Category: Uncategorized

Time Flies September 30

Departures:

1955 – On September 30th, 1955, James Dean was killed in a car crash in California.

The essence of “cool” has been around since long before Cheops the Pharaoh decided to redecorate the Nile with a pyramid.  It’s what makes us buy mortgages, build monuments and move mountains.  The pursuit of “cool” is the one activity shared by every single person on this planet.  When we’re young, it drives us to follow film, fragrance and fashion.  When we’re old, it compels us to dye our hair and dance at drunken parties.  It makes us dismiss “cool” because that’s even “cooler.”  Throughout history it is the one continuous immutable force and it will be around long after our children’s children have children.  But what is it?  What is “cool”?  James Dean!

This guy is so “cool” he’s got enough to share.  Just look at him!  He is the misunderstood in all of us.  He is our lonely soul at 4 o’clock in the morning.  He lives with us on the edge of outcast: unique in this universe mundane.  He is the poster child for beautiful, sensitive and restless. 

Crap!  The guy’s arrogant.  He’s got everything he wants, and he’s having fun.  He doesn’t play by his own rules; he just ignores the ones meant for the rest of us.  He’s the guy you hated in high school because all he ever did was never know who you were.  He’s always comfortable in his clothes, and he never had a zit in his life or a bad hair day.  But he’s still the most likeable person you know who isn’t you.

See what I mean?  James Dean is the perfect cross-pollination of movie persona and real-life personality. Forever frozen in time, he is the marriage of man and mythology.  Even the great Brando and Elvis himself cannot claim that kind of “cool.”  They both lived too long and ate too much.  Hendrix, Morrison and Joplin, all gone by their own hand – a very un-cool flaw.  Lennon — damaged by Yoko.  Kurt Cobain — unable to cope.   They just can’t compare.  No, it’s James Dean who leans, tres casual, on top of the pyramid of “cool,” looking down on the rest of us with those sensitive eyes and that know-it-all smile.

Time Flies September 29

Arrivals:

1758 – Lord Horatio Nelson, the greatest warrior of his time, Nelson is famous for his naval victories and his long time love affair with the most beautiful woman in the world: Emma, Lady Hamilton.  These two flaunted their affair across Europe and lived openly with Emma’s, husband William Hamilton.  The public was appropriately titillated and newspapers reported every move they made.  It was kind of a 19th century Brangelina.    Then, in 1805, it all fell apart when Nelson was killed at Trafalgar.

1943 – Lech Walesa, an electrician who became the President of Poland.  During his early life, Walesa was jailed many times for his opposition to the Communist Party of Poland.  In August, 1980, he literally climbed into a strike and became one of the organizers of the Solidarity Movement.  After some initial reforms, the Communists cracked down again and Walesa and many Solidarity members were thrown in jail.  After he was released, he went right back at it and eventually got elected President of a democratic Poland.  His life should be mandatory reading for all those people sitting around whining about the government.

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1829 – The very first police force in the world began patrolling the streets of London.  Apparently, before that time, local citizens either got robbed or simply beat criminals senseless with whatever they had handy.  Either way, the first officers were equipped with a stick, a stern look and a rattle to summon assistance.   They must have done something right because Scotland Yard and London Bobbies are world famous for their abilities.  Incidentally, the reason they are called “bobbies” is because this first police force was the brainchild of the then Home Secretary Robert (Bob) Peel.

1989 – Exactly 160 years after Robert Peel’s dedicated men first wandered into the night to keep the rest of us safe useless celebrity Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of slamming a Beverly Hills police officer, Paul Kramer.  The incident happened on June 14th when Kramer stopped Zsa Zsa for a traffic violation.  She freely admitted slapping the young man and made light of the incident several times in the media, but quite frankly, the old lady should be ashamed of herself.

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1975 – Casey Stengel, the only baseball manager to guide his team, the New York Yankees, to 5 consecutive World Series titles (1949-1953).  In a world full of clichés and sound bytes, it’s nice to remember that there used to be people who actually spoke honestly to the media.  Casey Stengel was notorious for speaking his mind or something like that.  A couple of his more famous quotes are: “Never make predictions, especially about the future,” and “There comes a time in every man’s life, and I’ve had plenty of them.”

1997 – Roy Lichtenstein, a modern artist who made his living — and a damn good one — reproducing comic book graphics and calling it “high art.”  His first painting of this kind was “Look Mickey” (1961) and he carried on in this vein for most of the 60s.  Probably his most famous work, “Whaam,” hangs in the Tate Modern in London.  Another painting, “Torpedo…Los,” sold for $5.5 million in 1989.  Either Lichtenstein was awfully good or Mr Barnum was right.

Time Flies September 28

Arrivals:

1901 – Ed Sullivan, the only television personality who never really had one.  The Ed Sullivan Show dominated the Baby Boomers’ Sunday nights forever.  It was the last whole family entertainment program with something for everybody.  Ed, of course, did nothing, except introduce the acts, point out people in the audience and play with Topo Gigio.   

1934 – Brigitte Bardot, once considered the most beautiful woman in the world.  In her day she was certainly the sexiest.  Even by today’s standards, her film And God Created Woman is one of the most sensuous movies ever made.  She retired from public life at 39 and now prefers the company of dogs, cats and baby seals.

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1960 – In true American hero fashion, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox used his last at bat in Major League Baseball to hit a home run.  Williams is considered one of the greatest hitters of all time and is the last man to hit over .400 in the major leagues (1941).  He interrupted his baseball career twice for long terms of military service as an aviator in the Marine Corps.  Coincidentally, for a time during the Korean War, he was John Glenn’s wing man.

1972 – In true Canadian fashion, hockey player Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in Game 8 of the Canada/Soviet Summit Series.  Henderson has been attached to that goal ever since, mainly because everybody thinks that’s the only thing he ever did.  Nobody remembers that he also scored the winning goals in Games 6 and 7.  Fortunately, in true Canadian fashion, Henderson has been good-natured about it, even though he’s had to tell the same old story about a half a million times.

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Departures:

1891 – Herman Melville, the author who created Moby Dick, the scourge of high school students everywhere.   The novel was not a success during Melville’s lifetime and barely sold 3,000 copies.  However, in the early 20th century, there was a Melville revival, and Moby has been inflicted on us ever since.  In truth, even though it is considered a Great American Novel, the only redeeming quality I can find in the book is the character Starbuck who lends his name to the coffee chain.

1895 – Louis Pasteur, the guy who discovered that it’s germs that kill people and not evil spirits.  He then developed a process to prevent milk and wine from carrying these germs and called it pasteurization.  He also produced the first vaccine against rabies.  He is buried in the Pasteur Institute in Paris where today young French doctors sit on the steps, smoke cigarettes and discuss modern medical theories.