Arthur

Today is the 80th birthday of actor Arthur Kelm. You've probably never heard of him, probably because he took his mother's name (Gelien) after his parents divorced, and then got a stage name when he became an actor: Tab Hunter. That's a name you've probably heard of. I don't think it's that surprising that Hunter got a name change when he started acting; there's just something about "Kelm" and "Gelien" that both don't sound right. After all a lot of people with ethnic-sounding names got name changes as professionals. Mladen Sekulovic and Bernie Schwartz both sound far too ethnic, so we get names like Karl Malden and Tony Curtis instead.

It certainly couldn't have been the Arthur part of the name. A number of people with the name Arthur made quite nice careers for themselves in Hollywood, such as Arthur Kennedy (five Oscar nominations) and perennial British butler Arthur Treacher.

At any rate, TCM is marking Tab Hunter's 80th birthday with a night of his films. Happy birthday to Tab, and may he have many more.