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« Kurt Vonnegut Has Come Unstuck In Time
Meanwhile, At Our Neighborhood Theater… »

Quote O’ The Day

From the LA Times obituary of actor Roscoe Lee Brown:

He…recalled that early in his career, a director told him that his speech sounded “white.” Browne’s response was simple and to the point: “We had a white maid.”

Posted by scott on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 4:12 pm.

17 Responses to “Quote O’ The Day”

It’s unfortunate timing that RLB died the same day as Vonnegut.

Left by actor212 on April 12th, 2007

Re: the Iraq war in general

(also see this post)

Ever since the months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there have been a few reports in the newspapers that the Central Intelligence Agency was casting aspersions on the intelligence the White House was relying on to justify the war. The CIA has never given a position on whether the war is needed or justified or said that Bush is wrong to go to war. But doesn’t it seem much more likely that the CIA is an extremely right wing organization than a left wing one? After all, even if the people working for them and at least a lot of the leadership really wanted a war for their own reasons, there are a lot of reasons for them to not want to tie their credibility to what they know is faulty information. They and their personnel, present and former, could use other means of promoting the Iraq war, and still be motivated to make the statements in the media. If the CIA got behind faulty information, they would have to make a choice between whether they would be involved in scamming the American people and the world once the military had invaded Iraq and no weapons were found- so: 1) Imagine the incredible difficulties involved in pulling off a hoax that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Imagine all the people you would have to be able to show the weapons to- the inspectors from the UN / the international community, the American press, statesmen, etc. Then imagine the difficulties of substantiating that story to people who would examine it- the lack of witnesses to a production plant that made the weapons or to transportation operations or storage of the weapons during Hussein’s regime of them. 2) If the story fell apart upon inspection or the CIA tried not to hoax it at all, imagine the loss of credibility they would suffer. The CIA, it is safe to bet, does not want to be known to the American people as a group that lies to them to send them to war. Even within the CIA there could be disagreement among people about how involved they should be in promoting the war or the neo-con agenda more broadly, so the CIA would have to worry about lying to and managing its own people after trying so hard to get them to trust their superiors in the agency, and perhaps there simply might be too many people in the agency who knew enough about what was going on in Iraq to know if someone was deceiving people to promote this war.

So there is a lot of reason to be cautious against being seen as endorsing what they knew was false intelligence even if they were very strong supporters of going to war.

Granted, it’s certainly possible the CIA could have changed their minds about the war, as a lot of people have, and could now be trying to move the nation closer to withdrawal.

Left by Swan on April 12th, 2007

Oh, Saunders.

Left by John on April 12th, 2007

Just a sec, I can fix it…

…Granted, it’s certainly possible the CIA could have changed their minds about the war, as a lot of people have, and could now be trying to move the nation closer to withdrawal.

Left by Spam on April 12th, 2007

That should get it. Incidentally, sir or madam, if I spot you doing this routine on one more blog (and god forbid mine), I’m fixing you up on a date with my sister.

You’ve been warned.

Left by D. Sidhe on April 12th, 2007

[spit take]
WTF?!
Oh, and Mr. Brown’s passing is a darned shame, too.

Left by Marq on April 12th, 2007

I’ve noticed that this Spam character has been hitting ALLLL of the blogs that I visit, and I’m kinda skeered that I’ve drawn a new psycho-stalker, like Psycho Sue From CT or worse. Maybe it’s not me, maybe there’s a different common denominator, but it’s working on my last fucking nerve. Fucking parasitic waste of oxygen.

Now, back to Mr. Brown: I loved that man. He was the epitome of “droll.” Urbane, smartassed, funny as hell, and could lance an enemy to the wall with but a look. And that VOICE! Pure brilliance and esoteric grandeur.

Left by Anntichrist S. Coulter on April 13th, 2007

Roscoe Brown, Kurt Vonnegut, et al. – our loss, eternity’s gain. But I can’t help fearfully wondering if they all know something we don’t.

Left by Humbert Dinglepencker on April 13th, 2007

I still remember that AITF episode. Two acting greats shoehorned into a tiny space. There was a scene where the lights went out, and when they came back on, Browne was leering over O’Connor, who reacted in disgust; Browne’s line was something like, “What’s the matter, Bunker? Afraid of the face of the future?”

Left by gjdodger on April 13th, 2007

Vonnegut’s dead? I didn’t know that.

Left by Yaoi Huntress Earth on April 13th, 2007

hi nice site.

Left by alex on April 13th, 2007

Anyone remember when Mr. Brown did an episode of Barney Miller?

Ah, for the days when there was mature(not Adult!) sitcoms on the telly.

Left by The Dark Avenger on April 14th, 2007

Crap. I lose my Internets connection for a week (possibly longer, it isn’t back today and I’m posting this from my mom’s house), and somebody goes and dies? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Mr. Brown was an excellent actor. I remember his work on “Soap”, and “All In the Family”. RIP, RLB.

Left by Bill S on April 14th, 2007

I loooooooved “Barney Miller”!

Of course, back in the ’70s, (Pre-PMRC, I might note), TV shows were still actually PRODUCED for ADULTS, instead of making everything in the fucking country Disney-Sanitized and Baby-Safe.

“All In The Family”

“Soap”

The early years of “MASH”

Pre-sanitation “Happy Days”

“Mary Hartman Mary Hartman”

“Maude”

I’m sure that I’m missing quite a few of the classics, but I was, after all, the youngest spawn (step-spawn, if you ask The Dick), and didn’t get to control the TV by any stretch of the imagination. 1970 wasn’t just a shitty year for the Tet Offensive and the Beatles.

Mr. Brown also did a few really good episodes of “Benson,” before it became a “family” sitcom, revolving around the Gold child and all things pseudo-”innocent”, back when (like, maybe the first season) it was a biting sociopolitical satire. They ruin all of the good shows — “Welcome Back, Kotter” went from being a light-hearted “Blackboard Jungle” to a stultified cliche-riddled kiddy show with the same lame-ass catch-phrases and caricatures. Just like they’ve done to “House” and “Bones” after their first seasons. They have to ruin EVERYTHING with soap-opera-y bullshit “plots” instead of keeping them about what made them good in the first place: QUALITY WRITING, GOOD PLOTS, AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

All TV networks should be emptied of every single executive and rebuilt from scratch, keeping only the “talent” who prove that they can hack it in REAL acting/writing/producing. Same thing for “The L-Word” and “Huff”. No, I don’t have cable anymore, and Huff was cancelled, but it was a damned good show the first season, and they ruined it for no good fucking reason.

Left by Anntichrist S. Coulter on April 14th, 2007

RIP Mr. Brown! Your appearances anywhere in teevee, movies and stage were a treat.

Left by TF-MA on April 15th, 2007

Anntichrist…the “Kotter” phenomenon you refer to was also evident in the final days of M*A*S*H; I call it the “We’re All Stars and Need our Face Time” Syndrome, and it is self-explanatory. I saw a documentary on M*A*S*H, and it showed all of the cast regulars sitting in on the scriptwriting process; even if you hadn’t known that was going on, you could have guessed–the characters all lost their distinctive personnae and started mugging for the camera, constantly uttering quips instead of engaging in real dialogue. It is the price you pay, I guess, for success; I would single out Cheers as the one long-running TV sardonic comedy which resisted that urge.

Left by gjdodger on April 17th, 2007

Yep, and didn’t that ego trip work out well for Col. Blake and Trapper John (the original one, not the medi-drama)? I always liked Henry better than Col. Dragnet.

And Cheers lost a lot of their sardonic after Coach died, but Rhea Perlman kept a lot of the edge in there, until Shelley got an ego.

But Maude… Maude was a heroine of mine. Her, Miss Piggy, and Cher. My TV role models as a ’70s brat.

Left by Anntichrist S. Coulter on April 18th, 2007

Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained!

Left by Najlepsze Kasyno Online on April 30th, 2011

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