In the Summertime was the debut single of British rock band Mungo Jerry. Lead singer Ray Dorset wanted to celebrate how carefree summer days are. It reached #1 in 19 countries. (In fact, the only country’s chart it didn’t hit #1 was in Poland where it only hit #2.) In the Summertime is considered one of the best selling singles of all time, selling over 6 million copies. It only took Dorset 10 minutes to compose! In the Summertime is the only Mungo Jerry hit outside the UK.
Jolson Sings Again is the sequel to The Jolson Story. Both films chronicled the life of singer Al Jolson.
Jolson Sings Again tells the story of Jolson’s return to the stage after his premature retirement. But his wife has left him and the appeal of the spotlight is not what it used to be. This time Jolson (Larry Parks) trades in the stage for life in the fast lane. His father becomes increasingly concerned about his frivolous lifestyle. His mother (Tamara Shayne) died and World War
II begins.
Cut the Cake was Average White Band’s third album and it almost wasn’t. It was the
follow-up to the immensely popular AWB (1974). Recording was plagued by creative and artistic differences that saw the members of this Scottish funk/soul band storm out three separate times! The members of Average White Band were mourning the loss of their drummer Robbie McIntosh to a heroin overdose in 1974. The producer (Arif Mardin) of Cut the Cake considered scrapping the album, but they persevered.
The album’s title track Cut the Cake was the best performing single off the album. It peaked at #10 on Billboard’s pop singles chart. If I Ever Lose This Heaven peaked at #39 and School Boy Crush peaked at #33. All the singles did better on the R&B chart (#7, #25 and #22 respectively). Meanwhile, Cut the Cake (the album) hit #4 on the album chart and hit #1 on the R&B album chart.
Famous Monsters of Filmland was a magazine published by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman to capitalize and tie-in to the old horror movies syndicated to American TV in 1957. In the early 80s, Warren became ill and was unable to continue on as publisher. After a while of disorganization within the Warren Publishing Company
without Warren’s strong leadership, Ackerman resigned as editor and Famous Monsters ceased production in 1983 after 191 issues.
In 1869, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was an exiled Mexican president and general that lived in New Jersey. He had brought a ton of Mexican chicle (a natural gum) with him; he was hoping he could sell enough to raise the funds needed to return home. He convinced Thomas Adams to buy it. Adams was hoping to use it to create rubber. He didn’t quite succeed but was intrigued since he knew Santa Anna (and ancient Mayans) loved to chew it.
He boiled a small batch of the chicle and created chewing gum. He sold it to a local Staten Island store and it sold! In 1871, he received a patent on his machine and began mass production. His first gum (“Snapping and Stretching”) was pure chicle. Adams began adding sarsaparilla as a flavoring. In 1884, he began adding licorice and called it Adams’ Black Jack. It was the first flavored gum in the U.S. and the first gum to be offered in stick form.
Sales slowed in the 70s, but returned to specialty candy shops in the 2000s.
Turn Me On was Kevin Lyttle’s debut song off his self-titled debut album. The song was originally recorded as a soca ballad in 2001. In 2003, it was remixed into a dance song for release in the U.S. Turn Me On went top 10 in 14 countries, reaching the top spot only in Denmark.
Lyttle was born Lescott Kevin Lyttle Combs in Saint Vincent, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on September 14, 1976. His two most recent albums, Fyah (2008) and I Love Carnival (2012), failed to make an impact. Lyttle founded his own record label, Tarakon, in 2007. Currently, Lyttle lives in Miami with his wife and son.
He was born Raymond Neil Combs Jr. in Hamilton, Ohio. He graduated high school in 1974 as an actor, senior
class president and Boys State delegate. Turning down a nomination to the United States’ Military
Academy, Combs went to Arizona for two years as a Mormon missionary.
He began performing comedy in Cincinnati where he had the audience sing along to sitcom theme songs. In 1982, he moved his family to Los Angeles to get serious about his comedy career. He began doing audience warm-ups for NBC sitcoms. Johnny Carson heard the audiences laughing in 1986 and invited him to The Tonight Show. The following year, he was a celebrity panelist for John Davidson’s version of Hollywood Squares. He appeared in the film Overboard and in 1985 appeared on The Facts of Life and The Golden Girls.
In 1988, he was given a 7-year contract to host Family Feud. The show premiered July 4, 1988 and Combs toured extensively around the U.S. to promote the show. In June 1992, the show was expanded to a hour long. But by 1993, ratings slipped and on September 10, Family Feud was cancelled. Combs’ final episode was taped May 27, 1994. After the filming wrapped, Combs left without saying goodbye to anyone.
In July 1994 Combs injured his spinal disc in an automobile accident that left him in permanent pain. He then experienced financial difficulties when two of his comedy clubs had to close. In September 1994, he and his wife of 18 years separated. (They later reconciled but then filed for divorce.) Attempts to revive his TV career weren’t successful either.
On June 1, 1996, police were called to his Glendale, California home. Combs had destroyed the inside of his home and was banging his head against the walls. His ex-wife arrived and informed police that Combs had been suicidal and had spent time the previous week in the hospital after attempting suicide. He was involuntarily taken to a Glendale hospital under a 72-hour mental observation hold. The next morning, Combs made a noose from his hospital sheets and hanged himself in a closet. Combs was survived by his parents, wife Debbie and six children.
“The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror” (William Morrow & Company, 2004)
“The Stupidest Angel” was Christopher Moore’s eighth humorous novel. It brings together favorite characters from his previous novels and
is set in the fictional town of Pine Cove. Set during Christmas, Raziel, an angel,
is sent to Earth to grant the wish of a child. He chooses to help a boy who witnessed the death of a man dressed as Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the town is gearing up for the festivities at a church, near a cemetery. Raziel decides to bring the Santa back to life
and unwittingly unleashes a siege of zombies.
PB Max was a candy bar created and produced by the Mars Company (which makes Mars bars, Twix, Snickers, M&Ms, among others), PB Max was creamy peanut butter that sat atop a square-shaped whole grain cookie, covered with milk chocolate and cookie crumbles. PB Max was designed to compete with Hershey’s Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. PB Max were sold as single bars or in a box of 6 bars. PB Max performed well, but the discontinuation of PB Max is definitely strange.
PB Max had brought in $50 million, yet Mars Inc. discontinued the candy bar sometime between 1992 and 1994. Why? According to a former Mars executive, PB Max was discontinued because of “the Mars family’s distaste for peanut butter.” What? PB Max lovers have tried (in vain) to change Mars’ mind with petitions over the years (some are still active).
I guess Hershey can rest easy, they will never have peanut butter competition from Mars.
PB Max fans, make sure to scroll down to take a look at the comments. You have a chance to bring PB Max back!
Phyllis was an American sitcom and the second series spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Cloris Leachman was Mary Richards’ landlady. On Phyllis she and her daughter Bess (played by Lisa Gerritsen) move to San Francisco after the death of her husband to move in with her in-laws Audrey (Jane Rose) and Judge Dexter (Henry Jones). Judith Lowry guest starred early in the first season as the judge’s mother Sally. She was such a hit that she had joined the cast fulltime before the season was done.
During the second season, Lowry collapsed and died of a heart attack in November 1976 at the age of 86. Then Rose took ill. Phyllis wasn’t doing the best in the ratings race as it was, but the ill health of major cast members was too much to overcome. After 48 episodes and 2 seasons Phyllis was not picked up for a third season. Phyllis premiered September 9, 1975 and ended on March 13, 1977. On March 19, Leachman made her final TV appearance as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.