In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the loud speaker asking for a carry out at register 4. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, thenew check-out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe26, and he was only 22) and he fell in love. Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card, BRENDA. He walked out only to see her start walking up the road. Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again outside of work. She simply said it wasn’t possible. He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn’t afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday. That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, “Well, let’s take the kids with us.” She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed. Finally Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had an older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with Down Syndrome. Kurtis asked Brenda, “I still don’t understand why the kids can’t come with us?” Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities - just like her first husband and father of her children had done. Kurtis was not ordinary - - - he had a different mindset. That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids, went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the restroom, he picked him up out of his wheelchair, took him and brought him back. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with. A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children. Since then they have added two more kids. So what happened to Kurtis the stock boy and Brenda the check-out girl? Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner now live in Arizona , where he is currently employed as the quarterback of the National Football League, Arizona Cardinals and has his Cardinals ready for an appearance in the Super Bowl. Is this a surprise ending or could you have guessed that he was not an ordinary person? It should be noted that he also quarterbacked the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. He has also been the NLF’s Most Valuable Player twice, and the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player. And on his way to the super bowl.
It is nice to hear something good about a pro athlete, instead of the trouble that one of them is getting in off the field. I am sure that there are alot more of these nice, heart-warming stories about pro athletes, like Warrick Dunn purchasing a home for a single mother every year and others. It would be nice if the media would report more stories like this! I hope you enjoyed it.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Ann Coulter's New Book Has Just Been Released
Ann Coulter's new book has just been released. It's selling off the shelves everywhere but you can get it FREE with your subscription to Townhall Magazine.
In her most controversial and fiercely argued book yet, Ann Coulter calls out liberals for always playing the victim -- when in fact, as she sees it, they are the victimizers. In Guilty, Coulter explodes this myth to reveal that when it comes to bullying, no one outdoes the Left. Guilty is a mordantly witty and shockingly specific catalog of offenses which Coulter presents from A to Z. And as with each of her past books, all of which were NYT bestsellers, Coulter is fearless in her penchant for saying what needs saying about politics and culture today.
You need to read this book. Click here to get your copy.
Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America
In her most controversial and fiercely argued book yet, Ann Coulter calls out liberals for always playing the victim -- when in fact, as she sees it, they are the victimizers. In Guilty, Coulter explodes this myth to reveal that when it comes to bullying, no one outdoes the Left. Guilty is a mordantly witty and shockingly specific catalog of offenses which Coulter presents from A to Z. And as with each of her past books, all of which were NYT bestsellers, Coulter is fearless in her penchant for saying what needs saying about politics and culture today.
You need to read this book. Click here to get your copy.
Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America
Friday, January 16, 2009
Why We Fight
by Andrew Klavan
This is by way of a friendly response to the estimable Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor at the likewise estimable National Review. Jay wrote a strong column yesterday openly saying what I’ve been hearing many conservatives express tacitly ever since the election. Reflecting on the media’s disgraceful distortion of the characters of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin, he wrote:
“It seems to me that the Left has won: utterly and decisively. What I mean is, the Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher mentality has prevailed. They decide what a person’s image is, and those images stick. They are the ones who say that Cheney’s a monster, W.’s stupid, and Palin’s a bimbo. And the country, apparently, follows.”
I’ve been hearing and reading prominent conservatives and Republicans say nearly as much on television, in print and in private conversation ever since the election. They say Sarah Palin can never make a comeback. They say the fight for small government has been lost. They say we can’t have immigration reform that protects our borders. They say we have to distance ourselves from “embarrassing” commentators like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter.
No, no, no, no. What the right is experiencing at the moment is a phenomenon called “cultural para-stimuli.” You can read all about it in Tom Wolfe’s wonderful novel I Am Charlotte Simmons. It’s sort of like peer pressure on steroids. It was discovered by Nobel Laureate Victor Ransome Starling, who found that when he surrounded normal cats with cats whose behavior had been bizarrely altered by brain surgery, the normal cats began acting like the crazy cats all around them.
That’s us–surrounded by the mainstream media. So steeped are we now in their lies about our representatives, their ridicule of our commentators, their demonizing dismissal of the causes we know are just, that we’ve begun to adopt their attitudes toward ourselves! And perhaps chief among the lies they’ve sold us is the lie that they’ve won, that the media are theirs for good and all, and that Americans are going to be hoodwinked and brainwashed by their constant barrage of misinformation forever.
Well, only if we let them. And only if we in the media surrender first.
Look, the American media are in a bad way, a disastrous way. Movies, TV, literature–instead of illuminating vehicles for art and entertainment, they’ve become like the Matrix, replacing reality with a plausible leftist imitation. Journalists especially have so shamed themselves in their coverage of the last election–hounding Sarah Palin’s daughter and Joe the Plumber while all but ignoring Barack Obama’s ties to Illinois corruption, and his long and deep association with the racist anti-American Jeremiah Wright–that it’s going to take them years to recover. When people shame themselves that badly, they don’t admit it in a hurry. They savage their critics instead and continue their own shameful practices as a kind of defiant denial–anything rather than look in the mirror and confront what they’ve turned themselves into.
So yeah, we’re on our own for now. But we’re not unarmed and we’re in no way defeated. We have great politicians like Sarah Palin–who could well be president in not eight years but four–honest newsmen like Bret Baer and genius commentators like Rush–and Ann Coulter, who’s only about ten times smarter, funnier and more talented as a satirist than Jon Stewart or Bill Maher will ever be. The left can’t out-argue these mind-warriors so they try to ridicule, disdain and isolate them, to make us feel ashamed that we admire and respect them. And they tell us they’re finished, washed-up. Why, just look, it must be true: it’s right there in the newspapers and on TV.
They’re lying. The left has to lie for the simple reason that they’re wrong and we’re right, their policies don’t work and ours do. Look at the cities that liberal politicians and programs have devoured like locusts. Look at the liberal states that can’t rein in their spending even as they go broke. Look at how environmentalists have made us energy-slaves to monsters overseas. And look at how leftist, anti-patriotic and anti-religious policies in Europe have turned a once-great culture into a corpse that is being consumed by Islamo-fascist bacteria as we watch.
Hey, listen, our soldiers have to get shot at in the cause of liberty. All we in the media have to do is keep telling people the truth. Lies and insults are all the left has got to sling against us. They only win if we start to believe them.
This is by way of a friendly response to the estimable Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor at the likewise estimable National Review. Jay wrote a strong column yesterday openly saying what I’ve been hearing many conservatives express tacitly ever since the election. Reflecting on the media’s disgraceful distortion of the characters of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin, he wrote:
“It seems to me that the Left has won: utterly and decisively. What I mean is, the Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher mentality has prevailed. They decide what a person’s image is, and those images stick. They are the ones who say that Cheney’s a monster, W.’s stupid, and Palin’s a bimbo. And the country, apparently, follows.”
I’ve been hearing and reading prominent conservatives and Republicans say nearly as much on television, in print and in private conversation ever since the election. They say Sarah Palin can never make a comeback. They say the fight for small government has been lost. They say we can’t have immigration reform that protects our borders. They say we have to distance ourselves from “embarrassing” commentators like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter.
No, no, no, no. What the right is experiencing at the moment is a phenomenon called “cultural para-stimuli.” You can read all about it in Tom Wolfe’s wonderful novel I Am Charlotte Simmons. It’s sort of like peer pressure on steroids. It was discovered by Nobel Laureate Victor Ransome Starling, who found that when he surrounded normal cats with cats whose behavior had been bizarrely altered by brain surgery, the normal cats began acting like the crazy cats all around them.
That’s us–surrounded by the mainstream media. So steeped are we now in their lies about our representatives, their ridicule of our commentators, their demonizing dismissal of the causes we know are just, that we’ve begun to adopt their attitudes toward ourselves! And perhaps chief among the lies they’ve sold us is the lie that they’ve won, that the media are theirs for good and all, and that Americans are going to be hoodwinked and brainwashed by their constant barrage of misinformation forever.
Well, only if we let them. And only if we in the media surrender first.
Look, the American media are in a bad way, a disastrous way. Movies, TV, literature–instead of illuminating vehicles for art and entertainment, they’ve become like the Matrix, replacing reality with a plausible leftist imitation. Journalists especially have so shamed themselves in their coverage of the last election–hounding Sarah Palin’s daughter and Joe the Plumber while all but ignoring Barack Obama’s ties to Illinois corruption, and his long and deep association with the racist anti-American Jeremiah Wright–that it’s going to take them years to recover. When people shame themselves that badly, they don’t admit it in a hurry. They savage their critics instead and continue their own shameful practices as a kind of defiant denial–anything rather than look in the mirror and confront what they’ve turned themselves into.
So yeah, we’re on our own for now. But we’re not unarmed and we’re in no way defeated. We have great politicians like Sarah Palin–who could well be president in not eight years but four–honest newsmen like Bret Baer and genius commentators like Rush–and Ann Coulter, who’s only about ten times smarter, funnier and more talented as a satirist than Jon Stewart or Bill Maher will ever be. The left can’t out-argue these mind-warriors so they try to ridicule, disdain and isolate them, to make us feel ashamed that we admire and respect them. And they tell us they’re finished, washed-up. Why, just look, it must be true: it’s right there in the newspapers and on TV.
They’re lying. The left has to lie for the simple reason that they’re wrong and we’re right, their policies don’t work and ours do. Look at the cities that liberal politicians and programs have devoured like locusts. Look at the liberal states that can’t rein in their spending even as they go broke. Look at how environmentalists have made us energy-slaves to monsters overseas. And look at how leftist, anti-patriotic and anti-religious policies in Europe have turned a once-great culture into a corpse that is being consumed by Islamo-fascist bacteria as we watch.
Hey, listen, our soldiers have to get shot at in the cause of liberty. All we in the media have to do is keep telling people the truth. Lies and insults are all the left has got to sling against us. They only win if we start to believe them.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Natalie Dylan Auctions Off Virginity For Offers Of Up To $3.7 Million
Bidding in the auction for the virginity of Natalie Dylan, a 22-year-old student from San Diego, Calif., has reached absurd new highs. The Daily Telegraph has the story, saying that the price has now hit $3.7 million:
Last September, when her auction came to light, she had received bids up to £162,000 ($243,000) but since then interest in her has rocketed.
The student who has a degree in Women's Studies insisted she was not demeaning herself.
Natalie Dylan has appeared on the Howard Stern show and is conducting this transaction through Nevada's Bunny Ranch brothel. Natalie Dylan photos are readily available online and are, unsurprisingly, a popular search term.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Really Flat Screen - Sony Bravia KLV-40ZX1M
Thin long has been in when it comes to electronics. Led by Apple’s obsession with making its products ever skinnier. Flat-screen TVs, once cutting edge, seem almost portly by comparison. No more. Sony’s new Bravia KLV-40ZX1M TV has a 40-inch LCD display that’s only 9.9 millimeters deep – about as thick as a CD case. Sony manages this by placing the lamps that light the screen on the edges instead of behind the display. The widescreen, 1,080-pixel high-def TV display weighs in at about 26 pounds.
Follow this link Sony Bravia Z Series KLV-40ZX1M 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
to view Sony's new Bravia.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Gators Clear No. 1 in AP poll; Utah second
Florida is No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Utah is perfect at No. 2, though not perfectly happy.
Texas and Southern California also claimed to be the best — but media voters didn’t think so.
The Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.
Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points. “I thought we had an outside chance,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. “There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn’t to be.”
Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.
No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4 and will have to settle for finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.
The Longhorns beat the Sooners in the regular season and thought they deserved OU’s spot in both the Big 12 and national championship games.
The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10 jockeyed for position in the national title chase.
The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS — it’s not considered a strong enough league to deserve one — but the Utes earned their way in.
Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.
“All you can do is go out and beat the people on the schedule, which was exactly what our guys did,” Whittingham said. Whittingham proclaimed his team No. 1. USC’s Pete Carroll had already done that after the Trojans’ 38-24 victory in the Rose Bowl against Penn State.
Texas coach Mack Brown followed suit, proudly touting his Longhorns as the nation’s best after a 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl this week.
Whittingham said he would vote his team No. 1 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, even though the American Football Coaches Association has agreed to have all its voters place the winner of the BCS national championship game first on their ballots.
Utah did receive one first-place vote in the coaches’ poll and finished fourth.
Whittingham isn’t worried about losing his vote.
“That’s their call,” he said. “I have to look out for my players.”
Brown said he would vote for his team, too, but Texas was not listed first on any ballots. The Longhorns ended up ranked No. 3 in the coaches’ poll, right behind USC.
Carroll has never had a vote in the coaches’ poll, always skeptical of the way major college football crowns a champion.
Florida’s Urban Meyer became the 17th coach to win multiple AP national championships.
“I’ll tell you, we’re going to enjoy a big win, we’re going to enjoy the national championship,” he said, brushing off questions about other coaches claiming their team is best. “Let someone else worry about that. Gators are No. 1”
Alabama’s loss to Utah dropped the Crimson Tide to No. 6 in the final poll.
TCU, Utah’s Mountain West rival, finished seventh, followed by Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon.
Boise State led off the second 10, followed by Texas Tech, Georgia, Mississippi and Virginia Tech.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28569176/
Texas and Southern California also claimed to be the best — but media voters didn’t think so.
The Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.
Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points. “I thought we had an outside chance,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. “There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn’t to be.”
Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.
No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4 and will have to settle for finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.
The Longhorns beat the Sooners in the regular season and thought they deserved OU’s spot in both the Big 12 and national championship games.
The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10 jockeyed for position in the national title chase.
The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS — it’s not considered a strong enough league to deserve one — but the Utes earned their way in.
Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.
“All you can do is go out and beat the people on the schedule, which was exactly what our guys did,” Whittingham said. Whittingham proclaimed his team No. 1. USC’s Pete Carroll had already done that after the Trojans’ 38-24 victory in the Rose Bowl against Penn State.
Texas coach Mack Brown followed suit, proudly touting his Longhorns as the nation’s best after a 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl this week.
Whittingham said he would vote his team No. 1 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, even though the American Football Coaches Association has agreed to have all its voters place the winner of the BCS national championship game first on their ballots.
Utah did receive one first-place vote in the coaches’ poll and finished fourth.
Whittingham isn’t worried about losing his vote.
“That’s their call,” he said. “I have to look out for my players.”
Brown said he would vote for his team, too, but Texas was not listed first on any ballots. The Longhorns ended up ranked No. 3 in the coaches’ poll, right behind USC.
Carroll has never had a vote in the coaches’ poll, always skeptical of the way major college football crowns a champion.
Florida’s Urban Meyer became the 17th coach to win multiple AP national championships.
“I’ll tell you, we’re going to enjoy a big win, we’re going to enjoy the national championship,” he said, brushing off questions about other coaches claiming their team is best. “Let someone else worry about that. Gators are No. 1”
Alabama’s loss to Utah dropped the Crimson Tide to No. 6 in the final poll.
TCU, Utah’s Mountain West rival, finished seventh, followed by Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon.
Boise State led off the second 10, followed by Texas Tech, Georgia, Mississippi and Virginia Tech.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28569176/
Cheryl Holdridge dies at 64 - popular Mouseketeer
Cheryl Holdridge, the beautiful blond actress who first gained fame as a Mouseketeer on TV's "The Mickey Mouse Club" in the 1950s, has died. She was 64.Holdridge died Tuesday at her home in Santa Monica after a two-year battle with lung cancer, said Doreen Tracey, another former Mouseketeer.
What's amazing is that Cheryl and I have gone through so many things together, I'm glad I could have been there in the end too," Tracey said Thursday.Holdridge was 11 years old in the spring of 1956 when she auditioned and was hired for "The Mickey Mouse Club," which had debuted on Oct. 3, 1955, with 24 talented youngsters who sang and danced and yet came across as the kids next door.Holdridge joined the Mouseketeers in the second season of the show, which ran until 1959.
She quickly became part of the core group that appeared on the famous Mouseketeer roll call at the start of each show, along with Tracey, Annette Funicello, Tommy Cole, Cubby O'Brien, Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Karen Pendleton, Lonnie Burr and Darlene Gillespie."She was a good technical dancer, but I think she was picked mostly because she had this angelic look and a great smile; she's known for her smile," Tracey said. With a laugh, she added: "We used to try to keep her quiet when she started singing because she sang off key."The other reason Holdridge was included in the core group was that "her fan mail was quite high, and they need those ratings," Tracey said. "We were trying to win over the American public, which we did."Annette had the highest rating, but Cheryl came pretty close."During her Mouseketeer days, Holdridge appeared in some of the show's episodic serials, including "Boys of the Western Sea" and the "Annette" series.
Unlike some of the other Mouseketeers, Holdridge didn't have trouble finding work in television as a young actress after hanging up her Mouse ears.She went on to play Wally Cleaver's girlfriend, Julie Foster, for two seasons on "Leave It to Beaver." And she had guest roles on shows such as "The Rifleman," "Bachelor Father," "My Three Sons," "Bewitched" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show.""
Our reputations as Disney players opened doors," Holdridge told the Chicago Tribune in 2001 during a Mouseketeer autograph session at a Disney memorabilia show in Bloomingdale, Ill., that drew a crowd of more than 1,000."Directors knew we understood how to move on camera, how to hit our marks and say lines. Doreen and I went up for many of the same parts. We both did 'Ozzie and Harriet' and 'Bachelor Father.'
"Holdridge left the business in 1964 when she married Lance Reventlow, the son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, "because that's what you did then. You married and stayed home." eventlow died in a plane crash in 1972. In 1994, Holdridge married Manning Post, a prominent West Coast Democratic Party fundraiser and advisor, who died in 2000.Holdridge was born Cheryl Lynn Phelps on June 20, 1944, in New Orleans and moved to Los Angeles when she was 2. Her mother, Julie Austin, was a former Ziegfeld Follies featured dancer and comedian and encouraged her to express herself through dance.After her mother married Herbert Holdridge, a retired brigadier general, he adopted Cheryl in 1953.At 9, she was selected by George Balanchine to perform for the New York City Ballet Company in a Los Angeles production of "The Nutcracker Suite."
Her first screen appearance was a small role in the 1956 musical "Carousel."Then came "The Mickey Mouse Club.""She certainly was a very pretty blond and just had a very winning personality," said Lorraine Santoli, author of "The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book" and a former Disney publicist who worked with the Mouseketeers as adults in the 1980s and '90s.As an adult, "Cheryl was the most joyous person, is the best way I can put it," she said. "She saw the positive side of everything."Holdridge enjoyed joining other former Mouseketeers at shows and appearances at Disneyland, Santoli said."She got such joy out of it, she really did, and she was so proud of the fact that she was an original Mouseketeer."Tommy Cole said Thursday that "Cheryl was one of the loves of my life, especially because we were like family.""Being one of the prettiest girls on the set, I always considered her Miss Sunshine," he recalled. "She'd walk into the room and this ray of sunshine would happen every time she smiled."Cole was among the former Mouseketeers who visited with Holdridge on Monday night. And, he said, when he heard that she had died two hours after he left her side, "a little bit of sunshine went out of my life."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-cheryl-holdridge9-2009jan09,0,7949485.story
What's amazing is that Cheryl and I have gone through so many things together, I'm glad I could have been there in the end too," Tracey said Thursday.Holdridge was 11 years old in the spring of 1956 when she auditioned and was hired for "The Mickey Mouse Club," which had debuted on Oct. 3, 1955, with 24 talented youngsters who sang and danced and yet came across as the kids next door.Holdridge joined the Mouseketeers in the second season of the show, which ran until 1959.
She quickly became part of the core group that appeared on the famous Mouseketeer roll call at the start of each show, along with Tracey, Annette Funicello, Tommy Cole, Cubby O'Brien, Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Karen Pendleton, Lonnie Burr and Darlene Gillespie."She was a good technical dancer, but I think she was picked mostly because she had this angelic look and a great smile; she's known for her smile," Tracey said. With a laugh, she added: "We used to try to keep her quiet when she started singing because she sang off key."The other reason Holdridge was included in the core group was that "her fan mail was quite high, and they need those ratings," Tracey said. "We were trying to win over the American public, which we did."Annette had the highest rating, but Cheryl came pretty close."During her Mouseketeer days, Holdridge appeared in some of the show's episodic serials, including "Boys of the Western Sea" and the "Annette" series.
Unlike some of the other Mouseketeers, Holdridge didn't have trouble finding work in television as a young actress after hanging up her Mouse ears.She went on to play Wally Cleaver's girlfriend, Julie Foster, for two seasons on "Leave It to Beaver." And she had guest roles on shows such as "The Rifleman," "Bachelor Father," "My Three Sons," "Bewitched" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show.""
Our reputations as Disney players opened doors," Holdridge told the Chicago Tribune in 2001 during a Mouseketeer autograph session at a Disney memorabilia show in Bloomingdale, Ill., that drew a crowd of more than 1,000."Directors knew we understood how to move on camera, how to hit our marks and say lines. Doreen and I went up for many of the same parts. We both did 'Ozzie and Harriet' and 'Bachelor Father.'
"Holdridge left the business in 1964 when she married Lance Reventlow, the son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, "because that's what you did then. You married and stayed home." eventlow died in a plane crash in 1972. In 1994, Holdridge married Manning Post, a prominent West Coast Democratic Party fundraiser and advisor, who died in 2000.Holdridge was born Cheryl Lynn Phelps on June 20, 1944, in New Orleans and moved to Los Angeles when she was 2. Her mother, Julie Austin, was a former Ziegfeld Follies featured dancer and comedian and encouraged her to express herself through dance.After her mother married Herbert Holdridge, a retired brigadier general, he adopted Cheryl in 1953.At 9, she was selected by George Balanchine to perform for the New York City Ballet Company in a Los Angeles production of "The Nutcracker Suite."
Her first screen appearance was a small role in the 1956 musical "Carousel."Then came "The Mickey Mouse Club.""She certainly was a very pretty blond and just had a very winning personality," said Lorraine Santoli, author of "The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book" and a former Disney publicist who worked with the Mouseketeers as adults in the 1980s and '90s.As an adult, "Cheryl was the most joyous person, is the best way I can put it," she said. "She saw the positive side of everything."Holdridge enjoyed joining other former Mouseketeers at shows and appearances at Disneyland, Santoli said."She got such joy out of it, she really did, and she was so proud of the fact that she was an original Mouseketeer."Tommy Cole said Thursday that "Cheryl was one of the loves of my life, especially because we were like family.""Being one of the prettiest girls on the set, I always considered her Miss Sunshine," he recalled. "She'd walk into the room and this ray of sunshine would happen every time she smiled."Cole was among the former Mouseketeers who visited with Holdridge on Monday night. And, he said, when he heard that she had died two hours after he left her side, "a little bit of sunshine went out of my life."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-cheryl-holdridge9-2009jan09,0,7949485.story
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Sports Collectible Retailers Hope to Recover from Disappointing Year
It’s not a question of if the sports card industry lost money in 2008. It’s only a question of how much.
At the hobby shop level, the majority of retailers surveyed by Card Trade magazine this month are reporting their sales were down for the year, with some reporting declines of as much as 50 percent compared to 2007.
“Another a year like this, and I think I’m going to close,” said Ralph Brierly of Maine-ly Sports Cards in Solon, Maine. He estimated his sales were down 30 percent from last year and said he’s not optimistic the economy is going to turn around any time soon.
Dean Katz of Charm City Cards in Timonium, Md., said his sales were down for a fourth consecutive year and says the industry needs to restructure its product offerings. “There’s too much supply and not enough demand,” Katz said. “Plus, the average box of cards is now around $80. The whole climate of business has changed these last four to five years.”
Rob Vandorick of All-Star Baseball Cards in Las Vegas said his 2007 sales were down 27 percent from a year ago, and added it might have been worse had it not been for some aggressive end-of-year promotions. He also believes the best way to get collectors to increase their spending in the coming year is with more focus on lower-priced cards.
“If any new product lines are coming for 2009, we need lower SRPs,” Vandorick said. “People are only buying what they can afford and are not going after the glitz and glam.”
A handful of retailers said their sales were about the same as last year. Diane Stahura of Cheap Seats Sportscards in Whiting, Ind., was one of them, and she was thankful to be able to hold the line on sales in such a down economy. “I’ve been very, very fortunate,” Stahura said.
http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/article/sports_collectibles_retailers_bad_year
At the hobby shop level, the majority of retailers surveyed by Card Trade magazine this month are reporting their sales were down for the year, with some reporting declines of as much as 50 percent compared to 2007.
“Another a year like this, and I think I’m going to close,” said Ralph Brierly of Maine-ly Sports Cards in Solon, Maine. He estimated his sales were down 30 percent from last year and said he’s not optimistic the economy is going to turn around any time soon.
Dean Katz of Charm City Cards in Timonium, Md., said his sales were down for a fourth consecutive year and says the industry needs to restructure its product offerings. “There’s too much supply and not enough demand,” Katz said. “Plus, the average box of cards is now around $80. The whole climate of business has changed these last four to five years.”
Rob Vandorick of All-Star Baseball Cards in Las Vegas said his 2007 sales were down 27 percent from a year ago, and added it might have been worse had it not been for some aggressive end-of-year promotions. He also believes the best way to get collectors to increase their spending in the coming year is with more focus on lower-priced cards.
“If any new product lines are coming for 2009, we need lower SRPs,” Vandorick said. “People are only buying what they can afford and are not going after the glitz and glam.”
A handful of retailers said their sales were about the same as last year. Diane Stahura of Cheap Seats Sportscards in Whiting, Ind., was one of them, and she was thankful to be able to hold the line on sales in such a down economy. “I’ve been very, very fortunate,” Stahura said.
http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/article/sports_collectibles_retailers_bad_year
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