Meshach Taylor died, and it absolutely breaks my heart that so many people we enjoyed watching on TV when we were kids are passing away faster than ever.
While I watched Meshach on Designing Women with my mom when I was in elementary school, I loved him more on Dave’s World, which was Harry Anderson’s post Night Court sitcom in the mid 1990s. He played Shel, Dave Barry’s (Anderson) neighbor, and friend from high school, Shel. My mom and I watched Dave’s World every Friday night when it first debuted. It’s definitely up there with my favorite shows growing up.
UNFORTUNATELY, my absolute favorite Shel scene isn’t on YouTube. So I have to explain it, which isn’t nearly as fun as watching the clip and laughing at it. I hope I remember all the details.
Dave’s sons named one of their pets Kenny, after Dave’s friend. Shel complains that the kids never named a pet after him.
This is happening during the weekly poker match between Dave and friends, a fly flies past Dave, Dave slams it on the table and says, “aww, poor Shel!"
See, I can’t explain it. All we have on the internet is the scene that goes with Harry’s title card in the opening credits.
Meshach Taylor died, and it absolutely breaks my heart that so many people we enjoyed watching on TV when we were kids are passing away faster than ever.
While I watched Meshach on Designing Women with my mom when I was in elementary school, I loved him more on Dave’s World, which was Harry Anderson’s post Night Court sitcom in the mid 1990s. He played Shel, Dave Barry’s (Anderson) neighbor, and friend from high school, Shel. My mom and I watched Dave’s World every Friday night when it first debuted. It’s definitely up there with my favorite shows growing up.
UNFORTUNATELY, my absolute favorite Shel scene isn’t on YouTube. So I have to explain it, which isn’t nearly as fun as watching the clip and laughing at it. I hope I remember all the details.
Dave’s sons named one of their pets Kenny, after Dave’s friend. Shel complains that the kids never named a pet after him.
This is happening during the weekly poker match between Dave and friends, a fly flies past Dave, Dave slams it on the table and says, “aww, poor Shel!"
See, I can’t explain it. All we have on the internet is the scene that goes with Harry’s title card in the opening credits.
Shortly after the news broke about Monica Lewinsky, her former drama instructor, Andy J. Bleiler came out saying that Monica had an affair with him. The affair began after she graduated from high school in 1992, and Monica even moved the affair to Portland when she transferred colleges … because Bleiler and his WIFE followed her up there a while later.1 Lewinsky befriended Mrs. Bleiler and would send her items from her internship and work at the White House and Pentagon. Strangely, Monica would also send her used blazers and office attire along with typical touristy Washington DC things:
Perhaps, the most strange thing Monica sent her was this:
What.
I can’t find the reason why Monica sent this black nightgown to the wife of the man she was sleeping with.2 Monica also bragged to the couple about her sexual escapades in DC, but always referred to Bill Clinton as “The Creep”. Totally wacky.
The affair ended in 1997 when his wife found out. I guess whenever Monica had vacation, she’d travel to Oregon and they’d do their thing? Or when she moved to DC it became a phone affair? Who knows. In early 1998, when the allegations broke out, the Bleilers sent everything Monica had ever sent them to Ken Starr’s Associates. 3 In 2013, Bleiler’s now-ex wife put the items up for auction–however the items didn’t even meet the reserve. 4
In the 1999 Barbara Walters interview, Monica said that Mr. Bleiller was the first man to ever make her feel beautiful, that came into her life during a difficult period when she felt self conscious about her appearance, and made her feel “sensual” about herself.
Witnesses to Monica’s behavior
When the story first broke, reporters talked to anybody who even barely knew Monica:
Classmates from her high school in Beverly Hills (she grew up in the 90210!) said that she “had gone to a fat farm” and she tried too hard to be popular.
A mother of a boy she went “steady” with said that Monica was constantly over at their house, and eventually clinging to the boy’s brother after a breakup.
A real estate agent who was showing the house that Monica rented during college remembered her as cold, the house being a mess, and that she kept a container full of condoms next to her bed.
People who interned with her at the White House claimed that she would exaggerate her menial tasks such as opening mail at Leon Panetta’s office.
The witnesses at her internship also said that she always dressed in low cut tops and one time was even sent home to change by Deputy Chief of Staff Evelyn Liberman for wearing a low-cut white dress. That’s the dress I want to see! I want to see what was so scandalous about it. I mean, most clothes women wore to the office back then would be considered “dumpy” today…ha, I picture it looking something like this, even if I know it didn’t:
(with the black mesh part being white)
Another strange behavior of Monica’s was that she brought George Stephanopoulos coffee and bagels on a regular basis, unrequested.
Her lawyer, William Ginsburg noticed that after the President’s State of the Union Address, which happened just a few days after the scandal broke, that Monica said that Clinton did a good job, and that Ginsburg believed that Monica still considered Clinton a friend. 5,6
Monica & Revlon
Monica had an interview with Revlon in New York on December 30th, 1997. On January 9th, she accepted an informal job offer with the company. On January 21st, Revlon pulled their job offer, the day the scandal broke.7 The President’s friend and adviser, Vernon Jordan set Monica up with the job interview.
From the Starr Report:
… Ms. Lewinsky interviewed with Allyn Seidman, senior vice president [of Revlon’s parent company]…and two individuals at Revlon. Ms. Lewinsky testified that the interviews went well and that Ms. Seidman called her back that day and “informally offered [her] a position, and [she] informally accepted.”
Ms. Lewinsky then called Mr. Jordan and relayed the good news. When shown records of a seven-minute call at 4:14 p.m., Mr. Jordan testified: “I have to assume that if she got the job and we have a seven-minute conversation and the day before I had talked to the chairman [Ronald Perelman], I have to assume the Jordan magic worked.”
According to Mr. Jordan, he believed that he notified Ms. Currie and the President as soon as he learned that Ms. Lewinsky had obtained an offer: “I am certain that at some point in time I told Betty Currie, ‘Mission accomplished.’” Mr. Jordan testified that he also told the President directly that “Monica Lewinsky’s going to work for Revlon,” and his response was, “Thank you very much.” 8
Monica’s Mom’s Crazy Tenors Book (pg 36, february 2, 98 newsweek)
Monica’s mom, Marcia Lewis, tried any way possible to get attention. She once tried to get a gossip magazine started with her sister after she divorced Monca’s dad. In 1996, she came out with a bogus book about The Three Tenors, The Private Lives of the Three Tenors: Behind the Scenes With Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras.She only knew Domingo “casually”, but she wrote the book as though she knew the behind the scenes, juicy details about his life. Descriptions of the book hints that Lewis tried to hint in the book that she’s had flings with Domingo 9:
There is something starry-eyed about the book’s personal focus and adoring approach, especially in the passages about Domingo. A three-page fantasy scene about an encounter with Domingo was cut from the finished manuscript because it didn’t fit with the rest of the book, Schragis said.
But intimations about sex with a Domingo-like figure remain in the book.
In a chapter titled “Domingo as Don Juan,” Lewis described Domingo as an “hidalgo,” a true Spanish gentleman with a broad romantic streak.
She wrote that hidalgo is Domingo’s favorite Spanish word and then she went on to imagine what an affair with an hidalgo must be like for women lucky enough to have one:
He telephones before the concert, “whispering to protect his famous voice.” They meet late at night after the triumphant concert, his adrenalin still racing from the encores. Later, every message he leaves on her answering machine ends with the words, “For you, darling, a big kiss.” If she travels to New York to meet him, “he fills her suite at the Plaza Hotel with dozens of red roses,” she wrote.
“An hidalgo’s lovemaking would be passionate and romantic, with murmurs of adoration and love, and an expert knowledge of how to pleasure a woman,” Lewis wrote. “Is Domingo an hidalgo? Millions of women the world over sincerely believe he is.” 10
Monica’s Car Accident
I noticed that Miss Monica caught the late 1990s SUV bug, back when if you turned your Ford Explorer slightly to the left, it would flip over on the interstate.
That’s what she did. Digging through her purse while driving. 11
Monica’s Purses
Monica claimed that while she was under legal lockdown in Washington due to legal reasons she learned how to knit and sew. In late 1999 she debuted a purse collection, The Real Monica Inc. Mmm.hmm. 12 13
14
There’s nothing special about those purses. I think If I had a sewing machine, even I could make one. The fabrics look like the reject fabrics that sit in the back of an old JoAnn’s.
1. Claiborne, William. “Lewinsky’s Former Teacher Discloses Affair." The Washington Post, January 28, 1998.
5. Isikoff, Michael, and Evan Thomas. “Clinton and the Intern." Newsweek, February 2, 1998. 33.
6. Ratnesar, Romesh. "The Trouble with Monica." Time, February 9, 1998. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/02/time/1.ratnesar.html (accessed June 11, 2014).
7. Washington Post, "Time Line,” September 13, 1998. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/timeline.htm (accessed June 11, 2014).
8. "An affair of state.“ Time, September 21, 1998. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1998/09/14/affair.state.html (accessed June 11, 2014)
9. Isikoff, Michael, and Evan Thomas. "Clinton and the Intern." Newsweek, February 2, 1998, 36.
11. Breznican, Anthony. "Monica Lewinsky hurt in car crash." The Daily Courier, August 2, 1999. (accessed June 19, 2014)
12. Kedmey, Dan. "Now 40, Monica Lewinsky Guards Her Privacy." Time, July 23, 2013. http://time.com/6143/now-40-monica-lewinsky-guards-her-privacy/ (accessed June 22, 2014)
Seems like in the mid 90s, any young person with access to a xerox made a zine. I guess the 2013 equivalent is a circa 2007 black MacBook with Microsoft Office 2004, and an Epson 3 in 1 printer.
12 pages of black and white insignificant events from the 1980s and 1990s, just like this blog. Available on my Etsy.
//edit, September 2nd//
I added a sneak preview of the inside of the zine due to poor sales (as in no sales):
saleintothe90s 