I was about 3 months old when she died, so no.
What the hell? This is exactly what I’m talking about. If some 25-30 year old adult doesn’t know every piece of pop culture from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, they somehow know NOTHING from those years and they are ignorant/stupid/forgetting about the past/the owner of a short-attention span/etc. All because old folks think this stuff just happened because it happened when they were 25-30 (or even when they were teenagers!).
There is a whole mess load of great stuff that was created in the last 30 years and I haven’t even caught up to all of that yet. So forgive me if the extent of my Natalie Wood knowledge is that she was in Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, and drowned when I was two weeks old.
A lot of that had to do with the fact Wood wasn’t that active–and thus not that visible–in terms of movie roles during much of the 1970s. She had a big role in 1969’s **Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice **but really wasn’t in much of anything over the next 10 years. By the time of her death in 1981, she was still in the midst of a comeback that started only two years before.
I don’t care how ignorant you are, I just think it’s sad and no, you “don’t get it.” When people (three, so far) saunter into a thread like this to brag that “of *course *I have no idea who Natalie Wood was, she died in 1981, how am *I *supposed to know who she was?” I wonder if they have never heard of Bix Beiderbecke, Jenny Lind, Sarah Bernhardt, Christopher Morley, Elinor Glyn, Patrick Dennis, Jack Johnson, Bessie Smith, Anna May Wong, and other “minor pop culture figures” who died decades ago, but who made the world so much richer.
Yeah, I’m old, but I never saw Jenny Lind in concert!
I take it back, I apologize, I am in a bad mood and it is no business of mine what people know or don’t know or which threads they care to empty their bowels into. I am sure millions of people have never heard of Natalie Wood and live long happy lives despite that fact. After all, it’s not as though I have ever heard of *any *sports or sci-fi character.
I was born in 1972 and I recognize maybe half of the names you just listed. I knew that Natalie Wood was an actress who drowned and that it was some kind of Big Deal, but I didn’t know anything beyond that.
I don’t follow pop culture that’s current, let alone the stuff that happened before I was old enough to be aware of it. Some of it I’ve absorbed, some of it I haven’t. I think that judging people because they haven’t heard of a given name from their early childhood or before they were born is a bit snobby.
I think it’s an odd interesting story, but from the looks of it it doesn’t seem like there is any new information to get. I was very little when she died, so it had no effect on me. And, even now the only movie I have seen with her is Miracle on 34th Street.
I do find it interesting that I am constantly surprised by bits in the story.
It started off with an older person telling me a joke when I was in my teens.
“What kind of wood doesn’t float? Natalie”
I had no idea what they were talking about, and when I didn’t laugh they said it was over my head, Natalie Wood, the actress from West Side Story, drowned. I had never seen that movie so I had no idea who it was. But, I laughed politely and forgot about the whole thing.
Then I found out that Natalie Wood was married to Robert Wagner, who I knew from Hart to Hart reruns on some UHF channel. Hey! That’s neat.
Then, much later, I found out that Christopher Walken was also on the boat. Woah! Crazy!
And, finally, I found out that Natalie Wood was the little girl from Miracle on 34th Street. I pretty much watched that movie every Christmas since I can remember. Just never knew who she grew up to be. So, that was another shocker.
Every time I learned more about her or her death it surprised me. So, at this point if it turns out that the Captain is Britney Spears grandfather it wouldn’t surprise me.
Anyway: Justin Bailey I think you are taking Equipose’s comments too personally. I doubt it was about age. It was about a favorite actress of hers that doesn’t garner the recognition she feels she deserves. If someone started a thread talking about Chloë Moretz and a lot of people responded that they had never heard of her Equipose would probably write a similar post. Something like, “It’s incredibly sad that so many people don’t know about one of the best young actresses working today. I’m sure you would have all heard of her had she been in an action movie wearing short shorts.” (I’m not claiming she actually said that. Just something similar to what I would guess she would say.) It’s not so much that she is looking down on young people, but more about a passion for film that she relates very personally and wishes everyone could share.
Also: Eve. Of course, we’ve all heard of Jack Johnson. Brushfire Fairytales was quite the debut.
Honestly, I take no pride in not knowing pop culture references–I like to be on top of things–but I don’t know any of those except for Bessie Smith. (I was born 1975). Natalie Wood I know from Miracle on 34th Street. (Right?) I actually didn’t know about the drowning, the fight, that Christopher Walken was there, etc., but I’m happy I saw this thread so I could brush up on a little pop cultural history.
Other.
I care in that, if they have some sort of evidence of foul play or something they should certainly investigate, but I don’t care in that I really don’t need to hear about this case that happened ages ago just because it involved famous people.
Well, if he was on the deck and saw her floundering and screaming for help and did nothing, yeah, that’s a criminal act. But I don’t think that’s what happened. I think he heard a noise, figured it was either her jumping overboard or launching the dingy to leave because she was drunk & pissed off, and because he was also drunk & pissed off he didn’t go up to investigate but instead thought "Let her leave, if she’s so determined to!'. When he did finally go up to the deck and didn’t see or hear anything, again because he was pissed he, again because he was also drunk, used poor judgement in not looking for her thinking she just swam/rowed to shore.
And given if that’s what happened, I think losing his wife in a tragic accident that they both could have prevented by not drinking & arguing, is punishment enough. Too much actually. Wagner wasn’t OJ, as far as I know they had no history of domestic violence.
I voted “no.” I always thought Robert Wagner was probably guilty, if not of murder then of some lesser charge. The whole thing sounded dodgy.
I don’t care about it in that it was Natalie Wood, but I hate the thought of a killer getting away with it.
Seriously, you have known me how long and you don’t know I *revel *in being a snob?
I have known of you in that I recognize your name. Can’t say that I recall any specifics about your personality offhand, though. Sorry to disappoint.
Well, I can think of a few genocidal heads of state who’ve disproved that since April 1945.
I can understand why. I was confused, too. Let me try to shed some light on it.
Marti Rulli (the women that I saw being interviewed) apparently co-authored the book “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour” with captain Dennis Davern back in 2009. Since the publication of that book, Rulli has been in talks with the police to re-open the Wood investigation because she feels that it was poorly handled.
“Vanity Fair” also recently re-released its 2000 article on the case, and it brings up several ambiguities in the case.
“48 Hours Mystery” also did their own investigation, and was scheduled to air a show on the Wood case in a few weeks or months. But because the case was re-opened, they pushed up its air date to 11/19.
According to what I’ve heard, the captain is now claiming that Wagner and the Captain didn’t see her floundering, but rather heard her call out for help. Perhaps fueled by his anger after their recent fight, Wagner directed the captain not to turn on the spotlight right away. By the time they did call for help, hours later, she had already drowned.
This account is corroborated by a witness on a nearby yacht:
But again, that makes no sense. It makes the Captain an accessory to any crime (if not guilty of murder himself), so why would he be working with the author who’s trying to reopen the case?
I didn’t think it needed to be said, but you’re right, I could pull the same shit with you going the other way and I have a feeling that if I threw out a bunch of current pop culture figures, you wouldn’t know the names of much more than 1 in 50.
From your list I’ve heard the names Jenny Lind and Sarah Bernhardt, but had no idea who they were. And I know Jack Johnson is a boxer from the 20s or 30s and was responsible for the “Great White Hope” meme.
They just released the 50 year anniversary DVD of “Westside Story”.
It immediately made me think of Natalie…although I laugh everytime I remember the images of the “Jets” gang-all those young men snapping their fingers and chanting “coolit…cool it”.:D:D:D
As for poor Natalie-who knows? Maybe they were all boozed up, and Natalie decided to take a swim?