It's now official

The world has exhausted all possible aspects of creativity. There are no more good songs, movies, novels or TV shows being produced. The last nail in the coffin of novelty as we know it came in the form of a TV program.

While engaging in an evermore act of futility, namely surfing the breadth of the cable TV offerings, I came across a familiar face. It was the mug of Steve Davis. For those of you who are not familiar with Steve, or his visage, he was one of the best snooker players ever to poke balls with a stick.

You'll notice that I said was. You can guess that this day saw Steve without his trusty tool of the trade. What was Steve doing on TV, today, you ask? He was playing poker. And why do you suppose he was playing poker? Because having won world championships in snooker multiple times, he was looking for new challenges? I doubt it.

I did not rest on the particular channel very long, but I was there just long enough to learn that at least one of his opponents was also previously a successful snooker player. This leads me to believe that this was the theme of the program: washed-up-pool-players-who need-money-and-will-do-anything-to-make-rent.

Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of both billiards and poker, but having watched every conceivable angle of poker on TV, little of it exciting, you have to draw the line somewhere. What's next? Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones square off in a wild game of strip poker? Was that the sound of your lunch hitting your keyboard?

Are you sitting down? The above scenario is not beyond what someone would think to put on TV. You see, Ms. Shirley Jones, aka the wholesome Mrs. Partridge of The Partridge Family fame, is about to "bare all" in an upcoming issue of Playboy. Did I mention that the old bird is 75 years old?



New York Post story.

A Page out of the history books

I've never been a fan of Bettie Page. Hell, I hardly knew who she was--just heard her name bandied about. If you've never heard of her, she was what used to be referred to as a pin-up girl. That was back when newspapers didn't display women's breasts in all their glory and you had to buy (or sneak a peek at) what used to be called a smut magazine. Hell, in "the olden days", there were smut magazines that didn't even show nipples! It was a much different world from today. Miss Bettie Page was also one of the early girls appearing in Playboy.

Just yesterday, I inadvertently learnt she died in 2008 and being the inquisitive type, I decided to do some research. This intensive work consisted of doing a Google image search of her name. I didn't find her to be overly attractive, but then, who was in the 50's? As I pored over dozens of Bettie's pix, one of them stopped me in my tracks.

Although she is featured in provocative poses and in various stages of undress, only in this one particular photo did she have the slightest effect on my er, um prurient interest. She bears an uncanny resemblance to a girl I've had a crush on since I was a child. In fact, the apple of my eye is every bit as attractive today as she was way back then. See if you don't agree...

Veronica Lodge then and now:




Bettie Page then:




Side by side:

Is there not a striking resemblance? Further coincidence is that "Betty" (different spelling) is Veronica's best friend's name. As it turns out, the creator of the Archie comic book characters, Bob Montana, fashioned Archie's girlfriend around Veronica Lake, a popular actress back in the 40's. I wonder if Lake had a lodge...

The Archies