As it doesn’t come up that often, once again I must review what the Ethics Alarms “Kaufman” designation signifies. I hand out the award for alleged ethics violation or other news stories so unremarkable and trivial that they are literally not worth talking about or thinking about, except to note how foolish it was to raise the matter in the first place. From the EA glossary:
“George S. Kaufman was a celebrated wit and playwright (“The Man Who Came To Dinner”, “You Can’t Take It With You”, and many more, usually in tandem with Moss Hart), and he moonlighted as a panelist on the early TV show, “This is Show Business,” which often featured a celebrity who would consult the panel members about a personal problem. On one show, singer Eddie Fisher ( father of Carrie and Isla, husband of Debbie Reynolds and, scandalously, adulterous lover and eventual pre-Richard Burton spouse of Elizabeth Taylor) wanted advice from the panel because desirable women refused to go out with him because of his youth. Kaufman ‘s unsympathetic reply:
“Mr. Fisher, on Mount Wilson there is a telescope that can magnify the most distant stars to twenty-four times the magnification of any previous telescope. This remarkable instrument was unsurpassed in the world of astronomy until the development and construction of the Mount Palomar telescope. The Mount Palomar telescope is an even more remarkable instrument of magnification. Owing to advances and improvements in optical technology, it is capable of magnifying the stars to four times the magnification and resolution of the Mount Wilson telescope. Mr. Fisher, if you could somehow put the Mount Wilson telescope inside the Mount Palomar telescope, you still wouldn’t be able to see my interest in your problem.”
A “Kaufman” is awarded when someone, usually in the news media, makes a big deal about something so trivial and unremarkable that it demands apathy. We are all familiar with fake news, and one of its more annoying sub-categories are stories that are presented and framed as news that aren’t news at all. People Magazine just came out with a doozy, as “Hazel” used to say on the long-running sitcom that nobody but me remembers: “Mom Defends Decision to Give Her Daughter an Unconventional Name: ‘It Just Felt Perfect’ (Exclusive)”
Ethics Alarms 
Well, here’s a name for you: Te’ Quillvion Jones, Jr. Yep. That’s a real name. And he is a “junior.” The mind simply boggles.
jvb
Just wait for “The Password” to have a son who he names The Password García who goes to play for the same team and gets the nickname “Jhostynxon”.
His younger brother, Johanfran García, nicknamed “The Username”, is a professional baseball with the Red Sox. It is not uncommon for Latin American parents to name their children some sort of transliterated English sounding name. It is very common in Honduras and Guatemala. John becomes “Jhon” or some such. So, this isn’t too surprising to me.
jvb
My wife taught high-school Latin for a while after our kids were “mobile”. The black kids with traditional names in her classes called the non-standard names of some of the other black kids “ghetto names”.
Speaking of ‘sixties sit coms, in “Gilligan’s Island,” Mrs. Howell is always referred to as “Lovey” by Thurston Howell III, played by the incomparable Jim Backus. Come to think of it, one of my best Cuban high school buddies calls his wife “Lovey,” but with his accent it comes out as “Lowy.”
Many years ago I met a young man named Love Hawaii.
Wait: I love Hawaii!
We have a grandson named ‘Catch,’ and according to two internet sources, there are only 18 boys with that name in the US.
Not as exotic as Jhostynxon, though.
I remember Hazel! I loved that program. I’ll have to look for episodes.
I’m so tired of click bait sensationalism. I have never understood enjoyment of gossip, it’s so mean-spirited. It used to be only the check-out counter tabloids that engaged in it, I didn’t foresee the mainstream media sinking as low as it has. It’s disheartening.
Shirley Booth was a renowned, serious Broadway dramatic actress, and the part was out of character. I don’t recall the show being run in repeats much: I bet its on Hulu.
If you loved “Hazel,” you don’t actually remember it. You remember seeing it, not actually it. She was a meddlesome combination of Eve Arden in “The Mothers in Law” and “Alice” in the Brady Bunch, with a pinch of Nanny from Nanny and the Professor.
Harsh but true.
I was going to add something about Mr. Ed… but I thought I’d be nice. And you’re right, outside of Hazel, Shirley Booth was a prolific stage actress. Like Elaine Stritch, perhaps, — both talented and both had that rough exterior, world-weary wit and sharp tongue…
Booth was more accomplished and acclaimed as a lead dramatic actress than Stritch, though. Stritch became a cult figure, thanks to “Company.” Booth won two Tonys for dramas and an Academy Award. Stritch was always in supporting roles.
Booth was more “vulnerable” in her stage persona than Stritch, which is a nice layer if done well. Thelma Ritter was another crusty, world-weary, sarcastic everywoman (“working girl”) on stage. They all deserve credit for being original variations on a theme. You have experience as a director of plays I think.
I’ve watched a handful of Thelma Ritter of late…for the first time. She was terrific.
An understatement. “Rear Window” is my favorite. She always seemed to be the same age…and she died in what should have been her prime, at 66, of a heart attack. In so many classics, including “Miracle on 34th Street,” as the mother Kris Kingle sends to Gimbels. (I have to add that to the Guide!)
Very likely! I was 5 or 6 when it was broadcast. I remember liking the actress. I felt a twinge of nostalgia when Jack mentioned it today, but I can’t say I recall episodes. More like a nostalgic fog 🙂
How about this: Female, pronounced Fee-mah-lee. She said her mom explained it by saying that she (mom) delayed naming her, so the hospital “named” her.
One of the rare benefits of working in a jail. 🙂
Given that the vast majority of our inherited names were, at some point in the distant past, literally just words in the common language, Love should past muster.
Alfred = Aelfraed = Elf (wise) Counsel (Anglo Saxon)
Rudolph = Rhuodwulf = Glorious Wolf (Germanic)
Frank = “free man” (germanic)
Israel = “wrestles with God” (Hebrew)
Edward = Eadweard = “wealthy guardian” (Anglo Saxon)
John = Yohanan = “God is Gracious” (Hebrew)
Zachary = Zekharyahu = “God has remembered” (hebrew)
Jennifer/Guinivere = Gwenhwyfar = “Fair one” (welsh)
Sarah = “noblewoman” (Hebrew)
William = Wiljahelmaz = “strong warrior” (Germanic)
Luke = “Lucius” = light bringing or bright (Latin)
Etc
If I had to bust her butt for something, it would be for spending money on a tattoo that makes it look like she was in a bad car accident, has varicose veins on her arm, and/or received a transplant from a long-mummified body.
Is that the mom in the picture or is the picture a stock photo.
If it is the mom, her bigger bad decision was to ruin her rare beauty with the ugly tatoo.
That’s her, at least according to People.
FWIW, the Ima Hogg story is only half true; the “Ura” part is an old joke. She had no sisters, but had three brothers with normal names. Her father chose her name from a poem written by a relative, and there’s some evidence he didn’t realize the oddity of the resulting name. That would seem odd, considering he wasn’t some bumpkin, but a landowner who was later attorney general and then governor of Texas. Oil discovered on the land after his death made Ima quite wealthy.
Ima seems to have been a very nice civic-minded person, supporting worthy causes and collecting art and important American furniture. Her house/museum in Houston is worth a visit if you like that sort of thing.