Take Out Stories: The Blizzard of 95

We travel back to December of 1995, when a holiday trip to Ohio turned into an adventure as we found ourselves right smack in the middle of The Blizzard of 95.

Enjoy and stay warm.


Donna & Tony

PS: Yes Defiance, Ohio is a real place.

Eartha Kitt

She was perhaps best known her 1953 Christmas song "Santa Baby" and for her role as Catwoman in the 1960s Batman TV series, and for .

Eartha Kitt started her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948). A talented singer with a distinctive voice, her hits include "Let's Do It", "C'est si bon", "Just an Old Fashioned Girl", "Monotonous", "Je cherche un homme", "Love for Sale", "I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch", "Uska Dara", "Mink, Schmink", "Under the Bridges of Paris", and her most recognizable hit, "Santa Baby". Kitt's unique style was enhanced as she became fluent in the French language during her years performing in Europe. She had some skill in other languages too, which she demonstrates with finesse in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances.

In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role, as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus. A few years later, she was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952 introducing "Monotonous" and "Bal, Petit Bal," two songs with which she continues to be identified. In 1954, 20th Century Fox filmed a version of the revue simply titled New Faces. Welles and Kitt allegedly had a torrid affair during her run in Shinbone Alley, which earned her the nickname by Welles as "the most exciting woman in the world." In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages. In 1964, Kitt helped open the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. Also in the 1960s, the television series Batman, featured her as Catwoman after Julie Newmar left the role.



In 1968, however, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon. It was reported that she made First Lady Lady Bird Johnson cry. The public reaction to Kitt's statements was much more extreme, both for and against her statements. Professionally exiled from the U.S., she devoted her energies to overseas performances.

In 1984, she returned to hit music with a disco song, "Where Is My Man", the first certified Gold record of her career. "Where Is My Man" reached the Top 40 on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #36 the song also made the Top 10 on the US Billboard dance chart, where it reached #7. Kitt found new audiences in nightclubs across the UK and the US, including a whole new generation of gay male fans, and she responded by frequently giving benefit performances in support of HIV/AIDS organizations. Her 1989 follow-up hit "Cha-Cha Heels" (featuring Bronski Beat), and originally intended to be recorded by Divine, received a positive response from UK dance clubs and reached #32 in the UK charts.

To quote Eartha Kitt, "The river is constantly turning and bending and you never know where it's going to go and where you'll wind up. Following the bend in the river and staying on your own path means that you are on the right track. Don't let anyone deter you from that".

Goodnight Catwoman

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

A little Christmas music

Jose Feliciano's christmas song live in Denmark in 1973


David Bowie & Bing Crosby recorded in 1977.


Stay Tuned & Merry Christmas


Tony & Donna Figueroa

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry "The First Lady of 'Trek'"

Actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died in her home in Bel-Air at the age of 76.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was associated with Star Trek from the beginning. In the first TV pilot, she played the role of the first officer, but after executives changes were made, she did not reprise that role in the second TV pilot. She instead played the role of Nurse Christine Chapel and the voice of the USS Enterprise's computer (She also was the voice of the Starship Enterprise's computer for six of the 10 Star Trek movies as well as the 11th movie which is due out next year). Barrett-Roddenberry also played the recurring role of Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Barrett-Roddenberry's acting career also included guest appearances on The Untouchables and The Lucy Show.

Several years after her husband's death, Barrett-Roddenberry discovered a pilot script and notes he had written for a series in the '70s the project became Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict and began airing in syndication in 1997 with Majel Barrett-Roddenberry playing a recurring role and acting as an executive producer. She later was an executive producer of the syndicated Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.



Barrett-Roddenberry attended her first Star Trek convention in 1972 and said "You know, when the conventions started out, I'd attend four or five a month but after a while, it got where there was no time for anything else. You'd just travel from city to city, making the same speech, answering the same questions."

Good Night Mrs. Roddenberry
Now you and Gene can explore "The Undiscovered Country"

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Robert Prosky

Robert Prosky, the actor best known as Sgt. Stan Jablonski on on the TV crime drama Hill Street Blues, has died of complications from a heart procedure at the age of 77. He stepped on the role the desk sergeant in Hill Street Blues after the death of Michael Conrad in 1984.

Mr. Prosky appeared in more than 200 plays on Broadway and with Arena Stage, a regional theater company in Washington. On Broadway, Prosky's credits included Glengarry Glen Ross and A View from the Bridge. He also completed a long run in Michael Frayn's play Democracy.
More recently, Prosky appeared with two of his sons in Arthur Miller's play, The Price, in Philadelphia. He appeared in 38 films including Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Man Walking and The Natural. A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Prosky studied economics at Temple University and served in the U.S. Air Force.

His son Stefan Prosky said Tuesday. "Everybody knows him as a fairly famous actor. My brothers and I know him as a marvelous father."

To quote Sgt. Stan Jablonski "Let's do it to them before they do it to us".

Good Night Mr Prosky

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Paul Benedict

I will always remember Paul Benedict as the Mad Painter on Sesame Street. Look for Stockard Channing.

But Paul Benedict will best be known as the actor who played the wacky English neighbor Harry Bentley on the sitcom The Jeffersons, Mr. Benedict died at at the age of 70. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features were partly attributed to acromegaly, a pituitary disorder, he underwent medical treatment to prevent the disease from spreading and used his facial features for comic effect. Benedict stared in films like The Goodbye Girl (1977), The Man with Two Brains (1983) This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Addams Family (1991) and the Christopher Guest comedies Waiting for Guffman (1997) and A Mighty Wind (2003).

After growing up in Boston (not England), Benedict attended the city's Suffolk University and began his acting career in the 1960s in the Theatre Company of Boston, performing alongside such future stars as Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.On Broadway, he appeared opposite Pacino in Eugene O'Neill's two-character play Hughie in 1996 and played the mayor in a 2000 revival of The Music Man. His breakthrough show as a director was Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune in 1987, closely followed by The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives in 1989, both two-person sleepers that became off-Broadway hits.

To quote Paul Benedict, "I try to make each of the characters different. I think the trick is to cement in the reality, to make it logical and real to yourself. Once there's a reality, I think you can make it as crazy as you want it to be".

Good Night Mr. Benedict


Stay Tuned



Tony Figueroa

Take Out Stories: Dinner, Dykes & Damnation

This Podcast offering comes from an actual event that took place several years ago. We were reminded of this story in light of recent events.

Enjoy, but don't forget to say Grace.

Donna & Tony

Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White

This is not really a book review but more of a gift giving suggestion.

Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White is the story about the first interracial comedy team Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen. Tim & Tom started in Chicago nightclubs then went on the road for five years. They worked all over America at a time of racial unrest, riots and assassinations. They faced racist heckling, threats, and even violence (Tim had a cigarette put out in his face). As a team they never had the success that they would later have in their solo careers. They were just ahead of their time.

I just finished the book (written with Ron Rapoport) and it hit home... Literally. As some of you remember my wife Donna and I did a show (Guess Who's Coming To...) that we performed at Fringe Theatre Festivals in 2006.

I think we have come a long way but we still have a way to go and it is true that the more things change the more they stay the same... I just never had a cigarette put out in my face. You can imagine that we would like to have a chance to meet Tim & Tom when they appear somewhere not only to sign my book but also to get their thoughts about an interracial couple performing together.

If you or a friend like stories about, Comedy, The Civil Rights Movement, Race Relations, Television and all things Show Biz this is the book for you and it makes a great gift. Amazon.com: Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White: Tim Reid, Tom Dreesen, Ron Rapoport: Books With people cutting back on holiday spending the book is reasonably priced. Please consider this recommendation before you hit the malls on Black Friday (No pun intended).

Happy Thanksgiving


Tony & Donna Figueroa

Two words... Mission Accomplished

This Election Day I popped open my bottle of champagne, toasted with friends and know what HOPE taste like. The bottle of Jack Daniel’s will be re-gifted. I also had some Rolling Rock beer in honor of Tim Russert.

To President Elect Obama I want to quote Tim Russert, "Go get ‘em".

To the rest of us I want to quote Alan Brady (Carl Reiner on The Dick Van Dyke Show episode Coast-to- Coast Big Mouth), "Oh, happy days are here again!"

Stay Tuned and God bless America


Tony & Donna Figueroa

Election 2008.

This Election Day I want to pause for a moment and reflect on our last Election Day. Sherman set the Wayback machine to November 2nd 2004. The exit polls were optimistic. We invited some friends over to watch the returns. I bought a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Depending on who won the election, one of those bottles would be opened. Every time Ohio was mentioned on the news, everyone in the room gave my wife Donna (A Cincinnati girl) a dirty look. I could have started a drinking game where every time a pundit said Ohio, Battleground State or "Too close to call", we would have to take a shot.

The next day we were off to the Red State of Ohio to visit my wife’s family. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We’d leave the day after Election Day. How complicated could it be? A few days after I booked the flight online, we started hearing things like "Ohio is gonna be the next Florida". When we arrived in Ohio, I called my mom back in California who was devastated by the election results. She wanted to know if we were participating in the recount protests at the Cincinnati Board of Elections. This was the first we'd heard of any such protest. The local media (TV and print) had not mentioned anything about them. The newscasters sounded like they were in that Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life". It's very good that you made Bush win Anthony. Now wish the Democrats into the cornfield. (The story takes place in Peaksville, Ohio by the way)



On the first afternoon in Cincinnati, we were visited Donna’s Republican Stepford wife sister and her 2 boys, ages 3 and 5. Donna’s sister mentioned that her older boy Mathew had participated in a mock election in his kindergarten class. I asked him, "So Matthew who did you vote for?" Mathew said with pride, "I voted for George Bush!". His mother pointed out that John Kerry won in his class. So, I guess there is hope for America's youth. I was reading a newspaper when Matthew climbed into my lap. There was a photograph of George W in the paper, so I asked him who that was. "I don't know," said Mathew. I returned, "Well you voted for him silly." Mathew paused then said with pride, "George Bush". Then I pointed out another photo. "Who's that?" I said. Mathew said with pride, "George Bush". I said, "No", and had the boy look at the photo again. After studying the picture Mathew said, "I don't know". The man in the picture looks like an older version of Mathew. "His name is Barack Obama' I told him, "Maybe when you're old enough to vote in the real election, you'll be voting for him". Then Donna's sister chimed in with, "Well Matthew don't vote for him. He's a democrat". Donna erupted, "Excuse me?" She then backtracked with, "Oh ...uh Matthew ...Just vote your heart." So that was the problem, many people in OHIO voted with their hearts and not their brains!

A few days later on Veteran’s Day we were going to watch Saving Private Ryan, but the Cincinnati ABC affiliate refused to air the movie because the "F" word was used twice. The same channel whose newscasters presented the Bush victory as a great thing was now afraid to air Saving Private Ryan for fear of what the Bush appointed FCC chairman might do. This is crazy. If someone from my Blue State of California said something critical of the current war, someone from the Red State of Ohio would say, "YOU DON’T SUPPORT THE TROOPS!" But I think you insult our troops by not showing a great film that honors everyone who has ever served our country because the "F" word is used and our kids might hear it. This ABC affiliate seems to be okay with our kids seeing all the blood and guts. So instead we went to see Lewis Black in concert. It was like every freethinking liberal in Ohio was there. If you ever get to see Lewis Black Live in concert, go. He opened the show responding to the Cincinnati ABC affiliate not showing Saving Private Ryan with something like, "YOU PEOPLE ARE F***ING NUTS!" or was he responding to the way people in Cincinnati put chili on spaghetti? No one in the audience thought his language was indecent, given the context in which it was presented. We are entering very dangerous territory when we look at a great piece of filmmaking like Saving Private Ryan, or a brilliant comedian like Lewis Black and just take inventory of the words and not pay attention to the context.

In defense of my wife's hometown and home state, there are many kind generous people there. Many wondered how Bush had carried Ohio. Something for us to remember. There are a lot of people in the red states who think like people in the blue states. In the airport gift shop, I saw a little stuffed winged pig with the motto, "Ohio... Where pigs fly." After gathering our luggage at LAX, we stepped outside to find a cab. I took a deep breath, and gagged. It was great to be home.

For this Election Day I’ve purchased a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Depending on who wins, one of those bottles will be opened. I will also be having some Rolling Rock beer in honor of Tim Russert.

To quote Tim Russert’s dad Big Russ, "Only in America".

Stay Tuned And

Tony & Donna Figueroa