World's Greatest Ghost Writer
J.Y. Smith, the man who co-wrote the Washington Post's obituary for Gerald Ford that ran in today's paper, himself died last January. Meaning he wrote the obit for a man who outlived him.
Just another in an amusing set of stories resulting from pre-written obituaries. My favorite is when someone acccidentally put Bob Hope's obit on the wire several years before Hope actually died. Hope apparently watched news of his death on television one morning while eating a bowl of cereal. All the more funny since "the news of my death is greatly exaggerated" is exactly the kind of tired old line Hope was fond of delivering.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Compare CNN's leaked obit with the one that actually ran.
Bob Hope showed that the delivery was more important than the writing.
Bob Hope is still dead.
RIH*
*Rest In Hell
Meaning he wrote the obit for a man who outlived him.
Well, Smith and L. Ron Hubbard have a lot in common.
Gerald Ford had an angel, or djinn, or something on the lookout for revenge against his tormentors.
Chevy Chase couldn't stand Ford at the time, and commenced his national career by imitating Ford's clumsiness on SNL. Chase then started taking painkillers to alleviate the long-term effects of his slapstick stunts. It got so bad that at the age of 43, he checked into a clinic. The Betty Ford clinic. [Google: "chevy chase" painkillers "betty ford"]
When Hope died, the New York Times ran an obit by Vincent Canby, the film critic, who had died more than three years before Hope did.
"Tired old line?!?" That's Mark Twain, Radley. Twain lines never get old. Although I might agree to overused.