Nathanson was perhaps most famous as the author of The Dirty Dozen, based on a story told to him by Russ Meyer (!) and adapted into a movie that I’ve never actually seen. I wonder if Lawrence has a copy…
Obit watch: April 8, 2016.
April 8th, 2016Take the money. Leave the box.
April 8th, 2016Apropos of nothing in particular, a short musical interlude:
Obit watch: April 7, 2016.
April 7th, 2016The Merle Haggard round-up: NYT. LAT. WP. A/V Club. South Texas Pistolero.
I feel like a musical interlude.
Obit watch: April 6, 2016.
April 6th, 2016Expect a longer roundup tomorrow.
Obit watch: April 5, 2016.
April 5th, 2016Winston Moseley is burning in hell.
If that name doesn’t ring a bell with you, and you think I’m being harsh: Moseley is the man who killed Kitty Genovese.
I apologize for quoting at length from the NYT obit, but there are some interesting things in it that deserve to be called out. For example:
While there was no question that the attack occurred, and that some neighbors ignored cries for help, the portrayal of 38 witnesses as fully aware and unresponsive was erroneous. The article grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived. None saw the attack in its entirety. Only a few had glimpsed parts of it, or recognized the cries for help. Many thought they had heard lovers or drunks quarreling. There were two attacks, not three. And afterward, two people did call the police. A 70-year-old woman ventured out and cradled the dying victim in her arms until they arrived. Ms. Genovese died on the way to a hospital.
But the account of 38 witnesses heartlessly ignoring a murderous attack was widely disseminated and took on a life of its own, shocking the national conscience and starting an avalanche of academic studies, investigations, films, books, even a theatrical production and a musical. The soul-searching went on for decades, long after the original errors were debunked, evolving into more parable than fact but continuing to reinforce images of urban Americans as too callous or fearful to call for help, even with a life at stake.
Captured five days later during a burglary, Mr. Moseley confessed to the murders of Ms. Genovese and two other Queens residents: Annie Mae Johnson, 24, who had been shot and burned to death in her South Ozone Park apartment in February, and Barbara Kralik, 15, who had been stabbed in her parents’ Springfield Gardens home the previous July. Both women had been sexually assaulted.
Mr. Moseley was never tried for murdering Ms. Johnson or Ms. Kralik, though he recited details only the killer could have known, the police said. He testified at the trial of Alvin Mitchell, who had already been charged in Ms. Kralik’s murder. The conflicting accounts left a hung jury. Mr. Mitchell was convicted in a second trial.
Well. I wonder what happened to Mr. Mitchell. (I tried a Google search, but “Alvin Mitchell” is too common a name.)
That’s something I didn’t know. (It is perhaps worth noting that Moseley was originally sentenced to death for the Genovese murder, but had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment on appeal.)
Also among the dead, and one I’ve been meaning to note: Adrienne Corri, actress, perhaps most famous for her role in “A Clockwork Orange”.
Things: April 1, 2016.
April 1st, 2016You know something? I still don’t like bullies.
Obit watch: Bill Green. Mr. Green worked as a newspaper editor, public affairs officer for NASA, and university professor at Duke.
He also worked for the Washington Post as their ombudsman from late 1980 to 1981. If you’re thinking, “Hey, that period sounds historically significant.”: yes, yes it was. “Jimmy’s World” was published shortly after Mr. Green became ombudsman, and he conducted the paper’s investigation when it fell apart.
Since it fell off the front page, I wanted to also note here that I updated the “Use of force” post: now with pyramids!
Obit watch: March 30, 2016.
March 30th, 2016Lester C. Thurow, noted economist.
You know, when Paul Krugman is attacking you, you’ve probably done something right…
I was one year old when “The Patty Duke Show” went off the air. My mother says she can still sing the theme song (but won’t).
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the 1962 “Miracle Worker”: I want to say that we saw the 1979 version in school (with Half-Pint as Hellen and Patty Duke as Anne Sullivan) but that could be a memory implanted by aliens. In any case, if I did see it, I don’t remember it well.
The two things that I associate most with Patty Duke were her “Night Gallery” episode (which I’ve touched on before) and “Thanks for the Honeymoon” from the good “Hawaii 5-0”. (She was also in an episode of the bad “Hawaii 5-0”.) As I noted, I thought she was kind of strident and one note in both of those, but I also think those may have been directorial choices.
Reading over the obits, there was a lot I never know, like the fact that she was married to John “Gomez” Astin. It sounds like she went through a great deal of hardship and pain, but emerged on the other side a stronger and better person, who found some relative peace late in life.
And this is a nice essay from Kenneth Turan, LAT film critic and co-author of Call Me Anna.
What is the name of this play?
March 29th, 2016Obit watch: March 28, 2016.
March 28th, 2016Mother Mary Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network.
Jim Harrison. I feel kind of bad about saying this, but: I bought a copy of The Raw and the Cooked, mostly because it gets a lot of praise from various food writers that I like. I’ve tried to read it, and found that it’s about 50% really good food and outdoor writing…and about 50% pretentious twaddle.
Awful damn lot of dust in the air this morning…
March 25th, 2016Depression lied to my sister, told her that she was worthless. A burden. Unlovable. Undeserving of life. I imagine these lies were like a kind of permanent white noise in her life — a running narration of how unworthy she was. After years of the lies and the torment, my sister believed that depression told her the truth. In the notes she left for my parents and me, Aletha wrote, “don’t feel sad, I’m not worth it.”
She was so wrong. Depression lies. I have to tell the truth.
The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).
Obit watch: March 25, 2016.
March 25th, 2016Garry Shandling. NYT. A/V Club.LAT.
Earl Hamner Jr. I knew he was responsible for “The Waltons”, but I wasn’t aware that he also did “Falcon Crest”, and I don’t think I knew he’d written “Twilight Zone” episodes.
Did you think I was going to pass up a chance to work in a Heidi Bowl reference?
Interesting times (part 2).
March 24th, 2016Great and good friend of the blog RoadRich is taking the CPA class with me. Actually, the whole thing was his idea, so now you know who to blame for the blog posts.
And as far as blaming people for blog posts, he also sent a thoughtful reply to the use of force post. I liked it enough that I asked him for permission to use it here, which he granted. What follows after the jump are his comments, with a few personal asides edited out.
Obit followup.
March 24th, 2016Lawrence forwarded an obit for Rob Ford from National Review.
I think it’s worth reading, though I may be showing my bias here.
Interesting times (part 1).
March 24th, 2016Earlier this week, I wrote about the Austin Police Department, use of force policies, and the officer who was fired for shooting a naked unarmed 17-year old male.
I have two followups to that.
Austin has an organization called the Office of the Police Monitor. This is an organization independent of the APD; the basic idea is that they serve as a civilian oversight organization for the police. They’re the ones who issued that report on stops and searches I touched on a while back.
Part of what they do is monitor Internal Affairs investigations, and make recommendations as they see fit. You might correctly guess that they were involved in the shooting investigation.
The Stateman published a story late yesterday afternoon about one of the OPM’s recommendations as a result of this incident: they want a trainer at the police academy reassigned.
Yes, a trainer. Why? I’m going to put a break here because this is running long…
Obit watch: March 24, 2016.
March 24th, 2016Ken “The White Shadow” Howard. A/V Club.
I had completely forgotten he was Jordan’s father in “Crossing Jordan”, and didn’t know that gig only lasted two seasons. Then again, I checked out of “Crossing Jordan” after the first season: my fondness for Jill Hennessy couldn’t overcome the stupidity of the show.
Joe Garagiola. I think everyone of my age remembers him from television, but I’m too young to remember his baseball career, such as it was:
“Senator, how can you tamper with a .250 hitter?” Garagiola said.
And that wasn’t intended as a cheap shot: he was amazingly self-deprecating.