What is an Obit?
Terry Teachout has stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest with his frank comments on the death of Johnny Carson.
Recently there was an argument on the Opera-L list on the nature of an obituary as to whether it should be a positive tribute or a frank reapraisal of a person's life (this prompted by some frank assessment of Renata Tebaldi's career). There are plenty of places for unstinting praise, but I think an obituary (in a newspaper no less) is not one of them. I think it does a disservice to unreservedly praise someone upon their demise. "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" I think has it right. An obituary is a form of closure and sometimes that is painful.
As for Carson, I enjoyed him and occasionally pull out my videotape of that second to last show to remember. I basically stopped watching the Tonight Show after he left. For a while I watched Letterman, but eventually, and as I got older and had to be at work at a reasonable hour, I went to bed earlier.
He WAS an important figure in the 60s and 70s, for the help that he gave to aspiring comics (many of whom we've heard these past few days) and for his style, which like his show was light, breezy and insubstantial. While those of us who watched him will remain fond of him, I think that to this and future generations he is largely irrelevant. I expect he'll remain an entry in the history of television (like Sid Caesar and Howdy Doody), but time moves on and in a decade or so they'll be asking Johnny who? Sad perhaps, but it doesn't diminsh my memories and appreciation.
Recently there was an argument on the Opera-L list on the nature of an obituary as to whether it should be a positive tribute or a frank reapraisal of a person's life (this prompted by some frank assessment of Renata Tebaldi's career). There are plenty of places for unstinting praise, but I think an obituary (in a newspaper no less) is not one of them. I think it does a disservice to unreservedly praise someone upon their demise. "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" I think has it right. An obituary is a form of closure and sometimes that is painful.
As for Carson, I enjoyed him and occasionally pull out my videotape of that second to last show to remember. I basically stopped watching the Tonight Show after he left. For a while I watched Letterman, but eventually, and as I got older and had to be at work at a reasonable hour, I went to bed earlier.
He WAS an important figure in the 60s and 70s, for the help that he gave to aspiring comics (many of whom we've heard these past few days) and for his style, which like his show was light, breezy and insubstantial. While those of us who watched him will remain fond of him, I think that to this and future generations he is largely irrelevant. I expect he'll remain an entry in the history of television (like Sid Caesar and Howdy Doody), but time moves on and in a decade or so they'll be asking Johnny who? Sad perhaps, but it doesn't diminsh my memories and appreciation.
posted by Rich Russell at
10:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home