Shinning the spotlight on locally born classic Hollywood actress Alexis Smith

Everyone, it is said, was born somewhere, and indeed that's true, but not many big name mid-twentieth century movie stars called Penticton home. While today this sun-kissed, vineyard filled corner of British Columbia boasts a population of over 30,000, back in 1920s that number was more like a few thousand at most (factoring in the surrounding areas). Like much of the province outside Vancouver and Victoria, it was still very much a burgeoning spot that would take a few more decades to grow to a population large enough for it to be called a fully fledged city.

It was during the roaring twenties however, on June 8, 1921 to be exact, that a local couple welcomed a new daughter into the world, whom they named Gladys Smith. Taking to the stage early in life, Gladys was an avid ballerina as a teenager and went on to study drama at Los Angeles City College in California. It was while in LA that Gladys opted to take on a screen name, retaining her surname and swapping in Alexis for the first name she was bestowed at birth (in, part, I'd venture to guess, because there was likely no shortage of other women named Gladys Smith at the time).





While preforming in a play at her college, Alexis was spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout who just happened to be in the audience, and shortly after, in 1941, signed a contract with the studio. Though Alexis' movie career did not hit the ground running per se, it didn't take too long before she was soon being cast alongside leading names of the day such as Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, and Bing Crosby, in movies such as Gentleman Jim, Night and Day, and Here Comes the Groom.





Tall, beautiful, and confident, Alexis had no problem straddling both the world of Hollywood and of the stage, the latter of which was her first love when it came to acting. During the 1950s and beyond Alexis stared in several plays, including 1955's Plain and Fancy based on the book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman. Sixteen years later, in 1971, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine for her critically acclaimed role in the Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies - a role that would go onto land her a Best Actress Tony Award.





Though Alexis Smith never became a Hollywood star of the magnitude of some of her female peers of the day, she was not a flash in the pan or a one hit wonder either. Her acting career (which also included a handful of TV roles) span fifty years, with her last role being as an episode of Cheers in 1990, just three years before she passed away from cancer at the age of seventy-two.





Married to the same man, actor Craig Stevens, for forty-nine years, Alexis spent most of her adult life living and working in America, yet had the distinction amongst her fellow Hollywood colleagues as being the only well-known actress of her day to have been born in Penticton, British Columbia. I don't know if she was able, or had any desire to, make it back up to these parts throughout her life, but I like to think that surely, gorgeous as California is, there must have been times when she yearned - if only a little - for her Canadian hometown.

{To learn more about a specific image in this post please click on it to be taken to its original source.} 

Though I’m not sure if any of her relatives still live around these parts, should I happen to run into anyone in town that shares her (albeit rather common) surname, I'll be certain to ask them if they might per chance be related to the city's only female Tony winner, and an all around great mid-century actress, Alexis Smith.

How many of these 99 things have you done?

As both an avid blogger and a scrapbooker, I'm always on the prowl for topics or lists that can serve as jumping off points for posts and paper crafting projects alike. When, this past May, I first encountered the 99 Things game on the stellar beauty blog Art Evolve, I knew at once that I'd be bookmarking it to try my own hand at in the near future.

As I embark on the first few days of my 28th year of life, now seems like an ideal time to go through this list and see just how many of these ninety-nine activities and events I've experienced so far.

If you're not familiar with this fun blogging chain game, all you have to do is go through the list below and highlight any of the following things that you've done in bold, leaving those that you haven't (yet) experienced as they are (notes in italics are my own, you may want to remove them if you try your hand at this list). It's quick, enjoyable, and thought provoking all in the same go.

{99 Things}

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (a very tiny one!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (I've seen a Mennonite one though)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (I adore drive-in movie theaters, as discussed last year in this post)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Girl Guide cookies)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life 90.
Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby 95.
Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

{I've done #22 precisely once in my lifetime, and that was only because the car that my friend and I were driving in ran out of gas at about 11pm and we needed a lift to the nearest filling station - this being in days before everyone had a cell phone. There was, I assure, you no suggestive skirt hiking up in evolved, and I hope that I never have to hitch a ride again, though am glad in a way that I got experience it once during my youth. 1941 photo of actresses Joan Blondell and Carole Landis via Keen Delage on Flickr.}

♥ ♥ ♥

To say that this list is a mixed bag would be a massive understatement. Amongst its entries one finds incredibly profound events and experiences nestled right next to the seemingly mundane or every day. Few, if any, of us will ever do or experience all of these things, and that's totally okay. The point, I believe, of this exercise is not to strive to check off as many things as you can, but rather to reflect on those that you have done, while looking ahead to others that you may wish to experience in your lifetime (for example, I'd love to Visit Hawaii, France and Russia, publish a book, and have my portrait painted).

It's not a bucket list per se, because you did not create it yourself, but it can certainly help add an entry or two (or more) to the database of things you'd love to try your hand at during the course of your lifetime.
I was surprised in a way to see how many I'd done (both ordinary and spectacular), as well as some seemingly commonplace things (like sing karaoke) that I've not yet tried my hand at. I think that it would be wonderful to revisit this list again, perhaps ever ten or so years to see which items you can now highlight, and which others remain as dreams and goals for the years that lie ahead.

For those who may be wondering about entry #89 ("saved someone's life"), when I was 13 years old I was present as two men were were moving a bulky refrigerator down a flight of stairs. One was in the back and one was in the front of the fridge, as they neared the bottom of the steps I noticed that the fridge was slipping off of the dolly and that the man in the front couldn't possibly hold it up on his own.

In a flash I jumped in and somehow (I was not a freakishly strong child by any means), spurred on by the strength that comes from the adrenaline rush of a stressful situation, managed to hold the fridge up on my own while the fellow just barely escaped out of the way before being crushed. I cannot say for certain that I saved his life, but I know for sure that I was able to spare him from being extremely injured by the weight of a clunky old fridge toppling down on him. I've never shared this experience with anyone before, and I certainly don't view what I did as a heroic, just fortunate that I happened to be there at the right moment to prevent someone from being seriously injured or worse.

We've all done thousands of things, big and small, run-of-the-mill and utterly unforgettable over the years, how many of the 99 listed above have you experienced in your time and which do you hope to accomplish in the future?