We know people from TV, which means we don't know them at all.

We remember Admiral James Stockdale as Ross Perot's stumbling runningmate. But nineteen years prior to his unforgettable performance in the 1992 vice-presidential debate, Stockdale returned to America after enduring seven and a half years of beatings, torture, and solitary confinement (four years) as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. When his captors sought to parade him in a propaganda effort, Stockdale slashed himself with a razor to thwart their efforts. Later he slashed his wrists, telling the Communists he preferred death to submission. None of this was on TV, so no one remembers it. Instead, we remember the Medal of Honor recipient as not being as polished as Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

We remember Luther Vandross as a fat guy, who lost weight, put it back on again, and sang songs on Oprah. Without TV, we'd remember him as the talent that he was. Had he arrived a few years later, after video killed the radio star, we might not remember him at all. Short of winning American Idol, fat people (even really, really talented ones) don't get record contracts much anymore. But Britney Spears does. That's television.

We remember Hank Stram from NFL films, swearing, wearing his too obvious toupee, seemingly aware of the cameras and performing accordingly. But Hank Stram wasn't a clown. He just played one on TV. Stram was the winningest coach in the short but glorious history of the American Football League, and won more games at the professional level in the 1960s than all football coaches but Vince Lombardi. He coached the Kansas City Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl Four. But, like Art Donovan, we remember Stram as an over-the-top personality on that earliest of reality-TV programs, NFL Films.

We remember Shelby Foote as the commentator on the PBS Civil War documentary who appeared to have joined the broadcast from the age he commented upon. But Foote--novelist, historian, Southerner--spent most of his life off-camera, writing a three-volume, 1.2 million word history of the Civil War. Thousands knew Foote as a writer, but 40 million were introduced to him as a talking head via Ken Burns's documentary.

It's not what we forget, but what we can't remember--what we can't remember because we never saw it in the first place. What we do see often lacks context and perspective. That the camera doesn't lie is itself a lie. The lives of the recently departed prove this.

I never met Mickey Mantle. I was a big fan of his from 1961 to his retirement. His passing affected me. I guess it was a part of my childhood or the innocent me dying. I still get emotional about it. There will be reminiscence about him next week on HBO. I am sure a lot of people have the same strong feelings about the Mick. Mantle was a “hick”. Not a very good family man. He led a wild life and was very cruel to many people he met. Not someone to idolize but we all did.

RC, you seem very conflicted about the Mick.

People shouldn't be idolizing any other people.

Appreciate and respect their talents and efforts. But, afterall, they are only humans just like the rest of us.

Over the weekend, the nation learned of the passing of perhaps the greatest American historian, but certainly the author of the greatest piece of American history. Historians are notoriously bad writers but this was not the case with Shelby Foote. Like Flynn Files says, His three-volume tome, “The Civil War: A Narrative”, weighed in 3,000 pages and 1.2 million words stands greatest account of one of our nations most calamitous times.

Also, over the weekend, my good friend, Stuart Chapman weighed in on Foote's passing on NPR and within the pages of a few southern daily newspapers as Chapman was a Faulkner scholar at Boston University, and is the author of "Shelby Foote: A Writer's Life." You can purchase Chapman’s book as well as Foote’s work at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/1578063590/0/101/1/none/purchase/ref%3Dpd%5Fsxp%5Fr0/102-4622392-5340922

I will always remember when Chapman's book came out the BU Barnes and Noble bookstore hosted a book reading by Chapman. I came along with the cousin of Walker Percy (a friend of Foote). Percy's cousin, a Percy himself, proceeded to grill and challenge Chapman during the Q&A and made for a colorful exchange in the otherwise polite, liberal, and stodgy audience. Chapman held is own and defended his work and it was all in good fun.

R.I.P. Shelby Foote.

Few people will remember John Herpes for being a great dancer and a fabulous dresser with taste for the finer things in life. Instead, they will remember him for the legacy he left in many studio apartments, bathroom stalls and lofts throughout many major cities. And the incidious disease that was credited to him. I will never forget John Herpes.

I remember my late friend Baltizar Fish. Bally's hair was magnificent, his complexion flawless and his sangria was to die for. He was one in a million....as well as one in ten.

A good tribute to Stockdale by Thomas Fleming. I did not know it until reading this tribute, but Stockdale occasionally contributed to Chronicles and was on the board of the Rockford Institute.
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/hardright.cgi/2005/07/06/James_Stockdale,_R.

Great post Taint.It almost feels as if yesterday that I was at one of Bally's soiree's, a "bug chaser" party, that was to die for. Unfortunatly, many people became sick and did die some time after attending one of Bally's balls.

Thank you Lenny. Your kind words and remembrances of Bally's Balls does conjure up brilliant memories of playing "catch the pony" out on his roof top deck while smearing each other with buckets of mother natures citrusy release.