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Prime Time

BLOWING IT: When Thelonious Monk died on Feb 17 I didn’t exactly expect a Nightline special edition, that would have been asking too much, nor was I particularly surprised or bothered that Lee Strasberg’s demise, which occurred on the same day (or thereabouts), got slightly more in-depth coverage from the various news media (after all Strasberg not only hob-knobbed with, but taught American royalty) — but I did find it disgraceful that on the CBS Evening News Dan Rather couldn’t manage to pronounce Monk’s name correctly.

July 1, 1982
Richard C. Walls

Prime Time

Beyond Ridicule

Richard C. Walls

BLOWING IT: When Thelonious Monk died on Feb 17 I didn’t exactly expect a Nightline special edition, that would have been asking too much, nor was I particularly surprised or bothered that Lee Strasberg’s demise, which occurred on the same day (or thereabouts), got slightly more in-depth coverage from the various news media (after all Strasberg not only hob-knobbed with, but taught American royalty) — but I did find it disgraceful that on the CBS Evening News Dan Rather couldn’t manage to pronounce Monk’s name correctly. He said it as “Theo-lonus,” not once but twice during his brief mention of Monk’s passing and rarely have the supposedly sympathetic tones of the Great White Father news establishment rang as hollowly. Hopefully, the next time an “obscure” artist with a difficult name dies they’ll spell it out phonetically on Dan’s cue cards and spare us all another depressing attempt by the network at noblesse oblige.

☆ ☆ ☆

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