Shakin' It Up.

Every day, I go to a website called Google Alt. Obituaries.
It's just about the best way to determine who has recently died.
There is a regular poster on this site who has this regular entry, "People who are
about to turn 80 or 90 this week"
He is referring to well-known people.
Whenever one of these posts appear, I usually find it startling.
It usually elicits the reaction "Is he (or she) really that old?"
Or "Is that person still alive?"
It is usually a head smacking moment.
And it usually makes you think about people you haven't thought about in quite a while.
One crept up on me this week: Abbe Lane.
She's turning 80 this week.
Abbe Lane.
80.
Now, there are some people that you just can't fathom turning 80.
One such is Abbe Lane.
She has certainly slipped off of my radar.
For those of you who don't remember, she was a very popular singer in the fifties and
early sixties.
She was also primarily known for two things: Being married to, and performing with,
Xavier Cugat, and pretty much being in on the ground floor of a form of major league
show business known as "Shakin' it up".
A form of singing and wriggling simultaneously.
And now, she is 80.
I hope she has adjusted well to this fact.
I'm pretty sure that the hips won't let her do much "Shakin' it up" these days.
When I was in college, it amused me and my friends to refer to her as "Abernathy Lane".
It still does.
I have had nightmares attempting to conjure up what she might look like currently.
Has she had work done?
Has she had major work done?
Has she grown old gracefully?
Has she had hip replacement?
There have been a handful of women who have, in one way or another, followed in her
footsteps.
And for the most part, their lives have checkered, at best.
Particularly when they have not been able to leave "Shakin' it up" behind.
One of them actually won a Kennedy Center Honor.
Who knows?
It might have actually been for being able to leave "Shakin' it up" behind.
I suppose a case can be made that a forerunner of Abbe Lane's was Josephine Baker.
But apparently, she was first and foremost an artist and a humanitarian.
However, she certainly did her share of "Shakin' it up", and if film footage is any indication, she did it naked, wearing nothing but bananas.
Yet I don't think the case for Josephine Baker is a particularly good one.

Next time, I will continue talking about women who pretty much hung their hats on
"Shakin' it up".


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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne & Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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