Beech Tree News Network

This week, I’ll give you a few hidden gems you might not have known or had forgotten.  From the series The Very Best of the ‘80’s on AXS TV, did you know that Roseanne Barr and the late Sam Kinison were almost the stars of Married…With Children? 

Series creators Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt originally modeled the parts of Al and Peggy Bundy on stand-ups Sam Kinison and Roseanne Barr.  During the casting process, they offered the parts to the two actors, but both turned it down.  This was probably in everyone’s best interest.  Kinison and Barr were both talented comedians who are/were beloved by their own respective audiences.  There would’ve been lots more screaming on this version of MWC, that’s for sure! Another actor who was up for the role of Al Bundy would likewise go on to be famous for a legendary tv character-Michael Richards who would later play Kramer on Seinfeld.

This next fact comes from another iconic ‘80’s and ‘90’s series: Golden Girls.  The classic sitcom won two Primetime Emmys and three Golden Globe awards.  The Golden Girls’ ages were never revealed on the show, although fans have been curious about the ages of their favorite characters.  While it was never officially stated, it’s believed that Blanche was around 53, Rose was 55 in season 1, making her 62 at the time of the series finale.  Dorothy was 53 when the series premiered.  In a show flashback, Sophia celebrated her 50th birthday in 1956.  This means she was 79 when the show started.  However, Estelle Getty, the actress who played Sophia, was young in real life.  It took a professional makeup artist to age her for the show.  Getty was one year younger than her onscreen daughter, Bea Arthur, and housemate Betty White.  Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche, was two years younger in real life than the character she played.  She was born February 21, 1934 and was 51 years old when the show began.  When the show ended, she was 58.  Rue passed at age 76.  Bea was 63 at the beginning of the series, She left the show in 1992 and never returned for the spin-off series The Golden Palace.  Bea passed away in 2009. 

We turn to music for our final facts, specifically the series AXS Top Ten Revealed.  As legendary as Queen’s “We Are The Champions” is, it only reached #4 on the charts.  Sticking with U.K. artists, Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was his first #1 in the U.K.  It was the second-biggest selling record of 1976 in the U.K. and the U.S.  

Do you know how the Y.M.C.A dance came about? It was birthed on American Bandstand.  Bandmember Victor Willis noticed some kids in the audience doing it.  Now everybody does it when the chorus hits.  I’ll leave you with a final interesting ‘70’s tidbit.  The Rick Derringer song “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo was a huge hit but what does it mean? Derringer explains “I had joined Johnny Winters’ band, who was this Blues artist.  They wanted him to be more mainstream.  I was brought into the picture and told I’d be playing with Johnny and was asked to write a song.  They want him to be more rock & roll.  I said let’s use rock & roll in the title.  Winter is going to have to sing these lyrics so I’m going to have to come up with something that feels comfortable for him as a blues artist to say.  I thought and thought and said “hoochie koochie man.  Those are the kinds of things they used to say in blues songs.  But what is a hoochie koochie man? I’m not sure today what it is.  Steven Tyler told me it’s better when they can’t understand the lyrics.  They end up making their own lyrics that are better than the ones you wrote”.  

That’ll be all for this week.  Check out my latest vlog entry by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/aoD_R-Do9HM?si=zV-qrJcgIbFgAxYB