26 September 2014

 Birthdays
Emma Rigby b. 1989 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Becoming Human)
Ashley Leggat b. 1986 (The Good Witch’s Charm/Destiny/Wonder, My Best Friend Is an Alien)
Talulah Riley b. 1985 (Thor: The Dark World, Inception, Doctor Who)
Christina Milian b. 1981 (Smallville, Charmed)
Mark Famiglietti b. 1979 (FlashForward, Premonition, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Daniel Buran b. 1974 (True Blood)
Sheri Moon Zombie b. 1970 (Halloween I & II [2007 and 2009])
David Slade b. 1969 (director, Powers, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
Jim Caviezel b. 1968 (The Prisoner [2006], Outlander, Frequency)
Marc Gilpin b. 1966 (Earthbound, Jaws 2)
Lysette Anthony b. 1963 (Dark Realm, Highlander: The Return, Tale of the Mummy, NightMan, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Dark Shadows [1991], Krull, Beauty and the Beast [1982 TV movie])
Melissa Sue Anderson b. 1962 (10.5:Apocalypse, Bewitched)
Patrick Bristow b. 1962 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Elvira’s Movie Macabre, Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Black Scorpion)
Linda Hamilton b. 1956 (Defiance, Lost Girl, Bermuda Tentacles, Beauty and the Beast [1989], King Kong Lives, Black Moon Rising, Terminator, Children of the Corn, Wishman)
Olivia Newton John b. 1948 (Xanadu)
Mary Beth Hurt b. 1948 (Lady in the Water, D.A.R.Y.L.)
Togo Igawa b. 1946 (Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, Speed Racer, Primeval, Torchwood, Code 46, Lexx)
Victoria Vetri b. 1944 (Invasion of the Bee Girls, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Land of the Giants, Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek, Batman)
Helmut Bakaitis b. 1944 (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Shirley Thompson vs. the Aliens)
Kent McCord b. 1942 (Farscape, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Dark Skies, SeaQuest 2032, Return of the Living Dead III, Predator 2, Galactica 1980)
Martine Beswick b. 1941 (Trancers II, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Six Million Dollar Man, Strange New World, Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Prehistoric Women, One Million Years B.C.)
Jonathan Goldsmith b. 1938 (Knight Rider, Space, Manimal, Shadow on the Land, The Invaders)
Donna Douglas b. 1933 (Project U.F.O., The Twilight Zone)
Richard Herd b. 1932 (Star Trek: Renegades, InAlienable, Star Trek: Voyager, I Married a Monster, Buffy, SeaQuest 2032, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Knight Rider, Trancers, V, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Greatest American Hero)
Patrick O’Neal b. 1927 died 9 September 1994 (The Stuff, The Stepford Wives, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Charles Macaulay b. 1927 died 13 August 1999 (V, Splash, The Munster’s Revenge, Blacula, The Twilight People, Star Trek)
Joyce Jameson b. 1927 died 16 January 1987 (Project U.F.O., Death Race 2000, Mr. Terrific, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, The Son of Dr. Jekyll)
Shug Fisher b. 1907 died 16 March 1984 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Giant Gila Monster)
Edmund Gwenn b. 1877 died 6 September 1959 (Them!, The Walking Dead [1936])
Winsor McCay b. 1867 died 26 July 1934 (writer/illustrator, Little Nemo in Slumberland)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Linda Hamilton, both a fabulous babe and several iconic roles in genre. Not wanting to repeat myself, we get this climatic shot from Eye of the Beholder, a very famous Twilight Zone episode. (Do I have to warn SPOILER ALERT for a show over fifty years old? I hope not.) She only had a little screen time, but that is in fact Donna Douglas, who would soon be famous as Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies. Next year, I can't be sure, but Charles Macaulay was Landru on an original Star Trek episode and Richard Herd has played a heck of a lot of admirals. If I want to throw the change-up, I might go with an illustration by Winsor McCay.

2. You might remember me from... We have some people with iconic work that isn't genre. From oldest to youngest, Edmund Gwenn was Santa in Miracle on 34th Street, Jonathan Goldsmith is The Most Interesting Man in the World, Martine Beswick was a Bond girl, Kent McCord was on Adam-12 and Jim Caviezel played Jesus in the torture porn classic Passion of the Christ.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: Economic statistician Roger Babson, September 1928, quoted gleaned from The Experts Speak, compiled by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky

Prediction: The election of Hoover in 1928 should result in continued prosperity in 1929.

Reality: We've heard from Babson before. He thought half the country would be living in trailers by 1955 and we would subsist on food in pill form by the late 1970s. It should be noted that a year later in September 1929, he was confident the market would crash. You could call it hedging his bets, but I'm going to be generous and say he correctly changed his mind when confronted with convincing data.

So that would make him 1 out of 4 correct, better than a lot of our predictors. But he failed to rock that beard type like John Elfreth Watkins did and food in pill form is my least favorite of all the cliche future predictions.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A forward looking fellow from 1893 with much better facial hair than Babson's.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!