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.
Friday, October 10, 2014
FRIDAY REVIEW: 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth,
and a Quest for Faith
Studs Terkel
2001
The New Press
New York
Studying death is not a barrel of laughs. However, in
keeping with the behavior of a crackpot autodidact on any given topic, I am
constantly absorbing a never-shrinking pile of information on thanatology,
obituaries, geriatrics, postmortem legalities, and tangent issues.
As I blunder through the literature, it’s a real treat to
read Studs on the subject. Studs Terkel, if you haven’t been conscious
recently, was a maker of raconteurs. He could draw people out. Over the course
of his hour-long, five-days-a-week interview show on Chicago radio over the
course of 45 years, he talked to any- and everybody. He knew how to phrase
questions to prompt the most fruitful answer. He knew how to shut up and
actively listen.
His oral histories, such as “Working,” “Hard Times,” and “’The
Good War’” are gripping because they stand history and sociology on their heads.
Instead of analyzing theories, summarizing speeches and quoting big shots,
Studs talks to people at every level and across every range of interest. What
you get is a people’s history, from the ground up and out of the midst of
things. At their best, Studs’ interviewees make poetic flights, utter heartrending
words of insight, and just come alive on the page.
Such is the case with “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”, a
project that examines the end of life and the afterlife through the voices of
doctors, patients, activists, painters, poets, singers, holy men, students, garbage
men. Studs lets his people speak. The questions, hesitations, interruptions are
excised, and the subjects hold forth in a series of monologues. A hierarchy of
flow and meaning inhabits the path the book takes; we move from the stark
contemplation of death to thoughts about postmortem possibilities for the soul,
to ruminations on lives well- and not-so-well lived.
There are large portions on the AIDS crisis of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
It is hard to believe in retrospect that so many people lost their lives in the
epidemic, and the issues of tolerance, compassion, and political expedience raised
in these pages still resonated today.
Anyone seeking to get away from more grim and tedious
discussions of this topic will find this an antidote.
Mark A. Harris
Journalist; his work spurred the passing of California's open-meetings law -- via the L.A. Times.
Steve Curry
Actor, later farmer; his head is on the iconic "Hair" poster -- via the New York Times. Eric Grode's piece is a great example of how to flesh a life story out of a seemingly inconsequential bit of history.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
From the archives: Norman Corwin and the beauty of radio
Originally published Oct, 19, 2011.
I've been curating the obituaries of significant and interesting lives for more than a year now. I haven't been moved to hold one life up to the light until now.
Norman Corwin died yesterday at the age of 101. Sixty years ago, he was one of the most celebrated voices in America. Ten years after that, the medium he made his name in was extinct.
The world of radio as mainstream entertainment for America lasted only from 1926 to 1962. It dominated the public consciousness, employed thousands, and broadcast millions of hours of drama, comedy, music, news, kids' shows, quiz shows and more. It anticipated all the genres found on TV and trained most fo that industry's first generation of talent. Television killed it -- although radio persists as a creative medium in many other countries, it died a quick death here.
Although radio spawned a recognizable flood of stars -- Jack Benny, Gene Autry, Jack Webb, William Conrad, George Burns, Orson Welles -- the list of writers, directors and producers behind them is often overlooked. Corwin was the most significant and one of the most skilled of them all.
Unlike other major figures such as Himan Brown, Arch Oboler, Elliott Lewis, William Spier, Gertrude Berg, Carlton E. Morse, Norman MacDonnell, Edward R. Murrow, Stan Freberg, Anne Hummert, Paul Rhymer, Irna Phillips, Lucille Fletcher and Don Quinn, Corwin became a household name because of his quick facility with language and the broad, sentimental, affirmative canvases he often painted. He started off as a reporter (excellent training for churning out words without the luxury of writer's block), moved on to reading news and creating original work for stations in Boston. His talent soon brought him to the network level at CBS, where he was given carte blanche to deliver such inventive limited series as "Norman Corwin's Words without Music," "26 by Corwin," "Columbia Presents Corwin" and others.
He was a booster of American ideals, and articulate so well and so vividly that he became the de facto voice of the nation for a time. "We Hold These Truths," broadcast over all major networks on December 15, 1941, told a shell-shocked nation just what it was fighting for. "On a Note of Triumph" four years later celebrated victory over the Nazis.
He could work in many genres, as is proved by radio plays such as "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas," "They Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease," "The Undecided Molecule," and perhaps his best work, "Document A/777," which outlined the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.
After radio's heyday, he kept on writing -- for film, TV and print. He taught journalism for decades at USC. Late in life, he produced a spate of dramatic broadcasts for National Public Radio, proving the continued viability of the medium.
American commercial radio was by and large for its 36 years an immature art form, trapped in genre conventions and unable to tackle many controversial subjects. It was on the cusp of developing into something complex, grown-up and cutting-edge when it went silent. Corwin reveled in the freedom of sound, the intimacy it imparted to the listener, its imaginative scope. Working with a handful of pages and some microphones, sound effects personnel, musicians and persuasive performers could create a world, stimulate the ear and provoke minds.
Due to a family fondness for "old-time" radio, I was steeped in the programs as a child. The first pieces I wrote were scripts for radio. The first big successes of my career were delivered to the ear. I wound up in front of a microphone, off and on, for years. Even though it's still perceived as a marginal and antiquated means of expression, I would still drop everything for a chance to work in it again.
A lot of the thanks for this gift of hearing the beauty of radio and yearning to fulfill its still untapped potential goes to Mr. Corwin. Moreover, he believed in truth, liberty, equality, justice and compassion -- what we used to call principles and now think of as mere slogans. He wasn't afraid to be corny, to wax rhapsodic, to champion thoughts that the cynical disdain. By doing so, he gives people like me permission to keep those principles alive and discussed. For this, much thanks.
I've been curating the obituaries of significant and interesting lives for more than a year now. I haven't been moved to hold one life up to the light until now.
Norman Corwin died yesterday at the age of 101. Sixty years ago, he was one of the most celebrated voices in America. Ten years after that, the medium he made his name in was extinct.
The world of radio as mainstream entertainment for America lasted only from 1926 to 1962. It dominated the public consciousness, employed thousands, and broadcast millions of hours of drama, comedy, music, news, kids' shows, quiz shows and more. It anticipated all the genres found on TV and trained most fo that industry's first generation of talent. Television killed it -- although radio persists as a creative medium in many other countries, it died a quick death here.
Although radio spawned a recognizable flood of stars -- Jack Benny, Gene Autry, Jack Webb, William Conrad, George Burns, Orson Welles -- the list of writers, directors and producers behind them is often overlooked. Corwin was the most significant and one of the most skilled of them all.
Unlike other major figures such as Himan Brown, Arch Oboler, Elliott Lewis, William Spier, Gertrude Berg, Carlton E. Morse, Norman MacDonnell, Edward R. Murrow, Stan Freberg, Anne Hummert, Paul Rhymer, Irna Phillips, Lucille Fletcher and Don Quinn, Corwin became a household name because of his quick facility with language and the broad, sentimental, affirmative canvases he often painted. He started off as a reporter (excellent training for churning out words without the luxury of writer's block), moved on to reading news and creating original work for stations in Boston. His talent soon brought him to the network level at CBS, where he was given carte blanche to deliver such inventive limited series as "Norman Corwin's Words without Music," "26 by Corwin," "Columbia Presents Corwin" and others.
He was a booster of American ideals, and articulate so well and so vividly that he became the de facto voice of the nation for a time. "We Hold These Truths," broadcast over all major networks on December 15, 1941, told a shell-shocked nation just what it was fighting for. "On a Note of Triumph" four years later celebrated victory over the Nazis.
He could work in many genres, as is proved by radio plays such as "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas," "They Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease," "The Undecided Molecule," and perhaps his best work, "Document A/777," which outlined the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.
After radio's heyday, he kept on writing -- for film, TV and print. He taught journalism for decades at USC. Late in life, he produced a spate of dramatic broadcasts for National Public Radio, proving the continued viability of the medium.
American commercial radio was by and large for its 36 years an immature art form, trapped in genre conventions and unable to tackle many controversial subjects. It was on the cusp of developing into something complex, grown-up and cutting-edge when it went silent. Corwin reveled in the freedom of sound, the intimacy it imparted to the listener, its imaginative scope. Working with a handful of pages and some microphones, sound effects personnel, musicians and persuasive performers could create a world, stimulate the ear and provoke minds.
Due to a family fondness for "old-time" radio, I was steeped in the programs as a child. The first pieces I wrote were scripts for radio. The first big successes of my career were delivered to the ear. I wound up in front of a microphone, off and on, for years. Even though it's still perceived as a marginal and antiquated means of expression, I would still drop everything for a chance to work in it again.
A lot of the thanks for this gift of hearing the beauty of radio and yearning to fulfill its still untapped potential goes to Mr. Corwin. Moreover, he believed in truth, liberty, equality, justice and compassion -- what we used to call principles and now think of as mere slogans. He wasn't afraid to be corny, to wax rhapsodic, to champion thoughts that the cynical disdain. By doing so, he gives people like me permission to keep those principles alive and discussed. For this, much thanks.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Christopher van Wyck
Poet, editor, and writer -- via booklive.co.za. Best known for his anti-apartheid poem, "In Detention."
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Henry Lowenstein
Theater manager (Bonfils, Civic); producer, stage designer; icon of Denver theater from 1956 to 1995 -- via Colorado Public Radio.
Marian Seldes
Actress -- via the New York Times. A Tony winner whose forte was the stage, she started on Broadway in 1947, abit player in Judith Anderson's "Medea." She won a Tony for playing Julia in the original production of "A Delicate Balance" as well as a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2010.
Andrew Kerr
Co-founder of the Glastonbury Festival -- via the Western Daily Press. A visionary promoter who doused the site of the Festival, and was among the first to promote sustainability, he did a lot of other stuff -- an early "green."
Bill Campbell
Broadcaster; "the dean of Philadelphia sports" -- via philly.com. He started on radio in 1939. He called them all -- Chamberlain's 100-point game, the Eagles NFL championship in 1960, baseball, you name it. Here he is selling some Schmidt's --
Monday, October 6, 2014
WEEKLY READER: International roundup of stories on death, dying, mourning, and more
TOP STORIES
CDC
issues guidelines to funeral homes for handling of Ebola victims – via Paul
Joseph Watson in Infowars
New
music genre, tsapiky, developed at funerals in Madagascar in the 1970s –
from Banning Eyre at NPR
Per
Caitlin Doughty, alkaline hydrolysis could be the new thing in body disposal
– via Ellie Zolfagharifard in the Daily Mail
DEATH
“40 Faces of Death” – a gallery of images of the Grim Reaper, curated by Robert Lamb on
stufftoblowyourmind.com.
Veterans
Administration not quite clear about client’s death – via William H.
McMichael at USA Today
Replica
of Lincoln coffin engages community – via Will Higgins at the Indianapolis
Star
Rachel Young of the Suffolk Times attends
a Death Cafe
If
you don’t take care of your digital stuff, you will leave a rat’s nest of
problems when you die—from Katie Humphrey at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
MOURNING
Caitlin Smith at the Ohio History Connection discusses “Victorian
Mourning Customs,” the first of a proposed series of blog posts in October.
Victorian
mourning program scheduled – via Walworth County News
“How
teenagers mourn in the digital age” – from Catherine Shanahan in the Irish
Examiner
FUNERALS
Idiosyncratic
Duchess of Devonshire buried in wicker coffin to strains of Elvis – via
pigtown-design.blogspot.com
In the wake of the Duchess of Devonshire’s wacky funeral,the Telegraph asks: how does one havea funeral today?. Written by Helena Kealey
Billie
Barry has a smashing funeral – from Alison Healy at the Irish Times
Funeral
home serves needs of diverse cultures – by Andrea Castillo for the Fresno
Bee
Funeral
planning forum sponsored by consumer group – from the Funeral Consumers
Alliance of Western Massachusetts
Plan
your own funeral – advice from Gary Calligas in the Shreveport News
Coast
Guard gives vet a Viking funeral – from Meghann Myers in the Navy Times
END-OF-LIFE
Tom Englund on Medium talks about “Fading Light:
Expanding our care-circle”
A new book asserts that life expectancy is longer in hospice
than in the hospital – Atul
Gawande’s “Being Mortal” – via dish.andrewsullivan.com.
Geoffrey Holder
Dancer, choreographer, actor, composer, designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, and writer -- via the New York Times. Won Tony awards for music direction and costume design on "The Wiz"; best remembered as the spokesman for 7-Up. Broadway debut in 1954 as featured dancer in "House of Flowers." He received a Guggenheim fellowship -- in painting. In film, he was a character actor seen in "Live and Let Die," the original adaptation of "Dr. Doolittle," and "Annie." His distinctive deep voice was used as the narrator in Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." One of the best laughs ever.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Sarah Danielle Goldberg
Actress -- via legacy.com. AKA Sarah Danielle Madison. Best known as Dr. Labonte on "Judging Amy," and Sarah Glass in "7th Heaven."
Michael Goldberg
Screenwriter -- via philly.com. Co-wrote "Cool Runnings" and Rick Moranis's Elvis-has-left-the-building movie, "Little Giants," among others.
Alan Henning
Aid worker; executed by extremist jihad group -- via the New York Times. Once again, won't link to video. I am so sorry; he looks like he was a nice guy.
John J. Lloyd
Art director and production designer for film -- via legacy.com. Started off as an art director on TV in 1950; he worked on such significant series as "Wagon Train," "Leave It to Beaver," and "Emergency!." In film, he did great work as production designer in films such as "The Blues Brothers"; "Big Trouble in Little China" and "The Thing" with John Carpenter; and the first two "Naked Gun" movies. Won his Emmy for "Checkmate," a 1960-1962 detective series starring Doug McClure, Sebastian Cabot, and Anthony George.
Paul Revere
Rocker; keyboardist, singer, and leader of Paul Revere and the Raiders -- via The Oregonian. AKA Paul Revere Dick. Biggest hits: "Kicks" and "Indian Reservation." They even appeared on an episode of "Batman" on Nov. 2, 1966, as Paul Revere and the Ruders.
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