movie comedy “Saturday Night Bath in Apple Valley.”

Born in San Francisco, Ford began performing dance numbers in vaudeville at 12. He served in the Army during World War II and saw combat duty in Europe. He met Hines while he was playing a club date in Alaska in 1952, and they married two years later but divorced in 1972. However, they reunited professionally several times.

“We had an awful lot of fun together,” Hines told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. “He lit up the stage like sunshine. He had a lot of charisma, a lot of sparkle.”

Two deaths from opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum. Ron Winans was a gospel singer, and Phil Ford was the male half of a standup comedy duo, Ford and Hines, popular when sex was a four letter word. Ford was “discovered” on Jack Parr’s Tonight Show
, and if you can remember this, you better crank up the gospel
. Phil Ford’s marriage to Mimi Hines broke up, but they continued to perform together. Oh should all domestics melt-downs have such happy endings.

Speaking of melt downs, we’re into the last weekend of spring. Bring on the Summer Solstice
, and bring out the little pagan
in us all.

We’re headed down the rabbit hole
. Wish us luck.

LA Times
As a film and television character actress with more than 40 years in front of the camera, Lorna Thayer largely flew under the show-business radar — with one notable exception that made film history.

Thayer was the roadside cafe waitress who memorably refused to bend the rules for Jack Nicholson in the 1970 film drama “Five Easy Pieces.”

Thayer, who died June 4 at age 85 at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills after battling Alzheimer’s disease for five years, had a long and varied career.

She appeared on stage in Los Angeles and New York, made guest appearances on countless television shows and had small parts in movies such as “The Lusty Men,” “Texas City” and “Frankie and Johnny.” She even co-starred in the 1956 horror film “The Beast With a Million Eyes,” a low-budget cult favorite.

But then came “Five Easy Pieces,” directed by Bob Rafelson with a script by Carole Eastman under the name Adrien Joyce: a small but high-profile role that earned Thayer a prominent position in the pantheon of memorable movie waitresses.

Dupea: “I’d like a plain omelet, no potatoes, tomatoes instead. A cup of coffee and toast.”

Waitress, pointing to his menu: “No substitutions.”

And so it goes as Nicholson tries to get around the “no substitutions” policy and creatively come up with a way to get a side order of wheat toast.

“I don’t make the rules,” the increasingly annoyed waitress says at one point.

Dupea: “OK, I’ll make it as easy for you as I can. I’d like an omelet, plain. And a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast. No mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.”

Waitress: “A No. 2, chicken sal sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce and the mayonnaise. And a cup of coffee. Anything else?”

Dupea: “Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules.”

Waitress: “You want me to hold the chicken, huh?”

Dupea: “I want you to hold it between your knees.”

Waitress, pointing to the right-to-serve sign: “Do you see that sign, sir? I guess you’ll all have to leave. I’m not taking any more of your smartness and sarcasm.”

Dupea, having calmly put on his sunglasses and picked up his gloves: “Do you see this sign?”

In a sudden burst, he sweeps his arm across the table, sending the water glasses, silverware and menus flying.

Jump Katie, Jump!

LA Times
Percy Arrowsmith, who with his wife set the record two weeks ago for having the world’s longest marriage, died Wednesday, his wife of 80 years by his side. He was 105.

Arrowsmith died at his home in Hereford, England, near the Welsh border, his bishop said.

On June 1, Arrowsmith and his 100-year-old wife, Florence, celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary and a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Queen Elizabeth II sent her congratulations to the couple, who marked the occasion at home with coffee and snacks with family and friends.

“Percy and Flo were very happy when I saw them on their anniversary,” said the Rev. Anthony Priddis, bishop of Hereford. “They were still very much in love with each other.”

NY Times
Verne Meisner, a virtuoso accordionist and bandleader who helped keep the polka alive and swinging into the age of rock and beyond, died on Friday in Milwaukee. He was 66 and lived in Waukesha, Wis.

The cause was complications of melanoma, his son Steve said.

Considered one of the titans of polka, Mr. Meisner was a bridge between the classics of the Lawrence Welk era and the pop-infused polkas of contemporary artists. To thousands of fans, he was second only to Frank Yankovic, the acknowledged king of polka, who died in 1998.

For more than half a century, Mr. Meisner played for local taverns and Las Vegas nightclubs; European cities and Midwest state fairs; and weddings, cruises and countless jam sessions. Many of his fans followed him from city to city to dance the night away. He recorded dozens of albums and was inducted into five polka halls of fame.

Mr. Meisner was a master of the Slovenian-style polka; also known as the Cleveland style, it features accordion and saxophone. But his own compositions - he wrote more than 60 original polkas - reflected an array of influences, from traditional German and Polish polkas to big-band music and even rock.

The demand for polka is insatiable.

Well, what kind of ODD connection can be made between a King of Polka and a man who two weeks ago set the record for longest marriage? Percy said that the secret to a long marriage was never to go to be on an argument (Sounds uncomfortable to us; >”Takes two to tango.”2/4 stepping
around) to look for some records related to marriage, and found this one
, but you probably don’t want your teenagers looking at it, lest they decide to start training for their own competition. (”Gee dad, you told me you wanted me to go out for a sport.”)

The State of Utah will be relieved that the most current record for most number of marriages appears to reside in Kenya. Go team.

If you want to mix your death metal with a little polka or make the neighbors really weird, crank up Finntroll
. Seriously, it’s WYSTAJĄCY.

Is it true that “Cosmic Theory and Practice of Polka” is a required course for graduation from the University of Nebraska
?

Does anybody out there in ODDland have Schlutzi Lockerschlampe’s e-mail address? Talk about ATRAKCYJNY!