The Girl in the Video 2: MORE original interviews with icons of 1980s MTV

From Annie and Josie to Diane and Jenny and (sort of) Billie Jean…welcome to round 2 of the girl in the video series.

logo adapted by Leigh Cullen @DesignLeigh

Thank you to all who said such nice things about round 1. Thank you also for your requests here and on Twitter; I’ve fulfilled as many of them as I could, plus, of course, threw in some surprises. 

This encore presentation/love letter to an era features 27 videos and 29 women including winners of an Oscar (Marlee Matlin) and Emmy (Kay Lenz). It also spills a bit into the ‘90s.

But first, a recap of round 1 (15 videos, 21 women): 

1983 

• Huey Lewis and the News, “Heart and Soul” and “I Want a New Drug” (1984)—Signy Coleman
• Journey, “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”—Margaret Olmsted Menendez (+ BONUS: Steve Perry, “Oh Sherrie” [1984]—Sherrie Swafford)

1984 

• ZZ Top, “Legs” and others—Wendy Frazier, Kymberly Herrin, Danièle Arnaud
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”—Audie Lenkov (Audie England)
• Huey Lewis and the News, “If This Is It”—Janet Cross, Sandra Wilder

1985 

• a-ha, “Take On Me”—Bunty Bailey
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”—Wish Cohen (Louise “Wish” Foley)
• Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69” and others—Lysette Anthony

1986

• Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Love”—Julie Pankhurst, Patty Elias (Patty Kelly), Kathy Davies, Mak Gilchrist, Julia Bolino
• The Outfield, “Your Love”—JoAnn Willette

1987 

• Lou Gramm, “Midnight Blue”—Traci Lind

1988 

• Michael Jackson, “Smooth Criminal”—Kelley Parker

1989 

• Tom Petty, “Free Fallin’”—Devon Kidd (Devon Jenkin)

[Also rare ‘80s: interview with Mick Smiley, singer-songwriter behind the memorable song “Magic” from Ghostbusters (1984).] 

And now...ROUND 2:

1981

• Tommy Tutone, “867-5309/Jenny”—Karen Morton

1982

• John Cougar (now John Mellencamp), “Jack & Diane”—Vicky Granucci
• 38 Special, “Caught Up in You”—Shari Shattuck
• Adam Ant, “Goody Two Shoes”—Caroline Munro
• John Waite, “Change”—Tina Gullickson

1983

• Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”; Bryan Adams, “Cuts Like a Knife”—Raquel Pena
• Mötley Crüe, “Looks That Kill”—Wendy Barry 

1984

• Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”—Macha Bennet-Shephard (Annie Hubbard)
• Rod Stewart, “Infatuation”—Kay Lenz 
• John Waite, “Missing You”—Liz Whitney (Elizabeth Reiko Kubota Whitney)
• Survivor, “I Can’t Hold Back”—Lee Ann Marie
• Chicago, “Stay the Night”—Ingrid Anderson
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”—Carol Seligson Fabi

1985

• The Cars, “Tonight She Comes”; Huey Lewis and the News, “Doing It All for My Baby” (1987)—Tara Shannon 

1986

• Prince, “Kiss”—Monique Mannen
• Huey Lewis and the News, “Stuck with You”—Keely Brosnan (also known as Keely Shaye Smith)
• Robbie Nevil, “C’est La Vie”—Kathy Foy-Asaro

1987

• REO Speedwagon, “That Ain’t Love”—Karen Peterson Matchinga

1988

• George Michael, “Father Figure”—Tania Harcourt-Cooze (Tania Coleridge)
• Richard Marx, “Endless Summer Nights”—Blueberry Blervaque
• Bryan Ferry, “Kiss and Tell”—Denice Lewis

1989

• Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”—Melody Knighton, Marlee Matlin, Lupe McDonald, Susan McNabb, Barbara Paolella, Frankie Thorn

1990

• Billy Idol, “Cradle of Love”—Betsy Lynn George

1991

• Van Halen, “Poundcake”—Diane Manzo

1993

• Meat Loaf, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”—Dana Patrick

Some I found declined to participate or did not respond:

J. Geils Band, “Centerfold” (1981)—Jill Forbert (Jill Priest); 
did not remember the names of any of the other women in the video:

Jill (left); Jill in 2011

 Huey Lewis and the News, “Do You Believe in Love” (1982)—Liz Shatner; 

daughter of William Shatner:

 Liz 2008; one of several videos of Liz interviewing her dad

Dexy’s Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen” (1982)—Máire Fahey; 
editor of Prima magazine:

 
 

Maire recently

Kajagoogoo, “Too Shy” (1983)—Carolyn Miller (Carolyn Espley); 
married to comedian Dennis Miller:

Carolyn recently; image: C Home

The Kinks, “Come Dancing” (1983)—Emma Harrison (no photos)

 The Cars, “You Might Think” (1984)—Susan Gallagher; 

married to author/MTV executive Bill Flanagan:

image: Doug Hopkins

Susan 2010

Ray Parker, Jr., “Ghostbusters” (1984)—Cindy Horn (Cindy Harrell); 
a humanitarian married to Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios:

 Cindy 1982

Cindy 2014

Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark” (1984)—Courteney Cox; 
starred in a 1990s sitcom (no photos)

 Lionel Richie, “Hello” (1984)—Laura Barboza (Laura Carrington); 

married to photographer Anthony Barboza:

  
Billy Idol, “Eyes Without a Face” (1984)—Nina Tolbert (no photos) 

Bon Jovi, “Runaway”  (1984)—Jennifer Gatti:

  
David Lee Roth, “California Girls” (1985):

 (one on the left)
 
Elton John, “Nikita” (1985)—Anya Rajah (Anya Major); 

also the hammer-wielding woman in the iconic
 Apple Computer “1984” Super Bowl commercial:

Anya circa 2010

Tears for Fears, “Head Over Heels” (1985)—Joan Densmore:

  
The Moody Blues, “Your Wildest Dreams” (1986)—Janet Spencer-Turner:

 Janet recently

 AC/DC, “You Shook Me All Night Long” (1986)—Corinne White (Corinne Russell); 

works in music management in the United Kingdom:

  
George Michael, “I Want Your Sex” (1987)—Kathy Jeung; 

a makeup artist who agreed to participate but then changed her mind:

  
Young MC, “Bust a Move” (1989)—Lisa Ann Cabasa:

 
John Mellencamp and Meshell Ndegeocello, “Wild Night” (1994)—

 Shana Phipps (Shana Zadrick); 
a model whose mother (from whom she is estranged) kindly left 
a note from me on Shana’s windshield…but I don’t know if Shana got it:

 

Believe me, I passionately tried to convince them to (re)consider. I risked annoying them for your benefit. Luckily, this round does feature women from other videos by five of the artists on the list immediately above. 

How you can become part of this series:

There could be a round 3.
 
If you agree that the people above saying no to an interview is a cultural misfortune, please say so in the comments below. If enough readers express heartfelt interest any particular ingénue, perhaps that will change her mind...

Plus I am still searching for a handful more. In other words, where can I find a woman like that?

If everyone who reads this simply skims the eight photos at that link (time investment: 11 seconds), I bet we will find at least one of those women the very day this series launches and others as word spreads.

So please click the link and tell me if you have leads on any of them: mtnobleman@gmail.com.

Housekeeping:

• I conducted the interviews between August 2013 and July 2014.
• Stills from videos are copyright their respective labels. I got permission to post all previously unpublished images; if you want to repost, please do the same by asking me first. You know the music business does not tolerate piracy.

To tease you in, five of my favorite lines (stay tuned to find out who said what):

• “You couldn’t eat breakfast at Du-par’s without a video gal chucking some hash browns at you.”
• “Now how did such an indelicate question get in here? I’m quite sure it must have been a mistake, so I’ll just pretend it wasn’t asked.”
• “My friend said I was the Forrest Gump of modeling.”
• “My dad was just thankful I wasn’t playing a prostitute this time.”
• “Who puts Prince on hold?”

She’s right here behind the glass
And you’re gonna like her ‘cause she’s got class
You can look inside another world
You get to talk to a pretty girl
She’s everything you dream about…

First up: Tommy Tutone, “867-5309/Jenny” (1981).

Coverage of my “Peanuts” interview series

People love Peanuts in perpetuity. My interview series with eight Peanuts voice actors generated some attention (most of which was simply highlighting favorite parts).

Yahoo! (they made a video!)

 Yahoo! again

 AV Club

Huffington Post

Derrick Bang, Peanuts historian and author, kindly wrote me “All in all, a very nice contribution to the Peanuts record.”

The 10 funniest music videos of the 1980s

Before YouTube, if you wanted to watch a short, funny video, you had essentially two choices: America’s Funniest Home Videos and MTV music videos. Neither was efficient because you’d first have to wade/wait through a lot of non-qualifiers.

The following is not a list of the unintentionally kind of funny—those are too numerous to rank.

I liked Richie better than Fonzie, Paul better than John, Brandon better than Dylan, so you may find some of my choices a bit...square? (But you remember what Huey Lewis and the News said about that.)

I did not count parody artists like Weird Al. (Maybe he’s the only one.)

I compiled the list by memory rather than study, so let me know favorites of yours that I may have overlooked.

None of these videos overlap with any of the videos in round 1 of my “girl in the video” interview series…but one (almost two) will be seen in the upcoming round 2.

Before watching the videos, can you identify which of them include the following fisheye/close-up shots? 

The list:

#10 – “Paranoimia” by Art of Noise (1986)

Not laugh-out-loud funny but fun in watching the elasticity of Max Headroom, which easily could have been an influence on Jim Carrey.

#9 – “All I Need Is a Miracle” by Mike + the Mechanics (1986)

Again not an all-out riot, but the exchange between the band’s hapless manager and the menacing club owner is wry.

#8 – “Bust a Move” by Young MC (1989)

Some goofiness throughout (facial expressions as opposed to fashion—though you will see pants made of stuffed animals), amplified by the whimsical lyrics.

#7 – “Stuck With You” by Huey Lewis and the News (1986)

Because of the iconic heads sticking out of the sand, “If This Is It” would be the more obvious choice, but the partygoers in the opening vignette of this video elicit a smile. A slightly less wacky motley crew than the David Lee Roth players (who appear below).

#6 – “Love Shack” by the B-52’s (1989)

The song is called “Love Shack” and the video delivers. Ranks primarily for the dancing.

#5 – “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel (1983)

I especially like the way both the Ed Sullivan audience and the young brothers sway to the music like human metronomes and the times when characters break the fourth wall and shoot a look to the viewer. (Without them, would we have Dramatic Chipmunk?)

#4 – “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon (1986)

Chevy Chase.

#3 – “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” by David Lee Roth (1985)

Though the jabs at fellow ‘80s musical icons land flat, the kooky ensemble and Dave himself are aces. Simple but winning character sketches.

#2 – “Don’t Lose My Number” by Phil Collins (1985)

Say what you want about Phil Collins, but the man has good comic timing. He double-takes as well as he drums. The cast of characters is clueless, the highlight being the sandwich-sponging, fake-blood-spurting gentleman. 

#1 – “Yankee Rose” by David Lee Roth (1986)

The opening convenience store free-for-all is as entertaining as the rest of the video (and the song itself) is forgettable. I still laugh out loud after nearly 30 years.

As you can see, with five entries, the funniest year was 1986. Tied for second with two entries each: 1985 and 1989. (That leaves you, lone 1983.)

Mark Evanier on Bob Kane’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star

Longtime comics writer and ambassador Mark Evanier has weighed in on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star that Bob Kane will be getting.

Mark and Marc, 2012

His response (as always, measured and articulate) was posted on the Comics History Exchange, a Facebook page for scholarly discussions about, well, what it says.

After reading some of the responses there, I felt some key points had not yet been addressed so I chimed in:

For those who don’t know, I wrote the first book on Bill Finger. That doesn’t mean I know the most, but I know this:

We’ve all heard that Bob’s contract with DC states that Bob must be credited as sole creator. However, since no one outside of DC execs has seen the infamous Bob contract, the only way we know this is from Bob himself…who was not known for his honesty. What if the contract does not say that?

Either way, Bill’s role on Batman is, I don’t need to tell this crowd, beyond extensive. Name one creative element that came from Bob, aside from Two-Face. (Bob did not write a single Batman story in his life.) That 75th anniversary Batman poster DC produced for comics shops? Bill is the driving force (if not full-on creator) of the first nine milestones it includes, and had a hand in the first fourteen.

Yes, Bill got paid a page rate. Yes, Bill did not stick up for himself hard enough (but he did speak up on at least two occasions that my book cites).

However, this does not excuse Bob’s behavior. I forgive Bob for not crediting Bill in the 1940s, an era in which (as Mark Evanier notes) this was common. But I do not forgive Bob for his response to Bill’s professional, non-confrontational statements in 1965 (after 25 years of anonymity to the public) in which he (Bill) revealed what his contribution was on Batman without attacking Bob to do so. Bob’s response: Bill is lying (when the truth was the reverse).

And though I am glad Bob included that “unsung hero/deserves his name on Batman” line in his autobiography (thanks to Thomas Andrae), he did not follow through on his attempt at redemption—and in fact backpedaled with the appalling grandstanding on his gravestone.

It is one thing to act in accordance with the time (1939). It is another to humiliate and discredit a onetime friend (1965). Bob had the chance to earn a respectable legacy, but in perpetuating the “lone creator myth” even unto death, failed to do so.

In 1975, Jay Emmett, Executive VP of Warner Communications, said of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster: “Legally, nothing has to be done. Morally, I think something should be done, and we will do it out of compassion.”

Where have you gone, Jay Emmett?

Justice has no expiration date.

P.S. I made and shared my Bill star the day after the announcement: 

Before seeing this, the talented Xum Yukinori made a more accomplished one:

We both encourage anyone to share them on behalf of Bill.

2/22/22 addendum: Several years after Bill the Boy Wonder was published, I realized I could not trace the original source for the oft-cited allegation that Bob Kane’s contract included that he and he alone be credited as the creator of Batman. (Sure sounds like him, but still need proof.) Today I stumbled upon a possible answer that I first saw years ago, but did not reflect on deeply at the time. 

In a 1966 issue of fan publication Batmania that covered a comic convention called Con-Cave that was held that summer, Tom Fagan paraphrased no less an authority than legendary editor Julius Schwartz (who appeared on a panel) as saying that Bob’s contract with National (now DC Comics) might stipulate that Bob’s name appear on Batman stories because Bob was the originator. (Note that Fagan did not quote Schwartz as saying Bob’s name alone must appear, but I infer that is what Schwartz meant even if he didn’t explicitly say it or if Fagan didn’t accurately quote it.) Schwartz said that checking the contract could confirm or deny this—but obviously that didn’t happen at the con (if ever, as far as the fans have heard). 

I can’t imagine that this topic would have come up publicly much before this incident; the first “official” con (i.e. the first con where pros participated) was only the year before. But again, I can’t say with certainty that this is where the infamous claim took root…or if it’s true.