SfanGoch

I was right. I cheated and looked up the photo. Those are the eyes of either a serial killer, musician or both. It's Taylor Swift's high school yearbook picture.

She looks like the type of kid who shaved the fur off cats.

This one is something of a ringer. Her name is Helene Dimone, professionally known as Helene Dixon. She was born in my neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn and was my friend Madeleine's first cousin. Her family owned one of the most popular saloons in the neighborhood. She got her start performing in several NYC nightclubs (including Jimmy Dwyer's Sawdust Trail alongside Teresa Brewer) as a teenager. She was discovered by African-American jazz musician/arranger/songwriter Phil Moore & became his protege. He also acted as her manager. It was through him that she got her first recording contract with OKeh/Epic in 1953. The first single released was in fact 'The Breeze' bw 'Don't Call My Name' in May 1953. During this time Miss Dixon was also a regular at The Copacabana. Helene performed pop, jazz and rockabilly. As a matter of fact, she's considered one of the "Queens of Rockabilly". Not bad for a girl from Brooklyn. In late July 1953, Helene became the first regular female vocalist on Steve Allen's original incarnation of "The Tonight Show", which aired locally in NYC on WNBT-TV (later WRCA-TV, then WNBC-TV in 1963). By September/October Helene was out & a young Eydie Gorme was in. Steve Allen wrote in his his autobiography that Helene was let go because "she only knew 2 songs" & was incapable of learning more quickly. I find this hard to believe since by 1953 she was a seasoned professional & a recording artist. Whatever the truth is, Helene's dismissal is unfortunate because The Steve Allen Show went national when it was picked up by NBC the following year, creating the Late Night Talk Show genre as we know it & making instant stars out of Steve Allen, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme. Helene went on recording for the Epic & Vik labels & was briefly signed to MGM (The film studio, not the label). Besides recording two numbers from the 1956 film 'The Opposite Sex" (the title song & 'Now Baby Now') nothing came of the MGM association. Helene recorded with the likes of the legendary Norman Leyden, Ray Conniff and Quincy Jones. She passed away in 1969 at age 36.

Well, the Lara Croft character is busty. Due to some misguided surgical modifications, Angelina was no longer able to "fill" the role. My source for this information was the wall of the McCarren Park men's restroom.

They both played Lara Croft.

Anybody want to venture a guess?

Joey has been on various TV shows and the playing the concert circuit over the last 50 years. She did TV commercials for RC Cola and Serta mattresses in the 1970s. She also was psycho. She really went downhill after the late '70s. But, lemme tell you, she was HOT!!!!!!!!! http://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/starlets-end-5.jpg

Lee Remick. Great actress. And hot.

Joey Heatherton......Absotively posilutely thermonuclear hot!!!!!!!! Her father, Ray, was TV's Merry Mailman and her brother, Dick, was a disc jockey on New York's WCBS-FM.

This one is known as the Paris Hilton of Italy. More like Rondo Hatton, if you ask me: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have a need to gouge mine out at this moment. What the heck was she thinking?!? http://lookdamngood.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Michaela-Romanini.jpg

Who....er.....what's this?

Deborah Walley, princess of the beach flicks. Annette Funicello was the queen. I also remember her from the TV show, The Mothers-In-Law. I also remember Karen Valentine in Room 222.

Yeah.....I know what you mean........

Did you work at Lucky Cheng's too?

Sean Penn when he worked at Lucky Cheng's.

Madonna, before she started braiding her armpit hair.

Rereading "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac.

Now you know, it;s Sheryl Crow.

"SUMO" and "White Women" by Helmut Newton. "SUMO" is supposed to be a coffee table book. It's actually a coffee table on its own. It weighs around 35-40 lbs. and is about 28" long. I just measured it.

I have a book about that, too.

That's Elizabeth Shue. She was in "The Karate Kid".

Years ago, my father worked at 419 Park Ave. South, in Manhattan. Crown Publishing was in the same building. He used to get free books from a friend, who was an editor. I now have all of these books.....all 2,100 of them. Everything from science to the history of burlesque.

Betty Brosmer. Her pin-up photo was on the wall of the MP barracks in "The Dirty Dozen". I have a book, "The Pin-Up: A Modest History" by Mark Gabor. Her picture is in it.