What was today's topic? Oh...
I'd actually love to write about a lot of the chorus gypsies that have treaded the boards over the years. It would be a sort of compilation deal.
I would also like to look into the lives of those people you see listed during the credits at the end of a TV show. The set designers, the set dressers, costumers, lighting people, grips, best boys, etc. The so-called "little people".
I still remember a radio contest that WRNL in New London, CT, held when I was around nine years old. They would have some sort of trivia contest each morning with a prize of a couple of records/LPs or some tickets to some upcoming concert. Well, this particular morning, it was an entertainment question, and they announced that the prize for this particular contest would be extra special since they thought the question/answer was particularly tricky. The question:
"Who is Norman Rockett?"
-If you happen to know the answer, keep reading anyway...

So during the breaks between songs, they would take calls to see if anyone had the right answer. No one had the right answer during the first break. Nor the second. Nor the third... the fourth... the fifth... etc. The DJ eventually started giving clues. "Yes. He works in TV." "Yes. He's been working for a couple of years." Etc., etc., etc.
Well, since it was a school day... By the time I had to leave for school, they still did not have a correct answer. And by that time they had upped the prize to something like 50 records AND $200 cash. Even while listening to the radio on the ride to school, they still did not get a correct answer. In fact, they carried the contest over to the next DJ. And, apparently, the next one after that. They had not yet had a correct answer by the time I was coming home from school!
"You can see his work every day here in New London."
"He's part of a major television show."
And, then, this was supposedly the giveaway clue:
"His name is in yellow."

By this time of day, the prize was up to something like $500 cash, 100 records, free pizza at Spiro's, etc...
"Who is Norman Rockett?"
The answer: The Set Decorator for the TV series "M*A*S*H"
I don't remember if anyone eventually won the contest/prize that day, but I guess that was the event that got me to start staying through the credits at the end of a TV show or movie, reading all the credits in a Playbill, etc. -You could just never know when it may come in handy.

*Of course, I just checked the IMDB and some other sources for Norman Rockett... He does come up as an Set Decorator and Art Director... Just not for "M*A*S*H".
However, I do remember seeing his name many times "in yellow."
