'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A rather overcast & grayish day, but no rain, and not too cold.
Sure hope dear old dad doesn't come home from his 'Polka Cruse' to broken water pipes - been mighty cold back there.
If you scroll down far enough, you'll encounter a counter. If all goes well today, it should hit 250,000. Thanks.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS starts the evening with a FRESH 'Star Search', followed by a RERUN CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', and a
RERUN Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Ellen DeGeneres and Zwan.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers is Jerry O'Connell.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN 'Friends', then a FRESH 'Scrubs', followed by a
RERUN 'Will & Grace', then a FRESH 'Good Morning, Miami', and topped off with a RERUN 'ER'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are George Clooney, Queen Latifah, and Tonic.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Dylan McDermott and Penn & Teller.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Estella Warren, and Soundtrack of Our Lives.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN '8 Simple Rules', then a RERUN 'Jim', then a RERUN 'My Wife & Kids',
followed by a RERUN 'George Lopez', and caps the night with 'PrimeTime Thursday'.
The WB opens with a RERUN 'High School Reunion', then a FRESH 'The Surreal Life', and a FRESH 'Jamie Kennedy'.
Faux has the movie 'Scream 2'.
UPN kills the night with 'WWE Smackdown!'.
AMC rolls out the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), starring
Michael Rennie as Klaatu.
Liza Minnelli and her husband, David Gest, talk with 'The Late Late Show' host Craig Kilborn during a taping of the show Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003, in Los Angeles.
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Speak at Spinal Injuries Meeting In Sydney
Christopher Reeve
Former "Superman" star Christopher Reeve arrived in Sydney Wednesday to speak at a conference on spinal injuries.
He arrived in a specially adapted plane and was kept well away from journalists at Sydney airport.
Reeve was invited by New South Wales state premier Bob Carr after commenting last year on a heated debate in Australia about the federal government's decision to allow limited research on embryonic stem cells.
The 50-year-old actor is a strong supporter of such research, which some experts believe may unlock a way of reversing the often debilitating effects of spinal injuries.
Christopher Reeve
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Gets Nod to Do Up Central Park
Christo
Artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude have finally won permission to snake a fluttering orange sculpture through 23 miles of New York's Central Park, ending a decades-old debate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday.
The exhibit -- "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005" -- will be erected in February 2005 and stand for two weeks.
Christo is famous for his giant temporary works of art, such as wrapping the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art in a tarpaulin and wrapping Berlin's Reichstag in 1 million square feet of polypropylene fabric.
The Central Park work by the husband-and-wife team will consist of 7,500 16-foot-high gates draped with saffron-colored fabric parading along about 23 miles of public paths in the park.
First conceived in the late 1970s, the project ran into environmental objections. Among them were the thousands of post holes to be dug in the park to secure the tall upright structures.
In this version of the installation, recyclable vinyl poles will be secured by narrow steel base weights on the paved surfaces of the park's walkways, with no holes in the ground.
Pedestrians will be able to pass under and through the work, drawn as sort of a whimsical tunnel without sides, with cloth draped from cross beams shivering in the wind.
The artists say they will pay for the project themselves and pay $3 million to use the city park.
Christo
Abortion rights activists rally outside the Supreme Court, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 in Washington. Opponents and supporters of abortion rights rallied at the nation's symbols of freedom Wednesday, energized on both sides
by Republican hopes of curbing the procedure 30 years after the Supreme Court legalized it.
Photo by Susan Walsh
TV Land & Raleigh Plans Tribute
'Andy & Opie' Statue
A bronze statue of Sheriff Andy Taylor and his son, Opie, from "The Andy Griffith Show" will be installed at Raleigh's Pullen Park.
The statue commemorates the walk to a fishing hole that Taylor, played by Andy Griffith, and Opie, played by Ron Howard, took in the opening credits of the popular television show.
The Raleigh City Council agreed Tuesday that the popular park just west of downtown Raleigh is the best place for the statue, which the cable network TV Land plans to install and maintain.
The statue will go between the park's carousel and the lake at the park — a favorite spot for visitors, especially families with young children. The statue will be slightly larger than life, with Andy
standing about 6 feet 9 inches tall and Opie standing about 3 feet 9 inches tall.
It's the third statue the network has installed to depict fictional TV characters. It placed Ralph Kramden from "The Honeymooners" in New York in 2000 and Mary Richards from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in Minneapolis last May.
'Andy & Opie' Statue
Nearly Hired Diana's Ex-Lover
Faux News
Fox News Channel was ready to hire Princess Diana's former lover as a war correspondent but lost its nerve after a British tabloid reported the deal, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Michael Coleman, James Hewitt's lawyer, said Fox's decision is "a big kick in the teeth" for his client.
Hewitt, a former tank commander for the British army in the Gulf War, had an affair with Diana that began when he gave her riding lessons. He has recently been trying to sell the letters written to him by Diana when he was in the war.
He appeared as a guest on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Jan. 8 and, two days later, Fox representatives inquired about whether he'd be a network contributor if war broke out in Iraq, Coleman said.
Hewitt was not only interested, he was willing to be stationed in the Middle East, he said. A contract was quickly drawn up that would pay Hewitt $80,000 for one year, he said.
London's Daily Mirror newspaper heard about the talks and headlined a story about it last week, "Murdoch Hires the Desert Rat." Rupert Murdoch is head of News Corp., Fox News Channel's parent company.
Fox's ardor instantly cooled, Coleman said. He was accused of leaking the story to the newspaper, which he denied because the contract was not signed by both sides.
Fox then arranged for Hewitt to fly to New York Friday for a five-minute meeting in which he was told there was no deal, he said.
Faux News
Setback in Age Bias Case
Hollywood Writers
A judge has dismissed nearly two dozen class-action lawsuits brought by veteran television writers accusing the major television networks, production studios and talent agencies of age discrimination.
In a 10-page ruling that became public this week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy Jr. left the door open to individual writers pursuing their claims in separate lawsuits, an option that lawyers for the plaintiffs said was impractical.
With 180 individual writers named as plaintiffs in the 23 lawsuits, that would add up to more than 4,100 separate court actions, attorney Steven Sprenger told Reuters on Wednesday.
The litigation goes to the heart of a long-standing issue for Hollywood's veteran writers, who find it increasingly difficult to find work in today's youth-oriented pop culture. The writers, all of them over 40,
claimed they were "gray-listed" by networks, producers and agents who systematically refused to hire or represent them because of their age.
The case originally was brought as a single class-action suit in federal court in Los Angeles by 50 named plaintiffs. But a U.S. district judge dismissed the suit last January, ruling that a class-action age bias suit
could not be brought against the industry as a whole.
Hollywood Writers
Hosting Another Talk Show
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak will be taking a spin as host of a new talk show.
Sajak, the longtime host of "Wheel of Fortune," will add a Fox News Channel series to his schedule. "Pat Sajak Weekend" will air at 9 p.m. EST Sunday starting in the spring, Fox said Wednesday.
The program was described by Fox as an hourlong "celebrity- and newsmaker-driven talk show." A debut date was not announced.
Sajak has been with "Wheel of Fortune" for more than two decades. He's no stranger to talk shows: "The Pat Sajak Show," a late-night CBS series, debuted in 1989 and was canceled 15 months later because of low ratings.
Pat Sajak
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
New Show For Faux
'Mr. Ed'
A horse is a horse, of course of course -- unless that horse is a new version of "Mr. Ed" in active development at Fox.
The network will reshape the classic horsey comedy so that Mr. Ed will speak with a more urban voice a la Eddie Murphy or Eddie Griffin. The pilot for the Original Television project will be written by "Saturday Night Live" scribe Jack Handey.
The original series ran on CBS for six seasons from 1961 to 1966.
'Mr. Ed'
A Chinese man builds a snow man near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003. Beijing, where precipitation is uncommon, received small amounts of snow around Christmas. But the snowfall overnight
Wednesday appeared to be the largest so far this season. Colder temperatures and more snow were predicted for Thursday and Friday.
Photo by Ng Han Guan
No Contestants Over 24
'American Idol'
A Florida college professor has slapped "American Idol" with an age-discrimination lawsuit because he was told he's too old to try out for the hit talent show.
Drew Cummings, 50, a visiting professor of film and television at Miami-Dade Community College, said he was turned away from a Nov. 2 tryout in Miami Beach because the Fox TV show's rules say auditioners cannot be older than 24.
He has filed complaints with the state and federal agencies that enforce anti-discrimination laws.
'American Idol'
Chairwoman of RIAA to Step Down
Hilary Rosen
Hilary Rosen, the articulate, tough chairwoman and chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry's top lobbying group, said on Wednesday she will step down by year-end.
Cary Sherman, president of the group, will remain in his current position and will work with Rosen on a search committee to find a successor to head the group, which has been at the forefront of legal and legislative battles against online music piracy.
An RIAA spokeswoman said Rosen decided to leave the job to devote more time to her family. Rosen and her partner, Elizabeth Birch, have twin four-year-olds.
Rosen led the RIAA to winning copyright infringement cases against file-sharing services Napster and Aimster as well as this week's judgment against Verizon Communications to stem online piracy among subscribers to major Internet providers.
Rosen, who was named CEO in 1998 and has been with RIAA for 17 years, has been the recording industry's chief advocate and spokesperson during a time of unprecedented change in the music business.
Hilary Rosen
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
'Bee Gees' Name Died With Maurice
Robin Gibb
The Bee Gees name died with Maurice Gibb, one of the surviving band members said Wednesday.
Robin Gibb said he and older brother Barry would no longer use the name under which they and their brother Maurice performed for more than 30 years.
"Anything we do, we will do together, but it'll be as brothers — not under the name of the Bee Gees, that will be reserved in history as the three of us," Robin Gibb told Britain's GMTV television show.
But, he said, the surviving siblings would continue to make music. "I think Maurice would want that."
Robin Gibb said the death of his twin brother was like "losing your soul mate."
Robin Gibb
Koala joey, 'Waminda,' snuggles up to her mother 'Gidgee' on exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, Wednesday morning, Jan. 22, 2003, in San Diego. Waminda was born April 30, 2002, according to the zoo, but at the time was only about the size of a peanut and remained well hidden within Gidgee's pouch. After many months of developing, Waminda in early January emerged from her mother's pouch. Waminda is an aboriginal word and means 'friend.'
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Arrested In Florida
R. Kelly
R. Kelly, already facing child pornography charges in Illinois, was arrested Wednesday in Florida on additional child pornography charges after investigators said they found photos of him having sex with a girl.
Kelly, whose first name is Robert, was arrested at a Miami-Dade County hotel. Kelly was released from jail on $12,000 bond about three hours after his arrest and was hustled into a waiting car to avoid reporters.
The Grammy-winning artist has been out on bond and awaiting trial on 21 counts of child pornography in Chicago. Those charges stem from a videotape authorities say shows him having sex with a
13-year-old girl. Kelly, 36, has denied that charge.
Col. Grady Judd of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said the latest charges were filed after pornographic digital images were found stored in Kelly's camera equipment. It had been seized during
a search last June 6 in his rented Davenport home after the singer was arrested there on the Illinois warrant. Davenport is about 35 miles southwest of Orlando.
Judd would not say whether the unidentified minor in the photos was the same girl in the video made in Chicago, where Kelly lives. Police were still trying to determine where the pictures
were taken before considering any additional charges, Judd said.
R. Kelly
A Different World
'Born Rich'
Luke Weil wasn't the only wealthy kid who wishes he never talked to documentary-makers Nick Kurzon and Jamie Johnson for their "Born Rich." Among others making fools of themselves on camera, model Cody Franchetti
expounded on the gulf between the ruling class and the masses. Pointing to a set of 1921 encyclopedias, Franchetti noted: "This was the last year encyclopedias were made for the [wealthy]. You see how thin they are?
They are full of information that we would need to better ourselves and reach a higher level . . . Now they are c- -p for the masses."
Christina Floyd, on a tour of the Southampton Meadow Club, declared, "People would
not be very excited if someone came in with a black person." When Johnson pointed out a black man playing tennis, Floyd laughed, "Oh, he's probably a pro." Meanwhile, Stephanie Ercklentz, who was shot obsessively shopping,
vacantly observed: "I love purses. They are so easy to buy. I have shelves and shelves of them . . . It's not a big deal. I want a Gucci purse, I buy it . . . I would have to marry within my [social group], because I couldn't
have a husband who would freak out if I bought a $600 Gucci purse. I used to work [at an investment bank], but the first day was like from 7 a.m. to 10 at night, and then I realized all my friends were having lunch at Cipriani's
and why wasn't I there?"
'Born Rich'
Atlanta Jail Time Reduced
Bobby Brown
Rhythm and blues singer Bobby Brown will not have to serve the remainder of an eight-day jail sentence for drunken driving after he is discharged from an Atlanta hospital, police said on Wednesday.
Brown, the husband of pop diva Whitney Houston, was officially released by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department late on Tuesday, several hours after he was admitted to Grady Memorial Hospital with an undisclosed ailment.
A Grady Memorial spokeswoman said Brown's condition was good, but would not say why the singer had been hospitalized.
Bobby Brown
Kathmandu Palace Ceremony
Nepali Princess Weds
Hindu priests chanted hymns and prayed to the elephant god Ganesh as Nepal's royal family, targeted in a 2001 palace massacre, attended the marriage on Wednesday of King Gyanendra's only daughter to a commoner.
The late-night nuptials gave the monarchy and the impoverished Himalayan kingdom a brief chance to forget the palace bloodbath 19 months ago in which 10 royals died, as well as an increasingly deadly Maoist revolt gripping the nation.
Thousands of Nepalis lined Kathmandu's streets to cheer the smiling and waving 29-year-old groom as he rode in a black carriage drawn by two white horses along a seven-km (four-mile) route to the high-walled palace in the ancient city's center.
King Gyanendra and Queen Komal gave away the bride, Princess Prerna, 24, wearing a gold embroidered bright red sari, her face veiled, in the ceremony presided over by the chief royal priest. Bright red is regarded by Hindus as lucky for brides.
The monarch is revered by Nepalis as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the Hindu trinity of gods, and no commoners aside from servants are usually allowed inside the royal compound.
The marriage between the princess, who holds a business diploma, and Raj Bahadur Singh, a University of California computer graduate, was arranged by the parents. Nepali royals often wed progeny of India's former princely families but they also marry wealthy locals.
The sprawling grounds of the pagoda-style Narayanhity Royal Palace, whose red and blue walls were freshly painted, were illuminated by powerful spotlights for the night-time wedding and tents were pitched on the lawn for the hundreds of guests.
Nepali Princess Weds
Medieval Streets Opened After 400 Years
Edinburgh
The entrance to a labyrinth of medieval streets in the Scottish capital Edinburgh have been reopened nearly 400 years after the area closed because of an outbreak of the plague.
Workmen knocked a hole through the floor of the city chambers on Tuesday to uncover a historic staircase that forms the entrance to Mary King's Close, a 500,000 pound tourist attraction due to open in April after extensive redevelopment.
Local folklore says city officials shut down the close when the Black Death struck in the mid-17th century, leaving 400 plague sufferers to die.
Attractions include a house regarded to be one of the best existing examples of a 17th century Scottish home. Researchers have found historical documents detailing how families lived in the close during Edinburgh's 17th century plague epidemic.
The horrors of the plague and talk that the close was haunted made it a no-go area for many of the city's residents.
Around 100 years after the plague struck, the Royal Exchange, now the city chambers, was built over the area, leaving a network of medieval streets and narrow walkways untouched.
Edinburgh
Back In LA
Madonna
Is Madonna's love affair with England over? Reports from London say the aging pop chameleon has yanked her daughter Lourdes from the posh Lycee Francais school after pulling strings to get her admitted
18 months ago. Madonna arranged for Lourdes to transfer to the school, alma mater of Natasha Richardson and Princess Caroline of Monaco, when she and husband Guy Ritchie decided to live in London. But now
the star is back living in Los Angeles, and Lourdes is being schooled there. Madonna's rep, Liz Rosenberg, says the reports are greatly exaggerated. "The family is in L.A. now and Lourdes is going to school
there," she says, "but they're returning to London some time in the spring and she'll be back at school in London then." Last month, Madonna decided she would no longer hunt at Ashcombe, the $14 million shooting
estate she and Ritchie bought in Wiltshire, because she's afraid of being "haunted" by the dead game birds' souls.
Madonna
'My Dad Is Not A Criminal'
Billboards
Along with roadside advertisements for beer, liquor and fast-food, California motorists will now see billboards promoting medical marijuana.
The 30 billboards, which began appearing Wednesday in San Francisco and across the state, feature an 8-year-old Chico girl whose father, Bryan Epis, is serving 10 years on federal marijuana cultivation charges.
"Medical marijuana, compassion not federal prison," read the billboards, which are sponsored by a host of marijuana groups.
They also show young Ashley Epis holding a sign that reads: "My Dad is not a criminal."
California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing people to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. The federal government, however, does not recognize the medical
marijuana law and has been raiding California medical pot clubs and arresting growers who say they were cultivating for patients.
Third-grader Ashley Epis said she agreed to be on the billboard.
"I want everybody to know that my dad is not a criminal," she said.
Billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor donated the space for a month. The marijuana groups said they paid about $20,000 for the banners.
Billboards
In Memory
Virginia Heinlein
Virginia Heinlein, widow of one of America's best-known science fiction
writers, died in her sleep Saturday morning of respiratory disease at Fleet
Landing.
Mrs. Heinlein, 86, had lived in Atlantic Beach since the 1988 death of her
husband, Robert A. Heinlein.
There will be no funeral and Mrs. Heinlein's ashes will be scattered in the
Pacific Ocean, as were her husband's.
The Heinleins had no children, according to David M. Silver of Santa Monica,
Calif., secretary-treasurer of the Heinlein Society, an educational charity
dedicated to preserving the many Heinlein legacies.
"Ginny was a wonderful woman," Silver said. "She was intensely private and
fiercely protective of her husband, who was considered one of the top three
science fiction authors of the last century."
Mrs. Heinlein watched over her husband very carefully for he was in ill
health most of his life, Silver said, having been discharged from the Navy
in 1934 because of tuberculosis.
"He had to have a very warm cocoon," Silver said, "and that's what Ginny
gave him. She had a tremendous amount of input into his works and was his
first critic. He brainstormed many ideas with her."
Silver said that after the author's death, Mrs. Heinlein "devoted her life
to correcting some terrible errors in the editing of his works and oversaw
the restoration of several, including Red Planet, Puppet Masters and
Stranger in a Strange Land."
A collection of her husband's letters was published as Grumbles from the
Grave, which Silver said was directed at Heinlein's editors.
She was born Virginia Gerstenfeld in 1916 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was
graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute before majoring in chemistry at
New York University.
She lettered in several sports and reached national competitive levels in
figure skating, decades later serving on the U.S. Olympic Committee for
skating.
After graduating in 1937, Mrs. Heinlein worked as a chemist for a baking
company until the WAVES was formed in 1943.
She was commissioned a WAVE lieutenant and eventually served at the Naval
Air Experimental Station in Philadelphia, where she met Heinlein, who was
working as a civilian aviation engineer.
The couple married in 1948 in New Mexico and lived in California until
Heinlein's death.
In 2001, Mrs. Heinlein endowed the Robert Anson Heinlein Chair in aerospace
engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., with a gift of $2.6
million in honor of her husband.
Heinlein graduated from Annapolis in 1929.
She also endowed the public library in Heinlein's hometown of Butler, Mo.
Mrs. Heinlein had joined with her husband in avidly supporting blood drives.
Silver said that Heinlein had a rare blood type and even got blood drives
incorporated as a part of science fiction conventions he attended.
Those who wish may make a blood donation in her memory or a donation to the
Heinlein Society, P.O. Box 1254, Venice, CA 90294-1254.
Virginia Heinlein
For a bit more, Virginia Heinlein
Thanks, Mr 2E!
In Memory
Nedra Volz
Character actress Nedra Volz, who made a career playing grandmothers and little old ladies, died of Alzheimer's disease complications. She was 94.
Volz played housekeeper Adelaide Brubaker in the early 1980s on the "Diff'rent Strokes" television series, worked in vaudeville and radio as a young woman but didn't find show business fame until her 60s.
Volz, with her trademark white bun, made guest appearances on a range of television comedies including "Alice," "Maude" and "Designing Women." She had recurring roles as Pearl Sperling in "The Fall Guy"
and as a postmistress on "The Dukes of Hazzard."
Nedra Volz
Welcome to the Nedra Volz fansite!
Great Character Actors
In Memory
Bill Mauldin
Bill Mauldin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who portrayed World War II reality laced with humor, died Wednesday. He was 81.
Mauldin, one of the 20th century's pre-eminent editorial cartoonists, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease, including pneumonia, at a Newport Beach nursing home, said Andy Mauldin, 54, of Santa Fe, N.M., one of the cartoonist's seven sons.
'It's really good that he's not suffering anymore," he said. "He had a terrible struggle."
His characters Willie and Joe, a laconic pair of unshaven, mud-encrusted dogfaces, slogged their way through Italy and other parts of battle-scarred Europe, surviving the enemy and the elements while caustically and sarcastically harpooning the unctuous and pompous.
They were the vessels that Mauldin, a young Army rifleman, filled with wry understatement to portray the tedium and treachery of war, entertaining and endearing himself to millions of fellow soldiers in the war and to Americans at home.
In his classic book "Up Front," Mauldin wrote that the expressions on Joe and Willie are "those of infantry soldiers who have been in the war for a couple of years."
"If he is looking very weary and resigned to the fact that he is probably going to die before it is over, and if he has a deep, almost hopeless desire to go home and forget it all; if he looks with dull, uncomprehending eyes at the fresh-faced kid who is talking about all the joys of battle and killing Germans, then he comes from the same infantry as Joe and Willie," he wrote.
Mauldin called himself "as independent as a hog on ice," and his nonconformist approach brought him a face-to-face upbraiding from Gen. George Patton. Mauldin continued to draw what he wanted.
In 1945, at age 23, his series "Up Front With Mauldin" won him the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning.
Mauldin won the second in 1959, while he was an editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for depicting Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak saying to another gulag prisoner: "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?
Mauldin wrote and drew 16 books and acted in two movies, including John Huston's 1951 production of "The Red Badge of Courage" starring real-life war hero Audie Murphy.
Mauldin was born near Santa Fe, N.M., and spent much of his life in the West. A teacher in high school helped him nurture his art talent, and he attended the Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, learning from such teachers as cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for the Chicago Daily News.
Mauldin enlisted in 1940 and, assigned as a rifleman to the 180th Infantry, started drawing cartoons depicting training camp for the Division News, the newspaper for the 45th Division.
Once Mauldin's 45th Division shipped overseas, Stars and Stripes, the servicewide newspaper, began publishing his drawings.
Author David Halberstam wrote: "One senses that if a war reporter who had been with Hannibal or Napoleon saw Mauldin's work he would know immediately that the work was right."
After the war, Mauldin free-lanced for a time. He joined the Post-Dispatch in 1958, then switched to the Chicago Sun-Times in 1962.
It was at the Sun-Times that he drew one of his most poignant and famous cartoons on the day of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The drawing showed a grieving Abraham Lincoln, his hands covering his face, at the Lincoln Memorial.
In recent years, as Mauldin battled Alzheimer's, thousands of veterans, widows and other well-wishers have sent him letters, offering thanks and stories of survival.
"You have managed to capture the irony, double standards and outright insanity of Army life," one man wrote, "in a way that allows us to laugh at ourselves and our leaders and keep moving forward in the face of adversity."
The campaign to recognize him was sparked by veteran Jay Gruenfeld, who spent years wondering what happened to the man who had made him laugh in a foxhole under fire. He sought out Mauldin and then wrote to veterans organizations and contacted newspaper columnists urging people to remember him.
Bill Mauldin
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'The Osbournes'
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Critical Date Approaches
Nick's Crusade
