Life After 50 March 2016

LOS ANGELES METRO MARCH 2016

southern california

lifeafter50.com

TURN YOUR

DREAMS

into an

Extraordinary

Retirement

THE UPSIDE OF

DOWNSIZING REMEMBERING

“The Great One”

JACKIE GLEASON

Loni

Anderson The roles she plays professionally, personally and passionately

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Contents

March 2016

10

22

26

30

Cover Profile

Departments

10 Loni Anderson

6 50-Plus: What You Need to Know

The roles she has played professionally, personally and passionately.

Features 18 Turning Your Dreams Into An Extraordinary Retirement Retirement is a celebration of dreams coming true after a lifetime of hard work.

22 The Upside Of Downsizing Sure-bet tips For successfully moving to a smaller home.

26 The Hallowed Hall Of Must-Knowtables – Jackie Gleason Legendary notables that everyone, of every age, should know.

30 The Look Of Life After 50 – Francine York Her movie memories and tips on maintaining health, beauty and happiness at any age.

A quick look at things 50-plusers should be aware of.

24 Tuned In To What’s On

The best in March television viewing.

34 Let’s Get Out

Looking to get out and about? Our March/March calendar has some great suggestions.

38 Rick Steves’ Travels

Wineing Your Way Through Tuscany.

42 And Finally…The Bookworm’s Best, A Look Back and Just A Thought Before We Go

A book suggestion, memory, and a little something to leave you with.

Cover photo by Michael Helms

All material published within this issue of Life After 50 and on www.lifeafte50.com is strictly for informational and educational purposes only. No individual, advice, product or service is in any way endorsed by Life After 50 or Southland Publishing, Inc. or provided as a substitute for the reader’s seeking of individualized professional advice or instruction. Readers should seek the advice of qualified professionals on any matter regarding an individual, advice, recommendations, services or products covered within this issue. All information and material is provided to readers with the understanding that it comes from various sources from which there is no warranty or responsibility by Life After 50 or Southland Publishing, Inc. as to its or their legality, completeness or technical accuracy.

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Editor’s Note...

Real Beauty Tips from Two Wise Beauties

Publisher Valarie Anderson

David Laurell, Editor-in-Chief

4 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

San Diego County/Orange County Phil Mendelson Phil@LifeAfter50.com

Editor-in-Chief David Laurell

O

ne wonders what was in the winds blowing off the western shores of Lake Superior in the late-1930s and early-1940s that so bountifully blessed two little girls growing up in Minnesota – Loni Anderson and Francine York – with such enduring physical beauty.

Whatever was in that magical airborne elixir, it has taken them both into their eighth decade of life retaining physical attributes that many 30-year-olds are pining over as memories.

Having had the opportunity to spend time with both Anderson and York in preparation of this issue, I can also attest to the fact that the beauty they possess exists well beneath the obvious.

“As you get older, your beauty is different,” Anderson told me. “It’s a beauty that comes from your experiences, the things you’ve been through and all the things you have learned about life. Those things show on your face and in your attitude and as a part of your very being. Those are the things that really make you beautiful.”

York adheres to a similar sentiment: “Adding something to someone else’s day, showing kindness to someone makes you feel better, and feeling better is great for your health – the way you feel and look,” she said.

The duo also both place an important emphasis on “living in the moment” for achieving a beautiful warming of one’s own heart, mind and soul that then radiates out from such an embrace.

“I believe [life] is about really being here – in the here and now – in the moment,” said Anderson.

“Living a happy life is a ‘today’ thing,” said York. “You’ve heard the quote: ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why it’s called the present.’ That’s what it’s all about. People don’t appreciate the gift of the moment. They worry about this and that and have regrets over some crazy thing or another. It doesn’t make any sense to be so worried about what happened or what may happen that you aren’t enjoying the life you are actually living.”

I guess we are all guilty of not enjoying the actual moments of our lives, because we get obsessed with some past mistake, wondering what tomorrow will bring, or (and this is, perhaps, the worst of all) allowing the plethora of electronic devices we have become obsessed with to experience more of the special moments of our lives than we ourselves actually enjoy.

And so there are some very real beauty tips to be found in the wisdom these two beauties share in this issue. They are tips that transcend those of caring for one’s hair, skin and physical body; they are tips that can make the very life you live a more beautiful one. And, while few may get into their 70s looking like Anderson and York, the wisdom they share, if truly embraced, is, as Anderson said: “the things that really make you beautiful.”

Account Executives:

Los Angeles/ Valley

Associate Editors Steve Stoliar Claire Yezbak Fadden

advertising@LifeAfter50.com

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©2016 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved

A March Thought

“When Irish eyes are smiling, sure ‘tis like the morn in spring.”

– Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr.

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1 Cannot be combined with prior purchases, other offers, or coupons. Offer not available in all areas. Discount applied by retailer representative at time of contract execution and applies to minimum purchase of 4 or more windows and/or patio doors as part of Instant Rewards Plan which requires purchase during initial visit to qualify. 0% APR and no payments for 12 months available, subject to qualifying credit approval. Not all customers may qualify. Higher rates apply for customer with lower credit ratings. Interest accrues but is waived if the purchase amount is paid in full within 12 months. Financing not valid with other offers or prior purchases. Renewal by Andersen retailers are independently owned and operated retailers, and are neither brokers nor lenders. All financing is provided by third-party lenders unaffiliated with Renewal by Andersen retailers, under terms and conditions arranged directly between the customer and such lender, which are subject to credit requirements. Renewal by Andersen retailers do not assist with, counsel or negotiate financing, other than providing customers an introduction to lenders interested in financing. OC License # 990416. LA License # 992285. “Renewal by Andersen” and all other marks where denoted are marks of Andersen Corporation. ©2016 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved. ©2016 Lead Surge LLC. All rights reserved.

50

Be Baby Safe

E

PLUS

What You Need To Know

By Claire Yezbak Fadden

The Return Of Late Night’s Classic Chatter

I

s the current crop of late night talk show hosts leaving you yearning for the founding fathers of the genre – Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin? If so, just tune in to Tribune Media’s Antenna TV, the CBS-owned Decades channel, or Sony TV’s GetTV. Decades has begun running full-length episodes from the ABC run of “The Dick Cavett Show.”

Cavett was a rival of Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” from 1969 to 1974. He was known for his erudite style and for taking a more intellectual and edgy approach to interviews and guest bookings than Carson.

If you were a fan of Johnny Dick Cavett Carson, Antenna TV has returned Carson’s “Tonight Show” to nightly airings at 11 p.m. and, on GetTV you’ll find weekly primetime blocks featuring episodes of “The Merv Griffin Show.” To find out if these offerings are available in your area, click on www.antennatv.tv.com, www.decades.com or www.get.tv.com.

Fifty Candles

F

ifty years ago this month, the American-Canadian rock band Buffalo Springfield with members Stephen Stills and Neil Young was formed, Casey Stengel was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 with Neil Armstrong and David Scott aboard was launched but then aborted, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes were unconstitutional, a London newspaper published Beatle John Lennon’s infamous quote: “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” and the Selective Service announced tests to qualify college students for draft deferments.

Notable personalities born in March 1966 who are celebrating their 50th birthday this month include journalist Don Lemon, sportscaster Lisa Salters, filmmaker Zack Snyder, rappers Cheryl (Salt) James and Tone Loc, musician Jerry Cantrell and actors Chris Bruno and Jeremy Sheffield.

6 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

xpecting a grandchild?

Before you cuddle up with your new little bundle of joy, it’s important to get a Tdap vaccine, which protects against whooping cough (also called pertussis), tetanus and diphtheria. Ideally, you should get the vaccine at least two weeks before having any interaction with a newborn baby. Whooping cough spreads easily and can cause severe illness and even death. It is especially dangerous for infants under six months of age, who are too young to be well protected by vaccines for whooping cough.

Although most adults were vaccinated against whooping cough as children, protection wears off over time. If there is a new little one on his or her way to your family, ask your doctor about getting the whooping cough vaccine. To learn more, click on www.cdc.gov/whoopingcough.

Free Fall Into An Intimate Read

W

idely known for his reclusive ways, Tom Petty has written timeless songs that have offered interesting clues about his personal life. Now, in the newly released book, “Petty: The Biography” (Henry Holt, 2015), author Warren Zanes, an acclaimed musician, writer and filmmaker, fills in the rest of the story. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little of a hillbilly’s soul, Petty was a kid without much promise.

That changed with a handshake from Elvis Presley that led to a dream of something better. That dream changed the course of Petty’s life – and American music. For the first time, Petty, who will turn 66 this year, speaks out about the disorientations of success, tensions within his band, childhood abuse, heroin use and his long but troubled first marriage. This biography has both the richness and the darkness of a great American story, except this one comes with a soundtrack. Like Petty’s music, this book is intimate and resonant, with recognizable characters, tragedy, loss, hope and success.

A Little More You Need To Know

The Most Important Thing To Know This Month

Get Ready To Spring Forward

T Where You Need To Go Have A “Blooming” Good Time

O

nce a year, the nearly 650,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park turns into a garden oasis, dotted with unique and captivating desert wildflowers.

With 92 different plant families, 346 genera and hundreds of flowering species, there is quite the variety of flora to discover. The second week of March is often the peak of the wildflower bloom, however all conditions must be perfect for carpets of flowers to greet you. A unique combination of sun, rain, temperature and wind set the stage for the springtime arrival of wildflowers.

The Visitor Center boasts a beautiful roof-top garden with a sampling of plants from all areas of the park. Center volunteers offer tips to locate the beautiful flowers dotting the park’s landscape. Wildflowers are among the many splendors in AnzaBorrego. Hike the three-mile Borrego Palm Canyon Trail ($8 day use fee), where you might be lucky enough to spot some of the famous “Borrego” (bighorn sheep). Be sure to stop by the Visitor Center or the State Park Store for wildflower guides and books.

he days will start getting a bit longer beginning on Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 2 a.m. when we set our clocks ahead one hour. Initially, daylight saving time began as an effort to save energy and provide workers with more hours of serviceable daylight during the long summer days. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin first proposed the concept in “An Economical Project” for the Journal of Paris. He pointed out the cost of oil for lamps as well as working while it was dark and sleeping while it was day. The concept was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918. However, it was not until 1966, when the Uniform Act was passed, that all states had to either observe daylight saving time or pass a state law to abstain.

Interestingly, when daylight saving begins in the Northern Hemisphere, it ends in the Southern Hemisphere.

Be sure to move your clocks forward one hour before bed on Saturday, March 12. That’s also a great time to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon dioxide monitors, clean out your medicine cabinet and dispose of all expired medications properly.

Call the Wildflower Hotline at (760) 767-4684 for up-to-date information on wildflower blooms. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 200 Palm Canyon Dr., Borrego Springs. For more information and a schedule of guided wildflower walks and events. click on www.theabf.org.

New Words

Y

ou might not find them in a dictionary yet, but they’re a part of the everyday American vocabulary.

Here’s what they mean.

High-Key and Low-Key: High-key refers to something needing to be said out loud.

Low-key is the opposite. Both can refer to an intense like or dislike.

Glam-ma: A stylist, youthful, grandmother.

A glamourous grandmother.

Teleboycott: To refuse to watch a movie, show or advertisement on television.

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 7

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A Special Wellness Report New Medicine Based On An 88-Year Old Theory By Albert Einstein Can Help Almost Everyone Who Is Sick Or Injured!

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hat you are about to read may be the most important information you’ve ever read. Here is why. Albert Einstein was, quite possibly, the most intelligent person who ever lived. His theories and ideas were so far ahead of his time, that even now, the smartest scientists alive are still discovering his value.

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COVER PROFILE

Loni

Anderson The roles she plays professionally, personally and passionately Story by David Laurell Photos by Michael Helms

W

hile Loni Anderson had appeared in numerous roles in various episodic television shows of the mid-1970s, it was a pin-up poster in which she appeared in a red bikini and a small part on the popular sitcom “Three’s Company” that brought her to the attention of producers who were looking to cast an actress to play a smart and sultry blonde bombshell receptionist in a new comedy about a Cincinnati radio station.

10 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Brought in to audition for the role of Jennifer Marlowe in “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Anderson, a St. Paul, Minnesota native who was the daughter of a fashion model and an environmental chemist, proved to be the perfect DNA embodiment of beauty and brains.

Created by Hugh Wilson, “WKRP in Cincinnati” was based on Wilson’s own experiences working in advertising sales at Atlanta radio station WQXI. With an ensemble cast composed of Anderson, Gary Sandy, Howard Hesseman, Gordon Jump, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers, Richard Sanders and Frank Bonner, the sitcom premiered September 18, 1978 on CBS and aired for four seasons, during which it received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series.

By the show’s second season, Anderson’s character had broken out as a fan fave, and prior to the third season, she walked out when salary negotiations were unsuccessful. During that hiatus, she accepted the role of actress Jayne Mansfi eld in a 1980 CBS made-for-television fi lm, “The Jayne Mansfi eld Story,” after which, the “WKRP” producers agreed to her request for a substantial salary increase. Returning to the show for the 1980 season, Anderson remained a regular cast member until the show’s 1982 cancellation.

In the wake of “WKRP,” Anderson went on to do a string of made-fortelevision fi lms as well as features, including 1983’s “Stroker Ace” with Burt Reynolds, who would become her third husband, 1984’s “The Lonely Guy” with Steve Martin, and as the voice of the collie, Flo, in the 1989 animated fi lm “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” Of her television-fi lm work, her most memorable role was her 1991 portrayal of the comedic actress Thelma Todd in “White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.”

Today, Anderson, who will turn 71 this summer, enjoys spending time at home in Los Angeles with her fourth husband, musician Bob Flick, who was one of the founding members of the folk band The Brothers Four. She also looks forward to the time she gets to spend with her children, 28-yearold Quinton, whom she and Reynolds adopted, and Deidre, who was fathered by Anderson’s fi rst husband, Bruce Hasselberg and who will turn 50 this year.

Anderson is also extremely active in her work as a spokeswoman and educator for those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease often caused by smoking, and an advocate for those who are caregivers for relatives with COPD. Having seen both of her parents suffer with COPD due to heavy smoking, Anderson began her crusade against the disease in 1999. Today, she works with COPD Together, a campaign developed by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the COPD Foundation, to educate people on COPD prevention, symptoms, progression and care. With a reported 15.7 million Americans having been diagnosed with COPD, it is estimated that an additional 12 million may be living with the disease without knowing it. The COPD Together campaign brings to life the stories of those living with the disease and their caregivers in a video series, “Reel COPD,” which provides inspiration and guidance for those facing similar challenges and is available at www.COPDTogether.com.

Life After 50 recently had the opportunity to visit with Anderson to ask her about the various roles she has played, both professionally and personally.

We began our conversation by asking her to refl ect on the character most people think of when they think of her: Jennifer Marlowe.

Loni Anderson (LA): She was a very innovative woman at the time – back in the late-1970s. Back then, you rarely saw women on television who were both glamorous and smart. That’s a terrible thing to have to say, but it’s the truth. The pretty girls were not usually the smart girls. So the creator of the show had an idea, to go way out on a limb and create a character who looked like Lana Turner and was also the smartest person in the room.

So lucky me! I was the one chosen to bring Jennifer to life. I know that character had a big impact on the lives of young girls who are now women of a certain age. I’ve had so many of them tell me their stories, how they were very much affected by my role as Jennifer, that it played a huge part in how they approached their lives and careers.

Life After 50 (LA50): How much of Jennifer was you, as opposed to what was created by the writers?

LA: Well, it was a collaboration when we did the pilot for the show. But then, Jennifer changed a lot from the pilot to what she ended up being. We were all constantly discussing how to make her relative and interesting, so that character and her evolution was all a collaborative effort.

LA50: When you think back on doing “WKRP,” what comes to mind?

LA: I have such great memories. It was a time of new beginnings for me – for everybody on the show. The whole cast was unknowns when the show began. I remember all of us holding hands backstage before we went out to tape the pilot. I remember Tim Reid saying: “Let’s all remember this moment, because from this time on, our lives could change completely.”

My memories of doing that show are of it being a joy, to grow and share so many experiences with everyone involved with the show – experiences that were new to all of us. I have memories of my young daughter doing her homework on the set while we rehearsed. I think of what it was like going from being unknown to everyone knowing us, which was kind of a shocking thing to deal with. There is no class or school to teach people how to handle that, to all of a sudden have everybody know who you are.

Remember, back then, with only three networks, at least a third of the

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 11

population would watch a show like “WKRP.” It was just a very exciting time, and, like Tim said, it did completely change our lives.

LA50: Do you remember any one particular moment when you realized that your life would never be the same?

LA: Yes. I remember it exactly. Up until the time I did “WKRP” I was just going along with my life. I was a working actress, and was lucky to have always made a good living, but nobody knew who I was. That all changed.

I remember after the first show aired, my daughter and I did something we always did on weekends: walk down Rodeo Drive and just window shop. On this day, we had gotten maybe a block or so and before we knew it, there was all this commotion and we were completely surrounded by the paparazzi and people who were all excited. My daughter was terrified and she kept saying: “Let’s go home, let’s go home.” When we got home, she was just so upset about what had happened. I remember sitting at the table with my husband at the time and him saying: “I think our lives have changed forever.”

LA50: Let’s talk about another role you played – Jayne Mansfield. While Jennifer was a collaborative creation, with Mansfield you were playing a real person. How did you prepare for that role?

LA: I did a lot of research on Jayne. At the time, there were a lot of people still around who had worked with her and knew her. I took about three months researching her, and I spoke with Mickey Hargitay [Mansfield’s husband] as did Arnold [Schwarzenegger, who played Hargitay] because it was his story we were telling. Ironically, Mariska [Mansfield’s daughter] was a sorority sister of my daughter at UCLA. It was very touching to have had them be a part of that production. Mickey was very thrilled with my performance and said it was like having her back. And Mariska told me I was the closest thing she had to her mom, because she was only three when her mother was killed and so she never knew her. That was amazing to me. I was so touched by both Mickey and Mariska’s kindness. Then, again ironically, when Mariska became an actress, we worked together with Kenny Rogers [1994’s “Gambler V: Playing for Keeps”]. While we were filming, Mickey came up from Florida to Texas to be with us. It was kind of like a family affair, all of us being together.

LA50: You also played another real person – Thelma Todd.

LA: Wasn’t she amazing! That film was adapted from a book that was someone’s idea of what may have happened to her – the suspicious circumstances of her death. Every time I drive by her old restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, where we actually did some of the filming, it gives me a chill.

LA50: Can you draw any comparisons between playing a part like Jennifer as opposed to playing someone who really lived?

LA: There is much more of responsibility than when you are creating a character that is partially yours and partially the writer’s. When you are playing a real person, you want to do that character justice. You feel you have a responsibility to them – their memory – as well as to their family and friends and anyone who knew and worked with them. I remember after I did Jayne Mansfield I was at an event and Cary Grant came up to me and told me he had worked with her. I remember thinking: “Oh my gosh! Cary Grant watched ME!” [laughing]. He told me he loved my portrayal of Jayne. So that was wonderful. That is the kind of warm and generous feedback you are hoping to get when you take on a role like that.

LA50: Did you come away from playing Mansfield and Todd with a different feeling about them?

LA: I felt like Jayne, who was such an intelligent woman, kind of let her celebrity – her public persona – get away from her. She was like a victim of herself. I felt as if she had created a character and was then consumed by it.

And Thelma, she just got involved with the wrong people. I felt like they were both victims, but also that they were incredible women.

LA50: Speaking of incredible women, let’s talk about your daughter. For those who may not know, Deidre had been a school superintendent and then, in 2009, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. How is she doing?

LA: She is doing very well. It has been seven years ago now that she was diagnosed with MS, but she has handled it very well. She has stepped down from some of the stresses in her life. She left her job, because it was stressful work and that kind of stress along with that kind of illness can be overwhelming.

LA50: Did her diagnosis hit you both out of the blue?

LA: Yes. I mean, totally out of the blue. There is no history of MS in our family, so it was just a shocking diagnosis. It took a while for me to wrap my head around it when I was told.

12 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

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LA50: What went through your head?

LA: Well, I was in shock. I couldn’t sleep, and if I did sleep, the first thing I would think about the minute I woke up was, “Oh my gosh! My daughter has MS! What can I do?” As a parent, all you want to do is fix it. It becomes an obsession and you feel helpless. There are a lot of stages to go through before you get to the stage of accepting news like that. Then, when you do come to a point of acceptance, you do the best with it that you can.

LA50: By the time Deidre was diagnosed with MS, you had already dealt with having been a caregiver to both of your parents who suffered from COPD. LA: Which is why my work with COPD is so personal to me – why I am so passionate about it. My parents were big smokers – four-pack-a-day smokers.

They were of the World War II generation and my mom had smoked from the time she was 11. My dad smoked from the time he was 14. It was just what they did back then. It was glamorous. It was Humphrey Bogart in his trenchcoat and cigarette. So, by 1964, when the surgeon general said that smoking may be hazardous to your health, they were totally addicted, and had been for over 20 years. I have never smoked and neither did my sister, but we grew up in the middle of that haze of second-hand smoke and we both have the beginning stages of environmental asthma. I’m sure that is because our folks smoked while we were in a closed car and in our closed house.

Everyone smoked. I don’t remember any of my parents’ friends that didn’t smoke. But I just couldn’t stand the way it made everything smell – my hair, my clothes, the house, the car – I was just totally against it. My dad had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis when he was about 29. I was only fiveor-six-years old at the time and I remember he had this terrible cough. He was like an alarm clock for my sister and me. We would hear him coughing and knew it was time to get up. He would made light of it – his coughing. It wasn’t until I was in my 20s, when he really started suffering, and confiding in me, how bad he felt and that he had a hard time breathing. That’s when I then knew it was really serious. My dad was a very proud man, so this was very difficult for him. And my mom was very emotional, so as he got worse, he would lean on me more than on her. I was a mother in my mid-20s with a young daughter. I had just finished college and I was like any young person – ready to go out into the world and get my piece of the pie. But because of my dad’s health, there were a lot of pieces to my pie. When I look back, I see that nothing – my parents, my daughter, my career – nothing really got my full attention. I had to help my mom and was my dad’s caregiver. She had kind of fallen apart when he first got sick, and then got stronger as his disease progressed. But she still needed my help. It was really rough and then my dad died when he was just 54.

LA50: And then, your mother was diagnosed with the same disease.

LA: Yes. Shortly after he died, she was diagnosed with COPD. I was running back and forth to the hospital with her whenever she couldn’t breathe. Then she finally came to live with me. I was a caregiver for so much of my young life, and have since seen so many of my friends go through the same thing with their parents. While my mom had COPD, in the last 10 months of her life, she was also diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer, so that made my caregiving work much greater. I have talked to so many caregivers over the years and I understand what a huge job they have. So many caregivers get ill themselves because they feel they have to be so strong for the person they are caring for. Sometimes they lose their jobs and their families and their own health and just get to their wits’ end. That’s why I am such an advocate for COPD Together. What they do is so important, giving people the right tools and helping then find other people who understand what they are going through to lean on. I remember what it was like to have no place to turn. I remember being on the set of “Partners in Crime,” which was a series I was doing with Lynda Carter, and my mom had called me like three times before 7:00 a.m. I was having my hair and make-up done and when I got her last call, my mom was so hysterical that I became hysterical. So there I was, my hair in curlers, make-up half done, in a robe and slippers, and I had to go to the producer and say; “Fire me, sue me, do whatever you have to do, but I have to get on a plane and go be with my mom.” Luckily, Johnny Carson was producing that series and everyone was incredibly understanding. That’s what you need when you are going through something like that and, unfortunately, it’s hard to find understanding employers, and even friends who will support you and your family. It’s hard to find people who will really be there for you.

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LA50: How old was your mom when she passed away?

LA: She was just about to turn 60 when she died.

I n de p e n de n t & A s s i s t e d L i v i ng R e s i de nc e s

LA50: So, unlike your dad, she lived to see your success.

LA: She did. My dad never got to see me in “WKRP.” He never even saw me as a blonde! He died the year before I got that show. I’ve always said if my dad could come back and see me, he would say: “Who are you? What happened to my daughter?” [laughs]. But, yes, my mom did get to see me do so many roles which was wonderful. She died when I was doing “Partners in Crime.”

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LA50: Loni, as someone who has been a caregiver to family members with health issues, how has that affected you in how you care for yourself?

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LA: You have to do all you can to care for yourself. As you get older, you need to eat right and exercise. So since I was in my 30s, I’ve been doing an exercise routine, although I must say, it gets harder every year to

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maintain [laughs]. But I do keep it up. I don’t eat processed foods, I don’t eat red meat, I do eat chicken, fish, veggies and fruit. But when it comes to eating, I never say never to something that I want. If you are at a good weight and are exercising and doing what you are supposed to be doing and you want that popcorn or a candy bar, then have it. But you have to be at a healthy weight first. So I do cardio every day. I do stretching exercises every day and weights three times a week.

LA50: What is a typical day like for you today?

LA: There is no such thing, and I’m glad about that! I recently returned from 10 days in Shanghai and went right to Boston to do a play to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. When I’m not working, I’m at our home in the Marina enjoying the boats and the beautiful days with my husband and my three Persian cats. I’m originally from Minnesota and my husband is from Seattle, so we love being right on the water. To us, the Marina is like a comfy blanket. It really feels like home. I’m very family oriented, so I love to have dinner with my son who is working as a cameraman here in Los Angeles. My daughter lives in Northern California, but her doctors are here at UCLA, so several times a year, she comes and stays with us and I go with her for all of her appointments. And I love spending time with my granddaughters when they have the time. One just graduated from UCLA and the other is a sophomore, so they are busy with their lives. I also collect art and dabble in doing watercolor paintings now and then. And I’m still working. I’m not a believer in retirement. I think there is always another project out there that will grab my interest. And I’m involved in various causes and campaigns that mean something to me. I think that is very important to do – to give back – especially when you have had wonderful things happen to you and have enjoyed a successful career. So I try and be involved in many causes that are close to me.

16 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

LA50: As each one of your non-typical days passes, you join the rest of the world in getting a little bit older. Have you adopted any thoughts about the passage of time?

LA: Well, I’m glad I’m still here! [laughs] And I believe it is about really being here – in the here and now – in the moment. I see no reason to get caught up in how old I’m getting, because thinking about that can flatten you. As I just mentioned, I was recently in Shanghai. I was there for the unveiling of a sculpture that had been done of me. It was a commission done by an artist I had met who told me I was his muse and he wanted to create this statue of me as I am today. So, I was thinking to myself: “Well, hey, that’s pretty good for an old gal to have my face on a beautiful bronze statue.” I found it interesting that this artist was more interested in doing a sculpture of me rather than one of a 20-year-old. There were several fashion magazines and some other media there covering the unveiling and we were talking about beauty and what an artist considers beautiful. When you’re 20, everything is perfect and beautiful and in the right place. But as you get older, your beauty is different. It’s a beauty that comes from your experiences, the things you’ve been through and all the things you have learned about life. Those things show on your face and in your attitude and as a part of your very being. Those are the things that really make you beautiful.

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Availability, prices, incentives and dates are subject to change, and K. Hovnanian® Homes reserves the right to cancel or change all offers without prior notice; see Sales Consultant for details. If buyer is working with a licensed real estate agent or broker, the agent or broker must accompany and register buyer on first visit to community. No offer for sale or lease may be made or accepted until buyer’s receipt of Arizona Subdivision Public Report. A public report is available on the State Real Estate Department’s website. At K. Hovnanian’s® Four Seasons communities, at least one resident of each household must be 55 years of age or older. A limited number of residents may be younger than 55. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.© K. Hovnanian® Companies of California, Inc. BRE license number 01183847

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MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 17

Turn Your Dreams Into an Extraordinary Retirement

Retirement is a celebration of dreams coming true after a lifetime of hard work Special to Life After 50 by Ashley Schlosser

E

veryone says retirement is the best time of life, and they’re right! What could be better than being able to drop the responsibilities and stress of the work world and focus on whatever it is that makes you truly happy? Retirement is a celebration for all the hard work you have accomplished – and who wouldn’t love a life in which you celebrate yourself every day?

For the past 40-plus years, you’ve been so busy working for your company, taking care of your kids, and figuring out what to feed your family every night – now the time has come to relax and focus on you. That may not be as simple as it seems at first, so here are five tips to help you shift the focus to you:

SHUT OUT EVERYONE FOR JUST AWHILE

After years of worrying about life’s everyday needs, putting everyone else before you, and trying 18 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

to figure out how to miraculously squeeze everything that absolutely has to be done into one teeny tiny day – enough! It’s time to take a pause and think: “What do I want?” for the first time.

Freeing, isn’t it? It is essential that you take some uninterrupted time to relax and focus. Retirement should be the best time in your life and you owe it to yourself to plan for it properly. Think of it this way: it’s like setting aside time to daydream with the excitement of knowing that daydream is about to become your reality.

it’s something you’ve never tried but always wanted to. How cool would you look dancing the merengue? Maybe you’re a natural at tennis and you never knew it. Perhaps you have a knack for creating beautiful landscape paintings or writing.

Think about it. The answer may be that you want to try absolutely everything, or just focus on one thing. Determining your passions is the foundation on which a successful retirement is built.

DETERMINE YOUR PASSIONS

Relationships shouldn’t be difficult. You should surround yourself with people that make you happy, and when you’re focusing on you, that’s especially true. Who makes you the happiest?

Most likely, it is people who share your similar interests and passions. We all know that really close friends can be hard to find. If you’re lucky enough to have them, it might be important to

You can do anything you want. Anything!

Everyone has at least one thing they wish that they had really embraced as an adolescent, back when you didn’t yet know how lucky you were to have the luxury of hobbies and free time. What was your passion or lost hobby, that one thing that you wish you would have continued? Maybe

IDENTIFY THE “WHO” AND “WHERE”

you to have them nearby. Your focus might be making sure you’re close to family. Then you have to decide just how close is close enough.

Remember, we’re focusing on you here. Who is most important to you? You will need to make the decision if you want to live in a community that is strictly for those over the age of 55 or if you want to stay in a community where you may have families and children next door. There are a lot of benefits to an active 55-plus community.

Just think about the life experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve shared them with. If you’ve ever gone on vacation and met someone you clicked with, every time you think of that trip, the person you shared your experiences with probably crosses your mind and you think about how they enhanced your experience. Even going to a concert, playing a game of cards or going to dinner with someone can bring you closer together and can form meaningful relationships.

When you surround yourself with neighbors that you have things in common with, you can truly enhance your daily life. A 55-plus lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for some new experiences in life and meeting others like you, these communities can not only make it really easy, but along the way you can make some of the best friends you’ve ever had.

IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE

Are you a little bit country or a little bit rock ‘n’ roll? Do you want to live in wide open spaces where you might not see anyone for months or in an urban environment where you can’t step out your front door without sharing a “hello” with two or three neighbors? For most people, it is usually somewhere in between. You’ll need to decide what is most important to you. Remember, it can be whatever you want it to be. Think about your favorite climate. Consider what you need to have nearby – shopping, dining, golf, the beach, movie theaters, bowling – whatever is most important. You may plan to travel in retirement, which can mean many different things. If you’re a road-tripper, you’ll want to find a central location where you can easily access the areas that you want to travel to. For those who want to take numerous trips out of the state or country, you may want to consider a “lock and leave” scenario. This would be a home that is generally low-maintenance, making it easy to pick up and leave whenever you see fit. This is also important for those who plan to share time between two locations, such as summers in the Midwest and winters in the desert of California. Whatever you decide, make sure the place you choose to come home to really feels like home and makes you happy to return. Next, think about how you want to live in this area. There are numerous types of communities available. There are condominiums and townhomes, big master-planned communities

with a few thousand residents, smaller communities that focus on an active lifestyle and smaller suburban communities. Some neighborhoods will be much more social than others with events, clubs and activities. If you have the opportunity to spend some time in the community, test it out. Drive through on a Saturday afternoon, talk to some residents and see if it matches your ideal lifestyle.

ENVISION YOUR NEW DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

Everyone lives a different lifestyle depending on who they are and how they like to spend their time. Some people love to host friends and families for dinner parties. It’s exhausting, and sometimes you wonder why you do it, but there is just some kind of glory that comes out of throwing a really great party. If that‘s you, you’re going to need a home with a large and open entertaining space. Preferably, you’re going to need a kitchen on the larger side that is probably open to a dining or living area, that’s going to give you the flow you’re looking for when you’re throwing the ultimate Roaring 20s-themed dinner soiree, hosting a book club or impromptu gatherings to watch the big game. If you’re in the Southern California area, you’re probably looking forward to spending plenty of time enjoying the weather.

Is there anything better than finding yourself in a comfortable chair, reading a book with a cool breeze caressing you? That can be in your living room, on a balcony or in your backyard. You will want to take into consideration your outdoor space and how you’re going to live in it. If you’re a grill master, you’ll want an easily accessible backyard with a built-in barbecue and bar for barbequing whenever you please. Perhaps a low-maintenance balcony or small yard might be enough. You may decide that you desire a destination backyard with a pool, spa and putting green or a fireplace and television for outdoor movie nights. If ever there were a time that you were going to get your dream spa sanctuary, this is it. Think about indulgences that you’ve never allowed yourself to have. If you love relaxing at the end of the day with a long relaxing bath, think about your dream tub or a shower with massaging jets and rainfall showerhead – you can create your own sanctuary as you’ve never had before. If you envision yourself spending a lot of time writing or on your computer, you’ll want to consider having a den or dedicated work station. Think about your hobbies and your way of living and how you can cater to that lifestyle with a craft room, game room, music studio, art studio, or whatever it is that you will want to fill your day with.

that matches what you want and don’t settle for anything less. Remember during this process you’re working toward finding your ideal lifestyle.

At times, that may get overwhelming, and when it becomes so, take a break. This should be an empowering process, one that gets you excited about your new life. Then, once you find that perfect spot, make your move and hold on for the ride. Life in retirement is what you make of it, and with the right forethought and preparations, it can be an extraordinary dream come true.

Make Your Retirement Dreams A Reality K. Hovnanian’s® Four Seasons at Terra Lago is an active lifestyle community for those 55-plus in Indio, California.

Here residents enjoy incredible resortstyle amenities plus breathtaking views of the mountains and adjacent golf course. All homes are single-story designs and are crafted to feel open and spacious with ample storage throughout and unique spaces such as HovHubs, built-in work spaces to keep your counters clutter-free and your life organized. With 13 different home designs and nine model homes available for touring right now, K. Hovnanian’s® Four Seasons at Terra Lago is located just north of Interstate 10 off Golf Center Parkway and Terra Lago Parkway. Learn more and arrange your visit by contacting a K. Hovnanian® community information specialist at (888) 408-6590 or click on www.khov.com/socal.

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The Upside of

Downsizing Sure-bet tips for successfully moving to a smaller home Special to Life After 50 by Brad Korb

W

hile the dream of most baby boomers was to constantly keep upsizing to a bigger and grander home back when they were in their 30s or 40s, today, many boomers are going in the opposite direction and looking to downsize.

Downsizing is a good and natural progression that allows a person who is aging to move to a smaller home when the one they have had for decades becomes, for whatever reason, impractical. Issues might be financial, logistical, lifestyle-based, or all three. Regardless, downsizing is a normal, if not significant, life change that’s best approached with both care and enthusiasm.

• Provide you with aging-in-place designs that will allow you to remain in your home as long as possible.

• Offer you a substantial potential tax advantage: Between rights granted through California Propositions 13, 60, and 90, if you’ve lived in your home for 25 years or more, you may be able to enjoy the same low property taxes on your new home of equal or lesser market value if you purchase it within two years of the sale of your old home.

• Put you closer to loved ones and ease their worries.

Downsizing can be of benefit to you for many reasons. Moving to a smaller home can:

• Provide you with proceeds from the sale of your big home to give you more financial freedom in your retirement.

• Free you from the maintenance responsibilities and utility expenses of a large home so you can focus on doing more interesting things.

• Give you the opportunity to live in a dream location such as the coast, desert, or a luxury retirement community.

22 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Thanks to the Internet and new technologies, some aspects of downsizing are easier than ever, yet the essential challenge is as difficult today as it was for those 40 years ago: You must evaluate rooms filled with your possessions accumulated over a lifetime, decide on the few “most important” items to take with you to your downsized home, and determine what to do with the rest. It’s vital to do it right the first time, because with downsizing, there are few second chances.

Here are just a few tips for successful downsizing. With a little planning, the process can open a window of opportunity for you to set up a smooth transition into a new life phase and at the same time, share memories and mementos with loved ones in a uniquely rewarding way.

GIVE IT TIME

Allow yourself at least four to six months to sort out and allocate where the items in your home

will go. Be methodical in your approach, but also patient. It may take less time depending on how much help you have (usually from adult children and grandchildren) and how large your home is, but remember how many years it took for you to accumulate all those items.

Scheduling plenty of time to decide what to do with them is the most important tip of all, because once you commit to downsizing and have determined a new place of residence, timing becomes critical. If you plan to put your home on the market, downsizing should be completed first. The last thing you want is to be rushed when deciding which precious things to take, which to leave behind, and how to dispose of them in the best way.

MAKE IT A FAMILY AFFAIR

KEEP WHAT YOU TRULY ENJOY

If you have so much overflow of belongings that you need to rent a storage unit to keep them, chances are once those things are placed in the unit, they’ll be forgotten. You are better off getting money for them by selling them, donating them or giving them away rather than spending money to keep them out of sight and out of mind.

Prioritize keeping the things you enjoy and appreciate on a daily basis. Of course, that has to be within reason, but even if a piece has no useful purpose or may seem like junk to someone else, if it is something you truly enjoy, make room for it so your new surroundings feel like “home.”

DECIDE WHAT REALLY MATTERS

Do the “House on fire!” test to identify your most valuable items. Go into your living room and urgently imagine that your house is on fire and you have only seconds to salvage what’s most precious to you. Sometimes the “House on fire!” test reveals an item that is dearer to you on a gut level than you realize. You’ll want to have those things in your new home.

CONQUER AND DIVIDE

Conquer one room at a time. Use “at-a-glance” marking techniques for large pieces. Colorcoded stickers, dots, or labels make it easy for everyone involved. Use bright pink for things going to charity, green for items going for sale or auction, and blue for the treasures you’re keeping. Color-coded labels or markers also quickly identify things destined for specific family members or friends. As for smaller items, allocate five boxes per room: • The Must-Keep Box, for items of cherished or sentimental value that may go with you or may be given to loved ones, but in any case, they stay with the family.

• The Sell Box, for unneeded but valuable items that can bring money.

• The Necessary Box, for everyday useful things you will be keeping.

• The Donation Box, for charity.

• The Maybe Box, to be used only as a last resort for things you’d rather decide on later.

When possible, involve your children, grandchildren, and other family members in the process. It relieves some of the stress of making emotional choices and gives younger ones a chance to learn some family legacy. You can even plan a party around it and turn downsizing into a uniquely rewarding experience for the family while getting a lot of work done at the same time. If you come across items you’ve been intending to give to a specific person at a future time, make the gift now. You reap the satisfaction of giving, the receiver enjoys the gift, and you have one less item to worry about.

to assign storage area in your new home for the rotation of your seasonal decorative treasures.

By following these simple tips, your downsizing issues can be completely resolved by the time you move into your new home and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your belongings found good homes. You could even find yourself thousands of dollars richer from the sales of your no-longer-needed valuables, and have immense peace of mind as you begin a fresh new phase of life with a lot less responsibilities, costs, maintenance and clutter.

IGNORE THE THOUGHT TO STORE

STRATEGIZE FOR SUCCESSFUL SALES

The Internet has made it easier not only to accurately estimate the potential value of many items you’ll want to sell, but also makes it easier to sell them – that is, if you are up to the task on online selling. However, if you have items of high value, you should have them professionally appraised first, and consider selling them through consignment shops or at auction. If you plan on selling most of what’s in your home, consider an estate sale where professionals come in, stage the sale on the premises, and handle every detail from start to finish. It is true that estate sales take a bigger percentage of the proceeds, but they are also much faster and more efficient at selling items for their best value than if you tried to do it yourself. Garage sales are not recommended for realizing good value for your belongings. Use the resources around you. The more knowledgeable and experienced your real estate agent, for example, the more likely he or she will be able to aid your downsizing effort, whether it’s providing a free moving truck for transporting items to wherever they need to be or referring you to local estate sales and auction professionals and appraisers.

Brad Korb, the owner and founder of the Brad Korb Real Estate Group, has been a real estate agent in Burbank and its surrounding Southern California communities since the late 1970s, consistently ranking among the top producers in the area.

In 2015, Korb and his team had their best year ever helping families buy and sell residential and investment properties. Korb, who has constant new referrals as well as three generations of repeat clientele, is well-known for his generous support of local schools, civic organizations, and for being the “go-to” real estate agent for getting properties sold quickly at top dollar.

Korb is always happy to answer any and all real estate-related questions.

You can e-mail him at brad@bradkorb. com, click on www.bradkorb.com, call (818) 953-5300, or visit him personally at 3813 W. Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California.

START THE DOWNSIZE BEFORE YOU DOWNSIZE

Measure the living space of your new home and confirm that the belongings you plan to bring with you will fit. While still in your old home, try living for a month restricting yourself only to the items you plan to bring with you, and remember March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 23

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By Steve Stoliar Illustration by Mark Hammermeister

J

G

Known as “The Great One,” Jackie Gleason was one of the true comic giants of television – most memorably as the blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden on the landmark show “The Honeymooners” in the 1950s and as the genial host and star performer of the enormously popular “The Jackie Gleason Show” in the 1950s and ‘60s.

He also left his mark – dramatically as well as comedically – in such memorable films as “The Hustler,” “Requiem For A Heavyweight” and “Smokey and the Bandit.”

H

erbert Walton Gleason Jr. – later baptized as John Herbert Gleason Jr. and called “Jackie”– was born on February 26, 1916 in the BedfordStuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York to Herb Gleason, an IrishAmerican insurance auditor, and Maisie Kelly, a subway attendant.

The couple had one older child, Clemence, who died of spinal meningitis at the age of 14 In 1925, when his son was nine-years-old, Herb walked out on the family and never returned. Soon after, the young Gleason started hanging out with local gangs and – rather presciently – picking up money as a pool hustler. He also showed a flair for acting in school plays and made a few dollars acting as master of ceremonies at various local theaters in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Gradually, he began to incorporate comedy into his emceeing patter.

Gleason’s humorous emceeing style – which included insulting the patrons – landed him jobs in a number of popular New York nightclubs, including the famous Club 18 where visiting Hollywood mogul Jack L. Warner spotted the heavyset funnyman and signed him to a contract with Warner Bros. Studios.

By the time he was in his early 20s, Gleason began appearing as a comedic heavy in such notable early-1940’s films as “All Through The Night” with

Humphrey Bogart, “Larceny, Inc.” with Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman, “Navy Blues” with Ann Sheridan and Martha Raye, and “Springtime in the Rockies” with Betty Grable and Harry James.

Although he was working regularly in motion pictures, Gleason was dissatisfied that his relatively minor roles weren’t leading anywhere, so he went back to live performing, starring in the 1943 road company of the fabulously successful show “Hellzapoppin” and on Broadway in the popular 1944 military musical “Follow the Girls.” Other work on radio and in nightclubs followed.

Gleason got his big break in 1949 when he won the role of lovable aircraft worker and family man Chester A. Riley on the television version of “The Life of Riley,” a popular radio show that had starred William Bendix. Bendix had been slated to recreate his radio role on television, but his popularity in films prevented him from making the jump to the small screen, so Gleason got the part.

Unsuccessful in its transition from radio to television, the show was cancelled due to disappointing ratings after just one season and, when it did return to television in 1953, Bendix had taken over the lead.

Despite the failure of “The Life or Riley,” Gleason’s substantial comedic gifts did not go unnoticed and he was hired to host a variety show called “Cavalcade of

This feature is intended for you to clip and give to your children or grandchildren because…they must-know!

26 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Stars” on the Dumont network in 1950. The show proved to be a solid hit.

The more-prestigious CBS then lured Gleason away from the relatively minor Dumont network in 1952 and gave him “The Jackie Gleason Show,” a comedy-variety hour that went on to become the second highest-rated television show of the 1954-55 season. The format for the show was deceptively simple but remarkably durable: Jackie would walk out on stage and give an unbelieving glare at his bandleader Sammy Spear who wore outrageously flamboyant jackets.

Gleason would then make a snide comment about Spear’s wardrobe and launch into a monologue, the June Taylor dancers would perform a Busby Berkeley-style dance number, then musical-comedy guest stars and sketches would fill out the rest of the hour. Gleason’s popular catchphrase – “And awaaay we go!” – came from his unique way of getting into the show after finishing his monologue.

In addition to being remarkably agile for a large man – his weight tended to fluctuate between 250 and 300 pounds – Gleason was blessed with a photographic memory. He disliked rehearsing, preferring to read a script only once, do a cursory run-through for the benefit of the crew, and then perform the show in front of a live audience. On the rare occasions when he messed up, he tended to blame the cue cards.

“The Jackie Gleason Show” was a ratings hit and ran till 1970, giving viewers a vast array of memorable recurring characters – all played by Gleason himself – such as tipsy millionaire Reginald Van Gleason, the silent and Chaplinesque The Poor Soul, the drunken and befuddled Rum Dum, and Joe the Bartender – who worked for the unseen bar owner, “Mr. Dennehy,” and would introduce comedian-singer Frank Fontaine as the goofy, cross-eyed, regular bar patron Crazy Guggenheim.

While many of Gleason’s characters became both well-known and popular, his most-famous character was unquestionably Ralph Kramden, a frantic bus driver forever plotting get-rich-quick schemes who was also the henpecked husband of Alice Kramden (played first by Pert Kelton and later by Audrey Meadows) in a weekly sketch entitled “The Honeymooners.” Ralph’s neighbor and best friend was a somewhat dimwitted sewer worked named Ed Norton (played by Art Carney). Together, Ralph and Norton would hatch elaborate, inevitably ill-fated plans designed to make them both wealthy men.

“The Honeymooners” gave the world such popular catchphrases as: “To the moon, Alice, to the moon” and “Baby, you’re the greatest!”

The sketches were so popular that Gleason spun “The Honeymooners” into a weekly half-hour series in 1955. Although only 39 episodes were produced in the one season that the series ran, those shows remain among the best-loved of any series in the history of television comedy. Because they were filmed, Jackie was able to syndicate the episodes after its single season came to an end, and “The Honeymooners” has been in rerun ever since.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, Gleason’s lifelong love of music led to a series of very popular “mood music” albums with jazz overtones. His first 10 albums sold over a million copies each. The first, “Music for Lovers Only,” still holds the record for the album that stayed the longest on Billboard’s Top Ten Chart – 153 weeks.

Gleason’s success in recording was a bit ironic in that he could neither read nor write music, but instead, dictated the melodies he heard in his head to assistants, who wrote them up as musical charts.

In addition to his enormous success as a television comedy star, Gleason also appeared in a wide variety of motion pictures, proving he was equally adept at drama as he was at comedy. He received an Oscar nomination for his memorable portrayal of pool champ Minnesota Fats in Robert Rossen’s gritty 1961 drama, “The Hustler,” which starred Paul Newman in the title role.

The following year, Jackie turned in another riveting dramatic performance as desperate boxing manager Maish Rennick in the film version of Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” That same year saw Gleason writing, starring, and directing as a poor, mute, janitor in the touching “Gigot.” In 1963, Gleason turned in yet another impressive performance in the comedydrama “Soldier in the Rain,” opposite Steve McQueen.

Gleason found a whole new audience when he costarred opposite Burt Reynolds as bungling Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the 1977 action comedy, “Smokey and the Bandit,” which led to two popular sequels over the following five years. Later performances included rich business tycoon U.S. Bates in 1982’s “The Toy,” opposite Richard Pryor, and as Tom Hanks’ character’s father in Garry Marshall’s popular 1986 comedy-drama “Nothing in Common,” which turned out to be Gleason’s final film appearance.

Gleason was married three times and had two daughters – Geraldine and Linda – by his first wife, dancer Genevieve Halford. Despite his lifelong weight problem, he freely indulged in “the good life,” which included rich, gourmet food, free-flowing alcohol, all-night parties, and four packs of cigarettes a day. He lived life large and it was no coincidence that one of his most-familiar

catchphrases, especially after taking a sip from his signature tea cup that never held tea, was: “How sweet it is!”

Gleason died of colon cancer on June 24, 1987 at his home in Florida. He was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami. His elaborate marble sarcophagus bears the appropriate inscription: “And Away We Go.”

LEARN MORE • “The Great One: The Life and Legend Of Jackie Gleason”

by William A. Henry (Doubleday, 1992).

• “How Sweet It Is: The Jackie Gleason Story”

by James Bacon (St. Marten’s Press, 1985) • “Jackie Gleason: An Intimate Portrait Of The Great One”

by W.J. Weatherby (Pharos Books, 1992) • “The Honeymooners’ Companion: The Kramdens and the Nortons Revisited” by Donna McCrohan (Workman Publishing, 1978) • “The Official Honeymooners Treasury” by Peter Crescenti (Perigee Books, 1990)

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Permis sioned photos court es y o f F rancine York

Francine York

Having appeared in hundreds of commercials, films and television shows, the eternal beauty shares memories of the icons she has worked with and tips on maintaining health, beauty and happiness at any age Story and photos by David Laurell

S

tanding in her living room, actress Francine York makes a sweeping grand gesture towards the hallway of her San Fernando Valley home.

“This is my Norma Desmond gallery,” she laughs while making her way into the corridor with walls covered from ceiling to floor with framed production stills from her film and television appearances, along with photos of her with a galaxy of co-stars and entertainment luminaries.

From the seven films she did with Jerry Lewis, who discovered her, and roles opposite such Hollywood heavyweights as Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, David Niven and Nicolas Cage, to her guest starring appearances on hundreds of classic television programs from “Batman” and “Bewitched” to “Columbo” and “Kojak,” York’s gallery chronicles a six-decade career that began as a sweater model.

A native of Aurora, Minnesota, a small mining town located halfway between Duluth and the Canadian border, York parlayed her stunning good looks and beauty pageant participation into a modeling job with the Minneapolis-based Jane Richards Sportswear before reaching her 20th birthday. After also modeling for Macy’s and

30 LIFEAFTER50.COM March MArch 2016

I. Magnin & Company department stores, York took the leap to Hollywood, where she worked as a showgirl at Frank Sennes’ popular Sunset Boulevard nightclub, Moulin Rouge.

Working at the club in the evening, York used her days to make the rounds with casting directors and, after landing a role in the 1962 feature film, “Secret File: Hollywood,” went on to do a string of high-profile commercials. Catching the attention of Jerry Lewis, who cast her in his 1962 film, “It’s Only Money,” she became a Lewis film regular appearing in “The Nutty Professor,” “Family Jewels,” “The Patsy,” “The Disorderly Orderly,” and “Cracking Up.” Throughout the 1960s, York appeared in Max Factor cosmetic ads, did a string of feature films including “Bedtime Story” with Marlon Brando and David Niven, “Tickle Me” with Elvis Presley, and “School for Bachelors” with Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint. During this time and well into the next two decades, York made guest appearances in just about every popular television series that ever aired including “Bewitched,” “Green Acres,” “Lost in Space,” “Batman,” “Love,

American Style,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Mission Impossible,” to name a scant few.

York would also turn in two performances that would become cult classics: as Sabrina Kincaid, the leader of an elite team of gorgeous female assassins who attempt to stop a diabolical madman from destroying the world in the 1973 grade-Z flick, “The Doll Squad,” and as Marilyn Monroe in the 1992 horror film, “Marilyn: Alive and Behind Bars.”

PRESLEY PERCEPTIONS AND MARLON MEMORIES Today, York, who will turn 78 in August, still keeps up a hectic work schedule, does periodic television appearances, and is currently in pre-production on a feature, “Ten Violent Women: Part Two,” scheduled to begin shooting this summer.

Snuggling into a floral-print couch, York dramatically throws her head back and laughs when asked to share her memories of working with Elvis Presley.

“Everyone wants to know about Elvis,” she says as her expressive brown eyes roll. “Working with

him was a surreal experience for me. I remember when I first came to California going to see ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and thinking it was the greatest thing I ever saw. Then, seven or eight years later, there I was, working with him for eight weeks and doing a scene in which he sings to me. Who would have believed that this little girl from Minnesota would be working with Elvis? Not me! But there I was and he was wonderful to me. He was kind and charming – always funny and kidding around with the girls on the set. And the thing I will always remember most about Elvis was that he smelled so great. It wasn’t cologne or anything; he just smelled wonderful. I also perceived him as a person with great self-assurance about who he was and what he was doing, which was just the opposite of what I found Brando to be like.”

York lowers her eyes when pressed on what it was like to have worked with the enigmatic Brando, whom many consider to be the greatest American actor of all-time. “He had a somewhat adorable quality, I guess, but he seemed to be deeply insecure,” she recalls. “That may have been because it was a comedic role, which he had never done and, really, was never accepted by audiences for. But, like working with Elvis, it was certainly a thrill for this little girl from Minnesota to be standing on a Hollywood soundstage with David Nivien and Shirley Jones and Marlon Brando.”

York says she specifically remembers once, after doing a scene that required numerous takes, reaching out for Brando’s hand as he arrived on the set. “He had clearly been drinking, and when I went to shake his hand he said: ‘You’re not shaking my hand. You’re shaking the hand of part makeup and part vodka.’ He just seemed so insecure during the entire shoot and ate so much they had to hide him in sand, because he had gained so much weight since the filming began. It’s sad that he was such a self-destructive person. The last time I ever saw him was at a Chinese restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley. He had ordered tons of food and was just sitting there shoveling it in. He was filled with problems, but he was always nice to me, and respectful. He was legendary for his conquests, but I wasn’t his type. He liked darker, exotic-looking Polynesian women.”

Along with Elvis and Brando, another entertainment icon York is frequently asked about is one she never met but played – Marilyn Monroe. She says that to prepare for that role, she watched all of Monroe’s films very closely to try and understand her as much as possible. “I really wanted to get into her soul, and the more I did, the more sadness I found,” York reveals. “When you are playing an icon of her stature, it is really difficult. I’m very much the opposite of that ‘baby doll’ Marilyn persona, so I really had to work at it and study her to get into that role.”

SHE’S NO GIRL NEXT DOOR Along with her acting work, York has also been a longtime proponent of physical fitness and proper nutrition, making many appearances on television programs demonstrating her culinary skills and explaining her exercise programs, two things she credits with maintaining her physical appearance.

“I could have easily gone off and eaten ice cream and apple pie and all sorts of garbage,” she

says with a laugh. “And don’t think I wouldn’t have loved to have done that. The only thing that kept me from that was I have always had too much of an ego to let myself go physically. I’ve always been very conscious of my diet and staying fit. I see so many people who have allowed themselves to get so heavy and I wonder why they are doing that to themselves. They don’t like the way they look and feel and, unlike some illness or disease, you can do something about being overweight.

You can get up from the couch, start moving around and stop shoveling in the garbage.”

York, who religiously eats an apple every day, says she doesn’t eat beef, but does eat chicken.

“I eat a lot of yogurt and beets, which are very good for you. I also take a tablespoon of olive oil every morning and vitamin D, because most people, especially as they get older, are vitamin D deficient.”

She believes that when it comes to understanding proper nutrition, most people have no clue as to what they should be eating. “You can’t rely on doctors to give you any decent advice on nutrition unless they are a nutritionist.

Otherwise, most doctors study nutrition for two weeks and that’s all they know. When it comes to eating right, you know your own body – the signals it is sending you. You can’t be eating big, old glubby sandwiches and burgers covered in goop and think you can get away with that.

Eating white bread is like putting glue in your body. It’s just amazing to me what people eat and drink. Alcohol can take a tremendous toll on your health and looks. I do have a little wine now and then, but I’ve never been much of a drinker. I’ll have a Perrier with lime juice and bitters, but as far as drinking any hard stuff, it chips away at your body little by little.”

Along with eating right, York preaches the value of exercise. “I live by a park. It’s literally right out my door. So I get out and walk every day.

I work out with weights and do floor exercises.

You have to keep the body moving. As you get older, you just can’t sit around and stuff yourself with food and think you will not be suffering great consequences.”

While York is religious about the way she maintains her body, she is equally adamant about caring for her skin and overall appearance. “I always have everything together whenever I step out my front door,” she explains. “I take pride in looking good and having a flair for glamour. I always have my hair done, and the make-up done, and the clothes right. I don’t look like the girl next door when I go out. I adhere to what Joan Crawford once said: ‘If someone says they like the “girl next door” look, tell them to go next door.’ ” Saying that women frequently ask her about her secret for skin care, York shrugs. “There is no secret,” she reveals. “You just have to keep your skin lubricated and moisturized. You have to take care of yourself. You have to maintain your car and your house, so why would you think you don’t have to maintain your skin and your body?

You have to stay well groomed, have your nails done, keep your hairstyle fresh and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! You don’t have to spend a lot of money doing that. Just use Oil of Olay.

That’s what I use. You don’t need all that expensive stuff they try to push on you, because

most of the main ingredients are the same no matter what the price.”

LIVING A HAPPY LIFE IS A “TODAY” THING As for her feelings on the passage of years, York says she works every day to keep an aura of healing and health around her. “I think there is something else that’s always important, but that becomes even more important as we get older, and that is to be kind,” she opines. “Adding something to someone else’s day, showing kindness to someone makes you feel better, and feeling better is great for your health – the way you feel and look. It’s all about attitude and gratitude. Every day you have to be kind to someone and thank God for what you have instead of moaning and groaning and saying: ‘Oh God, I don’t have this or that.’ Living a happy life is a ‘today’ thing. You’ve heard the quote: ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why it’s called the present.’ That’s what it’s all about. People don’t appreciate the gift of the moment. They worry about this and that and have regrets over some crazy thing or another.

It doesn’t make any sense to be so worried about what happened or what may happen that you aren’t enjoying the life you are actually living. I guess that’s just a human trait. It’s a battle so many people seem to be waging within themselves. But you have to get beyond that and be grateful for everything you have in the present. That’s enjoying the gift.”

For more information on Francine York, click on to her website at www.francineyork.net.

MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 31

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2015 Daily News Successful Aging Expo

Daily Breeze • Daily News • Press-Telegram

FREE ADMISSION AND PARKING Spend the day with us at the Successful Aging Expo.

This informative and fun-filled day includes: • Free Health Screenings • Food Sampling • Variety of Exhibitors • Informational and Entertaining • Live Entertainment Presentations

HearUSA | HearX Silver Sponsor

Local Ice and Nothing Bundt Cakes Food Sampling

Valley Presbyterian Hospital Gold Sponsor

Columnist and Author Dennis McCarthy Book Signing

Registration is not required for attendees.

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS April 16, 2016 • 9 am to 2 pm Sportsmen’s Lodge Events Center 12833 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

DAILY BREEZE May 7, 2016 • 9 am to 2 pm Torrance Marriott 3635 Fashion Way, Torrance, CA 90503

2015 Daily Breeze Successful Aging Expo

PRESS-TELEGRAM October 8, 2016 • 9 am to 2 pm Westin Long Beach 333 East Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802 Check out our website at

successfulagingexpo.com If you have questions about these events or want to become an exhibitor, contact: Julie Corlette, Events Manager, (310) 543-6123, julie.corlette@langnews.com

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Let’s Get OUt A Preview of Upcoming Events for March/April By Claire Yezbak Fadden

eNteRtAINMeNt

BROKEN FENCES In a neighborhood on Chicago’s deep West Side, the momentum of gentrification has taken hold and things have begun to change forever. As property taxes rise and demographics shift, Hoody and D struggle to keep the only home they have ever known. But when April and Czar––a white couple intent on starting a family––buy their first home and move in next door, the very definition of home is called into question. The Road on Magnolia, NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Dates vary through April 3. $18-$34. (818) 7618838. roadtheatre.org.

YOU NEVER CAN TELL A lunch unlike any other reveals a family secret–uncovering both the pleasures and perils of family life. Written over a century ago, this early George Bernard Shaw play is charming and comically surprising. No man (or woman) is an island in this warm, wise and most modern play. A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd. Pasadena. $40-$62. Through May 15. (626) 356-3100. anoisewithin.org.

CASA VALENTINA This moving and insightful play is nestled in the Catskills in 1962 -- land of dirty dancing and borscht belt comedy. But an inconspicuous bungalow colony is more than a place to escape the sweltering summer heat. The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. Pasadena. Through April 10. Prices vary.

(310) 208-5454. pasadenaplayhouse.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 SEX WITH STRANGERS When frustrated novelist Olivia meets fasttalking blogger Ethan – known more for his sexual prowess than his prose – she worries she will become just another chapter in his little black book. Their funny and flirty union blurs the lines between rewrites, romance and royalties – proving you can’t judge a book by its author. Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles.

Through April 10. $60-$76. (310) 208-5454. geffenplayhouse.com.

TEMPEST REDUX Celebrate El Niño with a perfect storm of comedy, romance, mystery and magic.

Derived from Shakespeare’s fantasy, “The Tempest,” this freshly conceived reconstruction is a potent confection of physical theater and verbal gymnastics — a father-daughter story for the ages that explores the power of love and forgiveness.

Odyssey Theatre 1, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Dates vary through April 10. $34. (310) 477-2055 x2. odysseytheatre.com.

GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS Mary Anne Steinberger, solo cello recital.

Sanctuary of Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave., Glendale, Glendale.

Free. (818) 242-2113. glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com.

34 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

March/April Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. Weekends through April 3. $25-$30. (323) 960-7745. plays411.com/blood.

TUESDAY, MARCH 15

ANOTHER ROLL OF THE DICE As a reporter in the ‘30s, Damon Runyon moved among bootleggers, gamblers, hustlers, actors, showgirls and gangsters.

In this new musical, Runyon’s mugs and dames, scams and swindles, are once again matched with songs by the great Frank Loesser, the original “Guys and Dolls” composer. The Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Burbank. Through March 20. Prices vary.

(818) 558-7000. colonytheatre.org.

LA/Ventura

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16

ERWIN WURM: ONE MINUTE SCULPTURES

Austrian artist Erwin Wurm has influenced a generation of U.S. sculptors. In production since 1997, these inclusive and interactive works act simultaneously as off-the-cuff quips and radical reconsiderations of the major questions key to both sculpture and art viewing: how figures relate to their ground, how one inhabits space, and how simple acts of re-framing can alter perceptions. MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House, 835 North Kings Rd. W. Hollywood. Wed.-Suns. through March 27. $6-$7. (323) 651-1510.m makcenter.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 CLOUD NINE In the wilds of 19th century Africa, the colonizers are restless in more ways than one. Friends and family flirt and fumble with power, gender and sexuality, hilariously pushing against the boundaries of Victorian imperialism. Fast forward 100 years to the concrete jungle of London, where the Victorian legacy finally explodes in a blast of sexual awakening, self-acceptance and delectable humor. Antaeus Theatre Company, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Thurs.-Sun. through April 24. $30-$34.

(818) 506-1983. antaeus.org.

THE MOUNTAINTOP On April 3, 1968, after delivering one of his most memorable speeches, an exhausted Martin Luther King, Jr. retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. As a storm rages outside, a mysterious hotel maid brings Dr. King a cup of coffee and prompts him to confront his life, his past, his legacy and the plight and future of his people. The Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles.

Thurs.-Sun. through April 10. $30.

(323) 852-1445. matrixtheatre.com.

ROMEO AND JULIET The greatest love story of all time seduces audiences with its romantic aura as much today as when it was written. A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd. Pasadena. $40-$62. Through May 8. (626) 356-3100. anoisewithin.org.

BIOLUMINESCENCE AND ILLUMINATING DISEASE Scientist Marc Zimmer discusses his book, “Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology.” The book presents an overview of the many uses of jellyfish and firefly proteins to kill and image cancer cells, monitor bacterial infections, and light up in the presence of pollution. The Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach. $5.

(562) 590-3100. aquariumofpacific.org.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18 BLOOD Robert Allan Ackerman directs the world premiere of a political thriller with music about the “Japanese Tainted Blood Scandal,” in which 2,000 people died of AIDS after the U.S. knowingly sold contaminated blood to Japan.

The Garage Company at The Complex, 6476

DEATH PLAY This funny, heartbreaking and candid play asks what we do with the disappearances we face through the loss of those we love, America’s chosen blindness toward the aging, especially older women, and the Japanese American pursuit of belonging.

The author, Lisa Dring, explores these questions through the lens of her personal experience--the loss of both parents and her grandmother, all during her early 20s.

Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles. Thurs.-Sun. through April 11. $15. circlextheatre.org.

DREAM CATCHER Roy is the youngest member on a team of high-level engineers brought in to launch the most important project of his young career: the construction of a solar energy plant in the middle of the Mojave Desert. He finds himself in the center of a crisis when the discovery of long-buried Native American artifacts threaten to bring the billion-dollar operation to a halt. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles. $15– $35. Through March 21. (323) 663-1525. fountaintheatre.com.

FATHER, SON AND HOLY COACH Terri Hanauer directs John Posey in a new production of his critically acclaimed comedy about a former football star who attempts to live vicariously through his son. Odyssey Theatre 2, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Also March 20. $25. (323) 9607724. plays411.com/holycoach.

CALeNDAR

March/April LA/Ventura

LOU GRAMM Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. $38-$58. (888) 645-5006. sabantheatre.org.

live music and animation that enchants kids and touches adults. 24th Street Theatre, 1117 West 24th St., Los Angeles. $10-$24.

(213) 745-6516. www.24thstreet.org.

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

TUESDAY, MARCH 22

WESTERN MUSIC ASSOCIATION SHOWCASE Musicians and cowboy poets perform stories and songs of the romantic days of the Old West, contemporary music of the American West and songs of the open range and the American cowboy. The Autry National Center, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, Los Angeles. $6-$10. (323) 667-2000. theautry.org.

A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER The uproarious story of Monty Navarro, a distant heir to a family fortune who sets out

STUDIO PRODUCTION

Job #: PAL 004913_01

Title: 3/1 Senior Print

Element: Life After 50 Magazine

Date In: 02-11-16

ROUND: R1

Due Date: 02-23-16

MAN COVETS BIRD What are the songs of birds and men? Find out in this internationally acclaimed tale of friendship — an irresistible mix of storytelling,

APPROVAL

CD: Gary Kelly

MECHANICAL

Live: visual

AD: Ian N.

CD: Ian N.

PD: Maritza Lizarraras

CW: Jason Rivanis

SM: Rosa Baer

Trim: 4.625”w x 11.5”h

Bleed: N/A

Scale: 100%

Color: CMYK

Upload:

OK CHANGES CHANGES

A monkey born from a stone acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. A young woman becomes an honorable warrior. The death of a revered general inspires loyalty to generations. These are some of the more than 20 Chinese tales told in an all-new spectacular show. Sixty authentically costumed dancers and a 40-piece orchestra perform before a 30-foot interactive video screen as transformations of time and location materialize. Authentic sounds of imperial courts and folk songs handed down through the generations accompany visits to ancient dynasties such as the Tang and the Qin, the mountains of Tibet, the shores of a Dai village and the sprawling plains of Mongolia. Terrace Theater, 300 E Ocean Blvd.; Long Beach. Also March 20. Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. March 22-23. Bridges Auditorium at Pomona City College, 450 N College Way, Claremont. April 8-9. $60-$200.

(800) 880-0188. shenyun.com.

OK

SHEN YUN 2016

APPROVAL

AE: George Miranda

PM: Mariah G.

Notes:1/2 PG 4C

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

to jump the line of succession, by any means necessary. He is also juggling his mistress (she’s after more than just love), his fiancée (she’s his cousin but who’s keeping track?), and the constant threat of landing behind bars.

But it will all be worth it if he can slay his way to his inheritance … and be done in time for tea. Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Dates vary through May 1. $25-$130.

(213) 628-2772. centertheatregroup.org.

CHERISH THE LADIES This all-woman Celtic music ensemble offers a spectacular powerhouse of wunderkind instrumental talent, dazzling vocals, and captivating step dancing, combining all the facets of Irish culture into an emotional and witty performance.

Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. $20-$40. arts.pepperdine.edu.

VENTURA BLUEGRASS JAMS Milano’s Italian Restaurant, Patio, Ventura Harbor Village, 1559 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura.

(805) 658-0388. milanositalianrestaurant.com.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR Nobody wants to be heard more than the six characters in this groundbreaking play from the early 1920s by the Nobel Laureate Pirandello. Posing the questions “When do characters become more real than the actors? And where does the line between fact and fiction really lie?” the fourth wall comes down between actors and audience in this well-known display of theatrical sleight of hand. A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd. Pasadena. $40-$62. Through May 8.

(626) 356-3100. anoisewithin.org.

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 PENNINGTON DANCE GROUP Two anniversary concerts from the critically acclaimed modern dance company will feature a combination of new choreography and the recreation of historical work.

State Playhouse, 5151 State University Dr. Los Angeles. Also March 27. $16-$22. (626) 204-0331. penningtondancegroup.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 THE REVISIONIST David arrives in Poland with a crippling case of writer’s block and a desire to be left alone, while his 75-year-old second cousin Maria welcomes him with an overwhelming need to connect with her American family. Lovelace Studio Theater - 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.

Beverly Hills. Through April 17. $50. (310) 746-4000. thewallis.org.

APRIL SATURDAY, APRIL 2 DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS Andrea Lepcio’s pitch-black comic thriller examines the American dream and American

identity in the face of eroding ethics.

Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Weekends through May 8. $30.

(310) 477-2055 x2. odysseytheatre.com.

WILSON PHILLIPS The Rose, 300 East Colorado Blvd, Unit 101, Pasadena. $380$58. (888) 645-5006. roseconcerts.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 FREE FIRST SUNDAY Free admission to the Museum of Ventura County including its galleries and any special events. Museum of Ventura County, 100 East Main St., Ventura. First Sunday of each month.

(805) 653-0323. venturamuseum.org.

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 STAGE KISS When long-lost loves are cast as long-lost lovers, two squabbling actors are slow to learn their lines but quick to ignite an old flame.

On-stage, back-stage and out the stage door, reality collides with fiction in this raucous and revealing play within a play. Gil Cates Theater, 10886 Le Conte Ave. Los Angeles.

Through May 15. $32-$76. (310) 208-5454. geffenplayhouse.com.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS Violin recital featuring Jacqueline Suzuki, violin’ Rosa LoGiudice, piano. Sanctuary of Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave., Glendale, Glendale. Free. (818) 242-2113. glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8 CHILDREN OF EDEN Based on the stories of Adam and Eve, and of Noah and the Ark, this is the story of parents and children, of knowing when to hold on tightly to family, and of knowing when to let go. Cabrillo Music Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Prices vary. Through April 17. cabrillomusictheatre.com.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF Adapted from the best-selling young adult novel, this is the story of Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old boy who journeys into a world of mythological monsters and Greek Gods as he struggles with dyslexia and ADHD, all while solving the mystery of Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. Bram Goldsmith Theater - 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. Also April 9. $25-$35. (310) 746-4000. thewallis.org.

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 35 PAL_004913_01_3_1_Sr_Print_4.625x11.5_R1_FINAL_CFR.indd 1

2/23/16 10:36 AM

CALeNDAR to jump the line of succession, by any means necessary. He is also juggling his mistress (she’s after more than just love), his fiancée (she’s his cousin but who’s keeping track?), and the constant threat of landing behind bars.

But it will all be worth it if he can slay his way to his inheritance … and be done in time for tea. Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Dates vary through May 1. $25-$130.

(213) 628-2772. centertheatregroup.org.

CHERISH THE LADIES This all-woman Celtic music ensemble offers a spectacular powerhouse of wunderkind instrumental talent, dazzling vocals, and captivating step dancing, combining all the facets of Irish culture into an emotional and witty performance.

Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. $20-$40. arts.pepperdine.edu.

VENTURA BLUEGRASS JAMS Milano’s Italian Restaurant, Patio, Ventura Harbor Village, 1559 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura.

(805) 658-0388. milanositalianrestaurant.com.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR Nobody wants to be heard more than the six characters in this groundbreaking play from the early 1920s by the Nobel Laureate Pirandello. Posing the questions “When do characters become more real than the actors? And where does the line between fact and fiction really lie?” the fourth wall comes down between actors and audience in this well-known display of theatrical sleight of hand. A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd. Pasadena. $40-$62. Through May 8.

(626) 356-3100. anoisewithin.org.

March/April LA/Ventura identity in the face of eroding ethics.

Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Weekends through May 8. $30.

(310) 477-2055 x2. odysseytheatre.com.

and revealing play within a play. Gil Cates Theater, 10886 Le Conte Ave. Los Angeles.

Through May 15. $32-$76. (310) 208-5454. geffenplayhouse.com.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS Violin recital featuring Jacqueline Suzuki, violin’ Rosa LoGiudice, piano. Sanctuary of Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave., Glendale, Glendale. Free. (818) 242-2113. glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

WILSON PHILLIPS The Rose, 300 East Colorado Blvd, Unit 101, Pasadena. $380$58. (888) 645-5006. roseconcerts.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 FREE FIRST SUNDAY Free admission to the Museum of Ventura County including its galleries and any special events. Museum of Ventura County, 100 East Main St., Ventura. First Sunday of each month.

(805) 653-0323. venturamuseum.org.

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 STAGE KISS When long-lost loves are cast as long-lost lovers, two squabbling actors are slow to learn their lines but quick to ignite an old flame.

On-stage, back-stage and out the stage door, reality collides with fiction in this raucous

CHILDREN OF EDEN Based on the stories of Adam and Eve, and of Noah and the Ark, this is the story of parents and children, of knowing when to hold on tightly to family, and of knowing when to let go. Cabrillo Music Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Prices vary. Through April 17. cabrillomusictheatre.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 NAREK HAKHNAZARYAN Hakhnazaryan was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2011 XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition, the most prestigious prize given to a cellist, and has since established himself as one of the finest cellists of his generation.

Pepperdine University, Raitt Recital Hall, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. $28. arts.pepperdine.edu.

SECOND SUNDAY CONCERT Pasadena Central Library, 285 E Walnut, Pasadena. Free. (626) 398-0658.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12 VENTURA BLUEGRASS JAMS Milano’s Italian Restaurant, Patio, Ventura Harbor Village, 1559 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura.

(805) 658-0388. milanositalianrestaurant.com.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF Adapted from the best-selling young adult novel, this is the story of Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old boy who journeys into a world of mythological monsters and Greek Gods as he struggles with dyslexia and ADHD, all while solving the mystery of Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. Bram Goldsmith Theater - 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. Also April 9. $25-$35. (310) 746-4000. thewallis.org.

AIR SUPPLY The Canyon, 28912 Roadside Dr., Agoura Hills. $58-$95. (818) 879-5016. canyonclub.net.

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 PENNINGTON DANCE GROUP Two anniversary concerts from the critically acclaimed modern dance company will feature a combination of new choreography and the recreation of historical work.

State Playhouse, 5151 State University Dr. Los Angeles. Also March 27. $16-$22. (626) 204-0331. penningtondancegroup.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 THE REVISIONIST David arrives in Poland with a crippling case of writer’s block and a desire to be left alone, while his 75-year-old second cousin Maria welcomes him with an overwhelming need to connect with her American family. Lovelace Studio Theater - 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.

Beverly Hills. Through April 17. $50. (310) 746-4000. thewallis.org.

APRIL

THURSDAY, MARCH 24

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

This musical tells the moving, turn-of-the-century story of America’s rise through three very different souls – an upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician – united by their belief in a brighter tomorrow. Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Fred Kavli Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Through March 27. $39-plus. (800)745-3000. civicartsplaza.com. theaterleague.com.

DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS Andrea Lepcio’s pitch-black comic thriller examines the American dream and American

36 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

RAGTIME

CALeNDAR THURSDAY, APRIL 14 DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES ART WALK This self-guided, public art walk brings art lovers and community friends together in downtown Los Angeles. 411 S. Main St., between Second and Ninth Streets, Los Angeles. Free. downtownartwalk.org.

eXHIBItIONs THE ARTIST’S GARDEN American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920. Focusing on paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this exhibition explores the connections between the American Impressionist movement and the emergence of gardening as a middle-class leisure pursuit. The show features a hand-picked selection of 17 paintings from the exhibition that originated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art. The Huntington, MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Through May 9. $19-$25. huntington.org.

FAREWELL, EDEN: NATURE IN A PORST-WILD WORLD This exhibit features works of art by contemporary artists who are seeking to divine and define the emerging new relationships between nature and the city, between nature and humankind. Descanso Gardens, Sturt Haaga Gallery’s, 1418 Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Tues.-Sun. through April 3. $6-$9.

(818) 949-4200. descansogardens.org.

A WORLD OF STRANGERS: CROWDS IN AMERICAN ART Crowds are the temporary groups that strangers form at baseball games, parades, riots and on city streets. Fickle and ephemeral, crowds can be joyous, destructive, or somber.

In this exhibition of about 20 works, artists have represented groups of people as patterns of dots, murky silhouettes and teeming, river-like currents of cars. The Huntington, Huntington Art Gallery, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Through April 4. $19-$25. huntington.org.

in early 20th century Los Angeles. The Huntington, Library West Hall, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Through March 21. $19-$25. huntington.org.

"THE NEXT BEST THING TO SEEING

THE BEATLES" – Associated Press

NEW ACQUISITIONS Featuring the Kaufman Collection, this exhibit presents nearly 60 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. Organized thematically, the artworks are set alongside quotes that describe aspects of experience and identity in the West. These words support, challenge or complicate the artworks, creating a dialogue that reminds us that a work of art—like any form of representation—does not always tell the whole story. The Autry National Center, Norman F. Sprague, Jr. Gallery, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, Los Angeles.

Through July 9. $6-$10. (323) 667-2000. theautry.org.

RAVI SHANKAR: A LIFE IN MUSIC This display features a collection of sitars played by Shankar throughout his life and career; performance attire, including outfits worn at Woodstock in 1969 and the Concert for Bangladesh, rare photographs from the Shankar family collection as well as original correspondences, writings and music. The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, Fourth Floor, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. Through Spring 2016. $12-$13. (213) 765-6803. grammymuseum.org.

LEGENDS OF MOTOWN: CELEBRATING THE SUPREMES Founded as The Primettes, The Supremes became Motown’s most consistent hit makers and the most popular female group of the ‘60s. The polished singing style of original members Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard bridged the worlds of pop and soul. On display are rare photographs from the personal collection of Mary Wilson, concert posters, tour books, fan memorabilia and an assortment of performance gowns, including the Turquoise Freeze dresses worn during a 1967 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, Third Floor, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles.

Through Spring 2016. $12-$13. (213) 7656803. grammymuseum.org.

THE NATURE OF WILLIAM S. RICE Arts and Crafts Painter and Printmaker. This exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the private world of William S. Rice (1873–1963), an artist and avid naturalist known for his ability to refine nature to its simplest forms. Featuring some 50 watercolors and block prints, the works, some on public view for the first time, illuminate the techniques and approaches Rice used to singularly capture and depict the California landscape. Pasadena Museum of Art, 490 East Union Street, Pasadena. Through April 3. $5-$7. Wed.-Sun. (626) 568-3665. pmcaonline.org.

JELLIES Delve into the mysterious world of sea jellies through this new exhibition. Often referred to as “jellyfish,” sea jellies are actually invertebrates or animals without backbones.

Explore the amazing life of these gelatinous animals and learn about their importance to our ocean planet through new exhibits, educational programs, a film and even art.

Ever wondered what a jelly feels like? You can even safely touch them. The Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach.

Through April 30. $26-$29. (562) 590-3100. aquariumofpacific.org.

Y.C. HONG: ADVOCATE FOR CHINESE-AMERICAN INCLUSION This exhibition offers a deeper sense of the life of an extraordinary figure in Chinese-American history. Through some 75 items, including historical documents, correspondence, photographs, maps and ledgers, this exhibit examines Chinese-American immigration

Get the Word Out. E-mail your announcements to Claire Fadden, cfadden@lifeafter50.com 60 days prior (or even earlier) to your event. Include a brief description, location, date, time, cost, phone and website. Submission does not guarantee publication.

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Rick Steves’ Travels Wine-ing Your Way Through Tuscany RICK ST EVES’ T RAVELS

By Rick Steves

B

enjamin Franklin once wrote: “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy,” and there is no better place in the world to confirm what ol’ Ben said than in Tuscany.

The Tuscany region in the heart of Italy is chockfull of great wineries, but I would like to focus on two well-respected red wines, each centered on a specific town: Montepulciano is known for its Vino Nobile, and Montalcino is famous for its Brunello. The key grape in each is the Sangiovese variety.

When visiting Tuscany, the town of Montepulciano is one of my favorites for exploring the region and its wine country. Its most famous product — Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (noble wine of Montepulciano) — is a high-quality, dry, rubyred wine made of at least 70 percent Sangiovese grapes. Aged two years (or three for a riserva) — one year of which must be in oak casks — it’s more full-bodied than a typical Chianti and less tannic than a Brunello. It pairs well with meat, especially roasted lamb with rosemary, rabbit or boar ragout over pasta, grilled portobello mushrooms, and local cheeses such as pecorino.

Montepulciano has several historic wine cellars to explore, and then enjoy generous tastings. The wine is almost a religion here, and guides worshipfully walk you through cellars as if they were sacred spaces.

38 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

At the Contucci cellar, your host is the lively Adamo. For 50 years, Adamo has made sure visitors enjoy a tasty education in the Nobile di Montepulciano. During one recent visit, Adamo pointed out dozens of barrels of Croatian and French oak that cradle the wine through the aging process. “The wine picks up the personality of the wood with the French oak giving the wine pure elegance, and the Croatian offering something more masculine” said Alamo. “Then, after about 35 years, an exhausted barrel has nothing left to offer its wine, so it’s retired.”

Not too far away is another Tuscan wine mecca — Montalcino. It’s a pleasant, low-impact town crawling with wine-loving tourists and a smattering of classy shops, but little sightseeing. Everyone touring this area seems to be relaxed and in an easy groove. Its wine, Brunello di Montalcino (the little brown one of Montalcino) — named for the color of the grapes before harvest — ranks among Italy’s finest and most expensive. Made from 100 percent Sangiovese Grosso grapes, it’s smooth, dry, and aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks, plus an additional four months in the bottle.

Brunello is designed to cellar for 10 years or longer. It pairs well with the local cuisine, but the perfect match is the fine Chianina beef.

The countryside around Montalcino is dotted with classy wineries that are evangelical about taking visitors on tours and tastings. Unlike Californians wineries, in Tuscany, you need to telephone the day before to book your tours. Tours last an hour,

cost $10 to $15, and finish in a tasting room where, with expert guidance, you’ll develop a better appreciation for the fruit of these vines.

If you’re paying for a wine tasting, you aren’t obligated to buy, but if a winery is doing a small tasting just for you, they’re hoping you’ll buy a bottle or two. Italian vintners understand that Americans can’t take much wine with them and they don’t expect to make a big sale, but they do hope you’ll look for their wines back home. Some shops and wineries can ship it home for you.

After your tasting, take time to stroll through the vineyards. You may notice “sentinel” roses at the ends of some of the rows of vines. These aren’t just decorative. Because disease affects roses before grapes, historically the flowers acted as a “canary in a coal mine,” giving vintners advance notice if a phylloxera epidemic was imminent.

Today the roses can warn of mildew.

If your Tuscan dreams feature vibrant vineyards rolling to infinity, punctuated by snaking cypresslined driveways; humble but beautiful (and steep) hill towns; and world-class wines to make a connoisseur weep, set your next travel sights on Montepulciano or Montalcino.

Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and radio. You can e-mail him at rick@ricksteves.com and visit his website at www.ricksteves.com.

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And Finally...

The Bookworm’s Best A Life After 50 book review

by Terri “The Bookworm” Schlichenmeyer

Sharon Tate: A Life

By Ed Sanders

R

ight place; wrong time.

In your life, you’ve been there a time or two: missed something by that much, gone somewhere a minute too late, zigged when you should’ve zagged. Doing so can make you look foolish, it can save the day or, as in the new book “Sharon Tate: A Life” by Ed Sanders with illustrations by Rick Veitch, it could be lethal.

Born 73 years ago in Houston, Texas, Sharon Marie Tate was just six-months-old when she won her first beauty contest. No one remembers who submitted the entry, but it was the beginning of a 26-year career.

As both homecoming and prom queen, Tate knew she wanted to be an actress by the time she was in high school. Before she was 20, she was officially “discovered” by a producer and had landed bit parts in popular television shows of the time. Later, she auditioned for the part of Liesl in “The Sound of Music,” a role, that had she gotten it, says Sanders, would have vastly changed her life.

By the time she met Roman Polanski, Tate had been engaged at least twice. She thought he was intelligent and he, captivated by her beauty, cast her in his movies and tried to boost her career. They married in 1968 because he knew she wanted a child; she was pregnant within a year.

At some point prior to their marriage, Tate introduced Polanski to the joys of life in the trendy Topanga Canyon, where she and many of her friends lived. It was a beautiful, carefree adult playground and, by 1967, they were joined there by “a converted school bus painted black,” packed with a group of kids led by a singer-songwriter who “was determined to record his songs and become famous.” Tate thought that singersongwriter, Charlie Manson, was “creepy.”

Some say she wasn’t supposed to be where she was on that fateful day Manson ordered his followers to kill her. Manson still won’t say why he did it. “Over four decades later,” writes Sanders, “and well into a new century, the reason or reasons are still a lingering mystery.”

Remember the fear and horror of the Tate-LaBianca murders? Most baby boomers and beyond do – and even if you don’t, you may harbor an enduring true-crime interest in those horrible nights in August 1969.

“Sharon Tate: A Life” adds to the intrigue and documents the horror.

Though it sometimes feels a little too casual considering the subject matter, there are many reasons to like this book. Sanders writes about more than just Tate; we also learn about other people in her world and get a good feel for the lifestyle of the era, the drugs, the sex, every bit of the weirdness that was the 1960s. Sanders even offers up a new hypotheses to the “why” of the murders and, though we know how Tate’s life ends, he builds suspense in this story which, too, is “creepy.”

As books on the subject go, “Sharon Tate: A Life” isn’t the slickest one on the mayhem that was and is Manson, but it’s a good companion to the others.

Grab it if you’re fascinated by those dark days of the 1960s. If you love a good crime story, you’ll find the pages of this book to have you in the right place.

“Sharon Tate: A Life” by Ed Sanders, 2015, Da Capo Press, $25.99, 285 pages The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer who lives on a hill with two dogs and more than 12,000 books. You can read more of her book reviews at www.lifeafter50.com. Just click on “Entertainment” and then “Book Reviews.”

A Look Back

F

ifty years ago this month, the music charts were topped by “The Ballad of the Green Berets.”

Co-written by Robin Moore and the song’s vocalist, Green Beret Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, a medic who served in the Vietnam War where he suffered a leg injury, the song honors the memory of Green Beret James Gabriel, Jr., who had been killed by the Viet Cong in 1962. Sadler debuted the song on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where it was well received and went on to sell over nine million singles and albums. The song also become the Number One song on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 1966; a truly unbelieve feat considering its competition, which included “California Dreamin,’ ” by The Mamas and The Papas, “Strangers In the Night” by Frank Sinatra, “We Can Work It Out”

by The Beatles, and “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones. While Sadler’s song was a success, his life was not. In 1978, he killed a man who had been romantically involved with his girlfriend and had reportedly threatened his life. Pleading self-defense, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, appealed, and had his sentence greatly reduced. He then lost a wrongful death suit and was ordered to pay $10 thousand dollars to his victim’s estate.

In 1988, while living in Guatemala, Sadler was shot in the head during a robbery attempt.

While he survived and returned to the U.S, he had suffered significant brain damage and, 14 months later, died of complications from the shooting at the age of 49.

42 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Just A Thought Before We Go “Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people!

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Contents

March 2016

10

22

26

30

Cover Profile

Departments

10 Loni Anderson

6 50-Plus: What You Need to Know

The roles she has played professionally, personally and passionately.

Features 18 Turning Your Dreams Into An Extraordinary Retirement Retirement is a celebration of dreams coming true after a lifetime of hard work.

22 The Upside Of Downsizing Sure-bet tips For successfully moving to a smaller home.

26 The Hallowed Hall Of Must-Knowtables – Jackie Gleason Legendary notables that everyone, of every age, should know.

30 The Look Of Life After 50 – Francine York Her movie memories and tips on maintaining health, beauty and happiness at any age.

A quick look at things 50-plusers should be aware of.

24 Tuned In To What’s On

The best in March television viewing.

34 Let’s Get Out

Looking to get out and about? Our March/March calendar has some great suggestions.

38 Rick Steves’ Travels

Wineing Your Way Through Tuscany.

42 And Finally…The Bookworm’s Best, A Look Back and Just A Thought Before We Go

A book suggestion, memory, and a little something to leave you with.

Cover photo by Michael Helms

All material published within this issue of Life After 50 and on www.lifeafte50.com is strictly for informational and educational purposes only. No individual, advice, product or service is in any way endorsed by Life After 50 or Southland Publishing, Inc. or provided as a substitute for the reader’s seeking of individualized professional advice or instruction. Readers should seek the advice of qualified professionals on any matter regarding an individual, advice, recommendations, services or products covered within this issue. All information and material is provided to readers with the understanding that it comes from various sources from which there is no warranty or responsibility by Life After 50 or Southland Publishing, Inc. as to its or their legality, completeness or technical accuracy.

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Editor’s Note...

Real Beauty Tips from Two Wise Beauties

Publisher Valarie Anderson

David Laurell, Editor-in-Chief

4 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

San Diego County/Orange County Phil Mendelson Phil@LifeAfter50.com

Editor-in-Chief David Laurell

O

ne wonders what was in the winds blowing off the western shores of Lake Superior in the late-1930s and early-1940s that so bountifully blessed two little girls growing up in Minnesota – Loni Anderson and Francine York – with such enduring physical beauty.

Whatever was in that magical airborne elixir, it has taken them both into their eighth decade of life retaining physical attributes that many 30-year-olds are pining over as memories.

Having had the opportunity to spend time with both Anderson and York in preparation of this issue, I can also attest to the fact that the beauty they possess exists well beneath the obvious.

“As you get older, your beauty is different,” Anderson told me. “It’s a beauty that comes from your experiences, the things you’ve been through and all the things you have learned about life. Those things show on your face and in your attitude and as a part of your very being. Those are the things that really make you beautiful.”

York adheres to a similar sentiment: “Adding something to someone else’s day, showing kindness to someone makes you feel better, and feeling better is great for your health – the way you feel and look,” she said.

The duo also both place an important emphasis on “living in the moment” for achieving a beautiful warming of one’s own heart, mind and soul that then radiates out from such an embrace.

“I believe [life] is about really being here – in the here and now – in the moment,” said Anderson.

“Living a happy life is a ‘today’ thing,” said York. “You’ve heard the quote: ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why it’s called the present.’ That’s what it’s all about. People don’t appreciate the gift of the moment. They worry about this and that and have regrets over some crazy thing or another. It doesn’t make any sense to be so worried about what happened or what may happen that you aren’t enjoying the life you are actually living.”

I guess we are all guilty of not enjoying the actual moments of our lives, because we get obsessed with some past mistake, wondering what tomorrow will bring, or (and this is, perhaps, the worst of all) allowing the plethora of electronic devices we have become obsessed with to experience more of the special moments of our lives than we ourselves actually enjoy.

And so there are some very real beauty tips to be found in the wisdom these two beauties share in this issue. They are tips that transcend those of caring for one’s hair, skin and physical body; they are tips that can make the very life you live a more beautiful one. And, while few may get into their 70s looking like Anderson and York, the wisdom they share, if truly embraced, is, as Anderson said: “the things that really make you beautiful.”

Account Executives:

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Associate Editors Steve Stoliar Claire Yezbak Fadden

advertising@LifeAfter50.com

Art Director Michael Kraxenberger Editorial Assistant Max Andrews Controller Kacie Cobian Human Resources Andrea E. Baker Business Manager Linda Lam Billing Supervisor David Garcia VP Of Operations David Comden

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©2016 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved

A March Thought

“When Irish eyes are smiling, sure ‘tis like the morn in spring.”

– Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr.

What genuine

compassion looks like.

A Community for All Life’s Seasons

Mom has always felt better wearing makeup — at home as well as going out. So when she moved into Gardens Memory Care at Rowntree Gardens, I mentioned how important Mom’s appearance is to her. I even shared photos of Mom looking her sharpest with Abby, her caregiver. Abby smiled and said, “Leave it to me.” Every day since, Abby has done Mom’s makeup and hair — just the way Mom always did. More than making her feel beautiful, Abby makes Mom feel loved.

And that’s the best feeling in the world — for me, as well as Mom. – a grateful daughter

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MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 5

50

Be Baby Safe

E

PLUS

What You Need To Know

By Claire Yezbak Fadden

The Return Of Late Night’s Classic Chatter

I

s the current crop of late night talk show hosts leaving you yearning for the founding fathers of the genre – Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin? If so, just tune in to Tribune Media’s Antenna TV, the CBS-owned Decades channel, or Sony TV’s GetTV. Decades has begun running full-length episodes from the ABC run of “The Dick Cavett Show.”

Cavett was a rival of Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” from 1969 to 1974. He was known for his erudite style and for taking a more intellectual and edgy approach to interviews and guest bookings than Carson.

If you were a fan of Johnny Dick Cavett Carson, Antenna TV has returned Carson’s “Tonight Show” to nightly airings at 11 p.m. and, on GetTV you’ll find weekly primetime blocks featuring episodes of “The Merv Griffin Show.” To find out if these offerings are available in your area, click on www.antennatv.tv.com, www.decades.com or www.get.tv.com.

Fifty Candles

F

ifty years ago this month, the American-Canadian rock band Buffalo Springfield with members Stephen Stills and Neil Young was formed, Casey Stengel was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 with Neil Armstrong and David Scott aboard was launched but then aborted, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes were unconstitutional, a London newspaper published Beatle John Lennon’s infamous quote: “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” and the Selective Service announced tests to qualify college students for draft deferments.

Notable personalities born in March 1966 who are celebrating their 50th birthday this month include journalist Don Lemon, sportscaster Lisa Salters, filmmaker Zack Snyder, rappers Cheryl (Salt) James and Tone Loc, musician Jerry Cantrell and actors Chris Bruno and Jeremy Sheffield.

6 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

xpecting a grandchild?

Before you cuddle up with your new little bundle of joy, it’s important to get a Tdap vaccine, which protects against whooping cough (also called pertussis), tetanus and diphtheria. Ideally, you should get the vaccine at least two weeks before having any interaction with a newborn baby. Whooping cough spreads easily and can cause severe illness and even death. It is especially dangerous for infants under six months of age, who are too young to be well protected by vaccines for whooping cough.

Although most adults were vaccinated against whooping cough as children, protection wears off over time. If there is a new little one on his or her way to your family, ask your doctor about getting the whooping cough vaccine. To learn more, click on www.cdc.gov/whoopingcough.

Free Fall Into An Intimate Read

W

idely known for his reclusive ways, Tom Petty has written timeless songs that have offered interesting clues about his personal life. Now, in the newly released book, “Petty: The Biography” (Henry Holt, 2015), author Warren Zanes, an acclaimed musician, writer and filmmaker, fills in the rest of the story. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little of a hillbilly’s soul, Petty was a kid without much promise.

That changed with a handshake from Elvis Presley that led to a dream of something better. That dream changed the course of Petty’s life – and American music. For the first time, Petty, who will turn 66 this year, speaks out about the disorientations of success, tensions within his band, childhood abuse, heroin use and his long but troubled first marriage. This biography has both the richness and the darkness of a great American story, except this one comes with a soundtrack. Like Petty’s music, this book is intimate and resonant, with recognizable characters, tragedy, loss, hope and success.

A Little More You Need To Know

The Most Important Thing To Know This Month

Get Ready To Spring Forward

T Where You Need To Go Have A “Blooming” Good Time

O

nce a year, the nearly 650,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park turns into a garden oasis, dotted with unique and captivating desert wildflowers.

With 92 different plant families, 346 genera and hundreds of flowering species, there is quite the variety of flora to discover. The second week of March is often the peak of the wildflower bloom, however all conditions must be perfect for carpets of flowers to greet you. A unique combination of sun, rain, temperature and wind set the stage for the springtime arrival of wildflowers.

The Visitor Center boasts a beautiful roof-top garden with a sampling of plants from all areas of the park. Center volunteers offer tips to locate the beautiful flowers dotting the park’s landscape. Wildflowers are among the many splendors in AnzaBorrego. Hike the three-mile Borrego Palm Canyon Trail ($8 day use fee), where you might be lucky enough to spot some of the famous “Borrego” (bighorn sheep). Be sure to stop by the Visitor Center or the State Park Store for wildflower guides and books.

he days will start getting a bit longer beginning on Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 2 a.m. when we set our clocks ahead one hour. Initially, daylight saving time began as an effort to save energy and provide workers with more hours of serviceable daylight during the long summer days. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin first proposed the concept in “An Economical Project” for the Journal of Paris. He pointed out the cost of oil for lamps as well as working while it was dark and sleeping while it was day. The concept was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918. However, it was not until 1966, when the Uniform Act was passed, that all states had to either observe daylight saving time or pass a state law to abstain.

Interestingly, when daylight saving begins in the Northern Hemisphere, it ends in the Southern Hemisphere.

Be sure to move your clocks forward one hour before bed on Saturday, March 12. That’s also a great time to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon dioxide monitors, clean out your medicine cabinet and dispose of all expired medications properly.

Call the Wildflower Hotline at (760) 767-4684 for up-to-date information on wildflower blooms. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 200 Palm Canyon Dr., Borrego Springs. For more information and a schedule of guided wildflower walks and events. click on www.theabf.org.

New Words

Y

ou might not find them in a dictionary yet, but they’re a part of the everyday American vocabulary.

Here’s what they mean.

High-Key and Low-Key: High-key refers to something needing to be said out loud.

Low-key is the opposite. Both can refer to an intense like or dislike.

Glam-ma: A stylist, youthful, grandmother.

A glamourous grandmother.

Teleboycott: To refuse to watch a movie, show or advertisement on television.

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 7

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A Special Wellness Report New Medicine Based On An 88-Year Old Theory By Albert Einstein Can Help Almost Everyone Who Is Sick Or Injured!

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hat you are about to read may be the most important information you’ve ever read. Here is why. Albert Einstein was, quite possibly, the most intelligent person who ever lived. His theories and ideas were so far ahead of his time, that even now, the smartest scientists alive are still discovering his value.

One of his theories published in 1917, worked out the theory of how lasers function. However, it was not until May 16, 1960 (43 years later) that the first actual laser was developed by an American scientist. Since then, scientists and inventors have developed many types of lasers and all kinds of uses for them. They can be used as a scalpel that is so delicate, it can be used on the eyes of human beings. Lasers are used to read price codes at your local supermarkets. And they’re used to play music and video on your CD’s and DVD’s.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to know that, if you do become sick or injured, you will at least know where to go to find some sort of answer to your problems that don’t involve dangerous drugs!

Low-level laser therapy is not just the medicine of the future. For many people who know about it, it is the “medicine” they use now. The problem of trying to explain the healing powers of low-level laser therapy is...

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COVER PROFILE

Loni

Anderson The roles she plays professionally, personally and passionately Story by David Laurell Photos by Michael Helms

W

hile Loni Anderson had appeared in numerous roles in various episodic television shows of the mid-1970s, it was a pin-up poster in which she appeared in a red bikini and a small part on the popular sitcom “Three’s Company” that brought her to the attention of producers who were looking to cast an actress to play a smart and sultry blonde bombshell receptionist in a new comedy about a Cincinnati radio station.

10 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Brought in to audition for the role of Jennifer Marlowe in “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Anderson, a St. Paul, Minnesota native who was the daughter of a fashion model and an environmental chemist, proved to be the perfect DNA embodiment of beauty and brains.

Created by Hugh Wilson, “WKRP in Cincinnati” was based on Wilson’s own experiences working in advertising sales at Atlanta radio station WQXI. With an ensemble cast composed of Anderson, Gary Sandy, Howard Hesseman, Gordon Jump, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers, Richard Sanders and Frank Bonner, the sitcom premiered September 18, 1978 on CBS and aired for four seasons, during which it received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series.

By the show’s second season, Anderson’s character had broken out as a fan fave, and prior to the third season, she walked out when salary negotiations were unsuccessful. During that hiatus, she accepted the role of actress Jayne Mansfi eld in a 1980 CBS made-for-television fi lm, “The Jayne Mansfi eld Story,” after which, the “WKRP” producers agreed to her request for a substantial salary increase. Returning to the show for the 1980 season, Anderson remained a regular cast member until the show’s 1982 cancellation.

In the wake of “WKRP,” Anderson went on to do a string of made-fortelevision fi lms as well as features, including 1983’s “Stroker Ace” with Burt Reynolds, who would become her third husband, 1984’s “The Lonely Guy” with Steve Martin, and as the voice of the collie, Flo, in the 1989 animated fi lm “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” Of her television-fi lm work, her most memorable role was her 1991 portrayal of the comedic actress Thelma Todd in “White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.”

Today, Anderson, who will turn 71 this summer, enjoys spending time at home in Los Angeles with her fourth husband, musician Bob Flick, who was one of the founding members of the folk band The Brothers Four. She also looks forward to the time she gets to spend with her children, 28-yearold Quinton, whom she and Reynolds adopted, and Deidre, who was fathered by Anderson’s fi rst husband, Bruce Hasselberg and who will turn 50 this year.

Anderson is also extremely active in her work as a spokeswoman and educator for those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease often caused by smoking, and an advocate for those who are caregivers for relatives with COPD. Having seen both of her parents suffer with COPD due to heavy smoking, Anderson began her crusade against the disease in 1999. Today, she works with COPD Together, a campaign developed by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the COPD Foundation, to educate people on COPD prevention, symptoms, progression and care. With a reported 15.7 million Americans having been diagnosed with COPD, it is estimated that an additional 12 million may be living with the disease without knowing it. The COPD Together campaign brings to life the stories of those living with the disease and their caregivers in a video series, “Reel COPD,” which provides inspiration and guidance for those facing similar challenges and is available at www.COPDTogether.com.

Life After 50 recently had the opportunity to visit with Anderson to ask her about the various roles she has played, both professionally and personally.

We began our conversation by asking her to refl ect on the character most people think of when they think of her: Jennifer Marlowe.

Loni Anderson (LA): She was a very innovative woman at the time – back in the late-1970s. Back then, you rarely saw women on television who were both glamorous and smart. That’s a terrible thing to have to say, but it’s the truth. The pretty girls were not usually the smart girls. So the creator of the show had an idea, to go way out on a limb and create a character who looked like Lana Turner and was also the smartest person in the room.

So lucky me! I was the one chosen to bring Jennifer to life. I know that character had a big impact on the lives of young girls who are now women of a certain age. I’ve had so many of them tell me their stories, how they were very much affected by my role as Jennifer, that it played a huge part in how they approached their lives and careers.

Life After 50 (LA50): How much of Jennifer was you, as opposed to what was created by the writers?

LA: Well, it was a collaboration when we did the pilot for the show. But then, Jennifer changed a lot from the pilot to what she ended up being. We were all constantly discussing how to make her relative and interesting, so that character and her evolution was all a collaborative effort.

LA50: When you think back on doing “WKRP,” what comes to mind?

LA: I have such great memories. It was a time of new beginnings for me – for everybody on the show. The whole cast was unknowns when the show began. I remember all of us holding hands backstage before we went out to tape the pilot. I remember Tim Reid saying: “Let’s all remember this moment, because from this time on, our lives could change completely.”

My memories of doing that show are of it being a joy, to grow and share so many experiences with everyone involved with the show – experiences that were new to all of us. I have memories of my young daughter doing her homework on the set while we rehearsed. I think of what it was like going from being unknown to everyone knowing us, which was kind of a shocking thing to deal with. There is no class or school to teach people how to handle that, to all of a sudden have everybody know who you are.

Remember, back then, with only three networks, at least a third of the

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 11

population would watch a show like “WKRP.” It was just a very exciting time, and, like Tim said, it did completely change our lives.

LA50: Do you remember any one particular moment when you realized that your life would never be the same?

LA: Yes. I remember it exactly. Up until the time I did “WKRP” I was just going along with my life. I was a working actress, and was lucky to have always made a good living, but nobody knew who I was. That all changed.

I remember after the first show aired, my daughter and I did something we always did on weekends: walk down Rodeo Drive and just window shop. On this day, we had gotten maybe a block or so and before we knew it, there was all this commotion and we were completely surrounded by the paparazzi and people who were all excited. My daughter was terrified and she kept saying: “Let’s go home, let’s go home.” When we got home, she was just so upset about what had happened. I remember sitting at the table with my husband at the time and him saying: “I think our lives have changed forever.”

LA50: Let’s talk about another role you played – Jayne Mansfield. While Jennifer was a collaborative creation, with Mansfield you were playing a real person. How did you prepare for that role?

LA: I did a lot of research on Jayne. At the time, there were a lot of people still around who had worked with her and knew her. I took about three months researching her, and I spoke with Mickey Hargitay [Mansfield’s husband] as did Arnold [Schwarzenegger, who played Hargitay] because it was his story we were telling. Ironically, Mariska [Mansfield’s daughter] was a sorority sister of my daughter at UCLA. It was very touching to have had them be a part of that production. Mickey was very thrilled with my performance and said it was like having her back. And Mariska told me I was the closest thing she had to her mom, because she was only three when her mother was killed and so she never knew her. That was amazing to me. I was so touched by both Mickey and Mariska’s kindness. Then, again ironically, when Mariska became an actress, we worked together with Kenny Rogers [1994’s “Gambler V: Playing for Keeps”]. While we were filming, Mickey came up from Florida to Texas to be with us. It was kind of like a family affair, all of us being together.

LA50: You also played another real person – Thelma Todd.

LA: Wasn’t she amazing! That film was adapted from a book that was someone’s idea of what may have happened to her – the suspicious circumstances of her death. Every time I drive by her old restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, where we actually did some of the filming, it gives me a chill.

LA50: Can you draw any comparisons between playing a part like Jennifer as opposed to playing someone who really lived?

LA: There is much more of responsibility than when you are creating a character that is partially yours and partially the writer’s. When you are playing a real person, you want to do that character justice. You feel you have a responsibility to them – their memory – as well as to their family and friends and anyone who knew and worked with them. I remember after I did Jayne Mansfield I was at an event and Cary Grant came up to me and told me he had worked with her. I remember thinking: “Oh my gosh! Cary Grant watched ME!” [laughing]. He told me he loved my portrayal of Jayne. So that was wonderful. That is the kind of warm and generous feedback you are hoping to get when you take on a role like that.

LA50: Did you come away from playing Mansfield and Todd with a different feeling about them?

LA: I felt like Jayne, who was such an intelligent woman, kind of let her celebrity – her public persona – get away from her. She was like a victim of herself. I felt as if she had created a character and was then consumed by it.

And Thelma, she just got involved with the wrong people. I felt like they were both victims, but also that they were incredible women.

LA50: Speaking of incredible women, let’s talk about your daughter. For those who may not know, Deidre had been a school superintendent and then, in 2009, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. How is she doing?

LA: She is doing very well. It has been seven years ago now that she was diagnosed with MS, but she has handled it very well. She has stepped down from some of the stresses in her life. She left her job, because it was stressful work and that kind of stress along with that kind of illness can be overwhelming.

LA50: Did her diagnosis hit you both out of the blue?

LA: Yes. I mean, totally out of the blue. There is no history of MS in our family, so it was just a shocking diagnosis. It took a while for me to wrap my head around it when I was told.

12 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

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Don’t Miss our April issue Wealth Management, Investing and Retirement *Up-to-Date News and Advice for Planning Your Financial Future Call to advertise at 310-822-1629 x 121 or email us at advertise@lifeafter50.com

MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 13

California Eye Doctors Help Legally Blind To See High Technology For Low Vision Patients Allows Many To Drive Again the wet form is caused by blood vessels leaking fluid. Treatment is aimed at stopping the leak and preventing further leaks.

The vision cannot be regained in either type. This is where low vision glasses can help.

Patient using prismatic low While there is currently no vision glasses for reading. cure, promising research is For many patients with being done on many fronts. macular degeneration and “My job is to figure out other vision-related conditions, everything and anything the loss of central visual possible to keep a person detail also signals the end to one of the last bastions of independence - driving.

California optometrists, Dr. Richard Shuldiner and Dr. Harold Ashcraft are using miniaturized telescopes which are mounted in glasses to help Patient using telescopic glasses people who have lost vision to drive and read signs. from macular degeneration functioning” says Dr. Ashcraft, and other eye conditions. a low vision optometrist in Los “Some of my patients Angeles. Even if it’s driving. consider me the last stop for “The major benefit of bioptic people who have vision loss” telescope low vision glasses is said Dr. Shuldiner “most magnifying road signs, traffic people don’t know that there lights and other distance objects are low vision optometrists necessary for safe driving”. who have extensive experience Dr’s Ashcraft and Shuldiner in helping those with vision are members of The International loss.We help people with Academy of Low Vision macular degeneration, diabetic Specialists (www.IALVS.com) retinopathy, RP and other eye and have extensive experience diseases regain function and in working with the visually independence.” impaired.

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LA50: What went through your head?

LA: Well, I was in shock. I couldn’t sleep, and if I did sleep, the first thing I would think about the minute I woke up was, “Oh my gosh! My daughter has MS! What can I do?” As a parent, all you want to do is fix it. It becomes an obsession and you feel helpless. There are a lot of stages to go through before you get to the stage of accepting news like that. Then, when you do come to a point of acceptance, you do the best with it that you can.

LA50: By the time Deidre was diagnosed with MS, you had already dealt with having been a caregiver to both of your parents who suffered from COPD. LA: Which is why my work with COPD is so personal to me – why I am so passionate about it. My parents were big smokers – four-pack-a-day smokers.

They were of the World War II generation and my mom had smoked from the time she was 11. My dad smoked from the time he was 14. It was just what they did back then. It was glamorous. It was Humphrey Bogart in his trenchcoat and cigarette. So, by 1964, when the surgeon general said that smoking may be hazardous to your health, they were totally addicted, and had been for over 20 years. I have never smoked and neither did my sister, but we grew up in the middle of that haze of second-hand smoke and we both have the beginning stages of environmental asthma. I’m sure that is because our folks smoked while we were in a closed car and in our closed house.

Everyone smoked. I don’t remember any of my parents’ friends that didn’t smoke. But I just couldn’t stand the way it made everything smell – my hair, my clothes, the house, the car – I was just totally against it. My dad had been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis when he was about 29. I was only fiveor-six-years old at the time and I remember he had this terrible cough. He was like an alarm clock for my sister and me. We would hear him coughing and knew it was time to get up. He would made light of it – his coughing. It wasn’t until I was in my 20s, when he really started suffering, and confiding in me, how bad he felt and that he had a hard time breathing. That’s when I then knew it was really serious. My dad was a very proud man, so this was very difficult for him. And my mom was very emotional, so as he got worse, he would lean on me more than on her. I was a mother in my mid-20s with a young daughter. I had just finished college and I was like any young person – ready to go out into the world and get my piece of the pie. But because of my dad’s health, there were a lot of pieces to my pie. When I look back, I see that nothing – my parents, my daughter, my career – nothing really got my full attention. I had to help my mom and was my dad’s caregiver. She had kind of fallen apart when he first got sick, and then got stronger as his disease progressed. But she still needed my help. It was really rough and then my dad died when he was just 54.

LA50: And then, your mother was diagnosed with the same disease.

LA: Yes. Shortly after he died, she was diagnosed with COPD. I was running back and forth to the hospital with her whenever she couldn’t breathe. Then she finally came to live with me. I was a caregiver for so much of my young life, and have since seen so many of my friends go through the same thing with their parents. While my mom had COPD, in the last 10 months of her life, she was also diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer, so that made my caregiving work much greater. I have talked to so many caregivers over the years and I understand what a huge job they have. So many caregivers get ill themselves because they feel they have to be so strong for the person they are caring for. Sometimes they lose their jobs and their families and their own health and just get to their wits’ end. That’s why I am such an advocate for COPD Together. What they do is so important, giving people the right tools and helping then find other people who understand what they are going through to lean on. I remember what it was like to have no place to turn. I remember being on the set of “Partners in Crime,” which was a series I was doing with Lynda Carter, and my mom had called me like three times before 7:00 a.m. I was having my hair and make-up done and when I got her last call, my mom was so hysterical that I became hysterical. So there I was, my hair in curlers, make-up half done, in a robe and slippers, and I had to go to the producer and say; “Fire me, sue me, do whatever you have to do, but I have to get on a plane and go be with my mom.” Luckily, Johnny Carson was producing that series and everyone was incredibly understanding. That’s what you need when you are going through something like that and, unfortunately, it’s hard to find understanding employers, and even friends who will support you and your family. It’s hard to find people who will really be there for you.

Ultimately, it’s your experience that matters.

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LA50: How old was your mom when she passed away?

LA: She was just about to turn 60 when she died.

I n de p e n de n t & A s s i s t e d L i v i ng R e s i de nc e s

LA50: So, unlike your dad, she lived to see your success.

LA: She did. My dad never got to see me in “WKRP.” He never even saw me as a blonde! He died the year before I got that show. I’ve always said if my dad could come back and see me, he would say: “Who are you? What happened to my daughter?” [laughs]. But, yes, my mom did get to see me do so many roles which was wonderful. She died when I was doing “Partners in Crime.”

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LA50: Loni, as someone who has been a caregiver to family members with health issues, how has that affected you in how you care for yourself?

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LA: You have to do all you can to care for yourself. As you get older, you need to eat right and exercise. So since I was in my 30s, I’ve been doing an exercise routine, although I must say, it gets harder every year to

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maintain [laughs]. But I do keep it up. I don’t eat processed foods, I don’t eat red meat, I do eat chicken, fish, veggies and fruit. But when it comes to eating, I never say never to something that I want. If you are at a good weight and are exercising and doing what you are supposed to be doing and you want that popcorn or a candy bar, then have it. But you have to be at a healthy weight first. So I do cardio every day. I do stretching exercises every day and weights three times a week.

LA50: What is a typical day like for you today?

LA: There is no such thing, and I’m glad about that! I recently returned from 10 days in Shanghai and went right to Boston to do a play to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. When I’m not working, I’m at our home in the Marina enjoying the boats and the beautiful days with my husband and my three Persian cats. I’m originally from Minnesota and my husband is from Seattle, so we love being right on the water. To us, the Marina is like a comfy blanket. It really feels like home. I’m very family oriented, so I love to have dinner with my son who is working as a cameraman here in Los Angeles. My daughter lives in Northern California, but her doctors are here at UCLA, so several times a year, she comes and stays with us and I go with her for all of her appointments. And I love spending time with my granddaughters when they have the time. One just graduated from UCLA and the other is a sophomore, so they are busy with their lives. I also collect art and dabble in doing watercolor paintings now and then. And I’m still working. I’m not a believer in retirement. I think there is always another project out there that will grab my interest. And I’m involved in various causes and campaigns that mean something to me. I think that is very important to do – to give back – especially when you have had wonderful things happen to you and have enjoyed a successful career. So I try and be involved in many causes that are close to me.

16 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

LA50: As each one of your non-typical days passes, you join the rest of the world in getting a little bit older. Have you adopted any thoughts about the passage of time?

LA: Well, I’m glad I’m still here! [laughs] And I believe it is about really being here – in the here and now – in the moment. I see no reason to get caught up in how old I’m getting, because thinking about that can flatten you. As I just mentioned, I was recently in Shanghai. I was there for the unveiling of a sculpture that had been done of me. It was a commission done by an artist I had met who told me I was his muse and he wanted to create this statue of me as I am today. So, I was thinking to myself: “Well, hey, that’s pretty good for an old gal to have my face on a beautiful bronze statue.” I found it interesting that this artist was more interested in doing a sculpture of me rather than one of a 20-year-old. There were several fashion magazines and some other media there covering the unveiling and we were talking about beauty and what an artist considers beautiful. When you’re 20, everything is perfect and beautiful and in the right place. But as you get older, your beauty is different. It’s a beauty that comes from your experiences, the things you’ve been through and all the things you have learned about life. Those things show on your face and in your attitude and as a part of your very being. Those are the things that really make you beautiful.

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Turn Your Dreams Into an Extraordinary Retirement

Retirement is a celebration of dreams coming true after a lifetime of hard work Special to Life After 50 by Ashley Schlosser

E

veryone says retirement is the best time of life, and they’re right! What could be better than being able to drop the responsibilities and stress of the work world and focus on whatever it is that makes you truly happy? Retirement is a celebration for all the hard work you have accomplished – and who wouldn’t love a life in which you celebrate yourself every day?

For the past 40-plus years, you’ve been so busy working for your company, taking care of your kids, and figuring out what to feed your family every night – now the time has come to relax and focus on you. That may not be as simple as it seems at first, so here are five tips to help you shift the focus to you:

SHUT OUT EVERYONE FOR JUST AWHILE

After years of worrying about life’s everyday needs, putting everyone else before you, and trying 18 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

to figure out how to miraculously squeeze everything that absolutely has to be done into one teeny tiny day – enough! It’s time to take a pause and think: “What do I want?” for the first time.

Freeing, isn’t it? It is essential that you take some uninterrupted time to relax and focus. Retirement should be the best time in your life and you owe it to yourself to plan for it properly. Think of it this way: it’s like setting aside time to daydream with the excitement of knowing that daydream is about to become your reality.

it’s something you’ve never tried but always wanted to. How cool would you look dancing the merengue? Maybe you’re a natural at tennis and you never knew it. Perhaps you have a knack for creating beautiful landscape paintings or writing.

Think about it. The answer may be that you want to try absolutely everything, or just focus on one thing. Determining your passions is the foundation on which a successful retirement is built.

DETERMINE YOUR PASSIONS

Relationships shouldn’t be difficult. You should surround yourself with people that make you happy, and when you’re focusing on you, that’s especially true. Who makes you the happiest?

Most likely, it is people who share your similar interests and passions. We all know that really close friends can be hard to find. If you’re lucky enough to have them, it might be important to

You can do anything you want. Anything!

Everyone has at least one thing they wish that they had really embraced as an adolescent, back when you didn’t yet know how lucky you were to have the luxury of hobbies and free time. What was your passion or lost hobby, that one thing that you wish you would have continued? Maybe

IDENTIFY THE “WHO” AND “WHERE”

you to have them nearby. Your focus might be making sure you’re close to family. Then you have to decide just how close is close enough.

Remember, we’re focusing on you here. Who is most important to you? You will need to make the decision if you want to live in a community that is strictly for those over the age of 55 or if you want to stay in a community where you may have families and children next door. There are a lot of benefits to an active 55-plus community.

Just think about the life experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve shared them with. If you’ve ever gone on vacation and met someone you clicked with, every time you think of that trip, the person you shared your experiences with probably crosses your mind and you think about how they enhanced your experience. Even going to a concert, playing a game of cards or going to dinner with someone can bring you closer together and can form meaningful relationships.

When you surround yourself with neighbors that you have things in common with, you can truly enhance your daily life. A 55-plus lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for some new experiences in life and meeting others like you, these communities can not only make it really easy, but along the way you can make some of the best friends you’ve ever had.

IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE

Are you a little bit country or a little bit rock ‘n’ roll? Do you want to live in wide open spaces where you might not see anyone for months or in an urban environment where you can’t step out your front door without sharing a “hello” with two or three neighbors? For most people, it is usually somewhere in between. You’ll need to decide what is most important to you. Remember, it can be whatever you want it to be. Think about your favorite climate. Consider what you need to have nearby – shopping, dining, golf, the beach, movie theaters, bowling – whatever is most important. You may plan to travel in retirement, which can mean many different things. If you’re a road-tripper, you’ll want to find a central location where you can easily access the areas that you want to travel to. For those who want to take numerous trips out of the state or country, you may want to consider a “lock and leave” scenario. This would be a home that is generally low-maintenance, making it easy to pick up and leave whenever you see fit. This is also important for those who plan to share time between two locations, such as summers in the Midwest and winters in the desert of California. Whatever you decide, make sure the place you choose to come home to really feels like home and makes you happy to return. Next, think about how you want to live in this area. There are numerous types of communities available. There are condominiums and townhomes, big master-planned communities

with a few thousand residents, smaller communities that focus on an active lifestyle and smaller suburban communities. Some neighborhoods will be much more social than others with events, clubs and activities. If you have the opportunity to spend some time in the community, test it out. Drive through on a Saturday afternoon, talk to some residents and see if it matches your ideal lifestyle.

ENVISION YOUR NEW DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

Everyone lives a different lifestyle depending on who they are and how they like to spend their time. Some people love to host friends and families for dinner parties. It’s exhausting, and sometimes you wonder why you do it, but there is just some kind of glory that comes out of throwing a really great party. If that‘s you, you’re going to need a home with a large and open entertaining space. Preferably, you’re going to need a kitchen on the larger side that is probably open to a dining or living area, that’s going to give you the flow you’re looking for when you’re throwing the ultimate Roaring 20s-themed dinner soiree, hosting a book club or impromptu gatherings to watch the big game. If you’re in the Southern California area, you’re probably looking forward to spending plenty of time enjoying the weather.

Is there anything better than finding yourself in a comfortable chair, reading a book with a cool breeze caressing you? That can be in your living room, on a balcony or in your backyard. You will want to take into consideration your outdoor space and how you’re going to live in it. If you’re a grill master, you’ll want an easily accessible backyard with a built-in barbecue and bar for barbequing whenever you please. Perhaps a low-maintenance balcony or small yard might be enough. You may decide that you desire a destination backyard with a pool, spa and putting green or a fireplace and television for outdoor movie nights. If ever there were a time that you were going to get your dream spa sanctuary, this is it. Think about indulgences that you’ve never allowed yourself to have. If you love relaxing at the end of the day with a long relaxing bath, think about your dream tub or a shower with massaging jets and rainfall showerhead – you can create your own sanctuary as you’ve never had before. If you envision yourself spending a lot of time writing or on your computer, you’ll want to consider having a den or dedicated work station. Think about your hobbies and your way of living and how you can cater to that lifestyle with a craft room, game room, music studio, art studio, or whatever it is that you will want to fill your day with.

that matches what you want and don’t settle for anything less. Remember during this process you’re working toward finding your ideal lifestyle.

At times, that may get overwhelming, and when it becomes so, take a break. This should be an empowering process, one that gets you excited about your new life. Then, once you find that perfect spot, make your move and hold on for the ride. Life in retirement is what you make of it, and with the right forethought and preparations, it can be an extraordinary dream come true.

Make Your Retirement Dreams A Reality K. Hovnanian’s® Four Seasons at Terra Lago is an active lifestyle community for those 55-plus in Indio, California.

Here residents enjoy incredible resortstyle amenities plus breathtaking views of the mountains and adjacent golf course. All homes are single-story designs and are crafted to feel open and spacious with ample storage throughout and unique spaces such as HovHubs, built-in work spaces to keep your counters clutter-free and your life organized. With 13 different home designs and nine model homes available for touring right now, K. Hovnanian’s® Four Seasons at Terra Lago is located just north of Interstate 10 off Golf Center Parkway and Terra Lago Parkway. Learn more and arrange your visit by contacting a K. Hovnanian® community information specialist at (888) 408-6590 or click on www.khov.com/socal.

Once you determine all of these crucial answers, then you can start to decide where you’re going to retire and how. Find a place and a lifestyle March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 19

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Senior moments.

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A move to Elmcroft isn’t throwing in the towel – it’s getting back in the game. Practically everybody who lives with us has a more active life now than they did when they lived alone. Activities, events, concerts, movies, plays – you name it – they’re seeing it and doing it.

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Independent Living | Assisted Living | Memory Care | Rehabilitation | Skilled Nursing March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 21

The Upside of

Downsizing Sure-bet tips for successfully moving to a smaller home Special to Life After 50 by Brad Korb

W

hile the dream of most baby boomers was to constantly keep upsizing to a bigger and grander home back when they were in their 30s or 40s, today, many boomers are going in the opposite direction and looking to downsize.

Downsizing is a good and natural progression that allows a person who is aging to move to a smaller home when the one they have had for decades becomes, for whatever reason, impractical. Issues might be financial, logistical, lifestyle-based, or all three. Regardless, downsizing is a normal, if not significant, life change that’s best approached with both care and enthusiasm.

• Provide you with aging-in-place designs that will allow you to remain in your home as long as possible.

• Offer you a substantial potential tax advantage: Between rights granted through California Propositions 13, 60, and 90, if you’ve lived in your home for 25 years or more, you may be able to enjoy the same low property taxes on your new home of equal or lesser market value if you purchase it within two years of the sale of your old home.

• Put you closer to loved ones and ease their worries.

Downsizing can be of benefit to you for many reasons. Moving to a smaller home can:

• Provide you with proceeds from the sale of your big home to give you more financial freedom in your retirement.

• Free you from the maintenance responsibilities and utility expenses of a large home so you can focus on doing more interesting things.

• Give you the opportunity to live in a dream location such as the coast, desert, or a luxury retirement community.

22 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Thanks to the Internet and new technologies, some aspects of downsizing are easier than ever, yet the essential challenge is as difficult today as it was for those 40 years ago: You must evaluate rooms filled with your possessions accumulated over a lifetime, decide on the few “most important” items to take with you to your downsized home, and determine what to do with the rest. It’s vital to do it right the first time, because with downsizing, there are few second chances.

Here are just a few tips for successful downsizing. With a little planning, the process can open a window of opportunity for you to set up a smooth transition into a new life phase and at the same time, share memories and mementos with loved ones in a uniquely rewarding way.

GIVE IT TIME

Allow yourself at least four to six months to sort out and allocate where the items in your home

will go. Be methodical in your approach, but also patient. It may take less time depending on how much help you have (usually from adult children and grandchildren) and how large your home is, but remember how many years it took for you to accumulate all those items.

Scheduling plenty of time to decide what to do with them is the most important tip of all, because once you commit to downsizing and have determined a new place of residence, timing becomes critical. If you plan to put your home on the market, downsizing should be completed first. The last thing you want is to be rushed when deciding which precious things to take, which to leave behind, and how to dispose of them in the best way.

MAKE IT A FAMILY AFFAIR

KEEP WHAT YOU TRULY ENJOY

If you have so much overflow of belongings that you need to rent a storage unit to keep them, chances are once those things are placed in the unit, they’ll be forgotten. You are better off getting money for them by selling them, donating them or giving them away rather than spending money to keep them out of sight and out of mind.

Prioritize keeping the things you enjoy and appreciate on a daily basis. Of course, that has to be within reason, but even if a piece has no useful purpose or may seem like junk to someone else, if it is something you truly enjoy, make room for it so your new surroundings feel like “home.”

DECIDE WHAT REALLY MATTERS

Do the “House on fire!” test to identify your most valuable items. Go into your living room and urgently imagine that your house is on fire and you have only seconds to salvage what’s most precious to you. Sometimes the “House on fire!” test reveals an item that is dearer to you on a gut level than you realize. You’ll want to have those things in your new home.

CONQUER AND DIVIDE

Conquer one room at a time. Use “at-a-glance” marking techniques for large pieces. Colorcoded stickers, dots, or labels make it easy for everyone involved. Use bright pink for things going to charity, green for items going for sale or auction, and blue for the treasures you’re keeping. Color-coded labels or markers also quickly identify things destined for specific family members or friends. As for smaller items, allocate five boxes per room: • The Must-Keep Box, for items of cherished or sentimental value that may go with you or may be given to loved ones, but in any case, they stay with the family.

• The Sell Box, for unneeded but valuable items that can bring money.

• The Necessary Box, for everyday useful things you will be keeping.

• The Donation Box, for charity.

• The Maybe Box, to be used only as a last resort for things you’d rather decide on later.

When possible, involve your children, grandchildren, and other family members in the process. It relieves some of the stress of making emotional choices and gives younger ones a chance to learn some family legacy. You can even plan a party around it and turn downsizing into a uniquely rewarding experience for the family while getting a lot of work done at the same time. If you come across items you’ve been intending to give to a specific person at a future time, make the gift now. You reap the satisfaction of giving, the receiver enjoys the gift, and you have one less item to worry about.

to assign storage area in your new home for the rotation of your seasonal decorative treasures.

By following these simple tips, your downsizing issues can be completely resolved by the time you move into your new home and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your belongings found good homes. You could even find yourself thousands of dollars richer from the sales of your no-longer-needed valuables, and have immense peace of mind as you begin a fresh new phase of life with a lot less responsibilities, costs, maintenance and clutter.

IGNORE THE THOUGHT TO STORE

STRATEGIZE FOR SUCCESSFUL SALES

The Internet has made it easier not only to accurately estimate the potential value of many items you’ll want to sell, but also makes it easier to sell them – that is, if you are up to the task on online selling. However, if you have items of high value, you should have them professionally appraised first, and consider selling them through consignment shops or at auction. If you plan on selling most of what’s in your home, consider an estate sale where professionals come in, stage the sale on the premises, and handle every detail from start to finish. It is true that estate sales take a bigger percentage of the proceeds, but they are also much faster and more efficient at selling items for their best value than if you tried to do it yourself. Garage sales are not recommended for realizing good value for your belongings. Use the resources around you. The more knowledgeable and experienced your real estate agent, for example, the more likely he or she will be able to aid your downsizing effort, whether it’s providing a free moving truck for transporting items to wherever they need to be or referring you to local estate sales and auction professionals and appraisers.

Brad Korb, the owner and founder of the Brad Korb Real Estate Group, has been a real estate agent in Burbank and its surrounding Southern California communities since the late 1970s, consistently ranking among the top producers in the area.

In 2015, Korb and his team had their best year ever helping families buy and sell residential and investment properties. Korb, who has constant new referrals as well as three generations of repeat clientele, is well-known for his generous support of local schools, civic organizations, and for being the “go-to” real estate agent for getting properties sold quickly at top dollar.

Korb is always happy to answer any and all real estate-related questions.

You can e-mail him at brad@bradkorb. com, click on www.bradkorb.com, call (818) 953-5300, or visit him personally at 3813 W. Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California.

START THE DOWNSIZE BEFORE YOU DOWNSIZE

Measure the living space of your new home and confirm that the belongings you plan to bring with you will fit. While still in your old home, try living for a month restricting yourself only to the items you plan to bring with you, and remember March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 23

American Masters – Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl – New special, PBS – Premieres

Friday March 4 at 9 p.m. (check local listings)

Loretta Lynn, The Queen of Country Music, is the subject of this new documentary, which is premiering on the same day as the release of her first new studio album in over 10 years, “Full Circle.” With unprecedented access to Lynn and her family, “Still a Mountain Girl” features neverbefore-seen home movies, performances and insightful interviews with Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Sissy Spacek, who starred as Lynn in the Oscar-winning biographical film of her life, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which was, in turn, based on Lynn’s 1976 autobiography.

Of Kings and Prophets – New Series, ABC – Premieres Tuesday March 8 at 10 p.m.

This new drama attempts to put a face on the historical figures and a beating heart to the story of ancient Israel as it explores some of the major players and events from the Old Testament. A thousand years before Christ, the first king of the Israelites, Saul, struggles to unify the 12 Israelite tribes and defend his fledgling nation against savage enemy attacks. In time, Saul comes to realize that his greatest threat will not come from his enemies, but from the shepherd, David. It stars Ray Winstone as King Saul and Olly Rix as David.

Underground – New Series, WGN – Premieres Wednesday March 9 at 10 p.m.

This 10-part period drama about the Underground Railroad follows the intersecting lives of plantation slaves as they band together and flee hundreds of miles to the North under the leadership of the lionhearted blacksmith and fellow slave, Noah, played by Aldis Hodge.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille – New Movie, HBO – Premieres Saturday March 12

It’s 1959 in a seedy bar in Philadelphia, and Billie Holiday is giving one of her last performances interlaced with salty, often humorous reminiscences just months before her death. Filmed before a live audience at Cafe Brasil in New Orleans, this special, featuring Audra McDonald’s history-making performance as Billie Holiday in the Broadway show, is making its debut on HBO. Originally written for Off-Broadway by Lanie Roberston, this film tells Holiday’s story through the songs that made her famous, including “God Bless the Child,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Strange Fruit” and “Taint Nobody’s Biz-ness.”

And Then There Were None – New Miniseries, Lifetime – Premieres Sunday March 13 at 9 p.m.

Based on Agatha Christie’s best-selling crime novel, this two-part series boasts an extraordinary cast that includes Douglas Booth, Charles Dance, Maeve Dermody, Burn Gorman, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson, Toby Stephens, Noah Taylor and Aidan Turner.

The Catch – New Series, ABC – Premieres Thursday March 24 at 10 p.m.

Can Shonda Rhimes do it again? After successfully launching a third ABC series, “How to Get Away With Murder,” last year, the legendary producer returns with yet another soapy thriller. This one centers on a fraud investigator, played by Mireille Enos, who herself becomes the victim of a huge con by her soon-to-be-ex-fiancé, played by Peter Krause, whom she must then track down before he ruins her career.

24 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

The Best In March Television Viewing

By Sandi Berg

Tuned In To What’s On

T H H  M-K

By Steve Stoliar Illustration by Mark Hammermeister

J

G

Known as “The Great One,” Jackie Gleason was one of the true comic giants of television – most memorably as the blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden on the landmark show “The Honeymooners” in the 1950s and as the genial host and star performer of the enormously popular “The Jackie Gleason Show” in the 1950s and ‘60s.

He also left his mark – dramatically as well as comedically – in such memorable films as “The Hustler,” “Requiem For A Heavyweight” and “Smokey and the Bandit.”

H

erbert Walton Gleason Jr. – later baptized as John Herbert Gleason Jr. and called “Jackie”– was born on February 26, 1916 in the BedfordStuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York to Herb Gleason, an IrishAmerican insurance auditor, and Maisie Kelly, a subway attendant.

The couple had one older child, Clemence, who died of spinal meningitis at the age of 14 In 1925, when his son was nine-years-old, Herb walked out on the family and never returned. Soon after, the young Gleason started hanging out with local gangs and – rather presciently – picking up money as a pool hustler. He also showed a flair for acting in school plays and made a few dollars acting as master of ceremonies at various local theaters in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Gradually, he began to incorporate comedy into his emceeing patter.

Gleason’s humorous emceeing style – which included insulting the patrons – landed him jobs in a number of popular New York nightclubs, including the famous Club 18 where visiting Hollywood mogul Jack L. Warner spotted the heavyset funnyman and signed him to a contract with Warner Bros. Studios.

By the time he was in his early 20s, Gleason began appearing as a comedic heavy in such notable early-1940’s films as “All Through The Night” with

Humphrey Bogart, “Larceny, Inc.” with Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman, “Navy Blues” with Ann Sheridan and Martha Raye, and “Springtime in the Rockies” with Betty Grable and Harry James.

Although he was working regularly in motion pictures, Gleason was dissatisfied that his relatively minor roles weren’t leading anywhere, so he went back to live performing, starring in the 1943 road company of the fabulously successful show “Hellzapoppin” and on Broadway in the popular 1944 military musical “Follow the Girls.” Other work on radio and in nightclubs followed.

Gleason got his big break in 1949 when he won the role of lovable aircraft worker and family man Chester A. Riley on the television version of “The Life of Riley,” a popular radio show that had starred William Bendix. Bendix had been slated to recreate his radio role on television, but his popularity in films prevented him from making the jump to the small screen, so Gleason got the part.

Unsuccessful in its transition from radio to television, the show was cancelled due to disappointing ratings after just one season and, when it did return to television in 1953, Bendix had taken over the lead.

Despite the failure of “The Life or Riley,” Gleason’s substantial comedic gifts did not go unnoticed and he was hired to host a variety show called “Cavalcade of

This feature is intended for you to clip and give to your children or grandchildren because…they must-know!

26 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Stars” on the Dumont network in 1950. The show proved to be a solid hit.

The more-prestigious CBS then lured Gleason away from the relatively minor Dumont network in 1952 and gave him “The Jackie Gleason Show,” a comedy-variety hour that went on to become the second highest-rated television show of the 1954-55 season. The format for the show was deceptively simple but remarkably durable: Jackie would walk out on stage and give an unbelieving glare at his bandleader Sammy Spear who wore outrageously flamboyant jackets.

Gleason would then make a snide comment about Spear’s wardrobe and launch into a monologue, the June Taylor dancers would perform a Busby Berkeley-style dance number, then musical-comedy guest stars and sketches would fill out the rest of the hour. Gleason’s popular catchphrase – “And awaaay we go!” – came from his unique way of getting into the show after finishing his monologue.

In addition to being remarkably agile for a large man – his weight tended to fluctuate between 250 and 300 pounds – Gleason was blessed with a photographic memory. He disliked rehearsing, preferring to read a script only once, do a cursory run-through for the benefit of the crew, and then perform the show in front of a live audience. On the rare occasions when he messed up, he tended to blame the cue cards.

“The Jackie Gleason Show” was a ratings hit and ran till 1970, giving viewers a vast array of memorable recurring characters – all played by Gleason himself – such as tipsy millionaire Reginald Van Gleason, the silent and Chaplinesque The Poor Soul, the drunken and befuddled Rum Dum, and Joe the Bartender – who worked for the unseen bar owner, “Mr. Dennehy,” and would introduce comedian-singer Frank Fontaine as the goofy, cross-eyed, regular bar patron Crazy Guggenheim.

While many of Gleason’s characters became both well-known and popular, his most-famous character was unquestionably Ralph Kramden, a frantic bus driver forever plotting get-rich-quick schemes who was also the henpecked husband of Alice Kramden (played first by Pert Kelton and later by Audrey Meadows) in a weekly sketch entitled “The Honeymooners.” Ralph’s neighbor and best friend was a somewhat dimwitted sewer worked named Ed Norton (played by Art Carney). Together, Ralph and Norton would hatch elaborate, inevitably ill-fated plans designed to make them both wealthy men.

“The Honeymooners” gave the world such popular catchphrases as: “To the moon, Alice, to the moon” and “Baby, you’re the greatest!”

The sketches were so popular that Gleason spun “The Honeymooners” into a weekly half-hour series in 1955. Although only 39 episodes were produced in the one season that the series ran, those shows remain among the best-loved of any series in the history of television comedy. Because they were filmed, Jackie was able to syndicate the episodes after its single season came to an end, and “The Honeymooners” has been in rerun ever since.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, Gleason’s lifelong love of music led to a series of very popular “mood music” albums with jazz overtones. His first 10 albums sold over a million copies each. The first, “Music for Lovers Only,” still holds the record for the album that stayed the longest on Billboard’s Top Ten Chart – 153 weeks.

Gleason’s success in recording was a bit ironic in that he could neither read nor write music, but instead, dictated the melodies he heard in his head to assistants, who wrote them up as musical charts.

In addition to his enormous success as a television comedy star, Gleason also appeared in a wide variety of motion pictures, proving he was equally adept at drama as he was at comedy. He received an Oscar nomination for his memorable portrayal of pool champ Minnesota Fats in Robert Rossen’s gritty 1961 drama, “The Hustler,” which starred Paul Newman in the title role.

The following year, Jackie turned in another riveting dramatic performance as desperate boxing manager Maish Rennick in the film version of Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” That same year saw Gleason writing, starring, and directing as a poor, mute, janitor in the touching “Gigot.” In 1963, Gleason turned in yet another impressive performance in the comedydrama “Soldier in the Rain,” opposite Steve McQueen.

Gleason found a whole new audience when he costarred opposite Burt Reynolds as bungling Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the 1977 action comedy, “Smokey and the Bandit,” which led to two popular sequels over the following five years. Later performances included rich business tycoon U.S. Bates in 1982’s “The Toy,” opposite Richard Pryor, and as Tom Hanks’ character’s father in Garry Marshall’s popular 1986 comedy-drama “Nothing in Common,” which turned out to be Gleason’s final film appearance.

Gleason was married three times and had two daughters – Geraldine and Linda – by his first wife, dancer Genevieve Halford. Despite his lifelong weight problem, he freely indulged in “the good life,” which included rich, gourmet food, free-flowing alcohol, all-night parties, and four packs of cigarettes a day. He lived life large and it was no coincidence that one of his most-familiar

catchphrases, especially after taking a sip from his signature tea cup that never held tea, was: “How sweet it is!”

Gleason died of colon cancer on June 24, 1987 at his home in Florida. He was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami. His elaborate marble sarcophagus bears the appropriate inscription: “And Away We Go.”

LEARN MORE • “The Great One: The Life and Legend Of Jackie Gleason”

by William A. Henry (Doubleday, 1992).

• “How Sweet It Is: The Jackie Gleason Story”

by James Bacon (St. Marten’s Press, 1985) • “Jackie Gleason: An Intimate Portrait Of The Great One”

by W.J. Weatherby (Pharos Books, 1992) • “The Honeymooners’ Companion: The Kramdens and the Nortons Revisited” by Donna McCrohan (Workman Publishing, 1978) • “The Official Honeymooners Treasury” by Peter Crescenti (Perigee Books, 1990)

Mark Hammermeister is an award-winning artist. His work is available for purchase at www.markdraws.com MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 27

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Permis sioned photos court es y o f F rancine York

Francine York

Having appeared in hundreds of commercials, films and television shows, the eternal beauty shares memories of the icons she has worked with and tips on maintaining health, beauty and happiness at any age Story and photos by David Laurell

S

tanding in her living room, actress Francine York makes a sweeping grand gesture towards the hallway of her San Fernando Valley home.

“This is my Norma Desmond gallery,” she laughs while making her way into the corridor with walls covered from ceiling to floor with framed production stills from her film and television appearances, along with photos of her with a galaxy of co-stars and entertainment luminaries.

From the seven films she did with Jerry Lewis, who discovered her, and roles opposite such Hollywood heavyweights as Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, David Niven and Nicolas Cage, to her guest starring appearances on hundreds of classic television programs from “Batman” and “Bewitched” to “Columbo” and “Kojak,” York’s gallery chronicles a six-decade career that began as a sweater model.

A native of Aurora, Minnesota, a small mining town located halfway between Duluth and the Canadian border, York parlayed her stunning good looks and beauty pageant participation into a modeling job with the Minneapolis-based Jane Richards Sportswear before reaching her 20th birthday. After also modeling for Macy’s and

30 LIFEAFTER50.COM March MArch 2016

I. Magnin & Company department stores, York took the leap to Hollywood, where she worked as a showgirl at Frank Sennes’ popular Sunset Boulevard nightclub, Moulin Rouge.

Working at the club in the evening, York used her days to make the rounds with casting directors and, after landing a role in the 1962 feature film, “Secret File: Hollywood,” went on to do a string of high-profile commercials. Catching the attention of Jerry Lewis, who cast her in his 1962 film, “It’s Only Money,” she became a Lewis film regular appearing in “The Nutty Professor,” “Family Jewels,” “The Patsy,” “The Disorderly Orderly,” and “Cracking Up.” Throughout the 1960s, York appeared in Max Factor cosmetic ads, did a string of feature films including “Bedtime Story” with Marlon Brando and David Niven, “Tickle Me” with Elvis Presley, and “School for Bachelors” with Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint. During this time and well into the next two decades, York made guest appearances in just about every popular television series that ever aired including “Bewitched,” “Green Acres,” “Lost in Space,” “Batman,” “Love,

American Style,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Mission Impossible,” to name a scant few.

York would also turn in two performances that would become cult classics: as Sabrina Kincaid, the leader of an elite team of gorgeous female assassins who attempt to stop a diabolical madman from destroying the world in the 1973 grade-Z flick, “The Doll Squad,” and as Marilyn Monroe in the 1992 horror film, “Marilyn: Alive and Behind Bars.”

PRESLEY PERCEPTIONS AND MARLON MEMORIES Today, York, who will turn 78 in August, still keeps up a hectic work schedule, does periodic television appearances, and is currently in pre-production on a feature, “Ten Violent Women: Part Two,” scheduled to begin shooting this summer.

Snuggling into a floral-print couch, York dramatically throws her head back and laughs when asked to share her memories of working with Elvis Presley.

“Everyone wants to know about Elvis,” she says as her expressive brown eyes roll. “Working with

him was a surreal experience for me. I remember when I first came to California going to see ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and thinking it was the greatest thing I ever saw. Then, seven or eight years later, there I was, working with him for eight weeks and doing a scene in which he sings to me. Who would have believed that this little girl from Minnesota would be working with Elvis? Not me! But there I was and he was wonderful to me. He was kind and charming – always funny and kidding around with the girls on the set. And the thing I will always remember most about Elvis was that he smelled so great. It wasn’t cologne or anything; he just smelled wonderful. I also perceived him as a person with great self-assurance about who he was and what he was doing, which was just the opposite of what I found Brando to be like.”

York lowers her eyes when pressed on what it was like to have worked with the enigmatic Brando, whom many consider to be the greatest American actor of all-time. “He had a somewhat adorable quality, I guess, but he seemed to be deeply insecure,” she recalls. “That may have been because it was a comedic role, which he had never done and, really, was never accepted by audiences for. But, like working with Elvis, it was certainly a thrill for this little girl from Minnesota to be standing on a Hollywood soundstage with David Nivien and Shirley Jones and Marlon Brando.”

York says she specifically remembers once, after doing a scene that required numerous takes, reaching out for Brando’s hand as he arrived on the set. “He had clearly been drinking, and when I went to shake his hand he said: ‘You’re not shaking my hand. You’re shaking the hand of part makeup and part vodka.’ He just seemed so insecure during the entire shoot and ate so much they had to hide him in sand, because he had gained so much weight since the filming began. It’s sad that he was such a self-destructive person. The last time I ever saw him was at a Chinese restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley. He had ordered tons of food and was just sitting there shoveling it in. He was filled with problems, but he was always nice to me, and respectful. He was legendary for his conquests, but I wasn’t his type. He liked darker, exotic-looking Polynesian women.”

Along with Elvis and Brando, another entertainment icon York is frequently asked about is one she never met but played – Marilyn Monroe. She says that to prepare for that role, she watched all of Monroe’s films very closely to try and understand her as much as possible. “I really wanted to get into her soul, and the more I did, the more sadness I found,” York reveals. “When you are playing an icon of her stature, it is really difficult. I’m very much the opposite of that ‘baby doll’ Marilyn persona, so I really had to work at it and study her to get into that role.”

SHE’S NO GIRL NEXT DOOR Along with her acting work, York has also been a longtime proponent of physical fitness and proper nutrition, making many appearances on television programs demonstrating her culinary skills and explaining her exercise programs, two things she credits with maintaining her physical appearance.

“I could have easily gone off and eaten ice cream and apple pie and all sorts of garbage,” she

says with a laugh. “And don’t think I wouldn’t have loved to have done that. The only thing that kept me from that was I have always had too much of an ego to let myself go physically. I’ve always been very conscious of my diet and staying fit. I see so many people who have allowed themselves to get so heavy and I wonder why they are doing that to themselves. They don’t like the way they look and feel and, unlike some illness or disease, you can do something about being overweight.

You can get up from the couch, start moving around and stop shoveling in the garbage.”

York, who religiously eats an apple every day, says she doesn’t eat beef, but does eat chicken.

“I eat a lot of yogurt and beets, which are very good for you. I also take a tablespoon of olive oil every morning and vitamin D, because most people, especially as they get older, are vitamin D deficient.”

She believes that when it comes to understanding proper nutrition, most people have no clue as to what they should be eating. “You can’t rely on doctors to give you any decent advice on nutrition unless they are a nutritionist.

Otherwise, most doctors study nutrition for two weeks and that’s all they know. When it comes to eating right, you know your own body – the signals it is sending you. You can’t be eating big, old glubby sandwiches and burgers covered in goop and think you can get away with that.

Eating white bread is like putting glue in your body. It’s just amazing to me what people eat and drink. Alcohol can take a tremendous toll on your health and looks. I do have a little wine now and then, but I’ve never been much of a drinker. I’ll have a Perrier with lime juice and bitters, but as far as drinking any hard stuff, it chips away at your body little by little.”

Along with eating right, York preaches the value of exercise. “I live by a park. It’s literally right out my door. So I get out and walk every day.

I work out with weights and do floor exercises.

You have to keep the body moving. As you get older, you just can’t sit around and stuff yourself with food and think you will not be suffering great consequences.”

While York is religious about the way she maintains her body, she is equally adamant about caring for her skin and overall appearance. “I always have everything together whenever I step out my front door,” she explains. “I take pride in looking good and having a flair for glamour. I always have my hair done, and the make-up done, and the clothes right. I don’t look like the girl next door when I go out. I adhere to what Joan Crawford once said: ‘If someone says they like the “girl next door” look, tell them to go next door.’ ” Saying that women frequently ask her about her secret for skin care, York shrugs. “There is no secret,” she reveals. “You just have to keep your skin lubricated and moisturized. You have to take care of yourself. You have to maintain your car and your house, so why would you think you don’t have to maintain your skin and your body?

You have to stay well groomed, have your nails done, keep your hairstyle fresh and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! You don’t have to spend a lot of money doing that. Just use Oil of Olay.

That’s what I use. You don’t need all that expensive stuff they try to push on you, because

most of the main ingredients are the same no matter what the price.”

LIVING A HAPPY LIFE IS A “TODAY” THING As for her feelings on the passage of years, York says she works every day to keep an aura of healing and health around her. “I think there is something else that’s always important, but that becomes even more important as we get older, and that is to be kind,” she opines. “Adding something to someone else’s day, showing kindness to someone makes you feel better, and feeling better is great for your health – the way you feel and look. It’s all about attitude and gratitude. Every day you have to be kind to someone and thank God for what you have instead of moaning and groaning and saying: ‘Oh God, I don’t have this or that.’ Living a happy life is a ‘today’ thing. You’ve heard the quote: ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why it’s called the present.’ That’s what it’s all about. People don’t appreciate the gift of the moment. They worry about this and that and have regrets over some crazy thing or another.

It doesn’t make any sense to be so worried about what happened or what may happen that you aren’t enjoying the life you are actually living. I guess that’s just a human trait. It’s a battle so many people seem to be waging within themselves. But you have to get beyond that and be grateful for everything you have in the present. That’s enjoying the gift.”

For more information on Francine York, click on to her website at www.francineyork.net.

MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 31

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2015 Daily News Successful Aging Expo

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March/April

A Preview of Upcoming Events for March/April By Claire Yezbak Fadden

eNteRtAINMeNt TUESDAY, MARCH 15

THE WIZARD OF OZ Click your heels together and join the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, Dorothy and her little dog Toto as they journey through the magical land of Oz to meet the Wizard and obtain their hearts’ desires. Watch out for the Wicked Witch of the West and her winged monkeys as you rediscover the real story of Oz. San Diego Civic Theatre, Third and B St., 1100 Third Ave., downtown San Diego. Through March 20. Prices vary.

(619) 570-1100. broadwaysd.com.

THE MIRACLE WORKER The story of Helen Keller and her remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan are told in this American classic tale. Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado.

Through April 10. Prices vary. (619) 4376000. lambsplayers.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 15

BUTTERFLY JUNGLE

Walk inside a rain forest greenhouse and be among thousands of butterflies fluttering above and around you. The seasonal exhibit, located at the Hidden Jungle Aviary, hosts some 30 species of butterflies, including orange-barred tigers, the blue morpho, giant swallowtails and monarchs. Some 15 exotic bird species also share the aviary. San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Hidden Jungle Aviary, 15500 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido. Prices vary. Through April 10. (760) 747-8702. sdzsafaripark.org.

San Diego. Dates vary through May 1. $34.

(619) 337-1525. cygnettheatre.com.

THE HISTORY (AND MYSTERY) OF THE UNIVERSE Recognize your place as a crew member on Spaceship Earth as it speeds through the universe. Your captain is R. Buckminster Fuller, one of the most remarkable thinkers in American history. San Diego Repertory Theatre at the Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego. Dates vary through April 3.

Prices vary. (619) 544-1000. sdrep.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW A satirical tribute to the science fiction and B-list horror movies of the 20th century, the show centers on two naïve lovers, Brad and Janet. Seeking shelter from a thunderstorm, they find themselves thrust into the laboratory of the cross-dressing mad scientist Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter. Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St.,

34 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

WHALE WATCHING Witness the longest mammal migration in the world, when approximately 20,000 gray whales pass San Diego on their annual 10,000-mile round-trip journey from the Bering Sea to the lagoons of Baja California. Learn about gray whale baleen, barnacles and prey from Birch Aquarium at Scripps naturalists. Leaves daily from San Diego Bay. $40-plus. Through April 17. (619) 234-4111. flagshipsd.com. (858) 534-7336.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Journey to the curious world of Wonderland where things are not always what they seem.

All the favorite madcap characters are here, but Alice discovers truth amidst the nonsense.

LifeHouse Theater, 1135 N. Church St., Redlands. Thurs.-Sun. through March 20. $14-$18.

(909) 335-3037 ext. 21. lifehousetheater.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Tevye the milkman tries to protect his daughters and his way of life from a changing

world. The musical deals with serious issues such as persecution, poverty and the struggle to hold on to one’s beliefs in the midst of a hostile and chaotic environment. Welk Resorts Theatre, 8860 Lawrence Welk Dr., Escondido.

Through April 24. $49-plus. (888) 802-7469. welktheatre.com.

LOUIS AND KEELY: LIVE AT THE SAHARA American musical sensations Louis Prima and Keely Smith pioneered the lounge act in Las Vegas in the ‘50s and ‘60s. This show features many of the duo’s greatest hits including “That Ol’ Black Magic,” “Hey Boy Hey Girl” and “What is This Thing Called Love.” Even Frank Sinatra appears in this new American musical play, featuring a hot seven-piece live band. Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd., Laguna Beach.

Dates vary through March 26. Prices vary.

(949) 497-2787. lagunaplayhouse.com.

NOW YOU SEE IT This outrageously funny farce by Georges Feydeau, takes audiences on a dizzying escapade fueled by jealousy bordering on paranoia, a philandering husband, hypnotism, a spurned lover and a scandalous discovery.

Furiously fast and clever, this visual and verbal treat is guaranteed to tickle your funny bone.

North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Suite D, Solana Beach. Wed.Sun. through March 20. Prices vary. (858) 481-1055. northcoastrep.org.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

BEN-HUR Richard Kaufman, conductor Stewart Copeland, composer and drums. The most expensive silent film ever made, 1925’s “BenHur” includes an enormous cast and crew and a visual scope that is breathtaking to this day. Stewart Copeland, former drummer for The Police, composed a new score for the Hollywood epic. He performs on drums and

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CALeNDAR percussion as Pacific Symphony performs the score live, while the movie screens above.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Also March 19. $35plus. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19 COUNTRY LIVE! AT THE MERC Old Town Temecula Community Theater, The Merc, 42051 Main St., Temecula. Saturdays. $12. (866) 653-8696. temeculatheater.org.

March/April San Diego/Orange County/Inland Empire Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Dates vary through April 24. $22-plus. (714) 708-5555. scr.org.

CABERET AT THE MERC Old Town Temecula Community Theater, The Merc, 42051 Main St., Temecula. $20. (866) 653-8696. temeculatheater.org.

SATURDAY, MARCH 26

LIVE JAZZ ON THE PATIO Joe Bigham and Friends. Bernardo Winery, Tasting Room Patio, 13330 Paseo Del Verano Norte, San Diego. Free. bernardowinery.com.

ART The comedy by French playwright Yasmina Reza raises a series of questions about modern art, friendship, and how much truth and honesty human beings can stand.

Annenberg Theater, Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 N. Museum Drive, Palm Springs. Wed.Sun. through April 3. $45-$60. (760) 3254490. annenbergtheater.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24

SUNDAY, MARCH 27

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

Laguna Beach. $25. (949) 715-9713. lagunabeachlive.org.

APRIL FRIDAY, APRIL 1 SUPER DIAMOND Neil Diamond tribute band. The Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Prices vary. (949) 496-8930. thecoachhouse.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

LIVE JAZZ ON THE PATIO Whitney Shay. Bernardo Winery, Tasting Room Patio, 13330 Paseo Del Verano Norte, San Diego. Free. bernardowinery.com.

COMPOSTING WORKSHOP Learn how to use your yard clippings as a resource, naturally achieve a beautiful, health yard and garden and reduce your use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Living Coast Discovery Center, 100, Gunpowder Point Dr., Chula Vista. Shuttle to entrance from parking lot. $9-$14. Sundays. (619) 409-5900. thelivingcoast.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 29

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

RAIN Based on Somerset Maugham’s famous short story, the tale follows a group of American travelers thrown together in a boarding house on a tropical South Pacific island. The sudden arrival of another guest, the mysterious and provocative Sadie Thompson, turns their lives upside down in ways they could never have foreseen. The Old Globe Theatre, Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego. $36-plus. Through May 1. (619) 2345623. theoldglobe.org.

JAZZ WEDNESDAYS A tribute to Freddie Hubbard featuring Rickey Woodard and Bijon Watson. Laguna Beach Live!, 891 Laguna Canyon Road.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6

LEA SALONGA So adored in her native country, Salonga is called the “Voice of the Philippines.” She was instantly embraced around the world when she created the title role in “Miss Saigon.”

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. $39-plus. (714) 5562787. scfta.org.

JAZZ AT THE MERC Old Town Temecula Community Theater, The Merc, 42051 Main St., Temecula. $15. (866) 653-8696. temeculatheater.org.

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 FUTURE THINKING Chiara is a spoiled starlet. Peter is a pet photographer. He’s also Chiara’s obsessed, middle-aged stalker-fan, who believes there’s another dimension, where he and Chiara can live happily. It’s Comic Con time, and Peter’s in trouble. He has violated his restraining order and is being held by a security guard who dreams of being a real cop. All Chiara wants is for her stage mom and her bodyguard to get lost—preferably, together. South Coast

36 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

COUNTRY LIVE! AT THE MERC Old Town Temecula Community Theater, The Merc, 42051 Main St., Temecula. Saturdays. $12. (866) 653-8696. temeculatheater.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 3

LIVE JAZZ ON THE PATIO Jimmy and Enrique. Bernardo Winery, Tasting Room Patio, 13330 Paseo Del Verano Norte, San Diego. Free. bernardowinery.com.

SONG RECOLLECTIONS This deeply affecting program is inspired by various memories and folk songs, featuring Art of Élan’s “ensemble-in-residence” The Formosa Quartet in the world premiere of Lei Liang’s “Song Recollections” string quartet.

The San Diego Museum of Art, Hibben Gallery, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego. $45$50. (619) 232-7931. sdmart.org.

MOSES Experience the powerful true story of Moses and witness some of history’s most amazing moments. The splendor and intrigue of ancient Egypt propel this moving musical about a man truly in God’s hands. LifeHouse Theater, 1135 N. Church St., Redlands. Weekends through May 1. $14-$18. (909) 335-3037 ext. 21. lifehousetheater.com.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22

THE BOOK OF MORMON

This outrageous musical comedy follows the misadventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent halfway across the world to spread the good word. Now with standing room only productions in London, on Broadway and across North America, this musical has become an international sensation. Contains explicit language. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Through April 3. $36-plus. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org.

FIRST WEDNESDAYS Featuring Flamenco Arana. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, Concert Hall, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Prices vary. (800) 988-4253. artcenter.org.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9 OH BERKLEY WHERE HART THOU? San Diego country, folk, rock and bluegrass musicians recreate the soundtrack to “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.” Songs include “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “In the Jailhouse Now,” “Oh Death” and “I’ll Fly Away” performed by some 20 local musicians. Poway Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, 15498 Espola Rd., Poway. $24-$49. (858) 748-0505. powayonstage.org.

CONSTELLATIONS A chance encounter between two lost souls opens the door to the infinite possibilities.

Breathlessly navigating through the spellbinding and romantic journey of being in love, the story looks at how the tiniest change in the detail of our lives can lead us on completely different paths. The Old Globe Theatre, Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego. $29-plus. Through May 8. (619) 234-5623. theoldglobe.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 GERSHWIN’S RHAPSODY Tin Pan Alley meets Carnegie Hall in Gershwin’s groundbreaking composition, now among the most popular in the repertoire.

Carl St. Clair, conductor; Simone Dinnerstein, piano. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town

CALeNDAR

March/April San Diego/Orange County/Inland Empire Center Dr., Costa Mesa. $25-plus. (714) 5562787. scfta.org.

CLASSICS AT THE MERC Old Town Temecula Community Theater, The Merc, 42051 Main St., Temecula. Sundays. $12. (866) 653-8696. temeculatheater.org.

MONDAY, APRIL 11

RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES Enjoy the full range of The Beatles’ discography, including the most complex and challenging songs the Fab Four themselves recorded in the studio but never performed for an audience. Updated sets and multimedia content, as well as new songs have been added. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. $39-plus. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

HUMAN NATURE: THE MOTOWN SHOW

Australia’s top selling pop vocal group puts a modern twist on classic Motown hits, featuring songs by The Four Tops, the Supremes, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert. $65-$125. Benefits College of the Desert Foundation. (760) 340-2787. mccallumtheatre.com.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14 ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET With a pioneering spirit rising from its dual home cities, this spectacular ensemble dissolves the divide between ballet and modern dance with a high-octane style.

California Center for the Arts, Escondido, Concert Hall, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Prices vary. (800) 988-4253. artcenter.org.

SHEN YUN 2016 More than 20 Chinese tales are revealed in an all-new spectacular show. Sixty authentically costumed dancers and a 40-piece orchestra perform before a 30-foot interactive video screen as transformations of time and location materialize. Authentic sounds of imperial courts and folk songs handed down through the generations accompany visits to ancient dynasties such as the Tang and the Qin, the mountains of Tibet, the shores of a Dai village and the sprawling plains of Mongolia.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa.

Through April 17. $60-plus. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org. (800) 880-0188. shenyun.com.

eXHIBItIONs SATURDAY, APRIL 2

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13

MARILYN MINTER: PRETTY/DIRTY For more than three decades Marilyn Minter has produced lush paintings, photographs, and videos that vividly manifest our culture’s complex and contradictory emotions around the female body and beauty. Her unique works—from the oversized paintings of makeup-laden lips and eyes to soiled designer shoes—bring into sharp, critical focus the power of desire. Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Dr., Newport Beach.

Wed.-Sun. through July 10. $10. (949) 75911122. ocma.net.

JAZZ WEDNESDAYS Jeff Hamilton Drum Trio with Hammond B-3 sensation, Akiko and Graham Dechter on guitar. Laguna Beach Live!, 891 Laguna Canyon Road. Laguna Beach. $25. (949) 7159713. lagunbeachlive.org.

THE NATURE OF WATER: OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE This exhibition serves a dual purpose; it presents a selection of superb California landscape paintings and raises awareness of one of California’s historically scarce and

precious resources, water. Some 60 works feature scenes of snow, clouds, rain, lakes, rivers and oceans, by 32 artists such as Mischa Askenazy, Franz Bischoff, Granville Redmond, Paul Grimm, Guy Rose and Karl Yens, among others. The Irvine Museum, 18881 Von Karman Ave., Ground Floor, Irvine.

Tues-Sat. through June 16. Free. (949) 4762565. irvinemuseum.org.

HELEN LUNDEBERG: A RETROSPECTIVE Featuring approximately 70 paintings, this exhibition surveys Lundeberg’s career, beginning with her landmark Post-Surrealist paintings of the 1930s. By the late 1950s Lundeberg was working on a larger scale.

She simplified her style into broad, flat areas of color and, though never a pure abstractionist, played a key part in the “hard-edge” tendency in mid-century painting. Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Dr., Laguna Beach. Through May 30. Closed Wednesdays. $5-$7. (949) 494-8971. lagunaartmuseum.org.

NEIL SHIGLEY: INVISIBLE PEOPLE, INVISIBLE STRUCTURES This exhibition focuses on his portraits of San Diego’s homeless population. Shigley’s works include large-scale graphic, block prints and graceful hyper-detailed graphite drawings portraying the faces of San Diego’s homeless population. San Diego History Center, Casa De Balboa, Balboa Park, 1649 El Prado, San Diego. Through April 10. $6$8. (619) 232- 6203. sandiegohistory.org.

THE RED THAT COLORED THE WORLD This exhibition tells the extraordinary story of the cochineal bug, which had been in use for centuries in the Americas before it was discovered in 16th century Mexico by Hernán Cortés and other Spanish conquistadores.

The bug’s juice was found to create a red dye unparalleled by any other in nature, thus changing art, science, fashion and history forever. Bowers Museum, Mary Muth Wing 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. Through March 20. $10-$15. (714) 567-3679. bowers.org.

ASAFO FLAGS FROM GHANA On display are 37colorful flags from West Africa dating to the late 19th and 20th centuries, and feature graphic folk imagery and appliquéd designs over a background of French roller printed cotton cloth. Asafo flags are displayed at funerals, annual festivals and other ceremonial occasions, where they adorn central shrines and are paraded and waved through villages and towns. Mingei International Museum, Balboa Park, 1439 El Prado, San Diego. Through July 17. $7-$10.

(619) 239-0003. mingei.org.

Get the Word Out. E-mail your announcements to Claire Fadden, cfadden@lifeafter50.com 60 days prior (or even earlier) to your event.

Include a brief description, location, date, time, cost, phone and website. Submission does not guarantee publication.

March 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 37

Rick Steves’ Travels Wine-ing Your Way Through Tuscany RICK ST EVES’ T RAVELS

By Rick Steves

B

enjamin Franklin once wrote: “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy,” and there is no better place in the world to confirm what ol’ Ben said than in Tuscany.

The Tuscany region in the heart of Italy is chockfull of great wineries, but I would like to focus on two well-respected red wines, each centered on a specific town: Montepulciano is known for its Vino Nobile, and Montalcino is famous for its Brunello. The key grape in each is the Sangiovese variety.

When visiting Tuscany, the town of Montepulciano is one of my favorites for exploring the region and its wine country. Its most famous product — Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (noble wine of Montepulciano) — is a high-quality, dry, rubyred wine made of at least 70 percent Sangiovese grapes. Aged two years (or three for a riserva) — one year of which must be in oak casks — it’s more full-bodied than a typical Chianti and less tannic than a Brunello. It pairs well with meat, especially roasted lamb with rosemary, rabbit or boar ragout over pasta, grilled portobello mushrooms, and local cheeses such as pecorino.

Montepulciano has several historic wine cellars to explore, and then enjoy generous tastings. The wine is almost a religion here, and guides worshipfully walk you through cellars as if they were sacred spaces.

38 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

At the Contucci cellar, your host is the lively Adamo. For 50 years, Adamo has made sure visitors enjoy a tasty education in the Nobile di Montepulciano. During one recent visit, Adamo pointed out dozens of barrels of Croatian and French oak that cradle the wine through the aging process. “The wine picks up the personality of the wood with the French oak giving the wine pure elegance, and the Croatian offering something more masculine” said Alamo. “Then, after about 35 years, an exhausted barrel has nothing left to offer its wine, so it’s retired.”

Not too far away is another Tuscan wine mecca — Montalcino. It’s a pleasant, low-impact town crawling with wine-loving tourists and a smattering of classy shops, but little sightseeing. Everyone touring this area seems to be relaxed and in an easy groove. Its wine, Brunello di Montalcino (the little brown one of Montalcino) — named for the color of the grapes before harvest — ranks among Italy’s finest and most expensive. Made from 100 percent Sangiovese Grosso grapes, it’s smooth, dry, and aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks, plus an additional four months in the bottle.

Brunello is designed to cellar for 10 years or longer. It pairs well with the local cuisine, but the perfect match is the fine Chianina beef.

The countryside around Montalcino is dotted with classy wineries that are evangelical about taking visitors on tours and tastings. Unlike Californians wineries, in Tuscany, you need to telephone the day before to book your tours. Tours last an hour,

cost $10 to $15, and finish in a tasting room where, with expert guidance, you’ll develop a better appreciation for the fruit of these vines.

If you’re paying for a wine tasting, you aren’t obligated to buy, but if a winery is doing a small tasting just for you, they’re hoping you’ll buy a bottle or two. Italian vintners understand that Americans can’t take much wine with them and they don’t expect to make a big sale, but they do hope you’ll look for their wines back home. Some shops and wineries can ship it home for you.

After your tasting, take time to stroll through the vineyards. You may notice “sentinel” roses at the ends of some of the rows of vines. These aren’t just decorative. Because disease affects roses before grapes, historically the flowers acted as a “canary in a coal mine,” giving vintners advance notice if a phylloxera epidemic was imminent.

Today the roses can warn of mildew.

If your Tuscan dreams feature vibrant vineyards rolling to infinity, punctuated by snaking cypresslined driveways; humble but beautiful (and steep) hill towns; and world-class wines to make a connoisseur weep, set your next travel sights on Montepulciano or Montalcino.

Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and radio. You can e-mail him at rick@ricksteves.com and visit his website at www.ricksteves.com.

MArch 2016 LIFEAFTER50.COM 39

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And Finally...

The Bookworm’s Best A Life After 50 book review

by Terri “The Bookworm” Schlichenmeyer

Sharon Tate: A Life

By Ed Sanders

R

ight place; wrong time.

In your life, you’ve been there a time or two: missed something by that much, gone somewhere a minute too late, zigged when you should’ve zagged. Doing so can make you look foolish, it can save the day or, as in the new book “Sharon Tate: A Life” by Ed Sanders with illustrations by Rick Veitch, it could be lethal.

Born 73 years ago in Houston, Texas, Sharon Marie Tate was just six-months-old when she won her first beauty contest. No one remembers who submitted the entry, but it was the beginning of a 26-year career.

As both homecoming and prom queen, Tate knew she wanted to be an actress by the time she was in high school. Before she was 20, she was officially “discovered” by a producer and had landed bit parts in popular television shows of the time. Later, she auditioned for the part of Liesl in “The Sound of Music,” a role, that had she gotten it, says Sanders, would have vastly changed her life.

By the time she met Roman Polanski, Tate had been engaged at least twice. She thought he was intelligent and he, captivated by her beauty, cast her in his movies and tried to boost her career. They married in 1968 because he knew she wanted a child; she was pregnant within a year.

At some point prior to their marriage, Tate introduced Polanski to the joys of life in the trendy Topanga Canyon, where she and many of her friends lived. It was a beautiful, carefree adult playground and, by 1967, they were joined there by “a converted school bus painted black,” packed with a group of kids led by a singer-songwriter who “was determined to record his songs and become famous.” Tate thought that singersongwriter, Charlie Manson, was “creepy.”

Some say she wasn’t supposed to be where she was on that fateful day Manson ordered his followers to kill her. Manson still won’t say why he did it. “Over four decades later,” writes Sanders, “and well into a new century, the reason or reasons are still a lingering mystery.”

Remember the fear and horror of the Tate-LaBianca murders? Most baby boomers and beyond do – and even if you don’t, you may harbor an enduring true-crime interest in those horrible nights in August 1969.

“Sharon Tate: A Life” adds to the intrigue and documents the horror.

Though it sometimes feels a little too casual considering the subject matter, there are many reasons to like this book. Sanders writes about more than just Tate; we also learn about other people in her world and get a good feel for the lifestyle of the era, the drugs, the sex, every bit of the weirdness that was the 1960s. Sanders even offers up a new hypotheses to the “why” of the murders and, though we know how Tate’s life ends, he builds suspense in this story which, too, is “creepy.”

As books on the subject go, “Sharon Tate: A Life” isn’t the slickest one on the mayhem that was and is Manson, but it’s a good companion to the others.

Grab it if you’re fascinated by those dark days of the 1960s. If you love a good crime story, you’ll find the pages of this book to have you in the right place.

“Sharon Tate: A Life” by Ed Sanders, 2015, Da Capo Press, $25.99, 285 pages The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer who lives on a hill with two dogs and more than 12,000 books. You can read more of her book reviews at www.lifeafter50.com. Just click on “Entertainment” and then “Book Reviews.”

A Look Back

F

ifty years ago this month, the music charts were topped by “The Ballad of the Green Berets.”

Co-written by Robin Moore and the song’s vocalist, Green Beret Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, a medic who served in the Vietnam War where he suffered a leg injury, the song honors the memory of Green Beret James Gabriel, Jr., who had been killed by the Viet Cong in 1962. Sadler debuted the song on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where it was well received and went on to sell over nine million singles and albums. The song also become the Number One song on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 1966; a truly unbelieve feat considering its competition, which included “California Dreamin,’ ” by The Mamas and The Papas, “Strangers In the Night” by Frank Sinatra, “We Can Work It Out”

by The Beatles, and “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones. While Sadler’s song was a success, his life was not. In 1978, he killed a man who had been romantically involved with his girlfriend and had reportedly threatened his life. Pleading self-defense, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, appealed, and had his sentence greatly reduced. He then lost a wrongful death suit and was ordered to pay $10 thousand dollars to his victim’s estate.

In 1988, while living in Guatemala, Sadler was shot in the head during a robbery attempt.

While he survived and returned to the U.S, he had suffered significant brain damage and, 14 months later, died of complications from the shooting at the age of 49.

42 LIFEAFTER50.COM March 2016

Just A Thought Before We Go “Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people!

Surprise yourself! ” ― Victoria Moran

MUST SEE

AT LEAST ONCE in YOUR LIFETIME

ALL-NEW 2016 SHOW WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

“ I’ve reviewed over 3,000 shows.

None can compare to what I saw tonight.”

—Richard Connema, renowned Broadway critic

“Absolutely the No.1 show in the world.

No other company or of any style can match this!”

— Kenn Wells, former lead dancer of the English National Ballet

“Absolutely the greatest of the great!

It must be experienced.”

—Christine Walevska, “goddess of the cello”, watched Shen Yun 4 times

“This is the highest and best of what humans can produce.”

—Oleva Brown-Klahn, singer and musician

“Awe-Inspiring Sensation!”

“A MUST-SEE!”

—

— Broadway world

“Go see it to believe it, because otherwise, you are going to miss

the most important thing in your life.”

—Joe Heard, former White House photographer, watched Shen Yun 5 times

MAR 19- APR 30, 2016 Long Beach Thousand Oaks

Claremont Costa Mesa

Northridge Downtown LA

Bakersfield Santa Barbara

Phoenix, AZ Seattle, WA

Tickets: 800-880-0188 ShenYun.com/LA