Fred & Ginger: Together Forever

In my quest to visit historic cemeteries, Oakwood Memorial Park was low on the totem pole. Located in Chatsworth, it’s just far enough away from LA/Hollywood to make it an inconvenient trip. Last month though, I finally rectified that situation! The area surrounding the cemetery which opened in 1924 is plagued by 1990s faux adobe architectural style, and the entrance to Oakwood is not much better, littered with mismatched signs. How could this be the final resting place of a classy guy like dancer/actor Fred Astaire, seen below in a behind-the-scenes shot from “Easter Parade” (1948):



And yet, here’s where he lies for all of eternity. The cemetery is pretty much all markers vs. headstones. Unlike most of the cemeteries I have visited, this one just feels a bit sterile without much character. Even Fred’s marker is a bit curious; I “assume” his last wife, Robyn Smith, is the “I” in the inscription. No birth/death dates listed, either. I wonder how his kids feel about this, as the “I” definitely leaves them out of the picture. Wouldn’t “we” have been a bit more inclusive? Ah, the things one could infer from a single sentence.



Fred’s sister and initial dancing partner, Adele, has a more traditional inscription:



Fred and Adele’s mother:



Fred’s first wife, Phyllis, who died of lung cancer in 1954, leaving him devastated:



Although they were just about the most famous dancing pair from Old Hollywood, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were never married to each other or even linked romantically. Just work buddies.



Below is the marker for Ginger and her mother, Lela. I’m not sure how it happened, but yes, Fred & Ginger are buried at the same cemetery.



You might remember Oscar winning actress Gloria Graham from “It’s a Wonderful Life” (pictured below), “The Bad and the Beautiful,” or “Oklahoma.”



She is buried here at Oakwood, too. She was married four times; #2 was director Nicholas Ray and #4 was her stepson, Anthony Ray. Talk about all in the family…



Nearby is the historic Pioneer Church, which was built in another location in 1903 and originally called the Chatsworth Community Church. A lot of great info about this place on the Chatsworth History website.



In 1962, the building was set to be demolished, but instead ended up being moved to its present location in 1965.



The fundraising to move the building was begun by a $1000 donation from the famed Dale and Roy Rogers. The two also held an “Appreciation Reception” at their ranch, attended by over 200 people. Any of my readers in attendance? Interestingly enough, Dale and Roy are buried elsewhere (in Apple Valley), not here in Chatsworth.



When the foundation of the church was removed, the Church Cornerstone revealed several items including a bible, a Sunday School attendance roster dated January 8, 1903 and a membership list of the church’s ladies aid society. The items were saved, but exposure to the air after being stored in the stone, with no protective container, caused them to crumble within the week. Oops.



Inside the entrance to Oakwood is the Chapel of the Oaks, built in 1933. At least this building has a bit of authentic character.



Wikipedia lists actor Earl Holliman (shown below with Cloris Leachman) as a “resident” of Oakwood, yet he was nowhere to be found. Upon further investigation, the Find A Grave website lists him as being buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. AI says that Holliman’s ashes were scattered at sea, but that he has a memorial cenotaph at Valhalla.



With inhabitants Bea Benadaret and Oliver Hardy, I guess I need to add Valhalla to my list of places to visit!

See more cemetery photos at my main website.

R.I.P. Sue Ann

I know I am late to the game, but wanted to join in on the tributes to the legendary Betty White, who recently passed away. Many of the commentators said it was White’s generous way of not staining 2022. I had the opportunity to briefly meet/get photos of her at an Actors and Others for Animals event in March 2005. Not surprisingly, she was just as warm and kind in person, cheerfully posing for all the guests who stormed her at the end of the event. Yes, I was one of those obnoxious people. While most remember her as Rose from “The Golden Girls,” I was much more impressed by her comic turn as Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” I was able to pose for photos with all the leads from that show in person other than Valerie Harper. Here are Cloris Leachman and Mary herself; both are now “dining at the Lord’s Table”:



At the same event where I met Betty White, the head table was populated with Ed Asner, Leachman, and Gavin MacLeod. This photo could be titled, “The Lord’s Table,” as every single one of them (including Monty Hall on the left, Alex Trebek at center, and Fred Willard) has passed on, too.



But back to Betty…

What made her so delicious as Sue Ann on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was that her character was truly rotten, but White played it with comic delight. There are villains that you hiss at, and those that you silently cheer on because they make being rotten so much fun. Sue Ann was the hostess of a show called “The Happy Homemaker.”



While her character appeared to be a sweet retro woman who dispenses advice on cooking and cleaning with a smile, behind the scenes she is a backstabbing husband stealing tramp. White’s squeaky clean public image made her casting as Sue Ann a stroke of brilliance. White made her first appearance in the season four episode titled, “The Lars Affair,” which first aired on September 15, 1973.



The show begins at one of Mary’s typical troubled dinner parties. Inevitably, something goes wrong. “Oh, will you look at that, somebody spilled coffee all over my brand new table cloth,” exclaims Mary to her guests. “Oh, don’t worry dear, that will come up with no trouble at all,” replies Sue Ann as she swoops in to save the day. “You simply stretch the fabric over a bowl and then pour boiling water through the stain from a height of two feet,” she advises, without taking a breath or losing her cheerful smile. “I better get my wrap, that nice man said he’d be bringing the car around any minute now, wasn’t that sweet of him to say he would take me home? I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk more, dear!” she chirps to Phyllis.



“Who’s Little Bo Peep?” asks a baffled Phyllis (Leachman) to Mary as Nivens makes her exit. “Oh, that’s Sue Ann Nivens.,” replies Mary. “She does the Happy Homemaker show at our station. You know she gives household hints, sewing lessons, recipes, cooking lessons, things like that.” “How in the world did I live so long without seeing the Happy Homemaker?” replies Phyllis with acid. “I love her dimples,” chimes in Rhoda (Harper). “I wonder if she made them herself?” As it turns out, the man who offered to give her a ride is Phyllis’s husband, and the two begin a torrid affair.



White was perfection as Sue Ann. Here, she is talking to the cameraman who sadly informs her that they do not have a third camera to give her the overhead coverage shot she has asked for when making her chocolate soufflé. With a sugary-sweet smile and a delivery that no man could say “no” to, she gets what she wants. 



At the end of the episode, when Phyllis arrives to tell Sue Ann to back off, her final question to the home-wrecking whore is this: “By the way, Sue Ann…do you know how to remove chocolate stains?” You can guess what happens next. You must watch this episode to see White’s true genius.

In other news, I received an email from Reed Browning’s daughter, who had seen my blog from a few year’s back asking who that was, since his name was listed on an A-Frame in front of the Golden Horseshoe back in 1956:



Your blog has a vintage photo of the Saloon at Disneyland in the first year that it opened. You asked who was Reed Browning. My late father, Reed Browning was there for ABC to cover the opening of Disneyland and had a show from the saloon for at least the first year. His actual name was Bill ( William) Livesay. In those days, many celebrities used names that were easier to pronounce and remember than their birth names. My Dad was a major announcer and star of shows at ABC. He interviewed the televised premiers of major movies including, "Oklahoma", "Moby Dick" and many others. He starred on The Reed Browning Show and "Beat The Record" TV shows. He started the first talk show on ABC talk Radio. Unfortunately, at the age of 45, he was diagnosed at the Mayo clinic with Peri-Arteritis Nodosa, a rare auto-immune disease and died a year later in October, 1962. Joe Pyne took over as the commentator of the Talk Show "Night Line"



This is the stuff I love. Happy New Year!

See more Daveland photography and pop culture at my main website.