Laura Wagner, Film Critic/Film Writer: “And Then I Watched….”

Laura Wagner is resident film critic for Classic Images, the celebrated and iconic tome that is everything classic films. An avid movie watcher from her youngest years, Laura would take notes on movies—titles, actors, dates, other details. She had a notebook, she says, and each time she re-watched a movie, and she did that a lot, she’d review what she’d written, and mark off that she’d seen a movie again. During school lunch, every day, she’d read movie books. At home, once she’d done her homework, she’d read more movie books … and at quite a young age, she started to CORRECT some of the mis-information in some of these movie books.

So begins the story of someone who’s lived and breathed movies most of her life. There’s virtually nothing Laura Wagner can’t recall about a movie. So it was that when she began reviewing movies for Classic Images years ago, she became quite the sensation in classic movie fandom. She also reviews books on the market about industry people—actors, producers, directors, collections and collectors … you name it—the wildly famous all the way down to the barely-known.

Laura knows them all, and she knows their works. Say her name, and anyone who knows anything about the industry knows who it is you are talking about. If you’re an author who’s written a book on classic entertainment—depending on whether Laura liked your book or didn’t—you either shake in your boots or bow at her feet. Her recently-released 2nd book, Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel: The Uncensored Book Reviews of Classic Images’ Laura Wagner takes what she did for her Classic Images “Book Talk” column and removes all the buffers. This is no-holds-barred Laura—and that’s always entertaining. Her first book was Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames.

The Three Wise Girls chat with Laura on Thursday, June 7, 2010 from noon - 1 PM EST about her reviews, as well as her more outlandish “outtakes.” In her own words, “Because of space limitations, language or editorial changes, some of my columns have been altered for publication. After all, Classic Images is a family paper....”

Laura doesn’t save herself from her detractors, either. When she hasn’t liked something, she has said so, and often she has heard back from those on the other side of her page. Her book takes this into account by including some hate mail she’s received over the years.

Join us for a conversation you’re not soon to forget. Classic films, producers, directors, authors, actors—the well-known in addition to the obscure … and maybe YOU … no one is safe. Listen in to hear what Laura Wagner REALLY thinks. Call in and share your thoughts: 347-994-3835. Visit the Three Wise Girls Chat Room ... or just listen in.

Jason's Last Ride-The Truth About Trucking

On Thursday March 5, 2009, Jason Rivenburg pulled his truck into a gas station that has been used frequently, and considered to be somewhat safe. Jason was only twelve miles from his destination, but could not make delivery because it was too early. His delivery never took place. Jason was shot and killed as he rested in his truck. Jason leaves behind a young son and a wife who gave birth thirteen days after Jason was killed.

It's a fact that if truck stops were required to provide adequate lighting, cameras and if delivery sites provided secure waiting areas crimes of this nature could be prevented. It's also a fact that they aren't required to do so.

Jason's case is not an isolated event. Stories just like this one are emerging everyday, and it's time the general public took note. Anyone thinking that this isn't a problem that affects us all, needs to walk into the local Target, Walmart, or food store and imagine what it would it be like with empty shelves. It is easy to talk for granted that those shelves will always be stocked, without considering the men and women truckers who are literally putting their lives in danger to make sure family and food clothes on their back.

Hope Rivenburg, Jason's wife, will be joining the Three Wise Girls at Blog Talk Radio this Thursday, June 10, 2010, at 12:00 pm EST, to tell her story. We will also be talking about bill HR 2156-Jason's Law, which is seeking safer and more secure places for Truckers to pull over and rest, without putting their lives in jeopardy.

Joining Hope and The Three Wise Girls, Debbie, Dori, and Linda, are Desiree Wood, a well-known Trucker Driver who writes blogs concerning the real life of Truckers, especially women Truckers, and Deva Hoffman, a self-defense expert with some advise and tips for Truckers to keep them safe.
For information concerning Jason's Law, Desiree Wood, Deva Hoffman, click on the links below.

Honoring Jason Rivenburg: http://www.jhlrivenburg.com/

Desiree Wood: http://www.facebook.com/REALWomenTruckers and http://www.realwomenintrucking.com/

Deva Hoffman: http://www.nselfdefense.com/

A Conversation with Paul Petersen

Child star, pop singer, writer, spokesman and child rights activist Paul Petersen has many talents. A good chunk of America watched Paul grow up on “The Donna Reed Show” from age 12 to 20 (1958-1966) on ABC every Thursday night playing Jeff Stone. He became the dreaded Bubble Gum Star, complete with hit records, screaming fans, fast cars and faster women. He had a lot of fun in an era when you could understand the words to popular music and sex couldn’t kill you.

He worked quite a bit before the Donna Reed Show, rising up from the debacle of being a Fired Mouse at age 9 to perform in national commercials, then gradually moving into more important roles on classics like “Playhouse 90,” “Lux Video Theater,” and “Ford Theater.” These led to movies, and by 1957 he co-starred in the much-loved “Houseboat” with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, which led directly to The Donna Reed Show.

After the eight year, 276 episode ‘run’ of The Donna Reed Show he worked on a string of movies and television shows (“Happiest Millionaire,” “Journey to Shiloh,” “Time For Killing,” “Something for a Lonely Man,” “Gidget Grows Up” and more, but each year the work grew less and less. The handwriting was on the wall. He made some terrible choices in his 20’s…drugs, alcohol, bad people and worse associations…and eventually realized that Mickey Rooney’s advice (“Get out of town for at least 25 years, Paul”) was absolutely correct. There is little room in Hollywood for “former kid stars.” He made the move back to Connecticut and began a new adventure. Simon & Schuster gave him a chance to prove himself as a writer, and after 16 published books, he considers himself an author…when he's not being an advocate for working children everywhere they labor.

A Minor Consideration- his not-for-profit organization actually began as a book, but the needs of the kids he grew up with and admired soon showed him that it was more important to actually DO something about the problems rather than just collect and record the stories. The death by suicide of Rusty Hamer (“The Danny Thomas Show”) actually started the organization in January 1990. At the beginning it was just his wife, Rana Platz-Petersen, RN, the current Business Representative of Local 767, IATSE, Studio First Aid, and him. Their early interventions were successful and gradually they drew other “formers” into the foundation. Today there are more than 600 former kid stars involved with AMC. They are all in “Trivial Pursuit.”

A partial list of the accomplishments of AMC can be found on the website, www.minorcon.org. AMC is pursuing an ambitious legislative program with successful landmark legislation passed in five states, and is committed to ending the exemption to federal child labor standards suffered by children in the Entertainment Business found in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The rules for working children should be the same everywhere, and their protection a societal guarantee.

All of us have read the Disclaimer at the end of movies that says, “No animal was killed or injured in the making of this film.” AMC thinks that sort of Disclaimer ought to apply to children, too. Don’t you?

The very same character traits that resulted in Paul being Fired from The Mickey Mouse Club (for Conduct Unbecoming a Mouse) back in 1955 are, for better or worse, still present in the man he has become, turning 65 years old and now known as a leading advocate for the rights of working children. Time Magazine calls him “the predatory spokesman for kid actors” and rightly so, because when there is “trouble” he shows up.

Paul currently the AFTRA Chair of the Young Performers Committee, a credentialed Delegate at the United Nations for the World Safety Organization charged with improving the welfare of 250 million children who go to work everyday, a past Board-member of SAG and a sitting National and Local Board Member of AFTRA. He sits on the Board of the Fender Museum, and the Center for Improved Child Caring, as well as the American Foundation for Drug Prevention, and the Child Labor Coalition.

Amazingly, Paul Petersen is the Three Wise Girls guest caller on June 3, 2010 at noon Est. He will be talking with co-hosts Dori DeCarlo, Debbie Barth and Linda Alexander about his amazing accomplishments. The link to the website and chat room is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/threewisegirls and the call in number is 347.994.3835. Join us and be part of the conversation.

YOUR ONLINE PLATFORM … WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

You have started a blog, joined social networks, and to your delight, discovered others seeing the world as you see it. You discover, sometimes quite by accident, that you've created a landmark and others look to you for guidance, info, products ... you've created a platform. A web-based arena, yours alone—it’s like you’ve a far-reaching microphone. Your platform lets you freely interact. You begin a movement, a wave of sharing awareness with power to reach across the street, state, country … the world. That power is only worthwhile if used well. Benefit others as well as yourself and your platform goes viral. One minute, you’re talking to yourself. The next, your platform broadcasts to people you never dreamed of reaching. Leverage it and move into new business, friends, skills.



We’ll let our guest, La Bartista—her "picture" shown here—tell you about her name. She's “a lifelong movie and TV nut buying and selling entertainment ephemera online.” It began as a hobby in the day of America Online message boards via an addiction to the classics and a desire to learn about her favorites. First it was Sherlock Holmes, and then the actor who played him, Jeremy Brett. Ultimately she’d created The Brettish Empire. La Bartista—the name a part of her platform—has since created websites and blogs, speaks at conventions, gets to know those close to stars of yesteryear, and is preparing a book on actor, Paul Richards.



Of her multiple sites, one of the newsest is a blog tribute to actor, Jack Kelly, The Tall Dark Stranger There.

Create a platform of your own to suit your needs and the needs of those you reach. Who's your audience? What do you offer? What do they offer you? How can everyone benefit? We answer these questions with OUR ONLINE PLATFORM … WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? Join us 5/27, noon–1 PM EST. Register at Three Wise Girls and share your stories. Enter our chat room, or call 347.994.3835.

Land The Job You Love!

If you are a babyboomer and you have seen 50 come and go, very likely you think your chances of landing a really great job are very slim.

Mary Eileen Williams not only disagrees, but she has written a book entitled "Land the Job You Love!", with 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50. She explains the number one key that can make or break your job search, and how to turn your age into an advantage.

Mary Eileen, M.A., NCC, has twenty years of combined experience as a career and life transition counselor, job search specialist, university instructor, and writer. As a National Board Certified Counselor with a Master's Degree in Career Development, she specializes in working with jobseekers in midlife, showing them the latest techniques for landing a job in the 21st Century.

In addition to her one-on-one counseling, Mary Eileen has presented hundreds of seminars and workshops in corporate, community, and university settings. Most recently, her topics include “Embracing Life on the Feisty Side of Fifty,” “Baby Boomers—Rebels With Many Causes,” “Mars/Venus: The Riddle of Rapport,” “The Prime of Your Life: A Workshop of Self-Discovery and Renewal for Women 50-65,” and “Menopause: A Woman’s Journey to Wholeness.”

She loves writing stories that show the humorous side of aging and is a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul in Menopause. Her website is http://www.feistysideoffifty.com

Mary Eileen will be the guest caller on the Three Wise Girls Blog Talk Radio Show on May, 20, 2010 at noon Est. She will be talking with co-hosts Debbie Barth, Linda Alexander, and Dori DeCarlo. The link to the website and chat room is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/threewisegirls and the call in number is 347.994.3835. The Three Wise Girls encourage listeners to call in and participate in the conversation.

If you are a baby boomer, out of work and looking, this should be on your to-do-list May 20.

NFIB - Small Businesses Biggest Advocate!

As business owners how often do we feel as if we are being held hostage by legislation that all but cripples our business??? What do you do - where do you turn - to have a voice as policies are put into affect that effect your day to day life as entrepreneurs and small business owners. Enter the National Federation of Independient Business!

NFIB is the nation’s largest small business advocacy group. In every state NFIB represents thousands of small and independent business owners involved in all types of industry, including manufacturing, retail, wholesale, service and agriculture. The average NFIB member has five employees and annual gross revenues of about $450,000. In short, NFIB represents the small Main Street business owners from across our state. On behalf of those small and independent business employers in each state.

Joining the Three Wise Girls May 13, 12pm EST from NFIB are Andrew Markowski NFIB/Connecticut State Director and Bill Rys Tax Counsel National Federation of Independent Business.

Andy brings a wealth of government-relations and public-affairs experience as the Connecticut state director for NFIB since 2007. He has spent several years lobbying the Connecticut General Assembly on a wide range of issues, having represented small contractors, trade associations, municipal interests and private entities.

Bill joined NFIB in July of 2007 as Tax Counsel and provides recommendations on Federal tax policy for the organization by analyzing the impact of legislative proposals on the nationwide membership of NFIB’s small-business owners. They will be with us to discuss how we can take an active part in the laws that impact our lives.

Email the Three Wise Girls at threewisegirls@gmail.com - follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook Fan Page and follow the conversation.

Classic Entertainment -- Feeding The Niche

It wasn't long ago when the idea of "classic movies" went no farther back in general memory than maybe twenty years for most. Not so anymore. These days, there is a growing hunger for anything nostalgia, especially in classic entertainment. Whether it's in TV or movies or even radio shows from pre-TV days, the market is exploding. Are you interested in Cary Grant or Clark Gable or Robert Taylor? Check the internet ... you'll find exactly where you can get the latest and greatest in everything and anything related to classic film, TV, radio and its mega-stars.

What if you're more intrigued by names which not everyone immediately recognizes, such as Colleen Moore or Dean Stockwell? How do you find what it is you're looking for on the now more obscure stars from the days of nostalgia entertainment? Again, look to the internet. It's getting easier and easier to ferret out details, or find the old shows, or get photos and magazines and other pieces of entertainment-related ephemera.

And do you even KNOW what ephemera is?!

Join us on The Three Wise Girls, Thursday, May 6, from noon - 1 PM EST as we delve into the world of classic entertainment as it today relates to the booming e-commerce business. We'll talk with Cliff Aliperti who owns www.things-and-other-stuff.com, an online home for everything related to nostalgia entertainment. Cliff will tell us about how he started his business, what got him interested, and how the internet has changed the nostalgia market forever. Cliff has been selling on eBay since 2000. Thanks to his uncle, he's been in the nostalgia business--starting with baseball cards--since the mid 1980s. He moved into entertainment collectibles, and has been at it ever since. Cliff will chat about his journey, how the market has changed, and what he thinks is the future of nostalgia-for-sale.

Add to our guest list Jenny Allan who, under the name Jenny Curtis, has authored three books on classic film stars. She is equally well known in the world of classic movie geekdom as "Jenny the Nipper." She writes a blog, Cinema OCD, comprised mainly of rants about whatever movie is obsessing her lately.


Please call in and chat with Cliff & Jenny about your favorite entertainment figure or movie or TV show from days past, or visit our chat room. It's more than likely Cliff has some memorabilia for sale related to those stars you can't forget!

www.blogtalkradio.com/threewisegirls ... chat room log-in at that page. Call in to talk with us on the show at 347-994-3835 after noon EST, Thursday, 5/6. The Three Wise Girls--and Cliff Aliperti & Jenny the Nipper--want to hear from you!