s'Newz

...an occasional series mentioning current events which lately held my interest...

The belief that stock brokers, during the big crash of 1929, were leaping out of windows has been pretty much debunked as myth these days. But this actually happened: the current world-wide financial meltdown caused a Brazilian trader to shoot himself in the chest on the floor of the stock market. Ouch.







I was sorry to hear that one of my favorite comic actresses, Cloris Leachman, sought medical help this week for difficulty breathing. She apparently has pneumonia, and is home recuperating. I really am hoping she is not going to die, as her obituary would be dominated by her recent flamboyant stint on Dancing With the Stars. I have never watched an episode of the program (I avoid reality television), but clips of her antics have been hard to ignore, as they've been everywhere. That's OK, but I have such respect for the woman's talent that I really hope she gains some distance from the show before leaving us forever. She is reportedly the most "awarded" actress ever, with an Oscar, numerous Emmys, and even more Golden Globes and critics' circle awards. She first came to my attention as Phyllis on Mary Tyler Moore's sitcom, for which she won her first two Emmys. Somehow, she was able to make the self-centered character endearing. During her first year or so on the program, she won the Oscar for a highly dramatic role in The Last Picture Show, leaving no doubt of her versatility. With that history, I think it would be a crying shame if she were to be eulogized as that buxom broad who refused to act her age on a reality program.


Here's the most ironic story I caught this week. The late George Carlin, about whom I have already written, posthumously received the Mark Twain Prize for Comedy at the Kennedy Center in a ceremony which was held, and videotaped, this week. The television special covering the event will be broadcast in 2009. Carlin was famous for a lot of things, one of which was his infamous routine regarding the Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television. During this week's ceremony, a video clip of that routine was shown to the audience, and was bleeped. Onstage. Live. I'm not talking about the TV tape which will be broadcast, which can certainly be censured during post-production; I mean that the tape of his routine shown to the live, in-person audience in the theatre at the Kennedy Center, was bleeped. I've had a little bit of experience with censorship at KenCen, though in this instance, the administration at the Kennedy Center disavowed putting any pressure on the producers of the show to censure this tape.

Carlin, wherever he is, is probably tearing his few remaining hairs out...

This last item reflects a sensibility which is creative, charitable, provocative, and kind of icky, simultaneously. Daniel Radcliff, the planet's most famous student wizard, will soon be wrapping up his Broadway stint as the sexually confused teen-aged horse-abuser in Equus. This particular production of the play is to be commended for its determination to raise funds for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights Aids (BC/EFA). Recently, they auctioned off various items associated with the play, including a signed script belonging to Kate Mulgrew, who is playing the judge in the piece. Her script brought a pretty penny from some star-crossed Trekkie. But there may be pandemonium in the theatre soon, as three matinee performances have been pegged to host another auction. This time, audience members will have the chance to buy the very pair of jeans worn by Radcliff during the performance. Our hunky Harry Potter will take his curtain call, dash backstage, strip off the jeans he wore throughout the performance (except when he was naked), and carry them back onstage to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. He'll even sign the skanky pants.

...I just have to let that image lay there for a while...