When TV Stars Sing - Part 1

Long before "reality TV" contestants were burning up the Billboard Hot 100, TV stars have been capitalizing on their small screen success by using their vocal talents. I'll start with a look at sitcom stars of the 1960s. The late BEVERLY HILLBILLIES star and Republican whack-job Buddy Ebsen recorded Buddy Ebsen Says Howdy back in 1965. Among the tunes can be found classics like You Are My Sunshine and Your Cheatin' Heart, as well as curiosities with titles like and Keep A-Thinkin' Pretty and Dear Hearts and Gentle People. One wonders where his pretty and gentle thoughts were when he campaigned against co-star Nancy Kulp (Miss Jane Hathaway) when she ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ebsen supported incumbent Bud Shuster, recording a radio ad for Shuster, labeling Kulp as "too liberal". Fuck him.
Not to be outdone, Hooterville neighbor Eddie Albert came out with The Eddie Albert Album in 1966. This bizarre offering was from Bob Dylan/Simon & Garfunkel producer Bob Johnston and featured The Green Acres Theme and Blowin' in the Wind.
Future Oscar-winner Sally Field, star of THE FLYING NUN (and SYBIL!) released the single Find Yourself a Rainbow in 1967. An album followed, and apparently you can download the tracks here at your own risk.
Patty Duke (whose voice was later dubbed in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS) released a bunch of singles and LPs during the run of THE PATTY DUKE SHOW. The 45 RPM Don't Just Stand There was her VERY FIRST RECORD!!!
The album Don't Just Stand There followed and the cover showed her sitting. On the floor. With her hand on her knee. Shouldn't it have been called Don't Just Sit There On the Floor with Your Hand on Your Knee ?
Next came Patty featuring a cover that probably drove Lesley Gore and Dusty Springfield nuts. I mean, I'm not a lesbian, but there's something really hot and butch going on there. Is it just me?
Evidently Patty had enough "hits" for United Artists to put out a Greatest Hits collection in 1966!
They later recycled the cover photo for TV's Teen Star Patty Duke in 1967 and I would think the track listing is pretty much the same too. MUNSTERS star Butch Patrick had to wait till 1972 (when he was almost 20) for his shot at music stardom. I.O.I.O. was the single, but B side I Want Sugar sounds like something I need to hear. Come back tomorrow as I look at 70's sitcom stars and their recording careers!

Dippity-Do Flippity-Do's

From the Dougsploitation swipe files...a fun little ad featuring some of our favorite groovy chicks from the 60s sporting some of the best do's in town. Seven of our favorite gals are featured...anybody want to try to name 'em all?
You can try to guess your best in the "comment" section below.

TV tie-in merchandise that makes you say "huh?"

She's a frightened young maiden pursued on a haunted moor by a wrathful wraith. Would you believe she's THAT GIRL?
Um, frankly, no. A novel based on the popular ABC-TV series starring Marlo Thomas...that sounds nothing like the series whatsoever. I guess it was a trend to take popular sitcoms like THAT GIRL or THE PATTY DUKE SHOW and force them into "mystery" type stories - I'd love to see them do crazy shit like that today. THE OFFICE: THE MYSTERY OF PAM'S ANTIQUE LOCKET  or MY NAME IS EARL AND THE CURSE OF L. RON HUBBARD'S GHOST. Could be interesting.

You can lose your mind...

Patty Lane (Patty Duke) was a normal American teen living in Brooklyn Heights, New York, who loved typically American things like ice cream, sleepovers and safe-looking boys. In the first episode, of THE PATTY DUKE SHOW, Patty's trampy "identical cousin" Cathy Lane (also played by Duke) arrives in the USA from Scotland to live with Patty and her family. That's where the comedy lies. (The uncanny physical resemblance that Patty and Cathy Lane share is explained by their dads being identical twin brothers- right!).

Okay, so what are Patty and Cathy up to in this here book based on their hit TV show? Hmmm..."The Adventure of the Chinese Junk"...oh it must be about that time Cathy convinced Patty to buy some cheap imported heroin from the Chinese exchange student at Brooklyn Heights High School! You see, Fred Yao smuggled heroin on military transport flights from Hong Kong for eventual distribution on the East Coast. Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is a semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. As with other opiates, heroin is used mainly as a recreational drug. One of the most common methods of heroin use is via intravenous injection (typically known as "shooting up"). One would surmise, by it's title that this book chronicles Patty's early addition and harrowing downward spiral into homelessness, overdose and eventual withdrawal. While Patty is in rehab, Cathy poses as her, turning her life upside down–resulting in pregnancy via Patty's boyfriend, Richard Harrison. Meanwhile, Patty's father, Martin, managing editor of a the New York Chronicle, struggles to maintain his sanity while the lives of the two girls tumble out of control. It all ends up on a sunny note, as Fred Yao is deported, Patty is declared "clean" by the family doctor and Cathy's miscarriage (after tumbling down the Lane house staircase) puts things back in order! What an adventure!
"Meet Cathy who's scored most everywhere, from Afghanistan to Vietnam; But Patty's only seen the sights a girl can see from illegal fights - what a crazy pair! But they're cousins, identical cousins all the way; one pair of matching headlights, different as straight and gay. Where Cathy adores a dutch oven, a Donkey Punch, and a tuna melt; our Patty loves to shoot the smack, black tar makes her lose her shit - what D-N-A! But they're cousins, identical cousins and you'll find they cry alike, they speak alike, at times they even freak alike. You can lose your mind ... when cousins are two of a kind!"