Rosebud

I don't watch much TV, but I was channel surfing the other night and saw that "Citizen Kane" was on. Well, that's a major undertaking for a weeknight, but I decided to take it on. I can't remember the last time I've seen it...probably at least 20 years ago. It really is an incredible movie...particularly regarding its cinematography techniques. Anyone who has an appreciation of black and white photography has to love it.

I did some research on-line while I was watching it and learned that this film literally changed the world of cinematography. One of the techniques that the movie is most famous for is “deep focus.” This was achieved through the use of a wide-angle lens to create a large depth-of-field...in other words, everything is in focus. Once I learned that, I began watching for it and could see that it was used many many times.

If you haven't seen it...watch it...and find out what Rosebud means.

On a more superficial side (for those who have seen it), remember when he builds Xanadu for his second wife? Geez, the fireplace in the main room was the size of my living room! And when she is telling him she's leaving him, she's holding a muff. A muff! Anyone out there remember muffs?? I used to have one when I was a kid! A white one made out of rabbit fur with a little black speck of fur on one side. I loved that thing. When is the last time you've even HEARD the word "muff?" (Well, at least in THAT context...let's keep it clean here!)

Anyway, watching "Citizen Kane" brought up some other memories. If you're not familiar with the story line, Charles Kane is the owner of several newspapers. I have a background in journalism so it makes it a little more personal for me. I've recently worked at the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung...newspaper for a bustling metropolis of 50,000 people...which was a far cry from my days at The Washington Post back in my BC ("before children") years. That seems like a lifetime ago now.

I worked there in the early 80s...after the Watergate era. Carl Bernstein had left by then, but Bob Woodward was (and still is) there. I didn't work in the newsroom, but for their broadcast division (Post-Newsweek Stations) when they owned TV stations WDIV in Detroit, WFSB in Hartford, WPLG in Miami, and WJXT in Jacksonville, FL. They own two more now. When I first started working there, Post-Newsweek was a separate entity and we had our own office in Georgetown. There were three big TVs in the conference room. If we didn't go out to lunch, we would sit in there and watch "All My Children" on all three TVs. Ha! Good times. One of my most vivid memories was when the plane fell into the Potomac River during a snow storm because it wasn't de-iced. That was only a couple miles away from our office. What a night. None of us could get out so we watched everything on those three TVs until the snow let up.

Eventually we moved to the corporate offices at The Post's main building downtown. It was there that I had the distinct honor of meeting owner and publisher Katharine Graham, a truly remarkable woman. After her husband, Phillip, committed suicide, she took over the paper and ran it herself...and was extraordinarily successful at it.

We had lots of parties and social events. While I was there, they teamed with Larry King to do a news show. I don't think it lasted for even a year. But I did get this shot of him at one of our Christmas parties. He wouldn't know me from the man in the moon now. This was taken in either 1981 or 1982. He looks a little older now.

Newspaper times are VERY different than they were years ago. Everything has gone to the internet, so newspapers are folding up all over the world. As a result, the quality of newspapers has gone down because of low pay and high stress...which is sad. There was such an excitement about it back then with breaking stories and investigative reporting. To put it in a more succinct journalistic style, "It just ain't the same."

On a final note, Washington DC was a very exciting place to live. There was always something going on and the energy was always high...not to mention all the museums, festivals, memorials, history, etc. There are only two things I don't miss - the traffic and the cost of living.