National Adoption Awareness Month: Sandra Bullock

From Wikipedia:

Sandra Annette Bullock is an American actress, producer, and philanthropist. After making her acting debut with a minor role in the thriller Hangmen (1987), she received early attention for her performance in the sci-fi action film Demolition Man (1993). Her breakthrough came in the action thriller Speed (1994). A line of successful films followed throughout the 1990s, including While You Were Sleeping (1995), The Net (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), and Hope Floats (1998).

Bullock achieved further success in the following decades in Miss Congeniality (2000), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Crash (2004), The Proposal (2009), The Heat (2013), and Ocean’s 8 (2018). She was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama for playing Leigh Anne Tuohy in the biographical drama The Blind Side (2009), and was nominated in the same categories for her performance in the thriller Gravity (2013). Bullock’s greatest commercial success is the animated comedy Minions (2015), which grossed over $1 billion at the box office. In 2007, she was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses, and in 2015, she ranked as the highest-paid actress. She was also named “Most Beautiful Woman” by People magazine in 2015.

In addition to her acting career, Bullock is the founder of the production company Fortis Films. She has produced some of the films in which she starred, including Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) and All About Steve (2009). She was an executive producer of the ABC sitcom George Lopez (2002–07), and made several appearances during its run.

Bullock announced on April 28, 2010 that she had proceeded with plans to adopt a son born in January 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana.[132] Bullock and James had begun an initial adoption process four months earlier. Bullock’s son began living with them in January 2010, but they chose to keep the news private until after the Oscars in March 2010. However, given the couple’s separation and then divorce, Bullock continued the adoption of her son as a single parent.

In December 2015, Bullock announced that she had adopted a second child, and appeared on the cover of People magazine with her then ​3 1⁄2-year-old new daughter.

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Sandra_Bullock_kids

From IOL June 4, 2018: https://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/parenting/sandra-bullock-reveals-why-she-decided-to-adopt-15312413

Hollywood star Sandra Bullock has revealed that Hurricane Katrina convinced her to adopt children.

The 53-year-old actress has two adopted children – Louis, eight, and Laila, five – and Sandra has admitted that it wasn’t until the deadly tropical storm struck the US in 2005 that she became convinced parenthood was her destiny.

A teary-eyed Sandra – whose son was born in New Orleans, which was devastated by the natural disaster – explained: “I did think, ‘Maybe not.’ Then [Hurricane] Katrina happened. I’m going to cry … Katrina happened in New Orleans and something told me, ‘My child is there.’ It was weird.”

Despite her initial doubts about becoming a parent, Sandra – whose divorce from Jesse James was finalized in 2010 – immediately felt comfortable with her child in her arms.

Speaking to the ‘Today’ show, the Hollywood actress recalled: “I looked at him like, ‘Oh, there you are.’ It was like he had always been there.

“He fit in the crook of my arm. He looked me in the eyes. He was wise. My child was wise.”

Sandra was initially unsure about what to expect from mother.

But the ‘Ocean’s 8’ star admitted that a lot of the advice she’s received over the years only made sense the moment she looked at her child for the first time.

Sandra said: “The beautiful thing that I was constantly told was, ‘The perfect child will find you. You will find your child.’ But you don’t believe that when it’s not happening. When you’re going, ‘Where is my family?’

“When it does happen, you know exactly what they’re talking about.”

And it was Sandra’s son Louis who convinced the actress to adopt for a second time in 2015.

During a conversation between Sandra and some of her friends, who were discussing their daughters, a then three-year-old Louis said: “Yeah, I don’t have daughters. But I’m going to have a baby soon.”

Sandra added: “I realised at that time, maybe he knew something. And when I think about it, it would have been around the time that Laila was born.”

***

frontcover

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2018 Michael Curry

National Adoption Awareness Month Spotlight on … Jamie Lee Curtis!

It’s National Adoption Awareness Month!

curtis-jamie-lee

Jamie Lee Haden-Guest, Baroness Haden-Guest (née Curtis; born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, author, and activist. She made her film debut in 1978, starring as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s Halloween. The film established her as a “scream queen”, and she went on to appear in a string of horror movies throughout the early 1980s, including The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train (all 1980). She has reprised the role of Laurie in four sequels, including Halloween H20 (1998) and Halloween (2018).

Curtis has compiled a body of film work that spans many genres, including the cult comedies Trading Places (1983), for which she received a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress, and A Fish Called Wanda (1988), for which she earned a (well-deserved) BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. She won a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award and a Saturn Award for playing the role of Helen Tasker in James Cameron’s True Lies (1994). Curtis’ other films include Blue Steel (1990), My Girl (1991), Forever Young (1992), The Tailor of Panama (2001), and Freaky Friday (2003).

Curtis received a Golden Globe and a People’s Choice Award for her portrayal of Hannah Miller on the ABC sitcom, Anything But Love (1989–1992). She earned an Emmy Award nomination for her work in the television film Nicholas’ Gift (1998). She also starred as Cathy Munsch on Fox’s Scream Queens (2015–2016), for which she won her seventh Golden Globe nomination.

Curtis is a daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.

She has written numerous acclaimed children’s books, with her 1998 release Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day making The New York Times’ best-seller list. She is also a frequent blogger for The Huffington Post. Curtis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.

jamie-lee-curtis-kids

Curtis married Christopher Guest on December 18, 1984. The couple have two adopted children (Annie, b. 1986; Thomas b. 1996)

***

frontcover

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2018 Michael Curry

National Adoption Awareness Month spotlight on … Jerry Lewis!

Last year I did a series on the three biggest comedians of the 20th century – Bob Hope, Jack Benny and George Burns – who adopted all their children.

lewis hope benny

But they weren’t the only legendary comedians who adopted. Jerry Lewis did, too.

For those who need a brief bio of Jerry Lewis … from Wikipedia:

Jerry Lewis (born either Jerome Levitch or Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter and humanitarian. He was known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. From 1946 to 1956, he and Dean Martin were partners as the hit popular comedy duo of Martin and Lewis. After that, he became a star in motion pictures, nightclubs, television shows, concerts, album recordings and musicals.

Lewis served as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and hosted the live Labor Day weekend broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for 45 years. He received several awards for lifetime achievement from the American Comedy Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Venice Film Festival and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences He was also honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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lewis and daughter

His only daughter was adopted during his marriage to SanDee Pitnick (his second marriage): Danielle Sara Lewis (born March 24, 1992.

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The story of Jerry’s adopted daughter has taken a controversial turn since his death:

From People Magazine:

“According to his Last Will and Testament, provided to PEOPLE by The Blast, the funnyman emphatically cut out all six children he had with his first wife Patti Palmer — meaning they will inherent nothing.

“I have intentionally excluded Gary Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Anthony Joseph Lewis, Christopher Joseph Lewis, Scott Anthony Lewis, and Joseph Christopher Lewis and their descendants as beneficiaries of my estate, it being my intention that they shall receive no benefits hereunder,” the will, written in 2012, states.

“Lewis’s potentially vast estate (estimated at 50 million dollars) will be passed to his widow, SanDee Pitnick. Second in line to inherit his fortune, should something happen to his wife, is his 25-year-old adopted daughter Danielle.”

http://www.angelfire.com/ok/kingofcomedy/article/daughter.html tells a controversial story about his sons and his new daughter.

Daughter Danielle was Jerry’s manager in his last years.

***

frontcover

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2017 Michael Curry

National Adoption Month Spotlight on Meg Ryan!

It’s National Adoption Awareness Month! This year my theme will be famous celebrities who have adopted!

From Wikipedia:

Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress, director, and producer. Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982. Subsequently, she began to appear in supporting roles in films during the mid-1980s, achieving recognition in independent movies such as Promised Land (1988) before her performance in the Rob Reiner-directed romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally… (1989) brought her widespread attention and her first Golden Globe nomination.

 

Ryan subsequently established herself, both nationally and internationally,[2] as one of the most successful actresses in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly in romantic comedy films such as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995), You’ve Got Mail (1998), and Kate & Leopold (2001). Her other films include The Doors (1991), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Courage Under Fire (1996), Addicted to Love (1997), City of Angels (1998), Proof of Life (2000), and The Women (2008). In 2015, she made her directorial debut with Ithaca, a film in which she also acted.

Meg Ryan

In January 2006, Ryan adopted a 14-month-old girl from China whom she named Daisy True.

***

frontcover

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival

 

Abby’s Road is available at AmazonBarnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2017 Michael Curry

Adoption rocks! Elton John

November is National Adoption Awareness Month! Throughout the month I will be spotlighting celebrities who have adopted!

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From Wikipedia: Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947), is an English singer, pianist, and composer. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriting partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. In his five-decade career Elton John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world.  He has more than fifty Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles, 27 Top 10, four No. 2 and nine No. 1. For 31 consecutive years (1970–2000) he had at least one song in the Billboard Hot 100. His tribute single, re-penned in dedication to the late Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997” sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single in the history of the UK and US singles charts.  He has also composed music, produced records, and has occasionally acted in films. John owned Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987, and 1997 to 2002. He is an honorary Life President of the club, and in 2014 had a stand named after him at the club’s home stadium.

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Elton and husband David Furnish have adopted two sons, Zachary and Elijah from the same surrogate mother from California, and have kept a close relationship with the birth mother.

‘We have a very close bond with her and were in constant touch throughout the pregnancy, getting updates, seeing scans and sharing all the little details that make those nine months so exciting.

‘She has given us two amazing gifts and we in turn have a duty of care to her and are fiercely protective of her anonymity.’

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2269318/Sir-Elton-John-David-Furnish-proudly-new-baby-son-Elijah.html

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

frontcover

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

Abby’s Road is available at AmazonBarnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2017 Michael Curry

 

Adoption Spotlight: Hugh Jackman

November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor, singer, and producer. Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in a variety of film genres. He is known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his lead roles in films such as the romantic-comedy fantasy Kate & Leopold (2001), the action-horror film Van Helsing (2004), the magic-themed drama The Prestige (2006), the epic fantasy drama The Fountain (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), the film version of Les Misérables (2012), and the thriller Prisoners (2013). His work in Les Misérables earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 2013.

In Broadway theatre, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz. A four-time host of the Tony Awards themselves, he won an Emmy Award for one of these appearances. Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Jackman kids

From: http://www.more.com/entertainment/celebrities/27-famous-people-who-have-adopted-children

Hugh Jackman and wife of 20 years Deborra-Lee Furness have two adopted children: Oscar, 15, and Ava, 10. Jackman has said that he and Furness planned to have adopted and biological children but found out they couldn’t have children naturally.

 

***

 

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2017 Michael Curry

Adoption Spotlight: Julie Andrews

November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

Born Julia Elizabeth Wells, Julie Andrews is best known for her work in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins .

The daughter of an actor and a pianist, Andrews’ earliest public performances were during World War II, entertaining troops throughout the UK with fellow child star Petula Clark. She made her stage debut at an early age, appearing in London’s West End in 1947. She graduated through radio (on the show Educating Archie) and theatre to starring in stage productions of musicals such as The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady, and Camelot.

When she lost the starring role in the film of My Fair Lady to Audrey Hepburn, she received the consolation of the starring role in Walt Disney’s musical version of Mary Poppins (1964), winning a Best Actress Academy Award as a result (notably, Hepburn wasn’t even in the running). She was nominated again, the following year, for her role as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965), and thus became, briefly, one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood. As a result, she appeared in the three-hour epic Hawaii, co-starring with Max von Sydow, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain with Paul Newman (both in 1966), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), with Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing.

By her 1959-1967 marriage to Tony Walton, the British director, she had one daughter, Emma Kate Walton. She married her second husband, writer and director, Blake Edward in 1969. In 1974 Julie and Blake adopted 2 Vietnamese orphan girls.

Julie andrews

She has written several children’s books, under the name Julie Andrews Edwards. Perhaps the most well-known is The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

References

https://adoption.com/wiki/Julie_Andrews_and_Adoption

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Julie Andrews”.

Credits: Wikipedia

***

frontcover

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2017 Michael Curry

Thanks for the Memories!  A National Adoption Month/Veteran’s Day Spotlight on Bob Hope

Three of the most famous – and funny – comedians of the 20th Century were George Burns, Jack Benny and Bob Hope. They and their wives adopted all their children.

November is National Adoption Month. November 11th is Veteran’s Day. Who else would make the perfect Spotlight?

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Really? You want to know about Bob Hope? There have been as many words written about Bob Hope as there are miles he travelled entertaining the world. Okay, here goes:

hope-gonzo

From Wikipedia:

Bob Hope, (born Leslie Townes Hope, May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an English-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times (more than any other host), he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of fourteen books. The song “Thanks for the Memory” is widely regarded as Hope’s signature tune.

Born in London, England, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially on stage, and began appearing on the radio and in films in 1934. He was praised for his comedy timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes—which were often self-deprecating, with Hope building himself up and then tearing himself down. Celebrated for his long career performing United Service Organizations (USO) shows to entertain active service American military personnel—he made 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991—Hope was declared an honorary veteran of the United States Armed Forces in 1997 by act of the U.S. Congress.  He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, and was one of the first users of cue cards.

He was married to performer Dolores Hope (née DeFina) for 69 years. Hope died at the age of 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, California.

From Legacy.com:

The nation’s most-honored comedian, a millionaire many times over, was a star in every category open to him — vaudeville, radio, television and film, most notably a string of “Road” movies with longtime friend Bing Crosby. For decades, he took his show on the road to bases around the world, boosting the morale of servicemen from World War II to the Gulf War.

He perfected the one-liner, peppering audiences with a fusillade of brief, topical gags: “I want to tell you, I was built like an athlete once – big chest, hard stomach. Of course, that’s all behind me now.”

hope-kids

All four Hope children were adopted from The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois. A brief search of the internet is confusing: one site says Nora Hope was born in 1930 and another that she was adopted in 1946. This could make her 16 when she was adopted by the Hopes. Family photos dispute this. I will thus avoid dates:

Linda Hope is the holder of her father’s legacy – producing many of his last specials and controlling the releases of his work for home viewing.

William Kelly Francis Hope, an actor.

Anthony J Hope died June 28, 2004. He worked in Washington as an attorney.

Eleanora (“Nora”) Avis Hope.

 

frontcover

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

 WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

 

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

 

Copyright 2016 Michael Curry

 

 

Well! A National Adoption Month Spotlight on Jack Benny

Three of the most famous – and funny – comedians of the 20th Century were George Burns, Jack Benny and Bob Hope. They and their wives adopted all their children.

From http://www.biography.com:

For more than 50 years, comedian Jack Benny was a star of radio, the stage and screen. His radio show, The Jack Benny Program, was a forerunner of the sitcom genre.

Jack Benny was born on February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois. Benny came of age during WWI. He developed an ear for music and played the violin. He enjoyed entertaining people and in the 1920s became a successful vaudeville player with a knack for comedy. By the late 1930s, he had become the king of radio with his own show, The Jack Benny Program. In 1950, he started appearing on a television version, which alternated weekly with his radio show. The TV show ended 15 years later, after which Benny made guest TV appearances until he died, on December 26, 1974 in Beverly Hills, California.

His first radio program was in 1932; his last television program was 1965. Always with good to excellent ratings. Such a 33-year run seems unimaginable today.

From the blog “A Shroud of Thoughts” – http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-120th-birthday-of-jack-benny.html

Jack Benny would leave behind a legacy that only a very few other comedians could match. The Jack Benny Program was pivotal in the development of the situation comedies of radio and television, evolving from the sketch and variety format familiar from vaudeville into the sitcom format we recognize today. What is more, it is one of the few radio sitcoms that successfully made the transition from radio to television, running for fifteen years on the new medium.

Jack Benny would also have a lasting impact on future generations of comedians. The influence of Jack Benny can be seen in comics and actors as diverse as Johnny Carson, Phil Hartman, Eugene Levy, Kelsey Grammar, and Jerry Seinfeld.

Of course, Jack Benny’s greatest legacy may well be the works he left behind. His radio show is still widely available, on CDs, in digital form, and through streaming media on the internet. His television show is also widely available, with possibly the entire run available on DVD and many episodes available through streaming media. While many classic radio and television stars have long been forgotten, Jack Benny remains recognizable even to people who were born long after his death. One hundred and twenty years after his birth, Jack Benny is still regarded as one of the greatest comics of all time.

                                                  ***

Actually, Jack Benny left two legacies: his comedy and his daughter.

jack-and-joan-benny

Joan Benny was born in 1934 as Joan Naomi in New York City. She was adopted by Jack Benny and his wife Mary Livingston at the age of three months in September of that year. They decided to adopt after Mary’s second miscarriage.  From Joan’s book Sunday Nights at Seven, 1990, Warner Books:

“I became curious and asked the obvious questions: Who were my real parents? Why didn’t they want me? (My adoptive parents answered) “We don’t know who they are, we don’t know where they are now, and they couldn’t keep you because they couldn’t afford a baby and wanted you to have a good home … Besides, you are luckier than other children – most parents can’t pick the child they want, but we chose you and we wanted you very much.”

frontcover

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

 

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.

 

Copyright 2016 Michael Curry

 

 

Oh God … George Burns adopted two children! A National Adoption Month Spotlight

Three of the most famous – and funny – comedians of the 20th Century were George Burns, Jack Benny and Bob Hope. They and their wives adopted all their children.

From Wikipedia:

George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife, Gracie Allen, appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen.

When Burns was 79, he had a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Burns, who became a centenarian in 1996, continued to work just weeks before his death of a cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills.

The man even had hit records in the 1970s and successful books in the 1980s.

His popularity never faded – because of his caustic, timely and timeless wit.

If you want to see how funny a 93 year old man can be – google “George Burns Johnny Carson 1989”.

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george-burns-gracie-allen

No bio of comedian George Burns would be complete without a brief word or two of his partner Gracie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964).  George Burns said he asked Gracie “How is your brother?” and it gave them a 20-year career. She burned the Thanksgiving turkey because the instructions said to cook twenty minutes per pound and she weighed 120 and …

Say goodnight, Gracie…

***

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Burns & Allen adopted two children:

Sandra Jean was adopted by Burns and Allen in 1934 at 13-months old. She died in 2010.

Ronnie Burns was five weeks old when he was adopted in Chicago on September 27, 1935.  George Burns said he was the sickliest baby up for adoption from the agency, and Gracie chose him because she thought he needed their help (per Burn’s excellent book Gracie: A Love Story). He died November 14, 2007.

frontcover

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

 

WINNER: 2015 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Finalist, Non-Fiction Humor

 

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2015 New York Book Festival!

 

WINNER: Honorable Mention, 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival!

 

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords.