January-April 2014

The more time moves forward, the more of an appreciation I have for the real school and the icons that represent it.As we continue to grow, we get a crystallized appreciation for the music, memories and media that rocked our world.  

Time is moving forward swiftly. But when I was a kid, I thought summer would never get here, that holidays would never get here. My mother used to say that "time waits for no man." I certainly get what she meant by that now. So my motto for this year is "Ain't no body got time for that." Can't waste these precious moments of life on any drama. It's just the way it is. We've got a lot of living to do and goals to pursue. Here's to 2014!

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Glenn Campbell:

Salute to the Rhinestone Cowboy

I remember Glen Campbell growing up and his many appearances on the the small screen. He had the most clean cut look I had ever seen. To me his altruistic image with his song/stories, made real the  ordinary Joe just trying to survive. Soulfully, complacent in delivery, he touched many lives when he sang Jimmy Webb's Wichita Lineman.

I know it may sound odd, but I love country music. It speaks of the everyday trials and triumphs of living. And while most may believe that country music is just about a twangy sounding vocal, and steel string guitars, think again. Glen Campbell was a true crossover, pop-country artist. Everyone could relate to the songs he brought to life through his vocals....He wasn't a vocal acrobat, not drummed up with technique but qualitatively simply singing...Singing as the songs in his repertoire ought to be sang with the impetus to get the listener at the core the song's soul. not He had a natural talent for the guitar.

I think that his talent in the mainstream has been highly underrated. And he wore more than a country hat in the music industry. He was one of the most sought after guitarists in his heyday. Sadly just as he reached his 78th birthday on April 22, Mr. Campbell was moved to an Alzheimer's facility. Following his diagnosis in 2011, he fought the good fight and moved forward with dignity towards his goodbye tour. However the disease was bigger than his fight. And while he would have continued on with that crystal clear tenor and extraordinary guitar work which made him an exemplary stand out in his field, he moves forward in the winter of his life  leaving us a legacy that has been immortalized through his many recordings and video performances.

(Left to right - CARL WILSON, MIKE LOVE, GLEN CAMPBELL, DENNIS WILSON and AL JARDINE)

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Kevin Toney: Real Serenity for the soul

I was 17 years old and in college when I first met Kevin Toney. I had registered for a jazz history class with Donald Byrd as my instructor. Byrd's teaching gig at Howard never happened, because his group, The Blackbyrds was about to go out on the road and Kevin was a part of that ground breaking D.C. group.

The most lyrical keyboardist on the planet is Kevin Toney. His album "Heart of Gratitude" was my rock during what I can only call "the troubling summer of 2013."

It was Kevin's music, every selection that took me to varying levels of serenity and peace. I was glad to be able to let him know how much his work meant to me during a time of transition and change. 

There is a light in his music that can soar through your soul. I got to see Kevin through his music. I got to see what an incredible creative soul he is. The words I use to describe his work are:
majestic, 
majestic
filled with splendor grace and humility

a profundity of innocence
delicate and grounded...touching...teaching...

I swear, if this was a vinyl record, I would have already have run the grooves down. My favorite is Heart of Gratitude...I think it's one of the most beautiful and touching pieces of work that I've ever heard. There is so much sincerity in it and a most calming element to it, but at the same time, it it's profoundly majestic.....Thank you, Kevin Toney.

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PHARRELL WILLIAMS

MAKES THE WORLD HAPPY

When you use the word "Happy" in a song, it's bound to strike a chord with the soul. Happiness is what we all live for, long for...

What's one of the the first songs we real schoolers learned in school? "If You're Happy And You Know It." For many of us it marked the beginning of understanding what the feeling of being happy was all about. The next happy song I remember was Oh, Happy Day which was a gospel crossover. Who can forget Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy? 

There's something about the word "Happy" when  properly utilized in a song  that brings everyone together in the same key of life.

So now, it's time again for another Happy song and the title is just that: Happy, by Pharrell Williams... What makes this song unique is the quality of writing and production. To me it's like he vocally channeled Marvin Gaye. I believe that if Marvin were alive today, he'd be singing this song. 

The power of Happy is not only infectious, it's alluring. It takes us out of the humdrum and gives us all an opportunity to escape the day to day, bad news on TV, banal areas of our existence and let's us run away for a few minutes in our own personal utopia of joy.

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Black History Month

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LIFE AS A DANCE:
BILL "BOJANGLES" ROBINSON

There will NEVER be another. I'd like to refer to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson as "The Godfather Dance" He was one of the first black actors on Broadway and one of the most prolific dancers and popular dancers in history. Of course we all remember him  dancing with with Shirley Temple in four of her films and choreographing for another,"Dimples". At 57 he did the unforgettable and brilliant "stair dance" with Shirley Temple.

There was a time when he made $6500 per week and billed as the World's Greatest Tap Dancer as headliner at New York's top vaudeville house back in the day, The Palace Theater. And while he rose to the top of his game, that is not how this accomplished icon in dance, the grandson of a former slave began.

Most of the photos I see of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson he sports a very broad grin and his face is alive with spirit. But I know that behind that smile he must have wrestled with the indignities that serve as an indelible stain on our nation's conscience. Yet, in spite of the indignities that faced him during his life, he moved forward as a generous giving philanthropist to the black community.

It was extraordinary people like Bojangles who braved it for the future generations of people of color to come. The hardships were what many endured in all walks of life, including in the entertainment industry. 

Robinson credited vaudeville dancer James Barton as an influence on his style. But the irony of this accolade was based on the fact that Barton danced in black-face. And he was known to have been the closest white performer comparable to a black dancer in the business. And while many reading this may find it offensive,and grapple with the emotions of these historic facts,  to me, with a closer look and an upbeat perspective, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, on May 25, 1878 he was named Luther Robinson. His father, Maxwell, was a machine-shop worker his mother, Maria, a choir singer/director. Both died while he was an infant. Baby Luther was raised by his paternal grandmother, Bedilia. Robinson quit school at 6 and by 7 was a professional dancer and took his brother Bill's name for his own. His brother Bill, renamed himself Percy and later became a renowned drummer.

Bill "Bojangles" Bojangles joined traveling companies and vaudeville tours in his teens his successful reputation grew in nightclubs and musical comedies, headlining numerous times with Cab Calloway at the infamous Cotton Club in Harlem.

Bojangles' unique sound came from wooden taps. He was the innovator of his famous "stair dance: tapping up and down a flight of stairs both backwards and forwards. His fame grew among black and white audiences who loved his style. While working in vaudeville he was forced to team with George W. Cooper due to the "two-colored" rule in vaudeville, which restricted blacks to performing in pairs. The transition to Broadway once vaudeville saw its end proved seamless for Robinson. He would become the star performer of "Blackbirds of 1928," an all-black revue on Broadway.

He eventually went on to films, singing, acting and dancing. In addition to working with Shirley Temple, Robinson would play the love interest to Lena Horne in One Mile to Heaven and be featured in numerous with a host of top billing black performers.

Bill Robinson was a gentleman of dignity, class and honor. During his adult life he gave over a million dollars to numerous charities. Robinson died on November 29, 1949. It is said that nearly one hundred thousand mourners filled the streets to see the funeral procession.

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson died penniless. It was Ed Sullivan quietly paid for his funeral because he thought he deserved a dignified burial. Trivia

•      
  During World War I, Robinson was the drum major of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the so-called "Harlem Hellfighters."
  Appeared in 4 movies with Shirley Temple: The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel(1935), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) , and Just Around the Corner (1938).
  A native of Richmond, Virginia, Robinson once paid to have a traffic light installed at the corner of Adams and West Leigh Streets, so that the local children could cross the street safely on their way to school. In appreciation, the City of Richmond presented him with an engraved key to the City. Today, a statue of Robinson stands at the corner of Adams and West Leigh Streets.
•  
  Founding member of the Negro Actors Guild of America .
•  
  Appeared in the first all-black motion picture called Harlem Is Heaven (1932) in which he played a mayor.
•  
  Fred Astaire paid homage to him in the movie Swing Time (1936) by dancing one of his routines in a song called "Bojangles of Harlem" in black-face which he was reluctant to do. Astaire vowed he would never do black-face again.
•  
  The 1932 all-black movie titled Harlem Is Heaven (1932) was supposedly based on Robinson's life and the first black film ever made.
•  
  A one-time honorary mayor of Harlem and mascot of the New York Giants baseball team.
  Once set a world's record in the backwards 75-yard dash (in 8.2 seconds).
•  
  He was very dedicated to the people of Harlem and often donated his time and money to the people, in an era when it was much needed. The people of Harlem showed their appreciation, to someone they saw as a great gentleman, when they lined the streets in their thousands on the day of his funeral. Having lived a generous and fun-loving lifestyle he died almost penniless and his funeral was paid for by a collection of his celebrity colleagues (including Frank Sinatra).
•  
  Though it borrowed his name, Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles" (covered by many other artists, including Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972) was about a fantasy character who had little in common with Robinson. Robinson did not drink, was never a down-and-outer and was always a fastidious dresser. His dancing style was always close to the ground, never "leap . . . and lightly touch down.".
•  
  Was the best man at the first wedding of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige. .
•  
  Widely credited with coining the adjective "copacetic," or at the very least popularizing the term.
•  
  Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002 (inaugural class).
  Portrayed by Gregory Hines in Bojangles (2001).
  In 1982, a pair of his tap shoes were on display in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute.

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NEW LEGACIES IN BLACK HISTORY

SHONDA RHIMES

I've always loved medical dramas. Since way back in the day with Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey, not to mention Marcus Welby...So it should come as no surprise that I'm a Grey's Anatomy fan.



So who's behind that cute little logo at the end of the show that says Shondaland? It can only be the storyteller who is Shonda Rhimes, who brought Grey's Anatomy to the small screen in 2005. Grey's is the most successful TV med series since ER.




Now we can put a face to the name and applaud her for her gift of storytelling. What I love about her work in Grey's is the depth with which she portrays the characters and how reality based they are. She doesn't work at being politically correct. She comes correct with stories that just make sense and bringing people together from all walks of life.


Before she could even spell she was taping stories for her parents to transcribe! Shonda Rhimes wrote the screenplay that earned Halle Berry her first Emmy: Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She also wrote Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

When Rhimes adopted a child and became a mom, she spent more time at home. It was then that she rediscovered her love for the small screen. Grey's Anatomy debuted in 2005 with high marks. Three years later, Private Practice came to Shondaland. Shonda Rhimes has certainly touched our lives with her writing, producing and directorial talent.

Scandal, her latest offering is taking the nation by storm: a modern day political Peyton Place with a real school soundtrack. The music supervisor on this show is on point. Utilizing grooves from the real school while back-dropping some very modern visuals. it totally works. The writing on this show is brilliant. The plot lines are gripping and have all of us Scandal fans talking to the TV.

Shonda Rhimes has definitely shown us that stories are not black and white. Stories are people with no lines drawn to create racial barriers when we're talking about life.

Joe Morton, joined the cast as Olivia Pope's dad. And here's a little trivia about the Scandal dad whose career has spanned 4 decades. He's not only been on the big and small screen but also starred in the Broadway musical Hair. He has payed a wide range of roles from portraying doctors on soaps Search for Tomorrow (1973-74) and Another World (1983-84)... He's also worked on episodes of Sanford and Son, Grady, What's Happening, MASH, Mission Impossible and Bracken's World. And yes, he was the brother in Brother From Another Planet.


But one really underrated show in which he starred in 1995 was Under One Roof with James Earl Jones and Vanessa Bell Calloway. All Episodes of the show are available for free on Youtube. Check out the pilot episode.

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Tony Goldwyn has a very pivotal role in Scandal and the chemistry between him and Kerry Washington is amazing.

Almost to the point where I ask myself, "What am I watching here?"

We all remember Goldwyn in GHOST who played a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's the grandson of famed Samuel Goldwyn. Yes, the Goldwyn who started Goldwyn Pictures Corp in 1917...

No one delivers better than Jeff Perry as White House Chief of Staff, Cyrus Beene. A character who never fails to blow a gasket while taking his job seriously.

Perry is amazing in this role and brings so many dimensions to his character. He rolls his monologues with a swift tongue and can wipe up the dirty walls of the scandals with his rhetoric alone! If the word intense was personified, it would be Cyrus Beene.

My friend, Candi, (we go way back to 1978 -production accounting for Burt Sugarman Prods) is now working on Scandal. Does she get a heads up on what's about to happen? Ah, no! She has to wait with baited breath like the rest of us!

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DAVE GOOD: It's all Good

I "meet" some amazing people on Facebook. Dave Good got me with his eye catching "breaking bad" look for one of his profile pictures. This musician is "saxy" as well as an award winning journalist. Some of his high school alums from Crawford High in  East San Diego include fellow musicians, Nathan East, Carl Evans and Hollis Gentry. 

Dave talks the talk and walks the walk. He sets his mind on a goal and he goes for it. It's people like Good that you want to surround yourself with. I like to think of him as one who is preserving the culture of real school musicians. I appreciate his thoughts on mentors and the people who planted the seeds that became his roots of music culture.

He writes:

“Think about the place in time where you first learned about music, and recall the person

or people that really sparked your drive to do this.

For me? Hollis Gentry, in high school band class. Well, mostly outside of high school band class. My mom remembers he and Nathan East and Casper Glenn coming over to our garage to jam. 

"They improvised, right? Isn't that what you call it?" 

Yes. Hollis taught me, inadvertently I suppose, what a saxophone could do. 

And how to express yourself through tone. 

And that it was okay to open up one's soul via the horn, and just exactly how much work went into that through practice: "Long tones, Dave. Arpeggios." And so on. 

Hollis taught me how to listen to my horn. 

But it was Larry Murry who taught me how to listen to music, and what to listen for. 

Larry has an encyclopedic knowledge of music. And we went to many concerts, and we listened to many records during that time in the 80's, and he would always stop and point out what was happening in a particular phrase or a resolution or a change up, and why it was important in a foundational way.

These two are with me every time I play. Every note that comes out of my horn is because of the seeds they planted.”

Read more of Dave's writing.
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JOHN MARTINEZ:
Poet in Motion

When, I read the work of John Martinez, I am prompted to recall a poem I read many, many years ago by Ted Joans:

if you should see

a man

walking down a crowded street

talking aloud

to himself

don't run

in the opposite direction

but run towards him

for he is a POET!

you have NOTHING to fear

from the poet

but the TRUTH

He started out as a real Facebook friend and then I had the opportunity to meet him and listen

to him read one weekend. I remain as amazed as when I first read his poetry from his timeline. 

John is an AMAZING poet. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. He has an eloquence that I haven't seen in a long time in work.. I will not use the term spoken word because that's a term that the real school pre-schoolers use. This guy, Martinez is a true poet. To say that his work is thought provoking is an understatement.

He says, "I think poets, or people who are compelled to produce art, have a crack in them, an opening, that opens up to the unknown. And the birds, the trees, the animals, the sun and the clouds, all of this, can see the artist, clearly, through this opening...while the artist scrambles to communicate to them, to everyone else, this feeling...this phenomena...


I didn't write because I was critical of myself, my thoughts. For years, I used to make observations in my head, and whoever was close to me, well, I talked about what I felt. Now, with this FB thing, I just write whatever the hell I think at the moment. If it's, going to a bar, gaining weight, feeling a spirit, like a bird on my shoulder, feeling like dying, feeling like I don't want to die, feeling like living, feeling the glory of life, the glory of life and death, feeling love....I just jot it down. I don't care anymore. A side note; I type faster than I talk and about halfway to the speed of my thoughts. So, when you are reading my narrative, I am, actually, writing faster than ,if I was talking to you. So, I think that makes way for the glib, the silly, etc....But so what to that, too."

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A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER 

by John Martinez

I fault myself,
For relying on these words,
Harsh words, words,
Those sharp edges,
They cut black
Lines into me

But it is the hum
Before the heavens,
Alone, wrapped,
In a shawl of clouds,
That is the unformed
Smoldering, infinite,
In me

It is the chorus
That whines from the
Axis of the earth,
Space, moaning
A billion years
Of songs sung
And unsung,
The pumped vein
Of my future, hissing

And so, I breathe,
One breath into myself,
Then another,
My eyes closed,
Into what is
My beginning,
My end,
The ultimate spin
Of a beautiful disaster


(c) John Martinez 2013
All Rights Reserved
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PHARRELL WILLIAMS

             MAKES THE WORLD HAPPY

When you use the word "Happy" in a song, it's bound to strike a chord with the soul. Happiness is what we all live for, long for...

What's one of the the first songs we real schoolers learned in school? "If You're Happy And You Know It." For many of us it marked the beginning of understanding what the feeling of being happy was all about. The next happy song I remember was Oh, Happy Day which was a gospel crossover. Who can forget Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy. 

There's something about the word "Happy" when utilized in song the right way that brings everyone together in the same key of life.

So now, it's time again for another Happy song and the title is just that: Happy, by Pharrell Williams... What makes this song unique is the quality of writing and production. To me it's like he vocally channeled Marvin Gaye. I believe that if Marvin were alive today, he'd be singing this song. 

The power of Happy is not only infectious, it's alluring. It takes us out of the humdrum and gives us all an opportunity to escape the day to day, bad news on TV, banal areas of our existence and let's us run away for a few minutes. 

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 R E A L    T V

American Horror Story: Coven

Angela Bassett   Jessica Lange    Kathy Bates

Who would have thought that these three divas would be gracing the small screen together?They are really rocking this show and it's intense. Their acting is superb.

What I like about American Horror Story is that each season, its a different story since the show premiered in the fall of 2011. This season's offering is intense, over the top and pretty gruesome...The show's musical theme is haunting with visuals that edited to quickly flash by the human eye so quickly that you imagine you saw that grotesque image.

American Horror Story which has become a cult classic is available on Netflix. The current season will more than likely be added this summer.

The Blacklist
James Spader

James Spader's got a hit with The Blacklist on NBC. While the connection James Spader's character has with  Megan Boone's character Elizabeth Keen seems close to the relationship between Hannible Lechter and Clarice Starling  in Silence of the Lambs, Spader warns us not to go there in trying to make that comparison. 

Spader is a very focused actor, and I love every character he's ever played. This time he portrays a former government agent gone wrong "Red" Reddington, a brilliant criminal mastermind who has evaded capture for many years. In the pilot episode, he surrenders to the FBI with a deal to help them catch a terrorist. 

With each episode Red's criminal mind is instrumental in helping the FBI crack cases...Spader plays his character with a solemn coolness and delivers his dialogue with a stoic demeanor that makes him quietly creepy. He's probably one of the few actors that can pull this attitude off with such integrity.

It's evident Red is way ahead of the game and he knows it, owns it and responds to the FBI as if they are his inferiors.

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SHIRLEY TEMPLE 

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WOULD

What an incredible legacy at such a young age. Shirley Temple certainly won us over with her charm and outgoing candor in her many roles. She was undeniably the most popular child star of all time. So many of us grew up watching her movies. I personally would watch them over and over. There was a show on Sundays where I could watch her many films. There is so much incredible trivia about her that I don’t know where to begin.

Shirley Jane Temple was born April 23, 1928. She was 7 years younger than my mother. So my mother grew up with Shirley Temple. We used to watch Shirley Temple movies together. My mom was 10 years old, when Shirley was introduced on the big screen in her very first feature at age three. She did it all: sang, danced and acted.

We all pretty much knew the plot lines of all of her films, but it didn’t matter, because she was such a stand out hit, it wasn’t about the story, but how this incredibly young star performed in her roles. She was always portrayed as a child star as the essence of goodness and represented the very term “unadulterated.” And as we all got to witness through her un-tireless efforts towards humanity as an adult, continued to be that little girl, just all grown up. 

A treasured red and white racer from a treasured Uncle Billy Robinson, 1936.
(Twentieth Century-Fox)

She was innocent and color blind while the world around her was segregated. She and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson would be the first to seriously cross the color line in Hollywood as the first "interracial couple." Both, were iconic. It was Bill Robinson who became not only her 

teacher and choreographer., but also her friend. They made 4 films together. Robinson choreographed for Shirley’s film “Dimples”. She called him Uncle Billy.

Can you imagine the role of “Dorothy Gale” in The Wizard of Oz being played by Shirley Temple? Well, that could have happened if 20^th Century Fox hadn’t refused to loan her out to MGM. But MGM found that Shirley had unconquerable vocal limitations and Judy Garland, their first consideration got the role.

Shirley Temple became a sensation. The merchandising was tremendous. Her mother worked tirelessly to prevent her daughter from being spoiled by fame and was always present when she was filming. 

Shirley would recall many years later how her mother was outraged when she discovered that a director once sent her off on an errand in order to get her child to cry for a scene by frightening her. "She never left again left me alone on a set" Temple recollected.

Shirley Temple’s greatest role was as breast cancer survivor and  becoming a pioneer in Breast Cancer awareness. When she revealed to the world that she had a mastectomy in 1972 her encouragement and support in going public got her over 50,000 support letters. She was instrumental in her courage in getting valid information to many women. She was the first public figure to come out and write about her breast cancer. 

Back then many women would be hospitalized believing that they were having a biopsy only to awaken from their surgeries to find their breasts were gone. It was Shirley Temple Black’s candidness and courage which led to dispelling the myth that women would not be able to be proactive in the reality of breast cancer.

Shirley Temple was an extraordinary actress and human being whose legacy can be touted as 360 degrees of love for humanity and purpose, from the time she was a child throughout her adult life.  

This is an amazing interview. Shirley speaks warmly about her mother as well as about a disturbing incident at the studio.

Available on Amazon.com

More about Shirley Temple Black

• It was her mother, Gertrude Temple, who did her hair in pin curls for each movie. Each hairstyle had exactly 56 curls.
• 
  
• Both Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were both named after her.
• 
  
• Is on the cover of The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
• 
  
• She was the first recipient of the juvenile academy award at age 6
• 
  
• She was the youngest presenter at the Oscars ever at age 6
• 
  
• He Star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street in Hollywood which she received on February 8, 1960.
• 
  
• The Shirley Temple drink was created in her honor
• 
  
• She auditioned twice to be in "Our Gang" / "The Little Rascals". She didn’t make the first audition, and made the second while she was appearing in the "Baby Burlesk" series. 
• 
  
• "Our Gang" director  refused to honor  Shirley's mother's request that Shirley receive star billing with "Our Gang", which is why she didn’t get in.
• 
  
• In a 1988 interview with Larry King, she stated that out of the $3 million she generated for 20th Century Fox she only saw $45,000 in her trust fund.
• 
  
• When she was at MGM in 1941, Shirley's mother turned down Babes on Broadway (1941), Panama Hattie (1942), National Velvet (1944), an Andy Hardy entry and Barnacle Bill (1941) because she felt that her daughter was not being billed properly. MGM eventually  cast her in  Kathleen(1941) and settled her contract.
• 
  
• Buddy Ebson (Jed Clampett-Beverly Hillbillies) was her best friend and dancing partner.
• 
  
• She was considered for the role of Veda Pierce in the Joan Crawford drama Mildred Pierce (1945), which went to Ann Blyth.
• 
  
• She was a Girl Scout.
• 
  
• Was named a delegate to the United Nations, in 1969
• 
  
• sworn in as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the President's Council on Environment in 1972
• 
  
• She was elected to the board of directors of Walt Disney Productions in May 1974
• 
  
• In the fall of 1974, she was appointed American Ambassador to Ghana
• 
  
• In the summer of 1976, she was named Chief of Protocol for the State Department.
• United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989).
• 
  
• United States Delegate to the United Nations (1969).
• 
  
• Recipient of Kennedy Center Honors (1998)

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Whatever Happened To

British 60s modeling sensation Leslie Hornby She originally was nicknamed "Sticks" because of her reed-thin figure, but 

 then switched it to "Twigs" and, finally, "Twiggy."

Trivia: 

She is a friend of Fran Drescher and it was Drescher's interaction with Twiggy's children that was used as the basis for Drescher's hit show The Nanny (1993).

She was the youngest person to ever be surprised by the Big Red Book on This Is Your Life (1955) , aged 19 at the time.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1983 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "My One and Only."

Is an accomplished singer and theater star.

She's launched her own clothing line and still very present! 
----------------------------------------------------
Thanks for sharing the journey!