Rest In Peace, Olivia Newton-John

I was very saddened by the recent news of Olivia Newton-John's passing.  I had been a fan for many years....since childhood, actually.

Today, I want to share this article from an issue of People magazine, dated July 31, 1978.  I bought this magazine when it was new, and have kept it all these years:

***Post Addition - August 11, 2022***

In the past, I have posted about collecting "Topps" brand trading cards, including my sets for the films, The Black Hole and Star Wars.  There was also a series of cards for the film, Grease.  I collected the entire set of "Series 1" cards, but I am only posting the ones that feature Olivia Newton-John as "Sandy."

Some of the cards had "trivia" about the making of the movie, and "bios" on the film's stars, printed on the reverse side:

The backs of the other cards were actually "puzzle pieces," which could be assembled to make one larger image:

As with most of Topps' trading cards, the Grease series included a sticker inside every pack of cards:

I saved one of the package wrappers:

I also asked the clerk at my local "Stop 'n' Go" store, if I could have the display box which the packs of cards came in:

There was a "Series 2" of the Grease trading cards, but I only bought a couple packs, and never collected the entire set:

 

***Post Addition - August 13, 2022***

Over the years, Olivia Newton-John had many of her own TV specials.  One of them aired on April 14, 1980.  The TV Guide for that week featured her on the cover, as well as an article/interview inside:

Here's the TV Guide ad for the television special.  It was airing on ABC, immediately after the 52nd Annual Academy Awards, and had a "Hollywood" theme.

 The show got an extra mention in a TV Guide "Close Up."

The special aired four months prior to the theatrical release of Olivia's new film, Xanadu.  She sings the song, "Suddenly," with Cliff Richard, who had also performed the vocal with her on the film's soundtrack.  I recently did a search for this special and found that someone had uploaded it to YouTube, about six years ago.  I've included it below, for those who are interested.  Just a warning, the audio goes out around the 32:00 mark, but only for about 1 minute, and then it comes back. 

 

***Post Addition - August 15, 2022***

Here's an article/interview with Olivia, from a July 1978 issue of Crawdaddy magazine.

Her answer to the last question she was asked is very sad, in retrospect.

 

***Post Addition - August 17, 2022***

In November of 1978, Crazy magazine did a send up of the movie, Grease, and featured caricatures of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta on the cover.  Crazy was similar in style to Mad and Cracked magazines, and was published by Marvel Comics from 1973 to 1983.

This ad from the May 10, 1980 issue of TV Guide, was promoting Grease on cable television:

And this ad appeared in the November 7, 1981 issue of TV Guide.  It was the first time that Grease was shown on "Free TV."

 The same issue featured a special "Close Up" on the film:

I posted this ad for Olivia Newton-John's album, Totally Hot, a few years ago.  It's from a 1978 issue of New West Magazine, which featured a Disney-related cover story.  The release of this album came only a few months after the premiere of Grease, in theaters.

I remember going to see a movie back in 1978 or '79, and the music video for the album's title song played before the film started.  The video was filmed in Century City (Los Angeles), at the at the former ABC Entertainment Center.

I also remember the television commercial for the album:

 

Another one of Olivia Newton-John's television specials, promoted her 1981 album, Physical.  It was basically a compilation of music videos, for the songs on the album.  Here's an advertisement for the special, from the February 6, 1982 issue of TV Guide.

TV Guide featured a "Close Up" for the special:

And for anyone interested in watching the 40 year-old special in it's entirety, here it is (courtesy of YouTube):

The television special does include her infamous video for the album's title track, "Physical."  If anyone wants to view just that one video, here it is:

One of my favorite Olivia Newton-John performances is from her 1978 television special, Olivia.  Here's the ad for the special, from the May 13, 1978 issue of TV Guide:

 

 

And here's an advertisement that I found online.  I'm guessing this was from a magazine:

The entire special is available on YouTube, but the performance that's my favorite, is when Olivia, Andy Gibb, and ABBA sing medleys of her songs, as well as their own songs.  This segment appears to have been uploaded by the editor of the original show, and it includes extra "behind the scenes" footage, in addition to a stereo audio track, which is not how it would have been originally broadcast.

 

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 4

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I have been posting a "week's worth" of those comics each week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 4," the final part to this series.  To see "Part 1," click HERE.  For "Part 2," click HERE.  And for "Part 3," click HERE.

Sunday, August 13, 1978:

Monday, August 14, 1978:

Tuesday, August 15, 1978:

 Wednesday, August 16, 1978:

Thursday, August 17, 1978:

Friday, August 18, 1978:

Saturday, August 19, 1978:

I don't have the panel for Sunday, August 20th.  I think if there had been a Disneyland-related panel that day, I would have it in my collection.  I'm assuming by then, the family had gone back to "normal activities" at home, and that's why I didn't save that one.  However, the next day (Monday, August 21, 1978), the family was back at home, and there was a reference made about their Disneyland trip:

I hope everyone enjoyed this series of "The Family Circus" comics, from 1978!

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 3

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I have been posting a "week's worth" of those comics at the end of every week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 3."  Please check back next week for the fourth and final set from this series!  To see "Part 1," you can click HERE.  To see "Part 2," click HERE.

Sunday, August 6, 1978:

Monday, August 7, 1978:

Space Mountain was only one year old, at this point.

Tuesday, August 8, 1978:

The following day, the family was still waiting in line for Space Mountain.  Clever!

Wednesday, August 9, 1978:

Thursday, August 10, 1978:

I'm pretty sure that the short mouse wearing the pillbox hat and the large bow, is supposed to be "Bianca," from The Rescuers.  That film had it's original release just one year earlier, and it's characters were still being used within the park.

Friday, August 11, 1978:

This one is dedicated to Meet The World reader, commenter, and guest blogger, J.G.!  And he knows why!

Saturday, August 12, 1978:

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 2

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I will be posting a "week's worth" of those comics at the end of every week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 2."  Please check back each week for a new set!  And to see "Part 1," click HERE.

Sunday, July 30, 1978:

Monday, July 31, 1978:

Tuesday, August 1, 1978:

Wednesday, August 2, 1978:

The "New Matterhorn" had just opened, that summer of 1978.

Thursday, August 3, 1978:

Friday, August 4, 1978:

Saturday, August 5, 1978:

For the 2015 republishing of this panel (for Disneyland's 60th anniversary), Jeff Keane had altered his dad's original caption by replacing "The Bee Gees," with "Justin Bieber."

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 1

The Family Circus is a comic strip, created by Bil Keane.  It debuted in newspapers in 1960, and has been in continuous production ever since.  Bil's son, Jeff, began helping him with with the series in 1981 and took over production in 2011, after his father passed away.

In the Summer of 1978, the series followed "the family" (which consists of a mom, a dad, and their four children) as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I was 13 years old at the time, and my mom subscribed to two different newspapers, but I rarely ever read the comics section.  It was my mom who alerted me to the fact that "The Family Circus" was doing a series at Disneyland.  And she didn't realize it herself, until several days into the series.  Once we realized that "Disneyland" was going to be a continuing theme, I went outside to our trash cans to dig out our old newspapers to see exactly when the series started, and how many I had missed.

I thought I had been able to find all of them back to the very first day, but it turns out that I had missed the very first one.  Fortunately, "Meet The World" reader and commenter, "Kathy!", was able to locate that first panel and was nice enough to share it with us (thank you, Kathy!).

Monday, July 24, 1978:

This panel is the earliest one I found, when going through my family's trash cans!

Tuesday, July 25, 1978:

While searching online, I also found out that this series was republished in the Summer of 2015, apparently for Disneyland's 60th anniversary.  Color was added to all of the panels by Bil Keane's son, along with some other minor changes to a few of them.  This one was republished on July 17, 2015:

For some reason, I was also missing the panel for Wednesday, July 26, 1978, but again....thanks to "Kathy!", here it is:

Thursday, July 27, 1978:

The Mad Hatter shop used to be located in Fantasyland, between Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Peter Pan's Flight.  I took this photo of the Mad Hatter shop, in early 1982.  You can see how accurate Bil Keane was, at replicating the signage for the shop.

Friday, July 28, 1978:

 Saturday, July 29, 1978:

Please check back each week, throughout the month of July.  I plan to post a "week's worth" of The Family Circus' 1978 visit to Disneyland, every Friday this month!