LaViolette joined the city’s media operations team in 1991, first as a volunteer and then as a consultant and engineer for CTV. LaViolette worked on Wed., Aug. 20, and then died in his sleep sometime that night, a spokesperson said.

LaViolette and his late wife Doris contributed to the incorporation of Calabasas and lived in the city for more than 40 years.

LaViolette worked as an engineer on CBS radio broadcasts before joining Columbia Records, where he helped record such artists as Harry James and Nelson Eddy. He later worked behind the scenes for television stations KLAC, KCOP and KTLA in Los Angeles.

“Roy was an inspiration to all of us in the media department and the entire city of Calabasas,” said Deborah Steller, Calabasas media operations manager. “He lived through, and was part of, the technological revolution and always stayed on top of the latest gadgets and technology until the day he died.”

A CTV “Living History” program is being aired in his honor.

LaViolette was named Citizen of the Year by the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation in 2001. And in May 2007, he was honored for outstanding community service by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County’s Commission on Aging and the Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging.

LaViolette is survived by his daughter Julie Coomes; son-in-law Scott Coomes; son Robert LaViolette; daughter-in-law Ann Harper; granddaughter Nicolle LaViolette Keenan Meijia; grandson Brandon Coomes; grandson Andrew Coomes; and granddaughter Lauren LaViolette.

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Inside the wreath hanging on the front door of Maree Lubran’s Saratoga home, a bird’s nest nestles among the flowers and leaves. That the nest hides a trio of tiny eggs is just one of the surprises to be found at Lubran’s cozy cottage. The real eye-opener lies just inside the door: Visitors who step over the threshold will discover a remarkable art gallery that covers virtually all of Lubran’s wall-space.

Closer examination reveals a sea of familiar faces. Stars from Hollywood’s “golden era.” Television actors and actresses. U.S. presidents. Musicians. Sports figures, pop icons and hundreds of other notables. All are rendered lovingly in Lubran’s watercolors, both in moody black and white and an evocative color palette.Look closer still: Nearly a quarter of the paintings bear handwritten inscriptions from their subjects. Most are autographs; a large number offer personal messages of thanks to the artist for her talents. Should the curators of either the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History or the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum happen to stroll down Lubran’s hallway, quite likely both would suffer apoplexy at this priceless piece of history.

Lubran has always been enchanted by faces. As a toddler growing up in Australia, she idled away naptime by picking out faces in the swirls of paint on the wall. With a father and grandmother who both created and taught art, it was inevitable that Lubran would inherit the same skills. Her earliest creation was an elephant crafted of modeling clay when she was 5 years old. “My teacher rushed around showing the other teachers,” says Lubran, 80 years after the fact. “I couldn’t imagine why she was so excited; I thought,`Can’t everyone do this?’ “Though the years have conferred on Lubran’s diminutive frame a sense of fragility, and her walker slows her progress through her gallery, behind her glasses her eyes sparkle while recounting her favorite memories. Her wit is as lightning-quick as any 20-year-old’s; her sense of humor frequently wicked. Yet, upon hearing a suggestion that her collection should be displayed in a museum, Lubran seems genuinely surprised and touched.

From the time she was a teenager, Lubran showed clear artistic talent. She took first prize in Australia’s 1940 Children’s Hobby Exhibition for her image of a lion and his mate, rendered in colored pencils. She was a frequent model for her father, who also worked in watercolors. “He gave lots of lessons, and was always asking me to sit for him,” recalls Lubran. But when puberty hit, Lubran developed other interests.

“I was a very grumpy 13-year-old, and I had all of these posters of movie stars on my walls. On Saturdays my best friend and I would go up on her roof and cut out pictures of our favorite stars from movie magazines, and paste them into our scrapbooks. We especially loved Nelson Eddy; we’d hold his photos up and tell him we were going to show him an Australian sunset,” Lubran laughs.

The star-crazed teen soon began capturing the likenesses of her idols on paper. She first drew Olivia de Havilland using pen and ink, but found the process time-consuming. Says Lubran, “I don’t know how it came to me to try watercolor, but when I did it was so much faster and easier than making all those little strokes. From then on, pen and ink were out!”

As Lubran’s skills grew, so did her collection of celebrities. Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart, Fay Wray. Bob Hope, Dolores Del Rio, Marlene Dietrich. Kelly, Peck, Bacall. Name a star, and mostly likely his or her visage hangs in Lubran’s collection. Her only requirement was (and still is) that her subjects have an interesting look. And no teeth, please. “I love painting eyes; they really are the windows to the soul,” Lubran says. “If I see a photograph of a face, and it has good contrast, I’ll do a painting. It’s especially good if the person isn’t showing any teeth. I hate to paint teeth.”

Not long after Lubran began her watercolors of the stars, she hit upon the idea of asking them for their autographs. She dutifully packed up her 11-by-14-inch paintings, along with self-addressed, stamped envelopes, and sent them off.

“In those days the stars were always being asked for autographs, so it wasn’t such a big deal,” she explains. “Every time I’d paint a celebrity I’d send a duplicate of the painting, so he or she could keep it. Making a copy was much quicker than painting the original.”

Her generosity more than paid off: Hundreds of autographs and personal messages from the celebs flooded her mailbox, all saying they’d hung the watercolors in their own homes. Typical of the accolades, Psycho star Janet Leigh wrote, “I’m proud to be in your collection of paintings!” In more recent years, above his signature opera legend Luciano Pavarotti inscribed, “Brava, Maree! Nessun dorma,” while Star Trek’s George Takei wrote, “You are truly gifted, and I am the beneficiary.” Bette Davis devoted a full 27 words to one of her thank-yous, ending with her immortal line, “I’d like to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair.”

Alice Faye, a favorite of Lubran’s, faithfully signed every one of the paintings sent by the artist. “Her assistant was also named Marie, and she would call occasionally to chat. She told me that Alice received many paintings and drawings of herself, but`Maree’s are the best.’ I shouldn’t say so, but I liked hearing that,” Lubran admits…

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Read this theater review from the New York Post: FRINGE DARTS TARGET TART, By FRANK SCHECK. 3 stars.

It hardly comes as a surprise that Britney Spears is a character in not one but two of the offerings in this year’s Fringe Festival (and that’s just over the first weekend). While she’s merely a supporting character - a ghost, actually - in the cheekily titled “Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (or at Least the Greater Los Angeles Area): The Musical!” she’s the title subject of the “Behind the Music”-style musical fable, “Becoming Britney.”

“Perez Hilton” depicts the adventures of the notorious showbiz blogger as he attempts to find love, keep his site constantly updated and battle bomb-wielding Islamic terrorists - all in one day. Written by Timothy Michael Drucker and Randy Blair (the latter also plays the title role of the pink-wigged gossiper), it certainly doesn’t suffer from any lack of audacity.

From its opening number - wherein a dreaming Perez whips a half-naked Zac Efron - to its depiction of Kathy Griffin (the hilarious Laura Jordan) as a crazed villainess, to its wicked lampoons of such notorious celebs as Amy Winehouse and R. Kelly, the show is raucous, satirical fun. While its shelf life may not be much longer than a typical item on Hilton’s blog, it fits in perfectly with the Fringe’s camp aesthetic.

In “Becoming Britney,” the oft-troubled pop star finds herself at “Promises, Promises,” a rehab center that caters to “the exceptionally beautiful and the moderately talented,” and relates the story of her checkered life to her therapist and fellow patients via such songs as “Millionaire Whore,” “Cross That Line” and “Push It Out.” (That last number, about giving birth, features this immortal refrain: “I feel like I gotta poo!”)

Molly Bell and Daya Curley’s book and lyrics lack the wit to lift the material above the obvious, but there are several fun moments, such as when Britney, amusingly played by Bell, warbles with husband K-Fed (Keith Pinto) like a trailer-trash Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald. And the several suitably lip-synched music video-style numbers all too accurately approximate their inspirations.

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Here is the latest:

If you are interested in going on the cruise, you can hold your spot for a $25 deposit. But do it right away to make certain you get the room that you want! Just call High C Travel at 212-874-1670 or email them at highctravel@yahoo.com

DO IT TODAY!

1. If you prefer a single room, here’s what I learned: “Single rooms (only Inside cabins) added to our group in case that works better for people. There are only 13 Singles available but in case people ask this option is available. Singles must be held with a $25.00 deposit.”

2. People can still book until September 11 with a deposit of $250 (all deposits go toward your price but it’s better to reserve this week!). FInal payments are not due until late November. You can also get (cheap) trip insurance in case anything comes up and you need to cancel.

If you need information about “special needs” such as wheelchairs, etc., please download this form.

Sixty-two years ago today we were introduced to…Willie the Operatic Whale!

Nelson Eddy’s segment in “Make Mine Music” is the best remembered…and, well, the best!

UPDATE: It’s that time of year again… our new glossy calendars are here! They are shipping now! Get yours now…makes a great gift for yourself or any fan of the Singing Sweethearts.

Link to purchase

On August 14, 2008, the National Archives made public all the secret OSS files.

We are waiting to see the entire list because it should have the name of Nelson Ackerman Eddy on it!

WASHINGTON — Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.

They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The full secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

Some of those on the list have been identified previously as having worked for the OSS, but their personnel records never have been available before. Those records would show why they were hired, jobs they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while working for the agency.

Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields _ Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in “The Godfather”; and Thomas Braden, an author whose “Eight Is Enough” book inspired the 1970s television series.

Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway; Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police.

The release of the OSS personnel files uncloaks one of the last secrets from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most part later was folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it in 1945.

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San Francisco: Set your VCR/DVR/Tivo for 6 am Eastern time on August 31st!

Rosalie: Set your VCR/DVR/Tivo for 6 am Eastern time on November 21st!

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