the list of 9 for june 29, 2006:
THE NINE MOST FAMOUS DOCUMENTED CENTENARIANS
Here we pay tribute to those lucky humans who lived to see their one-hundredth birthday. Now, Irealize that when you start going back into the murk of ancient history, you hear tales of allkinds of really, really old people. Methuselah comes to mind. He lived to be 969, if youbelieve the Bible, and I don't. So for this list we're looking at the most famousdocumented centenarians - those who, on official record, made it to the age of 100 if notolder. And I'm not including those people who became famous simply because they were old, such asJeanne Calment of France, who lived to see her record-setting 122nd birthday.
- BOB HOPE. Beloved (by some) Hollywood actor/comedian livedto be 100. But did you know that he was also a ferociously greedy land speculator who madehundreds of millions of dollars off of land he owned in the once-undeveloped San Fernando Valley?Hope is even credited with one regrettable invention, the mini mall, thanks to a particularlylucrative land deal where he snapped up all the Standard Oil gas stations around the Valley,closed them down and then developed the properties into this new style of consumerist architecture, blighting the American landscape forevermore. Thanks Bob!
- GEORGE BURNS. Hope's contemporary, the noted comedianBurns, whose first career was straight man to his wife Gracie Allen and whose second career was asstandup comic and film actor after her death, also lived to be 100, with no scummy land-grabbinglegacy to my knowledge.
- LENI RIEFENSTAHL. Back into the controversy pit we gowith the German filmmaker who died at 101. Riefenstahl lived quite a life: directing and starringin her own films during the 20's and 30's (at a time when women just didn't direct movies, leastof all in Germany), then making two beautiful but obviously creepy Nazi propaganda films underHitler, after which she spent the rest of her life denying any involvement with the Nazis. Right.Still, she was an accomplished photographer who was a licensed scuba diver late into her 90's, which is impressive no matter what you believe about her politics.
- IRVING BERLIN. How fitting to squeeze ol' Leni in betweentwo Jews! And how ironic that this Jew, Irving Berlin, who also lived to be 101, is best known forwriting gentile-oriented songs like "White Christmas" and "God Bless America" (the latter rejectedas our national anthem either because Berlin was Jewish or because he married a Catholic. "Let usall be grateful for a land so fair," indeed!), among hundreds of others.
- THE QUEEN MOTHER. Originally known as ElizabethBowes-Lyon, the Queen Mum remained the most popular member of England's royal family up until herdeath at 101 years of age. If her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, follows suit, poor Prince Charlesmay never become king of England - his mother might outlive him.
- STROM THURMOND. Readers outside the United States maynot recognize the name, but Thurmond, an ultra-conservative American politician who served arecord 48 years in the U.S. Senate, lived to be 100. Oh, he also once ran for president in 1948 ona pro-segregation, anti-Civil Rights ticket. He holds another Senate record for the longestfilibuster in its history - against, of course, the passage of the Civil Rights Act. And by theway, before all this he secretly fathered an illegitimate child... with his family's black maid.
- GRANDMA MOSES. Celebrated "outsider artist" Anna Mary"Grandma" Moses started painting at the ripe old age of 77. She died at 101, which meant she livedto see many years of success in the art world, probably much to her own surprise.
- SEÑOR WENCES. A mainstay on the Ed Sullivan Showand a frequent target of impersonators, Spanish ventriloquist Wences was popular for his "S'allright? S'all right." routine, involving a puppet he painted onto his own hand and another puppetthat was basically a head in a box. Wences outlived all the other people on this list, making itall the way up to 103. S'all right.
- HAL ROACH. I end this list with legendary film producerRoach, who made tons of comedies in the 1920's and 30's, kick-starting the careers of Laurel &Hardy (his studio was the first to pair the two comics up), Harold Lloyd, the "Our Gang" kids,Harry Langdon, Thelma Todd, and many other early movie stars. His studio was also the first to gointo an all-color production schedule and later became one of the first television studios. Hedied at 100.
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