To Absent Friends - Lacey, Trixie, and Melanie

It's a crowded Departure Lounge this month, so let's catch up on three Absent Friends, listed in the order in which they left us.

Cindy Morgan

Cindy Morgan

1951-2024

The name Cindy Morgan may not ring a bell to you, but if you are an avid, or even a not so avid golfer, I am betting that the name "Lacey Underall" does.  In her acting debut, the then 29 year old Morgan played the character of Lacey, Judge Smails' (Ted Knight) not-so-innocent niece in the classic movie comedy, "Caddyshack" (1980).

A native of the Chicago area, Morgan started out as a television weather person and disco jockey in Rockford, IL.  She moved to the west coast in the late 1970's and got a job as the "Irish Spring Girl" in television commercials.  As I said, "Caddyshack" was her first feature film role.  There are not a whole lot of acting credits listed for her in IMDB, but she did appear in a sci-fi movie "Tron" (1982), and of course, there was also an appearance on "Love Boat."

Cindy Morgan will never be confused with Meryl Streep, but there is a lot to be said for achieving some degree of immortality by being in a Cult Classic comedy movie.  Please enjoy this clip of MORGAN AND CHEVY CHASE FROM "CADDYSHACK".

Joyce Randolph

Joyce Randolph

1924-2024

There are not a lot of acting credits in IMDB for Joyce Randolph, who left us this month at the age of 99, but talk about immortality!  Randolph was the last surviving cast member of one of television's most iconic sitcoms, "The Honeymooners".

Randolph appeared as Trixie Norton the wife of Ed Norton, and the Nortons were, of course, the best friends of Alice and Ralph Kramden.  "The Honeymooners" ran as a sketch piece on various iterations of Jackie Gleason's variety shows throughout the 1950's with the cast of Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Randolph.  In the middle of that time frame, "The Honeymooners" was a stand alone thirty minute sitcom that ran of only one season, thirty-nine episodes in all, "The Classic Thirty-Nine" as they have come to be known. I own a DVD set of the Classic Thirty-Nine, and while Ralph's misogynistic tendencies (even though Alice ALWAYS had the last word) might not play so well here in the 2020's, no one can deny that they aren't really, really funny.

One interesting factoid that I picked up while researching Ms. Randolph was that in 1950, her pre-Honeymooners days, she appeared in Louisville, KY in a stage production of "No, No Nanette" with, among others, Audrey Meadows.

Gleason, Carney, Meadows, Randolph

"The Honeymooners"

Melanie Safka

Melanie

1947-2024

Melanie Safka was a singer-songwriter, who was quite popular in the early 1970's, and she was well known for singing at Woodstock in 1969.  She appeared and recorded under the name of Melanie.  She was popular at the time, and I owned one or two Melanie albums during my college days.  When news of her death at age 76 arrived yesterday, I was amazed to see that she never really went away and that at the time of her death, she was in the process of recording what would have been her thirty-second album.

Her most known songs were "Lay Down" and "Brand New Key", but I will leave you with this live version of her "LOOK WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO MY SONG."  After listening to this yesterday, memories of her clear and beautiful voice came rushing back.  Enjoy.

RIP Cindy Morgan, Joyce Randolph, and Melanie.