Posted on 04/10/2019 8:44:14 AM PDT by EveningStar
Charles Van Doren, a Columbia University English instructor and a member of a distinguished literary family who confessed to Congress and a disillusioned nation in 1959 that his performances on a television quiz show had been rigged, died on Tuesday in Canaan, Conn. He was 93.
He died at Geer Village, a retirement community, near his home in Cornwall, Conn., where he had lived for several years, his son, John, said.
In the heyday of quiz shows in the 1950s, when scholarly housewives and walking encyclopedia nerds battled on “The $64,000 Question” and “Tic-Tac-Dough,” Mr. Van Doren was a rare specimen: a handsome, personable young intellectual with solid academic credentials, a faculty post at a prestigious university and an impressive family pedigree.
His father was Mark Van Doren, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, literary critic and professor of English at Columbia. His mother, Dorothy Van Doren, was a novelist and editor. And his uncle, Carl Van Doren, had been a professor of literature, a historian and a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. Charles himself had bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a $4,400-a-year position at Columbia and an honest look about him.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Antidisestablishmentarianism” was later replaced as the longest word (ca. 1961) by “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.” Or should that be “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”?
I remember Elfrida Von Nardroff but not that particular episode.
The days when we turned on the TV and believed what we saw
Can’t get all the way through that word in one sitting.
Reminds me of the kid asked by his teacher to spell ‘banana.’
He said, “I know how to spell it. I just don’t know where to stop.”
Dang, and here I had always been lead to believe the longest word in English is, “Supercallifragilisticexpialadosous”.
Exactly what you said. Turturro was excellent in “Quiz Show”. The Van Doren actor ... meh. But the actor played a great weasel.
“I plan to take the qualifying test tonight.”
Good for you! Break a leg. You’ll let us know if/when you’re scheduled to appear, right?
yes but I lost my cherry when the bay of pigs hit That was the day i never stopped questioning things especially media and government
My SIL’s Brother was on Jeopardy last year. Didn’t win though. They had some crazy guy who would pick the highest value questions first.
His uncle Carl Van Doren's ex-wife Irita was Wendell Willkie's girlfriend. Willkie's and Roosevelt's people had a de facto truce: neither side could reveal their opponent's sexual adventures because they had their own to worry about.
#23 Now it is likes and views at Twitter, Facebook, Youtube. Can be bought so you appear popular.
#21 Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousjulieandrewsis
Yes, not to mention polling data from biased polling and/or interpreting results to fit a narrative. I love the political bubble I live in. Sure, there’s as much manipulation going on as anywhere else, but it makes MY head nod. LOL
Was this the guy who knew how many times the word “one” appeared on the one dollar bill?
On “The Rookie” last night, the rookie cop is told his oral interview test will be difficult. He says not to worry, as he know the books backwards and forwards.
So the other guy says, “”Policy & Procedures” section 12, page 446.”
Rookie smiles and nods his head.
The other guy says, “How many commas on the page?”
LOL
I don’t remember the BOP specifically, but was in high school when Castro was fightint the revolution and we talked about going to Cuba to ‘fight for Castro.’ This was when the US saw defeating Batista as a good thing. “Surprise surprise!”
I know what it is, but don’t remember it happening. I would have been in the final weeks of boot camp, where we didn’t watch a lot of news. LOL
I was right in the middle of the Cuban quarantine, though, and know it very well.
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