If they were still alive today...

...these folks would be singing, "Happy Birthday to me!"  It's only a small party today, so I thought we'd let a few "living bodies" in today--all three of whom I've had a "brush" with:


George Harrison would have been 68 today.  He was the second of the four Beatles to die, leaving only Paul and Ringo.

Arrigo Boito would be 169.  He was noted

as one of Giuseppe Verdi's primary librettists

(Otello, Falstaff, Simone Boccanegra), but

in 1875, in one furious burst, wrote the opera Mefistofele.  Though poorly received at the
time of its first performance, it has gone on
to be recognized as something of a "flawed masterpiece".  Personally speaking, it's one
of my favorite operas.  Unfortunately, he
never completed another opera.  Here's
the great Sam Ramey in the title role...
this oughtta get your blood pumping! 




American actor Pete Duel would be 71.  Although little-remembered today, his shocking suicide at the peak of his popularity in 1971 shocked the TV-viewing public. He was only 31 years old.  At the time, he was appearing as one of the title characters in Alias Smith & Jones and was a very popular subject of teen fan magazines, and rivers of ink flowed at Tiger Beat, 16 and Teen Magazine as teen girls across America mourned.

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Abe Vigoda of the TV show Barney Miller turns 90 today!  I sometimes see him walking around my neighborhood in NYC.  He's very nice to people when they recognize him on
the street and shout,
"HEY FISH!" (his character's name on Barney Miller).  Probably something most people wouldn't welcome strangers on the street to shout at them, I'd think!  Happy birthday, Fish!



Great, tempestuous operatic diva, Renata Scotto turns 77.  She became a director after her singing career ended...she directed a production of La Traviata I performed in and she couldn't have been lovelier. 









And Dominic Chianese, "Uncle Junior" of The Sopranos turns 80.  I did a show with him 3 years ago, in which I portrayed Noel Coward...he was a swell guy.  He's a singer, too!