PURE IMAGINATION: Celebrating 70s ICONS: Gene Wilder, Chad Everett, and Adrienne Barbeau!

"People do not believe lies because they have to, But because they want to."
-Malcolm Muggeridge, British author and commentator (1903-1990)

Happy Saturday!
What a week we've: "Weiner-gate", Sarah Palin rewriting history and earlier this year we've dealt with the shenanigans of Charlie Sheen and "Moammar Kadafi".Today in honor of Gene Wilder, I'd like to celebrate the greatest con artist of all time, Willy Wonka and celebrate the birthdays of three 70's icons.
Gene Wilder first got into show business when he landed a off broadway show called Roots. Ever since he hit the stage in Roots show business and more importantly movies have never been the same. Gene is one of the most passionate people when it comes to acting and he really goes out of the box to make you believe he is the part.
Willy Wonka  and The Chocolate Factory – Who does not like chocolate! No all kidding aside this is an amazing movie. It starts off following down on his luck Charlie Bucket. He ends up getting a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and he ends up finding out just how strange and mysterious Willy Wonka truly is. Gene played the part of Willy Wonka perfect and you could really tell that he was 100% into it and it showed. Plus who knew that Gene Wilder was such a good singer?

I also love him in Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES

and THE PRODUCERS

and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN!
Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American comedy film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The supporting cast includes Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn and Gene Hackman. The screenplay was written by Brooks and Wilder.
The film is an affectionate parody of the classical horror film genre, in particular the various film adaptations of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein produced by Universal in the 1930s.
Most of the lab equipment used as props were created by Kenneth Strickfaden for the 1931 film Frankenstein.
To further reflect the atmosphere of the earlier films, Brooks shot the picture entirely in black-and-white, a rarity in the 1970s, and employed 1930s-style opening credits and scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and fades to black. The film also features a notable period score by Brooks' longtime composer John Morris.
Young Frankenstein ranks No. 28 on Total Film magazine's "List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time".,

number 56 on Bravo TV's list of the "100 Funniest Movies",and number 13 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 funniest American movies.
In 2003, it was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United States National Film Preservation Board, and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is a respected lecturer at an American medical school and engaged to the tightly wound Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn). He becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather, the infamous mad scientist whose experiments in re-animation led to the creation of a monster.
To disassociate himself from his legacy, Frederick insists that his surname be pronounced "Fronk-en-steen".


Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Shelley.

He is the scientist who, after studying chemical processes and the decay of living beings, gains an insight into the creation of life and gives life to his own creature (often referred to as Frankenstein's monster).

He is the son of Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort, who died of scarlet fever when Victor was young.
Victor has two younger brothers — William, the youngest, who is killed by Victor's creation, and Ernest, the middle child, who wants to join the Foreign Service like a "true Genevese". Victor falls in love with Elizabeth, who became his adoptive "cousin."
As a young man, Frankenstein is interested in the works in alchemists such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus, and he longs to discover the fabled elixir of life. He loses interest in both these pursuits and in science as a whole after seeing the remains of a tree struck by lightning. However, at the University of Ingolstadt, Frankenstein develops a fondness for chemistry, and becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life in inanimate matter through artificial means, leaving university to pursue this goal for the next two years.
Happy Birthday, Gene Wilder!

"Paging Dr. Joe Gannon! Paging Dr. Joe Gannon!"
Today is also Chad Everett's 74th birthday!

How many of you watched Chad Everett starring as "Dr. Joe Gannon" on the television series "Medical Center" back in the 1970s? I used to love that show! (Does anybody know if and when this is coming out on DVD?) And Chad Everett was the grooviest doctor ever!
James Brolin was cool as the motorcycle-riding "Dr. Steve Kiley" on "Marcus Welby", but Chad Everett was G-R-O-O-V-Y! Remember the mod clothes he wore? I remember one episode where he was wearing these groovy furry boots - he definitely brought some style to doctors' wardrobes! And that hair - never a hair out of place! Even now when I see him in some commercial for insurance (or something like that), he still has that perfect hair (silver now) and is still a good-looking man.

Adrienne Barbeau is 66. These are all like friends because they all were part of my life in the 70s growing up as a kid in South Carolina and dreaming of being in show business.

("A riot is an ugly thing. And I think it's just about time we had one.)

I went to Gene Wilder's movies. I watched Chad Everett on MEDICAL CENTER and I watched Adrienne on Monday nights on MAUDE.
Adrienne Jo Barbeau(born June 11, 1945) is an American actress, as well as the author of two books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease and Maude.

http://www.abarbeau.com

Thank you all for making my growing up in the 70s a little better!


SOURCES:http://hugereviews.com/Movies/Young%20Frankenstein.htm

Young Frankenstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victor Frankenstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

YOU TUBE

Adrienne Barbeau's website

http://alltopmovies.com/top-gene-wilder-movies/

Stax o' Wax (BLOG)



And especially THE JUDY GARLAND DATA BASE

Thanks for being a loyal reader of my blog!


GO SEE A LIVE SHOW TONIGHT!
Become A Facebook friend of mine!
Follow me on Twitter
If you've seen one of my appearances/shows, add your thoughts to my guestbook at www.RichardSkipper.com



Tomorrow's blog will be A LIFE TIME OF TONY AWARDS!!
I'm open to suggestions

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED SUMMER!
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com