Sunday, March 25, 2012

Happy Birthday Jennifer Blaire!


Beautiful Jennifer






As Animala... "Rowr"


"Do the Rock Dance!"













Screaming


As Droxy Chapelle, in "Trail of the
Screaming Forehead"


With son Griffin




Becoming Billy Tuesday in
"Dark and Stormy Night"


With husband Larry Blamire


Happy Jennifer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xlcYcSX_fM


It is my great pleasure and honor to be able to give birthday wishes this morning to my absolute favorite actress of all time, Ms Jennifer Blaire.
Today happens to be her birthday so it is perfectly appropriate to do so.
Unfortunately little detail is known about Jennifer's life, as she is dark and mysterious... like Teresa Ganzel. However, I will share what we do know.
For instance, we know the Jennifer was born at a very early age in Danvers, Massachusetts, and we know that Danvers is a very interesting city, associated mainly with two things: a lunatic hospital, The Danvers State Insane Asylum (home of the pre-frontal lobotomy!), and of course the Salem Witch Trials ("despite being generally known as the Salem witch trials, the preliminary hearings in 1692 were conducted in a variety of towns across the province: Salem Village (now Danvers), Ipswich, Andover and Salem Town" -Wikipedia).
Well... no wonder.
Anyway, we know she graduated Danvers High, and attended college in Salem, after which she made her way out west and fell into the greedy clutches of one, Larry Blamire, the prolific writer, film producer and director, and her husband. Together they have a male infant child, Griffin, who himself was born at a very early age, just like his mom.
The Internet Movie Data Base tells us that Jen (I like to call her Jen) began her acting career in 1994, as Girl #1 on "Baywatch," the most watched TV show of all time (according to The Guinness Book of World Records). Imagine that. The number one girl on the most watched TV show of all time. Not a bad start at all if you ask me.
Then, after she and Larry were hitched, Jennifer won the role that would change her life forever, that of Animala, in 2001's "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra," one of a handful of films I've seen that utilizes Skeletorama (it has been rumored that Martin Scorsese had considered using Skeletorama when shooting "Hugo," but eventually opted for 3D instead).
Many consider The Lost Skeleton to be one of the great films of our time. I know I certainly do.
The film was written, produced, and directed by Larry, which certainly kept him busy. And if that wasn't enough, he also acted in it, and provided the voice of the lost skeleton. But I have to state that he, and everyone else in the movie (although they were all wonderful) were overshadowed by Jennifer's performance, portraying Animala, the strange and wondrous creature created out of some random forest animals that just happened to be standing around, by a discarded Transmutatron.
God I wish I had one of those. Maybe one day.
As the above clip points out, "Nobody..." let me repeat that... "Nobody can resist the mesmerizing allure of Animala's 'Rock Dance'!!! I know I can't. I can watch Animala's Rock Dance allllll day, because, well, it's mesmerizing. Not only that, it's hypnotizing as well. I mean look at what it did to Larry in the above clip... the poor, dumb, bastard. He didn't know what hit him.
Be that as it may, Jennifer would reprise the role of Animala in 2009s "The Lost Skeleton returns again." Wonderful movie.
But between these two films Jennifer kept busy, appearing in the video "Abracadabra," in 2001, as well as Frank Darabont's "The Majestic." Darabont, you may recall, also directed a small film entitled "The Shawshank Redemption," which has been playing over and over again on the AMC channel this week.
By golly, it's on right now!
By golly!
Jen went on to appear in the crime / comedy, "Meet the Mobsters," directed by her husband, and which I'm looking forward to watching later tonight.
After "The Shawshank Redemption."
In 2007 she appeared in "Tales from the Pub," of which we have two clips featuring Jennifer right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rLtFYEiPc&feature=endscreen
As my friend Robert Vasquez would say: "Positively uncanny."
And then there's this terror tale. Oh, the horror!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah2RBsq0aQ0&feature=related
And in two other of my very favorite movies, as Droxy Chapelle in "Trail of the Screaming Forehead," (based on a true story I'm told), and as Billy Tuesday (no relation to Charlie Thursday) in 2009s "Dark and Stormy Night." Fantastic movies! I'm going to watch this one again tonight too.
After "The Shawshank Redemption."
Myself, and everyone I know are waiting eagerly for the release of "The Lost Skeleton Walks Among Us." I can't wait! Come on Larry, get the lead out!
Now I happen to be Facebook friends with Jennifer, so I do have a little bit of information that most people might not. And I will say we have at least these two things in common besides our good looks; we both like Ray Bradbury (who I've had the good fortune to meet on several occasions), and the television show "Psych," the true story (I'm told) of a fake psychic detective who lives in Santa Barbara.
If you're a fake psychic detective there's probably no nicer place to live.
Anyway, I'm aware that Jennifer's dear mother has been ill and hospitalized, and it got pretty rough for a while. But I'm told (really) that she's doing much better now, which everyone here at Joyce's Take is very thankful for.
And everyone here at Joyce's Take also wish Jennifer, Larry, and Griffin, continued good fortune and health, and for Jen, a very happy birthday.
Happy Birthday Jennifer!!!

Here's a link to shop for all kinds of things lost skeletony... and more!
http://shop.cafepress.com/bantam-street

And my personal favorite:
http://www.cafepress.com/+animala_rowr_mug,393775425

5 comments:

  1. Hi...Jen Blaire here....Wow! what a nice thing to wake up to! thanks so much for the tribute to all things Jen Blaire...I'm so honored...I think I feel an acceptance speech coming on...no, wait..it was a sneeze. (lucky for you..hahaha)
    you did pretty well piecing my life together (something I've been trying to do for years..all 25 of them..that's right, I said 25! what? you don't believe me? ok...I'm really 27...and a half.
    I did, as you say, come into the world at a very early age...and then, this is kind of what happened;
    I started dancing, and pretty much didn't stop for about 20 years..I took dance classes all through pre school, elementary, high school and college, making doing one's homework in the car an artform. I even spent several summers at a performing arts camp in MA, and then spent my sophmore and junior years at the North Carolina School of the Arts studying Modern dance (which really helped later on with creating Animala's forest-y moves) My parents hauled my tiny butt all over the place to classes and rehearsals, and countless performances, which they always brought me flowers for..thanks for all that, Mom and Dad! Then, I moved into acting with theatre;school plays,summer theatre,off-off Broadway, local theatre,dinner theatre,repertory theatre and quite a few musicals...in fact, that's where I met the famed and insane Mr. Larry, at one of those small shows I was doing...love at first sight! it really does happen!
    then, some commercials and more theatre and a few industrials thrown in for good measure..one or two modeling stints...then we took our party to LA. More commercials to follow...then, a movie! then, another! whoo-hoo! Jen now realized that making movies was AWESOME, and she spent the next few years trying to get herself into MORE movies..I'm still workin' on that...I filled my down time with doing some fun things like writing, illustrating and publishing my own children's books, writing other short stories,getting really into photography (my fave subject is animals...go figure) and singing made up silly songs to myself and anyone who would listen. Then, we had a baby...and much more silliness ensued...just for the record, my son rocks! (I also hope to teach him the rock dance when he's a bit older...but I have a feeling he'll dig the mutant more)
    I guess that brings us up to date, more or less..except to say this; I have never been in a Baywatch episode. ever. it is a complete mystery to me why that is on the IMDB...and, I've tried to remove it...but then, I think..well, I don't want to dissapoint Baywatch fans...so, maybe I'll just let folks think that was me...I really should watch that episode sometime...I did do some bathing suit modeling...does that count?
    thanks again, and I hope everyone checks out the links you put up...I'm very proud of all the goofiness we Bantam-Streeters have put out...there's more to come!
    and thanks for your good thoughts for my Mom...she's getting better every day and we are very grateful!
    all the best,
    Jen Blaire

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  2. Thank you Jen for filling in your story and the correction. Have a great day!

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  3. Lovely piece, Joyce. I do hate to be a pedant, but apart from being Jewish, it's what I do best. Anyway, in the first photo from FOREHEAD, that is not Jen on the left but the lovely Trish Geiger. I must point this out because Trish would kill me if I didn't. Now I have to hope Jen doesn't kill me because I did. Oy, is my life fraught with danger!

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  4. Thanks for your comment Mike. I was aware of that, and that is why I did not label that picture with Jen's name.

    I just liked the screaming

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  5. Mike: Having your life fraught with danger from Jen and Trish - well, that's not so bad, is it?
    Bob Deveau

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