Redd Foxx, B.B. King and LaWanda Page
When I pass through the Delmar Loop I can’t help but read the names on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, often stopping to take a pic.  Last October I snapped the above image of Redd Foxx‘s star.  As a kid Sanford and Son was a favorite show.  Foxx was born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis in 1922, but raised on Chicago’s south side.
Foxx’s TV character Fred Sanford was also from St. Louis, but living in Los Angeles. In an episode called “Fred Sings the Blues” Sanford meets B.B. King and learns he sings the blues because a man stole his ‘E.W’ in St. Louis.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu6JaxobP-g
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMNKrdwfGE
Sanford thinks King is referring to his late wife Elizabeth Winfield Sanford, turns out it was her sister, Esther Winfield Anderson, played by the great LaWanda Page (1920-2002). Â Page was born in Cleveland but raised in St. Louis. We need to get her a star…
Have a great weekend.
– Steve Patterson
Just spent a few minutes on Youtube watching Ms. Page in the old Dean Martin celebrity roasts. LaWanda really got in some social commentary with her digs into the decrepit white boys. Thanks for the tip!
Steve, you missed his standup like “Wash Your Ass!”
make sure to check the framed letter in bbh from Cool Papa Bell's son, describing how his father was once hassled by the local police in the same spot where the star is stamped today. it’s in the dart room on the west wall
Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford/Lawanda Page as Aunt Esther/Whitman Mayo as Grady David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane Toby Jones as Truman Capote (you’ll want to snatch Hoffman’s Oscar and give it to Jones after seeing …