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Get Breaking News on your cellBook festival: One more anecdote
10:27 PM Sun, Nov 04, 2007 | Permalink
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Jim Lehrer, author of "Eureka," was a late addition to the festival. I caught up with him just long enough to hear this great tale about his beginnings in journalism -- at The Dallas Morning News. His first job? Writing obituaries. He says, "I did an obit that said, 'Funeral services for Lamar N. Smith are pending Friday for Billy Bob ... Whatever. And it turned out that Lamar & Smith was the funeral home. And Billy Bob was the deceased." "The editor came over to me and said to me, essentially" -- and here his voice shifted to a menacing drawl -- " 'Lil' boy, there are a lot of important things at this newspaper. But there is nothin' more important than gettin' the name of the God-damned deceased right in an obit!" I told Mr. Lehrer, who has won almost every honor available to a broadcast journalist, "You seem to have recovered from that." "Yeah, I got over it," he said. "But I also never forgot it." During this conversation, Carl Bernstein interjected -- "That's how we all started -- with obits." And here's some more journalism trivia with a Dallas connection for those of you still reading: One of Mr. Bernstein's early assignments as a copy boy at the Washington Star? Taking dictation -- from David Broder -- on the death of President Kennedy. |
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