AND THE WINNER IS

******EDITED BLOG******

All you Mouse Cliquers did well on my CELEBRITY IDENTIFICATION test. However, as expected, no one identified all eleven. I'm going to identify them under each picture. Please do not forget these talented people again. If you do choose to forget them, it will make me a little queezy about my own survival.

If you can't wait to find out, scroll down FAST.

This is me, Lloyd

When I was a kid my mother warned me that if I kept crossing my eyes, they would someday stick like that. I didn't believe her. I kept testing her theory. Much to my mother's relief, my eyes did not stick. However, they did get me my own TV show.

It has always been my way to not completely trust the claims of others. When I was producing "Fight Back! with David Horowitz" on NBC, we were always putting commercial claims to the test. These tests and the results were mainly the reason for the shows success. Unless you are a high school student, people love tests.

That brings me to the test I was conducting in my last Blog. I wanted to see if I just MENTIONED the name of Paris Hilton, how many people would automatically find my blog by just googling her name. I did this even though I was advised it was a stupid test. They were right. I didn't get one result.

Paris Hilton has 75,000,000 mentions on Google. Combined with the fact that Paris is also one of the most beautiful and famous cities in the world, and Hilton is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, AND one of their hotels is called THE PARIS HILTON, it is easy to see why my test got lost in this crowded mass. It would be an interesting test to find out if any of her fans ever made it a goal to stay at the Paris Hilton.

NO IT WOULDN'T!

Are you ready for another test?

(SHOUTS OF "NO" AND "BOO" ARE HEARD BUT LLOYD MOVES ON ANYWAY)

The Lloyd Thaxton Record Shop ran five days a week (sometimes seven) for three years on KCOP in Los Angeles. It was the forerunner to The Lloyd Thaxton Show and we did close to a thousand one hour programs. They were all live, never taped and are lost forever. That is except for eleven photos I found in a trunk in my garage (I have no idea who took these picture or why more were not taken).

I would like to share them with you to see how many of these celebrities you are able to recognize . At the time, the late 50s and early 60s, they represented some very influential people in music and entertainment. THIS IS A TEST!

I'm going to display the pictures to find out how many you can identify. Some are quite easy. Others are not. Have fun.

(1)STAN FREBERG

A legend. A great satirist of popular music. A writer/producer of off-the-wall commercials. A famous cartoon voice. My favorite recording of his: “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

(2)
ELSA LANCASTER

Married to actor Charles Laughton. Made many movies but is best remembered for her role as the monster's wife in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). She was a great guest. Told all kinds of funny intimate stories about Charles Laughton.

(3)
ERROLL GARNER

#1 jazz pianist in the 50s. Wrote the song "Misty" (lyrics added by Johnny Burke). Misty was a pop hit for five different artists between 1959 and 1975. In 1971 Garner re-recorded "Misty" for the Clint Eastwood directorial debut, "Play Misty For Me." One of my all-time favorite guests. Besides being on The Record Shop, his live jazz performances wowed the kids on "The Lloyd Thaxton Show."

(4)
MAUREEN O’HARA

Maureen's first love was always singing. In 1960 she starred on Broadway in the musical "Christine" and released two successful recordings, Love Letters from Maureen O'Hara and Maureen O'Hara Sings her Favorite Irish Songs. Once named one of the world's most beautiful women, O'Hara's beautiful face and thick red hair blowing in the wind as she waves from a gate in the John Ford's Academy Award winning film "How Green Was My Valley" will remain one of the most iconic images ever preserved on film. I think I was in love with her.

(5)
ROGER WILLIAMS

In 1955 he recorded the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard magazine's popular music charts: "Autumn Leaves." While many other records of this song have been made since it was composed in 1945 by the composer Joseph Kosma, Roger Williams' version is easily the best known and most played. In 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song "Born Free" from the motion picture soundtrack of the same name. Also became a favorite guest on the LTS. He even gave me a practice piano keyboard so I could better learn to finger-sync his records.

(6)

GENE BARRY

Known for his suave manner, Barry starred on television in Our Miss Brooks, Bat Masterson, The Name of the Game, and Burke's Law (for which he won a golden globe). Take it from me, he did have a suave manner.

(7)
BILL DANA (on the left)

In the NBC sitcom The Bill Dana Show (1963-65), a spin-off of "The Danny Thomas Show," his José Jiménez character became a bumbling bellhop at a posh New York hotel. His snooty, irritable boss was played by Jonathan Harris. The cast also included Don Adams as a hopelessly inept house detective (an early incarnation of what was to become his "Maxwell Smart" character on Get Smart). Bill produced the ABC "Milton Berle Show" in the 60s and booked me as a guest.

BARNEY KESSEL (on the right)

GREAT JAZZ GUITARIST OF THE 50s and 60s and a famous studio musician who played on 100s of top recorded hits.

(8)
TONY MARTIN

Star of 35 Films, 8 Hit records and married to Cyd Charisse (what a life). Tony is 95 years old today and still performing (That's because he's married to Cyd Charisse).

(9)
JERRY LEWIS
He is Jerry Lewis

(10)
ELMER BERNSTEIN

Composed music for over 200 TV and feature films as diverse as True Grit, Walk on the Wild side, My Left Foot, Animal House and To Till A Mocking Bird. He was nominated 10 times for an Oscar and won for “Thoroughly Modern Millie." Another frequent guest. I loved movie score composers. Made for great behind the scene stories.

(11)

DIMITRI TIOMKIN

Composed the music for 100s of movies, like The High and the Mighty (1954), Giant (1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), The Alamo (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Town Without Pity (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The War Wagon (1967), and many more. A real Hollywood character. I was fortunate to be one of his table guest when he won the Golden Globe for "The Guns of Navarone."

Hope you all enjoyed the test. I'll try to think up some more.


Stay tuned