TOMMY BOND: THE LITTLE RASCALS BULLY

A native of Dallas, Texas, Tommy Bond was best known for his work as a child actor for two different nonconsecutive periods on Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies (first as "Tommy" and later as "Butch"). Also, he is noted for being the first actor to appear onscreen as "Superman's pal" Jimmy Olsen, having portrayed the character in the film serials Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950). Bond was hired at Hal Roach Studios for the Our Gang series in the summer of 1931 to begin work that upcoming fall, at around the same time as George "Spanky" McFarland was hired. 

Bond worked in Our Gang for two years, alternately appearing as a supporting character and a background actor. His speaking roles increased by 1934, including his most substantive role to this point as the gang's band conductor in Mike Fright. In late 1934, Bond left the series and returned to public school, still earning periodic bit parts in Hollywood productions. After leaving the gang for the first time, Bond also worked as a voice actor, most notably in several of Tex Avery's Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. His best known voice role was as the speaking voice of "Owl Jolson" in Tex Avery's 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon, I Love to Singa. Bond returned to Our Gang on a recurring basis late in 1936, when Roach hired him to play "Butch", the neighborhood bully. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Bond returned to acting, and appeared in two Gas House Kids features alongside former on-screen rival Carl Switzer. 

In 1951, Bond graduated from college and quit acting, but remained in show business in the areas of television directing and production, and worked with individuals such as Norman Lear, George Schlatter, and many others. He worked at Metromedia owned Channel 11, KTTV. He then went to work for Capital Cities Communications' CBS affiliate Channel 30 KFSN (now owned and operated and affiliated with ABC) in Fresno from the early 1970s to 1991. Tommy also worked as a prop manager on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Bond died on September 24, 2005 at age 79 due to complications from heart disease in Los Angeles, California. He is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California...

GARY CROSBY: THE EARLY YEARS

Gary Crosby was born on June 27, 1933, in Los Angeles, the first son of Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee. From the very beginning, music was woven into his life. While other kids grew up with bedtime stories, Gary grew up with jam sessions—his father’s voice drifting through the house, rehearsals echoing from the living room, and visits from stars who defined an era.

By the time Gary was a teenager, it was clear he had inherited more than just a famous name. He had a voice, a sense of timing, and a natural ease in front of the microphone. Along with his brothers—Phillip, Lindsay, and Dennis—he formed The Crosby Boys, a harmony-driven group that performed on radio and in nightclubs during the late 1940s and early ’50s. Their appearances were a hit with audiences who loved seeing Bing’s sons carry on the family tradition.

Gary’s first big break came through duets with his father. In 1950, they recorded “Sam’s Song” and “Play a Simple Melody,” two playful tracks that captured the charm of father and son trading lines. The records were a sensation, becoming the first double-sided gold record in music history. Suddenly, Gary wasn’t just Bing’s son—he was a star in his own right.

Radio soon beckoned. Gary appeared on programs like The Bing Crosby Show, where his easy banter and smooth vocals made him a natural fit. In the summer of 1955, he even hosted his own program, The Gary Crosby Show, on CBS—a bold step that showed he was ready to carve out his own space in entertainment.

Film followed quickly. Gary made his screen debut as himself in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) when he was just a boy, sharing the screen with Hollywood’s biggest names. Later, he appeared in musicals and comedies throughout the 1950s, bringing his laid-back charm to the big screen. These early roles weren’t just cameos—they were proof that Gary had the charisma to hold his own in front of the camera.

Those early years were a whirlwind of radio microphones, studio lights, and family harmonies. Gary Crosby grew up in the glow of fame, but he didn’t just stand in his father’s shadow—he stepped forward, sang his own songs, and began writing the first chapters of a career that would span music, film, and television...

RECENTLY VIEWED: THE HAWK

Okay, I am a huge Will Ferrell fan. I have watched most of his movies, and I have liked the majority of them. However like other comedians like Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey, his schtick starts to get old. I recently watched his 10 episode comedy on Netflix called The Hawk. It is ok - just ok. The Hawk was created by Will Ferrell, Harper Steele, and Chris Henchy, and starring Ferrell and Molly Shannon. It premiered on Netflix on July 16, 2026.

The plot is simple. Lonnie "The Hawk" Hawkins, a washed-up, former No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, looks to recapture his magic and win the U.S. Open to complete the Career Grand Slam. Will Ferrell plays yet another version of his washed up athlete personna. Molly Shannon as Will's wife was the standout. That funny lady can do anything. Pretty much all of the cast was better than Will Ferrell was.

On April 19, 2023, it was announced that a comedy series about "a professional golfer who becomes the face of a controversial new league competing with the PGA Tour starring Will Ferrell, was in development at Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum's Gloria Sanchez Productions and Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman's T-Street Productions.

On May 15, 2024, the series was given the title Golf, and it was announced that the series would be co-created by Ferrell, Ramy Youssef, and Josh Rabinowitz, and would star Ferrell and Youssef. The series would be executive produced by Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, and Alix Taylor through Gloria Sanchez Productions, Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman, and Nena Rodrigue through T-Street Productions, Youssef and Andy Campagna for Cairo Cowboy, and Rabinowitz.

On August 5, 2025, it was reported that Molly Shannon had joined the series, with Youssef and Rabinowitz having left the project the previous year due to creative differences.  In September 2025, Jimmy Tatro, Fortune Feimster, Chris Parnell, Katelyn Tarver, and David Hornsby joined the cast. In March 2026, Netflix announced that the series was retitled The Hawk.

I smiled a few times and laughed out loud once. As much as I didn't think this series was funny, I still was drawn to the story, and the show kept me watching for 10 episodes. I'm not sure why The Hawk wasn't funnier. Maybe Will Ferrell looked bored in the role. Maybe the laughes just weren't there. The Hawk wasn't a bad show but it wasn't good either. As a fan of Will Ferrell I expected more...

MY RATING: 6 out of 10

WHAT A CHARACTER: PAT HINGLE

Pat Hingle made his "acting debut" in the third grade, playing a carrot in a school play ("At that time it didn't seem like much of a way to make a living!" he recalled). Hingle attended high school in Texas and entered the University of Texas, majoring in advertising.

"After one [college] semester I went into the Navy for four years in the Pacific on a destroyer. I went back to school and every time I saw a pretty girl I'd say, "Who the hell is that?" Well, they were all headed towards the theater department so I joined the campus Curtain Club. In three years I did 35 plays and in one of those plays I finally realized that I felt more comfortable than I did anywhere and I was where God intended me to be. I always feel that way."

After serving in the Navy during WW II, he went back to the university and got involved with the drama department as a way to meet girls. With his wife Alyce (whom he first met at the university), Hingle moved to New York and began to get jobs on the stage and on TV. The apex of his stage career was "J.B." by poet Archibald Macleish, with Hingle in the title role as a 20th-century Job.

Hingle's first film role was an uncredited part as bartender Jock in "On the Waterfront" (1954). Another notable role was as the father of Warren Beatty's character in "Splendor in the Grass" (1961), directed by Elia Kazan, the director of "On the Waterfront". Hingle was widely known for portraying the father of Sally Field's title character "Norma Rae" (1979). He also played manager Colonel Tom Parker in John Carpenter's 1979 TV movie "Elvis." He played Commissioner Gordon in the 1989 film "Batman" and its three sequels. He is one of only two actors to appear in the four Batman films from 1989 to 1997; the other is Michael Gough.

Hingle lost the lead role in the film "Elmer Gantry" (1960), which could have been a turning point in his screen career, when he, trying to escape a stalled elevator in his apartment building on the West Side, fell more than 50 feet down the shaft. He fractured his skull, hip, wrist, and most of the ribs on his left side, also breaking his left leg in three places. A finger had to be amputated. Near death for two weeks, he spent a year relearning to walk. Burt Lancaster inherited the role and won an Oscar.

"I know that if I had done 'Elmer Gantry.' I would have been more of a movie name. But I'm sure I would not have done as many plays as I've done. I've had exactly the kind of career I hoped for."

Hingle died from myelodysplastic cancer (which he had been diagnosed with in November 2008) at the age of 84 at his house in Carolina Beach in North Carolina on January 3, 2009. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean...

ROBIN WILLIAMS AND ONE HOUR PHOTO

In preparation for his role in "One Hour Photo" (2002), Robin Williams trained for two and a half days at a photo developing training facility in Southern California on an Agfa MSC 101-D photo developing machine.

Williams was originally cast as the SavMart manager, Bill Owens (eventually played by Gary Cole), but after reading the screenplay for a second time, Williams requested the role of Seymour Parrish. Although playing his nemesis in this film, Cole immensely enjoyed working with Williams on this movie and got along with him very well off camera. Cole in fact accepted the role purely for the reason of working with Williams.

Between takes, Williams would improvise and do comedic takes on the scenes as if "One Hour Photo" was a comedy, and often played practical jokes in the middle of a take during the making of a film. According to producer Christine Vachon, Williams burst out of a doorway completely nude during one take for a chase scene.

After the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Williams overheard viewers say that they forgot it was Williams in the lead role 15 minutes into the film, an observation that made Williams proud...

REFLECTIONS: DON MURRAY ON MARILYN MONROE

Don Murray later remembered the difficulties of filming with Marilyn Monroe during "Bus Stop" (1956), who was essentially his boss on the movie. Paula Strasberg had replaced Natasha Lytess as Monroe's on-the-spot acting coach, and Murray recalled that, while Strasberg was "polite," she constantly "huddled" with Marilyn and paid no attention to anyone else. Murray said that, because of Monroe's problems with lines, every scene with her was "difficult... 

On some scenes there would be 30 takes. The average film scene requires about five takes. If Marilyn was having trouble getting through a particular scene, and finally got it, they would print it. It did not matter how the other actors did. I had a feeling of relaxation doing the scenes she wasn't in... She was detached, into herself. On the set, she appeared frightened, worried. Just thinking about what she had to do. There was not much interchange."

Murray recalled a scene in which director Joshua Logan wanted a "two-head close-up" shot, one of the first in the CinemaScope process being used for the film. Because of the width of the image, the top of Murray's head was out of the frame. "The audience won't miss the top of your head, Don," Monroe explained. "They know it's there because it's already been established." Another laugh came when Murray mistakenly used the word "scaly" in a scene and Monroe told him it had been "a Freudian slip" because the scene had a sexual connotation. "You see," she continued, "you were thinking unconsciously of a snake. That's why you said 'scaly.' And a snake is a phallic symbol. Do you know what a phallic symbol is, Don?" Murray's reply: "Know what it is? Hell, I've got one!"

ESTELLE WINWOOD: THE PRODUCERS SCENE STEALER

"Hold me! Touch me!"

Estelle Winwood, on appearing in the Mel Brooks classic "The Producers" (1967): "Oh, that dreadful picture. I can't bear to watch it, even on a small television. I must have needed the money; living in Hollywood weakens one's motives. It reminds me of the saying that nobody ever went broke underestimating the American public's taste."

Like many stage actors of her era, Winwood expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented and made her film début in "Night Angel" (1931), but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in "The House of Trent" (1933), and "Quality Street" (1937) was her first role of note. She made no cinematic films during the 1940s, but expressed a willingness to participate in the new medium of television, starring in a television production of "Blithe Spirit" in 1946. During the 1950s, she appeared more frequently in television than she did in film in such series as "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and "The Donna Reed Show."

Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in "Murder by Death" (1976), was as Elsa Lanchester's character's ancient nursemaid. When she took on her final major television role in a 1979 episode of "Quincy", she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., narrowly beating fellow British actress Ethel Griffies. She continued making appearances until she was 100 years old. When she died at age 101, she was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild.

When Winwood was asked, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, how she felt to have lived so long, she replied, "How rude of you to remind me!"