A Mensch Passes
RIP Brooklyn- born renaissance man Alan Arkin, 89. Son of Jewish immigrants, he began acting classes at ten. He dropped out of college and formed a folk music group, The Tarriers, in which he played guitar and sang lead. He co-wrote The Banana Boat Song that Harry Belafonte made famous. For a decade he performed and recorded with children’s folk group The Babysitters. He recorded an entire album of his own, Folksongs — Once Over Lightly. He was an original member of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, which led to a Broadway show in 1961, his debut on the Great White Way. In ’63 he won a Tony as the lead in Enter Laughing. He won two Drama Desk awards for directing off-Broadway shows. In ’72 he directed the original production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys. As for the screen, there are 111 titles under his name at IMDb, one to appear posthumously. He received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his first big screen film, The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966) and another for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), finally won for Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and was again nominated for Argo (2013). He was also nominated for seven Emmys. Here are other significant films in which he appeared: terrorizing Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967), the lead in the disappointing adaptation of Catch-22 (1970), The In-Laws (1979), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), the underrated Mother Night (1996), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Sunshine Cleaning (2008). On TV he made guest appearances on East Side/West Side, Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Carol Burnett & Company, St. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, which costarred his son Adam. He was part of three short-lived series: Harry (1987), 100 Centre Street (2001-’02) and The Kominsky Method (2018-’21, 17 of its 22 episodes). He has nine credits as a director, the most notable Little Murders (1971). He wrote six scripts, five of them shorts. Married three times, he was a father of three. Here’s a quote attributed to him: “Everybody’s career has ups and downs. I like to take chances, I don’t like to stand still. And I don’t give a damn what the market is interested in; I want to try things. Success has nothing to do with box office as far as I’m concerned. Success has to do with achieving your goals, your internal goals, and growing as a person. It would have been nice to have been connected with a couple more box office hits, but in the long run I don’t think it makes you happier.” He was a mensch. Thank you, Sir. Photo from Google Images:
Topsy-turvy world, headline from nypost.com: “NYC Council primary winner who is a member of the ‘Central Park Five’ ready to work with NYPD: ‘We need police’.”
Priorities, from NYP: “Bill Gates’ private office asked female job candidates about porn, sexual histories: report.” It would have made his friend Jeffrey Epstein very proud.
The Supreme Court is on a roll, making common sense decisions. Just about everything else in America is under the rule of liberals. It’s so much fun to hear them whine when they don’t get their way
Why isn’t anyone doing anything to fix whatever is plaguing the airline industry? I don’t recall it ever having such problems.
The poor air quality and humidity made the floating book shop a tough chore today. The outgoing edged the incoming. My thanks to the donors and buyers. Here’s what sold: Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship, as in Taylor and Clift, by Charles Casillo; a Pasta cook book; Appreciating People!: The Path to Understanding, Acceptance, Compassion, Respect and Love by Miriam Adahan; two novels by Nora Roberts; Eye of the Storm by Jack Higgins; and two hardcovers in Russian.
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