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Each week our Boomer-In-Charge, Hershel Chicowitz, has something to say about life, society, or what's going on... from the perspective of a baby boomer. This is what's on his mind the week of March 15:
Just about every newspaper and writer in America has composed a piece about Joe DiMaggio by now. But if you think this is just one more... think again.
My mother had a "brush with greatness" back in the seventies. She was working in the gift shop at the Somerset Inn in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She and the manager (both in their sixties) were closing up for the day, when in walks Joe DiMaggio. As he stood at the counter in a vain attempt to pay for a newspaper and move on, the manger said to him, "Oh, Mr. DiMaggio, I am such a big fan of yours. But with all your popularity for the 'Mr. Coffee' commercials, so many people have completely forgotten what a great basketball player you were." Just then, my mother tactfully dropped a stack of magazines on the floor. Much later she told me that if she had not done that, the manager would have gone on to tell Mr. Dimaggio how much she admired his devotion to his late wife, Jayne Mansfield, "at which point I would have just turned and walked out of the door... and never come back."
So much for the humor in this week's essay. Now back to the point. Let me remind you of Paul Simon's lyrics about Joe DiMaggio, back in the sixties. From "Mrs. Robinson,":
Sitting on a sofa
On a Sunday afternoon,
Going to the candidates' debate,
Laugh about it,
Shout about it,
When you've got to choose,
Every way you look at it, you lose.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Ooo ooo ooo).
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away."
Surely, Paul Simon knew the temper of the times.
The last couple years have not been good ones for our heroes. Not to depress you, but let me give you a list of the ones that come to my mind: Mickey Mantle, Buffalo Bob Smith, Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers, Frank Sinatra, Shari Lewis, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Caray, Fred W. Friendly, Barry Goldwater, Leo Buscaglia, Robert Young, Alan Shepard, Clark Clifford. And Joe DiMaggio.
You may not be able to place all of them right off the top of year head. That's OK. But when you think about the ones you do remember, what characteristics come to mind? I know they were our childhood icons and heros, but I want to go beyond that. What made them what they were? What things come to mind as you remember these people?
Now I am going to seemingly depart for a moment. But please stick with me; I am going somewhere very specific here. A couple weeks ago, former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle read an essay on the syndicated radio show, "Imus in the Morning." It was about Corey Anderson, that poor, little boy who drown when he went out in a snowstorm to find his dog.
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"Sometimes we don't pay enough attention to the children right in
front of us. We're too busy making a living, watching Monica, monitoring
the market, running a business. Too preoccupied with the excess or
affluence of the moment to think about the fact that we are surrounded by
a swirling, storm-like culture that is more than capable of devouring the
children we love. A culture that can kill innocence by exposure to
different kinds of dangerous elements." "One of the great crimes committed in the country today is the constant assault on childhood. The fact that we do not allow kids to remain exactly that - kids - for a comfortable period of time." "Their sweetness, their naive trust and unflawed faith in family, is too often hijacked by a crude and constant reality that attacks them from all angles. It comes over the radio, out of the TV and even from inside the White House itself. And it steals so much from so many." "Corey Anderson will be buried this morning, in the quiet cemetery of a small town. He was just one boy who ran after his dog and lost his life trying to get home." "He was a child you never knew, but he was a child all of us hold dear because he is your son and mine, too - the little boy we hope and pray is always healthy, always laughing, always alive." "When Paul Hartley, the state trooper who eventually found Corey's frozen body, was asked 'how is it possible that a child could get caught in bushes by a brook so close to home?', the policeman's voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes as he told us all the simple truth:" 'He got lost.' And in a very real way, so have we." |
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Ooo ooo ooo).
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away."
My point here is simply this: What will they say about us when we are gone?
Surely then, we still have much work to do.
If you want to write more, we're open to offerings from other boomers. If you have something to say of interest to boomers, write it as well as you can in 700-900 words, and send it to us. We can't guarantee we'll publish it, but we'll surely consider it.
For more of Hershel's essays, check the BBHQ Archives or the Boomer Essays.
Hershel will have something else to say on March 15; mark your calendar to come back to BBHQ every Monday.
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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