Birthday Roundup

Dead Ringer (Warner Bros., 1964)

Starring Bette Davis and Bette Davis

Score ("Figueroa") by Andre Previn 

"You're Gonna Hear from Me" from Inside Daisy Clover (Warner Bros., 1965)

Performer: Natalie Wood (dubbed by Jackie Ward)

Composers: Andre and Dory Previn

"It's Impossible" from Valley of the Dolls (20th Century Fox, 1967)

Performer: Patty Duke

Composers: Andre and Dory Previn

ANDRE PREVIN

April 6, 1929

"Trapped in the Web of Love" (Scopitone S-1057, 1965)

"Gowns, Beautiful Gowns" from Hillbillys in a Haunted House (Woolner Bros., 1967)

JOI LANSING

April 6, 1929 - August 7, 1972

Billy Dee Williams and Diana Ross in Mahogany (Paramount, 1975)

BILLY DEE WILLIAMS

April 6, 1937

Remember, darlings -- success is nothing without dolls, gowns, and a Colt 45 to share it with.

Walk the Line

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Somehow, we have gone thus far in our life without having feasted upon the French glory that is Line Rinaud doing Le Hully Gully with her homosexuels des sécurités. Now, thanks to our friend Brooks of An Open Book, this egregious wrong has been set right. Enjoy, cheries!

Joi to the World

Blonde bombshell Joi Lansing had a figure that could easily rival that of Jayne Mansfield's, a doll-like face which was just as gorgeous and photogenic as Marilyn Monroe's, and more than adequate acting ability. Mysteriously, though, she never starred in a major film of her own, and is best remembered for her cheesecake modeling and many television guest appearances in the 1950's and 1960's. Perhaps she was too "square" for the lecherous producers on the make in Hollywood - a devout Mormon, Lansing neither drank nor smoked. In the mid-1960's, Lansing began a singing career, lending her appealing, smoky voice to nightclub stages, at least one impossible-to-find record album, and, most infamously, a series of Scopitone videos.

Sadly, Joi Lansing was yet another casualty of the blondes-who-die-too-young syndrome: she passed away in 1972, at the young age of 43, after a battle with breast cancer - possibly the result of the silicone injections she had taken to enlarge her chest. (Foreshadowing Ava Gardner's illness and death, Lansing's former paramour, Frank Sinatra, footed the destitute beauty's medical and funeral bills.) Despite her seemingly small resume, Lansing is being rediscovered by a whole new generation, thanks to her Scopitone camp classics, as well as her appearances on such still-viewed series as The Beverly Hillbillies and Love That Bob/The Bob Cummings Show. Fifty years later, we're still trapped in her web of love!

JOI LANSING
April 6, 1929 - August 7, 1972

While We're Away

Fingered four ways.