“Forgotten Hollywood”- Death Takes No Holiday…

Posted on December 4, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   Several names in the news are part of the passing parade:

   Al Brodax was a television cartoon producer who developed animated versions of The Beatles, culminating in the classic feature Yellow Submarine. He had been an executive producer at King Features Syndicate in the early 1960s, churning out low-budget animated fare like Snuffy Smith, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Popeye, and Barney Google

   Brodax pitched Beatles manager Brian Epstein with the idea of creating a Saturday-morning cartoon series about the Fab Four’s adventures. Although popular with Baby Boomer kids, ABC’s The Beatles was hated by the band members, who loathed the exaggerated Liverpool accents.

beatles

   After A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, the group owed United Artists one more production. The band readily agreed to a proposition: A feature-length animated feature film. The Hungarian-born producer spearheaded the project that became Yellow Submarine, based loosely on the 1966 Beatles hit, and sung by drummer Ringo Starr. Directed by George Dunning and animated by Heinz Edelmann, the psychedelic movie was an instant classic, with its animated Edwardian-styled depictions of John, Paul, George, and Ringo – along with the Blue Meanies – quickly becoming iconic of the era.

   Even The Beatles were won over.

   Al Brodax was 90.

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4946183-thumb-300xauto-4345575   Billy Chapin (right) was the child actor, best known as the heroic protagonist in The Night of the Hunter. He was personally selected by director Charles Laughton for his ability to provide a hypnotic stare for dramatic purposes. Despite the fact that the film was a critical and commercial failure, the Library of Congress selected the production in 1992 for preservation in the National Film Registry. His sister was Lauren Chapin, the former child actress who co-starred in the classic sitcom Father Knows Best.

   Chapin appeared on Broadway in 1951 in Three Wishes for Jamie, which earned him the New York Drama Critics Award as the most promising young actor of the year. The next year, he shined in a television adaptation of Paul Osborn’s play On Borrowed Time. He also starred in The Kid from Left Field and No Business Like Show Business. His many small screen credits included Leave it to Beaver and Dragnet.

   Billy Chapin, whose career effectively ended in 1959, was 72.

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jerry_tucker_1936<— Jerry Tucker was a former child actor who appeared in several Our Gang comedies, often as a spoiled rich kid, and co-starred opposite screen luminaries as Shirley Temple, Ginger Rogers, and Laurel and Hardy. Originally signed by Paramount Pictures, he was on loan to MGM when appearing in the Buster Keaton comedy Sidewalks of New York. Tucker was also cast in some of the biggest movies of the 1930s, including Babes in Toyland, San Francisco, Captain January, and Boys Town.

   Never enchanted with Hollywood, and in 1942, Tucker joined the Navy as part of the demolition team aboard the destroyer USS Sigsbee. He was awarded the Purple Heart after suffering a permanent leg injury when a piece of shrapnel was caught in his leg during an attack on his ship during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

   Tucker, whose real name was Jerry Schatz, was 91.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2016 at 2:07 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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