This purpose of this blog is to put together a virtual list/collection of memorable (if fleeting) references to the cities of Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA in movies/TV/music/Broadway/books (in the script, setting, lyrics, etc).
We'd like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support and suggestions for the Entertainment blog. I'll continue adding these as blog entries as time permits.
Producers from Comedy Central'sThe Daily Show With John Stewart recently visted Scranton and interviewed 82 year-old Hazel Price, who watched Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton grow up as a child.
Yesterday's Citizens' Voice published an article about James Thomas Martin III, a Forty Fort native who recently appeared in the hit film Step Up 2 the Streets.
Martin was also featured in Flo Rida's music video for Low.
I'd like to give a HUGE Thank You to Raye Hollitt for generously giving me permission to include photos from her awesome official website (www.rayehollitt.com) in our blog.
Everyone is entitled to be a little bit envious of Raye Hollitt. She's gorgeous, she's a champion bodybuilder, she was an original American Gladiator, and she continues a successful acting career in Hollywood that began 20 years ago. What's even more incredible is that Raye Hollitt is a native of the Wilkes-Barre area.
Raye Hollitt was born in Wilkes-Barre on April 17, 1964. She grew up in the Harvey's Lake area of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
In 1982, at the age of 18, Hollitt moved to Los Angeles, where she became a competitive weighlifter and bodybuilder, competing in and winning numerous bodybuilding titles in Los Angeles, California and Reno, Nevada. Among her titles are 1988 Ms. Los Angeles Weightlifting and the 1989 Women's Extravaganza Strength title winner. She has also appeared on the cover of 14 national bodybuilding magazines throughout her career.
In 1987, Hollitt began her acting career in the action film Penitentiary III, playing a female boxer.
Hollitt gained worldwide recognition for her role as Lonnie Jones, a bodybuilder with a lust for womanizer John Ritter in Blake Edwards' 1989 comedy Skin Deep. Another interesting note: out of a cast of nine women who play girlfriends and ex-girlfriends of hard drinking, womanizing writer Zach Hutton (John Ritter), Hollitt was the only cast member besides Ritter featured in the trailer for the film's release. In the film's most famous scene, Zach strips and crawls into bed, waiting anxiously for his date Lonnie Jones to emerge from the bathroom. As Lonnie emerges, she states that she has worked 5 years to develop her body, "but for one night, it's...all...yours." Then Lonnie proceeds to flex and pose her incredible physique, asking Zach, "How do you feel about THAT?" Zach's response: "Like Mrs. Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Following Hollitt's success in Skin Deep, she continued to act in several Hollywood films (including 1991's The Last Hour, 1993's Hot Shots: Part Deux, and 1994's Cyborg III) and guest-starring on several popular television shows (from JAG to Baywatch to Manhunt--and even an episode of Muppets Tonight).
In 1989, Hollitt gained an extra massive fan following as Zap in the hugely successful show American Gladiators, in which professional athletes competed with average people in stamina-testing challenges such as Power Ball, Assault, The Wall and Hang Tough. Hollitt starred in the series from 1989 through 1994 and competed in almost 100 episodes of American Gladiators. The show remains a mainstay in popular culture and was even recently revived this past year on NBC.
During her time with American Galdiators, Hollitt became the official spokesperson for Ye Olde Clock & Gift Shoppe in Dallas, PA, and her commercials continue to air on local television stations to this day.
Hollitt contines to act in Hollywood, and she will next been seen in Nilanjan Neil Lahiri's upcoming drama The Ode.
Hollitt also continues her successful bodybuilding career in Los Angeles. She also operates her official website, http://www.rayehollitt.com/ and her MySpace page.
Thomas Coley from Parson recently sent me the following email:
"I came across the blog while searching for a music group from Wilkes-Barre who were a one hit wonder in the late 60's early 70's.
"I went through the blog archives and did not see any reference to The Buoys who had a controversial hit with Timothy in 1971. I remembered them, as they used to practice some times a block from my home in Parsons, and always liked the song."
The Buoys was a progressive rock band from the early 1970s. Based in Wilkes-Barre, band members included Bill Kelly (later of the 1990s group Dakota), Fran Brozena, Jerry Hludzik, Carl Siracuse, Chris Hanlon, and Sally Rosoff. Many of their songs (including their major hit Timothy), were written by and featured piano by Rupert Holmes, best known for the 1979 hit Escape (The Pina Colada Song) and the Tony-winning musicals The Mystery Of Edwin Drood andCurtains.
The Buoys are primarily know as a one-hit wonder for their 1971 hit Timothy, which reached number 17 on the Billboard charts. Set against a groovy beat, Timothy tells the story of three men stuck in a mine after a cave-in. At the conclusion of the song, only two men leave the mine alive--with full stomachs--and Timothy is never heard from again.
When released in 1971, those listeners who thought Timothy was just a song with a good beat were quite shocked when they discovered the theme of cannibalism in the lyrics.
To read the complete lyrics of Timothy, click here.
There is a certain enigma and mystery about Timothy, due to several rumors--from Rupert Holmes being inspired to write the song after reading about a mine cave-in in Sheppton, to Holmes's primary intention in writing the song was specifically to get it banned from radio. Information about the history and theories of Timothy can be found by clicking here.
Though TheBouys also had a huge hit in Europe with their song Give Up Your Guns, The Buoys are primarily known in the US as a one-hit wonder for Timothy; The Buoys broke up in the early 1970s.
Timothy was released on a CD compilation titled Have A Nice Day: Volume 6. To place a hold on the CD, click here.
I could find very little published information on The Buoys; so anyone has any other facts or information about the group or their song Timothy, please email me.
A great big Thank You again to Thomas Coley for this Wilkes-Barre reference.
Producers from Comedy Central's The Daily Show With John Stewart recently visted Scranton and interviewed 82 year-old Hazel Price, who watched Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton grow up as a child.
