From:    Albertus Magnus                        Area: Metaphysical
To:      All                                    21 Feb 94 02:57:00
Subject: The Week in Death: Feb. 4-13, a        UpdReq 

 QUOTE OF THE DAY:
 ``This little creampuff met a guy at dinner one night
   and wanted to know what his name was.  So she shot
   him and read it in the morning paper. ''
    -- from the film ``Ladies They Talk About'' (1932).
 THE WEEK IN DEATH (February 4-February 13),
 Special Snowstorm Extended Edition
 TED BISSELL (84), CIA deputy director of plans.  And oh, what
 plans. Bissell  was chief architect of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
 To be fair, his original program appeared sound operationally,
 if not ethically, but it was whittled down to an excursion of
 such meager scale and petty implementation that only an idiot
 would go ahead with it, and there were plenty of idiots to go
 around, starting with some of the Cuban commandos, moving
 through the CIA, and on up to KENNEDY's circle of advisors.
 Bissell took the fall.  He would've been in line to succeed
 ALLAN DULLES.
     Bissell actually had a fairly distinguished career.  He
 helped create the country's program of aerial reconaissance,
 which has been incredibly successful, from the U-2 (FRANCIS
 POWERS notwithstanding), the SR-71, and the Corona satellite.
 WILLIAM CONRAD (73), actor.  OLIVIER had a native genius and
 BRANDO had The Method, but Conrad had Corpulence.  The guy made
 a career out of being fat -- there was ``Jake and the Fatman''
 (don't make us tell you which one he was), and before that
 ``Cannon.'' Where he really shined was in narration however.
 Conrad dished out the puns on ``The Bullwinkle Show,'' kept us
 up on Dr.  Richard Kimble's whereabouts on ``The Fugitive,'' and
 played Marshall Dillon when ``Gunsmoke'' was on the radio.
 JOSEPH COTTEN (88), actor.  A master at under-acting.  He hit it
 big on Broadway in ``The Philadelphia Story,'' originating the
 role that would be given to CARY GRANT in the film version.
 Around the same time, he began working with ORSON WELLES at the
 Mercury Theater, and when Welles went west to make ``Citizen
 Kane,'' he brought the Mercury ensemble with him.
     The two comprised a perfect dipole, with Cotten's
 understated style complementing Welles oxygen-depleting
 performances; it worked in ``Kane,'' ``The Magnificent
 Ambersons,'' ``The Third Man'' (if you've never seen any of
 these, rent them immediately), and in scene or two of ``A Touch
 of Evil'' (CHARLTON HESTON as a MEXICAN?  Who cast this movie?).
 They also collaborated on the script for ``Journey Into Fear,''
 a thriller starring Cotten that had its moments.
     ALFRED HITCHCOCK used him well in ``Shadow of a Doubt ''(was
 he a killer or wasn't he?).  Other films included ``Niagara'';
 ``Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte''; ``Soylent Green'' (``It's a
 dessert topping!'' ``It's a floor wax!'' ``No, it's Grandma!''),
 and ``Airport '77.''
 RAY DANDRIDGE (79), athlete.  The best 3d baseman never to make
 the majors.  For five years after JACKIE ROBINSON broke the
 color barrier in baseball, Dandridge was held back in the minor
 leagues because he was considered too old.  He retired in 1953.
 DONALD JUDD (65), artist.  A leading figure in Minimalism.
 Declaring painting ``finished,'' Judd moved to sculpture,
 creating a lot of rectilinear stuff out of metal and plexiglass
 that elegantly defined space.  As expected, untalented hacks
 took his ideas to their logical dead end, but that wasn't Judd's
 fault.  Often cantankerous, Judd was the one who pronounced that
 ``art need only be interesting.''
 JACK KIRBY (76), artist.  One of the premiere comics artists,
 Kirby helped create CAPTAIN AMERICA, The INCREDIBLE HULK, and
 THE MIGHTY THOR, among other characters, often in collaboration
 with STAN LEE. Kirby energized comic art with a strong sense of
 kineticism, and with Lee expanded stories to full-magazine
 length.  His characters were among the first to have some sense
 of humanity and moral complexity, acting on more than just altruism.
 WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI (81), composer.
... Come, Watson, come!  The game is afoot. * Sherlock Holmes


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From:    Albertus Magnus                        Area: Metaphysical
To:      All                                    21 Feb 94 02:58:02
Subject: The Week in Death: Feb. 4-13, b        UpdReq 

 RAYMOND SCOTT (85), musician, inventor.  Genius is knowing where
 to steal your ideas.  CARL STALLING, musical director of the
 great Warner Bros.  cartoons, adapted some of Scott's music for
 the soundtracks of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.  ``Ren &
 Stimpy'' use some of Scott's compositions for background music.
 Scott invented the Karloff, which imitated various noises like
 sizzling steaks and coughing.  His Clavivox imitated the human
 voice.  He headed Motown's electronic music division in the 70s.
 TY SMITH (38), model.  Featured in ads for Ralph Lauren and
 other top designers.
 ALAN SOULE (84), actor.  A deep-voiced 135-pounder, Soule was
 the voice of the animated Batman until 1984.  He played
 thousands of character roles, including the choir master on the
 ``Andy Griffith Show.''
 HOWARD M.  TEMIN (59), biologist.  Won the 1975 Nobel for
 discovering the reverse striptease...  um.  Hold on, that can't
 be right.  Oh, yes, sorry, ...for discovering reverse
 transcriptase, an enzyme, which is quite different from a
 reverse striptease, ha, ha! Although a reverse striptease might
 be interesting.  Not something you'd win a Nobel for, ha, ha!
 Then again, those naughty Swedes, eh?
     Hm?  Right.  Anyway...  His discovery came out of cancer
 research (he scolded people in the audience for smoking when he
 received his prize); he proved that via reverse transcriptase,
 RNA could transfer genetic information to DNA, a notion for
 which he had often been dismissed.
 Lt.  Gen.  EUGENE TIGHE JR.  (72), the former head of the
 Defense Intelligence Agency who asserted in 1981 that there were
 still American servicemen from the Viet Nam War held in
 Indochina.  A chilling assertion if true, and Tighe was
 apparently the type to assume it was.  So far, however, the most
 compelling proof has been a series of bad CHUCK NORRIS movies
 based on the premise.
 BUD WILKINSON (77), coach.  The king of corn-fed football,
 Wilkinson won three NCAA football championships during the 1950s
 at Oklahoma. Over 11 years, he compiled a 145-29-4 record,
 including a 47-game stretch without a loss, still a record.  In
 1978, he took over the St. Louis Cardinals, and in two seasons
 compiled a 9-20 record before retiring from coaching for good.
 From the Suggested Reading Department (SRD): A recent issue of
 ``The New Republic'' has an entertaining series of ruminations
 on death, one about hanging out in cemetaries _ ``Harolding,''
 after the character in ``Harold and Maude'' (TWIDMAN sez ``two
 thumbs up!'' on the film and ``eh'' on the article); another on
 SUNNY VON BULOW as an entree into questioning the boundary
 between life and death; and the third on an underground culture
 of collectors of some truly grim stuff.
     Turns out that there is a small but steady business for art
 created by serial killers.  CHARLES MANSON appears to be fairly
 prolific, and somewhat indiscriminate about who he sends
 drawings to, apparently for free.  Also in circulation are works
 by HENRY LEE LUCAS (whose killing spree was chronicled in the
 flick ``Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'') and KENNETH
 BIANCHI, one of the two Hillside Stranglers.  To die for,
 however, would be a depiction of a Disney character by JOHN
 WAYNE GACY.  Gacy has had gallery showings.  A Gacy rendering of
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs goes for _ hold your breath _
 $2,000.  Does MICHAEL EISNER know about this?
     Then there are newsletters such as ``Killer Fiction,''
 stories that may not necessarily be all that fictional written
 by convicted murderer G.J.  Schaefer, and ``Answer Me!'' in
 which a pseudonymous couple go on about how they want you,
 personally, dead.  The reviewer somewhat apologetically notes
 that ``Answer Me!'' can sometimes be funny.  Sorry, we just
 can't imagine death being a source of amusement...
 SOURCE: The Week in Death appears at the end of every week,
 except those that end in massive, debilitating snowstorms.
 (The Week in Death is by Brian Santo [B.SANTO@genie.geis.com].)
... I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. * Wright


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