I had kind of a shock when I opened my suburban housewife reading material on the train last night and saw Gilda Radner advertising fake-wood laminate flooring. Not that I object in principle to dead people having jobs, and I'm always pleased when dead people are elected to political office, or win posthumous awards, or something. But, you know, it's Gilda Radner, who was funny and nice, and who died an awful, painful death and is probably best known now for the cancer support groups established in her name. And of course it's not really Gilda Radner, it's a Gilda look-alike (as in, the floor is not really wood, either). But still. And I wasn't in the market for a fake-wood floor, anyway. But it still creeps me out.
Thanks for reading my additional blogpost this week, and may God bless.
Recently, I've been reflecting on how odd it is that Patti Smith outlived Gilda Radner and Joe Cocker outlived John Belushi.
Posted by: just john | April 14, 2009 at 04:35 PM
It's always something.
Posted by: G | April 14, 2009 at 06:21 PM
A few years back I walked past Gene Wilder, or a Gene Wilder lookalike, in Penn Station. It really looked like him, but then wouldn't he take a limo to the airport? Poor guy just looked exhausted. I left him alone as per the best policy when encountering famous people or their doppelgangers.
Posted by: bartleby | April 14, 2009 at 07:50 PM
Gilda doesn't want to be just remembered for her cancer.
Posted by: Babs | April 14, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Oh, I think she does.
Posted by: Uncle Fester | April 15, 2009 at 12:24 AM
Not known for her cancer, but for establishing Gilda's Clubs support groups for anyone with any kind of cancer. That's a great legacy.
Posted by: Janey Yonkers | April 15, 2009 at 09:53 AM
...then there's the case of that Mitsubishi van/SUV commercial eight years ago that was using T.Rex's "20th Century Boy" for its music bed. Considering the guy who wrote and sang lead on that record, Marc Bolan, was killed in a car crash, that hit me as wildly inappropriate as it would if United Airlines suddenly licensed Jim Croce's "The Hard Way Every Time" for its TV spots...
Posted by: King Daevid MacKenzie | April 16, 2009 at 02:24 PM
Wildly inappropriate would be Buddy Holly in an ad for Beechcraft.
Posted by: msbpodcast | April 16, 2009 at 04:37 PM
Anything that extends her image and memory further into the future is fine with me.
I guarantee most people under 30 don't know who John Belushi was and think of Bill Murray only as the star of Lost in Translation...
Posted by: Jeff | April 19, 2009 at 04:22 PM
Jeff, I guarantee that most people over 40 underestimate the cultural knowledge of most people under 30 :D
Posted by: Demis CousCous | April 20, 2009 at 08:46 AM
Yeah, I'm 25, and I don't know anyone who isn't aware of John Belushi or of Bill Murray's early work.
That being said, doppelgängers make life worth living. The week after Barry White died, I swear he started coming into the Target where I worked.
Posted by: M Munro | April 21, 2009 at 05:14 PM
the good redio station and good music listening ,
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Posted by: sara | December 17, 2009 at 11:49 PM