My name is David Almeida, and I love the 1980s sitcom “The Facts Of Life.” Join me and co-host Matthew Arter as we watch the entire series, episode-by-episode, and gab about it with fellow artist-friends! 201 episodes, 2 TV movies, and a reunion film… Strap in, folks, and enjoy the ride. Connect to the show on social media and/or subscribe on your favorite pod-catcher. Remember: The Facts Of Life Are All About YOU.
“Dear Michael: Do You Think 14 Is Too Young To Get Married?” - actual song lyric
In honor of this week’s episode where Tootie is so crazy for Michael… ’s brother Jermaine… Enjoy this flashback to 1984.
And here she is lip-synching the record on “Soul Train” …
This hung proudly in my room for many years; It was my favorite.
This is the Farrah Fawcett one I also had:
This was the most popular one… because nipples.
This is the one I believe Michael mentions he had on his wall:
Sadly, we never find out what happened to Barnett Thornwood and whether he and Blair ever saw each other again. But examining the career of Scott Strader…
He appeared in one episode of “CHiPs” in the same year he did FOL. The episode takes place on the beach and features a LOT of shirtless Erik Estrada:
Mr. Strader had a starring role in the 1986 feature film “Jocks,” in which he was cast opposite a very young Mariska Hargitay. However, skimming the movie, I can’t find ANYTHING with shirtless guys, or even a locker room scene. Who needs this garbage?
According to her imdb page, this was Mariska’s third film.
I found a blog called Poseidon’s Underworld which, in 2014, made an entry honoring many impressive Hollywood bulges. Mr. Strader’s sweatpant-silhouette in “Jocks” is given mention.
Just because we mention it in passing… I found the original 1972 cast (including a pre-”Maude” Bill Macy) on YouTube. (!!!) Better watch it while you can; not sure why it hasn’t been removed.
The originals from 1976 (yes, that’s future soap star Diedre Hall):
With Norman Alden as ‘Frank:’
Here was the first reboot attempt by the WB Network in 2001 with Markie Post: (not picked up by the network)
Click here for the 2016 Grace Helbig reboot that did get made.
This picture was posted on one of The Facts Of Life Fan Page on Facebook, and everybody seemed equally puzzled over the location where this picture was taken. Clearly it is from Season 2… We have Jo (with no bangs), and Tootie without her braces. But this set is not from any scene in Season 2 that I can recall. Anybody have any knowledge/thoughts/ideas?
(See theories & corresponding debunking thereof below.)
David Davis, who runs the fan page, is no slouch when it comes to knowing his trivia about the show. He recently posted the pic assuming it was taken on the set of S3E16, “Brian and Sylvia.” I had to be the Debbie Downer who pointed out that the sets don’t match:
I ended up visually skimming most of Season 2 (because this stuff is IMPORTANT!! And apparently my time is not. LOL) to see if I could find costume matches, and the most identifying item, Natalie's sweater, is worn in S2E4 "Who Am I" ... but nothing worn by the others matches up. THE PLOT THICKENS!!
David D also said that he had wondered if it was taken in Cynthia’s room in S2E10 “Breaking Point” (a/k/a the suicide episode). But research once again proved that the locations were not a match (because wallpaper).
If you can figure it out, you will win a valuable prize: A shout-out on my show. :-D
Our alter-egos Holden Hollywood and Stone Granite having fun on the streets of Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
A short profile of actor Mako, focusing on his voice-over/animation work.
Mako in the original 1976 Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s “Pacific Overtures:”
As we discovered, the term, “You’ve got moxie!” was derived from the New-England-based Moxie cola. It was recently purchased by the Coca-Cola company, according to this article at Today.com:
…not to be confused with matzos or matzo ball soup. Or mahtzee, which does not exist outside the imagination of Tim Williams.
Everybody who was anybody in the 1980s had this jacket, or some other similar style of another brand:
This New York tourism marketing campaign, always played up Broadway shows, including “A Chorus Line,” “La Cage Aux Folles,” and “Cats…”
…and in this version, “Evita,” “Sweeney Todd,” “They’re Playing Our Song,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and “Peter Pan.” (what is with the weird choreography that Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou are doing?)
Here are two of their hits, and they are decidedly NOT New Wave. (New Wave = Eurhythmics, A-ha, Blondie)
This wildly popular campaign from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s (with a return in 1999!) is written about in-depth in this article at GroovyHistory.com. Mr. Whipple was played by character actor Dick Wilson.
Mr. Wilson frequently played a drunk guy on “Bewitched.”
Here is one of his first commercials in the 1960s. WHO IS THIS ACTRESS?! I think she looks like Estelle Parsons, but I don’t think it sounds like her. Any ideas? Please email me!
Here was Mr. Whipple’s return in 1999… clearly playing up the retirement and ‘old folks’ angle. Do you recognize Marvin Kaplan in the red shirt and yellow bowtie? He was a regular on “Alice” in the role of Henry.
And look what I found while I was researching this! A 1970s Charmin commercial featuring Charlotte Rae! (And her boss is played by Sorrell Booke, best known as Boss Hogg on “The Dukes Of Hazzard.”)
Show business has a long, rich, and inappropriate history of non-Asian actors playing Asians.
Such as, Marlon Brando (Caucasian) playing Japanese in “Teahouse Of The August Moon”…
Mickey Rooney (Caucasian) playing Japanese in “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”…
Juanita Hall (African-American) playing Polynesian in “South Pacific” (and won a Tony Award for it)…
And Ms. Hall also played Chinese in “Flower Drum Song”…
Alec Guinness (Caucasian) playing Japanese in “A Majority Of One”…
Linda Hunt (Caucasian, female) playing a Chinese-Australian male in “The Year Of Living Dangerously” (for which she won an Academy Award)…
And… well, me. *awkward pause* Yup. (discussed in the extras) This is Me (obviously Caucasian), playing Japanese (and 80 years old no less) in “Teahouse Of The August Moon” my senior year in high school. Hey, as Oprah says, “When You Know Better, You Do Better.”
Laura and I happen to have done 2 different productions of “Sweeney Todd” together.
First, at Mad Cow Theatre in 2006 (she as Mrs. Lovett, me as Pirelli)
Then in 2009, Mad Cow Theatre joined forces with the Orlando Philharmonic to do a concert version of the show… Laura was the Beggar Woman this time, and I got to do Pirelli AGAIN! (The stars of the show: Davis Gaines as Sweeney and Faith Prince as Mrs. Lovett! OMG!)
Laura covets my double-oven and backsplash. :-D
(Discussed in the extras) These stills are from “The Facts Of Life Goes To Paris” which happens later in 1982, just before the premiere of Season 4. Charlotte Rae’s hair, I don’t believe, is ever in a bun for the entire movie.
(discussed in the Extras) Here is a comparison of all the Evitas and how they sing their “money notes” … note how Madonna’s E5s are keyed down to B4s … that’s a fourth lower.
(Discussed in the extras) Here you can compare Norbert Leo Butz’s performance as Fiyero in the original cast of “Wicked” with Taye Diggs’ (Idina Menzel’s “Rent” co-star… and husband at the time). In both cases, the song changes key for the male part of the duet, but notice that Taye’s key change brings us a step-and-a-half lower than Norbert’s.
Here is the link to the National Down Syndrome Society where you can find resources and information, including verification that “Down’s Syndrome” is out there, but the preferred terminology is “Down Syndrome.”
Trenell and Klannie at the Orange County Regional History Center
Discussed in the outtro… Edumacate yourself about proper terminology at Common Ground’s website.
At our friend Marc’s 1980s Head-Banging-Hair-Band Birthday Party in 2014:
Me & Joy IRL
Marc is a professional photographer and had a professional photo shoot set up for the party guests. It’s hard to believe Joy and I barely knew each other!
Click on the pic below to see the full “Dykes To Watch Out For” comic from 1985 that lays out “The Rule:”
The movie has to have at least two women in it,
who talk to each other,
about something besides a man.
In the 1970s before his mouth could move:
In the 1980s when he figured it out:
Joy’s appearance in the 2012 Orlando Fringe Festival hit “Theme Park Diva:” (written by John deHaas)
Joy’s 2014 Fringe Show “Tappin’ and Yappin’” (written by John deHaas)
Click the pic below to listen to Joy on our mutual friend Sarah Hanchar’s podcast “Hi! I Think You’re Nice!”
Thanks to listener Helen M who shared this on our Facebook page!
One of our Holiday Baking Parties (enjoying the “fire” with friends, including Jodi Chase and Heather Delmotte)
Sometimes credited as Todd Hallowell, his IMDb page shows he has no credits after his FOL appearances. (And apparently there are two spellings of his name out there.) And basic Google searches are coming up with nothing. Many fan sites also have “Does anybody know what happened to him?” (The fact that they mention Jeff passed away in the 2001 Reunion Movie makes me worry that something may have happened to Todd… I certainly hope not!)
From Mad Magazine #235, December 1982
Steve is very good friends with Buddy Flowers, of the Hollywood Public Works department at Citizens Of Hollywood.
Steve’s early-early improv work: Unexpected Company back in 1985. (Steve is the one in all white at the far right.)
Steve’s Favorite Commercials:
From Cracked Magazine #181, October 1981
Well look at cutie Shawn Stevens and his non-permed hair appearing in a teeny-bopper fanzine!
GAH!!
Multiple this week… ?? Starting with Tootie’s Tea Party Sweater:
Followed by Blair’s mismatched rose-vest-and-fuschia-shirt combination:
And Blair’s Little House On The Prairie nightgown! Yikes!
BUT! Honorable Mention: Mrs. Garrett’s uncharacteristic colorful bold print blouse. Score!
The photo below answers the question I posed on the show… was the door always there? Turns out it was.
(How this fits in with the 2001 Reunion Movie where that door is supposedly next to a door that leads to a stairwell…. I really don’t know.)
From Bananas Magazine #55, Spring 1982:
This is the first of 3 humor magazine spoofs of “The Facts Of Life” that I’ll be sharing… Bananas was a magazine I read sporadically as a kid… it was a scholastic publication, meant for kids 12 and up, vs. it’s more popularly known Dynamite Magazine which was for kids 9-12. So it wasn’t as widespread in its release. Also, I was a DIE-HARD Cracked Magazine fan and felt no need to stray. (Mad was slightly too mature for me at the time, i would later grow to love it also.)
To my surprise, I was able to find the spoof that Bananas did, which I had never read before. And to my even greater surprise, Samuel B. Whitehead is the artist… and he also did the art for the spoof that appeared in Cracked! (Coming soon…)
Austin & I met in 2014 doing “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, FL.
We eat a lot in our home.
We hang with Wesley!
We go to concerts with my sister and my BFF Steve!
We visit each other at theme parks! (Here is Austin’s very good friend Hashtag The Panda from the Jimmy Fallon Race Through New York ride at Universal Studios.)
Austin has been preparing a LONG TIME for his work with the upcoming Jurassic World Live tour.
… and we have fun.
Back to nit-picking the show apart…
Some of Austin’s body paint work…
Here is a commercial Joe recently did:
As Logan and I discussed in the most recent episode, Charlotte Rae had a tiny role in the film version of “Hair.” It came out in 1979, so it was most likely filmed in 1978, and her hairstyle pretty much matches the way it looked on Diff’rent Strokes’ first season (1978-1979). Little more than a cameo, it’s still fun to see her among all the hippie chaos of this doomed dinner party. (She is occasionally shown in the scene, but you get the most of her during the song which starts around 6:00.)
Her role as “Lady In Pink” was originally larger, with an entire song that ended up on the cutting room floor. The audio still remains:
As one of the older, posh people at the dinner party, the Lady In Pink is one of the precious few in The Establishment who ‘gets’ the hippies and totally signs off on the way they dress and act:
“I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camouflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex.
There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the men
When ac------tually
That is the way things are
In most species!”
OK, according to dictionary.com, either of the pronunciations I used are acceptable. Whew. Maybe I’m not stupid after all. Maybe.
Our conversation about Logan’s friend matching stills of Sarah Paulson crying, the video I was thinking of was the one below of Julianne Moore and how often she has cried in pretty much every one of her films.
And of course, the famous “Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal:”
I have shared several Gloria Loring performances, and constantly mention what an amazing singer she is. Here is her biggest hit, “Friends And Lovers” - written for and first performed on “Days Of Our Lives” in 1985.
It all started over 6 years ago…
A year and a half later, we were thrilled to be cast in the lead roles of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, FL (January 2014). That’s me as Lawrence, Wesley as Freddy (disguised as Ruprecht - he’s very affectionate).
Including this pic not just because I love it, but also because Jillian Gizzi was our Christine, and she is an AMAZING talent.
Nowadays we get to work together at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theatre.
And we can both be found at Hollywood Studios (though at different places)…
David’s friend Officer Friskem with the Citizens of Hollywood
Wesley’s friend Erik, one of the story-tellers at the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
Some of my closest buds: Justin (he’s the one who texts in one of the outtake extras - he is the one who bought me my Tootie doll last Christmas!), Wesley, Steve, and me. GOD I love these boys.
This is the comic Justin texted us during the show. Hilarious!
And just needed to put this here… WTFFFFFFFF?
Wesley’s Danny Kaye tribute cabaret. Graphic design by ME!
2019-06-05 6:30pm.
OMG! Matthew Arter just texted me some important info about Heather Kerr … I didn’t realize she was the one who played young Eunice in a flashback episode of “Mama’s Family” — and she is AMAZING! Here is the episode where she amazingly channels a young Carol Burnett. (from 1988, she appears around 9:45)
