I hear from my friend Trav S.D. (travsd.wordpress.com) that actress and preservationist Melanie Winter died of lung cancer on Oct. 21. She appeared in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line (and in the disappointing movie version); toured with Jerry Lewis in what must have been a hellish revival of Hellzapoppin’, and was seen in the films Gold of the Amazon Women, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and New Year’s Day. But she was best known as a preservationist, director of Friends of the Los Angeles River and The River Project (Trav says, “If you have enjoyed access to the L.A. River in the last quarter century, she seems to be the person to thank. When she embarked on her mission, it was surrounded by a chain link fence.”). Winter also had a treasure trove of show-biz memorabilia (she was a descendant of vaudeville stars Winona Winter and Banks Winter). Happily, her collection went to the New York Public Library, and not into the Dumpster, as mine probably will after I die.
