There will be many posts and news articles over the next few days with laments for Zsa Zsa. While her antics may seem timid by today’s standards, she was groundbreaking. Actually, both her and her sister Eva were groundbreaking, I was just a bit young at the time.
You twenty somethings won’t understand this, the word “gay” didn’t really exist in mainstream culture until some time in the mid to late 1970s. People noticed an oddity with Liberace but they worded it “just being theatrical.”
Merv Griffin
Quite honestly, when I found this article about Merv Griffin I was shocked. I found it today trying to verify which Gabor sister was “his constant traveling companion.” That is how news media always phrased it. The press was _so_ polite back then. Like pretty much every other heteral boy of the day when I heard that I assumed he was shagging her rotten in all of those hotel rooms. You know what they say about ass-u-me, right?
Green Acres
Everyone talks about “Green Acres” which will live on forever now that we have all of these low budget nostalgia television stations both over the air and on cable/satellite. I wonder if the studio still gets a cut/residual each time that show is aired or has that one like so many others fallen into the licensing black hole? I forget what the correct term is. Heard it on an NPR radio show some months back. There was a show about branding and syndication/residual fees.
Now networks don’t kick their re-runs out to syndication without getting channel branding and fees. In decades gone by once they were done they were done but in the digital era they shows can be rerun endlessly across different devices so networks are hanging onto their properties with both fists. Sorry, couldn’t find the link, but, basically that is why you see all of these shows from before some magic year in the 1970s on these oldies stations. They weren’t chosen because of some marketing study but because of low cost, possibly free, licensing.
It’s a Wonderful Life
The 2016 Christmas holiday is fast approaching. When I was young every television station ran “It’s a Wonderful Life” multiple times per week, some ran it every day in December, just at different times of the day. Why? Because of the failure to renew the copyright. (click the link and scroll down to Ownership and copyright issues)
D.E.B.S.
How did we get this far afield from Zsa Zsa? That woman was always far afield and funny. We got here because I _swear_ she was the head mistress of the girls school in D.E.B.S. If she wasn’t then the character was completely inspired by Zsa Zsa. All of this other stuff turned up searching for actual proof one way or the other.
Of course IMDB was its typical useless self. So what if it lists actors and the name of the role they played. You actually have to be able to _remember_ the name of the head mistress. IMDB is _so_ useless for most things. It needs to list the name of the character and the character’s role, such as butler, head mistress, friend, etc. Thankfully Roger Ebert came to the rescue. I do not agree with his 2-star rating though. “D.E.B.S.” was awesome. I’ve seen it a few times, yet all of these years I thought it was Zsa Zsa in the role of head mistress. Yes, it is once again on my rental list, but I’m seriously thinking about just buying the Special Edition. Well, that was until one of my searches landed on the “4 movie collection.”
Goodbye Zsa Zsa. You brought a light into this world which can never be replaced. Few people today could ever hope to achieve the magic combination of grace, style, will power, and genuine compassion you displayed each and every time you spoke.
And I don’t think you’ll mind if I link to you giving us one final laugh.