A classic line from ‘Airplane,’ it refers to a series of mishaps and tragedies that keep popping up. And just when there is some relative quiet in the world.
Perhaps Michael Corleone said it better in the really bad ‘Godfather III,” Just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in.
I’m talking about the onslaught of death and bad news in the world of entertainment, sports, and politics.
Don’t get me wrong. While it is always sad to see people we experienced pass, unless you worked directly with these people, I believe the sadness comes not from their impact on our lives but what their presence meant in our own timelines.
What we really are mourning is our own past and how these ‘celebrities’ linked us to a different time in our life, perhaps a simpler time but how our innocence or lack of innocence is, if not lost, becoming a distant memory.
Where were you when Laverne and Shirley chanted “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer incorporated?” January 1976. I was job hunting in NYC and landed a job five months later at WHN Radio in NYC, making my first move from the talent side of the mic to public relations.
Where were you when Stella Stevens popped up in a wet t-shirt in “The Poseidon Adventure?” December 1972. I had quit college, moved home, and got a job as a shipping clerk at Arrow Electronics, to return to school at American University 10 months later and begin my education in communications.
Where were you when Tim McCarver won his Second World Series? October 1967. At 14, I started seeing a dietitian at LIJ Hospital and embarked on a lifelong quest to stay healthy and monitor myself.
Where were you when you first splashed on that g-d awful Paco Rabanne cologne? Summer 1969 and I was 16 at summer camp. Girls were the thing and I had my folks send me a ‘care’ package of pretzels and mustard and Musk. It worked.
There are too many more to acknowledge who passed in just the short time since the New year began and there are some in the wings, living out the remainder of their lives.
In 1976, I voted in my second Presidential election, for Jimmy Carter. During his term, I met my first wife and began a new life. And now, in his final days, I recall my own youth.
People we’ve seen or heard from a distance on radio, tv, music, politics and sports have become the soundtrack of our lives and when we lose them, we lose a little bit and learn how we need to spend the time we have left.
Over the decades, I have often referred to an old Houston Post article by Rabbi Jack Reimer. It still resonates and is really a guidebook for the rest of our lives.
Enjoy the read.
https://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Perlman-makes-his-music-the-hard-way-2009719.php
That article is truly beautiful and ever-relevant.
Another Godfather reference (the excellent Godfather II) I use when I feel oppressed or depressed - Hyman Roth: “This is the life we chose.”
Thank you
Relevancy, again. H