Good evening, 919 Gang. A week or so ago, Hal Fuson asked
who (and when) were the first copy editors. We’ve had no responses on that, so
I offer this:
The first copy editors were monks working (silently, I presume)
in monasteries and copying Bibles. The books they produced were far from
identical. A monk might change a word or sentence if he thought he could say it
better. And he might make changes based on the assumption that the monk who
created the Bible he was copying had made a mistake.
Sorry, Hal. That’s all I got.
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KENT FREELAND
writes:
I am late in responding to Don Freeman's passing, I suppose
because it affected me so deeply that I felt I have inadequate words to
describe his friendship. Don was the best of the two or three best friends I
had at the Union and Union-Tribune in my 22 years there.
Don
and I were two of the original Gang of Six who lunched regularly at Albie's and
other venues beginning in the late 80s. The others were Bernie Lansky, Rolla
Williams, Charlie Ross and Ed Hutshing. The other five have passed now and I
feel like the Last of the Mohicans (how is that for a mixed metaphor?)
As time passed, we were
joined by other regulars -- Bob Laurence, Noel Osment, Bob Zimmerman, Gene Ciechanowski.
At times, the group grew to as many as 15. They were raucous and inspiring
gatherings.
Don was always a quiet,
but powerful presence. He had a marvelous knack for storytelling and for
drawing the best stories from others, no doubt a reason for his interviewing
skills, which, coupled with his talent as a wordsmith, made him a marvelous
columnist.
I used to do some silly impersonations, and Don was my best
audience. He would say, "Do James Cagney." I would say, "Now
lissen mister!" And Don would crack up. Every time. He had a way of making
you feel that you were suddenly the funniest, or the most intelligent, or the
most important person of the moment. No wonder he got the best from Sinatra and
other tough interviews.
Don used to schedule a lot of celebrity interviews for
luncheons at Albie's and for some reason he asked me to join him for many.
There were memorable ones with Frankie Laine, Forrest Tucker, Dick Enberg, Joe
Wambaugh, Ted Leitner and others.
Forrest Tucker downed seven straight bourbons before and
during lunch, and confided that his lawyer had told him he could no longer
carry an open bottle with him when driving.
He passed away just a few months later.
Leitner presented as a quiet, somewhat shy person who was
reluctant to talk about himself. Totally different from his TV and radio
personality, which was chatty, opinionated and somewhat brash. I could not
determine which was the REAL Ted Leitner.
Joe Wambaugh recalled that, as an LA cop, before he became
an author, he had busted Lenny Bruce and "some teabag" on marijuana
possession. The teabag turned out to be Peter O'Toole, who charmed Wambaugh's
sergeant into tossing the pot down the sewer and cutting loose the two
miscreants. O'Toole told the sergeant he had just made his first film -- one
that would make him famous, and that an arrest would ruin his career. The film
was "Lawrence of Arabia." Wambaugh swore Don and I to secrecy on that
story, but he told it later himself when O'Toole passed.
Only Don could get a story like that out of an interview.
He was a true professional and a master of his craft.
I am missing him -- a lot.
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REBER: Last night Michael Burge
entertained with story and photos from his Hiroshima trip.
PRESTON TUREGANO
writes:
During a 10-day trip to Japan Tribune Travel Editor Evelyn
Kiernan sent me on in the early 1980s, I visited the Hiroshima Peace Park and
museum. At the latter, some young Japanese who realized a group of American
tourists was in their midst tapped a few of us on a shoulder and pointed at
photos of the Atomic bomb destruction, including pictures of severely burned
victims of the 1945 event. It was, as Michael Burge alluded to, “Look what you
did to us!” As I turned away to move on to something else, I said (emphatically,
of course), “Pearl Harbor! Pearl Harbor!” Our American and Japanese tour guides
suggested we (travel writers) leave the museum. I figured the youngsters
weren’t trying to re-write history, but rather only knew what someone wanted
them to know. Fast forward to an Asian cruise my spouse and I went on in 2010.
It included a stop near Saigon, Vietnam (called Ho Chi Minh City by the
communist government). Young people there knew nothing about the Vietnam War of
the 1960s-early ‘70s and 58,000 American military deaths. Eight miles south of
Saigon, the U.S. Navy base I had been stationed at from the summer of 1969 to
the summer of 1970 was no more. People living near the site said they had heard
about it but didn’t know anything else. More bothersome to me was that only
recently the Vietnamese had started learning English again, after having been
forced to learn Russian for many years. The Russians were asked to leave. I
wonder why. As for French, only the oldest Vietnamese spoke any because before
the Americans, the French had been in Indochina for a century or two. History’s
true caretakers are dying off.
ROB HANLEY
writes:
Very
insightful piece by Mike Burge. I am a fan of Japan, but Mike nailed it when he
wrote about the unwillingness he observed in Hiroshima to own up to the
national conduct that led to the bombing, as well as the resistance displayed
by the Japanese as we approached the home islands. My father served in the Navy
during World War II, as did many of our parents. Okinawa was a bloodbath for
the Navy. I wonder how many of us would not have been born had we mounted the
invasion of Japan.
JIM OKERBLOM
writes:
A line from the latest of Mike Burge's great travel posts
needs a correction. Mazda was never "a division of the Ford Motor
Co." Ford once owned a controlling interest in Mazda stock, 33 percent,
and they partnered on some engines and other products. But that relationship
ended in 2008, when Ford needed cash during the Great Recession. Ford sold most
of its stock and they pretty much parted ways.
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REBER: Tonight we wish a
Happy Birthday, July 8, to P.K. Daniel.
P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.
