The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention 2013

Julie Newmar

As you may have noticed, this blog is now officially sponsored by Martin Grams' Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, one of THE best places to catch some of your classic TV favorites year after year. We'll be spotlighting a number of shows connected to the con, past and present, as we near the actual September event. Here are a few of this year's guests. Click the banner at the bottom of the page to go to the Con's page for much more info!

Edward Asner

John Crawford

Elizabeth Shepherd

Robert Loggia

Also appearing! Legendary movie stars Mamie Van Doren and Margaret O'Brien!

Hanna-Barbera-The Rocky Road to Success-1961

Vito Scotti--My First "That Guy."

Probably the earliest character actor I remember recognizing from one show to another was Vito Scotti, an absolute expert in different ethnic characterizations. He started in films in the late forties but really made his mark on television a few years later. One look at his IMDB filmography verifies my theory that he was pretty much on everything in the sixties and early seventies...and quite a few things after that, right up to his passing in 1996! 

For more info on Vito Scotti, check out his Wikipedia page here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Scotti 

Jerry Mahoney

While the heyday of Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney was before my time, the great voice actor and his little wooden friend continued to delight well into my formative years. Here's a one-page piece from the mid-fifties. 

R.I.P. Annette

Perhaps my first TV crush, we lost Annette Funicello while my computer was giving me fits. Her earliest success was before I was born but I saw her on ZORRO and reruns of MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY and, yes, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. Soon enough, I was watching her in the almost ubiquitous Beach Party movies of the early to mid-sixties. She was, by all accounts, as sweet and lovely inside as out. A friend even though we never met. Rest in peace, my friend.

That Li'l Girl

In the center is young Margo Thomas, pre-nose job and before she changed her "g" to an "l." The even tinier Thomas at left is her sister Terre aka Theresa, aka, apparently, "Chita!"

R.I.P. Jonathan Winters

As I grew out of toddler-hood, Jonathan Winters was recognized as a familiar TV presence. By the early seventies, his improvs had become absolute favorites. R.I.P.