The Memorial Wall

David Miall passed away peacefully in the early morning of October 8 at Résidence La Vaquine in the village of Chaillac, France. His loving family, residing in different parts of the world -- Canada, France and the United Kingdom -- remember him with great fondness. As a prominent scholar in the empirical studies of literature and Romanticism, particularly the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, David is also remembered with great respect and admiration by numerous colleagues and former students who worked with him. Much of his career was devoted to examining the unique characteristics of literary texts. He was an early adopter of computer technology, which assisted him with the pioneering research he conducted, often with psychologist Don Kuiken.

David was born in Brighton and from early on showed great interest in the natural world -- particularly dragonflies and ponds -- as well as music and literature. He married his first wife, Valerie Kennedy, in 1967 and they had a son, Laurence. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music in London, a school he had been accepted into at the age of just 16. His musical endeavours took him to Munich, Germany and back to London. Eventually he switched careers to become a scholar of literature. He graduated from the University of Stirling in 1976 and earned his PhD from the University of Wales in 1979. The same year, he met Sylvia at the College of St. Paul and St. Mary in Cheltenham where they were both lecturers.

In 1989, David, Sylvia and Laurence emigrated to Canada, settling in Edmonton. David was a prolific researcher and much- admired professor at the University of Alberta from 1990 to 2012. In retirement, David and Sylvia lived at L'Age, a small hamlet overlooking the valley of the River Anglin in France. There, David had books from the floor to the ceiling of his study and loved to watch the dragonflies, frogs, rare toads, and other aquatic life that frequented the pond in the garden. His Parkinson's slowed him down in his final years, but he nevertheless developed lively interests in cave paintings and local church frescoes.

Allan Blye, a television comedy writer and producer who helped cement the Smothers Brothers’ reputation for irreverence in the late 1960s and later collaborated with Bob Einstein to create the hapless daredevil character Super Dave Osborne, died on Oct. 4 at his home in Palm Desert, Calif. He was 87.

His wife, Rita Blye, confirmed the death. She said he had been in hospice care for Parkinson’s disease.

Mr. Blye was a writer and singer on variety shows in Canada when he received a surprise call in 1967 from Tom Smothers asking him to join the writing staff of the series that he and his brother, Dick, would be hosting on CBS.

“I couldn’t believe it was Tom Smothers,” Mr. Blye said in an interview with the Television Academy in 2019. “I thought it was Rich Little doing an impression of Tom Smothers.”

“The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” was unlike any other variety show. The brothers were renowned as a comical folk-singing duo: Tom played the naïve, guitar-playing buffoon, and Dick, who played the double bass, was the wise straight man. They had creative control of the series, which emboldened them and their writers to be more outspoken as they addressed politics, the Vietnam War, religion and civil rights — and their forthrightness during a divisive era increasingly angered some viewers, CBS censors, some of the network’s affiliates and conservative groups.

Mr. Blye and his writing partner, Mason Williams — best known for writing and performing the hit guitar instrumental “Classical Gas” — worked on the deadpan editorials delivered regularly by Pat Paulsen, a mournful-looking cast member who used the show as a platform to run for president in 1968 as the candidate of the S.T.A.G. (Straight Talking American Government) Party.

“These were double talk, they didn’t make sense,” Mr. Blye told The Los Angeles Times in 1970. “Pat closed with the line that if viewers wanted copies of the editorial, they could have them by sending in stamped, self-addressed envelopes. We got thousands and thousands of those envelopes.”

Mr. Blye, who became a producer during the show’s third and final season, encouraged the comedian David Steinberg, a friend from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they both grew up, to deliver comic sermons. In his second one, he told the biblical story of Jonah, with humorous riffs.

The sermon was part of the April 13, 1969, episode, which never aired and led to the show’s cancellation. CBS had been insisting that Tom Smothers send it and its affiliates a tape of each week’s show in advance, in a timely fashion, for their review. When the tape of their final show did not arrive on time, CBS told the brothers that they had broken their contract. Tom Smothers later said that CBS used the sermon as an excuse to fire them.

Two months after the cancellation, Mr. Blye and the rest of the show’s writing staff — which included Mr. Einstein and Steve Martin — won an Emmy Award.

“Allan was measured, mature and fresh, and he wasn’t following a common road to success,” Dick Smothers said in an interview. “He wasn’t formula. When I talked to him, he made sense.”

In a post on the social media site Threads, Mr. Martin praised Mr. Blye as “my earliest mentor” and a “comic delight.”

Alvin Allan Blye was born on July 19, 1937, in Winnipeg. His father, David, a Romanian immigrant, worked in his wife’s family’s dry cleaning business; his mother, Goldie (Portnoy) Blye, who was from Russia, managed the home.

Alvin grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in which Yiddish was his first language; he was a child soloist in his temple’s choir and sang on radio and in Yiddish theater. He became a cantor in his 20s and continued to be one at synagogues in Toronto and Los Angeles.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Blye performed on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation variety shows as well as on “MisteRogers,” the predecessor to Fred Rogers’s children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” He played Captain Blye, who went on assignments like “Go find me love” for the genial host. He stayed in the cast for a little while after the show’s production moved to Pittsburgh in 1966.

While still working for the Smothers Brothers, Mr. Blye formed a partnership with Chris Bearde. Together they wrote and developed the format for “Singer Presents … Elvis,” Elvis Presley’s acclaimed 1968 comeback special. Steve Binder, the show’s producer, said it was Mr. Blye’s idea to have dozens of men, who resembled Presley in shadow, stand behind him on risers and imitate him on his opening number, “Trouble/Guitar Man.”

With Mr. Bearde, Mr. Blye was also a writer and producer for “The Andy Williams Show” (1969-71), “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” (1971-74) and “The Sonny Comedy Revue” (1974), Sonny Bono’s short-lived solo venture after he and Cher divorced. He was executive producer of the sitcom “That’s My Mama” (1974-75), a sitcom revolving around a middle-class Black family in Washington.

Mr. Einstein’s Super Dave character first emerged in 1976 on the short-lived variety show “Van Dyke and Company,” which starred Dick Van Dyke and was produced and written by Mr. Blye and Mr. Einstein.

“We wrote it as a sketch, then started auditioning people for the part,” Mr. Blye told The New York Times in 1995. “On the second or third day, I turned to Bob and said, ‘I don’t know anyone who could do this better than you.’”

Super Dave was puffed up with misplaced confidence as he plunged himself into one death-defying stunt after another. Although modeled on the real-life daredevil Evel Knievel, Super Dave was more like the ill-fated Wile E. Coyote, who would snap back from being crushed by a boulder or falling off a cliff in the Road Runner cartoons.

“People loved the character getting mauled,” Mr. Blye told the Television Academy.

Super Dave showed up on several TV series and specials overseen by Mr. Blye and Mr. Einstein, including “Bizarre” (1979-86), a sketch comedy series on Showtime that was hosted by the comedian John Byner, and his own talk show, “Super Dave,” also on Showtime, from 1987 to 1991.

At the end of a failed stunt in the first episode of “Super Dave,” Mr. Einstein said, “My life just flashed before my eyes, and there wasn’t another episode in it.”Mr. Blye’s first marriage, to Shirley Brotman, ended in divorce. He married Rita Rogers (no relation to Fred Rogers) in 1989. In addition to her, he is survived by two sons, Jeff and Rob, and a daughter, Debra Blye, from his first marriage; a daughter, Kate Blye, and two other sons, Sam and Charlie, from his second marriage; three grandchildren; and his brother, Garry, a talent manager and producer.

Looking back in the Television Academy interview at his work for the CBC, Mr. Blye said that working with Mr. Rogers had “touched something close to my heart.” He recalled being introduced to him in about 1961 in an otherwise empty CBC studio in Toronto, where he was appearing on “Parade,” a variety show. When Mr. Blye approached him, he said, Mr. Rogers’s hands were occupied by two of his puppets, Henrietta Pussycat and King Friday XIII.

“I never talked to him, I talked to both of his puppets, and the puppets had their dialects and it was great,” Mr. Blye said. “I talked to them for about 15 minutes and someone came to me and said, ‘Blye, they’re ready for you to rehearse.’”

Mr. Rogers waited for him after the rehearsal.

“He said, ‘I’m doing a show here myself. How would you like to appear on a portion of it called “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe”?’ ‘Sounds great. I’d love that.’ So he booked me and I did 300 shows for him.”

 The co-owner of Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston has died. David Lebel was 57 years old.

David’s wife, Kathy Lebel, shared the news Tuesday in a Facebook post, saying her husband’s death was unexpected. A post from David’s brother, Tim, says he battled Parkinson’s for more than 15 years. It is not known whether that was a factor in his death. 

The Lebels bought Schemengees more than 25 years ago, fueled by a love of billiards. The couple expanded the restaurant and grew the business at its location on Lincoln Street. 

The bar and restaurant was one of two locations where a gunman opened fire in October, killing 18 people that night and injuring more than a dozen. It has been closed since the shooting. 

The couple also owns the Station Grill down the road from Schemengees.

In the post, Kathy said she and David shared “37 wonderful years together, raising our son and creating a life filled with love.”

Lebel said David was “kind, gentle and loving—a true partner in every sense” adding, “I don’t believe there’s anyone out there who met him and didn’t feel a connection.”

Indeed, by Wednesday night, more than 300 Facebook commenters shared messages of love and grief, a testament to the large and positive shadow Lebel cast on the Lewiston community.

In response to a request for comment from NEWS CENTER Maine, one woman who knew Lebel wrote: “Just call him a pool shark fried chicken master and everyone will laugh.”

According to Kathy Lebel’s post, David leaves behind a son. Lebel writes, “our family will never be the same without you my love. I will love you forever.”

Another veteran actor has said goodbye to the cinema world. Veteran Malayalam actor Mohan Raj, famous for playing the role of villain Kirikkadan Jose in Mohanlal's film 'Kireedam', died at the age of 70. He was battling a serious illness for a long time. Mohan Raj died at his residence on Thursday, October 3. The actor was undergoing treatment at his home in Kanjiramkulam, Kerala. It is significant to note that having worked with several Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam superstars, Mohan Raj made his own identity in the entertainment world.

Malayalam actor Mohan Raj died due to a disease called Parkinson's. For those who don't know, this disease damages the movements of the human body and hollows it from the inside. During this disease, patients have a problem of tremors. The symptoms are usually different for everyone. It often starts from one side of the body and then starts happening on the other side. Due to Mohan Raj's critical condition, his family was getting him treated at home.

After the untimely demise of Mohan Raj, his friends and fans expressed their grief and condolences on their social media handles. Senior actor Mohanlal wrote in Malayalam on his Facebook handle, 'Being called by the name of the character is a blessing that not everyone gets... This blessing is received only by the artist who rules the hearts of the people. Dear Mohan Raj, who played the immortal character of Kirikadan Jose in Kireedam, left us, my dear friend.' Recalling the time when he worked with Mohan Raj in 'Kireedam' released in 1989, Mohanlal further wrote, 'I still feel as if it was yesterday when we met. A tearful farewell to my dear friend, who was a very good actor and human being.'

Mammootty also expressed his condolences on his social media handle and wrote, 'Tribute to Mohan Raj.'

Mohan Raj was known for playing villainous roles in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema. The actor earned fame by playing the role of Kirikadan Jose in 'Kireedam', after which his fans started calling him by the name of his character. He also worked in the television industry sometime before the end of his career. The veteran star started his career with Mohanlal in 1988. Both the actors also worked together in a film named 'Moonam Mura'. Mohan Raj was last seen on-screen in the 2022 film 'Rorschach' alongside Mammootty.

Allen, Norman Paul age 74 of Lake Elmo, MN, passed away from complications of Parkinson's Disease on August 23, 2024 at Prelude Assisted Living. Born on March 8, 1950 in Minneapolis to Alice and Gerhard Allen. Preceded in death by his parents and brother, Gary. Survived by wife, Patricia, sons, Kevin (Ekaterina) and Gregory, three granddaughters (Maggie, Lilia and Rosie), brother Dick (Jean), sister-law, Sharon Bledsoe (Bill) and brother-in-law, Don Welch (Antje) and other relatives and friends. Norm graduated from Cretin High School and U of M Dental School. He worked for Health Partners for 35 years.