Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Linda Hargrove

Songwriter, musician and singer -- via The Tennessean.

Hans Arnold

Artist and illustrator -- via sve.se.

Bill Shannon

Official scorer for the Yankees and Mets -- via the Star-Ledger. He was a darn good writer as well, and a sign of the respect he commanded is evident in this piece in the Boston Globe.

Alvin Lawson

Literature professor who had a remarkable explanation for the phenomenon of "alien abduction" reports -- via the Telegraph.

Harout Yeretzian

Bookstore owner and cultural doyen -- via the Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Elijah "Lucky" Miller

Former Negro Leagues batboy and millworker -- via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bob Packard

Olympic athlete whose life became troubled -- via the Wichita Falls TimesRecordNews.

Raymond deKozan

Inventor of the MetroCard, the swipe-to-pay public transportation payment system -- via Crain's New York. This technology replaced subway tokens in New York City in 2003. "He was also a longtime Yankees fan." Yes, my brother!

Who gets ink? Of Paul the Octopus

Over the past day, the three obituaries that have been posted most frequently on mainstream media are those of Joseph Stein, librettist of "Fiddler on the Roof," Alex Anderson, illustrator and creator of Rocky, Bullwinkle, et al; and Paul the World Cup-match-winning predicting octopus.

I reported Anderson's death on Saturday afternoon, Stein's Monday afternoon. In that time, I anthologized 16 obituaries of folks we felt fit my criteria of "significant and interesting," including those of a Sherpa killed in an avalanche, an educator who stood fast and fought racism even after someone burned her house down; a poet; and three exemplary yet little-known film industry figures. (OK, I threw in one facetious piece saluting the discontinued Sony Walkman.)

So who gets the ink? I issue two types of notice via Twitter when I update this blog -- a periodic summary roundup and an ALERT when I deem that readers would appreciate immediate notification. Did Stein and Anderson merit this approach?

Popular culture rewards those who reinforce it. I love Stein's work, I've performed it; Rocky and Bullwinkle, Boris and Natasha, Dudley Do-Right and Snidely Whiplash helped form the core of my childhood being. The mainstream's criteria rewards the "hook," or the piece that can extrapolate into something beyond just looking at a person's life.

(And no, I can't post Paul's demise. Animals, though cute and fascinating, won't make it into the Obit Patrol, save for tangenital references and/or cheap attempts to boost readership such as this. That's a slippery slope that leads to typing in memorials to Fluffy all day long.

That an octopus should seem to be able to predict World Cup scores is truly amazing, and if a clairvoyant cephalopod shows up again, I will do its bidding. But I won't mix species, for now.)

So, will this change my approach? I don't know. Currently on my plate, getting prepped for posting, are three extraordinary obituaries about three people you've never heard of. Ted Buss of the Wichita Falls TimesRecordNews writes about the tragic life of Bob Packard; Kevin Kirkland of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiles a late 104-year-old former Negro Leagues batboy; and Jeremy Smerd in Crain's New York pens a fond and informative tribute to the man who invented the Metrocard.

Pieces such as these are good writing, plain and simple. I encourage you to read them, as well as those of the higher-profile subjects. I hope that the inspiring hidden gems of lives I get to share here make it worth your visits to the blog.

Lamont Johnson

Actor and director in film and television -- via the L.A. Times

Monday, October 25, 2010

Chhewang Nima

Sherpa -- via the Himalayan Times.

Vesna Parun

Poet -- via the Croatian Times.

Kjell Stormoen

Actor and director, on stage and in film -- via bergen.p5.no.

Uccio Aloisi

Traditional singer -- via Il Paese Nuovo.it.

Geoffrey Foot

Film editor -- via the Independent.

Chao-li Chi

Teacher, scholar and actor -- via Legacy.com.

Ruth Harris

Woman of many talents -- via the Cincinnati Enquirer. She penned her own obituary, which is revealing, humorous and touching.

Joseph Stein

Writer and librettist, most notably for "Fiddler on the Roof," for which he won a Tony -- via Broadway.com. (P.S. -- Tevye was a milkman, not a baker.)

Gregory Issacs

Reggae singer -- via the BBC

Sunday, October 24, 2010

the Sony Walkman

Portable cassette player -- via Conceivably Tech. After 31 years and 200 million units made, its manufacture has been discontinued.

John Graysmark

Oscar-nominated art director and production designer -- via Legacy.com. Gave a great look to many films, including "Young Winston," "Ragtime," "The Bounty," "Lifeforce" and "Gorillas in the Mist," to name a few.

Gladys Bates

Educator who fought racism -- via the Denver Post

Mike Esposito

Renowned inker for comics, especially Marvel -- via Comic Books Resources

N. Paul Kenworthy Jr.

Innovative cinematographer and camera-systems inventor -- via the L.A. Times. The amazing Disney nature documentaries are thanks to him.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Alexander Anderson Jr.

Illustrator and creator of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, and Crusader Rabbit -- via the Monterey Herald.

Arthur M. Brazier

Pastor and social activist -- via the Chicago Tribune.

William Otis "Otey" Clark

Former MLB player -- via Bill Schenley, groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries and the Midwest News.

Natasha Spender

Pianist and author -- via the Guardian.

William J. Jennings

Shortstop with the St. Louis Browns -- via Bill Schenley, groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries. Legacy.com and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Anton Ambrose "Tony" Roig

Infielder with the Senators -- via Bill Schenley and groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries and the Thornhill Valley Chapel.

Denis Simpson

Singer, actor and kids' show host -- via the Vancouver Sun.

Loulan Pitre Sr.

Storyteller, actor, fisherman, rig-builder, oysterman -- via the Daily Comet.

Marion Brown

Tenor sax man, composer and ethnomusicologist -- via jazztimes.com.

Leigh Van Valen

Evolutionary biologist -- via the Chicago Tribune.

Vera Rozsa

Singer and honored voice teacher -- via the Telegraph.

Elizabeth L. Sturz

Social worker, founder of Argus Learning Center -- via the New York Times. She also worked as a writer, poet, acrobat and folk-song collector.

Murray Deutch

Music executive -- via the Hollywood Reporter.

Death on the Internet

An L.A. Times story by Scott Duke Harris on Facebook's approach to a member's death, and developments in online memorials as well.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Sally Holloway

First woman journalist at the BBC -- via the Guardian.

A Ayyappan

"Poet of the orphans" -- via Mathrubhumi.

Robert Paynter

Cinematographer -- via the Telegraph. His biggest claim to fame will undoubtedly be serving as d.p. for the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video; however, he worked extensively on the films of Michael Winner, Richard Lester and John Landis.

Eva Ibbotson aka Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner

Writer for children and young people -- via the Guardian.

Peter M. Jamison

Art director and production designer -- via Screen Daily. He worked on some of my favorite films -- "At Close Range," "Used Cars," "Point Break," "The Big Red One," and "Mulholland Drive." A couple of his films are visually wonderful, but were doomed by bad editing and studio/star interference -- "Mike's Murder" and "Swing Shift" are two prime examples.