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Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death

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Seriously
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
Through some really random and unexpected events, I was working on a coffee table book that Mr McCourt wrote and my company put out, dedicated to the firefighters in 2001/2002 after 9/11. I was literally a kid at the time - and somehow ended up in the crew room of a firehouse preceding a press interview having lunch with Tom Brokaw and Frank McCourt.

Just me - and them, it was something that just 'happened' and couldn't have been more special.

Here I was, dying to him questions about his life, his career, his experiences; ANYTHING & he was much happier asking me about me and my silly little entry level job and what I wanted to do next. "Frank" & "Tom" told me some stories, gave me some amazing advice and really listened to what I had to say. That lunch reigns in my mind as one of the most fantastically bizarre and special experiences I have had.

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Edited by Seriously at 07/14/09 1:32 PM Seriously was starred Seriously was unstarred

LatestBy
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
I got to interview him in college, and I don't think I could ever tell him how much it meant to me that he'd take the time to talk to a little student reporter. He couldn't have been kinder or funnier.

We had dinner, and I - a vegetarian - ate the served shrimp salad because I didn't want to offend someone who grew up so hungry.

After dinner, I realized he'd barely touched his food. Dammit, Frank!
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shorty63136
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
Oh, dear God no. I absolutely ADORE his writing! Here's to good health, Frankie!
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Bob Wiley
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
I would have sworn I saw him coming out of the movie "Up" on the UWS about a month ago. He looked somewhat frail but certainly not near his death. Hope this turns out to be just a rumor, and not that I saw his doppleganger (who also had a brogue, heard him say he wasn't too impressed with the movie).
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The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx
07/14/09

@Bob Wiley: That might have been his brother Alphie, who looks very, very much like Frank and is also a writer. I believe he lives on the UWS.

BTW: Frank has done lots of things in his long life -- at one point, in the early 1980s, he and his brother Malachy did an off-off-B'way show called "A Couple of Blaguards." Much of the material, which was autobiographical, formed the basis for "Angela's Ashes." The show pops up occasionally, so if you have the chance, it's worth seeing.
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Seriously
07/14/09

@Bob Wiley: He does have an apartment on 77th street - maybe this isn't true...
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CaptainFantastic
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
Cancer sucks. I hope he recovers fully and makes it onto http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.com/
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scroll_lock
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
This is exactly why I don't leave the house without SPF 5Million on my Irish epidermis.
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BadUncle
07/14/09

@scroll_lock: Stop publicly displaying your epidermis, and maybe you won't get locked up again.

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scroll_lock
07/14/09

@BadUncle: Thanks for bailing me out, BTW.
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BadUncle
07/14/09

@scroll_lock: Hey, I just like you with that fresh prison smell.

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scroll_lock
07/14/09

@BadUncle: MMMM. L'eau d'Institution.
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unclevanya
07/14/09

@scroll_lock: Cell No. 5?
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Kid Twist
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
I knew him back when he was plain old Mr. McCourt, a teacher at my high school. Very sad.
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SarahHeartburn
07/14/09

@Kid Twist: My ex was a Stuyvesant kid, and everyone from that school I know loves him.
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DaeSu
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
I recall being on a flight from Boston to San Francisco about a month or so after "Angela's Ashes" was published, and there were seven people in the cabin reading this remarkable memoir. Here's hoping Mr. McCourt has many more years in front of him.
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FormerEnglishMajor
07/14/09

In reply to Frank McCourt Is Said to be Near Death
I absolutely LOVED Angela's Ashes, and went to hear FMcC at a couple of readings. My Irish Catholic MIL said it was a complete pack of lies ("it wasn't that bad; the Church didin't turn people away; Irish men don't drink THAT much"). edited to note - my MIL is completely crazy about defending a. The Church, and b. The Irish. It drives me completely insane. Not only do I believe Frank McCourt's memoir was true, I think he underestimated the impact of what he went through on himself and his siblings. His mother - I will never understand why - if she couldn't leave the father - did she keep getting pg?
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Edited by FormerEnglishMajor at 07/14/09 10:32 AM FormerEnglishMajor was starred

DramaClub
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor:

And whom did you believe? Mr. McCourt or your mother-in-law?
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Edited by DramaClub at 07/14/09 10:21 AM DramaClub was starred DramaClub was unstarred

Calraigh
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Maybe she's delusional? Because it was, they did and hell effing yes, they do.
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scroll_lock
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Oh, stop. It's all true.
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Bob Wiley
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: My Irish Catholic grandmother, who has never even been to Ireland, also claims "Angela's Ashes" was exaggerated. Insinuate anything remotely derogatory about the Kennedys and she will literally never speak to you again. That's just how they do, no negative talk against the motherland.
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Calraigh
07/14/09

@Bob Wiley: And therein lies the definitive difference between Irish-Americans and Irish. A) Nobody Irish would ever deny it and B) Nobody Irish ever refers to Ireland as ''The Motherland''.
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iplaudius
07/14/09

@Calraigh: James Joyce called Ireland the pig that eats her young (Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, “Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow”).
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Iwillnotauditionforastar
07/14/09

@DramaClub: As an Irish American I have learned quite well that you never believe an Irishman. In fact, I am lying to you right now.
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TriedandTrue
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Holy cow - do we have the same MIL?? My MIL said the same.
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Calraigh
07/14/09

@iplaudius: This is true.
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SarahHeartburn
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Hell, even Irish friends of my age (40's-50's) sniff at the book and say it's nonsense invented for the American market. I don't deny there's a trace of blarney in Frank and Malachy. When I was growing up on the (now Upper)East Side, guys like that were called P.I.'s - Professional Irishman. Always a bit on stage about the Auld Sod, etc. But the vaguest idea of the history of the times will tell you that the book could quite well be true.
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SarahHeartburn
07/14/09

@Calraigh: I've been living in Europe for 20 years and I've never visited Ireland (granted, my travel time and budget is limited and I like to go home to NYC as often as I can). But then there was my grandmother, who emigrated very young before the First World War, and who used to tell me, "Ireland is a wonderful country. Promise me you'll never go back there."
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SarahHeartburn
07/14/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Do you not know that contraceptives were unavailable over the counter or even by prescription in Ireland till the late 70's-80s?
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FormerEnglishMajor
07/14/09

@SarahHeartburn: Are you serious? Were my husband disappearing for months at a time, drinking up all the money while my children starved - he would not be welcome in the house, much less my bed. The whole neighborhood told her to get rid of him.
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registered
07/14/09

@SarahHeartburn: You could get the pill from sympathetic doctors by claiming menstrual pain. The funny thing was, when they tried to legalize condoms, they decided they could only be obtained w/ an RX for "normal personal use". They had to backtrack on that when the wags started demanding Rxs for 100 condoms a week...
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