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| WWW.PSFOLLIES.COM | MARCH 2007 | |||
 "Irish Alzheimer's: you forget everything except the grudges." Darlin's, Now, on to The News of which there is much to report (and that’s no blarney)!
But on March 20, after a 14-year absence, we will be thrilled to welcome back another astounding talent, Miss Mimi Hines. Perhaps you will remember her from The Tonight Show or when she took over the title role of Broadway’s Funny Girl from Barbra Streisand. And if you’ve read The New York Times, Newsday or Variety of late, then you’ve seen her show-stopping reviews from New York City Center’s recent production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. It is only fitting that she continues the Follies theme here upon our Plaza Theatre stage. Please read more about her below. If you stopped by our booth at either the recent Orange County Register Travel Show or the Los Angeles Times Travel Show and had your photo taken with one of our showgirls, they are now available for downloading from the “Fan Gallery” on the Follies website.
For those of you who’ve included your Follies memories in personal blogs, I wish to extend my sincere thanks. We very much appreciate your many kind words. And for those of you without blogs, the Follies Forum provides an ideal space to post your musings and other tidbits. Starting last week, a new thread was created where you can post photos of grandkids. Viewing the “Beautiful Baby” contest during the past month on Regis (whilst recovering from our current nine-shows-per-week schedule each morning), I was reminded of the thousands of similar photos you’ve shared with me through the years while leaving the theater. The posting of the same on our Forum allows you to show other Follies Fans that your grandchildren are the cutest!
Finally, for those of you with show biz in your veins (at least those of you who can endure the aforementioned show schedule), Follies auditions will be held on May 22 and 23, 2007, here at the Plaza Theatre. More information is included below or you can click onto our website for complete details on becoming a Follies Long-Legged Lovely or Dapper Dandy.
 Musical Comedy Star Twinkles Through Six Decades
Miss Hines and her then comedy partner, Phil Ford, first attracted national notice in a 1958 appearance on The Tonight Show. The duo performed together full time until 1972, and reunited periodically—including a delightful turn as Follies guest stars throughout Season Two—until shortly before Mr. Ford passed away in 2005.
Notes Follies impresario, Riff Markowitz: “It has been 14 years since Miss Hines appeared on our stage: too long, but well worth the wait.” 
Many of those fans remember her from the film Diamonds Are Forever where she played “Thumper,” the first black Bond Girl. (Note: While her scenes were set in Las Vegas, they were actually filmed here in Palm Springs.) Each summer, during her Follies hiatus, she is invited to the U.K. as a celebrity guest at the popular James Bond Fan Convention (please see below).
DOROTHY KLOSSWhy stop when the spirit moves you? Dorothy Kloss, 83, began dancing when she was 3 years old. While working with a young Bob Fosse in a Chicago class, she won a tap contest and catapulted to stardom doing her own act at the Empire Room in Chicago. She toured the country from New York to California, and played Mexico City with the legendary Cantinflas. She toured with Eddy Duchin until his orchestra was drafted during World War II, and then performed for the USO. In 1946, she became the hostess and dance instructor of television shows, broadcasting out of Chicago on WBKB. She has starred with Liberace, The Mills Brothers, Mel Torme, Harry Richman, Howard Keel, Kaye Starr, Frankie Laine and Chico Marx. She was accompanied by such bands as Ray Noble, Skinnay Ennis, Shep Fields and his "Rippling Rhythm," to name a few. Dorothy has one son and two granddaughters, and this is her 12th season in the Follies.
When you were growing up, who was your "idol"?
DICK FRANCEWhen I dance, I feel alive! Dick France, 77, returns for his fifth season at the Follies. Son of vaudevillians, "Jerome and France," he began performing at age 8. In 1948, he joined the Mary Martin touring company of Annie Get Your Gun. Over the next few years, France appeared in Inside U.S.A. with Jack Haley and Bea Lillie, and was cast in Seventeen, his first Broadway show. Other Broadway shows included By the Beautiful Sea, opposite Shirley Booth, and The Girls Against the Boys. He also performed Oklahoma!, starring Shirley Jones, for President Johnson at the White House, and made numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In London, France restaged Wish You Were Here, played the title role in Pal Joey, and appeared in Noel Coward's Night of 100 Stars at the Palladium. In 1963, he was cast as Steve Lawrence's standby in What Makes Sammy Run?, playing the title role some 30 times on Broadway. After a 1970 move to Tucson, he and his wife, Karrie, ran the France Academy of Dance for 30 years. They now reside in Palm Springs.
When you were growing up, who was your "idol"?
HANK BRUNJESMovement is life. Who could ask for anything more? Hank Brunjes, 74, now returns for his fourth season in the Fabulous Follies. Trained at New York's High School of Performing Arts (as a classmate of Follies Company Dance Manager Leila Burgess), he first appeared on Broadway in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey. Roles soon followed in the original Broadway productions of West Side Story, Mame, The Rothschilds, Chicago, Working and Sugar Babies, the latter lasting seven years including national tours. On television, he's appeared on The Guiding Light, Vegas, The Ed Sullivan Show, Voice of Firestone and The Jackie Gleason Show. His film work includes The Electric Horseman, Dog Day Afternoon and Three Days of the Condor. Hank is now a Palm Springs resident, and has one son and a grandson who live in England.
When you were growing up, who was your "idol"?
GLENDA GUILFOYLEDancing is my passion! Glenda Guilfoyle, 73, who is best remembered here at the Follies as the mother of seven children and now grandmother of nine, started dancing professionally at age 17 as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. She appeared for two years in Don Arden's Moulin Rouge in Hollywood and was handpicked by Walt Disney to perform in Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue. She also appeared in such Warner Bros. films as Robin and the Seven Hoods with Frank Sinatra and The Music Man. Glenda's television experience includes specials with Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Dean Martin, Jimmy Durante, Rosemary Clooney and Andy Griffith. She has taught at numerous Los Angeles dance academies, acted in television commercials, including Ann Miller's classic Great American Soup commercial, appeared in a Debbie Reynolds exercise video, and was also a successful runway model. Glenda returns this year to the Follies for her 12th season.
When you were growing up, who was your "idol"? 
The Follies is always looking for singers who can dance and dancers who can sing!
Click here for more Info!
 The Follies box office is open seven days a week and can be reached by calling 760-327-0225 or you can purchase tickets online 24 hours a day at www.psfollies.com and see your exact seat location at the time of booking. The Follies box office, located at the entrance to The Historic Plaza Theatre, is also open seven days a week. |
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‘Tis
a few short days till my dear, sainted mother’s most-sacred
day of the year: St. Patrick’s Day. While
her rabbi takes some exception to this, Mrs. “O’Markowitz” not
only embraces the wearin’ of the green, but utters nary a word
that isn’t tinged with a wee bit of the Irish brogue from the
stroke of midnight till midnight comes again. 
Gloria Loring
Trina
Parks
Abrielle
Dr.
Gary Small
If you reside in colder climes, then we look forward to welcoming
you to our idyllic corner of sun and fun. And if you live in other
parts of the Coachella Valley, then we look forward to welcoming
you back to our wee downtown village. The pot of gold at the end
of any rainbow would surely be our breathtaking desert paradise,
so we hope to see you soon! 
Though
Fabulous Palm Springs Follies guest star Mimi
Hines, 73, has been
a music and comedy star through six decades, her appeal remains undiminished.
As recently as January of this year, she triumphed in the New York
City Center revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies,
inspiring Variety to call her a “showstopper,” and The
New York Times to proclaim her performance “terrific” and “touching.”
On the legit stage, Miss Hines took on the seemingly impossible
task of replacing Barbra Streisand in 
the original Broadway production
of Funny Girl, and then headlined the show
for another 18 months of packed houses! She starred in numerous tours
of musical comedies over the years and returned to the Great White
Way in a revival of Grease. More recently, she stopped the show nightly
in Los Angeles productions of On the Twentieth
Century and Pippin.
We hope you were able to visit our booths at the 
It was an honor to be visited by the Mercer Brothers’ Bud
Mercer at a recent Follies matinee. Afterwards,
he autographed his new memoir Tripping the Light
Fantastic and regaled his audience with fascinating
show business stories including a touching tribute to his
brother, Jim. Copies can be ordered at 
Four
season Long-Legged Lovely Miss Trina Parks
again rode in Palm Springs’ annual Black History Parade, along
a boulevard lined with longtime fans.
(lt.
to rt.) Caroline Munro, “Naomi” in "The Spy Who
Loved Me"; Blanche Ravalec, “Dolly” in "Moonraker";
Richard Kiel, “Jaws” in The Spy Who Loved Me and
"Moonraker"; and Trina.
We are happy to announce that the following four Follies cast members
will be part of the panel discussion portion of the “Living
Better Longer” symposium being held on May 4, 2007 at 7:00
p.m. in partnership with the UCLA Center on
Aging. Reservations can
be made by calling 760-327-0225 and more information is available
on the Follies website 
