Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss how historical figures like Shakespeare, Newton, and Munch produced notable works during times of quarantine, highlighting the potential for creativity and productivity during isolation. They explore the evolution of quarantine practices and how it can provide an opportunity for focus without distractions. The speakers also delve into unconventional origins of greatness, sharing anecdotes about famous individuals who achieved success despite seemingly insignificant or negative experiences. They question the role of chance and circumstance in shaping our paths to greatness, leaving the audience to ponder the complex relationship between life experiences and success.
Outline
Famous people’s productivity during quarantine.
- Marcia and Bob Smith discuss the origin of the word “quarantine” and its history during the 14th century in Venice.
- Bob shares three stories from Mental Floss about people who were amazingly productive in quarantine, including Charles Dickens, Albert Einstein, and Agatha Christie.
- Bob Smith discusses William Shakespeare, who wrote plays during a quarantine in the early 17th century.
- Another person, a mathematician, did math work from home during a pandemic 50 years later.
Art, history, and border crossing.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Isaac Newton’s productivity during the bubonic plague, including his development of calculus and optics theories.
- Edward Munch painted “The Scream” while recovering from the Spanish flu, capturing his physical state in a self-portrait.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss a Quora question about how to easily cross the US-Canada border without farmland, with Bob sharing two pictures taken in a library and a city scene to demonstrate the answer.
- The pictures show a person standing on both the US and Canadian sides of a room or street, highlighting the unconventional nature of the border and the fact that it can be crossed in unexpected places.
Famous last words and musical trivia.
- Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony was originally dedicated to Napoleon, but he later tore up the dedication when Napoleon declared himself emperor.
- Louis Armstrong’s criminal act led to his musical discovery.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss famous last words, including “It’s very beautiful over there” attributed to Thomas Edison.
Famous last words and their meanings.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the last things people said before they died, including PT Barnum’s concern about circus receipts in Madison Square Garden and John Wilkes Booth’s regretful statement to his mother.
- Bob Smith interprets Booth’s statement as a regretful acknowledgment that fighting for the Confederacy was a useless cause.
- Bob Smith: “Am I dying? Or is this my birthday?” (0:18:16)
- Marcia Smith: “Is it my birthday? Where are you here?” (0:19:11)
Famous last words and their meanings.
- Melanie Griffith pays tribute to her father’s lasting influence with a touching tribute at a film festival.
- Bob and Marcia discuss famous artists’ last words, including Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss famous last words from various celebrities, including Errol Flynn, Abbott and Costello, and Stan Laurel.
- The hosts share trivia and anecdotes about the celebrities’ last words, and Marcia Smith jokes about wanting to be clever in her own last words.
Marcia Smith 0:00
What’s the story behind the word quarantine?
Bob Smith 0:03
And sheltering in place? Feeling a little cooped up, pay it may be a chance to do some of your best work. We’ll tell you about three famous people who did some of their best work while working at home in quarantine during history’s greatest plagues, here on the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith.
Welcome to the off ramp a place to slow down steer clear of crazy take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 0:49
I’m Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 0:50
And today we’ve got more fun trivia for you on a potpourri of topics as we shelter in place for the duration of the Coronavirus indeed. We’ve been digging through books and trolling the web to find some fun things we think will be pretty entertaining. And you’ve got a very good question there. Marsha, what is that?
Marcia Smith 1:07
Okay, Bob. Mr. History. Where did we get the word quarantine?
Bob Smith 1:11
What am I supposed to know everything? Well,
Marcia Smith 1:13
that’s what you say? Yes. Go ahead.
Bob Smith 1:16
Okay. Cora Cora, Cora, quarantine I’m starts with a que I would think it has something to do with the number four.
Speaker 1 1:24
Okay. Four, four.
Bob Smith 1:27
I don’t know it doesn’t make sense to me. 4444 teens. 1414. Oh, okay. That’s a red herring. Okay. Tell me the answer.
Marcia Smith 1:36
Okay. The practice of quarantine as we know it today began during the 14th century, in an effort to protect coastal cities from plagues and ships arriving in Venice from infected ports had to sit in anchor in Venice for 40 days before they let anybody get off or on. And this practice was called quarantine because it’s derived from Italian words. Goren. Danna ger no 40 days or really, so that’s what quarantine me so it
Bob Smith 2:06
comes off 40 days, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know I had no idea. So this term actually comes from a time like now when there’s a pandemic going on in the world.
Marcia Smith 2:16
Wow. If With any luck, we can get through it and go on through what
Bob Smith 2:20
would you do on a boat in harbor at Venice for 40 days to people
Marcia Smith 2:24
on the Princess Cruises, Bob?
Unknown Speaker 2:26
Okay.
Bob Smith 2:28
Well, speaking of quarantine, there was a posting on one of my favorite websites called Mental Floss and was about people who were amazingly productive in quarantine. And so I’ve got the stories of three folks from that item. Okay. And I want you to tell me who they were okay. I’ll give you some clues here. Okay. Okay. This first guy is a guy named Bill. He’s a writer. And he found himself in a situation where he didn’t have any work. And so he went home and decided he would write some stuff. So that’s all I’m gonna give you right now. You want me to tell you a date or anything? Well, that would help a lot. Okay, so the early 17th century. Oh, okay. Well, that lets you know, his name is Bill and he worked in London.
Marcia Smith 3:15
Would it be Billy Shakespeare that’s
Bob Smith 3:17
exactly who it was. William Shakespeare. He did some of his best work during a quarantine. So he was an actor and a shareholder with that he
Marcia Smith 3:27
was an actor. Yeah, he was an
Bob Smith 3:29
actor. That’s how we started but he was also writing at the same time, but he was an actor and a shareholder in the King’s Men theatre true. So at this time, he was just pretty much acting that was primarily what he was doing, when the bubonic plague forced London theaters to close in the early 17th century. So their rule there was that after after a few weeks when the death toll exceeded 30 All public theaters or they call them play houses had to be shut down. Wow. Because they even knew then that people were communicating this disease dirty mother,
Marcia Smith 3:59
so they shut down before we they sit down long before we did this
Bob Smith 4:03
method. The theatre industry was pretty much paralyzed in the year 1606. And then after he suddenly found himself without a steady job, lots of free time, he went home. And guess what he wrote? He wrote King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra before the year was over. So now if think about that, if you’re at home and you’re trying to figure out what to do, you may do a masterpiece. You may or three for that matter. Might as well put your time to good use. Okay, here’s another guy. All right. This fella was not a writer, and he’s not an actor. And this happened about 50 years after Shakespeare wrote some of his favorite plays. This is also a fellow who was in England. He was in his 20s he was going to Cambridge University. Classes were canceled. He went home.
Marcia Smith 4:54
A lot of familiar stuff here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Any idea what Did he do? Well? He was a mathematician. Yeah. So he went home and did math stuff. Yeah, he went
Bob Smith 5:04
home to his family estate, which is about 60 miles away to discontinuous studies there. Well, I need more than that. Okay. Didn’t have to respond to emails or video conference into classes. Oh, so he got a lot more done. Yeah, he had no structure. But he excelled. He wrote the papers that would become early calculus. He developed theories on optics, he was playing with prisms in his bedroom taking the light from the window and fracturing it. And it was also a time when he came up with a famous theory.
Marcia Smith 5:31
Oh, is did he have an apple tree in his yard? Yeah, he actually he did. Okay. Yeah.
Bob Smith 5:36
You know, we always think of him falling sitting under an apple tree and the apple fell. Well, they don’t know if that really happened. But there was an apple tree outside of Isaac Newton’s bedroom.
Marcia Smith 5:45
Okay, so that’s probably where he started looking at those apples dropping. So he did all this
Bob Smith 5:50
during the bubonic plague when he was in quarantine at home. A student didn’t have anything to do. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 5:57
That’s a pretty productive college break, isn’t it? It’s amazing. It’s not like going to spring break down in Florida here. This guy did.
Bob Smith 6:05
He wasn’t Isaac wasn’t done in Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Okay, I got another one here. And this guy is another artist. And he’s a artist who did a famous painting that you know, and you like have always liked it bizarre painting. This is a fellow who lived in the 20th century. And this was in 1919. And he lived in Norway. Do I have to give him any more toe? Yeah, Norway helps. His name was Edward. But they don’t pronounce it that way.
Marcia Smith 6:32
At Vaughn, Mu Vs. Mu.
Bob Smith 6:34
The famous painting the scream. Yeah, it
Marcia Smith 6:38
looks like guys. Maybe that was a painting about the play.
Bob Smith 6:41
Well, it wasn’t actually. But he he actually contracted the Spanish flu, which was a terrible disaster, you know, but he actually survived. And he lived to continue making great work. And as soon as he got himself up to being physically capable, he gathered all the supplies and he began capturing his physical state. And he did a self portrait with the Spanish flu, which is one of his famous paintings.
Marcia Smith 7:06
I’ve seen that and I didn’t realize that explains how awful he Yeah,
Bob Smith 7:10
he had thinning hair and got face sitting on his sick bed. He must have had a mirror he was looking Yeah,
Marcia Smith 7:16
I thought, wow, this guy. So those are three
Bob Smith 7:19
masterpieces, you might say are three people who did a great work while they were under quarantine. So what are you doing while you’re in quarantine?
Marcia Smith 7:26
I’m doing trivia. My husband in the dining room. All right. No
Bob Smith 7:32
more sure. I’ve got a fun one here. You know, we’ve been talking about closing borders, right? Because trying to make sure that people aren’t crossing bookstore. No, not borders, that’s been closed. I’m talking about like the Mexican border, the Canadian border. Okay. And there was somebody who recently posted a question on Quora. That’s another website that has interesting questions and answers. And they said, what’s to stop somebody from walking across a farmer’s field into the US from Canada? Yeah, good question. And the person who responded to that was Jeff Weiner. He’s a Canadian author and entrepreneur. And basically, he posted two pictures on that website to demonstrate the answer. One was a city scene. One was inside a library. Where do you think both were taken? Where were these photos taken to prove how you could easily get across the US Canadian border the easiest way without going through a farmer’s field?
Marcia Smith 8:25
Well, I was thinking, Niagara Falls. Well, that’s water.
Bob Smith 8:31
That’s not easy to get across.
Marcia Smith 8:32
I mean, the town of Niagara Falls City there. Yeah. But
Speaker 1 8:36
you have to cross the river. Okay. And that’s a big deal. Well, then Vermont.
Bob Smith 8:41
Yes, Vermont. That’s exactly right. And the name of the city and Vermont. I have no idea. Okay, Derby line, Vermont. Now I’m going to show you these pictures and describe them. Okay. Now, again, there’s two pictures. This is the one that’s taken on the street I told you about. Basically, you just walk through the town and you go from Canada to the United States. So
Marcia Smith 9:00
that’s crazy is that a sidewalk that’s crossing the line is
Bob Smith 9:03
he’s crouched down next to a monument a stone and then there’s a car behind him. He says, here’s a picture of me on the US side of the border taking a derby line, Vermont. The gray car in the background is in Canada. In the photograph, I’m touching with my right hand, the rock that marks the border between the two countries. So that’s pretty impressive. What’s the name of the town? Derby line? Vermont derby. I don’t know why it’s called Derby line. Why isn’t it called state line or border line? You know? Yeah. And look at this picture. In a library now this is a guy sitting hits him he says in here’s this picture was taken of me inside the Haskell free library and Opera House, a shared resource on the US Canadian border. My left foot is in the US. My right foot is in Canada. The black line on the wooden floor isn’t a shadow. It’s the border between the two kind of hilarious
Marcia Smith 9:53
Well, why would they do that? It was built years ago and who knows how they didn’t know why. where the line was? I don’t know. But it’s funny.
Bob Smith 10:03
But you don’t have to cross a farmer’s field. To get to the United States. You just have to cross a room in a library to get to the United States.
Marcia Smith 10:10
Did anybody go through all those guards and everything? And I don’t know.
Bob Smith 10:15
Fascinating. So it was the 49th parallel, of course, it’s the longest undefended border in the world. But if you want to sneak across, you don’t have to do it in a farmer’s keep
Marcia Smith 10:25
the I just read a book that used Vermonters for drug running out of Canada from overseas.
Bob Smith 10:31
And they did it goes through a city library.
Marcia Smith 10:35
But they did go through Vermont. And I thought, Well, I wonder if it’s not much of a border patrol there. But obviously not if you could sit on both sides of the line. That’s bizarre.
Bob Smith 10:46
It is amazing, isn’t it? Just an amazing photo? Oh, dear. All right. We’ll take a break here. And we’ll be back in just a moment. This is Bob and Marcia Smith, and you’re listening to the off ramp. And we’re doing a bit of fun trivia for today. And we’ll be back with more in just a moment. Welcome back. I’m Bob Smith,
Marcia Smith 11:05
Marsha Smith,
Bob Smith 11:06
and you’re listening to the off ramp podcast. We’re exploring fun trivia today as we shelter in place during the Coronavirus emergency. Okay, I’ve got a question. You might find this interesting. All right. This is musical question to what great man was Beethoven’s Third Symphony originally dedicated to and why did Beethoven later angrily tear up the dedication? Really? Yeah. Who was it composed in honor of the heroic is symphony, famous man in Europe in that century? Yeah, it wasn’t.
Marcia Smith 11:39
It wasn’t somebody like Mozart. No, no, it
Bob Smith 11:43
was not another musician to what great man was Beethoven’s Third Symphony originally dedicated now that is the Eroica Symphony. And why did Beethoven later angrily tear up the dedication? Who was the person who dedicated his third symphony?
Marcia Smith 11:58
I have no idea. Was it his wife?
Bob Smith 12:00
No famous. This
Marcia Smith 12:01
is a famous person’s person.
Bob Smith 12:03
I don’t know. Do you know Beethoven’s wife name? No. So Sheila Sheila Beethoven? No, it was Napoleon. Really? Yeah, he admired Napoleon. But when Napoleon proclaimed himself the Emperor of France just decided I’m dictator. Beethoven became so enraged at this egomaniac that he tore out the dedication and he substituted to the memory of a great man. So he was yes. Okay, here’s a jazz question. How did shooting off a gun illegally start Louis Armstrong on his musical career?
Marcia Smith 12:40
Well, did they put him in jail or something in while he was in there, you started playing trumpet? You know,
Bob Smith 12:45
it’s something like it. Remember the story of Muhammad Ali or Cassius Clay? How did he get started? No, I don’t Oh, his bike was stolen. Oh, yeah. His bike was stolen and he went to the he went to the police department. Oh, I do know that to complain. The cop said you’ll you need to know how to defend yourself son and he took him to boxing Galloway to help him be to fend off this little scrawny kid and to defend himself and he became world champion. Because of that, well, this is similar to that. So how did shooting off a gun illegally start Louis Armstrong on his career. On New Year’s Day in 1913 12 year old Louis Armstrong shot off a gun he was arrested for the crime and set to reform school to well reform. And lucky for him and for us, it was there that he learned to play the bugle and the trumpet. And his name Satchmo came from satchel mouth given to him by the editor of a London newspaper saying his mouth looked like a satchel. It was like he could because he could make it big. Like it was like it was like it was holding. Yeah, he blew it up like a blowfish. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Yeah. And he’s also credited with starting what jazz musicians called scat singing, substituting, you know, syllables for words. Yeah, but that was because he shot up a gun, a little boy. 12 year old boy shooting off a gun, so you never know where great things were gonna come from. Now I’ve got some more trivia here. This is famous last words by Ray Robinson fond farewells, deathbed diatribes and exclamations upon expiration.
Marcia Smith 14:17
Now I’m gonna I read one in there, did you gonna get see if you know who it is? Okay. His last words. He was a singer. Okay, an actor. Whom you will should know. And his last words were, I’m going
Bob Smith 14:35
and I’m going on stage
Marcia Smith 14:38
going, going in Mabel. No, just I’m going. No, I’ll give you some. He had blue eyes. The question I have is Oh,
Bob Smith 14:45
did he drop the consonant on the Yeah, I’m going Yeah, okay. Blue eyes them Frank Sinatra. That’s
Marcia Smith 14:51
right. Really? Yeah. You said it to his wife Barbara as he died. I’m going Yeah, I don’t know why that’s so sad. But this
Bob Smith 14:58
is very sad. Yes. Okay, now here’s one, since you’re talking about that. We all remember hearing about Steve Jobs when he died. I do remember he said, Well, oh, oh, wow. You know, supposedly. So here’s another similar sentence. Okay. It’s very beautiful over there, huh? Who said that? Another guy who was an innovator? Yeah, he was actually an inventor.
Marcia Smith 15:24
Inventor. famous, famous, very famous. Tell me the year died in 1931. Okay, well, that narrows it down. I know, everybody who died in 31. Okay, yeah, I don’t know. I’ll just say Edison. Thomas Edison. Okay. That’s well see, I don’t know that many inventors from the Yeah, turn of the century. He
Bob Smith 15:45
said to his second wife. She asked me if he was suffering. He said, No, that’s good. Just waiting. That he looked out the window. And he uttered those words. It’s very beautiful over there. Oh, that’s lovely. See, makes you wonder what he was talking about? For sure. Well, yeah,
Marcia Smith 15:59
but, but see, I think he and Steve Jobs had particularly interesting brains and process what they were seeing in some way. That’s what I’d like to thank anyway.
Bob Smith 16:14
Okay. Now, here’s a totally different one. We always hear the expression. Nobody ever said I wish I’d spent more time at the office on her deathbed. But this guy kind of did. He said, How were the circus receipts in Madison Square Garden.
Marcia Smith 16:32
What year was add? Doesn’t say, okay, the circus recedes. Well, I only know a few Ringling and that other guy. Greatest Show On Er, yes.
Bob Smith 16:43
That’s who it was. And his name is? Yes. Starts with two initials.
Marcia Smith 16:50
PT Barnum. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Yeah.
Bob Smith 16:54
How are the receipts in Madison Square Garden? Well,
Marcia Smith 16:58
obviously his mind was in a bad place when he died. I mean, really? That’s what he needed to know that on the way out the door. He didn’t have much more of a life obvious. Okay.
Bob Smith 17:07
Now, this will probably surprise you. Tell my mother I died for my country. Tell my mother I died for my country. I thought I did it for the best, useless useless.
Marcia Smith 17:19
What does that mean? I thought I did it for the better that it was useless that he wish he hadn’t is that when
Bob Smith 17:25
he was 27 years old. He said Tell my mother I died for my country. I thought I did it for the best. useless. Useless. Wow. This was a tragedy. And he was a guy who knew tragedy because he was an actor. John Wilkes Booth. Oh, John Wilkes didn’t die in war. No, he was he was he refused to surrender. He was shot in the neck in a burning barn. And when they got to him, he said to my mother, I died for my country. I thought I did it for the best useless useless
Marcia Smith 17:55
you think he regretted it then? Oh, that’s what I’m hearing I
Bob Smith 17:58
think but you know, he said he did it for his country, which was the Confederacy. Yeah. So he probably did think he did it for his you know,
Marcia Smith 18:06
but what was the useless part? Is he saying
Bob Smith 18:09
I think he was saying it was useless thing to do. Probably it just didn’t work out or it didn’t work out. That’s for sure. Okay, one more. Am I dying? Or is this my birthday?
Marcia Smith 18:21
What kind of person said that somebody I know.
Bob Smith 18:24
No socialite. Okay. Okay. lady asked story. She lay dying at the age of 85, the wealthy socialite and first female member of the British House of Commons, woke to find yourself surrounded by her entire family. Oh,
Marcia Smith 18:36
is it my birthday? So she was thinking
Bob Smith 18:39
of what would be the reason everybody’s here. And she had considered to be having acid wit. She had sparring matches with Winston Churchill. So a passionate advocate of women’s rights. She spoke for her entire sex when she declared we are not asking for superiority for we’ve always had that. All we’re asking for is equality. But when she was dying, she said, Am I dying? Or is this my birthday? It’s a sad thing. Yeah, it
Marcia Smith 19:03
sounds like something I’d say if I saw my family standing around when I open my eyes. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 19:11
What’s going on? Yeah, I see. What
Marcia Smith 19:14
is it my birthday? Where are you here?
Bob Smith 19:16
Oh, here’s here’s one. It’s kind of funny. I never felt better.
Marcia Smith 19:22
It sounds like what’s the funny movie we liked? With Meryl Streep? Ah, you never sounded better? Oh, yes.
Bob Smith 19:29
Yes. When she was the singer. She couldn’t sing. Well, yeah. And the coach said, she said How was it? I think he said you’ll never sound better. Yeah. You’ll never sound
Marcia Smith 19:39
better. That’s what that reminds me of. She said I’d never felt better. No, this is a guy. This is the guy what when was he an actor or what? He was
Bob Smith 19:47
an actor. It was in 1939. He suffered a heart attack at the age of 57. He was very athletic. And he was known for his his charm, his sense of humor and everything.
Marcia Smith 19:58
And then it was something like one To the Barrymore’s or something that era Yep. Douglas Fairbanks. Oh, okay. Yeah, he was he the swashbuckler know that. Yes,
Bob Smith 20:06
he played Robin Hood the thief of Baghdad the mark of zero. And
Marcia Smith 20:10
by the way, that was his last words. That’s pretty funny. He reassured
Bob Smith 20:13
and attendant while resting at home. I’ve never felt better known for his charm his good looks at apparently an inability to gauge his physical condition. Then he went back to sleep
Marcia Smith 20:25
and he died that wow, that’s a nice way to go. Yeah, feeling good.
Bob Smith 20:29
What were his last words? I’ve never felt better. It’s
Marcia Smith 20:32
an actor. He’s used to acting. And just give me one more.
Bob Smith 20:36
Okay. This is somebody talking about her father. She said, somehow I know you’re you’re their dad. I know. You’re up there saying why are you wearing that dress?
Marcia Smith 20:50
But she died. You know? Her dad had
Bob Smith 20:52
just died. She was told her dad had died. Ah, okay. It’s Melanie Griffith. Oh, the actress and the star of the movies, Working Girl and other films. She arrived in con to receive a special award the con Film Festival. Okay, those were upon arriving there in 2001. She was told her father businessman Peter Griffith had died. She She was named after the character her mother to be headwind played in the birds. Okay. Was Melanie. Oh, yeah. She paid tribute to her father’s lasting influence saying somehow I know you’re there, dad. I know. You’re up there saying why are you wearing that dress? That’s it’s touching, isn’t it? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 21:32
Very nice. Okay. All right. Good times. Last words.
Bob Smith 21:37
Don’t cut the ham too thin.
Marcia Smith 21:40
Is that what somebody’s last words?
Bob Smith 21:44
In the early days of railroading, they had these railroad cars and Fred Harvey got the franchise to put rolling restaurants on these railroad cars. So he died in 1901. He bade one of his sons the least sentimental goodbye in history. His son came to him to ask him, dad, anything you’d like to say. Don’t cut the ham too thin. At least he didn’t say don’t cut it too thick. So he’s not tried. He
Marcia Smith 22:09
wasn’t a cheapskate. Yeah. Wow. See, he cared about the details.
Bob Smith 22:14
He did. Okay, here’s one. This is unfortunate. Okay. Colonel John Sedgwick. He was a commander of the army of the Potomac in the Civil War. And he enjoyed a reputation among his men as a good humoured guy and a relentless optimist. At the Battle of the wilderness while the other men were diving for cover from Confederate sharpshooters Sedgwick scoffed at danger stood up and said they couldn’t hit an elephant at this disk.
Marcia Smith 22:43
And he was shot. I would I would vary ago. All right. One of the best tombstones I ever read was in Hollywood. What is the name of that cemetery there?
Bob Smith 22:53
Hollywood Forever I
Marcia Smith 22:54
think yeah. Now blank when a Bob’s personal heroes with all his wonderful voices.
Bob Smith 23:00
Did they all the characters for the Warner Brothers cartoons Daffy Duck and forkie The pig and Bugs Bunny? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 23:04
he’s great. And his tombstone said, Bob,
Bob Smith 23:07
that’s awful. Yeah, wasn’t that cool? You see that on to see that on a tombstone? Yeah, it made you smile. Oh,
Marcia Smith 23:15
it did. That’s what you want to do after you’re gone. It was That’s all folks with
Bob Smith 23:18
an exclamation point. Yeah, that’s all folks. The day we were there. Some people had left a little. I think there was a Tweety Bird. Sylvester the cat doll. Somebody had left there at the at the base of his tombstone. So cute. Very cute. So this is a famous artists one of your favorite impressionists. He didn’t want a funeral oration. In 1917. He told an artist’s friend. His eulogy when he died should be limited to this simple sentiment. Tell them that I loved to draw then go home. My last words tell them I love to draw. Go home. Who is that out?
Marcia Smith 24:00
It’s Monet or Monet. It’s
Bob Smith 24:04
Edward Ditka.
Marcia Smith 24:07
He did draw a lot of little ballerinas this and
Bob Smith 24:09
then we know drink to me was what? What artists said that last to me drink to me and Paul McCartney wrote a song about it was
Marcia Smith 24:16
that Western Van Gogh?
Bob Smith 24:18
Picasso. At the at the age of 91. A command to be toasted on his demise. He said drink to me. I like
Marcia Smith 24:28
that. Yeah. I was gonna think you’ll say something clever.
Bob Smith 24:33
He was fond of paying people by cheque because he knew that the creditors they preferred keeping his autograph. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 24:39
they weren’t cash. Yeah. So he didn’t have to. Yeah, he did to pay his
Bob Smith 24:43
creditors. Yeah. Okay, one more. And it’s another movie star from the same era we talked about earlier a little later, but he was from the probably the 30s and 40s. He said I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. That was his last words. What year did he die? He died. In 1959, and the heart attack in the arms of his girlfriend who was only 15 years old
Marcia Smith 25:08
5050 Errol Flynn. That’s creepy. Yeah, well, of course, the arms of his 15 year old
Bob Smith 25:15
girlfriends Oh, he was famous for Oh, my young drinking drug use.
Marcia Smith 25:20
That’s just Yeah, obscene.
Bob Smith 25:23
Yeah, yeah. But in 1959 He died in his last words where I had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
Marcia Smith 25:31
Be nice if we could all say that only have a little better moral character.
Bob Smith 25:37
Okay, well, they ended up on a funnier one. Okay. Yeah. This is another movie stars a comedian. He said that was the best ice cream soda I ever tasted. He was part of a twosome. What year he died in 1959. He sucked the last bit of pleasure out of life.
Marcia Smith 25:56
What it wasn’t like Stan Laurel or somebody like that, if
Bob Smith 25:59
somebody liked that, but not these guys were known for a baseball routine. Which
Marcia Smith 26:04
is that first? Yeah. So that was who? Yeah, I’m trying to with Marx
Bob Smith 26:08
Brothers. No, Abbott and Costello Oh, of course. Of course. Lou Costello was currently Well yeah. And apparently he liked to eat apparently liked ice cream. Yes. His last words. Were that was the best ice cream.
Marcia Smith 26:19
I knew that there was 1959. Yeah, yeah. So those are
Bob Smith 26:22
from famous last words. Fond farewells, deathbed diatribes and exclamations upon expiration compiled by Ray Robinson, published by Workman Publishing in 2003. And there’s a lot more in there. Return to that.
Marcia Smith 26:39
Good, man. I’d like to think I’d be clever, but I’ll probably went, I’m not going. I know.
Bob Smith 26:48
Okay, well, there we go. Another round of trivia, Marsha, and we hope you join us again next time we get together. And the meantime we got to go back to I don’t know we’re gonna watch some TV now or what are we doing during this time of aging in place? Is that what we’re doing? Are we aging in place? That’s I think that’s it. Yeah, that doesn’t take any effort. Let’s
Marcia Smith 27:07
go exercise. Okay, okay.
Bob Smith 27:15
The off ramp with Bob Smith is produced in association with CPL, radio and the Cedarbrook Public Library. Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
