[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood.

Harry Lester, best known by his stage name The Great Lester, was a vaudeville ventriloquist. One of Lester's most noted acts was calling up Heaven and Hell in search of his sister. He was also the first ventriloquist to walk among the audience while his dummy whistled. Lester was also a noted teacher of ventriloquism, and there are many examples of student recordings. Edgar Bergen, one of the most famous ventriloquists of all time, was one of his students.


Kenneth MacDonald was an actor, starting in movies in 1930. He had a flair for comedy and made appearances in Three Stooges comedies including Monkey Businessmen, Hold That Lion!, Crime on Their Hands, Punchy Cowpunchers, and Loose Loot. He had a bit role as Jerry Lewis's father in 1961's The Ladies' Man, and was a member of the court martial board in The Caine Mutiny (1954). On TV he played a judge in 32 episodes of Perry Mason.


Harriet MacGibbon had a long career on the stage before getting into movies and TV. Her most famous role was that of Mrs. Drysdale, wife of the banker, on 55 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies.

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Last edited by SpecialK; 04-02-2020 at 02:12 PM.

[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood.

Victor Sutherland worked on stage and in movies from the 1910s through the 1950s, plus TV's My Little Margie, and Perry Mason. He was also in the original cast of the 1939 hit play Arsenic and Old Lace. Films include Donovan's Brain, Powder River, Them!, and We're Not Married!


Forrest Taylor was a character actor, a veteran of the stage before appearing as a silent lead in short and feature-length films. Early films include The Terror of Twin Mountains (1915), Sunset Country (1915), April (1916), True Nobility (1916) and The Abandonment (1916). During the 1930s, Taylor appeared in supporting roles in B-westerns and several cliffhanger serials, often playing the heavy roles. As he grew older and grayer, Taylor migrated to nice guy roles. Taylor's last film was Bitter Creek (1954), though he appeared on TV, including 22 episodes of Man Without A Gun, though the early 1960s.


Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden was a jazz trombonist and singer. His first public performances as a child were in movie theaters, where he accompanied his mother, a pianist. By 1920 Teagarden was playing professionally in Texas, including with pianist Peck Kelley, then he started traveling around the US, and in 1927 he went to New York City. By 1928 he was playing for the Ben Pollack band. In the early 1930s Teagarden was based in Chicago playing with the band of Wingy Manone, and he played at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. In 1946 Teagarden joined Louis Armstrong's All Stars for several years. Teadgarden's trombone style was largely self-taught, and he developed many unusual alternative positions and novel special effects on the instrument. Teagarden appeared in the movies Birth of the Blues (1941), The Strip (1951), The Glass Wall (1953), and Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960).

[SpecialK]

Hillside, Culver City.

Andrew James Breitbart was an American conservative publisher, writer and commentator. After helping in the early stages of HuffPost and the Drudge Report, Breitbart created Breitbart News, a right-wing news and opinion website.


Henry Daniels Jr. was an actor, known for his first role in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Bewitched (1945), and his last role in The Burning Cross (1947).


Danny Dayton started in vaudeville, and was on a 2-part episode of TV's MASH, and multiple episodes of both All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place. He was co-founder and vice-president of the Synagogue for the Performing Arts.

[SpecialK]

Mt Tamalpais Cem, San Rafael.

"Lefty" Gomez was a baseball pitcher, playing between 1930 and 1943 for the NY Yankees and the Washington Senators. He was a five-time World Series champion with the Yankees, and was an All-Star every year between 1933-39. Gomez led the league twice each in wins, winning percentage and ERA and was a three-time leader in shutouts and strikeouts. After retirement, he became a popular public speaker. Gomez was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. The 1983 All-Star Game was dedicated to Gomez as he was the last surviving player from the first All-Star Game in 1933. He made an appearance at Yankee Stadium in 1987, when he and Whitey Ford were honored with plaques at the stadium's Monument Park.


Russ Hodges was a sportscaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the NY/SF Giants. Hodges hosted the 15-minute DuMont series Scoreboard, also known as Russ Hodges' Scoreboard. In 1949, Hodges became a No. 1 announcer when the Giants and the Yankees separated their radio networks to each broadcast a full 154-game schedule. He would be the voice of the Giants for the next 22 seasons on both coasts. On October 3, 1951 during a playoff game, he called..."There's a long drive... it's gonna be, I believe...the Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the pennant and they're goin' crazy, they're goin' crazy! Heeey-Oh!"


Robert Dollar was an industrialist with lumber and shipping businesses in Canada and the US. He made the cover of Time magazine on March 19 1928, with articles concerning his businesses. He donated land and money to various causes including orphanages, schools, and seminaries. As a member of the San Rafael Park and Recreation Commission he donated 20 acres of land for Boyd Park in 1920. In 1906, he bought a Victorian style home in San Rafael and named it "Falkirk" after his birthplace in Scotland and lived there until his death in 1932. He left the estate to his family and it was purchased by the community in 1975, as the Falkirk Cultural Center.

[SpecialK]

Westwood.

Richard Anderson was an actor, probably best-known as Oscar Goldman, the boss of both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman on TV. Other TV includes The Untouchables, Stagecoach West, The Rifleman, Daniel Boone, Thriller, The Eleventh Hour, Redigo, Combat!, Twelve O'Clock High, I Spy, The Man from UNCLE, The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West, Bonanza, The Green Hornet, The Invaders, The Big Valley, and Perry Mason. Notable films include Forbidden Planet, Paths of Glory, The Long Hot Summer, Seven Days in May, Seconds, and Tora! Tora! Tora!


Singer Bobby Brat was the lead singer of the punk-goth band Red Scare in the Hollywood area. She died of cancer at age 26. As a teen, she worked at a Chevron station, pumping gas and washing windshields. “It was bizarre to me,” sister Kathy said. “Why didn’t she work at the mall? I didn’t know any girls who worked at a gas station, but she loved it.”


Dorris Bowdon is most famous for her role as Rosasharn in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, and appeared in Drums Along the Mohawk, and Young Mr. Lincoln. She married Grapes of Wrath screenwriter Nunnally Johnson and retired after 1943's The Moon is Down to raise their family.

[SpecialK]

Merced Cem, Merced CA.

Steven Stayner was kidnapped at age 7 on December 4, 1972 by child molester Kenneth Parnell, who told Steven his parents could not afford him and did not want him anymore. He lived with his abductor until he was 14. At times he was left alone and unguarded, and could smoke and drink. He was returned to his family after he was discovered while bringing another of Parnell's victims, Timothy White, to the police. In 1985, Stayner married 17-year-old Jody, and they had two children. In his final years, Stayner talked with child abduction groups, spoke to children about stranger danger and granted interviews about his kidnapping. In early 1989, a TV miniseries based on his experience, I Know My First Name is Steven, was produced. Steven had a non-speaking role as a cop. The title is from Steven's written police statement. He was killed on a rainy night riding his motorcycle home from work.


Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside CA.

Paul Graham was a Marine and served as platoon commander on Guam and Iwo Jima. After WWII, he instructed at the US Naval Academy until 1951. Rising through the ranks to BGen, he became Commanding General of Camp Pendleton. In April 1975, he became West Coast Marine Corps Coordinator, to accept and process over 50,000 Vietnamese and Thais refugees. For meritorious service in the resettlement of Indo-Chinese refugees to the US, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from President Gerald Ford.


Joe Feeney was a tenor singer who was a member of The Lawrence Welk Show on TV. He also has the distinction of singing for five US Presidents and performed at Carnegie Hall three times. In 1975 he sang for Pope Paul VI at the canonization of Mother Seton.

[SpecialK]

Inglewood.

Lurline Uller, as actress Carol Adams, appeared as a flower girl in 1923's "Navy Blues", then in several Our Gang, Mickey McGuire and Buster Brown silent shorts. She entertained in the vaudeville circuit in California. She was "rediscovered" at age 18 by Paramount, renamed Carol Adams, and appeared in 30 films including Rose of Washington Square, then came larger and credited roles in Sally, Irene and Mary; Dancing On A Dime; Ice Capades and Sis Hopkins. By 1941 she was starring with Gene Autry in Ridin' on a Rainbow, and Roy Rogers in Bad Man of Deadwood. During WWII she performed in the USO. At age 26 she married Richard Pearl, a studio exec, and retired to raise a family.


Wally Berger was a MLB outfielder who played for four NL teams, primarily the Boston Braves. Berger was the NLs starting centerfielder in baseball's first All-Star Game. One of the league's top sluggers of the early 1930s, in his initial 1930 season he hit 38 home runs, a record for rookies which stood until 1987. He also led the league in HRs and RBIs in 1935, and went on to become the seventh NL player to hit 200 career home runs.


Alfred Cowens, Jr. was a right fielder in MLB from 1974-86. He played for the Kansas City Royals (1974–79), California Angels (1980), Detroit Tigers (1980–81) and Seattle Mariners (1982–86). His best season was 1977, batting .312 with 23 HRs and 112 RBIs, earning a Golden Glove, and finishing second to Rod Carew for the American League MVP. In 1979, Texas pitcher Ed Farmer hit Cowens, breaking Cowens' jaw and several teeth. Cowens would miss 21 games. The following year, Cowens hit an infield grounder against Farmer. As Farmer watched the infielder make the play, Cowens ran to the mound and tackled Farmer instead of running to first base. Cowens was suspended for 7 games. He later was a scout.

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Last edited by SpecialK; 10-20-2020 at 11:45 PM.

[SpecialK]

Holy Cross, Culver City.

Dick Curtis was an actor with over 230 film and TV appearances during his career. In most of his films, he played villains or heavies, though he displayed a comedic touch in some Three Stooges films. With the help of his friend and actor Russell Hayden, Curtis helped develop Pioneertown, a movie set location in Southern California that was used for many TV and film westerns.


Joan Leslie was an actress, dancer, and vaudevillian. Leslie's first credited acting role was in Winter Carnival (1939), using her birth name, Joan Brodel. She also appeared in High Sierra, Sergeant York, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. During World War II, she was a regular volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen, where she danced with servicemen and signed hundreds of autographs. For better or for worse, in 1947, the Catholic Theatre Guild gave Leslie an award because of her "consistent refusal to use her talents and art in film productions of objectionable character." She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and earned a Golden Boot Award.


June Haver was an actress, singer, and dancer. At age eight, she won a film test by imitating famous actresses including Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Helen Hayes. She was a band singer in her teens, with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra, Dick Jurgens, and Freddy Martin. Haver made her film debut, uncredited, as a hat-check girl in 1943's The Gang's All Here. In 1946, she starred and received first-billing in Wake Up and Dream, and Three Little Girls in Blue. Once planned by 20th Century Fox to be "the next Betty Grable", Haver appeared in a string of musicals, but she never achieved Grable's popularity. After her marriage to actor Fred MacMurray in 1954, Haver largely retired from acting,

[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood.

Ethlyne Clair starred in silent comedies and serials including The Vanishing Rider (1928) and Queen of the Northwoods (1929), and was most popular in Westerns opposite cowboy stars including Hoot Gibson. Unfortunately, her voice did not work well in talkies, which ended her career.


Actor Bob Clarke suffered stage fright in his school stage productions before hitch-hiking to Hollywood. He married Alyce King of the singing The King Sisters in 1956 and, a decade later, appeared on TV and on tour with The King Family - though not a singer, he appeared in their comedy sketches and sentimental readings. Acting roles include Back to Bataan, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, Outrage, Captive Women, The Mickey Rooney Show, Lassie, The Astounding She-Monster, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Sea Hunt, 7 episodes of Dragnet, 6 episodes of Adam-12, and his last movie The Naked Monster. He directed and starred in 1958's The Hideous Sun Demon, which required wearing a rubber lizard suit. He published his autobiography, To "B" or Not to "B": A Film Actor's Odyssey, in 1996.


Nuta Kotlyarenko, known professionally as Nudie Cohn, was an American tailor who designed decorative rhinestone-covered suits, known as "Nudie Suits", and other elaborate outfits for celebrities including Tex Williams, Porter Wagoner, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Elvis Presley. Cohn was equally famous for his garishly decorated automobiles, typically white Pontiac Bonneville convertibles, with silver-dollar-studded dashboards, pistol door handles and gearshifts, extended rear bumpers, and enormous longhorn steer horn hood ornaments. He famously wore mismatched boots to remind him of his humble beginnings.

[SpecialK]

Holy Sepulcher, Orange CA.
Dominic Lucero was an actor and dancer. He was in a Sprite commercial, then went on to dance, act, sing, and choreograph for movies, TV, and live touring. His big break was in Michael Jackson's BAD tour. Lucero also toured with Paula Abdul. His most notable movie role is in Newsies (1992) playing Bumlets. On TV, he was in Nickelodeon's Roundhouse (1992). He won Star Search in 1991, an Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast award, and an Emmy with Paula Abdul for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. He died from lymphatic cancer.


Ivy Lawn, Ventura CA.
Francis Newton Gifford had a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants, then was a play-by-play announcer and commentator for 27 years on ABC's Monday Night Football. Gifford won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1956, the same season his team won the NFL Championship. He lost 18 months in the prime of his career when he was injured by a hard tackle from Chuck Bednarik on a passing play, suffering a severe head injury that led him to retire in 1961. However, Gifford returned to the Giants in 1962, changing positions from running back to flanker. He played in five league championship games, was named to eight Pro Bowls, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. He appeared as Ensign Cy Mount in the 1959 World War II submarine film drama Up Periscope. He was married to TV host Kathie Lee Gifford from 1986 until his death.


Loma Vista, Fullerton CA.
George Fullerton was a longtime associate of Leo Fender and, along with Fender and Dale Hyatt, a co-founder of G&L Musical Instruments. He is credited with design contributions that led to the first mass-production of Telecaster solid-body electric guitars. Not related to the city name.

[SpecialK]

Hillside, Culver City.

Arthur Freed was a lyricist and film producer. After meeting Minnie Marx, he sang as part of the act of her sons, the Marx Brothers, on the vaudeville circuit, and also wrote material for the brothers. He was eventually hired by MGM. and wrote lyrics for numerous films, many set to music by Nacio Herb Brown. His first solo credit as producer was for Babes in Arms (1939), released only a few months after The Wizard of Oz on which he was the uncredited producer. He then led his own unit within MGM, and helped elevate the studio to the leading creator of film musicals, mostly starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. He allowed directors and choreographers free rein, and is credited for furthering the boundaries of film musicals with such moments as the fifteen-minute ballet at the end of An American in Paris (1951), after which the film concludes moments later with no further dialogue or singing, and he allowed the musical team of Lerner and Loewe complete control in their writing of Gigi (1958). He produced two Best Picture-winning films - An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958). He also produced Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Meet Me in St Louis (1944). He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Shirley Temple wrote in her 1988 autobiography that at age twelve she was interviewed by Freed who exposed himself to her. She giggled and he threw her out of the office.


Ben Frommer was a roundfaced-and-moustached actor, known for Scarface (1983), Plan 9 from Outer Space, Battlestar Galactica, and Psycho II. TV included multiple episodes of The Untouchables, F Troop, The Virginian, Alias Smith and Jones, Columbo, and McCloud. He later was a publicist for Forrest Tucker, Lee Majors, and others.


Harold Gast was a TV writer and producer who wrote the screenplay for the Emmy-winning miniseries "A Woman Called Golda." He started his writing career in the 1950s for New York radio shows "Front Page Farrell", and "Real Stories From Real Life." Other TV included "Armstrong Circle Theater," "U.S. Steel Hour", and "The Defenders." After relocating to LA in the mid-1960s, Gast wrote for such popular series as "Dr. Kildare," "Ben Casey", "I Spy," and "Judd for the Defense," which he later produced, and "Cannon," which he also produced.

[SpecialK]

This one is a bit different format...

Forest Lawn, Long Beach.

Elizabeth Teresa "Terry" Burnham was a child actor initially in Kellogg's cereal commercials, and as an uncredited extra on I Love Lucy.


She appeared in the 1959 Lana Turner movie "Imitation of Life".


She later was in the 1966 Bob Hope movie "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number!".


More TV followed, including Leave It To Beaver, 5 episodes of Wagon Train, and 2 episodes each of My Three Sons, Family Affair, and Insight. Her most memorable role was in the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare as a Child" (1960), where she played the creepy and intrusive 10-year old "Markie", the child version of the adult co-star, Janice Rule.



In the episode, Markie appears at the apartment of the school teacher, Helen, and offers up some information about Helen's past, including the murder of her mother. Markie also knows that Helen saw the murderer earlier that day. A man shows up at the apartment, claiming to know Helen and her mother from years before. I won't spoil the ending :-) This episode alone created fans all over the TZ universe.
Near the end of that episode, another actress, Suzanne Cupito, has one scene. She is later known as Morgan Brittany.


After Terry's 1971 appearance on Insight, at age 22, she essentially disappeared from public view. She died from a heart attack in 2013. With no next-of-kin, the Los Angeles county morgue would hold her cremated remains for 3 years at which time if no one claimed her, she would be buried in a common county cemetery. In 2015, a friend, with access to such medical records, notified the Twilight Zone Museum about Terry's status. A posting was made on the TZ Facebook page about raising funds for a marker and within 2 months, more than $1,500 had been raised. Her remains were paid for ($340) and released to a fan in NY.

Museum director with photo (complete photo below).


The local Long Beach Press Telegram and LA Daily News newspapers printed an article about her. But, the question remained - where would the marker be placed? Forest Lawn Cemetery in Long Beach contacted the museum and reported that Terry's parents had already made a provision for her at FLLB, but only holding the space for her. Another fundraiser was held for Terry's burial costs.

Urn of ashes?


She was officially buried on August 8, 2018, which would've been her 69th birthday.


As a result of the fundraisers, several friends and acquaintances sent messages. Here are a few:

"I was in a club in high school (Lakewood) called the Lakewood Folk Association...we met after school in the cafeteria for folk music. Terry was in the group, I remember one time singing Hava Na Gila and dancing around the cafeteria conga style. Sad news."

"Maybe 3rd or 4th grade. We played Chip and Dale from the cartoons on the St Maria Goretti playground. She was the director of sorts and assigned us our characters. She always had me be a tree."

"She and I met when we worked together at Long Beach Memorial Hospital."

"Terry and Michael [McGreevey] and I worked together on the Disney Show. She was very talented and a lot of fun." - Bill Mumy, actor.

"I read the [LA Daily News] article on Miss Burnham [in which I was mentioned] - unfortunately, it is not unusual for child actors to be forgotten so soon, and I commend your effort to remember her!" - Martin Sheen.

"I knew Terry very well when we worked together during those years. Loved her, and always had her back! Thank you for all you did for her." - Morgan Brittany (formerly Suzanne Cupito)


Here is one newspaper article:




***
You can google up all this info, but here are some links:

Twilight Zone episode info at IMDB:
"The Twilight Zone" Nightmare as a Child (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb

Ruben Febus' fundraiser page - nice story, photos and cremains release documentation.
Fundraiser by Rubén A. Febus : Burial for Terry Burnham

Twilight Zone museum project.
Terry Burnham - Nightmare as a Child

[mkgd1]

Wild Bill Hickock. Deadwood South Dakota.

[SpecialK]

Sunnyside, Long Beach.

In the early 20th century, the citizens of Great Britain, and residents of the nations in the global British Commonwealth, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and nations in Africa, South America and the Caribbean, brought Empire Day, originally called Victoria Day after the queen's birthday, to Southern California.

In 1913, a huge Empire Day festival and picnic was held in Long Beach, in and around the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium which was built on pilings to extend out over the beach and the ocean. The wooden structure featured two floors surrounded by outdoor promenades, with the main auditorium having 40,000 sqft of floor space with a seating capacity of 6,000.

From 1929. The auditorium was repaired after the disaster, at a cost of more than the original construction. Eventually replaced by a second building, and subsequently the Long Beach convention center. Due to filling in the shoreline and creating a marina, the original site is now hundreds of feet from the water.


An estimated 25,000 people – more than the population of the city – were gathered for the Empire Day celebration. Hundreds of people were standing on the outside promenade decks on both levels of the auditorium, waiting for the doors to open. When the auditorium doors finally opened, the crowd pushed toward the entrances. As the throng crowded around the doors, one of the rotten wooden supports beneath the second-floor deck splintered under the extreme weight. A section of the wooden deck, about 42-feet-by-26-feet, broke away and fell 20 feet down to the first level, bringing hundreds of people down with it. Due to the impact and additional weight of the upper floor, a smaller section of the first-level deck also broke away and fell an additional 10 feet down onto the beach. Many of the people at the auditorium were older, and weren’t able to make it out to see the parade, but they wanted to be among the first in line to see the program.




Thirty-four people died at the scene. A few died as a result of the fall, or injuries received from the splintered and falling lumber, but most were suffocated on the beach under the weight of the bodies and timber on top of them. Four more victims later died of their injuries, bringing the final death toll to 38. More than 300 people were injured. The 38 victims included 30 women, four men and four children. Nearly one-third of the fatalities were women in their 60s and 70s.


The victims are buried at various locations, but a handful are at Sunnyside in Long Beach. Originally opened in the 1900's, the cemetery is now full. It apparently has just been arranged for the city to rehabilitate and maintain it. It is a mass of gopher holes and overgrown grass at the moment, making most of the flat markers hard to find.

Anna Stone is a relatively easy one to find next to the west wall:


Margaret Reed was a 12-year old girl who attended the event with her mother (who received a dislocated shoulder and broken arm) and sister (who was uninjured). Margaret received a concussion, broken back and ribs, and a spinal injury. She never regained consciousness and died a few days later of meningitis. It took three tries to find her grave, scraping away with a spatula - just 2 spots in front of Anna Stone, next to a tree. (Already covered in new gopher dirt by the next week...)


These easy-to-find blocky markers are all within about 50 feet of each other on the west side, not far from the entrance.

Emma Valentine.


Diana Wallace.


Isabel Bush.


Agnes Nicol.


Ada Helps.


Abby Thomas.


Of the personal effects collected from the scene, the most valuable (about $6,000 in today's money) was a watch made from three kinds of gold collected by the owner in America, Australia and South Africa, set off by a half caret blue white diamond, with a heavy gold chain, owned by Thomas Beck.


Another grave I could not find is for three members of the Lett family - the wife and 2 of the 3 sons. The husband, a former conductor for the PG&E railway, and the third son remained at home.

More information, photos, and headlines of this accident can be found here:

Grave Spotlight - Empire Day, Long Beach

Here's a silent movie shot on the day.
Municipal Auditorium Empire Day Disaster : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive

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[Arjay Bee]

Sunnyside, Long Beach.

I am enjoying the new format - thank you for taking the time on these tributes.