I was channel surfing last night and came across an old episode of Kate & Allie. Kate & Allie was on the air for five years, 1984 to 1989. I started wondering whatever happened to the characters on this show.

Kate – Susan Saint James. Susan hasn’t been acting much since the cancellation of Kate & Allie. She did make a rare appearance on an episode of Law & Order: SVU in 2006. In 2004, her 14 year old son was killed in a plane crash. Her husband and older son survived.

Allie – Jane Curtin. Jane, of course, was best know for her Saturday Night Live stint. Curtin later appeared in Third Rock from the Sun as John Lithgow’s love interest (1996-2001). She has also appeared in other television programs and done some Broadway acting.

Emma – Ari Meyers. Ari left the show to pursue her education and graduated from Yale University. She has done some acting since receiving her degree, mostly small parts and for characters much younger than herself.

Jennie – Allison Smith. Allison has continued acting in roles in television and film, but nothing big. She did have a recurring role in The West Wing as Mallory O’Brien.

Chip – Frederick Koehler. After Kate & Allie, Fred disappeared from show biz for a while and then graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Theater. He appeared in Oz (but his character was killed off) and Pepper Dennis (another short lived television show). He was recently seen in a few short films in On The Lot.

City people have always had an easier time getting their mail delivered. Mail carriers were employed in the city, but is wasn’t until the late 1800s that the Rural Free Delivery was created. Prior to mail delivery, farmers had to ride many miles into town to pick up and send mail. The telephone had not yet reached rural developments and farmers found themselves often isolated.

The National Grange, a popular farm organization, pushed politicians to create the Rural Free Delivery system. These mail carriers would delivery mail directly to rural households. Often they would encounter very strange mailboxes including lard cans and cigar boxes placed on the side of the road. As some of these deteriorated, the mail carriers would inform the owners to place a new box or not get mailed delivered.

This mail delivery system improved the rural life and allowed communication throughout the country.

I started noticing a trend in old (and even current) horror movies. If they are set in an old house, there are always a wall sconce or two with candles. Why? Because the hero or heroine always needs to walk down an narrow hallway, find a darkened room or passageway and pick up one of the candles from the sconces to light their way. My question is – Who lights the candles?

Here is something I don’t remember – the Shoe Fluoroscope. The Shoe Fluoroscopes were X-ray machines that were installed in shoe stores in the early 20th century. There were not removed until the early 1960s. The fluoroscopes were really a gimmick, they were marketed as a better way to measure feet and those provide a better fitted shoe. However, a simple measurement would have sufficed.

Unfortunately, the devices exposed customers to approximately 25 to 70 rems per minute of radiation. Compare this to the allowed radiation of a nuclear plant worker – 5 rems per year!

Some movies are just best listened to with a Bose home theater system. Why? Because the music is so great. The American Film Institute has listed the Best 100 Film Scores and here are the top 10:

#10 – High Noon (Dimitri Tiomkin) – loved the film and the music
#9 – Chinatown (Jerry Goldsmith) – Huh?
#8 – The Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein)
#7 – Laura (David Raksin)
#6 – Jaws (John Williams) – GREAT!
#5 – The Godfather (Nino Rota)
#4 – Psycho (Bernard Herrmann) – without the music, the film would have flopped!
#3 – Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre) – love this music
#2 – Gone With The Wind (Max Steiner) – who doesn’t hum this music for days after seeing the film

and

#1 – Star Wars (John Williams)

Of course, my favorites are not listed and include Pirates of the Caribbean (which came out after this list) and Field of Dreams (nominated, but did not make it).

According to an agreement made between Oscar winners and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, you can not sell your Oscar to the highest bidder. Of course, this agreement has only been in effect since 1950 and values the statuette at $1.00. This has not barred, however, the selling of older Oscars. Although you won’t see the Oscar’s being sold at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, there is still a market for them.

Steven Spielberg bought Bette Davis’ 1938 Best Actress Oscar for Jezebel for $578,000. He then returned it to the academy where they stored it in their vaults. They do not displayed old Oscars.

Magician David Copperfield purchased the 1943 Best Director Oscar for Casablanca for $232,000. He keeps the statue in his bedroom. He states “Objects should be where they do the most good.” Copperfield says the Oscar would do more good for him–the symbol of excellence is a source of inspiration for his own work–than it would in a closet filled with other statuettes at the academy.”

I didn’t realize it, but there have been a lot of celebrities born in Memphis, Tennessee. Of course, they were not born at the Pigeon Forge cabin rentals, but here is a list none the less:

Justin Timberlake, January 31, 1981
Shannen Doherty, April 12, 1971
Chris Parnell, February 5, 1967
Cybill Shepherd, February 18, 1950
Kathy Bates, June 28, 1948
George Hamilton, August 12, 1939
Morgan Freeman, June 1, 1937