About this Blog

"In the future everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes." So said the bleached-out, late lamented artist Andy Warhol. Having lived and worked in New York City, Warhol came to fully grasp the hold celebrity has on us. In this very famous sentence, he meant to point out that in a culture fixated on fame, many people will suddenly flash brightly onto the public screen, then--poof--will just as quickly disappear from public view--like shooting stars. Other individuals derive their celebrity from one stellar accomplishment (one hit song, one iconic role, etc.) that they never again match.

This blog is devoted to the one part of our celebrity culture that no one has written much about: temporary/one-shot celebrities.

The pace of modern life has quickened, and now we hear people speaking of someone's 15 seconds of fame. These "celebrities with a lower-case c" who will appear in this blog sometimes come to us from the world of entertainment, sometimes from the world of news. All are fascinating.

The need of our communications media for a continual stream of new material assures that we will have no end of colorful people who go quickly, where celebrity is concerned, from zero to hero (or villain) and back to zero. Now you see 'em, now you don't. What a crazy world, eh?

Temporary celebrities coming from the world of entertainment include one-hit recording artists; TV and movie icons who, although they might have had a great many accomplishments in their career, are remembered for one big role; standouts of reality TV; sports figures remembered for one remarkable accomplishment; and people whose celebrity came from one big role in a commercial or print ad.

News-based temporary celebrities come in many forms: mass/serial killers, other murderers of special note, sex-crime offenders, disgraced figures of government/military/business/media/religion, spies/traitors, hoaxers, femmes/hommes fatale, heroes, whistle blowers, inventors/innovators, and victims.

Celebrity Blogsburg will consider each category in turn.

Monday, February 2, 2009

One-hit wonder Mark Dinning

Of all the one-hit songs, Teen Angel, which was NO. 1 in 1960, must surely be one of the most mawkish. The song, recorded by Mark Dinning (born Max Dinning), was written by his sister and brother-in-law and told of a teenage girl whose car stalled out while crossing a railroad track and how she made it out in time, but ran back to retrieve the high school ring her boyfriend had given her-- and was squished. Remarkably, she was found with the ring clutched in her lifeless hand.

Dinning, who grew up on a Tennessee farm, came from a musical family. His three older sisters performed as The Dinning Sisters in the 1940s and had a big hit of their own in 1948, Buttons and Bows.

Dinning made a few more records, but none succeeded as had Teen Angel. He died of a heart attack in 1986.

1 comment:

  1. Really enjoyed getting to know your blog! And the intro explain why such a blog ever came into existence is absolutely fabulastic!

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