Jun 29, 2009

The Merle Wayne Sneed organization and Mr. Sneed himself was distressed by the number of people who greeted the news of Billy Mays' death with the reaction, "Who's that again? Oh, him, ugh!" When it comes to dead celebrities and dead sort-of-celebrities it seems, if you ain't Michael Jackson, you ain't sh*t. Michael gets headlines, a public memorial, crazy people wailing over his star in Hollywood and all sorts of hoopla. Farah, Ed and Billy get zip dot squat. Many people were willing to overlook the fact that Jackson was a weirdo and had a unnatural fascination with kids, because he could sing and dance. Hang your kid out the window by one leg? Self destruct before the world's eyes? No problem as long as you can moonwalk. It's just sick. Celebrities who conduct themselves with some semblance of decency and dignity are relegated to the "Who, now?" wing of the museum of fan interest. Those stars of yesterday who had the misfortune to outlive their stardom, die unappreciated and forgotten. Saturday another unappreciated and forgotten celebrity died. Gale Storm, most famous for the 50s TV series' My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show died at 86. As a boy, I would come home from school and watch reruns of those shows. I found Miss Storm to be quite fetching and a talented actress. Even those of us who still remember Gale's Storm's pioneering television work, forget that she was also a successful singer, after her work in the movies and television. Michael Jackson stood on the shoulders of earlier giants like Gale Storm to become the star he was. Did he ever acknowledge her, even a little? Hell no! Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

5 comments:

Barbara said...

Would Gale Storm have been a contemporary of Loretta Young? I do remember her sweeping down that staircase at the opening of the show. But I'm really pretty bad with TV trivia.

I wonder what will happen to all those wild animals Michael Jackson collected.

Merle Sneed said...

They we contemporaries in early TV. Young was 10 years older and far more successful.

mum said...

1956. I was ten when that song came out. It's amazing how they stay in your mind, words and all.

You're right about celebrities getting more coverage if they do outrageous things. Vicarious living on the part of their fans, maybe.

Best to you, Merle.

Kurt said...

It seems like people are dying every day!

edward said...

i love people who sing in a gentle way like this.