Patty.

Meet Cathy who’s lived most everywhere, from Zanzibar to Barclay Square
But Patty likes to rock ‘n’ roll, a hot dog makes her lose control
What a crazy pair

We all know by now that Patty Duke died this week. Because most of us are boomers at least, we probably all know the theme and lyrics to “The Patty Duke Show,” which didn’t exactly put her on the map — that was “The Miracle Worker” — but it was the show that spoke directly to us, because we weren’t blind and deaf, like Helen Keller.

Truth be told, I was a little young to be a teen when Patty was playing the Patty/Cathy dual role. I paid more attention to the show when it went into reruns and ran on the UHF station in Cleveland that reached Columbus via cable. My friend Paul, who was gay, loved it the way straight stoner kids loved “Star Trek,” so of course the next step was to find “Valley of the Dolls,” also starring Patty, and fall in love with that. Which we both did. To this day, when I hear the theme song, or recall the crazy ’60s cinematography, I think of Paul.

United with Patty now, maybe, somewhere in the afterlife. The original wig-snatcher.

Speaking of deaths, 180 degrees opposed in every way, you’re going to want to read this elegant, elegiac piece by the great Dan Barry, yet another boxing tragedy, about the day a couple of flyweight boxers went at it and one died in the ring. Died. It’s always possible, but it’s still appalling when it happens.

Boy, this blog feels out of gas these days, doesn’t it? So do I. Sorry about that, but it usually comes back, in one way or another. Let’s hope so. Wednesday, is it? Here we go.

Posted at 12:13 am in Current events |
 

29 responses to “Patty.”

  1. Brandon said on March 30, 2016 at 3:48 am

    Helen Keller did pretty well for one who was blind and deaf.

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  2. alex said on March 30, 2016 at 5:09 am

    If Helen Keller falls in the woods does she make a sound?

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  3. David C. said on March 30, 2016 at 6:05 am

    How can a place where you can get Helen Keller jokes be out of gas?

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  4. Joe K said on March 30, 2016 at 6:13 am

    How does Helen Keller parents punish her?
    Rearranged the furniture.
    We’re here all week.
    Try the veal.
    Pilot Joe

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  5. Suzanne said on March 30, 2016 at 6:28 am

    If you are out of gas, we all are too, so we don’t really notice.

    Strange how celebrities seem to be dropping like flies. Or maybe this is how it is in the geezer years-everything from youth starts falling away.

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  6. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 30, 2016 at 6:45 am

    Nice lead para!

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  7. basset said on March 30, 2016 at 7:22 am

    Beautifully written piece, but fighting is still not a sport. Spectacle, yes, brutal, yes, not a sport.

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  8. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 30, 2016 at 7:24 am

    And while there should be consequences and accountability, my main weariness in reading this story is in knowing it will create piles of new paperwork and steps to go through for high schools like the ones I work with in our county who couldn’t play these games even if they wanted to (which they don’t).

    http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/03/29/charges-announced-dps-corruption-case/82376338/

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  9. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 30, 2016 at 8:27 am

    I’d like to hear what Tom + Lorenzo have to say about the purse.

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  10. Peter said on March 30, 2016 at 9:02 am

    Patti Duke is survived by her identical twin cousin.

    Sorry I haven’t been around lately – I’ve been reading Helen Keller’s book: Sights and Sounds of New York City.

    Right back at you Joe!

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  11. brian stouder said on March 30, 2016 at 9:06 am

    Jeff – I was gobsmacked by seeing that Sting was one of the wedding singers!

    The purse was obscured by the distinctly mushroom-ian dress, I thought

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  12. Sherri said on March 30, 2016 at 11:49 am

    My weariness in reading that story, Jeff(tmmo), comes from seeing the perfectly legal scam that “textbook” publishers are moving into. Oh, scam may be too strong a word, but textbook publishers have discovered that the way to make money is not to sell a bunch of hardcover textbooks to school districts who will just them for 8-10 years, but to sell them a whole online platform with bells and whistles and fancy “adaptive learning” programs based on the latest and greatest theory in cognition, and oh, okay, some workbooks, and both of these require yearly payouts. The price quote for a middle school math curriculum from a major publisher with this style of curriculum came in at twice the price of that of a more traditional hard-cover textbook with online support, but no fancy platform, from a small publisher.

    But, even though the content in the two curricula is the same, and even though the cost savings would enable us to pursue more targeted programs with known track records to address special populations, and even though the big publisher’s system is among the least parent-friendly curricula I’ve seen, our committee has met for over 6 hours in 2 meetings without being able to come to a decision (you can tell what I think.) We have another meeting scheduled in a few weeks to try again, and this time we absolutely have to make a decision.

    I know I’m not among my tribe on this committee, though, when there are people starting to cry not because the vote isn’t going their way, but because they don’t want to vote; they’re afraid of making a decision. I compare this to planning commission, where we had to take a tough vote on retail marijuana in front of people waving signs unhappy with our vote while being televised on the local government channel. Crying was not an option.

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  13. brian stouder said on March 30, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Sherri – I admire your (spot-on) attitude toward public service.

    And, I especially admire your incredulity with regard to the money-grabbers that constantly descend on American public education.

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  14. alex said on March 30, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    So who wants to bet it was Kasich? The DC Madam’s black book would have predated Cruz.

    http://gawker.com/disbarred-birther-attorney-says-he-has-records-from-dc-1767915692

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  15. brian stouder said on March 30, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    Alex – saw this on Rachel’s show last night.

    I think Kasich would be anti-climactic (so to speak), as he’s essentially a non-factor anyway.

    If it’s Trump, though….

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  16. Sherri said on March 30, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    Harassing superdelegates to switch to Sanders on the basis of the “democratic process” of a causcus doesn’t seem to be a great way to accomplish your goal. Superdelegates are one anti-democratic way of allowing a small group of people to have some control over the nomination process. Caucuses are another anti-democratic way of allowing a small group of people to have some control over the nomination process. Both are used, neither are binding on the other.

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/sanders-backers-demand-state-party-superdelegates-ditch-clinton/

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  17. Brandon said on March 30, 2016 at 3:25 pm

    Another Helen Keller joke: She went crazy trying to read a stucco wall.

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  18. brian stouder said on March 30, 2016 at 3:45 pm

    Sherri – that article is a classic!

    An old Friend-of-nn.c (a local elected official) has the perfect come-back for anyone who says such as that to him: Run for office yourself.

    Until then, he does what he believes to be right, and forward we go

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  19. LAMary said on March 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    If any of you are doubting my brush with fame chops, know this. I have a hand written note from Helen Keller that she sent me when I was ten. Also an autographed photo. I met her companion, the one who replaced Ann Sullivan, and told her how much I liked the books I had read about her. She passed the word to Helen and I got a note. I found out a few months later that she used to go swimming at the beach where I lived, but about a half mile away from our house.

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  20. brian stouder said on March 30, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    Other than various Lincoln biographers, and our proprietress, I know no one who anyone has ever heard of!

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  21. jcburns said on March 30, 2016 at 4:42 pm

    Oh ye gads Nancy, behold Guy at Your J-School who lives only to tell stories. Stories, they must be told. Yes, it’s a parody account.

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  22. Dexter said on March 30, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    I thought that identical cousin theme and that show were lame, and I was a teenager, but then I had Sally Field and Dawn Wells & Tina Louise to look at on my black and white TV and think horrible dirty thoughts about. Most guys in retrospect say they preferred Dawn Wells, but that Tina Louise was hot as hell in a teen age boy’s glazed lustful eyeballs.
    I was blown away by Patty Duke’s Neely character in “Valley of the Dolls”. It was 1967 and that movie had the world talking. For you young-uns who were too little to have seen it, or not born even , the dolls weren’t the mini-skirted hotties, they were the damn pills everyone was popping like Orville Redenbacher’s. The Helen Keller stuff, wow…I have to say all that depressed me when I was a kid, contemplating a life like that. Then when we had to study “The Diary of Anne Frank”, well, I went into full depression I do believe. I like stories with happy endings, you know, like Frank Graham’s book, “Lou Gehrig, A Quiet Hero”. Oh shit…bad example. End of the line, folks, everybody must de-board. Change trains here for uptown and The Bronx and Tarrytown.

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  23. jcburns said on March 30, 2016 at 5:26 pm

    I think some sort of secret Cold War genetics project was responsible for the rash of identical cousins in the early 1960s.

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  24. Peter said on March 30, 2016 at 5:30 pm

    LA Mary at 19 – I’m impressed! Not too shabby.

    Brandon at 17 – oh, that’s a good one.

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  25. Deborah said on March 30, 2016 at 6:01 pm

    Holy cow LA Mary, your brushes with fame can not be beat!

    On the other hand Alex, didn’t Cruz work in DC for awhile as a high powered attorney? Oh please let it be Cruz. It would be a surprise if it were Trump, a guy with that much money wouldn’t need to use an escort service, would he?

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  26. LAMary said on March 30, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    The other fun fact about Helen Keller was that the Scholastic book I read that got me interested in Helen Keller was written by Lorena Hicock, who was Eleanor Roosevelt’s very close companion for years.

    Deborah, Donald Trump’s second wife was a very expensive escort. The official story was that she was a model and actress, but she only got acting parts after hanging around with the Donald, and the only modeling photo anyone ever found was her holding a power drill for some tool company.

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  27. Joe K said on March 30, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    How did Helen Kelller burn her fingers?
    Trying to read the waffle maker.
    Good night everybody.
    Pilot Joe

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  28. Deborah said on March 30, 2016 at 9:13 pm

    I’ve been designing an address sign for our property in Abiquiu, NM. I wanted to make something a bit interesting, not the typical situation. Our closest neighbor on one side is #50 and on the other is #100, so we were told by the county that we could pick any number in between. We decided on 88 because I’m a typography nerd and I’ve always loved numerals that are the same right side up and upside down. One place I lived in St. Louis my address was 6009 and I loved that it was the same both ways. But for some reason that we didn’t understand in our county in NM they wouldn’t let us have 88. Since then I have found out that the number 88 has white supremacy connotations, as H is the eighth letter in the alphabet and HH stands for Heil Hitler. So now I’m really glad we don’t have that address. There are white supremacists with 88 tattoos, ugh. The county gave us 99 instead. At first I was bummed but I’ve figured out a way to do something really creative with 99. So I’ve been working on that today inbetween the stuff I’ve been doing for the Chicago place.

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  29. Dexter said on March 30, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    An Eleanor reference from Los Angeles…thank you Mary. My brother Bob has an old friend who took a boyhood trip to Hyde Park and Eleanor Roosevelt was there and greeted the children and stayed with them the entire tour. A few years ago the guy posted a photo of his personalized note from Mrs. Roosevelt, in her own handwriting on estate stationery.

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