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ENTERTAINMENT 86-year-old Ashlander still going strong Pens one-man play about his eventful life By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Oct. 22, 2015 @ 2:00 am By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Oct. 22, 2015 @ 2:00 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Samuel Younghans is one of those show biz types who was well-known in Hollywood (but not outside it) and who could produce plays, act, sing, take professional photos and be a true friend to many stars, in a role called “artist relations,” which means chauffeuring, introducing them to other important people in the business — and partying with them. Younghans’ Ashland home is like a museum of Hollywood, with walls lined by his photos of many greats he worked with and knew: Stevie Wonder, Liberace, Marlene Dietrich, Sammy Davis Jr., Neal Diamond, Red Foxx, Buck Owens, Sarah Vaughn, Dionne Warwick, The Temptations, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Mathis, Neal Diamond, Annette Funicello, and Mary Wilson of the Supremes, among many others. After Army service during the Korean War, Younghans studied art and drama at University of Miami and says he was fortunate to be schooled in Miami Beach by a "gifted" divorcee in the ways of love, a gift he shared widely through his life with great enjoyment — and which became the basis of his one-man play, “Jung, Cayce, Einstein, Me, Sex & Religion.” “I learned a lot in life and, at 86, I feel I need to get it out there to the public,” he says. “The play talks about me and sex. It talks about religion, which destroys so many people’s lives. It inhibits people in their sex lives and creates illness from guilt from enjoying it so much. “I was fortunate not to be programmed by the Bible, so for me, it was all enjoyable. I learned early all the styles and how to make women happy and do sex properly. I’ve had so much sex that, sometimes I had to go rest and hide for a while.” The play runs at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, at Ashland Bellview Grange, 1050 Tolman Creek Road. Admission is $10. Gene Burnett will play and sing his own songs. While Younghans has read and admires psychologist Carl Jung, spiritual channeler Edgar Cayce and physics genius Albert Einstein, he says they were all programmed with sexual repression and he will use them dramatically in the context of both their genius and repression. Younghans moved in 1961 to California, getting into photography in San Francisco and winemaking and children’s theater directing in Sonoma, then was a computer consultant, where he made, and soon lost, a fortune in stock options. He spent the wealth helping his son through an illness and, he says, “I was happy when I ran out of money and no longer had it hanging over my head.” In Los Angeles, Younghans produced small shows and commercials, acted in films and plays, sold music, connected people in their show biz careers, acted as an agent, wrote the play and book “Cancel Christmas,” worked on the Jerry Lewis telethons and was production manager for the Beverly Hilton Hotel, working with Johnny Mathis, Ike and Tina Turner, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope and others. His stories are literally endless — he sang in “Cats” and “Cabaret” — with one story flowing into the next. He finally notes, “I’ll drive you nuts with my stories if you let me … the thing is, I’m very happy and I love life very much. I’ve gone through all kinds of experiences, good and bad, and I’ve come out on top with any karmic debts paid off.” What has Younghans learned and what’s the key to a happy life? “My whole life has been based of making friends instead of money and to help where I could," he says. "All my life I’ve just followed my instincts and let life lead me wherever it wanted to go, never planning too far ahead.” One of his best moves, he says, was coming to Ashland, where his daughter, Candace Younghans, is a producer and performer, now engaged in The Heart Warrior project, helping traumatized veterans with life skills. His current projects, in addition to rehearsing the play, are publishing his latest book, “The Sphinx,” designing websites (including his own, www.bogwig.com) and enjoying the views, mountains, climate and “good vibrations up here in Ashland. I get so much motivation for all I want to do. It’s very difficult for me to keep up with me.” John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Oct. 22, 2015 @ 2:00 am » Comment or view comments Terms of Service /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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