BITS AND PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: PEOPLE

BARBRA STREISAND

“My dream is to be the girl at 15 who got on that 
freighter. That was my dream: to go on a freighter 
and land in Morocco or Algiers for $135. I talked 
to a girl who said that when she was 19, she had 
traveled around the world, and I thought , What 
a fascinating life she’s led and what did I do? 
And my friends say to me, ‘Barbra, what were you 
doing at 19?’ Oh, yeah I was on the verge of big
 success, I mean I was a big success in I Can Get 
It For You Wholesale. But , to me, that’s not the
 same as that girl traveling all over the world.

“The Playboy Interview: The Best of Three Decades, 
1962-1992,” (Playboy, 1992)

**

SAINT GEORGE MIVART

“In 1892 the progressive Catholic intellectual Saint 
George Mivart published an essay arguing that even 
a ‘theologian of the most severe and rigid school’ 
must admit that ‘there is and there will for all 
eternity be, a real and true happiness in hell’ for 
some of its better-suited denizens. Some wicked souls 
will find in hell a ‘kind of harmony with their own
 mental condition.’  For making the point, Mivart 
incurred papal conditional, his works were put on 
the Index of Prohibited Books, and he was initially 
denied a Catholic burial.”

Henry Freedland. “Hell Breaks Loose” in
 Lapham’s Quarterly, Volume XII, number 3 
(Summer, 2019)

**

GEORGE DELACORTE

“Brooklyn born George Delacorte made a fortune 
creating Dell Press that published magazines, 
puzzle books, and comics. To memoralize the 
passing of his wife Margarita and as a comfort 
in his grief, Delacorte commissioned Jose’ de 
Creeft to create a statue in Central Park of 
Alice in Wonderland, which Margarita adored. 
The model for Alice was the sculptor’s daughter 
Donna.
   “Alice was not the park’s only gift from George 
Delacorte, the Lorenzo di Medici of New York, said 
former mayor Ed Koch. In the summer of 1962, along 
the western shore of Turtle Pond, an 1,800 seat 
outdoor theater opened with a production of The 
Merchant of Venice starring George C Scott with 
James Earl Jones.”

Stephen Wolf. Central Park Love Song:Wandering 
Beneath the Heaventrees  (Santa Monica: Griffith 
Moon, 2018)


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ON COMPARING TED WILLIAMS WITH JOE
DIMAGGIO

“Ted never demanded sycophants and had a healthy 
distrust of people who sucked up to him. Joe could
 cut you off if you didn’t call him Clipper and 
insisted everything be done for him. He was surrounded 
by coat holders and fixers; he expected freebies or 
others to pay his tab. Ted always insisted on picking 
up his own check and paying for others.
  “Joe smoked incessantly – even in the dugout. 
Ted never smoked. Joe loved nightclubs. Ted loved 
the outdoors.”

Ben Bradlee, Jr. The Kid: The Immortal Life of
Ted Williams (New York: Little, Brown & Company,
2013)

**

BOBBY KRIEGER'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF
JIM MORRISON

" I first met him when he came to my home with 
[drummer[ John Densmore and he seemed pretty normal.
 I didn't really get a sense that there was anything 
unusual about him until the end of our first rehearsal. Initially everything was cool. Then this guy came looking 
for Jim. Something had gone wrong with a dope, and just
 went nuts. Absolutely bananas. I thought, Jesus Christ, 
this guy's not normal.'

GUITAR LEGENDS: CELEBRATING 30 YEARS  OF
GUITAR WORLD. Special Collectors Edition, Celebrating
Thirty Years of Guitar World (2010)

**
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ, concert pianist

"Horowitz owns a collection of snuff boxes
assembled from all over the world which he
keeps neatly arranged in green silk-lined
drawers."
              CURRENT BIOGRAPHY 1943

KING JAMES IV of SCOTLAND

"The first golfer of whom any record has come
down to us, is King James IV of Scotland, cslled
'James of the Iron Belt,' the king who died
fighting on foot with his spearmen round him on
the stricken field of Flodden."

Robert Browning.  A History of Golf
(New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1955)
**
DANIEL LAMBERT

"Lambert's height was five feet eleven inches;
three yards four inches round the body, one
yard round the leg, his weight, a few days
before his death, was found by the Caledonian
balance to be 738 pounds. "

The Life of the Wonderful and Extraordinary 
Daniel Lambert(New York:Samuel Wood,1815)
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KING HUMMURABI

King Hummurabi.
According to my Rabbi,
Ruled, in 18th century BCE, Sumaria.
(If I compose an opera, this will be an aria).

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MITCH McCONNELL

McConnell, Mitch
Once had the itch
To do something
Good for ordinary citizens
(i.e. not the rich)
It was in 2004, in the Spring.

**
LJP