Q. In an answer two years ago (which I saved), you made passing reference to an actress named Rosalind (Culli) Keith from the Belleville-Mascoutah area. One summer when I was small (8 or 10), she and her mother and another lady came to visit our family. I remember my mother saying she was a movie star.
When we moved to a farm south of Belleville in 1937, our neighbors were the Culli brothers, Cletus and Harvey. During the war, they and other neighbors would pool stamps to go to dances. Were they related to the actress? And, what became of her?
-- M. Sins, of Belleville
A. "If the story of how Rosalind Culli crashed Hollywood and sprang in one leap to stardom is ever published," the Belleville Daily Advocate wrote on Aug. 7, 1935, "it will make a story that would fit in one of Ripley's 'Believe It Or Not' (cartoons)."
That's no exaggeration. In 1934, Culli, then just 17, moved to Hollywood with her parents, Rudolph and Hilda Klingelhoefer Culli. As a student at the Kendall School of Expression in Belleville, she had earned rave reviews for her performances in local theaters. The Mascoutah native was determined to set Tinseltown on its ear.
Turns out she could have given Madonna or Britney lessons in how to grab attention. When she found casting office doors being slammed in her face, she "had her hair bleached, her eyebrows plucked to almost an invisible line, and practiced Mae West's undulating walk," according to the April 23, 1935, Advocate.
Then came the coup de grace. She went to an animal store and paid $10 for a coyote, thinking she would create a sensation by parading it down Hollywood Boulevard.
But wouldn't you know it? The coyote up and died on her, so she reportedly put a small sum down on a honey bear. But the bear howled so much for its previous owner, that Culli had to trade it in for a South American ocelot.
Fortunately, before she had to tangle with that big cat in public, Paramount Pictures signed her to a leading role in the 1935 picture "The Glass Key" with the likes of George Raft and Ray Milland. Before that, she had had only one bit role as a "Cinderella girl" in "Romance in the Rain."
For the next five years, she would enjoy life as leading lady Rosalind Keith in nearly 20 more films, including "King of the Royal Mounted" and "Theodora Goes Wild" with Melvyn Douglas and Irene Dunne.
But as quickly as she had exploded on the scene, she disappeared. In early 1939 she married her cameraman, Willliam Mellor, and inexplicably left movies. Except for an uncredited role as a nurse in the 1944 movie "Ladies of Washington," her last big part was as Madelon Kirby in the 1939 flick "Bad Boy."
According to her biography on the Internet Movie Database, she later retired with her husband to Oak Hill Farm in Glenwood, Ark., where she died on Feb. 24, 2000, at age 83. Unfortunately, the News-Democrat did not publish an obituary for either her or her parents, who apparently wound up in New Orleans, but Uncle Theodore's obit in 1973 showed that Cletus, Harvey and Roy were first cousins.
Q. My dad worked at Illinois Power Co. for more than 40 years and always wore OshKosh work pants. He is now retired but still loves his OshKosh. The problem is they are all wearing out and I have tried to find them for several years now with no luck. It would make my dad extremely happy to put on a new pair of these pants.
-- Sandy Lynn
A. In 1962, the Miles Kimball Co. advertised OshKosh bibs for kids, and, b'gosh, life was never the same in OshKosh, Wis.
By the 1990s, demand for the youngsters' clothing was soaring while the company started losing their shirts on the adult pants. About four years ago, OshKosh, now part of the Carter's family, dropped the adult line entirely, I was told by a customer representative.
So, your dad can still wear the pants in your family, but they won't be OshKosh.
Q. Whatever happened to Stone Phillips on NBC's "Dateline"?
-- C.F., of Edwardsville
A. It's frightening to think that a 15-year NBC news star would suddenly find himself at the mercy of the economy, but that's apparently what happened.
When his $7 million-a-year contract came up for renewal last summer, NBC decided to cut ties. It's the same thing that happened to John Siegenthaler, a former weekend news anchor. With most once-informative news magazines turning into pedophile chases and murder mysteries, the network figured it was better off with people who would wear several hats like Ann Curry and Lester Holt.
With that kind of contract, though, Phillips, a former standout scholar-athlete at Parkway West in St. Louis, perhaps isn't in too desperate need of a new job as the 53-year-old hunk tries to eke out a living with his wife and 20-year-old son.
Send your questions to Roger Schlueter, Belleville News-Democrat, 120 S. Illinois St., P.O. Box 427, Belleville, IL 62222-0427 or rschlueter@bnd.com
