Pattycake, Pattycake, 1-2-3

The NYT wasn't kidding when their Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan, revealed there was going to be a policy of more front page obituaries. The number's been rising, and might be attributable to the new Executive Editor at the paper, Jill Abramson.

I don't know if anyone would have predicted that the death of the first gorilla born in NYC, Pattycake, was going to get front page, below the fold treatment. Photo, thick black border, from and to years, caption, jump to the story, page A17.

Luckily for Caroline Kennedy, the smaller tease of the story of her possibly being named the ambassador to Japan, is placed on the opposite side of the front page. The Times has to like the Kennedys. When Caroline's father was elected president in 1960 the NYC joke was that he got his job through the New York Times, a takeoff on an ad campaign they were running to brag about how good their Classified/Want Ad section was.

The Pattycake story does not appear on the obituary page, but it is opposite it, in the New York section. Caroline Kennedy's story is on page A3. It might be considered a little much to give this gorilla that much attention, but there is no good idea (the one about featuring more obituaries) that can't be overdone.

Obituaries have increasingly become a good deal more than recitations of the timeline of life and the names and relationshps of survivors. They are short stories, that can contain a good deal of history.

The good news about this trend is that it seems like it will have legs. The Times and several others have been writing entertaining and informative obituaries for years. And agree or not as to the method, they are getting more attention.

Evidence of the widespread appeal of obituaries as stories is Jen King, a final year journalism student in Brisbane, Australia, going with the Twitter handle @lifeasinzy.  She has neatly weighed in on a recent Times obit on Yvonne Brill, a pioneering rocket scientist. People die, but the hills are alive.

Aside from the inevitable Twitter contretemps front page coverage of a gorilla will cause, the story is interesting. Quite honestly, I had forgotten all about Pattycake. If I were to have been asked before the death this past Sunday of the first gorilla born in NYC I would have gone through my mental Rolodex of NYC rogues who might have left us. Being a mayoral election year always helps with coming up with names fast.

After reading today's story I did remember the time Pattycake's mom inadvertently wound up breaking the baby's arm when she picked her up. This was news all over the place. It was also a jinx put on NYC baseball pitching that arm woes were going to be part of the Yankee and Met seasons forever, as they shell out millions of dollars to win more games than they lose.

In horse racing terms, Pattycake was a good broodmare. She gave birth to 10 offspring, from four different males in matings throughout her life. Turns out one died soon after birth, but the remainder have gone on to lives at other zoos.

The story is written very much like an obituary would be. No Ivy League schools are mentioned, or even hinted at as contributing to her education, but it seems she was a smart gorilla. She wrote no books, but books were written about her. Best way to get attention. Let others do it for you.

She is also survived by at least one grandchild. No funeral services are planned, but you can bet the candles, flowers and ribbons are starting to show up at the Central Park Zoo.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com