The Big Minow

We've given mothers their just due today, but I have to end with a father.  But for a very specific reason.  I've written often here about my friend Nell Minow who has a great many accomplishments in her admirable life, yet she will proudly always be know as the daughter of Newton Minow, who is best known as a former patient and poker-playing buddy of my father, but also is probably the only FCC Commissioner in history who people have heard of -- and still know, 60 years after the fact in the JFK Administration, not just for his many achievements (like helping grow public television -- later, helping get funding for Sesame Street -- and being involved with the first and every presidential debate since), but especially for his famous speech calling television "a vast wasteland."  Beyond that, he hired Barack Obama in his Chicago law firm, Sidley Austin (where Michelle Robinson also worked, and the two met and fell in love) and was one of Mr. Obama's first political mentors -- and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

Not mentioned in the article, but something near and dear to my heart (as readers of these pages will figure)  is that before going to Washington, Minow was the lawyer for Burr Tillstrom, who created Kukla, Fran & Ollie in Chicago.

I mention this all because today is the 60th anniversary of that famous "Vast Wasteland" speech, and this is an excellent article about him and the speech in this Los Angeles Times interview with Michael Hiltzik.  You can read it here.  (By the way, related to this is the story that TV producer Sherwood Schwartz was so offended by the "Vaste Wasteland" comment that when he created his new series he wanted to get back at him some way.  So he named the boat that gets shipwrecked in Gilligan's Island the 'S.S. Minnow.'  Unfortunately for Schwartz, Nell says the family loved the reference, and the boat has sort of become an endearing figure in popular culture.)

The article references and links to another interview with Newton Minow (who is now 95) that he recently did with his daughter -- the aforementioned wonderful Nell, and it too is well-worth reading.  And to make it easier for folks to find (especially those who choose to only read one article, and this is the one), here is the direct link to it.