Tag obituaries

A Moment Of Radio Silence, Please

By Brian Filed in Links, Media, News Tagged with "A Prairie Home Companion", Garrison Keillor, obituaries, radio shows, Tom Keith November 1st, 2011 @ 11:32 am

I haven’t seen this mentioned on any regular news site yet, but I was utterly stunned yesterday to read the news as told by Abe Sauer at The Awl that Tom Keith, the immensely talented sound effects performer who has been an integral part of “A Prairie Home Companion” died suddenly on Sunday at the age of 65. The PHC website has a nice tribute by Keillor that also includes Keith’s final performance on PHC in a “Lives Of The Cowboys” sketch, some clips of his own radio show, and local Minneapolis-St.Paul media coverage of his passing.

If you’ve ever listened to Prairie Home Companion, you know how amusing and amazing Tom Keith’s performances could be. He’s also probably the only guy who ever did an impersonation of a caribou on live radio. A damn fine caribou.

Giants Of Broadcast Journalism

By Brian Filed in Links, Media Tagged with broadcast journalism, broadcasting history, Jeff Gralnick, Joseph Wershba, obituaries, television news May 18th, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

Not one, but two major figures in the history of broadcast journalism passed away this week:

Joseph Wershba, who was one of Edward R. Murrow’s team on “See It Now” and was the principal reporter for the famous Joseph McCarthy takedown reports and the equally-crucial program about Milo Radulovich, has passed away at the age of 90. Wershba was also one of the original producers on “60 Minutes”, working on that show for 20 years.

Jeff Gralnick, Wershba’s colleague at “60 Minutes”, who also was the executive producer of all three nightly network news broadcasts at one time or another, passed away at the age of 72 on Monday. Gralnick was the on-duty producer at CBS News the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, which would turn out to be a pivotal event in the evolution of television journalism.

Broadcast journalism is a much diminished beast in this age of Twitter and FOX News and 24/7 punditry, and the passing of these two legends makes that weakening all too clear.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

By Brian Filed in Links Tagged with Cheez Doodles, Dan Resin, Morrie Yohai, obituaries, Ty-D-Bol Man August 3rd, 2010 @ 11:27 am

A pair of passages of pop-culture icons:

Morrie Yohai, the inventor of the Cheez Doodle, passed away last week at the age of 90. Cheez Doodles were the original puffed corn cheese curl snack and were originally called “Corn Pixies”.

Character actor Dan Resin has also passed away. He was ubiquitous in television commericials in the 1970s, but is being remembered in the media today as the Ty-D-Bol Man. Here’s a 1971 version of the ad:

I don’t think he was the only guy to portray the little man in the boat, but as one of those “Oh Yeah, That Guy!” guys, he’s probably more identifiable than some of the other ones. Sadly, you almost can’t tell it’s him from the blurry screen cap and video clip, but he often played stuffy up-tight guys in other roles, including his role in “Caddyshack”. I picked up on the name right away.

A Dark Day For Junk Foodies Everywhere

By Brian Filed in Food Tagged with Cap'n Crunch, Cheez Whiz, Food, french fries, junk food, McDonald's, obituaries June 8th, 2007 @ 12:43 pm

Not one, but two giants in the history of junk food have gone to their final reward:

Pamela Low, the food chemist who developed the sugar coating for Capn’ Crunch cereal, passed away last Friday. According to the Boston Globe obit, she based the formula on a brown sugar syrup her grandmother used to pour over rice to serve as a dessert treat. Millions of American dentists owe their fortunes to this woman as several generations of children destroyed their teeth with the sweet crunchy goodness.

Meanwhile, on the salty side of the snack street, MSNBC reports that the inventor of CheezWhiz has died. But even though he deserves recognition for that invention, his legend only grows from there, as he also went on to develop the McDonalds french fry. This man, my friend, has had more impact on American culture than almost any other single individual of the last half-century.

(I think it’s only fitting that he died of a heart attack, don’t you? I’d hate to think he choked on a celery stick or something)

Tag obituaries

A Moment Of Radio Silence, Please

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Giants Of Broadcast Journalism

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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

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A Dark Day For Junk Foodies Everywhere

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