The Final Taxi

One of the first VHS movies I can remember renting, once I bought a machine, was a 1968 film called Barbarella. It is a erotic sci-fi film based on the French Barbarella comics and starring Jane Fonda.

Barbarella is famous for a sequence in which Fonda undresses in zero gravity during the opening credits. It also stars Milo O’Shea as Durand-Durand ( Yes, the 80’s band Duran-Duran got their name from this film) and John Phillip Law as the blind angel, Pygar.

Tall, blond stage and screen actor John Phillip Law has taken his Final Taxi at the age of 70.

Born in Los Angeles on September 7, 1937, Law was the son of Los Angeles County deputy sheriff John Law and actress Phyllis Sallee. He grew up on Hollywood studio back lots and was a second-generation graduate of Hollywood High. While at the University of Hawaii he took drama classes and decided to become an actor.

Moving to New York in the early 1960s, made his Broadway debut in Garson Kanin’s “Come One Strong” with Van Johnson and Carroll Baker. He then appeared in the original New York production of “The Changeling” with Fay Dunaway at Lincoln Center. He stalked the stage in two productions of “Dracula,” and won the hearts of children as The Aviator in “The Little Prince.”

Going to Europe, Law worked in several Italian films, where director Norman Jewison spotted him. Law’s star rose when Jewison cast him as young Soviet submariner Alexei Kolchin, who successfully romanced a teenage babysitter in 1966’s “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming”, a 1966 Cold War comedy set in New England.

The following year, the role earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer - Male. Also in 1967, he received fifth place in the Golden Laurel nominations for Male New Face. Law became a sex symbol in the 1960s. He was a VIP guest at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion and in Hollywood society.

In 1968,Law next gained fame as bronzed angel Pygar in “Barbarella”, Roger Vadim’s science-fiction fantasy starring Fonda, who was married to the director at the time. Wearing huge, feathery wings, Pygar protected Fonda’s gun-toting, go-go-booted heroine in outer space.

His subsequent films included “Hurry Sundown” (1967), “The Sergeant” (1968 ) opposite Rod Steiger, and “The Red Baron” (1970). Law starred in the 1971 flop “The Love Machine” (based on Jacqueline Susann’s pulp novel) as ruthless Robin Stone.

Law starred in more than 50 films produced in over 20 countries. He appeared in many action-adventure movies, including “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1974), “The Cassandra Crossing” (1977) and “Tarzan the Ape Man” (1981). Other movies included “Danger Diabolik”, “The Hawaiians” and “Death Rides A Horse.”

Law appeared opposite numerous distinguished European and U.S. actors, including Alan Arkin, Claudia Cardinale, Bo Derek, Ava Gardner, Mel Gibson, Richard Harris, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Sophia Loren, Groucho Marx, Sam Neil, Anthony Quinn, George Raft and Ugo Tognazzi. He worked for such noted producers and directors as Robert Wise, Otto Preminger, Carlo Ponti, Franco Rossi, Dino De Laurentiis, George Cosmatos and Dennis Hopper.

In television, guest-starred as Jim Grainger (Cricket’s father) on the daytime TV drama “The Young and the Restless.”

As his career began in the 1960s, Law lived in a 1924 Los Feliz mansion with brother Tom, a former road manager for Peter, Paul and Mary. The two brothers made the residence — known as the Castle — a gathering place for such up-and-coming pop singers and artists as Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and Tiny Tim. The experience was documented in the 1987 photo and text collection Flashing on the Sixties by Tom’s former wife, Lisa Law.

In 1997, Law had a rare turn in cartoons in episodes of “Spider-Man: The Animated Series”, guesting as the Cat/John Hardesky.

In 2001 he appeared in Roman Coppola’s directorial debut “CQ”, a homage to the Italian spy/sci-fi B-movies in which Law often starred during the 1960s

Saturday mornings started really early in my house. My parents were not part of the morning but my little brother was. He and I would get up by 6:30. The rest of the week we would not want to get up till much later but Saturday was “Cartoon Day.” The multicolored animation would keep us entertained for hours.

One of my favorite programs was the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. It was the adventures of Rocket J. Squirrel and his friend Bullwinkle J. Moose. The show ran from 1959 to 1973 and then in syndication. Besides Rocky and Bullwinkle we were also given short filler cartoons such as Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History, Dudley Do-Right Of The Mounties, Aesop And Son, and Mr. Know-It-All. The most enjoyable for me was Mr. Peabody.

It is cartoonist Ted Key, creator of time-traveling dog scientist Peabody and his boy Sherman, who has taken his Final Taxi at age 95.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman have been pop culture favorites since they first appeared in the “Peabody’s Improbable History” segment of animation producer Jay Ward’s Rocky and His Friends in 1959. (Ward was a childhood friend of Ted’s brother Leonard.)

Featuring the voices of Bill Scott (Mr. Peabody) and Walter Tetley (Sherman), “Peabody’s Improbable History” appeared in 91 four-minute segments. A major live-action motion picture of their adventures is in production.

Key also created the cartoon character Hazel, a popular feature in the Saturday Evening Post since 1943. The wisecracking maid became a regular feature in the magazine.

Later, Hazel appeared in books collecting the cartoons, a syndicated newspaper strip, and a live-action sitcom which ran for four years on NBC and one more on CBS. Shirley Booth, the TV show’s title character, won two Emmy awards for her performances.

The author of four children’s books (one of which was made into a movie), Key wrote the storylines of four live-action Disney films: The Million Dollar Duck (1971), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), Gus (1976) and The Cat from Outer Space (1978).

He created the comic feature Diz and Liz, which ran in popular children’s magazine Jack and Jill from 1961 through 1972.

Ted Key was born Theodore Keyser in Fresno, California on August 25, 1912. Graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1933, he moved to New York, freelancing cartoons for magazines and occasionally writing for radio. Eventually, he headed to Philadelphia, continuing to draw cartoons and write stories.

Although he retired in 1993, King Features still syndicates the Hazel strip, using material that he prepared for his retirement.

Many readers have heard me talk about watching movies on TV in the afternoons while I was growing up. They combined it with a game show to make sure you watched. Many of the movies the TV station played were low horror films made by Hammer Film Productions. This is a film production company in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1934. It is best known for a series of Gothic “Hammer Horror” films produced from the late 1950s until the 1970s. Hammer films were cheap to produce but nonetheless appeared lavish, making use of quality British actors and cleverly designed sets. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success.

Many of the movies starred recurring actors as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Ralph Bates, Oliver Reed and many more. There were also beginning roles in the Hammer films for actors like Peter Graves, David Carradine , Dirk Benedict ,Dean Stockwell and 007’s Pierce Brosnan.
Besides the men there was also some very sexy women who played in those movies. In the last week we have lost two of the Hammer film top scream queens. Hazel Court and Julie Ege have taken their Final Taxi.

– Julie Ege was a Norwegian actress and model in the 60’s and early 70’s. Born in the south-west coast of Norway in 1943 Ede was brought to the public’s eye when appeared on the Miss Universe pageant in Florida in 1962 and then did some modeling in Penthouse magazine.

In 1967, she made her acting debut playing a German masseuse in “The Sky and the Ocean”, a low-budget Norwegian film. In 1969, Ege’s stunning looks caught the eye of the film producer Albert Broccoli, who cast her in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the only James Bond film to feature George Lazenby as the lead. In that role she played “The Scandinavian Girl” one of the 10 women of different nationalities being brainwashed by Blofeld, the villain portrayed by Telly Savalas.

In 1970, Ede played opposite Marty Feldman in the comedy Every Home Should Have One. ( A film that I wish would come out on DVD.) It was her first role with more than a little dialogue.
She made a fatal career choice next by turning down a role with Peter Sellers in the saucy comedy “There’s a Girl in My Soup.” The role went to Goldie Hawn and that part helped launch Hawn’s career.

Instead she signed up with Hammer to do Creatures the World Forgot. While other caveman movies like “One Million B.C.” and “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” did well while giving us sexy girls and stop-motion animation dinosaurs, “Creatures the Earth Forgot” gave us only the sexy girls and a poor plot. The film did help Julie Ege to become a pin-up queen following the film’s release with her in tight and erotic cavegirl costume.

She also starred in ’70s B movies, including The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, The Final Programme, and The Mutations, and the British comedies Up Pompeii, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins and Not Now, Darling.

In the Seventies, Ege lived for several years with the Beatles associate Tony Bramwell and recorded a version of “Love”, a John Lennon composition originally featured on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album in 1970. She subsequently went back to Norway and took up photography before training as a nurse in the Eighties.

In 2005, she featured in the BBC documentary Crumpet! A Very British Sex Symbol. She died at the age of 64 from breast cancer.

– Hammer Film actress Hazel Court took her Final Taxi at age 82. The British star became a scream queen of the first magnitude in the 1957 Hammer horror film “The Curse of Frankenstein.” Ms. Court played Elizabeth opposite Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein. She was menaced by the Creature played by Christopher Lee. This was the first and among the best of the gothic horror films made by Hammer. In 1959 Ms. Court reteamed with actor Christopher Lee and director Terence Fisher for Hammer’s “The Man Who Could Cheat Death.” In 1961 Ms. Court starred opposite Kieron Moore in “Dr. Blood’s Coffin.”

All of these films have become cult film fan favorites.

Born in Birmingham England in 1926 Court set her sights on an acting career at an early age by appearing with thee with the Birmingham repertory company. Her sister sent her photograph to the film director Anthony Asquith and she was given a small role in Champagne Charlie (1944), a salute to Edwardian musical halls starring Tommy Trinder and Stanley Holloway.

Following that was Dreaming (1944), followed by another period musical, Gaiety George (1946). Her popularity grew when she played Sally Gray’s crippled sister in Carnival (1946) and Phyllis Calvert’s sister in The Root of All Evil (1947).

She was given her first starring role teamed with the American actor William Eythe in Meet Me at Dawn (1947). And in 1949 she gave a spirited portrayal of a fairground ice-cream vendor who falls in love with a married man (Douglas Montgomery) in Forbidden.

She starred in two “B” thrillers, Ghost Ship (1952) and Counterspy (1953), then in 1954 she played in the first of her “cult” movies, the low-budget sci-fi tale Devil Girl from Mars, in which a leather-clad Martian (Patricia Laffan) comes to Earth to take men back to her female-dominated domain.

Court’s red hair and green eyes were seen in color for the first time when she was cast in the role which would redefine her persona, Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), which not only changed the course of her career, but launched the Hammer horror cycle, stretched existing boundaries of gore, and teamed Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee for the first time.

Court’s next Hammer movie was Fisher’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and then Dr Blood’s Coffin (1960). In 1962 she made the first of three films in which she was directed by Roger Corman, The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque of the Red Death ( 1964).

Court described Corman’s The Raven (1963) as her favorite film because everybody laughed and joked and it was fun to work with three such talented giants of horror films, Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Court also worked alongside a new upcoming actor named Jack Nickolson. This is a film worth renting just for the cast.

Her many TV credits include “Playhouse 90,” “Thriller,” The Twilight Zone,” “Bonanza,” “Rawhide,” “The Wild Wild West,” “Mission Impossible,” “Mannix” and “McMillan & Wife.” Hazel. Court made her final screen appearance in a cameo in “Damien 3: The Final Conflict.” The “Omen” sequel was directed by her second husband Don Taylor.

I cannot help but think of life in the 1970s whenever I hear the music of Paul Davis. His tunes still play in my head as I think back of those years. Many of Davis song are still played today on the many soft rock stations. His career encompassed soul, country and pop music, and he wrote many memorable country music hits.

Paul Davis has taken his Final Taxi at 60.

Born Paul Lavon Davis on April 21, 1948, he became a member of a local group called the “Six Soul Survivors” around 1966 and later in another group called the “Endless Chain.” In 1968 he was a writer for Malaco Records, based at Jackson, MS.

Ilene Berns, widow of Bert Berns (the man who signed Van Morrison and Neil Diamond) signed Davis to Bang Records in 1969, and in 1970, released a cover of The Jarmels’ hit song “A Little Bit of Soap”, reaching #52 on the Billboard pop charts. His first album, A Little Bit of Paul Davis, was released in 1970. in 1974 he recorded his third album, Ride ‘Em Cowboy, which garnered a Top 40 for the title track. The same song also became a hit for Juice Newton in 1984.

Davis had his first American Top 10 single with the ballad “I Go Crazy,” which peaked at #7 in 1978. “I Go Crazy” spent 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, which at the time set the single-song record for most consecutive weeks on the chart in the rock era. The corresponding album Singer of Songs - Teller of Tales was a modest success, peaking at #82 on the Billboard pop album chart. Nother song from that LP was a hit called “Sweet Life.” He was the last artist active on the Bang Records label when it folded in 1981.

In 1981 he signed with Arista Records and had two more Top 20 singles, “Cool Night” (which rose to #11) and “‘65 Love Affair” (which rose to #6). Davis retired from making records, except for two duet singles that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. The first was in 1986 with Marie Osmond on “You’re Still New To Me” while the second was in 1988 was a collaboration with Tanya Tucker and Paul Overstreet on “I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love”.

Although Davis had ultimately retired from the music industry, he was in the process of sitting down and writing more music at the time of his death.

The beauty of his music has stood the test of time. Paul Davis’ songs can be heard on the soundtracks of such films as “The Karate Kid,” “About Last Night…,” “Texasville” and “24 Hour Party People.”

No matter where you go in the US you can turn the radio on and listen to classic rock or classic soul. The “classic” music format features a large but limited playlist of songs ranging from the early-1960s through the early-1980s with more emphasis on the earlier hits by artists associated with the loosely-defined “classic era”.

One song that falls into the genre of music is the soul song from the 1970’s called “Show and Tell.” It is still played on radio today due to the singer and songwriter’s style in a blend of earthiness and sophistication. His name was Al Wilson and his wide range of pop & jazz, gospel, rock, blues and funk shows the sensitivity and strength that mark him as an enduring star even in today’s music scene.

It is Al Wilson who has taken his Final Taxi at the age of 68.

Born on 19 June, 1939, in the city of Meridian,Mississippi, Al Wilson showed little interest in education but performed in school plays, sung in talent shows and won first prize in a local art contest. Wilson began his career at the age of 12 leading his own spiritual quartet and singing in the church choir, even performing covers of country and western hits as circumstances dictated. While he was in high school, Wilson and his family relocated to San Bernardino, California, where he worked odd jobs and taught himself to play drums; after graduation he spent four years touring with Johnny Harris and the Statesmen before joining the U.S. Navy and singing with an enlisted men’s chorus.

After the Navy Wilson join several groups including the Jewels, the Rollers and an instrumental group, the Souls.

In 1966, he was spotted by manager Marc Gordon, who introduced him to singer Johnny Rivers, who signed him to his Soul City label. Wilson’s first single, “The Snake” in 1968, was a hit and was followed by “Do What You Gotta Do” in 1969.

Wilson largely disappeared from sight until 1973, when he issued the platinum-selling Weighing In — the album’s success was spurred by the shimmering “Show and Tell,” a Johnny Mathis castoff that sold well over a million copies.

Wilson charted with several other 1970s singles, including “La La Peace Song,” “I’ve Got a Feeling (We’ll Be Seeing Each Other Again)” and “Count the Days.”

In 1999 Wilson was honored by the California State Assembly in recognition of the state’s Juneteenth Holiday, for being a Freedom Fighter for Musical Arts along with fellow entertainers Joe Vincent and Rickey Ivie.

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The Final Taxi has made 5 trips this week with people with musical talent.

1.Paul Davis- American singer and songwriter who recorded such songs as “Cool Nights,” “65 Love Affair,” “Sweet Life,” and “I Go Crazy.”

2. Brian Davidson - Drummer and songwriter for the 60’s band The Nice- the forerunner of Emerson Lake and Palmer.

3. Danny Federci - Keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band.

4. Jim Gilchrist- Lead guitarist who played with The Doors, Van Morrison, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa.

5. Al Wilson - Classic soul singer who recorded such memorable songs as “The Snake,” I’ve Got a Feeling We’ll Be Seeing Each Other Again, ” and his Billboard hit “Show and Tell.”

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This Final Taxi podcast talks about Charlton Heston, who won an Oscar for his leading role in Ben-Hur. He has taken His Final Taxi at 84. On screen, Heston was best known as the star of religious and historic epics—he played Moses in The Ten Commandments and John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told also Sci-Fi movies like Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man. Listen to this podcast

Oscar-winning actor, political activist and American Icon Charlton Heston has taken his Final Taxi at age 84. I have so many favorite memories of this wonderful film actor.

Just after President Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law ( the law where you have to wait 5 days before you get a handgun) Heston showed up that week on Saturday Night Live. Heston, during that time, was the spokesman for the NRA and he played in one of the fake SNL ads.
This was for the NRA Gun Loaner Store. While you are waiting your 5 days for your registered gun the NRA would loan you a gun of similar style. They even had a rent two guns and get the third one free. It was one of SNL funniest moments thanks to Heston having a little fun himself.

Who can forget the last scene of the movie “Planet of the Apes?” Heston is riding on a horse away from Ape City thinking that he was on a foreign planet only to come up on a broken and buried Statue of Liberty. In acting splendor he falls from the horse and falls to the ground in disbelief. As he slams his fists into the sand below him he cries out “You blew it up…”

Charlton Heston appeared in or leant his vocal talents to nearly 300 films, documentary films, TV shows and specials.

Born John Charles Carter on Oct. 4, 1923, in Evanston, Ill, Heston lived an almost idyllic boyhood, hunting and fishing. He entered Northwestern University’s School of Speech in 1941 on a scholarship from the drama club. While there, he fell in love with a young speech student named Lydia Clarke. They were married March 14, 1944, after he had enlisted in the Army Air Forces. It was a marriage that lasted over 64 years.

After the war,he made his Broadway debut in Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” as Proculeius, Caesar’s aide-de-camp. He changed his working name with a combination of his mother’s maiden name, Charlton, and the last name of his stepfather, Chester Heston.

In 1949, he attracted the attention of veteran film producer Hal Wallis. Without an audition, Wallis signed Heston to an independent contract for five pictures with the option he could accept other roles. Heston’s first picture for Wallis was the 1950 film noir “Dark City” in which he played a troubled World War II veteran, and the film did respectable business.

Next up was Cecil B. Demille’s circus epic “The Greatest Show On Earth.” Heston leads an all-star cast which won a Best Picture Oscar that year. He played US President Andrew Jackson in two films during the 1950s. The first was the 1953 romancer “The President’s Lady” opposite Susan Hayward. Next was in the 1958 war film “The Buccaneer.”

Two films from the 1950s defined Charlton Heston’s screen persona. He became the go-to-guy for historical figures following Cecil B. Demille’s epic “The Ten Commandments.” His larger-than-life Moses was memorable. For years we knew that ABC would give us a re-air of this classic every Easter.

In 1959 Charlton Heston again starred in a biblical epic. This time, the depth of his performance as a Jewish Prince who comes to know Christ with his heart and mind showed that Charlton Heston was an outstanding actor. William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” is considered the greatest film of Charlton Heston’s career. His Best Actor Oscar was well deserved.

Charlton Heston remained one of the biggest A-List actors during the 1960s. His films from that decade are for the most part epic in scope. He began the decade with “El Cid” opposite Sophia Loren. The romanticized historical epic dealt with the war to drive North African Moor invaders from Spain in 1060. “Diamond Head,” “55 Days at Peking,” “Khartoum” and “The War Lord” followed. Of all the epics of the 1960s none was better than “The Agony and the Ecstasy.”
Heston was wonderful as the artist Michelangelo struggling to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

In the classic 1968 film “Planet of the Apes” Heston played an American astronaut that hated his world so much that he was willing to go on a space trip that would take him away from his time forever. Instead of landing back on their own Earth many years later it was a world full of human- like primates. When Heston is captured he spouts a classic line, ” ..Get your hands off of me you damn stinking ape…” The sci-fi classic spawned a series of feature film sequels, a TV series and a remake in 2001. Charlton Heston appeared in the first sequel “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” .

You should dismiss the recent Will Smith remake of “I Am Legend” and instead rent Heston’s 1971 sci-fi film “The Omega Man.” Heston is Dr. Robert Neville the last man on earth and it follows the book more closely that the current release. He stayed with sci-fi in 1973’s “Soylent Green” and it resulted in a classic of the genre. Heston played a homicide cop who was coming too close to the secret of a new food that is feeding all the starving people of the world. The last line of that film is also a classic.

Another thing I will remember Heston for is the disaster movies of the 1970’s. These were big movies with big effects for the time and they need big stars. Most have many famous actors in them - including Heston, but I will never forget the cheesy effect of ‘Sensurround’ sound. This was huge speakers that would shake you in your seats. Who could forget films like “Skyjacked,” “Airport 1975,” “Earthquake,” “Midway,” “Two-Minute Warning” and “Gray Lady Down.”

The 1980s saw Charlton Heston move from the film to TV. He was best known to 1980s TV fans as Jason Colby in the TV series “Dynasty” and its spin-off “The Colbys.” Mr. Heston returned to directing with the 1988 TV version of “A Man For All Seasons.” Heston played Sir Thomas More opposite John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave.

Charlton Heston began the 1990s with a father/son project. Charlton Heston’s son Fraser directed the 1990 TV version of “Treasure Island” while Charlton Heston starred Long John Silver to Christian Bale’s Jim Hawkins. He also played in the sci-fi stinker “Solar Crisis” and the great made for TV movie “Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232.”

Otherwise Mr. Heston’s work in the 1990s consisted of a number of memorable cameo appearances. Charlton Heston added spice with memorable cameos in the tough Western “Tombstone,” “True Lies,” Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday,” “Wayne’s World 2,” John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness” and Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet.”

Charlton Heston was active in civil rights during his lifetime. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and fought to end racism in America. He was present in Washington D.C. when Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. As president of the NRA from 1998 to 2003 Heston drew heat from anti-gun rights activists. He was President of the Screen Actors Guild for six terms; he received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award.

A burglar who broke into a funeral parlor in Spain tried to fool police by playing dead.

But he was caught out when police spotted his scruffy clothes - and then noticed he was breathing.

Police and the Crespo Funeral Home said they had no idea what the 23-year-old man was trying to steal.

Neighbors of the business, in Burjassot, near Valencia, alerted police when they heard the door being forced in the middle of the night.

Police officers arrived with the owner, and eventually found the suspect lying on a table in a chamber used for viewing dead people during wakes.

“The custom here is for dead people to be dressed in suits, in nice clothes that look presentable. This guy was in everyday clothes that were wrinkled and dirty,” a police spokeswoman.

“He was trying to fake being dead, but he was breathing.”

The funeral home said it was mystified as to what the man wanted, as there were no valuables or cash in the funeral parlour.

Why is it that kids always want to eat a McDonald’s? I did my best to take them someplace nicer or healthier but I ended up there just to appease them. The only time that I will eat at McDonald’s is during breakfast. I will buy their breakfast burrito or a bacon and egg biscuit but my favorite is the Egg McMuffin.

The McMuffin consists of a slice of Canadian bacon, a grill-cooked egg, and a slice of cheese on an English muffin. (What do they call Canadian bacon in Canada?) This trademarked McDonald’s egg sandwich was invented in 1972 and was important in the history of the company and opened up a whole new area of potential business for McDonald’s, the breakfast trade.

The sandwich was invented by Herb Peterson after he had a crazy idea–a breakfast sandwich. Peterson has taken his Final Taxi at the age of 89.

Peterson was very partial to Eggs Benedict and worked on creating something similarfor a morning meal on the go. He took an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin.

The Egg McMuffin made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Peterson co-owned with his son, David Peterson.

For a while the Egg McMuffin was served all day but was but back to just breakfast hours, although several countries serve the sandwich around the clock. I wish McDonald’s would start serving it at all hours- much like Jack-in the Box has breakfast at all the time.

The Egg McMuffin is the lowest-calorie breakfast sandwich McDonald’s offers. A complete Egg McMuffin has 300 calories, versus 450 or more for biscuit sandwiches and McGriddles.

Although semiretired, Herb Peterson still visited all six of his stores in the Santa Barbara area until last year when his health began to deteriorate.