Both THR and Variety are reporting the passing of Bob Newhart at the age of 94.
I think this needs to wait until tomorrow for a round-up, but I wanted to get the news out there.
One of my favorite Bob Newhart memories:
The fella at the next table was nice enough to help me hold the flag after the Cubs won!!! Go Cubs and fly the W!!#GoCubsGo #FlytheW #Game7 pic.twitter.com/QJVaPgOTDH
— Bob Newhart (@BobNewhart) November 2, 2016
Robert Pearson, hair stylist turned…barbecue chef.
He was pretty successful as a stylist, working with Vidal Sassoon and Paul Mitchell, as well as setting up a chain of salons in Bloomingdale’s.
He took up Texas-style barbecue seriously.
He purchased a $13,000 custom-made pit from Texas. He bought mesquite wood at $800 a cord, which he blended with local green oak (at just $110 a cord); after much experimentation, he found that a one-to-four ratio created the right balance of smoke from the mesquite and moisture from the oak to fuel the six- to 18-hour fires he needed to cook his meats.
Mr. Pearson was a purist: He insisted on wood, and only wood, as fuel. He cooked low and very, very slow. He eschewed rubs and sauces, letting flavor emerge from the meat and smoke. He specialized in brisket, the lodestar of Texas barbecue, but also offered half chickens, pork shoulder and the occasional exotic fare, like alligator, elk loin and rattlesnake.
His first location was in Connecticut, just off of I-95. Later on, he moved it to Queens.
After establishing himself in Queens, Mr. Pearson tried to open an outlet in Manhattan, which he supplied with food cooked in Queens. But he found that the cooked meat lost its zing during the drive across the East River, and in any case the space caught fire a few days after opening.
In the late 1990s, he stepped back from his restaurant, not long before it lost its lease under pressure from neighbors who, despite loving his food, were less enamored with its constant, thick smoke.
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While many young pit masters looked to Mr. Pearson as a mentor, few chose to follow his near-religious devotion to an austere interpretation of Texas barbecue, and in particular his aversion to sauce.
Conceding to consumer tastes, he did offer a quartet of sauces as an accompaniment: mild, medium, “madness” and “mean,” which he said, with some disdain, was a further concession to “macho” diners who insisted that real barbecue had to be wet and spicy. Mean, made with a pile of Szechuan peppercorns, gave them what they wanted, and more.
“When I’m making that sauce at the store, I’ve got to make sure it’s very quiet, and nobody else is around,” he told Newsday. “It’s very volatile. Mean is not really meant for human consumption.”
Peter Buxtun, one of the people responsible for exposing the Tuskegee Study.
For the benefit of my younger readers:
Officially known as the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the research began in 1932 with the recruiting of about 400 poor, undereducated Black men in Macon County, Ala., whose seat is Tuskegee. All had been found to have syphilis.
The infected men were deceptively told that they had “bad blood,” not a sexually communicable disease that could lead to blindness, heart injury and death. The researchers wanted to use them as human guinea pigs, without their informed consent, to study the ravages of syphilis.
Even after penicillin was found in the 1940s to be an effective cure for syphilis, the men were not offered treatment. In one sample of 92 deceased men from the study, 30 percent were found to have died of syphilis complications.
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But in the early 1970s, after Mr. Buxtun had left the health service for law school, he turned his files over to reporters for The Associated Press. An article by Jean Heller, an A.P. investigative reporter, ran on front pages around the country, including in The New York Times on July 26, 1972.
“All hell broke loose,” said Susan M. Reverby, the author of “Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy.”
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I like this quote:
Dr. Reverby, who got to know Mr. Buxtun, described him as a political libertarian and National Rifle Association member who was angry that the health agency where he worked, tracing people with sexually transmitted diseases, was denying treatment to the Alabama men.
“He thought it was outrageous and wrong,” she said, adding, “He was really a strong-willed, irascible guy.”
Naomi Pomeroy, prominent Portland chef. She appeared on a few reality shows, but probably wasn’t that well known to my readers. The obit is interesting, though.
She and her first husband, Michael Hebb, got started by hosting “underground suppers”. They proved popular enough that they were able to get investors and started opening brick and mortar restaurants. They got widespread acclaim in Portland for “revitalizing” the restaurant scene there, and some national acclaim.
Then it all fell apart. One day, Mr. Hebb told Ms. Pomeroy that there wasn’t any money left to pay the staff or run the restaurants, and left town that night. (There’s a good article from “Portland Monthly” in 2009 about what happened, if you want more details.)
Ms. Pomeroy was left holding the bag. The “Portland Monthly” article and, to some extent, the NYT obit, make it sound like she was the real talented chef of the two, while Mr. Hebb was more of an idea and hype man.
Ms. Pomeroy did manage to recover and re-enter the restaurant business. She was 49, and died in a tubing accident on the Willamette River.
Evan Wright, journalist and author. (Generation Kill)
The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You can also dial 988 to reach the Lifeline.
James B. Sikking, great character actor, has passed away at 90.
Yes, yes, “Howard Hunter” on “Hill Street Blues” and Doogie Howser’s dad. But he had a pretty substantial resume beyond those. 159 acting credits in IMDB, including one of the movies based on a minor SF TV show from the 1960s, “Cop Rock” (an unaccredited appearance as “Howard Hunter”: I just had to get that in), “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”, the good “Hawaii Five-0”, “The Rockford Files”, “Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy”, “The F.B.I.”, “Perry Mason”, “Von Ryan’s Express”…seriously, man was in every darn thing.
Including “Mannix”. (“One For the Lady”, season 4, episode 2. He was “Mark Langdon”. “Desert Run”, season 7, episode 6. He was “Sketchley”.)
Wow. It has been a weekend, hasn’t it?
Happy Bastille Day to all my readers, since I don’t expect to do a second post today.
The only thing I have to say about Trump is: in my opinion, 130 yards is not a sniper shot. It really isn’t even a very long shot for the average person. I believe most people zero their rifles so they’re on target at 100 to 150 yards. Calling this guy a “sniper” is an insult to actual snipers.
With all that out of the way:
Shannen Doherty. NYT (archived). IMDB.
And finally, speaking of snipers, Dr. Ruth Westheimer. NYT (archived).
I’m sorry if it seems like I’m shorting these three people on coverage, but I feel like they all are getting a tremendous amount of coverage already (modulo the ongoing news coverage) and I just don’t have anything to add.
Shelley Duvall. This is breaking, and the NYT is in “full obit to come” mode. I’ll link to that later.
Edited to add: NYT obit.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. As noted, they own Redbox. They also own the Crackle streaming service.
Fun fact:
They had filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition (which would have allowed them to re-organize) but yesterday it was converted into a Chapter 7 petition, which is total liquidation. And it sounds like there was some sleazy stuff going on.
I have seen reports that they were pocketing employee health insurance premiums, but not actually paying the insurers. Those are just reports, and the executives are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But if it is true that they weren’t paying employees, and weren’t paying employee health insurance…the kind side of me thinks those people should be in jail. The unkind side of me thinks that rope and lampposts are in order.
Edited to add: more from THR, concentrating on the RedBox part of the business, but including the accusations of financial mismanagement.
Benji Gregory. Other credits include “Amazing Stories”, “The Twilight Zone” (the 1985-1986 revival), and “T.J. Hooker”.
Playing catch-up:
Joe Bonsall, of the Oak Ridge Boys.
James M. Inhofe, Republican senator from Oklahoma and former mayor of Tulsa.
Yoshihiro Uchida. I had not heard of him previously, but he sounds like a fascinating guy.
Mr. Uchida brought judo to the United States.
The son of Japanese immigrants, Uchida, who went by the nickname Yosh, began coaching judo at San Jose State in the 1940s, while he was still a student there.
It was a pivotal moment for the sport, which had been created in 1882 in Japan as a means of self-defense, built around a series of throws and holds that use opponents’ weight and movement against them. Americans had long incorporated elements of judo into other combat sports, and returning soldiers from the Pacific Theater brought a new level of interest in martial arts to the country.
Uchida, who had been practicing judo since he was 10, despaired over the quality of the training available, especially at the higher levels. Working with a judo coach at the University of California, Berkeley, he established standards for competition, including weight classes, and in 1953 won approval from the Amateur Athletic Union.
The first national amateur championships took place at San Jose State that same year. The first collegiate championships took place in 1962, and Mr. Uchida’s team won.
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On the side, Uchida obtained a loan to buy a run-down medical laboratory. He renovated it and within a few years was doing extensive business for San Jose doctors. He eventually owned a chain of 40 laboratories across Northern California, which he sold for $30 million in 1989.
He used the proceeds to partner with a group of investors to build an $80 million complex of affordable housing and commercial space in San Jose’s Japantown neighborhood.
He was 104 when he passed.
Paal Enger, the man who stole “The Scream”. (Well, one of them, anyway.)
Joan Benedict, actress. Other credits include “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington”, “T.J. Hooker”, and “The Incredible Hulk”.
Doug Sheehan, actor. Other credits include “Columbo”, “In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders”, and “MacGyver” (original recipe).
Robert Towne. NYT. IMDB.
A couple of quibbles:
I think all of these are fine writers, but I would also add William Goldman. I don’t think I’d put him ahead of Wilder, but I think I would put him ahead of the Coen brothers (maybe, and just by a nose) and possibly ahead of Towne. And I suspect Goldman would tell me it isn’t a competition and I shouldn’t worry about it.
Interesting, since “8 Million Ways to Die” seems to be thought of as a piece of s–t: not just by Block/Scudder fans, but by almost everyone. (To be fair, there was a lot of studio interference with the movie.)
Michael Corcoran, local music journalist and historian.
Very brief catch up here:
Martin Mull. NYT. IMDB.
I was involved in the Great Folk Music scare back in the sixties, when it almost caught on.
“Kinky” Friedman followup: NYT. THR.
How about a little music?
Edited to add: Reason tribute. Noted here for two reasons:
1. Jesse Walker mentions another of my favorite Kinky songs that I decided not to use, but it was a close decision: “We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You”.
2. I had always associated Kinky with the “dropped acid and listened to Shiva’s Headband at the Armadillo World Headquarters” crowd, so this is an interesting quote:
This is pushing the definition of an “obit” just a bit, but Will Dabbs, MD, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite modern gun writers, has a nice tribute up to Donald Sutherland.
More specifically, it is a tribute to Donald Sutherland’s role as “Oddball” in “Kelly’s Heroes”.
I’ve seen “Kelly’s Heroes”, but when I was a child, on the late night movies. (Kids, ask your parents about late night movies on TV.) I think the Saturday Movie Conspiracy is going to be re-watching it in the fairly near future. And I had not heard the story about the grenades.
This is breaking, and I may have more later on: “Kinky” Friedman, Texas musician, author, and politician. KVUE. KSAT. HouChron (archived). (Hattip: Lawrence.)
Bill Cobbs, actor. NYT (archived). Other credits include “A Mighty Wind”, “The Slap Maxwell Story”, and one of the spinoffs of a minor 1960s SF TV series.
Finally, a weird one:
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Frederick Crews, literary critic and anti-Freudian.
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One unlikely cause that he devoted himself to in recent years was to assert the innocence of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach who was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing young boys and is now in prison.
“I joined the small group of skeptics who have concluded that America’s paramount sexual villain is nothing of the sort,” Professor Crews wrote in one article in 2021, adding, “believe it or not, there isn’t a shred of credible evidence that he ever molested anyone.”
Tamayo Perry, surfer and actor. He was 49, and apparently died after a shark attack.
Your Donald Sutherland obit roundup: NYT. THR. Variety. Variety tribute.
IMDB. I did not realize he was Wilhelm Reich in the video for “Cloudbusting”. And we’ve watched “Don’t Look Now”: I can’t recommend it, even with the sex scene. On the other hand, I would like to see “Kelly’s Heroes” again, not cut up for television. And I’ve never seen “M*A*S*H”.
Master Chief Petty Officer William Goines (US Navy – ret.). He was 87.
In his 32 years in uniform, which included three tours of duty during the Vietnam War, he received a Bronze Star and a Navy Commendation Medal among other decorations.
After the war, he joined the Chuting Stars, the U.S. Navy parachute exhibition team, performing 640 jumps over five years.
Master Chief Goines is credited as being the first black Navy SEAL (though the paper of record does note that there was at least one black frogman in the underwater demolition teams that preceded the SEALs).
From sumo, he went into acting. Other credits include both versions of “Magnum P.I.” (an uncredited appearance in the first, “Kamekona” in the second), the “MacGyver” reboot, and “One West Waikiki”.
Willie Mays. SF Chronicle (archived). ESPN.
The Awful Announcing blog has a link to a video tribute to Mr. Mays narrated by Jon Miller.
Neil Goldschmidt, former mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon. He seemed to have a promising political career (he was also transportation secretary under Jimmy Carter) but left office in 1990. There were a lot of rumors about his extramarital activities at the time.
In 2004, it came out that he’d been raping a teenage girl.
The statute of limitations on any criminal charges that might have been brought against Mr. Goldschmidt, including statutory rape, had expired decades earlier. The woman he abused later gave a series of interviews to Margie Boulé, a columnist for The Oregonian, describing her relationship with the mayor.
The woman said the abuse first began when she was 13, on her mother’s birthday. It virtually destroyed her, she said. She attempted suicide at age 15 and later become addicted to alcohol and cocaine. She died in 2011.
George R. Nethercutt Jr., former House member. He’s most famous for having defeated Thomas S. Foley, who was Speaker of the House at the time.
Paul Pressler. He was sort of a “power behind the throne” in the Southern Baptist Convention:
He was also involved in a messy sex scandal, which led to the Southern Baptist Convention distancing themselves from him.
Angela Bofill, R&B singer of the 1970s and 1980s.