Month: October 2021

Jehan Sadat

Bill Thompson

This is a somber anniversary in the Middle East.

40 years ago today, October 6th, 1981, the long time
president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, was assassinated during a military parade.

His killers were extremists who were outraged by his 1979 peace agreement with Israel, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

Many other people who were on the parade reviewing stand that day or either killed or injured in the gunfire.

Also on the reviewing stand that day was President Sadat’s wife, Egypt’s First Lady Jehan Sadat..

Six years later, she wrote a book. And that’s what I have the chance to meet her. So here now, from 1987, former Egyptian first lady Jehan Sadat.

The mastermind behind the assassination plot was caught, convicted, and executed in 1982.

Jehan Sadat died this past Juily. She was 88.

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Chuck Jones

Bill Thompson
Photo: Alan Light

Just about everyone recognizes that music. It means for the next few minutes, you’re going to be entertained by longtime favorites Like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, or the Roadrunner. Helping create all of those iconic characters, and many more, was it brilliant animator Chuck Jones.

Starting in 1933, Jones and his colleagues at Warner Brothers came up with hundreds of cartoons, including some of the classics everyone remembers.

In 1989, Chuck Jones finally wrote his memoir, a heavily illustrated book called Chuck Amick. And that’s when I had the chance to meet him.

So here now, from 1989, Chuck Jones.

Chuck Jones died in 2002. He was 89.

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Audrey Meadows

Bill Thompson

It was on this date 66 years ago that one of the most popular, most durable, and most iconic situation comedies in television history was born.

Taking place mostly in a tiny two room apartment in Brooklyn, The Honeymooners set new standards for television comedy.

Captained by the comic genius of Jackie Gleason, the show also featured the versatile Art Carney, Joyce Randolph, and, of course, as Ralph Kramden long-suffering wife Alice, Audrey Meadows.

A classically beautiful actress who purposely downplayed her looks for the role, Meadows also proved to be a formidable counterpoint to the Ralph Kramden character.

In 1994, Audrey Meadows wrote a book called Love, Alice. And there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to meet her and talk with her. After all, I had grown up with The Honeymooners, and I confessed, I was more than a little starstruck.

So here now, from 1994, Audrey Meadows.

Audrey Meadows died in 1998, just five days before her 74th birthday.