I just read of the untimely passing of singer and actress Irene Cara. I’ll grant she’s been out of the spotlight for a while but she was a hit in the 1980s with songs like Fame, Out Here On My Own and Flashdance… What A Feeling. She also acted on stage and screen, most notably playing talented student Coco in the 1980 film Fame.
But the reason I mention Ms. Cara is her very cool link to public broadcasting. As I often note, PBS reaches deep into the American pop culture consciousness and it’s interesting and often surprising what connections people have to our programs. If you’re Gen X, cast your mind back to the 1970s series THE ELECTRIC COMPANY. It was aimed at elementary school children and designed to teach them grammar and reading skills in an entertaining way. The program featured the talents of Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Morgan Freeman and many others. One of those others was a young Irene Cara as part of the in-show kids band The Short Circus. She was only on the show for the first season but that was 130 episodes of playing Short Circus member Iris, which is pretty cool.
Sadly, Irene Cara passed away Friday in her Florida home at the age of 63. But she’ll always be part of the PBS family.
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