I headed to downtown Hollywood with Kelly this morning to see the wreath placed at Sid’s star by The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce . A lovely memorial. ❤️🌸🌼🌺❤️
I found a friend in you
One that surely will endure
Loneliness has just one cure
The friend I found in you
You found a friend in me
One on whom you can depend
True and trusting to the end
The friend you found in me
-Jimmy, the Pufnstuf movie
Los Angeles Quagmire
The La Brea Tar Pits are located in the area of multiple museums in a busy section of LA. The Tar Pit museum is full of animals and critters. All of which were quite dead.
“Why don’t I just step out and slip into something more spectacular?!”
Aldon Accessories LTD created this commemorative “Mr. Showmanship” Collectible Set in 1988, the year after Liberace’s passing and was limited to 10,000 pieces. It’s tacky, it’s caked in glitter, and it makes you wonder about the person who would buy this. And that would be me. I LOVE this set. 🖤🎶🎹🎶🖤
Today is the birthday remembrance of Pearl Bailey.
Because they had worked together, Sid created a puppet of Bailey that premiered and starred in the 1964 World’s Fair adaption of Les Poupees de Paris. Much press was given about her chinchilla dress trim, purported to cost $4,000.
The Bailey puppet would later be a lead celebrity in the Six Flags puppet show Follies which was performed at numerous parks. Follies and the Pearl marionette also played at Busch Gardens for the opening year (1975) of their Old Country park. The color image is from the Busch Gardens souvenir guide book. Bailey loved the likeness and had the Krofft puppets appear on her 1966 TV variety special.
On March 28 in 1964, Madame Tussauds London unveiled their waxworks of the Beatles. The real boys visited the museum the following day to be photographed with their likenesses. The figures would be borrowed a few years later to be a part of the renowned album cover of Sgt. Pepper.
Because I’m a bit non-committal about the Beatles, I don’t usually take photos of them in wax museums but did take this one of these newer representations at Madame Tussauds Berlin in 2009.
All you need is love. And wax museums.
On this date 80 YEARS AGO!!!!, Sid Krofft was opening in a vaudeville show at the Loew’s Pitkin theatre. Located in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, the Pitkin was one of the larger Loew’s theaters and sat over 2,800 patrons. Sid was performing with very well-known vaudeville comedic acrobats and dancers- Ken & Roy Paige and the Three Corwins, with comedic dancer Leon Fields as Master of Ceremonies. The double feature after the live stage show included Judy Garland’s Harvey Girls and the Sherlock Holmes film Terror By Night, both released earlier in 1946.
The Pitkin still stands today, with most of its exterior remaining. The inside was gutted and the building now houses a public charter school with retail spaces occupying the street level. The photos show the theatre as Sid would have seen it- the exterior, his view from the stage, and the beautiful proscenium that would have framed Sid and his “little people”.
“Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy.”
As long as they own the license, my favorite Disney Princess will always be Leia. This 11.5” doll was released in 2015 as a Disney Store D23 Expo exclusive and limited to 450 pieces.
Gottlieb “Fred” Fischer and his wife were a married couple that were a part of the Ringling Brothers sideshow when Sid Krofft was touring with the circus. Gottlieb stood at 8’1” and Elfriede at 7’11”. The duo were promoted as the tallest couple on earth. After arriving to America in 1937, they toured with various circuses and left Ringling in 1948, as did Sid. The Fischers then opened a hotel in Florida, with Elfriede passing away in 1984 and Fred in 1988.
The signed postcard as well as the enormous pot metal ring were sold at the Ringling sideshow for additional income. 💍
