Death Has Been Very Busy

Death has been very busy this past weekend. 

David Katz, a 24-year-old white male from Baltimore, MD opened fire with at least one handgun on Sunday at a video game competition in a downtown pizza joint in Jacksonville, FL, killing 2 people and wounding 9 others before he turned his gun on himself.

Another shooting in Jacksonville occurred Friday night after a football game, killing one person with 2 others injured. 

Insert standard  “thoughts and prayers” and move on.

On to deaths of a less violent nature. 

Neil Simon was maybe the most successful playwright of the 20^th century with his work and legacy still having impact into the 21^st.  He died Sunday morning in New York.  

Neil Simon got his start writing in television for Sid Ceasar, Phil Silvers and Garry Moore through the 1950s, working with such acclaimed comedy writers like Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart and Mel Brooks. 

From 1961 and onward, Simon wrote 32 plays. Simon was a powerful and ubiquitous presence on Broadway. In addition to those 32 plays, Neil Simon served as an uncredited script doctor for other plays.

Sadly, I’ve never seen a Neil Simon play performed live on stage but I have seen classic movies that Simon adapted from stage to screen: The Odd Couple, The Sunshine Boys and my favorite, Barefoot in the Park. Why is that one my favorite?

That's why.   

Robin Leach died this weekend at the age of 76. We’re probably a couple of decades beyond the peak of his fame but his show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, is still ripe for parody and pastiche. 

On Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Robin Leach would poke around the opulent mansions and penthouses of various celebrities, his British accented exclamations of awe and wonder at all the amazing gold plated stuff.  "Look at this toilet! Covered in gold!" The opulent richness on display was over the top as was Leach's commentary on it all which is what made the show fun to watch. 

He would sign off each episode with his signature catchphrase, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams."  

And of course, we lost John McCain this weekend. I’ll have a separate post on Sen. McCain later this week.  

Death, take five, OK? Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.