Category: 2015Bios

Biographies of special festival guests

Sally Tippett Rains

Sally Tippett RainsSally Tippett Rains is the author of 11 books including the award winning The Making of a Masterpiece,The Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, and producer of a documentary based on the book–which aired on HEC- Higher Education Channel and won a Telly Award. She is co-owner of StLSportsPage.com with her author/sports writer husband, Rob Rains, bringing her back to her sports roots at KMOX Radio– writing and producing for Bob Costas and Jack Buck. Sally Rains worked in radio sports for five years, switching to book writing and charity work while raising their two sons B.J. and Mike Rains. She is also the volunteer Executive Director of Rainbows for Kids, a 501 (c)(3) charity for families of children with cancer, started and run by her family. She attended the University of Missouri- Columbia and graduated from Webster University in St. Louis with a degree in Media/Communications. In 1992, Sally Rains was on the board for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and put on a reception at the U.S. Capitol attended by two U.S. Congressmen, to honor the Missouri Cherry Blossom Princess, who, coincidentally, was from Marshfield, MO that year.

Chef Roland Mesnier

Chef Roland MesnierBorn into a family of nine children in the tiny village of Bonnay, France, Roland Mesnier discovered his vocation by accident on a summer day at the age of twelve. Apprenticing to his older brother Jean, Roland began working at the local patisserie in exchange for room and board. From there he was hired as the pastry sous chef at the iconic Savoy Hotel in London, then was hired as the Executive Pastry Chef at what is now the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris. He then spent nine years at the legendary Princess Bermuda resort where he met his wife, Martha. Chef Mesnier came to the U.S. in April 1976 as Executive Pastry Chef at The Homestead, a venerable resort hotel in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Hired in 1979 by first lady Rosalyn Carter, Roland Mesnier became the first ever non-American to serve in the White House and went on to become the longest tenured chef ever – pastry or culinary – in the history of the White House.

He developed and taught the first professional Pastry Arts Program at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, MD – currently ranked in the Top 10 Culinary schools in the U.S. Chef Mesnier has won 18 Gold medals, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze for his pastry creations in competitions around the world. He is a member of the Academie Culinaire de France and the recipient of many awards and accolades which include: the French Legion of Honor in 2005 – the highest honor bestowed on a French citizen; that same year he was inducted into the Chocolate and Pastry Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Doctorate of Culinary Arts from the prestigious Johnson & Wales University in South Carolina. He is the author of three books, Dessert University, Basic to Beautiful Cakes and All the Presidents Pastries: A Memoir. His fourth book, A Sweet World of White House Desserts, was released in the fall of 2011 by the White House Historical Association.

While Chef Mesnier retired from the White House in 2006, he still travels the U.S. and around the world giving speeches, judging pastry competitions and participating in fund-raising events and book signings.

Visit his website www.chefrolandmesnier.com for more information and pictures of his work and to subscribe to his monthly newsletter.

 

Heather Berry ~ Working for the POTUS Panel Moderator

 

Heather Berry - Rural Missouri

Heather Berry is the associate editor for Rural Missouri. Before joining the award-winning magazine staff in 1989, she was part of Governor John Ashcroft’s communication’s team.

She currently serves on the institute planning committee for the Cooperative Communicators Association, a national group of co-op communicators comprised of writers, photographers and editors across the United States, Canada and England.

Heather and her husband, Rick, live on a small farm in Callaway County with their adopted shelter dogs — a sheltie named Cody and one rowdy black labrador mix, Nicholas, who chews on everything in sight.

 

Dreama Denver ~ “Gilligan’s Dreams”

Dreama DenverActress, writer, radio station owner and personality Dreama Denver met her husband of almost 30 years, television icon Bob Denver (Gilligan of Gilligan’s Island, Maynard G. Krebs of Dobie Gillis), when she was cast as his love interest in the Woody Allen play, “Play It Again, Sam”. After marrying the popular television personality, Dreama continued her acting career, appearing in a Gilligan’s Island reunion movie with Bob, co-starring with him in a TV pilot titled “Scamps” and touring the U.S. and Canada successfully and happily with her husband for over a decade.

The birth of the Denver’s son Colin, diagnosed with severe autism, changed everything for Bob and Dreama, who retired from show business and moved back to West Virginia to devote the next two decades to Colin’s full time care. During this time, the pair also founded The Denver Foundation, which honors their son and is dedicated to assisting special needs children and their families.

“The Denver Foundation and Little Buddy Radio, a nonprofit radio station owned and operated by the Foundation, were Bob’s last and most important legacies,” Dreama says, “and making these two entities as successful as possible became my mission after Bob passed away. His desire to give back to West Virginia was huge. He loved this area, considered himself an adopted West Virginian and was a tireless ambassador for the state. Regardless of how important and far reaching his television legacy was, and is, his love for our son and his desire to help other families like ours trumped even that.”

Since Bob’s death, Dreama has discovered new passions and new directions in which to take the foundation. Founding Always Free Honor Flight, WV’s first Honor Flight program, honoring WV veterans with free trips to Washington, DC to visit the memorials built to honor their service is especially close to Dreama’s heart. Leading the effort to have John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” adopted, successfully and unanimously, as an official WV state song ranks as one of the proudest days of her life, rivaled only by being chosen one of West Virginia’s Wonder Women by WV Focus magazine. The American Legion Riley-Vest Post #9 honored Dreama with their Outstanding Citizen Award in 2014 and this past January, the Princeton Mercer County Chamber of Commerce chose her as Citizen of the Year. In March, Dreama will be honored once again with the Sons of the American Revolution’s Outstanding Female Citizen of the Year.

Dreama’s recently published memoir, Gilligan’s Dreams, recounting her almost 30 year marriage to Bob, is her love letter to Bob and her gift to Bob’s fans. In detailing the Denver’s journey through autism with their son and Bob’s courage during the last 6 months of his life, Dreama allows Bob’s fans a personal glimpse of the man behind the iconic television characters he created.

“Bob would be proud,” Dreama says. “The life I had known for close to thirty years changed dramatically when Bob passed away, but I came to understand that honoring his memory meant living a full and happy life, carrying on the work we started with a heart as big as his.”

Morgan Brittany ~ Disney Panel Moderator

Morgan BrittanyFollowing bio and picture taken from photographer Alan Mercer’s blog. 

Morgan Brittany is one of the most beautiful film and television actresses of all time. She is best known for her role in the 1980‘s prime time soap opera ‘Dallas,’ where she portrayed Katherine Wentworth. It’s hard to forget those penetrating blue eyes and her striking dark hair. … 

Some people may not know that Morgan, under her birth name, Suzanne Cupito, began her career as a child in 1960 in an episode of the original ’Twilight Zone’ series. She then appeared in a fourth season episode and most famously in the fifth season episode ‘Caesar and Me,’ one of the most popular of all the series. She discusses these parts in interviews for the ‘Twilight Zone Definitive Edition’ DVDs.

She appears in the 1962 film ‘Gypsy’ as “Baby” June. Although uncredited, she is in the birthday party scene in the 1963 Hitchcock movie ‘The Birds.’ In 1964 she filmed an episode of ‘Daniel Boone’ portraying a young mute girl. She appears in a 1967 episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ as “Mary Alice Carter”, whom Opie Taylor asks out for his first date. She is also in the 1968 film, ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’ along side Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.

After her successful career as a child actress, Morgan, at the age of 18, appeared with Gene Kelly in his Las Vegas show ‘Gene Kelly’s Wonderful World of Girls.’ After that, she moved to New York City where she became a model with the Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared in a multitude of national commercials and print ads including a 3 year stint as the “Ultra-Brite toothpaste” girl, L’Oreal cosmetics, Ford, Levi’s, Camay soap and many more. 

In 1974 she was hired by the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo to be the “face” of their product “Ireine”. Morgan moved to Tokyo and represented that company for two years. In 1976 she returned to the United States and restarted her acting career. Also in 1976 Morgan portrayed Vivien Leigh in the biopic ‘Gable and Lombard.’ That was followed by numerous movies of the week and shows such as ‘The Initiation of Sarah’ with Kay Lenz, ‘The Amazing Howard Hughes’ with Tommy Lee Jones, and ‘LBJ, The Early Years’ with Randy Quaid.

Her brief appearance as Vivien Leigh again, is the climax of the made-for-TV movie Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara War (1980). Because of that pivotal moment, she came to the attention of the producers of ‘Dallas’ who were searching for a new character to play the sister of Pamela Ewing.

Morgan first appeared on ‘Dallas’ during the 1981-1982 season in a recurring role which continued for several seasons. In 1985, she returned for a brief cameo appearance in that season’s finale. Thus, in 1987, Morgan made another brief return to the show in which Katherine came to visit Pam in the hospital after a car accident. This was Morgan’s last appearance on ‘Dallas.’

In 1984, Morgan Brittany starred in her own short-lived ABC drama series, ‘Glitter,’ as “Kate Simpson”, a reporter at an entertainment magazine. She has also guest starred on a number of other prime time shows, such as ‘Married….With Children,’ ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard,’ ‘Murder, She Wrote,’ and ‘Melrose Place,’ and has the distinction of appearing on ‘The Love Boat’ seven times. She also appeared with Bob Hope on two of his television specials for NBC.

In 2002, Morgan had roles in the film, ‘The Biggest Fan,’ and ‘Mothers and Daughters.’ She also had a guest appearance on the television series’Son Of The Beach.’ in 2002. She also appears in the 2007 film ‘Americanizing Shelley.’ Morgan appears in the 2010 docu-drama ‘a Minute.’ The documentary features cancer survivors. She is currently a frequent guest on the Fox News Networks, ‘Hannity’ show where she is a member of the “Great American Panel”. Morgan travels extensively, fund-raising and bringing awareness to issues that affect the military and American values.

She is also an advocate for child actors in Hollywood and along with former child star Paul Peterson, brought attention to the film ‘Hounddog’ starring Dakota Fanning. Morgan returned to her musical roots in the 30th anniversary tour of ‘Mame’ in 1997 where she played the title role. She followed that with tours of “The Sound of Music’ as Maria, and ‘Crazy For You.’

Morgan is the mother of actress Katie Gill and musician/stuntman Cody Gill. She met her husband, stuntman Jack Gill, when she did a guest appearance on the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ show.

 

Joseph Yakovetic ~ Disney Panelist

Joseph YakoveticJoseph Yakovetic DISNEY RESUME

Title: Designer/artist/performer

Originally Joe was hired as a portrait/caricature artist for the Disneyland Hotel under the direction of Charles Boyer.  Later on, Mr. Boyer, famous for his many Disneyland lithographs, hired Joe to produce illustrations for Disneyland Magazine.  The first illustration was ‘How to Draw Clarabell Cow.’

 With the original Disney Stores, Joe began designing and fabricating award winning windows.  The first day, he painted a Roger Rabbit standee, without knowing who the character was!

After the Disney Stores, Joe went to work with Disney Books By Mail, art directing and illustrating the most successful book series to their division credit.  “The Little Mermaid Treasure Chest” was a 24 book series complete with a treasure chest box with which to keep the books, a poster and removable stickers  from each book to add to the poster.  Another book series Joe developed was, 101 Dalmatians recreating the original art style of the film.

As an Art Director and Illustrator, Joe was called in to rescue 8 of an 18 book series, entitled ”Disney’s Storytime Treasures Library.”  He not only brought the series in on time but met Disney’s high standards.

As a frequent illustrator for Disney’s Golden Books, Joe’s first coloring book assignment was “The Lion King.” Still in production, he successfully created the coloring book pages with only a few rough storyboards and some model sheets to work from.

Discovering Joe’s background in costuming, Golden Books dubbed Joe the Paper Doll King as he designed and redesigned many Disney’s Paper Dolls.

Due to his publishing background, Joe as asked to lend his talents to the Disneyland Clock shop on Main street, by designing ‘one of a kind Art Watches.”  Joe introduced painted illustrations instead of pencil drawn creations, boosting sales and elevating the quality of the custom art watches.

With the success of his books and watches, Joe was asked to join a promotional tour for the feature film, Pocahontas.

 Christopher Radko recruited Joe to design over 50 unique Disney ornaments.

As a designer, Joe was asked to design the railing around the new ‘Partners’ statue in the Disneyland Hub.  Joe submitted the requested image but added various Disney characters on colonnades surrounding Walt and Mickey.  His idea was accepted and is seen today at the Castle fore court.

Entertainment Art, another division of Disneyland, asked Joe to design other aspects of the park.  Working with set designer Tom Butch, Joe took Tom’s rough pencil sketches for the Snow White set and transformed them into the color and style of Maxfield Parrish.  These renderings were used for the final set.

An award winning costume, set and prop designer, Yakovetic’s designs have included costumes for “Disney’s The Little Mermaid on Ice” and “The Disney Faire.”

Back at Disneyland, Joe was brought in to design various venues for  Innoventions: the video game kiosks for “Finding Nemo” and the Haunted Mansion and redesign the Tivo set.  During Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary, Joe was the sole designer of the theater and set for  Innoventions’ new show, “Say ‘Hello’ to Honda’s ASIMO!”  This job included designing the graphics that wrap the theatre and dressing the set and art directing all the video clips used in the show.  The show has had over 1,000 performances and continues to be a guest favorite.

Halloween is a special season for Joe as he performs as a pumpkin carver for Disneyland guests.  Disney Home Entertainment brought his carving skills to Access Hollywood, Telemundo, Univision and You Tube to promote Pirates 4 and Monster University.

Starting in 2006, Joe became a featured artist at the Disneyland Gallery.  His paintings depicting still life reflections of Disney films are highly prized Disney collectibles. A limited edition sculpture of Belle is also at the Disneyana  Shoppe. In honor of Snow White’s 70th Anniversary, John Lassiter requested that Yakovetic create a commemorative painting for the special event.

 Joe represents the Walt Disney Company as a sketch artist, performing “live” sketches of Disney Characters for groups all over the world.  As a sketch artist for Disney Interactive, guests waiting up to five hours to receive a custom Disney sketch created by Yakovetic. His art continues to be in demand around the globe.

Todd Regan ~ Disney Panelist

Todd ReganTodd Regan, Executive Director, The Center for Early Childhood Creativity and Innovation at the Walt Disney Birthplace

Todd is a marketing and social networking leader and Executive Director of The Walt Disney Birthplace. A themed entertainment expert, Todd is a frequent speaker about Disney and the Theme Park Industry. 

Plans to preserve and protect Walt Disney’s historic birthplace in Chicago Illinois are well underway with an incredible dream team of architects, historians, artists and benefactors under the direction of Todd and his amazing team at the Center for Early Childhood Creativity.  When the Birthplace restoration is complete, it will serve as a point of inspiration for future generations of dreamers and doers.
Todd has shared his motivational messages with millions of readers and fans on his family entertainment website, MiceChat.com. Todd has served as Senior Vice President of Operations, Sales and Marketing for a variety of companies and on two continents over his successful 25 year business career.

Working to preserve the important history surrounding Walt Disney is a dream for Todd and a source of great pride and personal inspiration. 

Kaye Malins ~ Disney Panelist

Kaye MalinsKaye first met Walt and Roy Disney in 1956 when they stayed with her family, for the dedication of the Walt Disney Swimming Pool and Park. She was 6 years old.

At Walt’s invitation Kaye became a Disneyland Cast Member and served on the first crew when the Carousel of Progress opened at Disneyland.

Kaye is a founding board member of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and has served as Director since it’s opening in 2001. Kaye is the co-founder of the Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest. A celebration which features well know cartoonist and animators during a two day event held annually the third Saturday of September. In 2015 Marceline will host the 19th annual Toonfest.

Kaye is a past Board Member of the Missouri Travel Council and is a founding board member of the Highway 36 (The way of American Genius) Alliance. She provides Marceline Disney heritage presentations several times each year to Cast Members at Disneyland and Disney World. She has been featured on American, British, Japanese, French, Canadian, and American TV. And recently completed a project with the BBC which will air in China the fall of 2015.

Kaye is honored to be participating in the 2015 Cherry Blossom festival in her home state of Missouri.

H. Alan Day ~ “The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs”

H. Alan Day          If it’s possible to say that someone can be born a cowboy, then Alan Day was born one. He and his sister Sandra Day O’Connor were part of the third generation to grow up on the 200,00-acre Lazy B cattle ranch that straddled the high deserts of southern Arizona and New Mexico. The ranching and cowboy lifestyle appealed to him so much that after graduating from the University of Arizona, he returned to manage the Lazy B for the next 40 years. During his career, he received numerous awards for his dedicated stewardship of the land.  In the 1980’s, Alan purchased a cattle ranch in Nebraska, followed by a ranch in South Dakota called Mustang Meadow Ranch that became the first government sponsored sanctuary for unadoptable wild horses. He was the first rancher to develop and successfully use a herd modification-training program for cattle and wild mustangs. He relates his heartfelt adventures with the horses and government in his award-winning memoir The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs, co-authored with Lynn Wiese Sneyd. Booklist has called it an “instant classic.”

            Alan’s first book was the New York Times best-selling memoir, Lazy B, which he co-authored with Justice O’Connor. In it, they tell the story of the Day family and of growing up on the harsh yet beautiful southwestern cattle ranch.

            Now a retired rancher, Alan divides his time between Tucson and Pinetop, Arizona. Through genealogy tracing, his daughter recently discovered that the Day family is related to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

Lynn Wiese Sneyd ~ “The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs”

Lynn Wiese SneydLynn Wiese Sneyd is professional writer and owner of LWS Literary Services in Tucson. She coordinates national, regional and local publicity campaigns for authors, crafts query letters and book proposals, ghostwrites, and edits.

She is the author of Holistic Parenting and the co-author of Healthy Solutions, which received the Arizona Book Award for best health and wellness book. Lynn’s articles, essays and poetry have appeared in various publications around the country. Most recently she co-authored the award-winning  memoir, The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs with H. Alan Day.

She now lives in Tucson, Arizona, but is a Midwesterner at heart, having lived for many years in Wisconsin. You can visit her at www.lwsliteraryservices.com.