Pushin' Forty.

When I wrote the article "The Match Game", a few weeks ago, about Cosby, I mentioned that one of my plays, set in the 1980s, contained a throwaway reference to him, which I felt I had to change, due to current circumstances.
In the same play, in order to give myself the flexibility to use an older (than mid-to-late thirties) actress in the role, I provided extra additional dialogue to cover it.
The character is an actress who was just barely nosed out for the Jaclyn Smith part in "Charlie's Angels" ten years previously, and has never gotten over it.
When an older actress is cast, dialogue is needed to explain her age.
So the characters, Earl and Patty, have this exchange of dialogue:
Earl: Uh, forgive me for bringing this up, but weren't you a little old for "Charlie's....?"
Patty: Remember Elly May?
Earl: Elly May? "The Beverly Hillbillies"?
Patty; Uh huh. When she got that part, she was pushin' forty!
Earl: Really?
Patty: Yup. (Gesturing) P---forty!
Earl: oh-h-h! So when you were up for "Charlie's Angels", you were...
Patty: Pushin' F-thirty-five!!

And at the time, Donna Douglas WAS pushin' forty.
It may not seem like much now, but in 1962, when I was fifteen, and Donna Douglas was pushin' forty, forty seemed ancient.
Forty hadn't yet become the new twenty-five.
It was still the old forty.
If I had known that at the time, it really would've freaked me out.
A lot of people were surprised when they learned of actress Donna Douglas's death last week that she was 81, or 82.
Nobody in the preaa ever gets it exactly right.
I wasn't surprised.
I knew it.
And I knew I was being accurate when I wrote that dialogue.
I don't remember why or how or when I knew, but I knew that I knew.
She was at least four years older than Jethro.
In a way, I was kind of sad when they showed very recent pictures of her on the news.
She did not age well.
As one who found her to represent the first erection of many of my generation, it did not sit particularly well.
But at least she didn't seem to have any plastic surgery done to grotesquely stretch her face.
We take our small blessings where we can find them.
R.I.P., Donna.


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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 and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
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Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
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I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.

And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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