Clark & Carol Shed A Tear

The year was 1938. Walt Disney and his crew of sketch and color artists, animators, cameramen, and sound people had just finished the innovative, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

As Mr. Disney, (“Walt” to his employees) took his seat in Radio City Music Hall perspiration dripped from his brow, and he was filled with anxiety. Over the past three years hundreds of those whom he referred to as his “boys and girls” had produced 200,000 colorized sketches, spliced them into a seamless whole, and added sound; sound as rich as the color applied to the cartoon characters.

Before the feature length production began, Clark Gable and Carol Lombard entered the well-known theater, and sat down.

And the feature length film started.

From the opening scene Walt Disney sensed a dynamic in the building which he’d never before experienced. A bit of his anxiety dissipated, but he was not yet ready to congratulate himself. And then. And then, the climax. It was “make it or break it” time, and he knew it.

As Snow White received the apple from the wicked queen, bit into that awful fruit, and dropped to the floor

… silence.

As the heroine of the story lay stone dead, and laid out on a bier, and Doc, Dopey, Bashful, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy and Happy wept great and copious tears, the audience reciprocated, and did the same! (It was reported that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard wept along with them).

Of course, as students of Disney filmology, you and I know that Snow White didn’t stay dead, but rather, our noble prince revived her with a kiss. And they rode off into the sunset. As heartbreaking as the initial reaction, so also was the joy of the subsequent response.

Applause! Cheers! Abject Joy!

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” ran an almost unprecedented 5 weeks at Radio City, and was featured at many other theaters throughout the nation. During the course of its run, and as the most horrific scenes played out, young (and perhaps not so young) children wet the seat cushions, and some ran screaming from the theater. In today's revenue, the movie grossed over 100 million dollars.

… All for a cartoon!

In the heart of every man, woman and child exists, at least for a few brief moments in time, the wherewithal to suspend credulity in favor of something mythological and magical.

In a world as troubled as ours, we need a few more magic wands and flying carpets to transport us to places we otherwise might have never had the opportunity to visit. 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 6. Vol.'s 1-15, Copyright 2015
 

If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above

*****************

If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the index

 

Lowering Your Elevator

Long before “911,” a very similar occurrence happened in the same city, but whereas the second circumstance was vengeful and purposeful, the original was nothing less than an accident.

For during WWII, an Army Air Corps pilot was flying over Manhattan in a dense fog. He was hopelessly lost, and his aircraft was far too low. Suddenly, The Empire State Building loomed ahead, and the unfortunate pilot crashed his large warplane into an upper floor of the building. Of course, he and his co-pilot died instantly, and several other office workers were also victims of the disaster.

And then there was the elevator operator. As she had for so many years before, she was going about her normal duties when the airplane smashed into the building. The cables to the elevator snapped, and the machine plummeted to the basement, dozens of floors below.

Thankfully, the elevator was equipped with an automatic braking system. As it fell to ground level, it began to slow down, but since it had already reached such a high speed, the braking system was just not enough to prevent the elevator operator from sustaining severe injuries.

“Marjorie” sustained several broken bones, and internal injuries, and I cannot speak to whether her injuries healed sufficiently for her to resume a normal, functional life, but… she lived.

I believe this story has something to teach us, beyond simply avoiding riding elevators in tall buildings. (No, I’m not serious.) I have climbed the stairs which lead to the top of The Washington Monuments, as well as those leading to the crown of The Statue of Liberty, and I can affirm that an elevator is faster, and requires so much less effort. As a matter of fact, I have ridden an elevator to the 86^th floor of The Empire State Building, on my senior trip in the late 60’s; the same building which experienced the foregoing tragedy a quarter of a century prior to my own visit.

Sometimes we invest too much faith, too much trust, too great an expectation in those with whom we have to do, and sometimes, as a result, we get hurt. People let us down. We set our proverbial elevator too high, and we find ourselves plummeting to the basement, below. I think we would do ourselves a favor if we set our expectations of another person at lower level, so that if they disappoint us, we don’t find ourselves emotionally devastated. And if that person, or persons exceed our expectations, well, we can rejoice, and can be glad for it.

That almost forgotten event from such a long time ago has a valuable lesson to teach us; one which is difficult to learn, and one which some people never learn, but which has everything to do with our health and happiness.

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Writings" Copyright 2010

If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above

*****************

If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the index

Dump CNN

There’s a move within the formal Republican establishment to “dump Trump” as that party’s potential nominee for the office of President of the United States.

And honestly, that would be fine with me.

For that matter I am not enamored with anyone running for the office on other “side of the aisle.” I mean, the two most likely nominees are our former First Lady of the United States and that egocentric, “say nothing good about women” Yankee billionaire.

However…

The amount of time one particular cable “news” network is devoting to dumping the latter individual from the potential Republican ticket is nothing less than shameful. (Not withstanding that one of my distant relatives, Erin Burnett, is an anchorwoman there). One can turn the television on to CNN at any hour of the day or night, and this media outlet and their “talking heads” are “bashing the heck outta” Trump. And when they take a short break from doing the foregoing they find a way to accent the circus atmosphere among the three possible Republican nominees, (and summarily diminish any and all things negative about “the gal from Arkansas.”)

Again, I have little or no use for HC or DT, but give me a break.

When is the so-called Cable “News” Network gonna get back to covering real news? Lately, I been forced to turn to BBN and find my way past the stuffy English accents of the anchor men and women there; if I am to be privy to anything remotely related to American and World News.

With CNN I suppose we’ll have to wait until the election is over, and the next President of the United States is inaugurated.

Remind me not to punch in “29” on my remote box anytime soon. (I suppose I'll be speaking with a British accent if I'm forced to listen to our British cousins much longer).

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 33. Copyright pending

If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above

*****************

If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the index

64 People and Their Famous Last Words

   14.1K   Share

Chris Higgins

Image credit: 

Getty Images

Like us on Facebook

In her 2014 memoir, Ginger Alden revealed then-fiance Elvis Presley's final words before his death in 1977. During a night of sleeplessness, Presley told Alden, "I'm going to the bathroom to read." The rest, as they say, is history.

Poignant, funny, sad, weird or mean—last words can make quite the impact as we shuffle off the stage of life. Here are 64 notable examples.

1. Joseph Wright was a linguist who edited the English Dialect Dictionary. His last word? “Dictionary.
2. Italian artist Raphael’s last word was simply: “Happy.”
3. Composer Gustav Mahler died in bed, conducting an imaginary orchestra. His last word was, “Mozart!”
4. Blues singer Bessie Smith died saying, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.”
5. Composer Jean-Philippe Rameau objected to a song sung at his bedside. He said, “What the devil do you mean to sing to me, priest? You are out of tune.”
6. Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing it.”
7. George Orwell’s last written words were, “At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves.” He died at age 46.
8. William Henry Seward, architect of the Alaska Purchase, was asked if he had any final words. He replied, “Nothing, only ‘love one another.’”
9. Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre turned to his partner Simone de Beauvoir and said, “I love you very much, my dear Beaver.”
10. Birth control advocate Margaret Sanger’s last words were, “A party! Let’s have a party.”
11. Rainer Maria Rilke said, “I don’t want the doctor’s death. I want to have my own freedom.”
12. Nostradamus predicted, “Tomorrow, at sunrise, I shall no longer be here.” He was right.
13. Author Vladimir Nabokov was also an entomologist, particularly interested in butterflies. His last words: “A certain butterfly is already on the wing.”
14. Author Herman Melville died saying, “God bless Captain Vere!” referencing his then-unpublished novel Billy Budd, found on his desk after he died.
15. Marie Antoinette stepped on her executioner’s foot on her way to the guillotine. Her last words: “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur.”
16. Richard B. Mellon was a multimillionaire. He was the President of Alcoa, and he and his brother Andrew had a little game of Tag going. The weird thing was, this game of Tag lasted for like seven decades. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, “Last tag.” Poor Andrew remained “It” for four years, until he died.
17. When Harriet Tubman was dying in 1913, she gathered her family around and they sang together. Her last words were, “Swing low, sweet chariot.”
18. When Sir Isaac Newton died, he was humble. He said, “I don’t know what I may seem to the world. But as to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
19. Leonardo da Vinci was also overly modest, saying, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.” I guess the Mona Lisa isn’t good enough?
20. Louise-Marie-Thérèse de Saint Maurice, Comtesse de Vercellis let one rip while she was dying. She said, “Good. A woman who can fart is not dead.”
21. Drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, “Is there anything you can’t take?” Rich replied, “Yeah, country music.”
22. Johnny Ace, an R&B singer, died in 1954 while playing with a pistol during a break in his concert set. His last words were, “I’ll show you that it won’t shoot.”
23. Richard Feynman, a physicist, author, musician, professor, and traveler, died in Los Angeles in 1988. His last words? “This dying is boring.”
24. As Benjamin Franklin lay dying at the age of 84, his daughter told him to change position in bed so he could breathe more easily. Franklin’s last words were, “A dying man can do nothing easy.”
25. Albert Abraham Michelson dedicated his life to measuring the speed of light and was the first American to win a Nobel Prize for physics. Even as he was dying at age 78, he was measuring light. He wrote in his log: “The following is a report on the measurement of the velocity of light made at the Irvine Ranch, near Santa Ana, California, during the period of September 1929 to—.”
26. Thomas B. Moran was a pickpocket, known by the nickname “Butterfingers.” He reportedly stole as many as 50,000 wallets in his career. He died in Miami in 1971, and his last words were, “I’ve never forgiven that smart-alecky reporter who named me Butterfingers. To me, it’s not funny.”
27. Murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah and asked if he had a last request. He replied, “Bring me a bullet-proof vest.”
28. Charles “Lucky” Luciano was a mob leader who helped the U.S. work with the Sicilian Mafia during World War II in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. His last words were, “Tell Georgie I want to get in the movies one way or another.” And it worked! His life story is told in the movies Lucky Luciano, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, and many more. He also appears as a character in HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
29. John Arthur Spenkelink was executed in Florida in 1979. He spent his final days writing these last words on various pieces of mail: “Capital punishment means those without the capital get the punishment.”
30. Convicted murderer Thomas J. Grasso used his last words to complain about his last meal. He said, “I did not get my Spaghetti-O’s; I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
31. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, died at age 71 in his garden. He turned to his wife and said, “You are wonderful,” then clutched his chest and died.
32. Writer T.S. Eliot was only able to whisper one word as he died: “Valerie,” the name of his wife.
33. Actor and comedian W.C. Fields died in 1946. He last words: “God damn the whole friggin’ world and everyone in it but you, Carlotta.” He was speaking to Carlotta Monti, his longtime mistress.
34. Percy Grainger was an Australian composer who, with his dying words, told his wife Ella, “You’re the only one I like.”
35. Actor Michael Landon, best known for Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, died of cancer in 1991. His family gathered around his bed, and his son said it was time to move on. Landon said, “You’re right. It’s time. I love you all.”
36. Football coach Vince Lombardi died of cancer in 1970. As he died, Lombardi turned to his wife Marie and said, “Happy anniversary. I love you.”
37. O.O. McIntyre was an American reporter. He died at age 53, and spoke his last words to his wife Maybelle: “Snooks, will you please turn this way. I like to look at your face.”
38. When he was 57, Edward R. Murrow died while patting his wife’s hand. He said, “Well, Jan, we were lucky at that.”
39. John Wayne died at age 72 in L.A. He turned to his wife and said, “Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you."
40. Humphrey Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall had to leave the house to pick up their kids. Bogart said, “Goodbye, kid. Hurry back.” Not quite, “Here's looking at you, kid,” but close.
41. Before Ernest Hemingway committed suicide, he told his wife Mary, “Goodnight my kitten.”
42. Donald O’Connor was a singer, dancer, and actor. He also hosted the Academy Awards in 1954. O'Connor died at age 78 with his family gathered around him. He joked, “I’d like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get.” He still hasn’t gotten one.
43. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill was born in a room at the Broadway Hotel on what is now Times Square. He died at age 65 in a Boston hotel. His last words? “I knew it! I knew it! Born in a hotel room and, goddamn it, dying in a hotel room.”
44. Jack Soo was an actor on the TV series Barney Miller. On the show, there was a running gag about Soo’s character making crappy coffee in the office. Soo developed cancer of the esophagus, and when was being wheeled into an operating room, he joked to Barney Miller co-star Hal Linden, “It must have been the coffee.” In a tribute episode, cast members raised coffee cups in Soo’s memory.
45. Josephine Baker knew how to party. She sang, danced, and acted. She adopted a dozen kids and lived in Paris. On the last night of her life, she left a party being held in her honor, saying, “Oh, you young people act like old men. You are no fun.”
46. Charles Gussman was a writer and TV announcer, who wrote the pilot episode of Days of Our Lives, among other shows. As he became ill, he said he wanted his last words to be memorable. When he daughter reminded him of this, he gently removed his oxygen mask and whispered: “And now for a final word from our sponsor—.”
47. When Groucho Marx was dying, he let out one last quip: “This is no way to live!”
48. Groucho’s brother Leonard, who was better known as Chico Marx, gave instructions to his wife as his last words: “Remember, Honey, don’t forget what I told you. Put in my coffin a deck of cards, a mashie niblick, and a pretty blonde.” For the record, a “mashie niblick” is a kind of golf club.
49. Wilson Mizner is best known for his bon mots, though he was a successful playwright. He’s known for the line, "Be nice to people on the way up because you'll meet the same people on the way down." When Mizner was on his deathbed, a priest said, “I’m sure you want to talk to me.” Mizner told the priest, “Why should I talk to you? I’ve just been talking to your boss.”
50. As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”
51. Basketball great “Pistol" Pete Maravich collapsed during a pickup game. His last words: “I feel great.”
52. Vladimir Ilych Lenin’s last words were, “Good dog.” (Technically, he said “Vot sobaka.”) He said this to a dog that brought him a dead bird.
53. Blues guitarist Leadbelly said, “Doctor, if I put this here guitar down now, I ain’t never gonna wake up.” And he was right.
54. Thomas Fantet de Lagny was a mathematician. On his deathbed, he was asked, “What is the square of 12?” His last words: “One hundred and forty-four.”
55. Derek Jarman was an artist, writer, and filmmaker. His last words: “I want the world to be filled with white fluffy duckies.”
56. Sir Winston Churchill’s last words were, “I’m bored with it all.”
57. Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford died. Crawford said, “Damn it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”
58. Bo Diddley died giving a thumbs-up as he listened to the song “Walk Around Heaven.” His last word was “Wow.”
59. Baseball player “Moe” Berg’s last words: “How did the Mets do today?”
60. Emily Dickinson’s last words were, “I must go in, for the fog is rising.”
61. As Truman Capote lay dying, he repeated, “Mama— Mama— Mama.”
62. James Brown said, “I’m going away tonight.”
63. Surgeon Joseph Henry Green was checking his own pulse as he lay dying. His last word: “Stopped.”
64. And according to Steve Jobs' sister Mona, the Apple founder's last words were, "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."

Note: the source for most of these is the fantastic reference book Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History by William B. Brahms. It's literally filled with this stuff.

Danny Boy

A distant cousin of mine organized and hosted a commemorative ceremony for several of our late Civil War era relatives yesterday. Her Confederate reenactment group turned out, and participated as an honor guard, and installed Southern Crosses on the graves of those being commemorated. 

Today, this same cousin posted a blurb on her social media page:

There are some mistakes I've made that I have vowed to never repeat. 2016 will be meticulously orchestrated and executed. Just let me get through Christmas

To which I responded:

Unfortunately, mistakes are part and parcel of life. Shoot, speaking of commemorative ceremonies, I can think of a couple of glaring mistakes in the one I planned for my immigrant grandfather; not to mention my mistakes throughout an entire year. But yes, we have to keep on pressing towards the best of which we are capable

Now, I’m sure Jeanne had not been referring to the event she organized when she mentioned having made mistakes, but it seems good to use it as an example from my own life.

Back in 2008, when I and another cousin, Kimberly, meticulously planned a grave marking ceremony for our Scottish immigrant, Revolutionary War ancestor, well, I can tell you we “didn’t miss a beat.” Literally, hundreds of hours were poured into the construction of that ceremony. By the time we finished our figurative blueprint, and the invitations had gone out, it was a regular Rembrandt.

However, I can tell you, readers, that there’s can be a huge difference between a blueprint, and a completed building.

A blueprint is only a theory,

… until the building is raised on the site.

But to return to my story…

November 1, 2008 dawned,

and a couple hundred McDonald descendants appeared (Check)

Each and every one of the planned speakers showed up (Check)

Representatives of the Georgia Sons of the American Revolution in period uniform graced us with their presence (Check)

The still and video photographers were right on time (Check)

And Bagpipers “dressed to the hilt” in kilts (Check)

The Boy Scout troop with their pre-selected bugler filed onto the cemetery grounds (Check)

Why, even Sony Schroyer, (“Enos” of “The Dukes of Hazzard”) graced us with his presence (No Check required, since his appearance was an unexpected treat). He lives in the area, and counts a couple of my relatives, his friends.

But since too many participants, too much geographical distance, and too much required time precluded a dry run, in the few minutes I had available before the ceremony commenced, I provided my participants a few last minute instructions.

And then it began,

… and then it began to “go wrong.”

Well, to say it went wrong would be a gross exaggeration, since to be fair, there were only a couple of obvious mistakes in an otherwise flawless ceremony. And it goes without saying that when you’re involved with turning blueprints into buildings, any conscientious architect is sensitive about millimeters, turning into feet.

And when I say it went wrong, it was, paradoxically, the one ingredient which should NOT have gone wrong, and in which I might have invested the most confidence.

For when our “seasoned” bagpipers proceeded to “strut their stuff,” (who had, I’d been informed, participated in dozens of such commemorative ceremonies) their kilts and pipes figuratively, (if not literally)

… unraveled at the seams.

“Danny Boy”???

(They might just as well be playing, “Jingle Bells”)

and the (not so) amazing,

“Amazing Grace”

(A tone-deaf nuclear cannoneer wearing earmuffs might have paused to shake his head in disbelief).

And I, “Mr. Structure,” himself, was absolutely mortified as the pipers piped their way through instrumentations which should have been the most familiar of all selections to folks who play the pipes.

But upon reflection, when I consider the depth and breadth of a ceremony which required an hour, I suppose a scant fraction of the elapsed time having been disrupted by the horrendous interpretation of two songs isn’t all that significant.

I can tell you, I was my own worst critic that day.

And so it is, I think, with all of life.

As a Christian counselor, (with the emphasis on the first word) I am “taken up” with fulfilling my God-given destiny, and ultimately bringing pleasure to my Creator. And I am the first to admit that I am not always “a man after God’s own heart,” and I don’t always “get it right.”

It is simply too easy to take one’s eyes off the prize, and to become overly sensitive, and even obsessive about one’s mistakes; for the mistakes’ sake.

There’s a wonderful passage in one of the Apostle Paul’s epistles.

“This one thing I do. Leaving the past behind, and turning to all that God has prepared for me.” (Philippians 3:13)

Identifying the mistakes. Asking God’s forgiveness. Forgiving one’s self. Making mid-course corrections. Getting up off the proverbial ground.

… And moving forward.

This is “where it’s at,” my friends. This is what it’s ultimately all about.

And something we ought to be doing throughout the course of our lives.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 16. Copyright pending

If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above

*****************

If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the index