Requiescat in pace, Edwin Newman

[debgeisler]

One of the great journalists of the modern era died today. Edwin Newman was also one of my heroes. He fought for the English language (American style), honesty and even-handedness in journalism, and he never felt a need to grin at people while giving them bad news on television.

As the New York Times wrote in his obituary today,

Mr. Newman, recognizable for his balding head and fierce dark eyebrows, was known to three decades of postwar television viewers for his erudition, droll wit and seemingly limitless penchant for puns. (There was, for example, the one about the man who blotted his wet shoes with newspapers, explaining, “These are The Times that dry men’s soles.”)

When Edwin Newman appeared on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, lampooning his own knight-errantry of the English language, I laughed harder than at any other SNL skit.

A man of infinite jest. The news business was much the poorer when he retired; the world is diminished for his passing.

Comments

[benveniste.livejournal.com]

"night-errantry?" That's got the brain going!

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's a way to claim that was a pun, rather than a typo. But I'll just be honest and fix it. :-)