Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
WEEKLY READER: An international roundup of stories on death, dying, mourning and more
TOP STORIES
An
interview with New York Times obituarist Margalit Fox – from Alex Ronan of
the Paris Review
Bourree Lam interviews celebrity
mortician Caitlin Doughty in the Atlantic
From Caleb Wilde in Confessions of a Funeral Director: “Why
Funeral Directors Become Narcissists: Seven Reasons”
DEATH
A pagan
perspective on death and burial – from Cara Schulz at The Wild Hunt
What
can you do when someone dies on a plane? – by Laura Begley Bloom of Yahoo
Travel
Plastinated
corpse exhibit banned in Berlin – per NBC News.
“Death
Row dinners” concept so revolting it’s canceled before it begins – via
Alain Tolhurst
MOURNING
Sisters
honor deceased bride-to-be by participating in mud race – from Susanna Kim
at ABC News
Looking at the dynamics of grief
and mourning for the “suicide-bereaved” – via Counseling Connection
“The
Jewish Mourning Tradition of Shiva” from Zoe Byrne at Seven Ponds
Mourning
on social media by Jennifer Golbeck in Psychology Today
FUNERALS
“Food
of the Dead: A Culinary History of Funeral Food” at the Brooklyn Brainery
on Oct. 29
Woman
to have Philadelphia Eagles-themed funeral – from David Chang at NBC
Philadelphia.
In
praise of funeral slide shows: from Sheryl at Being Fifty-Something
Mortician
to bring funeral collection to horror/sci-fi convention Shocka-Con; from Zack
Harold at the Charleston Daily Mail
Randy Hutchinson of the Better Business Bureau, in the
Jacksonville Sun, tells us about the
FTC consumer-protection funeral rules
Jeremy Glass at Supercompressor asks morticians: Can
you really treat a body like the title character in “Weekend at Bernie’s?”
New
funeral customs in Uganda – from Carol Kasujja of New Vision
Pre-paid
funeral accounts gone after funeral director goes out of business – via Joe
Ducey at ABC 15 Arizona
Funeral
co-ops grow in Canada to reduce costs – via Justina Reichel at the Epoch
Times
From Confessions of a Funeral Director, another
green burial idea
A
funeral for the Corcoran Gallery of Art – via Maura Judkis of the
Washington Post
OBITS
On Catholic Sports Net, Billy Reed eulogizes
his mentor, the late Larry Van Hoose
When an
obituary is written to make the writer look good, by Joan King in the
Gainesville Times
Obituary
reveals man’s five-year affair – via Sam Rkaina in The Mirror
In TIME magazine, Helen Shulman memorializes
her cousin David
HUMOR
From Clickhole: “Death
is Just a Natural Part of this Statue of Liberty Tour”
Jaak Joala
Singer -- via postimees.ee. AKA "The Kremlin's Nightingale" for his many Soviet-era performances in Russia.
Walter Josef Fischer
Graffiti artist -- via artnet.com. AKA Oz. Responsible for more than 120,000 tags; spent a cumulative eight years in prison for his activities.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Don Keefer
Great character actor -- via the New York Times. Instantly recognizable to my generation, Keefer racked almost 200 film and television credits between 1947 and 1997. First on stage, he played Roderigo in a revival of the Robeson/Hagen/Ferrer "Othello," and was the firstBernard in "Death of a Salesman." On film, he was in everything. He played a dcotor in "Sleeper," and in "Candy Stripe Nurses." His most indelible appearance was on the "It's a Good Life" episode of "The Twilight Zone," in which Billy Mumy turns him into a horrifying jack in the box before killing him.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/440799
http://www.hulu.com/watch/440799
Peggy Drake
The psychological implications of this publicity photograph are stunning. |
Her big hit came as the leading lady in the wartime "Rocky" Lane serial, "King of the Mounties," in which our hero fights one evil Japanese admiral, a German marshal, and an Italian count, and Douglas Dumbrille. (Take note, character-actor lovers: in this serial you get Duncan Renaldo, Francis Ford, Jay Novello, and the fabulous "King Kong," Kashey, the Syrian wrestling phenom turned thespian.
Somebody had to make these programmers, full of "mirth and melody" or mindless action. Peggy Drake was one of them, and she did it well.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Assheton Gorton
Film production designer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. A pretty amazing talent, to judge by his range -- he started off as art director on "The Knack" and "Blow-Up" -- not too shabby. The ensuing list is impressive: Richard Lester's end-of-the-world farce "The Bed Sitting Room," "The Magic Christian," George Englund's bizarre hippie Western "Zachariah," "Get Carter," "The French Lieutenant's Woman," "Legend," the ill-fated "Revolution," "For the Boys," "Rob Roy," "Shadow of the Vampire." Not all good -- but each was wildly different from the rest, and each had excellent production design. An underappreciated artist.
Debo Mitford
Duchess and estate entrepreneur; writer, farmer -- via the New York Times. AKA Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford, AKA Deborah Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. One of the extraordinary, strange, and sometimes brilliant Mitford clan of England.
Skip E. Lowe
Talk-show host and former child actor -- via the Hollywood Reporter. AKA Sammy Labella. An indefatigable character of Hollywood. Here's an excellent portrait of him by Mark Evanier.
Christopher Hogwood
Conductor; founder of the Academy of Ancient Music; harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist -- via the BBC. Really one of my favorite conductors of the past century. An absolute whiz at Baroque music, he played a huge role in the surge of appreciation of it over the past 40 years. Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Purcell, Mozart, and much more. And the Haydn symphonies! Just perfect. Fine musicianship combined with a breadth of context and depth of understanding.
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