Okay, let's say that these young people have not heard of Gilda who passed away in 1989. I personally think it could be a good thing because when these young people ask who she was, they can be told that she was a very funny comedienne who made millions of people laugh on television every week. And then they can be told that when she was stricken with ovarian cancer, instead of retreating, she embarked on a mission that took her to the cover of Life Magazine that had an article entitled "Gilda Radner's Answer to Cancer: Healing the Body with Mind and Heart." And took her to L.A. Lakers games where she laughingly compared her bald head with Kareem's. And took her onto an episode of "It's Garry Shandling's Show" where she made cancer jokes because she looked her disease in the eye when she told me, "My jokes are my only weapon against this fucker."
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
WILLIAM WORRALL MAYO AND BETTY FORD DISAPPROVE AS WELL: Some Gilda's Club cancer support centers are planning to change their name because young people have no idea who Gilda Radner was; her longtime collaborator, Alan Zweibel, is not pleased:
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I'm pretty sure most of our students don't know who half the people whose names grace buildings on campus are, but we don't go around changing them. Otherwise, they'd all be named after football players. And maybe a coach or two.
ReplyDeleteStill one of the dumbest ideas I've heard over the last few months...and I've been discussing "things" on FB with family members.
ReplyDeleteIdiotic.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I think of Gilda, I think of her little cancer-beating mantra, which I have taught to several friends battling various cancers:
I am well, I am wonderful, I am fancy-free
No little cancer cell is hiding inside of me.
And if some little cancer cell should try to linger on
I'll bash and beat its fucking head and drown it 'til it's gone.
People battling this horrific disease need Gilda. Not just a place to go, HER.
Stupid idea.
ReplyDeleteIf they don't know who Gilda is... introduce them. One photo of her as Roseanne Rosannadanna should make anyone smile.
And whenever I think of Gilda, I think of that strange, beautiful sketch from SNL when she and Steve Martin shared a silent dance. Not sure when I saw it (it aired when I was a toddler, so I didn't see it live), but it's always stuck with me.