Tribute to Laverne (Aloma Wright)

Tribute to Laverne (Aloma Wright) by Roxanne McDonald

You really learn to appreciate people and are reminded to express how much you love them when you lose someone important to you.

Okay, I’m talking about a character. A character on “Scrubs.� But I was really close to writing a tribute to the marginal characters on such shows, characters who are undersung, underappreciated—especially when their actors are so damned good.Once you get past the delightfully witty major characters; get over how Turk (Donald Faison) was once Diva Dionne’s doormat boyfriend, Murray, on “Clueless�; move beyond how Sarah Chalke is as dingy as Elliot as she was as Roseanne’s Becky #2; and appreciate the seamless transition actors like John C. McGinley make from Platoon to “Scrubs� or Zach

Braff from “Scrubs� to Garden State to endearing voiceovers for commercials for tp or something …you get to characters like Laverne Roberts and actresses like Aloma Wright.

Wright as Laverne is surly, righteous, and smart-alecky.

She is also protective, devoted, and hard working.

She has the best supporting actor lines, and has the most vocal presence for a character who is in the margins for the most part.

But now she is in a coma and dying [life support has been removed].

We who love Laverne (and Wright) are beside ourselves with disappointment and grief. We are rebelling the killing off of one of the best comic characters in the wings of sit-com television.

And we are hoping she goes to an even better place (the lap of Jesus for Laverne, the good movie parts for Aloma) than “Scrubs�.

If that’s possible.

*Best of luck to Aloma in upcoming (in production, now) feature films–Dress 2 Impre$$ (as Mrs. Baptiste); Love… & Other 4 Letter Words (as Nana); After School (as Ma Dear); and Hurricane in the Rose Garden (as Miriam)…though likely she will be as impressive a film star.

Yvonne De Carlo, a.k.a. Lily Munster—In Tribute

Yvonne De Carlo, a.k.a. Lily Munster—A Small Tribute by Roxanne McDonald

At 84, our wonderful TV and screen star Yvonne De Carlo passed away of natural causes.

Yvonne De Carlo was one of the first in my six-degrees circle, having lived at one time right down the road from my grandmother, whom I visited every summer. When I would ride my bike or walk past her home, I would wonder how differently she looked and lived there in that massive farmhouse. What did she eat as opposed to what Lily and her Munster family munched on? What did she wear as opposed to the haute bat pendant and sheer

nightgown- looking dress? Did she read? Did she exercise? Did she watch her own performances?

In December of 2006, I was researching an exotic plant my friend had the tendency to slip onto his wish lists (usually plants I could not access even though I boasted ahead of time I could find with my superior net-navigational skills). When I typed the keywords “bat lily� into the search engine box, the first results were for pictures of Lily Munster.

This only reminded me again of the show, of the many occasions I had thought of Lily/Yvonne, and of the few movies I had identified her in later on. (She was a versatile actress, doing such projects as The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and It Seemed Like a Good Thing at the Time, and was in or guested on numerous better-known TV shows such as Tales from the Crypt, The Art Linkletter Show, and Fantasy Island.)

I will still remember Yvonne De Carlo, then, not only as the usually unflappable and graceful Munster, but as the one who gave me my first near brush with fandom.