Dear Friends,
We are losing our notable nonagenarians.
Rosalyn Carter was less dynamic or glamorous than other first ladies, but she attended Cabinet meetings and worked side by side with her husband Jimmy to build houses for humanity.
I have distinct memories of watching the Channel 9 Eyewitness News newscast on the day in July of 1981 when President Reagan announced Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman Supreme Court Justice. O’Connor only found out the day before the announcement was made. She didn’t even know that she was a finalist for the position. I guess everyone today knows if they are finalists.
How do I remember it so well? Because I accompanied my dad to the TV station that day to see him review a movie. Perhaps it was For Your Eyes Only, the James Bond film which I watched with him in the theatre the week before. I think he preferred that film over Arthur, which was to be released a couple weeks later.
And then there’s Henry Kissinger, who outlived the comedians who impersonated him (well, Robin Williams, but not Al Franken) and Michael T. Kaufman, who had written most of Kissinger’s obituary for The New York Times.
Today in the Times, one finds the obituary of Norman Lear, the television producer and progressive icon who died overnight at the age of 101. With his television comedies, Lear probably affected my life more so than these other recent losses.
He also produced films that my dad the film critic loved, such as Fanny and Alexander, This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride.
That last film came out the year my dad stopped reviewing movies. It’s funny to think that, even though he was born in the 1930s, as a performer and critic, my dad could always look up to the work of his elders such as Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks, who are still with us, and Carl Reiner and Norman Lear, who have recently passed.
Speaking of people born in the early 30s, I checked in with retired teacher and first Davis poet laureate Allegra Silberstein on her birthday Monday. At 93, she is doing well. She has attended just about all the poetry readings I have hosted over the last 20 years, and most of the readings in Davis and Sacramento where I have performed. I expect to see her Thursday night at the Natsoulas Gallery.
Allegra reminds us that, especially when it comes to the arts, all of us should plan on enriching the world for many decades. The lucky ones will succeed. As Steve Jobs said, “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”
Thanks for reading to the end of the newsletter. Congratulations to Pub Quiz regular Catriona McPherson on the publication of her new novel, Hop Scot.
If you are in Davis tonight, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Recruit a team, dress for a December sunset, and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio with heaters where we have room for just about everyone. We always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. As Amy Poehler says, “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.”
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on games, emoji, expensive purchases, Jamie Foxx projects, economics, breaches, departing grandmothers, brothers in ignominy, charging connundra, sound barriers, Leonard Martin, people who have left the building, instruments that we can count on, places called Washington, South America, art and art history, sad bribes, socks, professional teams, deathbed emails to science fiction authors, rockabilly songs, median incomes, Oxford University, people from Indiana, planets in synchrony, winning records, Oscar winners with brothers, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Quizimodo, Gena Harper, a new guy named Spencer (welcome!) 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
P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:
- Books and Authors. In the film Pulp Fiction, we learn that “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.” The book of the Bible that Jules Winnfield quotes is named after a likely 7th century BCE man who has been acknowledged as a prophet in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. Name him.
- Film. What 1983 superhero sequel film was nominated for two Razzie Awards, including for a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for Richard Pryor?
- Queens of the World. What future queen was born 24 May 1819 in Kensington Palace with the original first name of Alexandrina?