Skip E. Lowe dies from complications of emphysema at 85

Low-budget talk-show host and former child actor Skip E. Lowe died on September 22 at the age of 85 from complications of emphysema.

Skip E. Lowe filmed Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood for 36 years, broadcasting it on cable TV outlets in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. He filmed the last one just two weeks ago.

“He loved show business, and the fact that the show was public access, that didn’t bother him at all. He was on television,” Skip E. Lowe’s agent, Alan Eichler, told the AP on September 25.

Born Sammy Labella in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Skip E. Lowe recalled being badly bullied as a child because of his effeminate manner and penchant for wanting to entertain people. His mother moved him to Hollywood in hopes of getting him in the movies.

He landed several small parts as a child actor before growing up to be a song-and-dance man and master of ceremonies, performing in venues that ranged from nightclubs to strip joints.

He was never paid for his public access show, but made a living in later years booking entertainers at restaurants around LA.

Skip E. Lowe wrote two memoirs, The Boy With the Betty Grable Legs, published in 2001, and Hollywood Gomorrah, published earlier this year.