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Secret Squadron, The See -
SPY GUYS & SECRET ORGANIZATIONS
Secret Word Girl, The - At the beginning of the quiz show YOU BET YOUR
LIFE/NBC/1950-61, the viewing audience was informed of that night's "Secret
Word." As host Groucho Marx would say "It's a common word, something you see
every day." If a contestant mentioned the secret word, they won a bonus of $100.
delivered by a funny little stuffed duck resembling Groucho that fell from
overhead with a $100 bill attached to its dilapidated body. Later, in place of
the duck was "The Secret Word Girl" (often Marilyn Burtis), dropping from the
ceiling on a swing seat, or dancing across the stage in a ballerina's costume to
hand-deliver the $100 prize to the lucky contestant who had spoken the secret
word.
Semi-Wonder Dog, The See -
DOGS: "Arnold the Semi-Wonder
Dog"
Serial Bather, The See - "The
Potato Man"
Shannon - Personal nickname of actress Sharon Lawrence who played
attorney Sylvia Costas-Sipowicz on the police drama N.Y.P.D. BLUE/ABC/1993-2005 and
public relations firm employee Gwen Leonard on the sitcom FIRED UP/NBC/1997-98.
Lawrence (born in Charlotte, North Carolina in June 29, 1961) reported that when
she was little, she talked like journalist Barbara Walters and called herself
Shannon Wawence. The Shannon nickname stuck.
She Who Must Be Obeyed - On the BBC-TV syndicated lawyer mystery series
RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY/SYN/1977-92 the sloppy, overweight Barrister Horace
Rumpole (Leo McKern) lovingly referred to his wife, Hilda (Peggy Thorpe Bates)
as "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Hilda Rumpole was originally Hilda Wystan, the
daughter of C. H. Wystan, the head of Rumpole's chambers when he first began
practicing. This same phrase "She Who Must Be Obeyed" was used in the 1887 novel
She written by H. Rider Haggard to describe Queen Ayesha, ruler of the Amahaggar
people in the mysterious kingdom of Kor.
Sheriff Without a Gun, The - Andrew "Andy" Jackson Taylor, a laid-back
rural sheriff from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina on THE ANDY GRIFFITH
SHOW/CBS/1960-68, very rarely used a gun and would rather talk his way out of a
situation than resort to violence. An article in The National Sheriff's Magazine
called him "the sheriff without a gun." On episode No. 167 "Taylor's in
Hollywood" Andy's nickname caught the attention of a Hollywood producer who made
a movie based on Andy's life and even flew his family including Aunt Bea
(Frances Bavier) and his young son, Opie (Ron Howard) to California to watch the
movie being made. Andy's bumbling cousin and town deputy, Barney Fife (Don
Knotts) did carry a gun but could only carry one bullet in his shirt pocket. It
could only be loaded in the case of emergency. TRIVIA NOTE: Ralph Bellamy as New
York Private Eye Mike Barnett from MAN AGAINST CRIME/CBS/DUM/NBC/1949-56 was the
first TV private eye who didn't carry a gun. Runner up: Jim Rockford (James
Garner) from the detective drama THE ROCKFORD FILES/NBC/1974-80. See also -
CITIES & TOWNS: "Mayberry"
Shoebootie - On the sitcom ALL IN THE FAMILY/CBS/1971-79, Archie Bunker
(Carroll O'Connor) revealed his childhood nickname was "Shoebootie." It seemed
that during the Depression his family didn't have enough money to buy him a
proper new pair of shoes and consequently, he had to wear one shoe and one
bootie as makeshift footwear.
Shorty - The nickname given to Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick) by his
taunting schoolmates on episode No.19 "Eddie's Nickname" of the sitcom THE
MUNSTERS/CBS/1964-66. To help Eddie, Grandpa Munster said "You'll never have to
cry again because someone called you Shorty. Your adoring Grandpa is gonna give
you a magic potion that will make you grow six inches overnight. Maybe seven.
Once I gave it to a pirate friend of mine who was only five feet tall." "Did it
work?," asked Eddie. "Ain't ya ever heard of Long John Silver?" TRIVIA NOTE: On
episode No. 64 "Big Little Man" on the sitcom THE BRADY BUNCH/ABC/1969-74 Bobby
Brady (Michael Lookinland) tries to exercise to make himself taller after Sam
the Butcher calls him "Shrimpo." Bobby's self-esteem returns when he puts his
"shortness" to positive use.
Silky Harris - The suave, smooth talking confidence man (played by Roger
Moore) residing in the 1890s gold rush town of Skagway, Alaska on the adventure
series THE ALASKANS/ABC/1959-60. Silky's philosophy was "Why dig for the gold if
there was a better way to get it?"
Silver Fox - On the sitcom THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW/SYN/1951-53 Lou
Costello explained to a nurse giving him an insurance physical that his middle
initials S. F. stood for "Silver Fox." My mother was expecting a fur coat."
Sinbad - Childhood nickname of the towering (6'5") black comedian with
mustache and flatop hair cut who starred as Walter Oakes, a graduate student and
basketball coach on the black sitcom A DIFFERENT WORLD/NBC/1987-93. Sinbad's
real name is David Adkins. Being the son of preacher, its ironic that he chose
such a same as Sin...Bad? His name was inspired by the character Sinbad the
Sailor who wasn't the strongest or the biggest but he was the most clever.
Sinbad jokingly called his dad "Too Bad." Sinbad got his start in 1988 when he
came to national attention on the syndicated talent show STAR SEARCH and later
hosted the syndicated musical variety talent show IT'S SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO!
In 1997 Sinbad wrote the humorous book Sinbad's Guide to Life: Because I Know
Everything published by Bantam Books.
Sir Limps-a-Lot See -
PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
- Physically Impaired:
Siren of the Soaps, The - Webster's Dictionary defines a siren as "an alluring
beautiful woman, insidiously or deceptively enticing or seductive to men, a
temptress." This ideally described actress Susan Lucci called the "Siren of the
Soaps" who played the vixen, Erica Kane on the ABC daytime soap opera ALL MY
CHILDREN/ABC/1970+. Lucci's character played a modern day Scarlett O'Hara, who
was the most charming woman you could ever want to meet, as long as you didn't
get in the way of the things she wanted. Her dirtiest deed was trying to poison
an actress who beat her out of a movie role. Susan Lucci has received several
Emmy nominations for her role (but no Emmy) as the woman you just love to hate.
Six - Unusual first name of Six LeMeure (Jenna Von Oy) the fast-talking
best friend of teenager Blossom Russo (Mayim Bialik) on the sitcom
BLOSSOM/NBC/1991-95. Reportedly her name reflects her birth order in her family,
but in the series pilot, there was a joke that it took "six beers" for Six's
parents to conceive her. See also -
"Number Six"
Sizzle Lips - The pet name for Richard "Richie" Cunningham (Ron Howard)
given to him by his high school sweetheart Lori Beth Allen (Lynda Goodfriend) on
the 1950s based sitcom HAPPY DAYS/ABC/1974-84. During the 1980 season, Richie
joined the Army, shipped off to Greenland and after a lengthy correspondence
with Lori Beth, married her via a long distance phone hookup. Before the demise
of the series "Sizzle Lips" was the proud father of a baby boy (Richie, Jr.)
with one more on the way. Richie called Laurie Beth "Sweet Knees."I
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