Cleaning out the Inbox- Passings Non-Sports Edition

 The non-sports passings are equally important as those from the sports world and sadly they fill up just as quickly.

Goodbye to Bobby Rydell at the age of 79.

One of the original Philadelphia "Teen Idols" of the early to mid-1960s, Rydell placed thirty-four hits in the Billboard Top 100 including his biggest hit "Wild One" which reached second on the charts, and a cover of "Volare".

Rydell would star on Broadway as "Conrad Birdie" in the original adaptation of "Bye Bye Birdie and would have a cameo role in the 1978 film "Grease"

Rydell is also credited as the inspiration for John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing the Beatles hit "She Loves You" as both said that a Rydell song was playing on the radio as the duo penned the song,

Rydell's biggest claim to fame here was in the 1990s when the 1960s NBC program Hullaballoo was released on VHS and DVD and an episode with Rydell singing the song below in such an over-the-top manner is one that Ryan and I still laugh about to this day.

Goodbye to Liz Sheridan at the age of 93.

Sheridan is best known for portraying Jerry Seinfeld's mother in "Seinfeld" but to me, Sheridan will be forever "Raquel Ochomanek" the nosy busy-body next-door neighbor on "ALF" that was constantly trying to figure out what was really going on at the Tanner residence.

A long-time character actress in film and television, Sheridan was a singer and dancer in the 1950s in the New York nightclubs and was the first person in show business to have a relationship with the young James Dean.

Goodbye to Neal Adams at the age of 80.

Adams, a long-time artist, and writer in comics, made his biggest mark with DC Comics where Adams created such characters as Ras Al Ghul, Man-Bat, and John Stewart as Green Lantern as well as doing classic work for years with Batman.

It was Adams that brought the Batman into his dark brooding figure and away from the campy version popularized by the television show starring Adam West, revitalized the Joker into his homicidal maniac from his clownish version during the same period, and brought Two-Face back into the Batman rogues gallery after a long absence from the comic.

But it will be Adams and Denny O'Neil's run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow that is most remembered. GL/GA is so fondly recalled that many are surprised to hear that the title only lasted a surprisingly short time of only two years and was canceled for low sales.

The title dealt with controversial social issues (for its time) of the day and the most remembered issues dealt with Green Arrow's ward and former sidekick Speedy in secret identity Roy Harper admitting an addiction to heroin.

Adams would later be heavily involved with artists' and creators' rights with their work being returned to them after the comics had been printed.

Goodbye to David Birney at the age of 83.

Birney may be best remembered as a husband to Meredith Baxter, who Birney married after their television show, "Bridget Loves Bernie", but had a career that saw him star in his own drama "Serpico", was part of the first season of "St. Elsewhere", and starred in many guest roles on television as well as stage work.

Birney was lambasted by the former Baxter Birney in her 2011 autobiography as being physically and emotionally abusive during their marriage, charges that Birney denied.

Sidebar: "Bridget Loves Bernie" remains to this day- the only program in television history to have finished in the top ten in the ratings in its first season and would not be renewed for a second season.

Sidebar part two: Meredith Baxter during the run of this show ranks high (as in highest level) on the TRS beauty scale...

Goodbye to Mike Hagerty at the age of 67.

The longtime character actor never had the opportunity to star in a breakout role but spent years in both film and television usually playing regular, working man type roles.

Hagerty would only receive one shot as a regular on a series, which was during the only season of "The George Carlin Show" in 1994-85.

My favorite supporting role that Hagerty performed was as "Bad Billy Platt" the best friend of Kurt Russell in the 1987 film "Overboard" starring Russell and Goldie Hawn.

Cleaning out the inbox: Passings

Our tributes to the recently deceased returns as the cycle of life never stop revolving.

Goodbye to Denny O'Neill at the age of 81.
O'Neill wrote for both DC and Marvel Comics from the 60s to the 90s and is remembered for top-notch work for both companies.
However, to me, O'Neill's DC stint was his calling card with his run with Batman in the seventies being the beginning of the turn away from the campiness of the Batman television show and towards the brooding, dark character that Batman is known for today.
O'Neill is the creator of Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul during that run and Ghul is a villain with a fan base to this day.
O'Neill's most celebrated work though was his two-year turn with Green Lantern and Green Arrow where O'Neill used the characters with Green Arrow as the liberal/countercultural person with Green Lantern as the more establishment oriented character and their travels around the country dealing with "real" issues of the time.
Racism, pollution, corruption, and cults were all written about by O'Neill in the series, which wasn't exactly standard material for comic books of the era.
The most famous was the two-part comic with Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy being found addicted to heroin and his road to recovery.
The comic won several awards for the writing, but didn't sell well on the overall and was the reason that the series met cancellation after only two years.
O'Neill would continue to write over the decades, but he also edited several series for both DC and Marvel as his main job from 1980 forward.
O'Neill did one other book that I read but never owned despite my groaning for it- 1978's Superman vs Muhammad Ali.
Both comic companies would occasionally release these monstrous, oversized comic book versions that were expensive for the time, but did give plenty of value for the dollar.
Superman vs Ali was in that format, but I never owned it.
Darn, the luck.

Goodbye to Jim Kiick at the age of 73.
Kiick was part of the three-pronged backfield for the 1972 and 1973 World Champion Dolphins and was part of the highly-publicized leap to the WFL with Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield, which could have cost the Dolphins another Super Bowl trip or victory.
Had the Dolphins made that trip (they lost in the final seconds at Oakland in the famous "Sea of Hands" game), it would have been four trips in a row and a win would have been three of four titles.
If that happens, it's the Dolphins that grab the "team of the seventies" title, not the Steelers.
Larry Csonka was the hard-driving workhorse fullback, Mercury Morris was the speed back that could break a long run at any time and Kiick was the pass-catching, change of pace back.
The varied skills of the trio are what made the Dolphins so tough to defeat at that time and I think Miami wouldn't have been nearly as good with only two of the backs.
Miami owner Joe Robbie was noted as a cheaper owner in the league and when the WFL's Memphis Southmen offered Kiick, Larry Csonka, and Paul Warfield far superior contracts, the three leaped to the WFL.
The WFL didn't even complete their second year (The only year there for the Miami Three) and everyone seemed to suffer.
The three played well for the Southmen, but they didn't dominate, none of the three players played as well as they did with the Dolphins when they returned to the NFL in 1976 and Miami didn't even make the playoffs in 1975 ( they finished 10-4, tied for first with the Colts, but lost the tiebreaker and the wild card was 11-3 Cincinnati) or in the following two seasons as well.
Kiick's return to the NFL didn't go well as he was a seldom-used back for Denver in 1976, played three games for the Broncos in 1977, along with one for Washington in the final season of his career.

Goodbye to Adrian Devine at the age of 68.
Devine was a journeyman pitcher for the Braves and Rangers in the late 1970s and was part of three trades between the teams that saw Devine move from Atlanta to Texas back to Atlanta and then back to Texas to end his career.
Devine was mostly a reliever in his career with his best season occurring in his first stint as a Ranger in 1977 with 15 saves.
Devine survived two battles with tongue cancer that left him unable to speak, another with brain cancer until finally succumbing to lung cancer- one tough man.
Devine may be the subject of an upcoming post on the joy of liking and collecting "common" players and their baseball cards coming soon.

Goodbye to Ernesto Marcel at the age of 72.
Panama's Marcel came within an eyelash of winning both the WBA and WBC featherweight titles in nine months in 1971-72.
The smooth-boxing Marcel drew with WBC champion Kuniaki Shibata in Japan in November 1971 and then took away the WBA title from Antonio Gomez via a majority decision in August 1972.
Marcel would defend the title three times and defeat two future champions in Sammy Serrano (non-title ten rounder) and all-time great Alexis Arguello in Marcel's final fight as Marcel retired following his unanimous decision win in February 1974.
Before winning his title, Marcel fought another future great in 1970 against fellow Panamanian Roberto Duran in the first major test of Duran's career.
Duran would stop Marcel in the final round of the ten-round fight and Marcel is one of only two fighters along with Vilomar Fernandez to have fought both Duran and Arguello.

Podcast:DC Comics

We talk DC Comics from the 70's,80's and early 90's with Chris And Reggie from the Cosmic Treadmill and Weird Comic History Podcasts!!