European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Sidelights Etc i i after his fade from shows and life Andy Rooney he evanescent Quality of Fame has never been better illustrated than by the news announcements of the death of Gariy Moore. Three weeks ago i was getting ready to go to the new York giants game in a rainstorm when the phone rang. Sunday morning its usually one of our kids. Margie answered and turned to me at the breakfast table. A a it a Garry Moore a son a she said. _ i hardly had to go to the Telephone. I knew the great inimitable Garry Moore was gone. Tears came to my eyes and 1 could hear them in the voice of Garry a son also named Garry. Tears Are a mystery. You cannot evoke them at will or suppress them by resolve. You cry or you done to. The heart knows something the head does not. Monday morning i scanned the front Page of the new York times looking for the familiar Bow tied picture of Garry. There varas not a word about the Man who 30 years ago had All America watching five got a secret the Gariy Moore show and to Tell the truth. I found his obituary a Lustor toss Story the times bought from the a Back on Page 8d of the business Section. Of All the people in be Ever known in television Gariy was the nicest. Quot nicest Isnit a powerful word but that a what Garry was. He was decent thoughtful and honest. Nice. Garry was already famous when i met him in the 50s. His television variety show was being written by a Brilliant staff that included Neil Simon and Woody alien. Lbs asked me to write a daily radio show for Gany and his partner Durward Kirby for five years i turned out 10 minutes of i Aloigue five Days a week and it was the pleasantest writing Job 1 Ever had. Evert when my scripts were mediocre Gany read them with Durward As if every one was an award Winner. At one Point Garry and his wife Nell were going to take a trip to Europe on the Queen Mary and he asked Margie and me to go with them. We recorded the radio shows on Board and sent them Back to new York. If you re going to be a writer that a the Way to live. Nell died Many years ago and one of the few Good things that happened to Gany in his later years was his manage to his second wife Betsy. Gariy did no to die easily. He was an incurable cigarette smoker even after surgery for Throat cancer. He had serious emphysema and. The Medicine he took for that he said turned his spine to jello. Gany was on oxygen but he d frequently turn off the valve on the tank Long enough to smoke a cigarette. Garry a Talent was not his great comic sense. It was his likeable Ness. He did no to really do much on Telvi Sion. He was Quick with a funny Tine but people. Tuned in to see him because they liked him. They sensed he was a Good person and it gave them a warm feeling to watch him. When Gany quit television in 1977, he said he was retiring because a a in be said everything i Ever wanted Gariy Moore doing radio in 1962, died nov 28. To say three times that Wasny to exactly True. In 1962, we talked in his office about the possibility of his getting a Job with lbs news. He desperately wanted to become a reporter and he was willing to Start at the Bottom of the ladder. I never said anything about it to lbs news executives because in those Days they would not have Given any consideration the idea of someone with a comic reputation in the entertainment Industry becoming a lbs news correspondent. It was the one thing Garry Moore most wanted to do Fiat he never did. He would have been As Good at that As he was at everything else he undertook in his life. I spoke to Gariy no More than two or three limes a year recently. Now that he a gone ill miss him every Day. Tribune Media services Andy Rooney it a tonne Start and so Ripon report one paper said Clinton waffled what about the flip Clarence Page does president Clinton stand his ground or is he a Waffler where you stand May depend on what you read. A Good example is offered by the coverage of his attempts to clarify the significance of his recent visit with Salman Rushdie. Much of the islamic world was outraged that Clinton unlike Bush had met with the writer who has been hiding since 1989 from an islamic death threat. Three newspapers widely read in Washington gave the Story Page 1 attention including Clinton a reaffirmation of his stand for free speech and Rushdie a rights while he and his aides also tried to play Down the significance of the Rushdie meeting. It was too Short to be really called a meeting they said despite Rushdie a calling it a major event. Despite the sameness of the event the spin each newspaper gave to its Story was noticeably different. The new York times Story headlined a a a no disrespect meant , president says made the president sound apologetic and waffling. It went on to make this remarkable statement a by seeking today to emphasize the Brief duration of the Exchange or. Clinton also seemed to display a Simitar Hope to have it both the remark is remarkable because it is unattributed. The times is quoting itself. Not to be outdone the times editorialists weighed in the next Day with a Lead editorial snidely headlined a hold the waffles it accused the president of vacillating needlessly in his support for Rushdie and free speech. Not that Clinton has reversed his support fore ther Rushdie or free speech. In fact he flatly reaffirmed both. The waffling Here is in the Eye of the beholder. The Washington posts Story a Clinton defends his meeting with Rushdie described the president As firmly almost defiantly standing his ground a Over the objections of some advisers Quot so he could a underscore the importance of free the los Angeles times a Clinton tries to Calm juror on Rushdie a visit took a Middle ground quoting the president As denying any intention to offend muslims but also reaffirming a your commitment to protecting the physical Well being and the right to speak of those with whom we May intensely disagree Quot i offer these examples to show How Good newspapers can do a Fine Job of covering facts yet come Back with different versions of the truth even when we attempt objectivity we in the Media tend to operate much like the proverbial five Blind men trying to describe the whole elephant after feeling Only a Small part of it. Our Lens is More often a prism. 1 All of which helps me to understand what Clinton was driving at in his recent Jeremiah against the press in an interview with rolling Stone a but that is the press fault too dammit a he exploded in response to the suggestion by interviewer William Grider that some of his supporters were a disappointed that Clinton had shown too Little Backbone on important issues. A i have fought More Damn Battles Here for More things than any president has in 20 years with the possible exception of Reagan a first budget and not gotten one Damn bit of credit from the knee Jerk Liberal press and i am sick and tired of it and you can put that in the Damn articled it is significant that the president chose to single out the Quot knee Jerk Liberal press Quot As if he were both cred not a bit by Rush Limbaugh the Wall Street journals editorial writers or other knee Jerk conservative Media. But i guess it always hurts More to be criticized by those who you expect would be your natural allies. Whatever his motives his remarks have touched off in the quiet Days of the Holiday season another of what tend to be periodic rounds of Media soul searching. We did it when George Bush urged voters to a annoy the Media by voting for him. We went through it again when a fuming Bill Clinton dressed Down Abc to s Brit Hume for caring More about a a process than substance maybe so but process shapes policy ail politicians complain about their press but the Clinton press has been marked by notably Radical mood swings from the extremes of last Springs a incredible shrinking presidency Quot As times cover put it to the other extreme of savvy Arm twisting legislative skills worthy of Lyndon b. Johnson. Sometimes the mood swings occur on the same Day As the different interpretations of the Rushdie statement indicate. It is hard for Clinton to present a focused presidency to the world when the Media View Hin through More of a prism than a Lens but he appears to be learning the Job by doing it. The Chicano Tribune december 19. 1993 sunday t 1 Page 9
