Latest news with #Three'sCompany
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Iconic '80s sexpot starlet who rose to fame on Three's Company and Dallas looks unrecognizable while out in LA
This former actress looked nearly unrecognizable while stepping out in Los Angeles this week. The retired soap star, now 66 years old, put on a casual display and had her platinum blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun while working on her animal rescue ranch on Monday. She previously rose to fame as a sex symbol starlet at the age of 21 when she landed the role of Cindy Snow on Three's Company in the '80s. She also starred on the hit drama Dallas, portraying the long-lost Ewing cousin Jamie Ewing Barnes in a recurring role, for two seasons. She portrayed a sex worker in the 1984 action-comedy Tank and has also made appearances in the crime drama soap Murder, She Wrote and played a guest star role on That '70s Show in 1999 — but she ultimately left Hollywood behind in 2002 to take care of animals. Can you guess who she is? From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. She's Jenilee Harrison! She was a blonde bombshell in the '80s and left it behind to do wholesome work of rescuing animals and tending to them in her southern California ranch. Before she left showbiz to pursue her passions of caring for animals and car racing as well as focusing on her real estate investments, she became a soap star in the early '70s. She got her big break when she landed a part on Three's Company, portraying the ditzy and pretty California blonde roommate. Her role was created to replace Suzanne Somers, who exited the series due to a dispute with the studios, and Harrison starred on the sitcom for two years before she was written off the show. She went on to star in Dallas, appearing in 70 episodes until she decided to leave the show in 1986. In addition to appearing in the movie Tank, she also starred in Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and They Came from Outer Space. In addition to appearing in the movie Tank, she also starred in Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and They Came from Outer Space She also made a brief appearance in just one episode of That '70s Show, playing the part of a horse loving gal, which mirrored her real life love and dedication for animals For her busy day of work, she looked effortlessly stylish as she dressed for comfort and warmth She also made a brief appearance in just one episode of That '70s Show, playing the part of a horse loving gal, which mirrored her real life love and dedication for animals. Her guest star appearance was in season two for the Red's Birthday episode. Harrison was married to Bruce Oppenheim, Cybill Shepherd's ex-husband, for nearly three decades from 1993 to 2022. Nowadays, she continues to run her rescue ranch at her residence in the lush Agoura Hills area of Los Angeles, like she did this week. She sported a front-facing, dog carrier backpack with her precious pooch at her side while she worked around her rescue ranch home in Agoura Hills. On Monday morning, the former starlet was tending to her horses, chickens, goats and donkeys while hauling her precious puppy in a front-facing, dog carrier backpack. For her busy day of work, she looked effortlessly stylish as she dressed for comfort and warmth. She donned a brown, long-sleeve graphic T-shirt paired with navy blue joggers while working around her ranch. She donned a brown, long-sleeve graphic T-shirt paired with navy blue joggers while working around her ranch Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tousled updo with windswept bangs framing her face She carried packaging and was recycling during her stroll out in sunny southern California In addition to her love for animals, her athletic prowess has won her gold buckles in rodeos and she also enjoys racing cars. Since stepping away from showbiz, she now lives a modest life with her beloved animals on her ranch She completed her look with all-black, chunky sneakers for her work day. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tousled updo with windswept bangs framing her face. And she showcased her natural beauty with light makeup on her eyes and cheeks. In addition to her love for animals, her athletic prowess has won her gold buckles in rodeos and she also enjoys racing cars. Since stepping away from showbiz, she now lives a modest life with her beloved animals on her ranch.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
DLT ENTERTAINMENT INKS DISTRIBUTION DEALS WITH THE CW AND TCLTV+ AND EXPANDS REACH OF 80'S SITCOM FLASHBACK FAST CHANNEL
Curated Program Line-up Featuring The Iconic Zany TV Comedies of the Eighties Include "Three's Company," "Three's A Crowd," "The Ropers," "Too Close For Comfort" and "Check It Out!" Features Beloved Sitcom Stars John Ritter, Ted Knight, Suzanne Somers, Joyce DeWitt, Jeffrey Tambor, Norman Fell, Audra Lindley, Don Knotts, Audrey Meadows and Don Adams NEW YORK, May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- DLT Entertainment, the award-winning international production and distribution company, has inked distribution deals with The CW and TCLtv+, further expanding the footprint of 80's Sitcom Flashback, the first FAST Channel exclusively curated to celebrate the zany, heartwarming and addictive situation comedies that dominated primetime TV in the iconic eighties. The announcement was made today by Donald Taffner Jr., President of DLT Entertainment. Beginning this Spring, 80's Sitcom Flashback will be available on The CW App and TCLtv+ streaming platforms. The popular FAST Channel is currently enjoyed on other popular streaming platforms including Plex, Free Movies Plus and Anoki, among others. DLT Entertainment, an innovator in adapting U.K. formats, first launched 80's Sitcom Flashback in May 2024. The FAST channel, which is anchored by classic TV's most beloved sitcoms including "Three's Company," "Three's A Crowd," "The Ropers," "Too Close for Comfort" and Don Adams' "Check It Out!" has grown quickly in less than a year and continues to expand across multiple streaming media platforms, nearly doubling it distribution platforms since launch. "We're really pleased to get our DLT 80's Sitcom Flashback FAST channel up on The CW App and TCLtv+. Again and again people rave to me about how funny these shows are. And it doesn't seem to make any difference if they're watching them for the first time or the fiftieth. Distribution on these great platforms will allow even more viewers of all ages to enjoy them," said Mr. Taffner. The CW, America's fifth major broadcast network, reaches 100% of US television households. The Network's fully ad-supported The CW App, with more than 100 million downloads to date, is available for free to consumers on all major platforms and is home to the latest episodes and seasons of The CW's primetime programming and a library of entertaining film and television content for on-demand viewing. The CW is 75%-owned by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST), a leading diversified media company and largest CW affiliate group. For more information about The CW, please visit TCLtv+ is a division of TCL Electronics, which specializes in the research, development and manufacturing of consumer electronics including TVs, mobile phones, audio devices, smart home products and appliances . TCLtv+ is TCL's dedicated ad supported streaming service that offers consumers in North America access to a wide array of entertainment, news, sports, and lifestyle programming, providing viewers with a free and growing library of premium content from world class content studios. For additional streaming information, please visit Amagi ( a pioneer in cloud technology and OTT industry leader, will continue to serve as technical service partner and manage the distribution of 80's Sitcom Flashback across the FAST streaming platforms. 80's Sitcom Flashback is available for platform connection through Amagi's FAST marketplace, Amagi Connect. 47 Samurai and Amagi will provide support for all advertising sales solution needs. About 80's Sitcom Flashback:The iconic sitcom programming line-up features "Three's Company" starring John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and Joyce DeWitt, which was adapted from the British sitcom "Man About The House'; two spinoffs - the cult favorite "The Ropers" starring Norman Fell, Audra Lindley and Jeffrey Tambor; "Three's A Crowd" starring John Ritter, Mary Cadorette, and Robert Mandan; plus "Too Close For Comfort" starring Ted Knight, and Jim J. Bullock; and the hidden gem "Check It Out!" starring Don Adams, in this post-"Get Smart" sitcom set in a super market. Click here for a peek: About DLT Entertainment: DLT Entertainment Ltd is an award-winning independent television distribution and production company with headquarters in both London and New York. Founded in 1963 as an international distribution company by Don Taffner Sr., the family owned and operated company added television production to its portfolio in 1977. Today, DLT Entertainment is engaged in every aspect of television distribution and production around the world with interests in stage production and talent representation in the U.S. and the U.K. DLT's diverse portfolio of holdings and investments includes London's Shaftesbury Theatre, Vera Productions, Juniper Productions, Impatient Productions, MMB Creative, The Soho Agency, Blue Book Artist Management, Bedford Square Voices, and The Galton Agency. An innovator in adapting British format programs, DLT is recognized for producing critically acclaimed and award-winning series for the global market, most notably adapting the British sitcom "Man About The House" for U.S. audiences as "Three's Company." In addition, DLT is responsible for leading the distribution of popular classics to international audiences, from "The Benny Hill Show" to "Chicken Soup for the Soul." In London, DLT is known for its long-running sitcom productions for the BBC including award-winning "My Family" starring Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker; and "As Time Goes By" starring Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Recently, DLT expanded its business and created an audio production division. Additional information about DLT Entertainment may be found at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE DLT Entertainment Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
TV and Movies for America's Vast Middle
Grapevine, Texas I grew up in the 1970s and '80s. My conception of life in the adult world was formed to a great extent by television and movies. As a teenager I didn't have much in the way of insight, but I did notice one difference between my own experience and the world portrayed on screen: In the worlds of 'Happy Days,' 'The Jeffersons,' 'Three's Company' 'Family Ties' and a thousand other shows and movies, religion had no place, except occasionally as an object of ridicule. No character in these productions, or none I recall, expressed a serious thought about God or faith or religious practice or doctrinal leaning. Millions of Americans for whom religious belief is a normal part of life learned to accept this absence. But it felt unnatural. Based in New York and Los Angeles, America's entertainment industry has long ignored the interests and worldviews of ordinary religious people in the country's vast middle. That has begun to change. Technological improvements—roughly from the development of the digital camera to the rise of streaming platforms—have enabled independent filmmakers across the country to produce high-quality movies and series that explore themes mainstream studios don't understand and prefer to ignore. That's the supply side. The demand side is ready for new stuff. That there are enormous numbers of American viewers who will pay to watch well-made films that avoid gratuitous crudity and sacrilege and present religious sentiment as typically human was made evident by the unpredicted success of 'Sound of Freedom,' the 2023 movie starring Jim Caviezel as a former government agent whose belief in God leads him to rescue children from sex traffickers. It was distributed by the Provo, Utah-based Angel Studios and took in $250.5 million in gross revenue against a $14.5 million budget. Two of the most talented filmmakers in this burgeoning field are the brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin. Their films aren't 'Christian' in any didactic or proselytizing sense. Erwin movies are what might be termed faith-adjacent. Their films' protagonists, like most people in most places at all times in human history, respond to life's blows by turning to God for aid and direction. 'American Underdog,' a 2021 movie about Kurt Warner, the quarterback who didn't make the NFL draft but eventually led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory, is as well-acted and skillfully filmed as any Hollywood sports movie. The Erwin brothers' 'Jesus Revolution,' starring Kelsey Grammer and Jonathan Roumie, is a sympathetic but not uncritical account of Southern California's 'Jesus people' movement of the late 1960s and '70s. 'Jesus Revolution' grossed $54 million against a $15 million production budget. Jon Erwin's latest venture is a streaming series released on Amazon on Feb. 27: 'House of David,' a dramatic adaptation of the life of Israel's second and greatest king, co-directed by Mr. Erwin and Jon Gunn. The first season was filmed in Greece last year under the auspices of the Wonder Project, a new company headed by Mr. Erwin and former Netflix executive Kelly Merryman Hoogstraten. 'I've been dreaming of telling the story of David since I was 16 years old,' Mr. Erwin, 42, says in an interview at the Gaylord Texan hotel, where the National Religious Broadcasters are hosting their annual conference. As a young boy, Mr. Erwin traveled to Israel with his father. 'He bought me my first camera, the best gift I've ever had. We made this walk-and-talk documentary. It was just the two of us, and we went to all the holy sites.' What he remembers most is going to the tomb of David in Jerusalem. 'Right there, my imagination started turning.' In our conversation he refers to himself as an 'artist,' and the term isn't amiss—'House of David' is a superb piece of filmmaking. But apart from the black ring on his left hand, there's no outward sign Mr. Erwin is a creative type at all. No tattoos, no oddball eyeglass frames or retro attire, just close-cropped light brown hair, ordinary jacket and chinos. His filmmaking debut, he says, came when he was 15 and somebody was short a cameraman at a University of Alabama football game: 'Some guy got sick and they needed a replacement. That's how I got into this industry.' With each of his previous films, Mr. Erwin says, he has been 'trying to get good enough at the craft to take on what I consider the Mount Everest of stories,' the epic of David. He's right to revere that story. The biblical Book of Samuel, where most of David's story is told—I and II and Samuel in modern Bibles—is a masterpiece: an epic history of the origins of Israel's monarchy and of the rise, near-fall and restoration of Israel's greatest king; a political-philosophical treatise on the necessity and dangers of human government; and a model of stylistic efficiency, thematic unity and unsparing realism. 'The story of David,' the Hebrew scholar Robert Alter writes in his 1999 commentary on the Book of Samuel, 'is probably the greatest single narrative representation in antiquity of a human life evolving by slow stages through time, shaped and altered by the pressures of political life, public institutions, family, the impulses of body and spirit, the eventual sad decay of the flesh.' I have felt for many years that the story of David is ripe for cinematic treatment. But I worried that any attempt by a Hollywood studio to dramatize it would ride roughshod over the Book of Samuel's beautifully constructed narrative and extract from it 21st-century social-political messages that aren't there. Mr. Erwin can be trusted not to commit those errors, believing as he does—readers may agree or disagree—that the text is revelatory of God's character. He grew up in a churchgoing family in Birmingham, Ala., and like many Protestants of a conservative bent was made to read the Bible cover to cover and memorize large parts of it. When Mr. Erwin was 6 or 7, a Sunday school teacher promised to take any student who memorized a stack of verses to an amusement park. 'I wanted to go to Six Flags,' he says. 'I memorized them all. And I went.' Thus began a life of scriptural study and memorization. I'm not surprised, then, watching 'House of David,' to note the care with which it treats biblical texts. The series contains plenty of dramatic material not in the Bible—the Hebrew histories are famously laconic, and any screen adaptation would require narrative supplements—but nothing in the biblical text is substantively changed. The extrabiblical story lines, moreover, consist of interpretations of, not deviations from, the text. One example: In the Bible, when the prophet Samuel visits David's home and asks his father, Jesse, to gather all his sons, he calls only seven of the eight—for reasons not specified in the text. Jesse is forced by the prophet to call the eighth and youngest, the shepherd David, from the fields. Why is the father ashamed of the boy? In 'House of David,' Mr. Erwin has interpreted verses from two Davidic Psalms—'I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me' (51:5) and 'I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons' (69:8)—to speculate that David was the son of a non-Hebrew mother whom his father married after the death of his first wife. There is no record of such a union, but the scenario would explain the contempt with which David's eldest brother, Eliab, treats him when he arrives to hear Goliath taunting the Israelite army (I Samuel 17:28). Everything in the show is not in the Bible, Mr. Erwin acknowledges more than once, but he insists 'everything in the Bible is in the show. We talked to theologians and historians and rabbinic scholars. In the end, the goal of the thing was to create a great TV show.' Which, in my view, it is. And I'm not alone. 'House of David' debuted at No. 8 on Variety's streaming original charts, behind the second season of '1923' and the third of 'Reacher' but ahead of 'Landman.' Since I spoke to Mr. Erwin just before its release in late February, 'House of David' has done well enough to merit a second season. He is back in Greece filming it now. Meanwhile, the finale of its first season—in which the young shepherd encounters the massive warrior Goliath in the Valley of Elah (I Samuel 17)—appeared on Thursday. I wonder if the success of the Erwin brothers' films, and of other faith-adjacent productions generally, signifies some broader cultural shift: a new openness to unironic virtue, perhaps, or a discontent with stories that studiously ignore the sacred. 'There is a longing for content that, as I like to say, restores faith in things worth believing in,' Mr. Erwin says. 'Things you can watch with your kids or your parents. If you think about what that screen'—he gestures to a nearby wall-mounted television—'when it first came out, it was something that gathered everybody around it. 'I Love Lucy,' Andy Griffith, Carol Burnett. It gave multiple generations a common experience, and typically that common experience left you feeling you could aspire to a better version of yourself.' Mr. Erwin repudiates any suggestion that movies, TV shows and documentaries—'content,' to use his bloodless word, for which alas there is no convenient synonym—must be morally disinfected or artificially wholesome. 'House of David,' like the biblical story on which it's based, is full of envy, violence, lust and strife. But its hero is—here I have to use dated language—a clean and upright man. Mr. Erwin points me to remarks recently delivered by Vince Gilligan, creator of 'Breaking Bad,' the AMC series (2008-13) featuring one of the great antiheroes of modern television: the onetime school teacher, later meth dealer and all-around crime lord Walter White. 'For decades, we made the villains too sexy,' Mr. Gilligan said on receiving an award from the Writers Guild of America. 'Maybe what the world needs now are some good old-fashioned Greatest Generation-types who give more than they take—who think that kindness, tolerance and sacrifice aren't strictly for chumps.' Mr. Erwin thinks of his work as in some way supplying newer, nobler heroes. 'In my career, I can't recall a moment like this, when these types of resources are being given to creators like me'—that is, to filmmakers telling biblical and faith-adjacent stories—'in a way that allows us to keep creative control. It really is an amazing moment.' Two items make me think Mr. Erwin might be on to something about this cultural 'moment' we're in. First, 'Anora' won five Academy Awards on March 2, including best picture and best director. The movie is about a tough-minded stripper and prostitute—sex worker, to use the current term. A finely crafted film, I gather, but hardly one that can, as Mr. Erwin might put it, attract a multigenerational audience. That the major Hollywood-based studios have declined in both revenue and cultural influence over the past decade is, perhaps, not so hard to explain. Second, a Pew Research study published last month concluded that the share of Americans identifying as Christian has held more or less steady for the past five years, halting—'at least for now,' as the study says—a decades-long decline. Is America poised for a resurgence in religious belief? If so, I have to think 'content' creators like Mr. Erwin will find themselves in the center of it. In the meantime, Mr. Erwin offers the simple hope that his biblical adaptation will spur viewers to read the book on which it's based, rather as Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy persuaded many of its viewers to read J.R.R. Tolkien's original. 'I remember when some Amazon executives read the scripts for 'House of David' for the first time,' Mr. Erwin recalls. 'They said, These are really good. I said, It's based on a best-seller, man. Five billion copies sold. It's a good book. You should check it out.' Mr. Swaim is an editorial page writer for the Journal.
Buzz Feed
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
21 "Unconventional Behaviors" From The Past That Are Considered Incredibly Normal In Today's World
As time goes on, things in our culture can drastically change in a blink of an eye. What was once considered wildly weird back in the '60s or '70s may be considered incredibly normal in 2025. So when Reddit user oldguy76205 asked: "What's something outrageous at the time that's now normal?" in the r/AskOldPeople subReddit, people shared their own experiences. Here's what they said below. 1. "Tattoos and colored hair." — HoselRockit "Yes, and I remember when I was in junior high school (in the ''60s), a group of several high school guys came to school one day with their hair dyed bleach blonde. The Principal gathered them all in his office, and they were sent home." — zoneinthezonetn 2. — Iforgotmypwrd "Yep, I remember that you had NO idea of the anchors' or the reporters' politics." — fyresilk 3. "The use of the 'F word' on bumper stickers and flags flying over people's houses. I remember when this would get you pulled over by the police." — dogmeat12358 "No one would have worn a T-shirt with any kind of obscenity on it. People would have been shocked that someone was parading around wearing something that children could read. No one cursed on TV. That changed with cable TV." — AvatarAnywhere 4. "Interracial dating." — maceilean "It was definitely an issue with my parents when, 40 years ago, I went to my parents' home with a white woman and announced we were married. My dad said, 'Your wife' in a disgusted tone and walked away, and my mother asked, 'What color would the babies be?' The strange thing was that after my father passed away, my mother absolutely doted on our daughter." — LongjumpingPool1590 5. 7. "Gay marriage." — MattinglyDineen "Yes. Back in the '60s and early '70s, homosexuality was actually labeled as 'Deviant Sexual Behavior,' even in the Psychology textbook I had for a Psychology 101 undergrad class I took in college in the early '70s." — zoneinthezonetn 8. "I remember watching the show Three's Company back in 1980 or so. The entire premise of the show was based on the fact that a single guy was roommates with two women. It even went so far as to hide the dude's sexuality (he pretended to be gay around the landlord) so that he wouldn't get in trouble." 9. "Seatbelt laws." Sukanya Sitthikongsak / Getty Images — CarSignificant375 "In the '80s, I used to have to tell some of my friends 'to put the seatbelt on, or we're not going anywhere." One guy refused, and that ended the friendship. Whatever." — toTheNewLife 12. "Women wearing pants." — Temporary_Let_7632 "In 1984, I started my first real job out of college; I wore suits with a mix of pants and skirts. I would get anonymous notes on my desk that wearing pants was inappropriate, and it was also feedback in my first performance review." — Charm534 13. "Almost everyone smoked cigarettes. I remember how we all swore we'd quit if the price ever hit a buck a pack. Now, where I live, cigarettes cost $1 each. Not many people smoke anymore around here." — RabidFisherman3411 "My mom said that when she started smoking in college, she and her friends swore they'd give it up when the price hit 35 cents a pack. Spoiler alert: she smoked for decades and only managed to quit after many, many failed attempts." — sqplanetarium 15. "Leggings. My mother was absolutely convinced that they were only 'slut' clothes, and I was not allowed to wear them, primarily because Madonna wore them with a lace trim at the bottom. And after 'Like A Virgin,' of course, anything Madonna was whore fodder." 16. "Older women getting married. I remember the Matron of the hospital where I was a nurse who ran off with one of the surgeons, and they got married. Everyone was appalled. She must have been at least forty." — One_Swordfish1327 "This had to be in the late '60s; I remember my mother and her girlfriends gossiping about a woman in our town who was getting married. They acted as if she was ancient and that she was so lucky some poor man took pity on her and finally married her. She was 30 years old. She had a great job and had done some traveling, but they acted as if she was an ugly wench. Those awful women (my mom included) made a huge impact on my life, and I rushed to get married when I was 26 because I thought I was behind." 17. "Microwave ovens." — BackgroundGate3 "When microwaves first came out, they were very expensive and rather large. Most sat on separate rolling carts that had to be rolled into position to get the plug close to an outlet. It wasn't until later, when microwaves got to be counter-sized and less expensive that most people began to buy them, and they started showing up in company break rooms and convenience stores." — AvatarAnywhere 19. "Expensive concert tickets. Remember when Pearl Jam and Nirvana battled with Ticketmaster?" JUN LI / Getty Images — Civil_Wait1181 "I used to see a band nearly every weekend — not THAT long ago either. I'm talking about Suede, QOTSA, Blur, White Stripes, and Stone Roses. A gig ticket and a few beers were perfectly affordable." — BobMonroeFanClub 20. "Very pregnant women displaying their baby bump in the street without a top. Now, it is normal." — IntentionAromatic523 "Those fucking tents we had to wear!" — Darkhumor4u 21. "People don't dress up as much for events anymore. I remember having to change from school clothes to play clothes as soon as I got home. I remember seeing no one in shorts at graduation ceremonies and such things back then but have since." MoMo Productions / Getty Images — dizcuz "There was more of a 'sense of occasion.' People dressed up a bit if they had to go to an office, a doctor, etc. People put on nicer clothes to attend a school play or concert or a restaurant for a sit-down meal, even if it was a diner. No one would have let their kids show up in church wearing a soccer uniform. I miss that. It was fun to get specially dressed and it made the occasion seem special too."
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Arkansas city boasts world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade at 98 feet
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Cities like New York and Chicago boast some of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades, attracting thousands of revelers and plenty of green beer. But a city in Arkansas has gained popularity over the years with its parade for an entirely different reason. The city of Hot Springs, a resort town known for its mineral-rich waters, promotes its 98-foot route as the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. For more than two decades the city has held the parade on Bridge Street downtown, and it's become one of its biggest draws. It's even gained the attention of celebrities who have participated in the annual, short event, including actress Valerie Bertinelli and rap icon Flavor Flav. How the parade began Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said the idea began in 2003 when he and a group of friends were at a downtown restaurant 'drinking adult beverages' and the topic of St. Patrick's Day came up. 'We got to talking and said, well, why don't we have a parade?' Arrison said. The parade began the following year and drew about 1,500 people. More than 30,000 people watch the parade each year, organizers say. What's a 98-foot parade like? For the world's shortest, the parade packs in a lot. They'll have 40 different floats, and participants will include 100 members of a group of Elvis Presley impersonators known as the International Order of the Marching Irish Elvi. Another float will feature the local chapter of the International Society of Helen Ropers, with participants dressed up as the character from the 1970s sitcom, 'Three's Company'. The parade has also featured a celebrity grand marshal and parade starter, and over the years has included familiar names such as actor Kevin Bacon, 'Cheers' star George Wendt and country music star Justin Moore. This year, Bertinelli will be the grand marshal and Flav will be the official starter. The parade even created its own green version of the signature clock necklace Flav, a founding member of Public Enemy, is known for wearing. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have also participated in the parade for the past several years. The parade includes other events, including a concert and a 'Blarney Stone kissing contest.' Before the parade begins Monday, there's an official measuring of the route. Other short parades Other parades have tried to lay claim to being the shortest in recent years, including two cities in New York that dueled over who had the shortest parade. Another 78-pace parade was planned in Bemidji, Minnesota on Monday. The Hot Springs parade's organizers also keep up a feud with another parade in Adamsville, Rhode Island that claims its 89-foot route is the shortest. But Arrison dismisses their claim, noting that city's parade is held on the day before St. Patrick's Day. Arrison also notes that the Hot Springs event has copyrighted the title 'World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade.'
