27 May 2015

 Birthdays
Bella Heathcote b. 1987 (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dark Shadows [2012], In Time)
Ben Feldman b. 1980 (Cloverfield, Them [2007])
Shanola Hampton b. 1977 (Suburban Gothic)
Jack McBrayer b. 1973 (The Brass Teapot, Early Edition)
Paul Bettany b. 1971 (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Transcendence, Priest, Iron Man, Legion, Inkheart)
Joseph Fiennes b. 1970 (Hercules [2014], American Horror Story, Camelot [2011], FlashForward)
Eddie McClintock b. 1967 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Warehouse 13, Boogeyman)
Steven Brill b. 1962 (director, Little Nicky; actor, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands)
Cathy Silvers b. 1961 (Encino Woman)
Candice Silvers b. 1961 (My Science Project)
Linnea Quigley b. 1958 (A whole mess of low-budget stuff. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers are typical examples. Not gonna type it all up.)
Richard Schiff b. 1955 (Ted 2, Man of Steel, Once Upon a Time, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Roswell, Doctor Dolittle, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Volcano, The Arrival, Special Report: Journey to Mars, Tank Girl)
Greg Hicks b. 1953 (Snow White and the Huntsman, Jason and the Argonauts [2000 TV movie], Bugs)
Michelan Sisti b. 1949 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Ken Lerner b. 1948 (The Big Bang Theory, They Crawl, Godzilla [1998], Buffy, The Exorcist III, RoboCop2, Project X, Twilight Zone, The Greatest American Hero)
Bruce Weitz b. 1943 (My Apocalypse, Dinocroc, Deep Impact, The X-Files, Lois & Clark, Highlander, The Twilight Zone [1989])
Louis Gossett Jr. b. 1936 (Extant, Stargate SG-1, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Legend of the Mummy, The Punisher, Enemy Mine, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders)
Lee Meriwether b. 1935 (Wizards of Waverly Place, The Munsters Today, Time Express, The Immortal, Land of the Giants, Star Trek, The Time Tunnel, Batman, Batman: The Movie, 4D Man)
Harlan Ellison b. 1934 (writer, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone [1980s], The Starlost, A Boy and His Dog, Star Trek, The Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
John Miranda b. 1926 died 3 February 2015 (The Invisible Kid, ALF, Innerspace, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Greatest American Hero, Mork & Mindy, Dark Shadows [1969])
Sir Christopher Lee b. 1922 (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Dark Shadows [2012], Hugo, The Season of the Witch, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, The Golden Compass, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow [movie], Tale of the Mummy, The Odyssey [TV], The Tomorrow People, Curse III: Blood Sacrifice, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Howling II:… Your Sister is a Werewolf, The Return of Captain Invincible, Captain America II: Death Too Soon, Return from Witch Mountain, Starship Invasions, The End of the World, Dracula and Son, To the Devil a Daughter, Space: 1999, The Wicker Man, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Poor Devil, The Creeping Flesh, Dark Places, Horror Express, Dracula A.D. 1972, I Monster, The House that Dripped Blood, Scars of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Count Dracula, Scream and Scream Again, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Blood Fiend, Island of the Burning Damned, Psycho-Circus, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Skull, She, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, The Gorgon, Castle of the Living Dead, Crypt of the Vampire, Hercules in the Haunted World, Scream of Fear, The Hands of Orlac, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Mummy, Horror of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein)
Vincent Price b. 1911 died 25 October 1993 (Edward Scissorhands, The Offspring, Bloodbath at the House of Death, Thriller [narrator], House of the Long Shadows, Hansel and Gretel [TV], The Monster Club, Time Express, The Bionic Woman, Journey Into Fear, Theatre of Blood, The Aries Computer, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Cry of the Banshee, An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, Scream and Scream Again, The Oblong Box, More Dead Than Alive, Witchfinder General, Batman, House of 1,000 Dolls, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Masque of the Red Death, The Last Man on Earth, The Comedy of Terrors, Twice Told Tales, The Haunted Palace, Diary of a Madman, The Raven Pit and the Pendulum, Master of the World, House of Usher, The Bat, The Tingler, Return of the Fly, House on Haunted Hill, The Fly, House of Wax, Son of Sinbad, The Invisible Man Returns)


Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. For the past two years, I gave the Picture Slot to Sir Christopher Lee, in large part because of the one-two punch of Sir Peter Cushing's birthday yesterday. But a desire not to repeat myself this year unless absolutely necessary means someone else gets the honor, and no one deserves it more than Vincent Price. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another genre villain actor I love as much as Sir Christopher Lee or Vincent Price. They are so wonderful.

2. Not sexist, just elitist. I lovingly typed in every genre credit I could find for Lee and Price, but I did not do the same for Linnea Quigley, a low-budget scream queen who worked a lot in the 1970s and 1980s. As the title of this paragraph states, I can be accused of elitism her, but not sexism.

3. Nepotism FTW. The Silvers twins born in 1961 are the daughters of Phil Silvers. Paul Bettany comes from a family of actors, but none are nearly as famous as he is. Joseph Fiennes is the younger brother of Ralph, but they are both famous enough that I don't count that as nepotism.

4. Living Canadian free. Did not find anyone born north of the border in today's research.

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: Wireless telegraphy systems will be used for checking the enterprises of the burglar. The best protected safes of the future will be enmeshed in networks of wires encased in some material which will render it impossible to determine their positions from the outside. These wires will be so related to an electric circuit that the breaking of any one of them, at any part of its course, will have the effect of ringing a bell and giving warning at the police station, as well as at other places where potential thief-catchers may be on hand.

Reality: Wireless telegraphy is the term Sutherland uses for radio, and since nearly no one saw how it might be used as wireless telephony in 1901, Sutherland is forgiven for missing just how huge a boon it would be. That said, he has some extremely clever ideas for how to use it as telegraphy instead of telephony and many of them came to pass, though some took much longer than they should have. He doesn't always get the mechanism exact, but over the next few weeks I think our sensible friend Mr. Sutherland will rise in the estimation of regular readers.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!


Another clunker from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!