Obit. Page #4

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"Zelma Henderson, a Kansas beautician

who was the sole surviving plaintiff

in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,

the landmark federal desegregation case of 1954,

died on Tuesday in Topeka.

She was 88 and had lived in Topeka all her adult life."

One of the things obit writers are often asked,

with real anger and real pain is,

"Why doesn't your page represent more women and minorities?"

And what I tell them is the short answer--

this is gonna sound flippant

and I don't mean it to in any way--

is "Ask me again in one more generation."

The longer answer is this:

Obits are an inherently retrospective genre.

Unlike the rest of the paper

which is reporting on what happened yesterday--

or in the internet age, what happened five minutes ago--

we are reporting on people who were in their prime,

moving and shaking, changing the world

40, 50, 60 years ago.

However we feel about it now, and however modern society

and modern sensibilities have evolved,

the harsh reality of our culture is that by and large,

the only people who were allowed to be actors

on the world stage 40 and 50 years ago

were overwhelmingly white men.

One of the really striking evolutions that's happened

just in the 10 years I've been doing this job

is I have seen more women and minorities

creep onto our page

because now this sliding window on past history

that obits look through is moving up and up and up.

When I first started, we were writing

about the World War II era-- overwhelmingly white men--

the Cold War, ditto.

We are now edging into the civil rights era

and the people who made the women's movement.

Will you take camera two, please, Roger?

Can you hear me now, speaking?

Is that about the right tone of voice?

Yeah, and I think it probably all started

on the night-- on September, 26th, 1960.

Yeah, well, I mean, I think that's--

I think a lot of the obituary will--

is gonna try to make that point.

A couple of questions, one is...

I know your husband was the first person hired

as a television consultant on a presidential campaign.

How did that come about?

I mean, how did one become a communications consultant

or television consultant

in the days when very few people had televisions?

I mean there were probably only five

or six people in the world

who actually thought about this stuff at that point.

Yeah.

It's hard to imagine now, you know?

When he talked about the Nixon-Kennedy debates,

were there particular things that he liked to discuss?

I mean, I saw in the C-Span program,

he mentioned that the most important thing

that he did was to insist upon a single stem podium.

- I'm on this side? - Let me see a tight shot

on camera one, please.

I think I better shave.

They were playing chicken with each other

it sounded like.

And Rogers at the last second,

put this Lazy Shave or, you know,

Halberstam calls it Shave Stick,

and a couple of other people have called it

something called Lazy--Lazy Shave.

It's really funny.

You remember what Halberstam wrote about this?

I just read it this morning.

"Kennedy asked Wilson if the press was out there,

and Wilson said yes, and Kennedy said,

'F*** 'em, I won't do it.'

He was not about to be ambushed by Nixon,

but Wilson insisted that he needed some kind of makeup,

mostly to close the pores and keep the shine down.

And Kennedy asked if Wilson could do it

and Wilson, who knew the neighborhood,

ran two blocks to a pharmacy, bought Max Factor Crme Puff,

and made Kennedy up very lightly.

'Do you know what you're doing?' Kennedy asked.

'Yes,' Wilson said.

'Okay,' Kennedy said.

Wilson was impressed by how relaxed he was

on such decisions.

Max Factor Crme Puff instead of Shave Stick

rode the future leadership of the United States

and the free world."

You know you can actually see it

if you watch the debates with that in mind,

you can actually see it.

And Nixon was not terrible, you know, in those debates.

But, you know, he looked--but...

Yep.

He looked great, he looked great.

And you know, the story

about how all of these people began,

immediately after the debates--

that the motorcade began attracting bigger crowds,

and young women started coming out.

I think it had to have been a complete revelation

about the power of television.

Yeah, and you know, there had been a few TV stars

but the idea that exposure on TV that way

might confer instant celebrity was, you know...

He did.

I will try and give him an eloquent sendoff.

I'll do my best.

Well listen, it was very nice talking to you.

You know, I'm sorry about the occasion, and once again,

please accept my condolences.

Thanks very much.

Bye-bye now.

Okay, we're good.

I'm working on the story of a man

named Richard Rich, known as Dick Rich,

in the advertising world of the 1960s.

I wasn't familiar with his name,

but the images that he created are everlasting.

No matter what shape your stomach's in.

His work was mostly very visual and edgy at the time.

The question he asked of every piece that he did

was, "Will it play in Japan?"

Meaning, is it visual enough to convey its message

without words.

His theory of advertising was kind of prescient

in the sense that this was in the '60s,

and he was already anticipating the global marketplace.

That every human on the planet

could understand a visual joke of a certain kind.

That was pretty unusual.

I mean that was pretty forward thinking.

All these guys were pioneers in their own way.

The question now is, can freedom be maintained

under the most severe attack it has ever known?

I think it can be.

And I think in the final analysis,

it depends upon what we do here.

I think it's time America started--

You know, you can see that Kennedy's suit fits better.

He looks vigorous, relaxed.

What kinds of programs are we for?

- We are for programs-- - Nixon's sweating,

he looks grim.

Every time he speaks, his eyebrows knit.

...to all Americans their equal chance.

I respect the sincerity

with which he makes that suggestion.

Mr. Vice President, I'd like to follow Mr. Novins' question.

He insisted on a single stem podium

because he knew that Kennedy was more physically robust

and graceful than Nixon, and he didn't wanna--

- he wanted to show off. - I guess the question

is whether, you know, his behind the scenes work

contributed to Kennedy's victory in this debate.

I think it clearly can be demonstrated that it did.

Kennedy acknowledged that the debate won the election.

That one debate.

It's probably a refer, I don't think it would be--

we can promote him as a front page story.

Yeah, I would agree with that.

- When's the meeting? - Four o'clock.

All right, give me a--you know--

I mean, if you could write something.

Yeah, yeah, I will.

You know, it's frustrating

'cause you never meet them.

I mean, the fun thing about being a journalist

is meeting all these interesting people,

and, you know, it never happens

by definition.

I really admire people I write about generally.

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