WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5
Letters to editor From page 2
Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style
ONE BIG HAPPY By Rick Detorie
I began working for the show, called “Four Star Revue,” as program assistant/script girl in September 1950 at the NBC studios in the RCA Building. The four stars (NOT called the “Ford Star Revue,”) were my bosses (Martha Raye and Danny Thomas), while another gal had the job for Jimmy Durante and Ed Wynn. Time passed, and the show became the “All Star Revue,” and we gals, not the male stage managers, were able to join the Radio and Television Directors Guild, now the Directors Guild of America. (I’m a pensioner.) Wonderful years! A “Jeopardy!” tidbit: Danny and Thomas are the stage names of the “Wailing Lebanese” nightclub entertainer; his real name was Amos Jacobs, and I sometimes dated his brother Paul when he was in NYC. I believe Paul died in an auto accident. Rosemary McPhillips Silver Spring, Md. Editor’s note: Thanks for sharing such fascinating memories from the early days of television. It turns out, however, that in 1950 both “Four Star Revue” and “Ford Star Revue,” starring Jack Haley, were on the air. Lear wrote for the latter.
Bob Levey From page 42 But no snapshot can ever give you the sounds, the smells, the grace notes. The way he would try — and perpetually fail — to sing “White Christmas” on key. The way he would douse his face in acrid after-shave each morning. The way he walked — always a lumber, never an amble, as if his shoes hurt (perhaps they did). And then, my memories that will never show up in any album: Visiting him at work when I was still in grade school (what were all those men in white shirts and ties doing?). Picking ticks out of the ears of a beloved pet alongside him. Sinking the go-ahead basket in the big game of our senior year, against our archrivals, and catching his eye in the grandstand as I ran back down the court. He was the Great Legitimizer. If he was there, it all mattered; it all worked. Of course, there were never any guarantees that he would have had a much longer life. If he hadn’t died in 1971, he might well have died in 1972. Only one-third of one percent of all babies born in 1914 celebrated their centennials in 2014, according to the Census Bureau.
But that daunting statistic will not keep me from wondering what his 100th birthday might have been like. Would he have been saluted, live and in color, by Willard Scott? Would he have told some reporter that the secret to his longevity was a shot of good bourbon every night? The mind wonders — and wanders. But mine never wanders very far from this: Time can blunt the sting, but it can never erase it. He may have been gone for 43 years, but he still matters. Happy 100th, Stan Levey. I knew you. I loved you. And I will always miss you. Bob Levey is a national award-winning columnist.
BEACON BITS
Jan. 4+
SOLO ART EXHIBIT
Ninety-one-year-old Bethesda artist Gladys Lipton is holding her first solo exhibit, showcasing her colorful, abstract work. The exhibit will be open at the Friendship Heights Gallery in the Village Center, located at 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, Md. from Sunday, Jan. 4 to Sunday, Feb. 1. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The opening reception will take place on Sunday, Jan. 11 from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. For more information, email flestarlipton1@gmail.com.
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