Three sad passings (well, three that made ME sad, anyway) of late:
• Toby Wing, a swell chorus girl and starlet of the 1930s. Best known for having Dick Powell sing “Young and Healthy” to her in “42nd Street,” but she also made a lot of other movies, too. Sort of a proto-Betty Grable.
• Elena Del Rubio, of the dazzling Del Rubio Triplets. Two down, one to go . . .
• Voice-over actress Norma MacMillan, who played Caspar, Gumby and Sweet Polly Purebred.
Ooooooh yeah, I read about that last one in the Times yesterday. Don’t forget to mention that her son was a teevee star, having masterfully played a leading role on that deathless Irwin Allen classic of bonechilling science fantasy, THE LAND OF THE GIANTS.
Not Gumby ! sniff
Another piece of my childhood sliiping away …
Ahh! The Death Pit Duo check in…and it’s not even a Monday. Good day and thanks for the updates………again, I think
BTW, anyone got a better name for these two’s curiously eager predilection for graveside reporting ?
Coffin Crew ?
Posthumous Posse ?
Oh, no need for formality…Gomez and Morticia will do…
PS: Drop by http://www.findagrave.com! The New Photo section includes the eternal resting places of Sir Max Beerbohm, Edgar Wallace, Eve Arden, and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom! Didja know that Frank Zappa was buried right next to Lew Ayres? What times they must have after midnight, when they let it all hang out!
I can’t believe there’s not more of an outcry over Toby Wing—surely SOME of you red-blooded he-men remember her cavorting in that white fur bikini in “42nd Street”?
Or don’t red-blooded he-men WATCH “42nd Street” . . . ?
Real men don’t watch musicals!
Except me. But I haven’t gotten around to 42nd Street.
I’m partial to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Guys and Dolls.
… and for me, it’s The Pajama Game, My Fair Lady, and Bye Bye Birdie…
Great Musicals:
Bugsy Malone
Phantom of the Opera
Cannibal - the Musical
The Tune
The Nightmare Before Christmas
And… South Park - Bigger, Longer and Uncut (no, really)
Well, if you guys don’t remember that number, I certainly do. Eve, that was my favorite number of the film and I remember the actress vividly. She was quite a cutie! And that was a racy pre-Hanes-office number, too. Even if you guys out there don’t go for Busby Berkeley, you ought to make the effort to catch this one – especially you leg men.
I’m sorry Tobi’s gone. I’d like to see the other movies she was in, too. She may have even gotten some lines in subsequent picture.
Well, THANK you, pug, for keeping this from turning into another goddam “what’s your favorite musical?” thread (oops—I started the first one, didn’t I?).
Toby WAS a real cutie—but you’re thinking of the “Hays” code. The “Hanes” code was the one barring actresses from appearing onscreen without pantyhose . . .
The Hanes Code evidently also didn’t cover appearing sans undergarments if your name is Carmen Miranda and you’re dancing with Caesar Romero. “Tutti-fruity hat” my ass - she needed to put on some tutti-fruity underwear to cover that very hirsute hoo-ha.
“Caesar, dus joo feel a drrraft?”
Talk about a Freudian slip.
[singing just a little too “festively”]Guys and dolls, we’re just a crazy bunch of guys and dolls…[singing]
Oh, not the Simpsons bad dinner theater version. Actually Guys and Dolls is one of my favorites, especially A Fugue for Tinhorns. I finally got to see the tour of Cabaret last year which was outstanding. Miss Saigon was good on Broadway but I wasn’t humming any of the songs on the way out.
end hijack
It shows my age that I grew up on those cartoons. Underdog must be devastated. I’m not trying to sound flip about somone’s passing but I feel it’s better to remember them for the joy they gave us.
And I thought Sharon Stone was cutting edge.
[singing]Luke, be a Jedi tonight…[/singing]
Actually, Underdog’s probably happy. His voice was done by Wally Cox, who is also dead. Underdog and Sweet Polly Purebred are together again in the great talking dogpound in the sky.
Is it just me, or after weeks of this, do the rest of you get the impression that Eve is channeling Angela Lansbury in “Murder She Wrote?”
Although I do have to admit that that is better than the last star I had her portray, setting her up with the perfect straightline. Back in '99 we were doing something in GD about “choices” and as an illustration of people having the potential to do things contrary to their personal life-focus, I said something to the effect that “Eve could move to North Carolina and start a farm…” Bless her, she knew her cue: She posted a perfect parody of Eva Gabor’s lines from the Green Acres theme song in response. 
Skip this post, it’s just about Toby Wing rather than Saturday afternoon cartoons.
She was SO blonde - and that lovely wide flat face, with the almond eyes and the (well in my memory) large mouth. White white skin, platinum hair.
I believe she was hungarian. I’ve seen a film where she had lines, I’m sure…? She certainly crops up in another Busby movie as one of the close-up show girls, on screen for a few seconds.
But I think her great quality was that she looked so available. As if, should Mr Average moviegoer actually get to meet her, he would have a strong chance of some definite action (know what I mean…?) And she would have a pure animal joy in physicality, too, I’m sure.
Don’t get me wrong, not easy. Not like Jennifer Lopez (“So, you own a record company, huh?”).
But once won, a joyous participant. (Not like Callista Flockhart - “God, what am I doing here? Look , this is all a big mistake…”)
You see, at one time sex goddesses were simpler beings.
Redboss
I’m mostly aware of Toby Wing for her modeling, not her performing. Back in the days, guys got off on Police Gazette and Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang (I’m not making these up. Eve, I’m sure you know that.) instead of Playboy or Penthouse. The poses were truly sensual, and I don’t think there was any full nudity; maybe not even frontal nudity. Just women who knew how to pose so that the camisole looked it was about to fall off. Toby Wing was, I believe, one of the most photographed women in this medium. I’ve seen photos of her, and Redboss described her to a T. Her coloring and bone structure were ideal for the photographic style (and technology) of the time. The effect was of looking as if she gave off a muted light of her own.
Blessed be, Toby.