Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
March 2nd is always a day of reflection and remembrance for me. I got to go on a long walk with my son Jukie this past Saturday, May 2nd, during which time I spent some hours thinking about two of my favorite people, both gone too soon.
March 2nd, 2024, marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of my dad, Davey Marlin-Jones. As I have written in this newsletter previously, “Davey Marlin-Jones was a magician, actor, theatre director, film director, theatre critic, film critic, and drama professor, roughly in that order, but with significant overlap.”
I have also written about “performing” with my dad (including interviewing him on my own KDVS radio show in 2002), about his childhood in Indiana, about his lifetime immersion in film, and about his work as a movie critic allowing me to be the first child in America to watch the film Star Wars.
As I prepare to send my youngest off to college, and as I reconnect with friends from childhood (more on that below), I realize what a special childhood I had. My librarian mom made sure that I was immersed in good books and curious about my home town of Washington, D.C., and my famous television personality dad made sure that my afternoons and weekends were filled with games, films, and talk about theatre and other forms of arts.
Strangers who watched my dad on TV also called out to my dad as if they knew him. As he and I would walk down Wisconsin Avenue, drivers would lightly honk their hellos, pedestrians would recognize him and smile, and even bus passengers would yell his name (“Hey Davey!”) from DC Metro busses. Because he was functionally blind, an unexpected restriction for a drama and film critic, my dad would green these people back like they were old friends, just to cover his bases. I think dad was such a big deal in Washington, D.C. not only because he came on CBS just before Walter Cronkite on most evenings, but also because everyone came away from interactions with the towering blind man with feelings of mutual appreciation. I try to emulate my dad in this way.
My dad died 20 years ago this week at age 71. That seems so young to me – he collected only a single year of social security payments – but actuarial tables reveal that males born in 1932 were expected to live only to age 67, and that number is lower for men born in Indiana than those born in California. I could have benefitted from dad’s wisdom and guidance over the last 20 years, but I am grateful for all time I got to spend with him, and his humor and showbiz energy continue to inform all my work with students and other audiences.
March 2nd is also special to me because it is the birthday of my best friend Montague David Lord, known to his friends and family as Tito. I feel like I had spent most weekends at Tito’s house before my parents’ divorce, and most of my weekend’s at my dad’s house after the divorce.
Like my dad, Tito was also a renaissance man, just in different fields. He was the most dominant player on any baseball or cross-country team, and because of his fitness, my short friend Tito and an equally-fit friend would eventually win in two-on-two basketball because of the intense pace at which he played. Later he took to mountain climbing because of the ease with which his powerful limbs allowed him to brachiate up even the steepest inclines.
When still a college student at Trinity College, Tito saw his drawings from an archaeological dig in Peru appear in the New York Times, he learned to rebuild the engine of his Ford Thunderbird, and he started taking flying lessons. A philosophy and architecture major, Tito somehow had memorized all of “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot, reciting it to me during a long drive from Connecticut to Washington D.C. during the spring break before I met my wife Kate.
Tito flew his plane to our wedding in 1992, and soon thereafter flew off to Alaska where he would pilot his last flight. His mom (and my 1970s backup mom) called me in August of 1993 to report that Tito’s plane had gone down. For eight days after his death on August 4 of that year, I thought to myself that Tito was still older than me, that he was still alive just earlier that month. Tito pointed out to me when we were youngsters that he was the wiser of the two of us because he was born on March 2nd, eight days before me. When Tito died, I felt that I had lost a brother, or part of myself.
Many people knew or knew of my dad, even though he reviewed his last movie in December of 1987. Fewer people knew Tito, though he is remembered fondly by those who did.
I’m now going to fill a paragraph with the names of our Washington Waldorf School classmates. If one of them Googles themselves, or the self that they once were in Hearst Hall under the shadow of the National Cathedral, they will find this greeting, know that I am thinking of them, and know that Tito loved them, and that he is loved still.
Here are the names: Marty Benjamin, Jessica Case, Cassie, Chuck, Andy D’Angelo, Franceve Demmerle, Amanda Efron, Lucinda Eagle, Ben Foster, Aaron Gilmartin, Scott Glaser, Kirsten Sturman Hasslinger, Helen Hegland, Andrea Leigh Humphries, Bernie Keil, Tia Kirby, Ian Lent, Chris Lester, Chris McAulliffe, Emily Menezes, Maurice, Robert O’Hara, Kristin Paddack, Jim Parmelee, Kirsten Parsons, Scott Portacarerro, Matthew Ramsey, Steven Robinson, Birgit Rudelius, Sean Scully, Tom Schweiker, John Singleton, Emily Stussi, Wes Taylor (happy birthday!), Rebecca Trimble, Stephanie Holman Thwaites, Ulrich Winkelmann, Raphael Cavalier Yanick. To this list I should add Montague David Lord, AKA Tito, his mom Anna Johnson, and his late stepdad Jim Johnson. Our teacher, a backup dad for me, is the esteemed Jack Petrash. The bolded names are current Facebook friends of mine, remarkably. I think fondly and often about all of you. If I have misspelled a name or forgotten someone, please let me know.
Meanwhile, treasure your family members, treasure your friends, and join me in raising a March 2nd toast, actual or imaginary, to Davey Marlin-Jones and Tito Lord.
I think that you know that I run a pub quiz every Wednesday night. If you are in Davis this evening, please join us at Sudwerk. With regard to tonight, recruit a team and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for everyone. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. As Saint Augustine allegedly said, “Good times and crazy friends make the best memories.”
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on fruits, the City of Davis, carrots, Scandinavia, semi-autonomous regions, racy statures, French women, restaurants, ushers, CIA agents, Los Angeles Kings, Queens, islands, cabbage, cacti, breakfast cereal, suckers, insects, daughters, famous hammers, Chinese companies, romantic novels, prisms, big dinners, aeronautics, cinematic wrestlers, emojis, famous football players who died before even I was born, forms of dance, sources of energy, football, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to my new patron Adam who has been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks also to Brooke, Jeannie, Becky, Franklin, and More Cow Bell. Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:
- Midwestern Culture. What B word do Midwesterners use for turn signals?
- Unusual Words. What word with a Z in it that means “To deceive or cheat by trickery”?
- Pop Culture – Television. The primary female character in the TV show Succession shares a nickname with what weapon?
P.P.S. Please join us for Poetry Night tomorrow night at 7, and every first and third Thursday night, at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis.