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Party Pooper - This weekend was supposed to be NATO's big 50th birthday bash, a time for the Europeans and North Americans to slap each other on the back and hoist a few for being a bulwark against tyranny for half a century. Instead, NATO leaders have convened in Washington DC, fearful of the possibility of waging a land war in Yugoslavia and even beginning -- quietly -- to question the relevance of NATO. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all. Leave it to Slobodan Milosevic to ruin a good party. [Wired News]
Party Poopers - The 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre is almost here, and China is pulling out all the stops to mark the milestone -- detaining activists, disabling Web sites, blocking Western news feeds into the country, and defiantly proclaiming that the bloody crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators on 4 June 1989 was not only justified, but necessary. So far, in the weeks leading up to the anniversary, China has detained at least 80 dissidents, declined to issue permits for a candlelight vigil, and marched troops through the square on a regular basis. The government also closed all hotels and businesses in Beijing that have TVs capable of carrying CNN broadcasts. They will remain shuttered until 8 June. Other than that, it's just business as usual. [Wired News]
Passage: Akio Morita, 78 - Akio Morita, Sony's co-founder and the father of the Walkman, died of pneumonia Sunday in a Tokyo hospital. Morita was the marketing genius behind some of the company's greatest innovations. "Made in Japan" was a pejorative term when Morita and Masaru Ibuka started their consumer products business more than 50 years ago. Sony has gone on to become a giant in the electronics and entertainment industries. Morita has been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 1993. [Wired News]
Passage: Al Hirt, 76 - The legendary "King of the Trumpet" was the toast of the jazz world during the '50s and '60s, performing at John F. Kennedy's inauguration and headlining at Carnegie Hall. Hirt, whose name was synonymous with New Orleans jazz, was nominated for 21 Grammys in a career that spanned 50 years. He was also prodigious in the studio, recording more than 50 albums. Four went gold and one -- "Honey in the Horn" -- went platinum. Hirt, a friend of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, topped the magazine's poll as best jazz trumpeter for 16 consecutive years. A powerful soloist renowned for his technique, Hirt also played off and on for many years with another New Orleans fixture, clarinetist Pete Fountain. [Wired News]
Passage: Alice Adams, 72 - The nationally acclaimed novelist and short story writer died in her sleep Wednesday night, after returning to her San Francisco home following a weeklong stay in the hospital for a heart problem. Adams, who began her literary career in the '50s, wrote 10 novels and five collections of short stories, including most recently The Last Lovely City. Her last novel, After the War, was completed shortly before her death and will be published by Knopf. Adams, a native of Virginia, grew up in the South before moving to California after World War II. Most of her stories, which often dealt with alienation and lovelessness among the well-to-do, were set in those locales. Adams' stories appeared in numerous O. Henry Awards collections, as well as several anthologies. [Wired News]
Passage: Allen Funt, 84 - Allen Funt, the master of the hidden camera who taught Americans not to take themselves too seriously, died Sunday of complications from a stroke. The creator and host of the TV classic Candid Camera, Funt captured human reactions to baffling situations, then surprised his subjects with his famous punch line, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." After his retirement in the late 1970s, Funt ran a cattle ranch in California. [Wired News]
Passage: Andre Dubus, 62 - The New England condition was his canvas, and his work won him a reputation as one of the best short-story writers of his generation. Dubus, who lost a leg in 1986 after being struck by a car when he had stopped to help a stranded motorist, wrote poignantly about his miseries in Meditations From a Movable Chair, a collection of essays which appeared last year. Another collection of stories, Dancing After Hours, was a National Book Critics Circle award nominee. Dubus spent much of his later life holding free writing workshops in his Haverhill, Massachusetts home. [Wired News]
Passage: Anthony Newley, 67 - The versatile Newley was an accomplished actor, singer, playwright, composer, and lyricist, best known perhaps for co-authoring and starring in the musical hit Stop the World, I Want To Get Off. His portrayal of the Artful Dodger in the 1948 movie Oliver Twist made him an international star and he cemented his fame in the movies (Dr. Doolittle, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), as a songwriter (The Candy Man, the theme from Goldfinger), and as a regular visitor to the Las Vegas showrooms. Newley wed three times, including a stormy marriage to actress Joan Collins. He died in Florida following a lengthy battle with cancer. [Wired News]
Passage: Cal Ripken Sr., 63 - His son achieved baseball immortality by breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played record, but Ripken Sr. was a solid baseball man in his own right. As a player, coach, manager, and scout, Ripken spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Two sons, Cal Jr. and Billy, became major leaguers and the elder Ripken is the only man in baseball history to manage two sons at the same time. Both were at his bedside Thursday when he died of lung cancer. [Wired News]
Passage: DeForest Kelley, 79 - The actor who made the phrase "Dammit, Jim" a quotable for thousands of Star Trek viewers passed away Friday. Born 20 January 1920, DeForest Kelley had childhood aspirations of becoming a doctor, but began an acting career when his family couldn't afford medical school. Later he landed the role of Dr. McCoy on the original Trek series and also appeared in several movies, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and in TV westerns. Co-star Leonard Nimoy reflects, "He represented humanity and it fitted him well. He was a decent, loving, caring partner and will be deeply missed." [Wired News]
Passage: Dick Latvala, 56 - The Grateful Dead inspired fan loyalty unique in the music world, and nobody personified that more than Latvala, who died Friday following a heart attack. Latvala was such an avid collector of the Dead's music that the band eventually hired him as archivist, and in the three years since Jerry Garcia's death have released 14 compact discs -- known as "Dick's Picks" -- from those archives. [Wired News]
Passage: Dusty Springfield, 59 - She enjoyed a modest resurgence in the mid-'90s, but with hits like Wishin' and Hopin', You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, and Son of a Preacher Man, Springfield was firmly rooted in the musical culture of the 1960s. Her husky voice was instantly recognizable and she was one of the few white singers to successfully cross the line into soul singing. Springfield left a mark on mid-'60s fashion, too, with her blonde beehive, heavy eye makeup, and lip gloss. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. [Wired News]
Passage: Early Wynn, 79 - The Hall of Famer, who won 300 games in a career that spanned four decades, was a cornerstone of the Cleveland Indians pitching staff in 1954, going 23-11 as the Tribe won 111 games in a 154-game season. Wynn, who played for the Indians and the Chicago White Sox, came to the majors in 1939. Twenty years later, at the age of 39, he won the American League Cy Young award, going 22-10 for the '59 Sox. He notched his 300th win in 1963. Wynn, a fierce competitor, was that rarity among pitchers: He could hit. He was frequently used as a pinch-hitter and one year batted .319. Wynn died Sunday, as the 1999 baseball season began. [Wired News]
Passage: Forum, 31 - Since opening its doors on 31 December 1967, the "Fabulous Forum" in Los Angeles has seen its share of the sporting high life: the Laker teams of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, then later the Showtime champs led by Magic Johnson and James Worthy. For hockey fans, there was the "Miracle on Manchester," when the Kings, trailing 5-0 in a playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers, rallied for a 6-5 win. But the Forum, which will give way to Staples Arena next year, went out on a downer Sunday as the Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs with nary a whimper. As NBC play-by-play man Bob Costas cracked, "An unfunny thing happened on the way out of the Forum." [Wired News]
Passage: Gene Sarazen, 97 - The "Squire" was the first golfer to win all four major championships (the PGA, US Open, British Open, and Masters), a feat accomplished by only three others -- Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. Sarazen won seven majors between 1922 and 1935, but it was his incredible 235-yard shot for a double-eagle on the 15th hole of the 1935 Augusta National Tournament that made him a legend and that tournament -- later known as the Masters -- one of the most famous in golf. Sarazen retired in 1973, saying goodbye with a hole-in-one at Royal Troon in Scotland. He was a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. [Wired News]
Passage: George C. Scott, 71 - George C. Scott was an actor of great honesty and integrity. He hated movie-making, claiming he was only in it for the money; and he despised the Academy Awards, insisting it was little more than a popularity contest. And when he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in Patton, Scott ignored the ceremony to watch a hockey game on TV instead. Scott captivated movie audiences for decades in such classics as Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Hospital, but always preferred the theater. "I have to work in the theater to stay sane," he said. "You can attack the stage fresh every night." He died Wednesday of unknown causes at his home in Ventura County, California. [Wired News]
Passage: George E. Brown Jr., 79 - The oldest member of the House of Representatives and the ranking Democrat on the House science committee represented California's 42nd District (San Bernardino and environs) since 1962. Brown, who was in his 18th term, was a strong booster of NASA and an advocate of space exploration. He underwent a heart-valve replacement in May but developed a post-operative infection, which proved fatal. [Wired News]
Passage: Harry Blackmun, 90 - As a Supreme Court justice, Blackmun authored the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that affirmed a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion. Blackmun, a lifelong Republican, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1970, yet by the time he retired in 1994 he was considered one of the most liberal justices in the court's history. That reputation was built largely on his staunch defense of individual liberties, but nothing compared to his authorship of Roe v. Wade, perhaps the court's most controversial decision ever. Blackmun received thousands of pieces of hate mail for his trouble, and insisted on reading them all. "I want to know what the people who wrote are thinking," he said. [Wired News]
Passage: Harry Walker, 80? - Harry "The Hat" Walker was either 80 (according to him) or 83 (according to the Baseball Encyclopedia), but in any case won the National League batting title in 1947, hitting .363. Walker, who spent most of 11 big league seasons with St. Louis, delivered the deciding hit in the 1946 World Series as the Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox. He earned the nickname "The Hat" for his habit of adjusting his cap between pitches. [Wired News]
Passage: Huntz Hall, 78 - Best known as Dippy, the best friend of Spit, Hall was one of the original "Dead End Kids" who enjoyed tremendous popularity in the 1930s and '40s. Hall was a product of the Irish immigrant world portrayed in those movies, growing up in a New York slum. His distinctive appearance -- rubbery face, bug eyes, and a pugilist's busted nose -- served him well as sidekick to the wisecracking Spit, played by Leo Gorcey. Hall made 120 films in a long career, 87 of them with the "Dead End Kids," also known as the "East Side Kids" and the "Bowery Boys." [Wired News]
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