Art Buchwald

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Art Buchwald

Arthur Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his long-running column that he wrote in The Washington Post newspaper, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary, rather than serve as an outlet for his opinions. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Buchwald was also known for the Buchwald v. Paramount lawsuit, which he and partner Alain Bernheim filed against Paramount Pictures in 1988 in a controversy over the Eddie Murphy motion picture Coming to America. Buchwald claimed Paramount had stolen his script treatment. He won, was awarded damages, and then accepted a settlement from Paramount. The case was the subject of a 1992 book, Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald V. Paramount by Pierce O'Donnell and Dennis McDougal.

In February 2006, Buchwald checked himself into a Washington, D.C. area hospice. Although his kidneys were failing, he elected to forego kidney dialysis, saying that he wished to finish his days his way and to avoid end-of-life ailments that befall so many elderly individuals. However, his health did not fail as rapidly as he expected.

In June 2006, Buchwald was again interviewed by Diane Rehm after leaving the hospice. He reported that his kidney was working and that he "blesses him [sic] every morning. Some people bless their hearts, I bless my kidney." He reported he was looking forward to getting a new leg and visiting Martha's Vineyard.

In July 2006, Buchwald returned to his summer home in Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard, a place he never expected to see again. While there, he completed a book titled, Too Soon to Say Goodbye, about the five months he spent in the hospice. Eulogies that were prepared by his notable friends, colleagues and family members, but were never delivered, are included in the book.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Final illness and death
2 Books
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Art Buchwald was born to a Polish-Hungarian Jewish family, the son of Joseph Buchwald, a curtain manufacturer, and Helen Buchwald, who later spent 35 years in a mental hospital and, according to Art Buchwald's last book "Too Soon to Say Goodbye," was not seen by her son. He had three sisters: Alice, Edith, and Doris. Buchwald's father put him in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York when the family business failed during the Depression. Buchwald was moved about between several foster homes, including a Queens boarding house for sick children (Buchwald had rickets) operated by Seventh-day Adventists. He stayed in the foster home until he was 5. Buchwald, his father and sisters were eventually reunited and lived in Hollis, a part of Forest Hills, a residential community in the Queens Borough of New York City. Buchwald did not graduate from Forest Hills High School, and ran away from home at age 17.

He wanted to join the United States Marine Corps during World War II but was too young, so he lied about his age and bribed a drunk with half a pint of whisky to sign as his legal guardian. From October 1942 to October 1945, he served with the Marines as part of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing. He spent two years in the Pacific Theater and was discharged from the service as a sergeant.

On his return, Buchwald enrolled at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on the G.I. Bill. At USC he was managing editor of the campus magazine Wampus; he also wrote a column for the college newspaper, the Daily Trojan.

In 1948 he left USC, without having earned a degree, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. Eventually, Buchwald got a job as a correspondent for Variety magazine in Paris. In January 1949, he took a sample column, on which he had been working, to the offices of the European edition of The New York Herald Tribune. Titled Paris After Dark, it was filled with scraps of offbeat information about Parisian nightlife. Buchwald was hired and joined the editorial staff. His column caught on quickly, and Buchwald followed it in 1951 with another column, Mostly About People. They were fused into one under the title Europe’s Lighter Side. The column in which Buchwald explains Thanksgiving Day to the French people in 1953 is reprinted every November with ceremonial regularity. Buchwald’s columns soon began to recruit readers on both sides of the Atlantic. On August 24, 1959, TIME magazine, in reviewing the history of the European edition of The Herald Tribune, reported that Buchwald's column had achieved an "institutional quality."

During this particular time, while in Paris, he became the only correspondent to substantively interview Elvis Presley, both at the Prince de Galles Hotel, where the soon-to-be Sgt. Presley was staying during a week-end off from his Army stint in Germany, as well in places like Le Lido, where Buchwald witnessed, first hand, Presley's interaction and that of his entourage, with the girls at the world's most famous nightclub. Presley's impromptu performance at the piano, as well as his singing for the showgirls after most of the customers had left the nightclub, became legendary following its inclusion in Buchwald's bestselling book, "I'll always have Paris". It was also during this period (sometime between 1948 and 1951) Buchwald was rumored and reported to have a very short lived affair with Marilyn Monroe. The affair, if it occurred at all, apparently only lasted a few weeks, and it was said that Buchwald introduced Marilyn to Judaism (to which she later converted). Marilyn is said to be the basis in part for a character in Buchwald's novel "A Gift From The Boys" published in 1958.

Buchwald returned to the United States in 1962 and was syndicated by Tribune Media Services. His column appeared in more than 550 newspapers at its height, and he published more than 30 books in his lifetime.

In 1982, Buchwald's syndicated newspaper column won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Buchwald and his wife Ann, who he met in Paris, adopted three children and lived in Washington, D.C.. He spent most summers in his house in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard, where he was very active both socially and in the community - he was famous for MC-ing the annual auction known as "Possible Dreams", which raised a great deal of money for island charities.

[edit] Final illness and death

In 2000, at age 74, Buchwald suffered a stroke that left him in the hospital for more than two months.

On February 16, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Buchwald had had a leg amputated below the knee and was staying at Washington Home and Hospice.^[1] The amputation was reportedly necessary because of poor circulation in the leg.

Buchwald seized on a unique opportunity during his stay at the Washington Home. He invited Diane Rehm to interview him, which served as what people from the fields of hospice and palliative care would call a "life review." It also served as an opportunity to say goodbye to a national audience. During the show, which aired on February 24, 2006, he revealed his decision to discontinue hemodialysis, which had previously been initiated to treat renal failure secondary to diabetes mellitus. He described his decision as his "last hurrah," stating that, "If you have to go, the way you go is a big deal." He reported that he was "very happy with his choices" and was eating McDonald's fast food on a regular basis. While he exhibited mental cloudiness at times, his humor and charm remained evident throughout the interview.

Buchwald was later interviewed with Miles O'Brien of CNN in a segment aired on March 31, 2006. Buchwald discussed his living will, which documents his wishes for his doctors not to save him if he falls into a coma. As of the date of that interview, Buchwald was still writing a periodic column. In the interview, he described a dream in which he was waiting to take his "final plane ride." But the flight was canceled and he was told he would have to fly on stand-by. He interpreted this as it wasn't his time to die just yet.

Buchwald was interviewed by FOX News' Chris Wallace for a segment on Sunday, May 14, 2006's edition of FOX News Sunday.

Once again a Buchwald interview with Diane Rehm aired on her show on June 7, 2006. After his interview with her earlier in the year, friends and well wishers contacted him to offer thanks and say good-bye. In a strange turn, as baffling to his doctors as to himself, Buchwald's kidneys began working again. He summered at Martha's Vineyard, where he completed his book, “Too Soon To Say Goodbye.”

On November 3, 2006, Kyra Phillips interviewed Buchwald for CNN.^[2] Phillips had known Buchwald since, as a college student, she had interviewed him in 1989. On November 22, 2006 Buchwald again appeared on the Diane Rehm show describing himself as a "poster boy for hospices - because I lived."

Buchwald died of kidney failure on January 17, 2007, at his son Joel's home in Washington, D.C.^[3] The next day the website of The New York Times posted a video obituary in which Buchwald himself declared: "Hi. I'm Art Buchwald, and I just died."^[4]