I was just reading cnn.com and was saddened to hear of the loss of:
Ann Miller, whose dancing has made musicals a little, well, more musical.
MADman George Woodbridge. How can you not miss the guy who helped give us “43-Man Squamish”?
Finally, Jerry Nachman, MSN host and former editor of the New York Post. He won numerous journalism awards.
Death got his three. Let’s hope he can wait a bit longer for the next one.
Robin
Why can’t he just take a holiday?
Not to minimise the deaths of those famous people you mentioned, but lots of other people (some great, some not so great) died yesterday and many more will die tomorrow.
I’ve never understood the fascination with and the importance placed upon the death of the famous.
I’m particularly sorry about the passing of Woodbridge. I used to love his work in Mad. How many of those great Mad artists from the 60’s are left? I know Kelly Freas, Mort Drucker, and Jack Davis are still alive. I guess Al Jaffee and Sergio Aragones are still with us. How about Bob Clarke? Paul Coker? Jack Rickard?
Ummmm, because they affected our lives, in some cases the world, and provided us (in other cases) with hours of enjoyable entertainment? Sure, Ann Miller’s death doesn’t upset me as much as my mother’s would, but if you can’t see how celebritys’ passings can make people sad, then, well . . . I loved Tove Jansson’s books and was very upset when she died: I enjoyed Ann Miller’s films, and Gregory Peck’s and Katharine Hepburns . . . Why is this so hard to grasp? They were known by millions of people.
This won’t mean much to non-Chicagoans, but Ray Rayner died this week, too. And another little piece of my childhood is gone.
I guess my problem wasn’t so much that MsRobyn was affected by the deaths as much as the line about hoping that death doesn’t take anyone else soon, when what she really seemed to mean was “hope he doesn’t take anyone else famous soon.” The original statement just seemed to completely trivialize the thousands of non-famous, and yet wonderful people, that die every day and that’s what bugged me.
But the difference is that we KNEW these people. Maybe not in real life but in the 60s I spent much more time with Ray Rayner and Captain Kangaroo than I did with my REAL father. We used to (try to) play 43-Man Squamish.
They were parts of my life and I regret losing them. Some stranger in France may be a wonderful person who contributed greatly to the lives of those around him but he wasn’t a part of my life.
You can add [url=http://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/2788586/detail.html]Bob Keeshan to the list today.
You can add Bob Keeshan to the list today.
Fixed link.
My fascination with these particular people isn’t that hard to understand. I love musicals, and Ann Miller made them sparkle with her dancing. I grew up with Mad Magazine, and its pages will somehow be a little less with Woodbridge’s absence. I am also an aspiring broadcast journalist, and Nachman’s death means there is one less person to emulate and admire.
There are some people whose deaths affect me a little more than others. When Mr. Rogers died last year, I cried. It wasn’t that I knew him personally; I didn’t. It was that his presence enriched my life, as it did the lives of my contemporaries.
That’s why the loss of all of these people affects me.
I’ve been off the 'net for a couple of days now, and I was hoping someone would note the passing of George Woodbridge. Not one of the best-known of the MAD artists, despite his long and steadywork for them. I was always amazed at the detail and accuracy of his drawings – he got historical costuming down pat.
I was astonished, several years ago, to see his work in a completely non-MAD venue. He did all the illustrations at an exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Concord. All those Woodbridge drawinfs with nary a poiuyt or a MAD zeppelin. And I only learned from his obit that he drew three massive books on military uniforms. An amazing and generally underappreciated career.
I gotta tip my imaginary hat to someone who sang a song about Pithecanthropus erectus!. 
Turek, if you want to post a daily memorial to every person who died in the last twenty four hours, feel free (assuming the mods don’t shut you down). Most of us however would find it impossible to properly mourn every one of these thousands of individuals. But just because we can’t include all, there’s no reason to ignore all. Ms Robyn posted a thread about three people; take it as a tribute to them and not a slight to anyone else.