Homage to Jonny

In the 'Arts' section of today's NYT there is a loving piece written by Robin Williams on Jonathan  Winters. We know Jonathan was not Robin's father, but he certainly had a hand (or something) in what Williams became: an even wilder comedian than Jonathan.

The piece is labeled 'An Appraisal,' but it's not. It's a heartfelt homage to the man. An appraisal would have been written by Edward Rothstein and he would have attempted to academically and clinically explain why we laugh at a man who comes out in a pith helmet as Jack Parr's guest and explains that he hunts for squirrels by shooting at their nuts. We don't care about Freud or Jung when we're laughing.

There is a 'YouTube' segment of Jonathan on the 'Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson. After Jonathan calms down on the couch, Robin Williams is introduced, comes out, and bows in complete homage and recognition to the man that gave him life.

I seem to remember Bill Cosby telling the story of his childhood in Philadelphia and that he thought monkey bars were an attempt by adults to do away with little kids. "You don't see them playing on them, do you?"

Cosby would also tell, true or not, that his father told him to play in traffic. So, perhaps the funny people come from adults who were shunned as children. Robin Williams tells the story of Jonathan coming back from duty as a Marine in the Pacific in WWII and finding that his mother had already cleaned out some of his things from his bedroom. She didn't think he was coming back.

Mr. Williams neatly closes with the reference to the classic bit on Jack Parr that Jonathan stitched together where he assumes 10 different characters while using a simple stick as a prop.  That's 10 he did standing up. Coming back and sitting in the chair next to Parr he gets into two more. His Bing Crosby playing golf and singing sends Parr awe-struck to heaven. And don't miss that a sand trap is called a 'cat box.' (Kitty litter was invented in 1947, and Crosby was playing golf long before that.)

Robin says Jonathan's stick touched all of us. It did, and luckily it was shared and handed to others who keep using it.

http://onofframp.blogspot.com