What’s an invitation for a Gmail account worth? If you have an invitation to open an account on Google’s new e-mail service, you could sell it on eBay for as much as $60. But if cash is a little too prosaic for you, your Gmail invitation could net you 4 pounds of fresh fudge, some Jewish mystical knowledge, a photo of a wife and a girlfriend kissing, a tarantula, Paris Hilton’s phone number or any one of more than 1,000 other options. Full article at Wired.com
[Update: Google launched on April 1, 2004. Created my account on April 21, 2004]
Hi Steve, reading through and enjoying your blog.
I have an answer for this page:
https://www.smays.com/2017/03/who-is-the-twirler/
That photo, taken mid-August 1956 in Piggott, is indeed “Miss Florida 1955” and actress Sandra “Sandy” Wirth. Others from this time period are a match, including several where we see she’s a twirler:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sandy+wirth
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/miss-florida-sandy-wirth-twirls-a-baton-atop-an-airliner-in-news-photo/514962682
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/lovely-sandy-wirth-of-miami-dubbed-miss-light-is-sparking-the-sale-picture-id517757520
She is also noted on the AFI page for “A Face In The Crowd”:
“Hollywood Reporter news items add the following actors to the cast: Sandra Wirth, Lloyd Bergen, Jay Sidney, Eva Vaughn, John McGovern, Kitty Dolan, Sandee Preston, Gus Thorner, Beverly Boatwright, Jane Baier and Gloria Mosolino.”
https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52171
I also looked up Amanda Robinson. There’s a brief article on her and the two other local girls who made it into the film, and were even flown to New York to film a few scenes. All of them (despite the fuzzy photo) are brunettes:
Here for a Twirl in the Movies
Three baton-carrying, 16-year-old Southern belles arriving at LaGuardia Field yesterday are (I. to r.), Suzanne Ballard, Amanda Robinson and Bunny McCollum. The gals, all from Piggott, Ark., will be in town for two weeks during the filming of new movie. They will play the parts of drum majorettes in the picture.
New York Daily News – Thursday, September 20, 1956
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/455585647/
All the best,
John