Farewell Raquel, Farewell Hurricane Hazel

RIP Raquel Welch (pictured at left), the GOAT Hollywood sex godess. She was always Walt's favourite. There hasn't been one like her, before or since. 

Of course I admired her for her mind. (She wrote a book, you know.) She liked to play strong women, characters of substance, and wrote that she disliked almost all of the roles she was offered. But hey, it was a living.

If I may be permitted a small personal recollection... Many years ago, I paid what was then a small fortune to see her Vegas/nightclub act, up close and personal. I was surprised to find that she was not as tall as you'd think if you just looked at her legs in the still pictures. She stood 5'6" in her bare feet. The rest of her stats, at her peak (I know you want to know!) were 37-22-35.

After a short illness, Raquel Welch died yesterday, aged 82. 

"Hurricane Hazel" McCallion (the one on the right) was smaller, but feistier. She got her nickname from the storm which devastated parts of Peel County, west of Toronto, in 1954, when Mrs McCallion (she eschewed the PC "Ms") was 33.

She was a businesswoman (not "businessperson"), politician and human dynamo, a force to be reckoned with in any arena in which she set foot. Yes, she skated and played hockey well into her golden years! 

She was elected and re-elected as Reeve of Streetsville ON. When Streetsville and an agglomeration of other towns, villages and hamlets became the City of Mississauga, "Hurricane Hazel" became its mayor in 1978. She served in that capacity until her retirement in 2014, making her the longest-serving mayor in Ontario (and possibly Canadian) history.

On her very long watch, Mississauga tripled in size -- it's now Canada's sixth-largest city -- while remaining debt-free. Her accomplishments are too numerous to be listed. We can only say, as we did of Raquel Welch, there wasn't another one like her, before or since.

Hazel McCallion died of pancreatic cancer at the end of January, and was buried in Mississauga on Valentine's Day, which would have been her 102nd birthday. RIP

VIDEO: Kansas City Bomber - actual footage

Nooooooooooo... this isn't about another instance of "Allahu akbar!" Can't blame you for thinking that though. Believe it or not, there was a time when a "bomber" could be someone other than a half-crazed Islamic extremist. For instance, it could be one of the half-crazed guys or gals taking part in that classic American sport -- roller derby!

A staple of Saturday afternoon TV sports programming in the 60s and 70s, roller derby had it all! It drew 1000s who watched the actors -- a better word than "athletes" -- go round and round and round on small banked tracks at Madison Square Garden and smaller arenas across the US of A and Canada.

Like so many aspects of North American culture, roller derby hit peak wackiness in the 1970s. You can still get a remarkably clear sense of what the decade was like by watching this trailer for Kansas City Bomber, a 1972 soap opera on wheels (and steroids?) featuring Walt's all-time favourite sex goddess, Raquel Welch.



I watched this one-and-a-half times before I figured out where I'd seen that guy playing the evil businessman. He's none other than Kevin McCarthy, who played essentially the same character, 17 years later, in the cult classic UHF. Gotta love these movies from the day when Hollywood turned out entertainment, not politically correct SJW propaganda.