MUSIC BREAK: JAYE P. MORGAN - BROTHERHOOD OF MAN

 

RIP: TIM CURRY

Tim Curry, the English actor and singer best known for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died at age 80, according to an initial report from TMZ. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Curry’s representatives for confirmation.

Per the outlet, Curry died Tuesday night at his Los Angeles home, after enduring “serious health issues for more than a decade.” The LAPD confirmed to  that officers responded to a death investigation for a male in his 80s on Tuesday at 11:20 P.M. TMZ noted that “no foul play” was suspected at the time of his death.

The three-time Tony-nominee and winner of a Daytime Emmy Award, Curry will forever be known for creating the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania,” in The Rocky Horror Show stage production and follow-up film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry met the show’s composer, lyricist, and book writer Richard O’Brien when Curry was in the London production of Hair in 1968 and O’Brien was in the touring company in 1968. Though others have played the mad scientist at “The Frankenstein Place” over time — including an untold number of amateur players during Rocky Horror “shadow cast” performances — Curry’s mix of sleazy, slightly-demonic sexuality mixed with an upper crust demeanor immediately made him a legend, specifically in the LGBT community.

“The motto ‘Don’t dream it, be it’ is not necessarily limited to your sexuality,” he said in late 2025. “I think it applies to whatever you dream to be, and that’s a good thing. If it gives people permission to behave in a sexual way that they secretly want to, that’s a good thing, as long as it doesn’t hurt them.”

The success of Rocky Horror led to notable stage productions like Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, and comedic film roles like John Huston’s adaptation of Annie (1982) and the madcap all-star comedy free-for-all Clue (1985).

Curry was born the son of a British Naval chaplain in 1946. As per his website, his parents met in Malta, were married in Egypt, he was conceived in South Africa, born in England, and raised partially in Hong Kong. He studied drama in school and quickly found work after graduation in the London production of Hair. He didn’t last long in the show, but found work elsewhere on the stage and on television. His official audition for The Rocky Horror Show was singing the early rock ‘n’ roll classic “Tutti Frutti,” wholly appropriate for the retro-kitsch, boogie-woogie vibe of much of the score.

The Rocky Horror Show opened in 1973 in London, then travelled to Los Angeles for a legendary run at the Roxy Theatre in 1974. It moved to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway the following year. The story, which encourages audiences to not “dream it” but to “be it,” follows two sweethearts, Brad and Janet, whose car breaks down near a spooky castle commanded by the pansexual Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

The movie version, released in 1975, drew from the burgeoning glam-rock scene, and predated a great many styles found in the later punk movement. In a 2025 interview with NPR, Curry said he initially thought the doctor character would “ be in a white lab coat,” not fishnets. Curry’s costars included Bruce Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, and Meat Loaf… as well as everyone in the audience.

The movie was not an initial success, but midnight screenings in New York’s Waverly Theatre led to word-of-mouth. As the fandom increased, audiences began shouting back at the screen. Over time, this led to a semi-canonical talk back script of tongue-in-cheek zings. This soon led to props (hurled toast being the most famous) and, eventually, people in costume prancing around the auditorium along with the action on screen. Funnily enough, Curry lived just a block from the Waverly when the film took off, so got to see people dressed like his character walking home late at night. This phenomenon has continued for five decades.

Concerning the movie’s longevity, specifically with young people, Curry said “to them, it’s daring… It’s a kind of rite of passage now, I think. It’s a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don’t have one. And it’s also, I think, a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, you know, figure out - help them maybe figure out their own sexuality. I mean, I think that’s probably taking it a little deeper than it needs to go, but I think it has had a useful purpose in that way.” He added, “I’ve certainly had some very interesting and moving mail from people who have said, you know, thanks for helping me figure out who I was.”

In the 1980s, Curry was seen on film in Annie and under 10 tons of demonic makeup in Ridley Scott’s high fantasy Legend opposite Tom Cruise and Mia Sara. Next came Clue, an adaptation of the detective board game with a stacked cast including Madeline Khan, Martin Mull, Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, Christopher Lloyd. The old school, screwball screenplay relies on Curry running around like a maniac barking dialogue at supersonic speeds for the film’s final scenes.

The late 1980s saw Curry’s first involvement with voiceover for animation. Paddington, Woody Woodpecker, Star Wars, Scooby-Doo, Barbie… Tim Curry has been involved with all of these brands at one time or another. One series, Peter Pan and the Pirates, led to a Daytime Emmy win.

In the early 2000s, he created the role of King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on Broadway and on the West End. Curry also released three pop-rock albums from 1978 to 1981.

Curry suffered a stroke in 2012, limiting his mobility, which increased his working in voiceover. He did not give many interviews and worked to keep his private life private, though it is known that he was rather fond of gardening...

RIP: JAYE P. MORGAN

Talented actress, and game show panelist Jaye P. Morgan passed away on August 24, 2026 at age 94. In 1953, Morgan made a recording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued by Derby Records, which made it to #26 on the U.S. Billboard record chart. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor recording contract, and she had five hits in one year, including her biggest hit "That's All I Want from You", which reached #3 on the chart. Her other notable hits included "There's a Dream in My Heart" by Rolande Maxwell Young, "The Longest Walk", and "Pepper Hot Baby".

After spending six years with RCA Victor, Morgan joined MGM Records in 1959. From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on the ABC television series show Stop the Music. In November 1955, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll. Beginning January 11, 1954, she was a featured singer on the Robert Q. Lewis Show on CBS-TV. In 1956, she had her own show, The Jaye P. Morgan Show, and made guest appearances on a number of other variety shows. She was a charter member of the Robert Q. Lewis "gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS, and was featured on a special episode of The Jackie Gleason Show in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared on ABC's Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1961, Morgan was cast as Sally Dwight in the episode "Money and the Minister" of the CBS anthology series, General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. In 1962, she played Patty Maxwell in "Patti's Tune" of the CBS military sitcom-drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper. That same year, she was cast as Kitty Flanders in "That's Showbiz" on NBC's The Joey Bishop Show. In 1964, she portrayed the character Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour.

Although Morgan continued to spend considerable time in the 1960s and 1970s performing in nightclubs, she also continued to make additional appearances on television as well as in films. In 1964, she guest-starred on CBS's My Three Sons as Susan Duvall in the episode "Second Chorus” and in 1966 “A Falling Star", playing the fading singer Claudia Farrell. Later, in 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcom The Odd Couple. That year she also appeared as Magda Valentine in the film The All-American Boy. She performed the theme song, "Coming into My Own," of the short-lived NBC situation comedy Fay, starring Lee Grant, which aired from 1975 to 1976. In 1978, Morgan guest-starred on The Muppet Show and sang "That Old Black Magic" as a duet with Dr. Teeth. 

Morgan made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during this period, and in the 1980s and into the early 1990s she performed again on the big screen, working in supportive roles in films such as Loose Shoes (1980), Night Patrol (1984), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Morgan largely retired in 1992...

RIP: DOLLY PARTON

Dolly Parton, who rose from a loving if impoverished upbringing in the mountains of East Tennessee to become the “Queen of Country” music, a Hollywood star and a beloved American icon, has died, her family announced on Tuesday. Parton was 80.

Parton’s nephew, Brian Seaver, announced the news in a video posted on her Instagram. He did not provide details about her death.

“My name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” Seaver said in a video.

“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it til now,” he added.

Seaver added that Dolly “lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others.”

Her death comes after Parton suddenly announced in May 2026 that she was canceling a Las Vegas show and said she'd been undergoing treatment for kidney stones for several years.

"Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee," Parton said in a statement. "But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those and hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon."

During her more than 60-year career, Parton sold more than 100 million records and won 11 Grammy Awards, making her one of the bestselling musical performers of all time.

Parton also became a star on the silver screen, gaining a whole new audience and critical acclaim when she brought her Southern charm to movies like “9 to 5” (she wrote and sang the theme song), “Steel Magnolias” and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

Bedecked in blonde bouffant hairdos and never without her makeup, Parton also became one of the nation’s best known brands who parried questions about her hourglass figure and augmented breasts with her signature self-deprecating wit.

“It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” Parton once said.Dolly Parton in 1970. Michael Ochs

Parton was also a shrewd businesswoman who amassed an estimated $650 million fortune and maintained creative control in the cutthroat and male-dominated music industry. She presided over an entertainment empire that included the Dollywood theme park. And she was a devoted philanthropist who launched the Dollywood Foundation to provide poverty relief and fund educational programs in her native East Tennessee.

Through it all, Parton leaned on the love of her life, her husband Carl Thomas Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82 and who, from the moment they married in 1966, happily ceded the spotlight to his world-famous wife.

“Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton said in July 2025.Dolly Parton in a rare photo with her husband, Carl Thomas Dean. dollyparton.com

Born January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River near the town of Sevierville, Parton was the fourth of 12 children. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, could not read or write and often supplemented the family's meager income from their farm by working constructions jobs. Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, ran the household and was fond of singing traditional Appalachian ballads. The future superstar said it was her mother who instilled in her a love for music.

And it was at church that Parton first started performing. By age 13, Parton was singing on local radio and television shows and made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry, where she met Johnny Cash.

“Dolly Parton has one of the most distinctive voices in American pop music,” Katherine Dacey, a professor at the Berklee College of Music, told NBC News before Parton’s death was announced. “Her high soprano voice gets its distinctive character from her fast vibrato and vocal twang.”Dolly Parton performs in 1976.

The day after she graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964, Parton headed to Nashville where she first made her mark writing songs for other performers, some of them with her uncle Bill Owens.

In songs like “Tennessee Homesick Blues” and “Coat of Many Colors,” Parton drew inspiration from her hardscrabble childhood.

Three years after leaving school, Parton released her first record, “Hello, I'm Dolly” and caught the attention of country star Porter Wagoner and became a regular on his shows.

Then, in 1974, Parton broke out on her own when she topped the country charts for the first time with a song she wrote and performed called “Jolene.” She later revealed it was inspired by a bank teller who flirted with her husband when they were newlyweds.

Her next four singles were also country chart toppers and one of them, “I Will Always Love You,” later became a huge hit for Whitney Houston in 1992.

In 1977, Parton released her first self-produced album “New Harvest...First Harvest” and became the first female country artist to have an album sell over a million copies.

Parton also won her first Grammy with a single from that record called “Here You Come Again.”Parton performing in 1995. Hollywood beckoned and 1980 Parton made her film debut in “9 to 5” which earned her two Golden Globe nominations for her acting and Oscar nomination for the title song, which many consider a feminist anthem.

Parton, who earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, made several more movies and performed around the world, but she always returned to the music that first made her famous — and to the hollers of East Tennessee where she was born and where she and her husband made their home.

“Never ignore your roots — your home or your hair,” she once said.

In 1986, Parton opened the Dollywood theme park in the Great Smokey Mountains near her hometown. The 165 acres includes rollercoasters, a bald eagle sanctuary and music and crafts that pay tribute to the region's Appalachian heritage.Parton at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in 1988.Ron Davis / Getty 

Parton and her husband never had children of their own. And in public statements, Parton said she “believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids.” Dolly is the godmother of Miley Cyrus.

Parton's philanthropic legacy also included the creation of the Imagination Library, which mails free books to children around the world. In the three decades since it was founded, the organization has mailed more than 300 million books to kids around the U.S., as well as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland...

JACK BENNY: THE GREATEST COMEDIAN OF ALL TIME

Jack Benny, in my opinion was one of the greatest comedians of all-time. Recognized as a leading American entertainer of the 20th century, Benny portrayed his character as a miser, playing his violin badly. In character, he would be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age. Benny was known for comic timing, and the ability to create laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" 

His radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny had been a minor vaudeville performer before becoming a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was among the most highly rated programs during its run. Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when the NBC Commercial Program Department auditioned him for the N.W. Ayer agency and their client, Canada Dry, after which Bertha Brainard, head of the division, said, "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio and, while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program." Benny's comic persona changed over the course of his career. At some point he developed a miserly persona. This stage character was everything that Jack Benny was not: cheap, petty, vain, and self-congratulatory. His comic rendering of these traits was the linchpin to the success of his show. Benny set himself up as comedic foil, allowing his supporting characters to draw laughs at the expense of his own flaws. With his humanism and vulnerability in an era where few male characters were allowed such character traits, Benny made what could have been an unlikable everyman character. Benny said: "I don't care who gets the laughs on my show, as long as the show is funny."

In 1937, Benny began his famous radio feud with rival Fred Allen. Allen kicked the feud off on his own show, after child violinist Stewart Canin gave a performance credible enough that Allen wisecracked about "a certain alleged violinist" who should by comparison be ashamed of himself. Benny, who either listened to the Allen show or was told about the crack, answered in kind on his own show. And the two comedians were off and running. The television version of The Jack Benny Program ran from October 28, 1950, to 1965. Initially scheduled as a series of five "specials" during the 1950–1951 season, the show appeared every six weeks for the 1951–1952 season, every four weeks for the 1952–1953 season and every three weeks in 1953–1954. For the 1953–1954 season, half the episodes were live and half were filmed during the summer, to allow Benny to continue doing his radio show. From the fall of 1954 to 1960, it appeared every other week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen weekly.

Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Broadway Melody of 1936 (as a benign nemesis for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), George Washington Slept Here (1942), and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). After his broadcasting career ended, Benny performed live as a stand up comedian and returned to films in 1963 with a cameo appearance in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Benny made one of his final television appearances in the fall of 1972 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when Carson celebrated his 10th anniversary.

In October 1974, Benny canceled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms. Despite a battery of tests, Benny's ailment could not be determined. When he complained of stomach pains in early December, a first test showed nothing, but a subsequent one showed he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Choosing to spend his final days at home, he was visited by close friends including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson and John Rowles. He died on December 26, 1974 at age 80, and is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, CA...

ERIC FLEMING AND HIS TRAGIC ENDING

Does anyone remember that tragic story of actor Eric Fleming? He drowned in Peru while on location filming for High Jungle on September 28, 1966. His co-star, Nico Manardos, who was in the canoe with him, managed to swim to safety. He gives a chilling, first hand account of what happened:

 
"Wednesday, Sept. 28
For the first time in the weeks of adjusting to the most primitive of conditions, I awoke with an irritable feeling. I couldn't pinpoint it. I merely felt rotten and everything around me was rotten. Several times that morning I flew off the handle – shouting at the director, yelling foul words to the crew. Each time I couldn't believe I had done it and quickly apologized. The camera was set up downstream on the left bank of the river. All preparations had been made. I was to paddle the canoa from the rear and Eric would be up front. It isn't every day that a movie is made in Tingo Maria and along the river bank were many curious Indians.

 

I used to drive race cars, and know how important it is to know your course. I walked along the river bank again, peering into the boiling cauldron of waters. I didn't like it now one bit. Suddenly, I had an idea. Perhaps, a rope could be attached to the canoa and someone out of camera range could guide the boat from shore. I was fiddling around with a long piece of rope trying to secure it to the canoa when Eric approached.

 
"That'll never work" he laughed. It was nearly 12:30, and a large mass of rain clouds in the distance was moving toward Tingo Maria. If it proved to be a big storm, it could mean a delay of two or three more days before we could get the scene. We were all cognizant of this, especially Eric, and we had no desire to sit around waiting for the rain to stop. All of us were eager to depart the next day by plane for Lima where we would be able to take our first hot shower in weeks, and rest a few days before completing the film.

 
With a concerned, serious expression on his face, Eric took another glance at the approaching ugly blackened sky. He slowly shook his head, and then smiling reassuringly said to me, "Nico, now or never!". Those were Eric's last words. We silently took our positions in the canoa, and were pushed into the main stream by several Indians.

 
For the first 50 yards or so, I felt that I had acted pretty ridiculously in thinking something could go wrong. We were travelling at a swift pace, but in catching the main current of the river it was serving as the navigator around the rocks. There was little paddling to do. The current was doing the work. More or less, all we had to do was hang on.

 
With the thunder of a thousand cannons, the momentary security I had felt disappeared. The canoa bolted into a cauldron of rapids at the bend in the river, so furious that the craft was no more effective than a toothpick. We started taking on a lot of water as we shot up and then dipped into the rapids. Water was spilling in from the bow with tremendous force. Both Eric and myself were so busy trying to keep the canoa upright with our paddles that there was no time to bail. Suddenly, I noticed Eric start to stand up. I knew immediately that he was planning to jump. When we had talked about the dangers that one day, I tried to impress on him it would be wiser to stay with the canoa. Eric, though, was used to riding surfboards, and for a surfboarder the reaction in time of trouble is to leap away so as not to be hit on the head by the board.

"Don't jump!" I yelled frantically. "Please, please don't jump!" Whether he heard or not I'll never know. However, I sort of doubt it because the roar of the water hitting the rocks in the rapids was deafening. Without turning around he went over the side into an angry whirlpool and disappeared. Probably Eric figured that if he jumped, I would be forced to follow and we would both be saved. I didn't have time for any choice. With Eric's weight gone from the front, the canoa catapulted upward, sending a wall of water at me. In a split-second the canoa was inundated and I was struggling underwater. My frantic effort to reach the surface was fruitless, I was a human anchor. My boots, the pistol tied to my side, those damn sleeves of the shirt, bulging heavily with water, were dragging me to the bottom. I bit my lips desperately, but the pressure of the current was unbearable and forced water into my mouth.

Weakness overcame my body. Every bone had succumbed to fatigue. I was dying. My eyes seemed to automatically close and I found myself drifting further away from reality. I kept thinking only that I was dying. No other thoughts entered my mind. I found myself accepting death. I actually had given up any hopes of surviving when suddenly my eyes were open again staring into the yellowish water at some blurred object in front of me. it was the half-submerged end of the canoa. God or some power had put it there for I was able to reach out with the strength I thought I had lost and grasp it. With a second surge of miraculous effort I pulled myself up on it, forcing it deeper in the water and creating a springboard to pop me above the surface. I managed a life-saving gulp of air before I went under again. This time I knew I would live. I clung to the swamped boat as the current swept us beyond the curve, and into calmer water where the boat drifted into a whirlpool. As it started to spin I kicked off with my feet to the shore.

 

An Indian boy, 10 or 12 years old, was standing knee deep in the water. I grabbed out and used his shoulder as a support to regain my footing. My knees trembled violently. Quickly I turned my head back to the river to look for Eric. I spotted his body bobbling like a cork in one of the whirlpools – one upstream from me that I had successfully passed while I was being carried underwater while clinging to the canoa. One look at the way his head was face down in the water chilled me with terror. Eric was probably dead, I thought with a nauseous sensation. The best of swimmers would be helpless in such strong currents. Eric had given up – like I had. I started to swim out in a frantic attempt to grab him as the main current was bringing him downstream. It was useless. I was still too waterlogged and weighted down. The pistol I managed to rip off my belt. There was no time to remove my boots or strip off my shirt. Two Indians, meantime, had retrieved the canoa and had it floating again near me. I pushed both of them into it and desperately pointed to Eric's floating body. They were able to bring the canoa alongside of Eric. The Indian in front grabbed him by the hair. Quickly they all disappeared momentarily in another series of rapids.

 
"Thanks God," I said aloud. "Eric might have a chance if they get him to shore in time to administer artificial respiration." Then I doubled over in severe pain. I had swallowed a great quantity of that dirty water. I vomited the water for I don't know how long. By the time I was able to stand straight again I saw the canoa in trouble. The native had a firm grasp on Eric's head and the one paddling from the rear was feverishly trying to turn the boat into shore. Within seconds all was lost – Eric's last chance gone – as the canoa slammed against a large boulder, toppling the Indians in the water. To save his own life, the one Indian let go of Eric's hair. Both Indians made it to the safety of the shore. Eric's body disappeared in the froth around the rock.

 
It was shockingly horrifying, especially when I learned Lynne had witnessed the tragedy from the camera's location. She was hysterical with grief. The other members of the company and myself searched until dark for the body, although dreading what we might find.

 
That night at the Garn Hotel everyone was too shocked to say anything or do anything except retire to the lonely misery of their room to face agonizing hours of torment, knowing that a friend was dead somewhere out there in the merciless wilderness."

Nico Minardos died in 2011 - never forgetting that horrific event...

THE BOX OFFICE STARS: 1960

1960 was the dawn of another decade, and the 1960s cinema was changing just as the whole world was. Here are the top ten movie stars of 1960...

1. DORIS DAY

2. ROCK HUDSON

3. CARY GRANT

                   

4. Elizabeth Taylor 

5. Debbie Reynolds

6. Tony Curtis

7. Sandra Dee

8. Frank Sinatra

9. Jack Lemmon

10. John Wayne.