Death is a sad fact of life. Though I find this story unintentionally hilarious I do have sympathy for Ms. Rivers’ late companion and his family. I have an equal amount of sympathy for Ms. Rivers for enduring what must be one of the worst dates ever. Having your date die is surely a blow to one’s self esteem.
Joan Rivers in an undated photo.
Joan Rivers date dropped dead during dinner at Le Cirque
ny.eater.com | Tuesday, March 2, 2010 | by Amanda
Today, on a particularly amusing episode of the Howard Stern show, Joan Rivers revealed that a man she had been dating for five weeks dropped dead during dinner at Le Cirque seven months ago. Rivers said her date suddenly went quiet, with his eyes wide open, sitting upright on the banquette, and he just died. Jokes that she made about the incident: 1) Her salmon dish was ruined as a result, 2) She paid for the meal by reaching into the dead man’s wallet and handing over his AMEX, 3) At least left a 20% tip even though he didn’t finish his meal, 4) He must’ve kicked the bucket after seeing her in the bright light.
Not the worst place to die right?
His death was not made public at the restaurant. Rivers, the management, and paramedics told patrons that he would be fine so as to not, you know, totally freak them out. Also it should be noted, her date was elderly, so the death was not, as far as she knows, food related.
There are worse places to drop dead. Readers, please put your best jokes about Le Cirque’s deadly prices, its dying breed of patrons, and the like in the comments.
Update: The official comment from Le Cirque: “No one has died at Le Cirque. The crème brulee’s to die for, but that’s about it.”
UPDATE No. 2: The good people at Sirius were kind enough to transcribe the show for us. And yes she eludes to Le Cirque, but is ambiguous about it:
JOAN RIVERS ON THE HOWARD STERN SHOW/SIRIUS XM/March 2, 2010
Condolences to Mary Josephine Ray’s family and friends.
Mary Josephine Ray, nation’s oldest
Mar. 9, 2010 | www.philly.com | Associated Press
WESTMORELAND, N.H. – Mary Josephine Ray, the New Hampshire woman who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died Sunday at age 114 years, 294 days.
Ms. Ray, who died at a nursing home in Westmoreland, was active until about two weeks before her death, her granddaughter Katherine Ray said.
“She just enjoyed life,” Ray said. “She never thought of dying at all. She was planning for her birthday party.”
Even with her recent decline, the granddaughter said, Ms. Ray managed an interview with a reporter last week.
Ms. Ray, born May 17, 1895, was the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group. She was also recorded as the oldest person ever to live in New Hampshire.
Farewell Daisey Bailey, what amazing changes you must have seen in your life.
On the same day Mrs. Bailey passed, the world’s oldest living person passed on too. The article below had the following quote which is sorta wonderful, “like people who are good at sports, they’re good at living a long time.”
Daisey Bailey of Detroit, world’s oldest black, dies at 114
Nip of bourbon kept supercentenarian going, granddaughter says
Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News | March 09. 2010
Detroit — Throughout her 114 years of living, Daisy Bailey kept to more than a few habits.
Relatives marveled at her hard work; how she tended a garden and flower bed; and close ties she kept with loved ones.
“She had a beautiful personality,” said her granddaughter, Helen Arnold. “She would give someone her last dime.”
Bailey died of organ failure Sunday at Henry Ford Hospital. The Detroit resident was the fifth oldest person in the world and the oldest living black person as certified by the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks people who are 100 years and older.
She would have turned 115 March 30, said her granddaughter Helen Arnold.
Bailey was one of two supercentenarians, or those older than 110, who died Sunday. Mary Josephine Ray, who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died at age 114 years, 294 days, at a nursing home in Westmoreland, N.H.
Dawn Brancheau was very good at her job and enjoyed it very much.
Dawn Brancheau 40, was killed after the 30-year-old, 12,300-pound bull orca named Tilikum, jumped out of a tank, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her underwater. Ms. Brancheau was one of the most experienced trainers on staff and one of the few allowed to work with the powerful and dangerous animal. According to her sister, Ms. Brancheau was fulfilled and happy in her job.
People who have seen the 70’s movie, ORCA would not be surprised by these actions. The shocking thing is that this is the THIRD death caused by Tilikum. In 1991 Tilly along with 3 other whales killed a trainer who accidentally slipped and fell into the tank. In 1999 Tilly killed a man who sneaked into the park after hours.
Tillikum performing in a file photo.
Investigation Into SeaWorld Trainer’s Death Begins
Tilikum Blamed For Two Previous Deaths
WESH.com | February 25, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. — Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be at SeaWorld on Thursday working to determine what led to the death of a trainer who was pulled into the water by a killer whale.
Officials with SeaWorld and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office will also participate in the investigation.
A park official confirmed Wednesday that the whale involved in the trainer’s death at the Orlando park actually pulled the victim into a tank.
The nation has lost a brave woman in the death of Susan Hill. Many pro-life activists surely revel in her passing. No matter what one’s stance on the abortion issue, her unflinching desire to provide rural women the ability to exercise their constitutional right to abortion is noteworthy. Condolences to her family and friends.
“Ms. Hill focused on establishing clinics in rural areas where women had no access to abortion services, and she opened more clinics than anyone else in the United States, sometimes drawing 1,000 protesters at a time.”
Susan Hill | Abortion-clinic owner, 61 Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/07/2010
Susan Hill, 61, a national women’s rights advocate and the owner of several abortion clinics around the country, died of breast cancer Jan. 30. She lived in Raleigh, N.C.
Ms. Hill focused on establishing clinics in rural areas where women had no access to abortion services, and she opened more clinics than anyone else in the United States, sometimes drawing 1,000 protesters at a time. She sued protesters 34 times for blocking entrances and preventing women from going into the facilities.
“She’s probably the toughest person I ever knew,” said her older brother, Dan Hill. “She’s the only person I knew who wore a bulletproof vest to work or was supposed to wear one to work. People really wanted to kill her, and she never flinched.”
British fashion designer Alexander McQueen has died, an apparent suicide at age 40. Perhaps he was overwhelmed by his life. His mother had just died, in fact he died the day before her funeral, his Australian lover whose name he had tattooed on his arm returned to Australia and he was enduring the pressure of mounting his next collection.
Lee, as his friends called him, had a working class background and 2 weeks before his death was allegedly musing about the emptiness of fashion and the vacuousness of the rich and famous and pondering leaving fashion with a photographer. His life had changed drastically before, the cab driver’s son got a CBE from the Queen before he was 40.
He has been mourned publicly by the best dressed, loudly and dramatically so. In the words of his former “husband,” George Forsyth “The truth is, the fashion world is the loneliest place on the face of the planet. It’s a shallow world full of party people and party ‘friends.’ Lee knew that,’ ” he tells the London Daily Mail. According to Forsyth he and Lee partied and lived large with the “fabulous crowd” including Kate Moss, before becoming bored and disillusioned with it. Forsyth chides the recent press coverage of McQueen as not reflecting the life of the brave, tough, bold, talented man he knew and instead focusing on celebrity reaction, often celebrities he didn’t even know.
While a fashion student he was discovered by fashion editor Issie Blow who became a close friend and early supporter. As Mr. McQueen’s career sky rocketed he did not find a place in his empire for Ms. Blow whose career became sluggish as they grew farther apart. She too killed herself in 2007.
‘Bad boy’ of fashion broke rules
www.edmontonjournal.com | February 14, 2010
Alexander McQueen, who was found dead on Thursday at age 40 after apparently hanging himself, was celebrated as the “bad boy of British fashion” — an aggressively talented tailor who refused to compromise and was all the more lauded as a result.
His genius with clothes catapulted him out of a grim East London estate into a world of glamour and wealth. But while the “poor-boy-made-good” story was good copy, McQueen never truly shrugged off his outsider status. Instead he thrived on controversy, baiting the grandes dames of the fashion world who queued up to interview him, on one occasion leaving a powerful fashion journalist who had crossed the Atlantic for an audience “white with shock.”
McQueen was always at his best when in confrontational mode: setting new trends — such as his infamously low-slung “bumster” trousers — or daring to use textiles printed with the image of a man being executed in the electric chair. Nor was the advent of new technology a threat to him.
When the model Kate Moss featured in a drugs scandal in 2005 and was disowned by many in the industry, McQueen swam against the prevailing tide in typically swift and innovative style. Rather than snub Moss, he projected a three-dimensional hologram of her at his next Paris show.
But an eye for the grand gesture was not purely gimmickry. While McQueen was happy to spray-paint a model on the runway — as though she were a car moving along the assembly line — the roots of his talent were as far from automation as the trade could get.
Honed at Savile Row, his feel for the chalk and scissors was bolstered by an acquisitive nature that drove him to master not only the classic shape of the gentleman’s suit, but also the designs of years gone by, or “16th-century pattern cutting and stuff like that,” as he put it.
Self assured and confident, Mitchell played a business magnate with ease on All My Children.
Mr Mitchell in a 2005 photo.
As an actor and dancer, James Mitchell had a long, varied, successful showbiz career. Until he passed I didn’t realize he had a career in dance or as an Ivy League Arts educator. Nor did I realize he had a long time partner. Condolences to his long time partner, family, peers and friends.
Below is a clip of him dancing.
Below is a clip of him acting.
‘All My Children’ actor James Mitchell dies
By Jo Piazza, Special to CNN | January 25, 2010
(CNN) — James Mitchell, the stage actor and dancer who was best known for portraying wealthy patriarch Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera “All My Children” for nearly 30 years, died Friday at age 89.
Mitchell died of pneumonia contracted after a years-long battle with pulmonary disease, according to a statement released by ABC.
His final appearance was January 5 for the show’s 40th anniversary episode.
Mitchell had studied drama at Los Angeles City College in California. After receiving a degree, he joined a Los Angeles dance company, where he worked for four years before moving to New York to try starting his own dance company.
As he struggled to make it as a professional dancer, Mitchell appeared in many Broadway productions including “Brigadoon,” “Paint Your Wagon” and “Bloomer Girl.”
He also taught movement for actors at Juilliard, Yale and Drake University in Iowa.
He took on the role of villainous businessman Cortlandt in 1979. He appeared in more than 300 episodes of the soap opera and was a regular on the show until 2008.
Fans expressed their condolences over Twitter and on “All my Children” message boards Monday morning, remembering Mitchell and his character as feisty and legendary.
He is survived by his partner, Albert Wolsky. Memorial services will be at a later date.
With the murder of Chris Davis, the South Carolina community where Davis lived looks back and reflects on Mr Davis and the Lizardman. This is a thoughtful summation of the Lizardman Phenomenon told from a local perspective.
Photo of Scape Ore Swamp
Photograph depicting a young, 17-year-old Davis standing near the site off Browntown Road where he says he was attacked. From an article, “Bumps in the night?” from July 20, 1988.
Sketch created by Davis of the creature that attacked him.
Cast of Lizardman Tracks
Finding the “founding father” of the Lizard Man
Jun 20, 2009 | www.theitem.com
Since I started working full time at The Item in November 2001, I can personally say that I’ve fielded calls several times from national and even international media looking for images on one of two things, Lee County’s Lizard Man and Pee Wee Gaskins.
Thursday morning on the way to work I was called and told that we had a shooting overnight on DuBose Siding Road. I was tasked with getting a picture of the house where the shooting took place. During my search and communication back with the office I was told that we thought the individual that was shot and killed was Chris Davis. The Item’s Lee County ace reporter Randy Burns had brought up the point that he thought this very well could be the Christopher Davis that had a run in with the Lizard Man. I’m not sure when the connections were made and the fact checking was complete, but in the end, one thing was for sure — this was indeed our man.
As I was preparing to leave this evening I was informed that we were in search of head shot of Mr. Davis.
My initial reaction was, AHA! I had heard our newsroom clerk Sandra Holbert talking about a folder that she inherited when she started working here that contained articles about the Lizard Man. So I went in search of it. I found it along with photograph depicting a young, 17-year-old Davis standing near the site off Browntown Road where he says he was attacked – the article was titled “Bumps in the night?” from July 20, 1988.
To make a long story short, as I scanned in Davis’ photo I began looking and scanning over the various articles that had been amassed in this folder, written during the past 20-plus years. I then kept finding things I thought you, our readers, might be interested in seeing. I was consumed!
I’ve now spent the last two hours – when I was supposed to be finalizing another project for today’s online edition – reading, scanning, making PDFs and retyping excerpts from some of the articles that were written.
This story is very sad for me, so much so I’ve had a hard time bringing myself to post it. I’ve always been fond of Chris Davis. It took a lot of guts as a teenager to come forward and share the story of the large THING that nearly attacked him in a South Carolina swamp. (Assuming something otherworldly DID happen in that swamp.
I’ve not been able to find web footage of his early testimonials about the encounter. In them Mr. Davis was credible and believable. His story was a truly scary one. After working late at McDonald’s one night Chris got a flat tire on the way home. The 2 lane road where his car was stopped was was dark and lonely, in the middle of a swamp. As he started changing his tire, a “lizard-like creature with searing red eyes and along, (sic) ape-like arms pounding toward him on its hind legs”emerged from the Swamp. It seemed intent on getting at the food on Davis’s front passenger seat. Then everything happened really quickly…
It’s sad to lose him so young. He was truly a man of his age, wrestling with infamy he didn’t want and ultimately didn’t exploit . He was key figure in one of the centuries most amazing stories. He died a victim of drug related violence, a modern scourge, and epidemic among young black men. Condolences to his family and friends.
This is the first of several Lizardman posts I’ll be making.
Police: Murder victim Lizard Man witness
www.theitem.com | Jun 20, 2009
Police have made no arrests in the case of a 37-year-old Sumter man shot to death Wednesday.
Christopher Davis was killed shortly before 11 p.m. in an incident at his home at 5230 DuBose Siding Road. Investigators say Davis was targeted in a drug-related incident.
“We’ve had several leads, but nothing has panned out so far,” said Capt. James Turner of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Davis, a Lee County native, recently moved to Sumter County, Lee County officials said. Davis became an international celebrity at the age of 16 when he reported the first sighting of the legendary Lizard Man of Lee County.
Former Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale said there would be no Lizard Man without Davis.
“In July 1988, Chris was the first witness interviewed as seeing the Lizard Man,” Truesdale said. “And what impressed me was that he told the same story every time. And he had to tell the story over and over again to the media and others. If you’re lying, you can’t tell the same story twice.”
Everybody wanted to hear the Lizard Man story from the eyewitness, Truesdale said.
Davis served as a grand marshal at a festival parade and signed T-shirts at a mall in Myrtle Beach, he said.
“At that time, he was super, nice kid,” he said. “You know, I bet he told the story more than 100 times every week for several weeks.”
Truesdale said he believes the media attention and publicity became too much for him.
“He could have made a mint from this,” Truesdale said. “A lot of people don’t know that he was scheduled to go to the Oprah (Winfrey) Show, but he canceled it. I think finally he just had enough.”
Would one expect the former “Strongest Man in the World” to die in his sleep? No way. Though it’s sad to see him go, he had a full and vibrant life and even on his last morning was “bright and friendly.”
At the height of his career, according to www.oldtimestrongman.com, “some of Rollino’s best lifts include: a teeth lift of 475 pounds, a one-finger lift of 635 pounds, a deadlift of 585 pounds, a curl of 185 pounds, a back lift of 3200 pounds, and a hand and thigh lift of 1500 pounds — all at a bodyweight of only 175 pounds.”
Joe Rollino image from www.oldtimestrongman.com
Joe Rollino from www.oldtimestrongman.com, bending a spike with is teeth in his Coney Island show.
Joe Rollino at age 102.
Joe Rollino, Famed Coney Island strongman, 104 (aka ‘Kid Dundee’) killed after minivan hit
Monday, January 11th 2010 | DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS, By Jill Colvin, Rocco Parascandola and Corky Siemaszko | csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Joe Rollino, a 104-year-old former Coney Island strongman known as “Kid Dundee” in his boxing days, lost the fight of his life after he was knocked down by a minivan in Brooklyn Monday.
Rollino’s death plunged many Brooklynites into mourning and evoked fond memories of “Old Man Joe,” the short but strapping senior citizen whose craggy face was perennially creased by a smile.
“He was a relic in the neighborhood,” said his friend Eileen Bille, 53, who called him “Puggy.” “There’s not a person from here to Bay Ridge who doesn’t know him. I’m sick to my stomach.”
Rollino was hit as he crossed Bay Ridge Parkway in Dyker Heights after buying newspapers at a deli, as he did each day.
“This morning he was bright and friendly like every morning,” said deli owner Victor Oh. “I see him every morning. I feel like one of my family died.”
As 2009 winds down I want to remember some people whose passing I hadn’t noted yet.
In this 2004 photo released by Johathan Wolfson shows Vic Mizzy at his home in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles. The Brooklyn-born songwriter who wrote the catchy theme songs to The Addams Family and Green Acres, but also dozens of #1 pop hits has passed away in Los Angeles Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. He was 93. (AP Photo/Micah Smith)
Americans of all ages are familiar with Mister Mizzy’s wonderful work. Not only was he a gifted composer he was a shrewd business man. A rare combo of talents for sure. He lived to a ripe old age living in Bel Air, not bad for a Brooklyn boy. I’m sure he is missed by fans, friends and family. For more on Vic Mizzy including some of his other infectious and cheery tunes go to www.vicmizzy.com.
He wrote Addams Family, Green Acres theme songs
www.winnipegfreepress.com | Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Vic Mizzy, a songwriter who composed the catchy themes for the 1960s TV comedies The Addams Family and Green Acres, has died. He was 93.
Mizzy died Saturday at his home in Bel Air, his manager Jonathan Wolfson said. He said he didn’t know the cause of death.
He wrote songs that were recorded by Dean Martin, Doris Day, Perry Como and Billie Holiday in the ’40s and ’50s. His hits included Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes, My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time, and With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho.
But his most famous work was the theme to The Addams Family, a tune accented by finger snaps and opening with the cleverly quirky lyrics: “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky: the Addams family.”
Mizzy sang the song himself and overdubbed it three times to give the impression of multiple vocalists. He also directed the title sequence where he asked actors who played members of the Addams family to snap their fingers in a bored way.
The enduring tune is often heard during sports games to rally the home team.
“He was smart enough to demand to own the song, which was unheard of at the time. So any time you go to a Lakers game and they play that song, he made money,” Wolfson said.
He is survived by a brother, daughter and two grandchildren.
– The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 21, 2009
As 2009 winds down I want to remember some people whose passing I hadn’t noted yet.
If you’d ever seen one of this TV pitchman’s high energy, high volume, aggressive infomercials then you’d agree cocaine could explain a lot. Billy Mays was the hot Halloween costume for 2009, especially for heavy set guys with dark hair.
I can understand why the family wants to clear his name, but I also wonder if some insurance settlement is also at stake. Sympathies to his family.
Independent Review Disputes Billy Mays’ Cocaine Autopsy
Cause Of TV Pitchman’s Death Disputed By Family
ThePittsburghChannel.com | October 15, 2009
MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. — Local family members and friends of McKees Rocks native Billy Mays were devastated by the television pitchman’s death at the end of June.
They were also upset by the autopsy results from the medical examiner’s office in Hillsborough County, Fla., where Mays died, indicating that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that killed the Sto-Rox High School grad.
“I knew immediately after Dr. (Cyril) Wecht initially said that it was botched, the first autopsy, I knew that his name would be cleared,” Mays’ brother, Randy, of McKees Rocks, said on Thursday.
Randy Mays’ comments came shortly after Billy Mays’ wife, Deborah, released a statement saying that a New Jersey pathologist has conducted an independent review for the family and found that the autopsy results don’t support the conclusion that cocaine was a contributing factor in Billy Mays’ death.
“Chronic cocaine use was not demonstrated by the autopsy findings of Mr. William Mays,” the statement quotes Dr. William Manion’s report as saying. “In addition, there is nothing in his medical, social or professional history to suggest chronic cocaine use.”
