Gore Vidal

I must admit I blinked the other day and strained my thoughts just a bit when I saw the NYT online home page announce that Gore Vidal had passed away: 1925-2012. I had just prior to checking the paper's home page received an e-mail from an obituary distribution list that had a quote of Mr. Vidal's, apparently lifted from the obituary, but also one he was likely famous for: "There is not one human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise." Would make quite a campaign slogan, and it might have been his.

The reason I blinked at 1925-2012 was that I thought, to paraphrase someone else's words, "Vidal was alive yesterday?" Thus, I was thinking 2012 had passed, and why didn't I remember that he was no longer with us? I also worried I was looking at the wrong calendar.

Of course the outquote e-mail was precipitated by the news of his passing. This news wasn't met with any particular respect, or affection on my part for the guy. I long ago came to believe he was immensely conceited and lived in Italy so he didn't have to watch, or hear about, the 'Today" show.

But what his passing did kindle were memories of the time I paid attention to the guy because we was on the Johnny Carson show quite often, and his name and picture seemed to be constantly appearing in bookstore windows. I never read anything he wrote and wondered how did anyone get paid and live with themselves for a book, "Myra Breckenridge," made into a movie starring Raquel Welch? Of course I was much younger then, where today I wouldn't have the same question.

I can't remember a single thing he said on the Carson show, but I listened to him because his words, phrasing and appearance drew attention. Charisma, I guess.

I righty remember he was against the war in Vietnam, and he seemed to explain at length why. A lot of people then were against that war. I probably was as well, but never gave voice to my thoughts other than to wonder how a strip of land in a corner of Asia was tactically going to amount to anything. To me, it was not like WWII where Nazis conquering Europe was more of a threat.

But you listened to Vidal, even if you couldn't agree with him less. The only quote I remember about the Vietnam War was one I heard on the Carson show. I remember it came from the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. who made fun of how the news reported the war. At the time, the nightly newscasts would never fail to mention how many North Vietnamese were killed, or captured. The numbers were always seemingly low, and probably not equal to the number of parking tickets handed out in Brooklyn on a given day.

Mr. Schlesinger, famously, at least for me, said, "My God, you'd think we have turnstiles on the Ho Chi Minh Trail." I remember Carson laughed a bit, but not until it sunk in. It was that kind of wording that Vidal presented.

So, what do I miss? I miss the era I came of age in when guys like Vidal and William Buckley were at each others' throats, but with words so well chosen that they made you think--and take out a dictionary. I miss an era that would have produced a far different photograph than the one mentioned in a blog posting of June 8, 2010, regarding the Cafe Nicholson and those pictured there. The same 1949 photo appears above. Some will recognize the faces.

It's hard to imagine either of them, or anyone who wrote in that era, using Twitter to communicate a thought with its 140 character maximum. For them, that would be a third of a sentence.

The NYT obituary, running a full page, is a lovely piece about the passage of a man and his era. A Vidal feud with the NYT is mentioned and might well be true. Vidal's passing was not mentioned on the front page, not even in the teaser portion announcing stories inside. A reference to his TV duels with William F. Buckley, Jr. is mentioned, with no reason given that Vidal's passing had precipitated the story. In contrast, today's paper mentions John Keegan in the teaser space, the historian who just passed away at 78. Vidal was 86 and had written 25 books and many essays. He was the type of literary lion you would expect to at least be acknowledged on the front page. Certainly John Updike was.

Regardless, the passage of time is what the passing is about. Mr. McGrath's piece touchingly reports that Vidal's companion, Mr.Austen, who passed away in 2003 "asked from his deathbed, 'Didn't it go by awfully fast?'" It's equal to the scene in the 2003 movie "Something's Gotta to Give," starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as they walk along an East End Long Island beach and Jack's character says virtually the same thing.

The Buckley, Vidal and Norman Mailer et al. feuds were great theater. And then I remember something about the British critic Kenneth Tynan, who I don't think liked Truman Capote. In fact, no one seemed to like anyone, only that they said it almost so politely that you might have missed it.

When I was in Toronto in November 2000 there were 80 or so candidates that filed paperwork to run for Mayor of Toronto. The Globe and Mail printed thumbnail bio sketches of the most colorful and quirky. I remember a stripper, exotic dancer, who was running and had some support from other than her high heels in some districts.

It reminded me of the NYC 1969 mayoral race when aside from the incumbent mayor John Lindsay seeking his second term, Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley,Jr. and a few other types were officially running for the office.  Mailer and Buckley. Harvard vs. Yale, but not football or rowing. Words. Religious neighborhoods against bike lanes. All of these individuals became bigger than they were because of the others. No North Pole with no South Pole.

It was, as Mr. McGrath poignantly closes his piece with, as he delivers a Vidal quote from quite late in his life, "such fun, such fun."

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