Junk Thief TV - Season 4, Episode 4: Will Success Spoil Alton V. Yowells, VII...or...Valley of the Yowells

What an exciting but cruel place is this business called show. Alton V. Yowells, VII gets a taste of the big time, but will he pay a price for this sudden whirlwind of recognition?

JTTV - Season 2, Episode 11 - Molene Jackson Plans New Year's Spectacular at Caeser's in Las Vegas

After her triumph last year playing Radio City Music Hall, my dear friend show biz legend Molene Jackson plans to play Caeser's in Vegas this year. Tickets are fetching $5,000 and up.

Although long a dedicated feminist, Mo caught a lot of flak for the lyrics in this featured tune. However, as our close friend Angela Davis said in coming to her defense, even the best lyrics of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday contain similar sentiments and embody women's struggle with white male oppression. On top of that, how can you knock a gal that can pick up a zither and make it sound just like a banjo!

A-Dora-Hall-Able

In his comment on last night's post (appropriately #666 in case you're counting) featuring Mitzi Gaynor, Bryce Digdug referenced the famed Dora Hall. Dora is an entertainer I never saw in her lifetime but have heard Bryce mention many time. The wife of Solo Cup founder Leo Hulseman, Ms. Hall fancied herself a great performer. Judge for yourself on this rare clip of her singing Hang on Sloopy as to her actual talents. Today that song may seem about as old as the Great Wall of China, but Ms. Hall was born in 1900, about half a century before those for whom the song was intended.

Legend has it, according to Bryce, that in order to promote Dora's career, Mr. Hulseman would run free record promotions on Solo products. You could check a box of records you wanted, usually a list that included contemporary hits of the time by the Beatles, Petula Clark, the Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, etc. Solo would then mail you an album with a note on the order of "Thank you for your support of Solo products and participation in our free music promotion. Due to popular demand, The Rolling Stones Beggars' Banquet is currently unavailable. We are pleased to send you instead a copy of Dora Hall's Down at Papa Joe's.

Official information on Dora is hard to come by these days, and a clip of her on I've Got a Secret was yanked from YouTube. Since she was so inescapable in her day, this is a bit surprising. I wonder if the same will be true of Paris Hilton in 2037? In the meantime, you might enjoy this unofficial web tribute to the mysterious career of Ms. Hall. Sadly, she never covered You're So Vain.

17 Emmy Nominations But No Lola Heatherton

Jan Crouch Declares Holy War!

There are drag kings, MtoFs, FtoMs, hermaphadrites, and plain old drag queens…and then there is Jan Crouch. Jan, who is somewhere on the scale of entertainer and snake oil huckster, is rumored to be a biological female, but I certainly never want to be the one who would have the bitter task of confirming that. But for sheer train wreck entertainment value, no one can top Jan. She makes Tammy Fae seem a tad too subdued and intelligent.

Jan’s side show extravaganzas began as a child with her oft told story of getting into faith healing by anointing a dead baby chicken with oil and bringing it back to life. She’s never elaborated whether or not the chick in turn sent her a check or major credit card in order to receive one of her free love gifts. But Jan’s career and move to Orange County would soon follow. More recently she has embarked on a global doll ministry in which she gives little girls in the former Soviet block a Barbie doll and a Bible. I’m not sure what she gives the boys? Are GI Joe dolls too girly for a televangelist?

Jan would be just old fashioned funny not scary were she not just a sideshow freak. Instead, today she has become the dominant paradigm of political discourse. That’s why I developed my little Jan Crouch Declares Holy War video. Oh, in case you didn’t realize it, this is supposed to be satire. Though I would doubt Jan would disagree with any of the sentiments.

And, as you listen the vocals, you may likely ask if that little girlish voice singing is Jan? Well, actually Jan sings an octave or two higher. That is the voice of “Little Marcy.’

*******SPOILER ALERT*************

Little Marcy was very popular on the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School circuit in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s when she released such classic albums as “Little Marcy Sings to $1.98 Children.” What was always mysterious was that whenever Little Marcy sang, she was accompanied by “Big Marcy,” a woman by the name of Marcy Tigner. Alas, I hate to break the news that only recently has been revealed: Little Marcy wasn’t a girl at all but a doll used as a tool of Big Marcy. There’s a lot on the ‘net about Little Marcy, but this is a good start for those who’ve never had the Little Marcy Experience.

And, if you’ve never had the full Jan Crouch Experience, this is not a bad place to start. (Of course AFTER checking out my Jan Crouch Declares Holy War video.) Further evidence of Jan's seemingly unlimited talents can be viewed here in which she transforms into Nina Hagen. When you think about it, they have more in common than you might first realize.