Frank Mankiewicz
Frank Mankiewicz died this past week. He had lived 90 years.
It was good that CBS recognized him to-day on CBS Sunday Morning, however thought it rude that the last sentence of the short tribute was something very close to this: "He went on to be employed by a number of media organizations."
Please!
That would be as if CBS was announcing the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, once under-secretary of the Navy. "He went on to be involved in other government positions."
I "knew" Mr. Mankiewicz as the President of NPR in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't know the exact years, but I know he led the media organization from a network of loosely affliated college stations tied together by telephone lines to a major international media organization feeding satellite programming to public radio stations across the United States.
Most of all, like Robert Siegel said in his tribute to Mankiewicz, he was a funny guy. I remember when he went on the air, around Thanksgiving, putting his family cranberry recipe up against Susan Stamberg's family cranberry recipe. His recipe was concise: open a can of cranberry relish on one end, thump the other end and let the relish fall into a dish, then slice and serve.
I never met him, but he is the only president of NPR I felt worth remembering when I did work for NPR stations over the years. He also set a certain style and sense of being that I think we can all learn from. My interpretation of what his life stood for: do the right thing, care for your fellow humans and keep laughing.
It was good that CBS recognized him to-day on CBS Sunday Morning, however thought it rude that the last sentence of the short tribute was something very close to this: "He went on to be employed by a number of media organizations."
Please!
That would be as if CBS was announcing the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, once under-secretary of the Navy. "He went on to be involved in other government positions."
I "knew" Mr. Mankiewicz as the President of NPR in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't know the exact years, but I know he led the media organization from a network of loosely affliated college stations tied together by telephone lines to a major international media organization feeding satellite programming to public radio stations across the United States.
Most of all, like Robert Siegel said in his tribute to Mankiewicz, he was a funny guy. I remember when he went on the air, around Thanksgiving, putting his family cranberry recipe up against Susan Stamberg's family cranberry recipe. His recipe was concise: open a can of cranberry relish on one end, thump the other end and let the relish fall into a dish, then slice and serve.
I never met him, but he is the only president of NPR I felt worth remembering when I did work for NPR stations over the years. He also set a certain style and sense of being that I think we can all learn from. My interpretation of what his life stood for: do the right thing, care for your fellow humans and keep laughing.