REQUIEM FOR A GIANT
Bo Diddley, George Carlin, Stan Winston, Harvey Korman, Cyd Charisse, Dino Risi, Charleton Heston… all gone. How incredibly sad. Mammoth figures. Men and women of monumental talent. Prolific. Inspiring. These were the giants of my youth and I’m having real trouble coming to terms with that simple fact. They’re all gone.
Sadder still, there is one more to whom I’m in debt and deserves tribute.
Mr. Kermit Love. Like Stan, his face was not as well known as some of the others, but his work was farther reaching and perhaps better known than all of those giants combined.
Mr. Kermit Love gave us BIG BIRD. Sesame Streets Big Bird. The ornithic 8 foot, 2 inch super puppet that entertained and guided many of us through the wonders of childhood. Big Bird, who taught us about sharing, compassion and of the many ways to deal with grouchy characters that lived in garbage pails.
Thank you Mr. Love. For giving me a place to lose myself. For the wonder of Sesame Street, its values and optimism.
Our time here is but a blink. The distance between cradle to grave, a few breaths. The skip of a stone. A road peppered with the most wonderous of things to be sure. But sadly, even Sesame streets come to an end. A fork in the road where one is obligued to yield to the unknown. Or, to cross that street entirely.
But when that day comes, and it’s your turn to cross. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll remember what to do.
Look left.
Right.
Then left again.
Thanks Kermit. Rest in peace.
Nicely phrased Colin. Big Bird allowed us all to know that innocence wasn’t a bad thing either!
I have this wonderful mental image of Cyd Charisse teaching Kermit/Big Bird a new dance step while all the others watch and grin!
The La Choy dragon was the original big bird. thank you mr. love.
I think its when all the adults you admired as a child start to die that you finally realise you really are now an adult yourself, you can no longer pretend your not. Or maybe thats just me……
Sesame Street was always a big fave of mine, I thought all of America was like Sesame Street. Of course I loved Big Bird as well, but I loved Mr Snuffleufficus better!!
I know… I know… I’m the queen of the afterthought!!
Just wanted to say, this is so beautifully written, it sort of brought a little tear to my eye, especially the bit about looking left, right, and then left again.. very sweet!
When men like Kermit Love die, it stings a little more because they were so GOOD. Good to their marrow. No celebrity scandals or low-class behavior off-camera. They were as incorruptible off-camera as they were on-camera. I felt the same way when John Denver died and Bill Bixby died. John Denver only did one movie (Oh, God) but didn’t do any more because he could never find scripts that were wholesome and inspiring enough. In fact, An Officer and a Gentleman was written FOR HIM but he turned it down because the script was a lot more seedy than the filmed version turned out to be and he “didn’t want to be a part of it.” He regretted it later but the fact remains - integrity like that was rare then and even rarer now that being a celebrity is akin to being a god, and is accomplished simply by being seen on TV a lot, not by accomplishing something great that redeems, elevates and, yes I’ll say it - instructs mankind about how we can be better than our lower nature might want us to be.
I was in Jim Henson’s former house one summer completely by chance. It had been re-rented to someone else after he passed away. Actually, it was a guest house behind some other house. Nothing fancy, even with all his millions. Money and fame was never what it was about for him. I suspect the same was true of Kermit Love, a man who truly lived up to his name.
Thanks for posting this. The incorruptibles among us are never and can never be honored enough.
I’m not generaly one to just spout flattery, but I honestly can’t think of many people who could write a post about Big Bird and make it sound so incredibly dignified. I never thought about Seasame Street or Big Bird in quite that way, and I’m glad that I read this post in particular. Thank you for reminding me that true dignity is not in celebrity. It is in how one lives.
And to Mark Rickerly, who posted above me: Very well said.
Melissa
Please could we add a fantastic actor and special guy to this list… Don S Davis [Major General George Hammond], who will be very much missed….We Salute you and God Speed Sir !!