November 19 Checkouts

In 1682, Prince Rupert of The Rhine checked out.  He is best known for fighting for the Royalists in the English Civil War.  Actually, he's best known for fighting not terribly successfully for the Royalists in the English Civil War.  But that's life.

If you're a fan of French literature, you'll be sad to know that it was this date in 1703 that marked the end of The Man in The Iron Mask.  We still don't know who he was.  But it was a fascinating story that has kept people intrigued for over 300 years.  Which is kind of ironic, since the point of the mask was presumably to make sure he was forgotten.

If you're an Irish Catholic, or at least not a big fan of how the Irish have been treated by their neighbors over the centuries, you might be sad to know that Wolfe Tone died on this date in 1798.  It wasn't pretty either.  Apparently he tried to kill himself by (basically) slitting his own throat.  With a penknife.  Ugh.  He did succeed, of course.  It just took a week or so.  He was a cofounder of the Society of United Irishmen.  By the way, he was supposed to be hung for treason on November 12, but if you look at the dates, he cut himself first.  And surprisingly, the British just let him go- not like they did to his spiritual descendant Michael Connolly in the 20th century, who was executed in a chair, since he was too badly wounded to stand in front of the firing squad.  Small victories, I guess. 

Franz Schubert also died on this date, in 1828.  I have it on good authority that he did not use a pen-knife to cut his own throat.  There's a good chance that it was syphilis, actually.  And, as he requested, he was buried next to one of his heroes, Beethoven. 

Next time you hear somebody like Jason Whitlock sneer at the likes of Stepin Fetchit, who died on this date in 1985; be very sad.  By today's standards, the role he played (his real name was Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry) was a pretty ugly stereotype, but on the other hand, he became the first Black actor to get screen credit, and became a millionaire.  Oh, and he balanced his screen persona as "The Laziest Man in the World" with his work as a newspaper writer.  He was a close friend of Will Rogers, which is a pretty good endorsement of his character.  He also has a star on the Walk of Fame.  Alas, his work is regarded as so demeaning to Blacks that if you want to see some of it, good luck.  Still, he did the best he could, and was a pioneer in the film industry.  If that's degrading, then so be it. 

I found myself this morning suffering from some Saturday Morning Confusion- which is only appropriate, since there was an amusing ditty of that name.  The guy who wrote it, Bobby Russell, died on this date in 1992.  He was briefly married to Vicki Lawrence, for whom he wrote a little ditty called "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia".  He also wrote "Little Green Apples" and the Bobby Goldsboro tune "Honey", but we won't hold either of those against him.

A really interesting story here:  Today is the anniversary of the death of Terry Melcher.  He was a record producer back in the 60s and 70s.  His mom was a little lady you might know, Doris Day.  At one point, Melcher became friends with a weirdo and "musician" named Charles Manson.  Manson was a frequent guest at Casa Melcher (fun fact- he was living with Candice Bergen at the time).  Eventually, they fell out, and Melcher moved away.  Shortly afterwards, Manson and his "family" visited the old homestead, which was then occupied by child rapist Roman Polanski and his wife... Sharon Tate.  Sadly, you know how that worked out.  There's a fair amount of evidence that, while Manson knew Melcher had moved away, he wanted to put a scare into him.  You'll not be surprised to learn that he succeeded brilliantly at that.  Oh, and by the way, he produced a 1992 album by his old friends The Beach Boys entitled "Summer in Paradise", which is notable for being digitally produced using Pro Tools, which had never been done before.

So that's that.  A lot of controversial people here, relatively speaking, or at least tragic ones.  But they were at least interesting.

But a final note.  I'd like to send out a huge RIP and an "I'm sorry" to the little squirrel who ran out in front of my car this morning.  I hoped that he ducked out of the way, but there was that tiny little "clunk" that told me my wish was not granted.  If there's anything good about it, it's the knowledge that the little guy got hit squarely, and it ended immediately.  Sorry little dude.  I just didn't have the time to stop, and you turned around too late.