"The Bain of their Existence (The Diff'rent Strokes Curse)"
Mark Levitt
MLevitt123@aol.com

Former "Diff’rent Strokes" actress, Dana Plato, who played "Kimberly", died May 8, 1999 due to an overdose of the painkiller Loritab combined with valium. Some called Plato’s untimely end an accident. Others suspected suicide. I contend that Miss Plato was the victim of foul play.

All three child actors on "Diff’rent Strokes" were victim to a series of misfortunes, bad breaks, and brushes with the law. Todd Brigdes, "Willis", was arrested for attempted murder and possession of drugs, Gary Coleman "Arnold" punched an autograph seeker in the eye and was ordered to attend anger management courses, and before dying, Dana Plao appeared in a soft-core porn film called, "Different Strokes, A Story Of Jack & Jill…and Jill".

Interestingly, only the father on "Diff’rent Strokes", Conrad Bain, lead a happy pristine existence. Why was Bain unscathed by ill-luck, uncorrupted by drugs…Was the man a paragon of virtue? No, it is my firm belief that Conrad Bain, seemingly a boring upright family man is, in truth, a twisted and evil warlock who caused the downfall of all of his TV kids.

Bain, a dark man well schooled in the black arts and the ministries of Satan, hated his television family. He despised their youth, their talent, and their fame. Therefore, somewhere in the shadows, Bain hatched an insane plot to destroy his children. Bains evil acted like a slow poison. With a wave of his decrepit hand, he made Gary Coleman an aberrant asocial troll, Dana Plato a high-strung, pill-popping, basket-case, and Todd Bridges a coked-out criminal. With an evil giddiness, Bain could barely decide which evil to try next. Should he fire Gary Coleman out of a cannon? Should he have Todd Bridges forcibly locked into a mental institution?

When Dana Plato died, Bain only offered this terse statement to the media, "I remember Dana as a very lovely, very talented young girl." However, somewhere deep inside his dungeon, hung a list of the three Drummond Kids with Kimberly’s name crossed off in black marker.

Yes, it was Bain’s depravity which stunted Gary Coleman’s form, fried Todd Bridge’s Brain, and twisted Dana Plato’s morals till she was little better than a harlot for hire. On Conrad Bain must travel and search till he finds a new host show to infect with his evil vengeance. Well… it takes different strokes.


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