"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

And vice versa!

Nut side up.

Grapefruit, prunes, green peppers, cantaloupe, leaf lettuce, marshmallows AND THEN: "Serve with lemon, French dressing and peanut butter sandwiches, a beverage, and you have a complete meal."

Indeed!

Why not girls?

Who it was.

A recent posting over at Stirred, Straight Up With a Twist inspired my latest guessing game, TJB's posting on Evolution, particularly his picture of Patrica Hitchcock(close guess TJB!) got me to thinking about "Strangers on a Train" and Hitchcock's fantastically shot murder of Laura Eliot reflected in the lenses of her fallen glasses.

My Mystery Lady was none other than Kasey Rogers, the actress who played Laura Eliot in Strangers on a Train but probably better known to TV viewing audiences for playing Louise Tate on Bewitched.

Born Josie Imogene Rogers in Morehouse, Missouri on December 15, 1925, she adopted the nickname "Kasey" as a child. At the age of 19. She was literally spotted on the street by a talent scout, and touched base with him again after the birth of her first child. This lead to a screen test and contract at Paramount during the late 1940s.


She really never struggled as an actress, winning a contract and lead role in Special Agent (1949) almost immediately. Kasey worked under the name "Laura Elliot" for Paramount. In addition to Special Agent (1949), she appeared in films including Two Lost Worlds (1951), Silver City (1951), Denver and Rio Grande (1952), and Jamaica Run (1953). With these lead roles, came smaller roles in classic films from the studio including Samson and Delilah (1949) and A Place in the Sun (1951 - uncredited role of Miss Harper) as well as work at other studios. Particularly remembered is her turn as Miriam Haynes (who has a very memorable death scene) in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) for Warner Bros.


From the mid-1950s, she guest starred on various TV shows, such as The Lone Ranger, Maverick, Perry Mason, The Restless Gun, and Hawaiian Eye. In 1964, she was cast as Julie Anderson night-time soap opera Peyton Place. She left Peyton Place in 1966, replacing Irene Vernon in the role of Louise Tate on Bewitched. She also returned to the name Kasey Rogers professionally. In 1972, she made her final appearance on Bewitched and appeared in a few more TV shows through the 70s. Later on in life she penned The Bewitched Cookbook: Magic in the Kitchen ( A copy of which I happily own).

Sadly Kasey Rogers passed away in on July 6, 2006.

Ronettes - Be My baby

Was I?

A TRUE LIFE story!

MMMMM! "Mealy"!

Basically protein mixed with protein, served on protein.....

I don't deny it.

I was thinking of buying some new work out shorts.....

Guess Who!

Remember freedom is not free.

Luvs me some black eyed peas....

SALAD!!!!

Ingredients

• 1 cup dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
• 1/2 small red onion, chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (6 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl with enough boiling water to cover. Allow to sit 3 minutes, or until softened. Drain, and cut into strips.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the sun-dried tomatoes, black-eyed peas, onion, bell pepper, and feta.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and honey. Drizzle over the salad, and gently toss to coat. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Part of my attempt to cut sown on my meat intake(Yes I finally got sick of eating so much boneless skinless chicken breasts) is to vary my sources or protein via, beans, dairy quinoa etc... I cannot get enough of this salad!

Been there!

We'll just put the books any damn place we choose!

I was just asking myself the same question...

Yeah Clarissa!

STIFLE!

The Fifty Foot woman versus the poisoned supplements

*Written as a presentation to my current Allied Health Sciences students as an example of the need for "Trust" in the health sciences.

Perhaps best remembered today for her starring role in the now cult Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, Allison Hayes was a talented and beautiful actress whose career and life were cut short all due to a dire prescription of ill regulated supplements

Born Mary Jane Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 6, 1930, Allison Hayes grew up to become Miss Washington D.C. in 1949. Hayes took jobs in early television in Washington before moving to California in 1953 to begin an acting career. Allison Hayes acted in a string of B movies, along with a few "A" films, from 1954 to 1965. In addition, Hayes made many guest appearances on popular TV programs in the 1950s and 1960s. Always in demand, Hayes' busiest period came in the late 1950s when she was cast in numerous B film roles, such as Gunslinger (1956), The Unearthly (1957), The Disembodied (1957) Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman (1958), and The High Powered Rifle (1960). After 1960, Hayes began taking on more television roles and made films only sporadically thereafter. In her last film, she appeared alongside Elvis Presley in Tickle Me (1965). Hayes is featured in the beginning of Tickle Me as a drunken bar patron who lunges as Elvis as he performs. Viewers will note that she looks thin and gaunt in this, her only scene in the film. For years, Hayes had taken a doctor-prescribed calcium supplement with extreme levels of lead---so extreme that she contracted lead poisoning. After the onset of her illness in the mid 1960s, she was simply too ill to work and was housebound for long periods of time.

Sometime in 1962, Allison began seeing Dr. Henry Bieler, on the advice of her close friend, actress Gloria Swanson who had been his patient for many years. From Dr. Bieler’s recommendation and with his prescription, Allison began talking a calcium food supplement daily. Another physician, Dr. William H. Crosby later wrote that the supplement would have done nothing to correct the problem Allison originally went to Dr. Bieler forIn 1964, Allison returned to Dr. Bieler with a variety of complaints. The doctor told her to increase her daily intake of the supplement. By 1967, she had experienced a multitude of symptoms. She was unable to walk without a cane and her career virtually came to an end. Her auburn hair turned black and began to fall out. She had wrist-drop syndrome in her right hand and a constant gnawing sensation across the bridge of her nose. She also became surly. Something she had never been.Her friends were worried.

She consulted over 20 doctors and endured over 340 X-ray examinations. Most doctors told her that her symptoms were psycho-neurotic. None were able to identify the source of the problems.

In 1968, during hospitalization for a fever, Allison stopped taking the supplement on her own.

Allison herself wrote:

"....as I finally came to see it, I had three options: (1) commit suicide; (2) go to a psychiatrist to attempt to learn to live with the pain accepting the fact that doctors couldn’t diagnose it; or (3) find the answer myself. I called suicide prevention though I was sure I wasn’t going to kill myself. I just wanted someone to tell me it was worth it not to. But I was placed on "hold" and they never came back to the phone. So I laughed and thought, "that’s the end of that!" Then I said to myself, ‘There’s an answer to everything. There has to be an answer! I’m going to find out.’ The question was where do I start?"

First she got copies of her medical records--a process she likened to "pulling teeth." Then Allison enlisted the help of friends who carried her to the medical library at UCLA. Because she had lost the use of her right arm, she sat on the floor making notes with her left hand. The technical books could not be checked out, so she would stay for hours, her friends picking her up sometimes after midnight. While reading a book called Toxicology Of Industrial Metals Allison came across a description of the metal poisoning of factory workers. She writes: "...the descriptions of some of the illnesses fit my own like a glove...ultimately I learned the truth; I had been poisoned!"

Strong words, but true. The lead content as shown by later analysis of the supplement she had taken daily for six years was 190 parts of lead per million. As was later discovered, the supplement was made in England from the bones of horses over 30 years old. Horses that had been sold to glue factories, the older the horse, the higher the lead content of the bones. The supplement had been imported into the US in 500 lb. drums and used in a number of products including baby food! And Dr. Bieler was still prescribing it to his patients!

After contacting a toxicologist (Dr, Karl Schwarz a researcher at Veterans' Hospital in Long Beach) and sending him a sample of the supplement, Allison got a telegram that told her to contact him immediately. Allison writes more: "...the...call came in January, 1970, on a day that was dark and cold and dreary. My first reaction was one of relief. I hadn’t been losing my mind. There was an organic reason for this. Then the anger set in. I’d spent thousands of dollars being bandied about from one specialist to the other with not a few of them baldy implying that my problem was primarily psycho-neurotic...in the end I had to depend on myself to educate the experts."

Allison started a campaign to get the FDA to stop import of the supplement Its lack of interest was based on the official judgment that food supplements were a "gray area." That changed when the FDA wrote: "We are incorporating health food issues into our FY ‘77 and ‘78 compliance programs, including the bone meal and heavy metal matter. Your case is a key stimulus for so doing."

Things do not seem to have improved however, as many substances are still unregulated by the FDA.By then, Allison had begun then dropped a lawsuit again Bieler, when he pleaded for her to. He died soon after. She did win a settlement of $50,000 against the Los Angeles distributor of the supplement in 1970.

Thanksigiving approacheth!

I know that it's is now deemed politically incorrect but I readily admit that I LOVE thanksgiving. It is my favorite Holiday, (seconded only by Easter due to the happy convergence of new clothes, spring bulbs in bloom and white chocolate bunnies) Thanksgiving combines a nice sentiment, family togetherness and a traditionally but fantastic menu without all the uber-pumped expectations of dreaded Christmas soon to follow.

I know that as a Holiday it hideously represents our forefathers and our current society royally screwing the Indians, and here I plead immunity as my forefathers were back in Sicily & Padua harvesting eggplants while all this was going on, but still...

Maybe there is some fitting Justice in the fact that the Indians gave the white Man tobacco and all it's ensuing health problems. Hence this lovely ad which features more cigarettes in five courses than I've smoked in my entire life.

It's the devil with a woman"s voice!

Isn't it always?

And Worst Of All, I Want Him To Kiss Me Again…

I'd already been cutting back on my meat intake...

And then this ad came along to further my resolve. Hello beans and quinoa!

Alas, winter is comng on...

Adieu to beach wear till next season.

VOTE!!!!!!

Happy halloween!

David Sedaris on Letterman

I've been taking in a LOT of water, under the new diet/work out regimen. My mind can't help but wander to this gem by Mr. Sedaris.

MMMM! Pure white sparkling Dextrose!

Now adding "food energy value"!!!!

Copa Cabana

Three lectures yesterday, two lectures today and irritatingly, the entire time from dawn to dusk this song running through my head.

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972, trailer)

I will fully admit to a penchant towards bad horror movies and now thanks to TIVO I am basking in a lot more plentiful pastures. This weekend's choice viewing "Night of the Lepus" came via TCM. Lordy! I don't know if ideas were scare or drugs were plentiful in 72 but killer rabbits????

Not that I didn't enjoy watching the film, as well as trying to figure out what was running through Janet Leigh's or Rory Calhoun's heads while filming it, but Killer rabbits???

Wouldn't you like to see more of me?

Before.

After.

Unusual poses?

Dont ask, Don't tell

And is exactly, HOW is this tempting me to buy towels????

Classic Sesame Street: Visual Thinking (Imagining Shapes)

Literally for YEARS my friend Laura and I have been using the line "I know WHO a square is" on a daily basis, MUCH to the dismay of those around us........

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

Flowers again...

Don't ask, Don't tell...

I want an Oompa-loompa NOW Daddy!

HATE CRIMES: WE GIVE A DAMN

My new exit line.....

"I can enjoy your music better from across the room"