I think Snopes gives a balanced view of Diane Linkletter’s death and her father’s reaction to it.
One of the funnier interviews he did with a child made it into Kermit Schaefer’s bloopers: Seems Art asked a boy what he would like more than anything and the boy replied “a bed of my own”. Art asked him “don’t you sleep in a bed?” The boy replied, “I usually sleep with my mom and dad, but when my dad is gone, mom sleeps with Uncle Bob and I have to sleep on the couch. And anyway, he’s not really my uncle.”
We apparently have the word of a single poster (Joanie) who is positively gloating over the death of an old man…
(an old man who was highly thought of by millions of people, by the way)
Besides that, not much.
RIP—Art
But did it actually happen that way, or was it just another of Schaefer’s creative “recreations”?
I have no knowledge of recreations, nor of the accuracy of the story.
Before his program was on television he hosted a noon-time radio show, and kids were interviewed, live. In 1954 our elementary school was chosen to send four kids to be on the show, and I was one of them. To this day I do not recall how that came about.
We were picked up from school in a limo with a leggy blonde who introduced herself as Linkletter’s assistant, and who did a pre-interview interview. One of the things she asked me was why the four of us had been chosen. I replied that we were the smartest students in school. She smiled and wrote that down.
Sure enough, Linkletter asked me that and I gave the same answer, to mild laughter from the audience. After the show we were taken out to lunch somewhere in Hollywood and then taken back to school. Our school was given a set of encyclopedias as a gift from the show.
At age eleven, this was my brush with fame. And it didn’t even last fifteen minutes!
I have vague memories of when Linkletter was on TV when I was a kid. Never met him, but he projected a positive TV persona.
When a parent loses a child to suicide, they probably try to find a lot of reasons for the tragedy.
I’m sure Hell is a big place that can take all comers.
One of the greats. I used to watch him when I was a kid in the 50s. I don’t think recent generations have even heard of him.
And I got the impression he was always old.
One thing to note about Diane L.'s death is the strange behavior of Edward Durston as noted in the Snopes article. He was also around when Carol Wayne died and there are also a lot of questions about that.
So some people doubt that it was a suicide at all.
Sure, look at the way Carroll O’Connor went after the death of his son, Hugh.
It seems to me that when this happens, it’s somewhat of a demonstration that “the best defense is a good offense” or making noise enough to cover one’s own failings as a parent. This is something most easily seen when the parent is a celebrity, because presumably they are too busy to spend the required amount of time to bring a child up.
The way he interviews these kids is a tad creepy. And who the hell writes not one, not two, but three autobiographies?
Someone who lives long enough. Christopher Lee has written two as did Peter Cushing.
well, wouldn’t you just ADD a few chapters to what you already wrote in the first autobiography?
And I would bet that they needed the money, while Link already had plenty.
[soapbox]
My child did not die of suicide, drugs, or any other identifiable cause, but I can say that the guilt a parent feels is crushing. Every parent has failings and, I think, every parent is worried about his/her own failings, even with happily living kids. A deceased child is such an unnatural feeling that it can manifest itself in many ways. A strong reaction like O’Connor’s or Linkletter’s has nothing to do with being a celebrity and everything to do with being a human.
[/soapbox]
Carry on.
I don’t see why Carroll O’Connor calling out his son’s cocaine dealer by name (the dealer was a childhood friend of O’Connor’s son, and had been selling coke to Hugh O"Connor for many years) was inappropriate—While Hugh O’Connor was an adult and responsible for his own choices, I think that those who aided him in killing himself by feeding (and profiting off of) his addiction should not be surprised when they are called on their criminal actions…
Dozens and dozens of entertainers have written multiple autobiographies. Mostly they’re anecdotes about their lives and careers and experiences.
It’s about as meaningful as saying “who the hell makes two sequels to a successful movie?” The answer is “as many people as can get away with it.”
Well, how do you do that, add chapters to your first autobiography? Does that mean the publishers run off new copies of the autobiography with a sticker on the front saying “contains new updated material”? What if you already own the original autobiography, who is going to run out to buy the same thing, only expanded? It’s more logical just to write a brand NEW book, fans will buy THAT. Another copy of what they already own with a few new chapters? - no way.
I don’t see multiple biographies as any worse than multiple “greatest hits” albums.
As long as the new books aren’t treading the same material, no big deal.
If someone has multiple facets of their life and want to focus on different segments - I think multiple biographies are more than justified.
Take, for example, Leonard Nimoy. Everyone knows him as Spock, but he’s also a well respected director, photographer, and artist. And he had a pretty interesting military career. So if he wanted to do new biographies on those differing areas, or on his life and attitude and how it might have evolved since he wrote his original book - I think that would be worthwhile.
Same with Shirley Temple - she went from being a child star to a well-respected Ambassador. I’d like to hear about those both - but would expect they might be separated so you can cover the topics more thoroughly.
Isaac Asimov for one. One was in two volumes, but it doesn’t count the oodles of autobiographical material in his collections and articles.