If they were still alive...

.....the following notables would be celebrating their birthday:



Warner Baxter would be 122.  He always seemed to be pissed-off about something, didn't he?  The stentorian leading man of the 1920's and 30's was, apparently, quite well thought-of in his day--he was the second actor to be awarded the Best Actor Oscar in 1929 for his performance as "The Cisco Kid" in In Old Arizona. He's probably best remembered as "Julian Marsh," the harried (and pissed-off) Broadway producer in the 1932 film, 42nd Street.  Here he is, delivering one of the most famous speeches/lines in film history:






Pearl Bailey would be 93.  You know, I caught a clip of her of TV recently and found myself thinking, "We really don't have anyone like her anymore!"  She really was a unique dynamo.  She came across as this bigger-than-life, warm, fabulous woman you'd love to find yourself seated next to sometime.  And by all accounts, that's just how she was, too.  It seems that it's forgotten that she was quite a fantastic singer, too.  Judge for yourself:



Eileen Heckart would be 92.  The very popular character actress won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1972 for her performance in Butterflies are Free.  She was also nominated--somewhat shockingly (see Nancy Kelly, March 26)--for her completely over-the-top antics as the drunken "Mrs. Daigle" in the inadvertently hilarious The Bad Seed.  But we won't hold that against her....she was usually pretty great.  Can't win 'em all, right? 



Billy Carter would be 74.  When he first appeared on the public radar--when his brother, Jimmy, was campaigning for the presidency in 1975--at first he came across as a loveable eccentric.  But the more we got to know him, the more we found that he was more like an embarassing, trashy, alcoholic redneck.  One would have to really dig to find a more embarassing presidential relative in all of American history.  When his brother was voted out of office after just one term, Billy, fortunately, faded from public view and died in their hometown of Plains, Georgia at the age of 51.

Also turning 74 today, and very much alive and very much kicking..



...my darling mother, Joan.  Everyone says, "I have the best mom in the world," but I can prove it!  I really do!!  Happy birthday, best mom in the world! (above, eating a frog leg).