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jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:15 am

Speaking of Walter Winchell, for those of you too young and bicoastal to be aware of such things, 60 years ago, a Chicago newspaper started a column to rival Winchell's. Kup wrote his last column on Thursday and died over the weekend. Here's a snippet from Neil Steinberg's fine obit:His own television program ran from 1959 to 1986, syndicated at one point to 70 stations nationwide, and featured newsmakers from Richard Nixon to Alger Hiss to Malcolm X â€” with whom he forged an improbable friendship.The show was known for its spontaneity. Carl Sandburg once walked off the set in mid-broadcast, declaring he had to â€œwee-wee.â€ Radical Abbie Hoffman lit up a joint on the air and was asked by Kup to leave.Ann Landers shocked the audience â€” and Kup â€” when, on a show that paired her with porn star Linda Lovelace, the advice columnist described in precise detail the act Lovelace was famous for.

johnsfulmer · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:48 am

Addendum: For those too young, a fictionalized Winchell can be seen in "The Sweet Smell of Success," with Burt Lancaster as the columnist, Tony Curtis as the unctuous PR man and Martin Milner as perhaps the world's most improbable jazz musician. The movie's still interesting, if not--and I'm looking for the right word here--overwrought. I think Clifford Odets wrote the screenplay, which might explain that.

SeaRaven · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:21 am

Thanks, folks. One never knows what one might learn on Testy Copy Editors. This is indeed cool.I wouldn't be surprised if the mention of Martin Milner launches an intense Adam-12 discussion.

johnsfulmer · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:46 am

Or for the older folks, an intense "Route 66" discussion.

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:12 pm

"One Adam-12, One Adam-12. Proceed to 4400 block Riverside Drive in Santa Monica...240 in progress..."Martin Milner and Kent McCord made quite a crimefighting team. I grew up on those reruns!I have to say, though, I was much more enamored of Dave Starsky's tricked out '72 or '73 Gran Torino than I was of the staid black-and-white cruiser Milner and McCord used to traverse the highways and byways of L.A.

SeaRaven · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:43 pm

I used to drive a '67 Ford Fairline 500 exactly like Joe Friday's on Dragnet, except that his was olive and mine was forest green. Also, mine was a straight-6, and, knowing Joe, he must have had the 289 V-8. That's the kinda guy he was. Also, his was brand new, and mine was a relic by the time it fell into my hands. Come to think of it, those cars weren't very similar at all. Please disregard this post.[ November 11, 2003: Message edited by: SeaRaven ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:59 pm

Kup was the only man I've allowed to call me "pal" since I was in the Cub Scouts.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:29 pm

One of the highlights of my journalism career was anonymously writing one of Kup's closing gags, quietly placing me in the pantheon with Ivan Bunny.I also recall fixing a typo and punctuation in one of his closers and calling him to run it past him. He wasn't tracking with me and thought I was challenging the quip or didn't get it. So I finally read it back to him to make sure we had it worded correctly. And Kup just said: "That's a joke, son."

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