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Paul Newman: Admirable American
This is a center-right website, right? So if we were to start a series of posts on admirable Americans, we’d have to begin with a dead white man, naturally. But I’m writing this first entry about a dead white man who is only mostly dead (bonus points for identifying the movie reference), not an American founder. This post also happens to be personal.
Most of us know of Paul Newman’s admirable performances as an actor. Or we know that he had a passion for auto racing. Or maybe we associate the name and face with Newman’s Own salad dressings and ever-expanding line of quality food products. If you’ve purchased any and read the labels, you know that all the post-tax profits of Newman’s Own sales go to charity. That’s certainly praiseworthy.
And most of us of a certain age know that Paul Newman’s 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward was one of the few enduring marriages in Hollywood. That’s amazingly admirable.
What you may not know is Paul Newman started something seriously good for kids with serious illnesses. It’s called the Serious Fun Children’s Network. It’s an international network of camps for kids with medical conditions needing professional supervision. These camps give exceptional kids a chance to have some ordinary summer camp fun. And they’re entirely free to the families. My youngest daughter is at one of them right now.
My daughter, Kate, and I checked-in at Children’s Hospital in Denver this morning to catch her bus, where she was greeted by smiling (volunteer) camp counselors and about 20 other campers, nearly half of them in wheelchairs. Other campers will be transported to the camp outside Gypsum, Colorado by their families today.
All the medical forms were filled out months ago, so today was about parents handing off kids, their medications, and camp gear to counselors and nursing staff. The nurses — one to each cabin — and doctors volunteering at Roundup River Ranch were already in place, waiting for the campers to arrive. They’ve been preparing for this moment for weeks and months. The nurses at the hospital told me they battle each other for the opportunity to volunteer each summer. Shifts still have to be covered, so not everyone can go.
My Kate and these other kids will get to sing, dance, goof off, and tell scary stories around the campfire. They’ll kayak, rock climb, slide the zip line, practice archery, and ride horses. Perhaps best of all, they’ll make friends; it’s a friend-making factory, according to the literature.
Not many of us will have such an admirable effect on so many young lives or leave such a legacy. Paul Newman did. His hope for these kids was that they would:
Kick back and raise a little hell.
I suspect Paul Newman is doing the same from his perch in Heaven.
Thanks, Paul.
Please feel free to continue this series by honoring another admirable American in a post of your own, or in the comments below.
Published in Culture, Entertainment, General
Few people will ever top that, WC.
A wonderful story.
I love Paul Newman.
When I was about twelve? thirteen? I was home from school with some minor illness, exaggerated for the purpose, and permitted to watch TV. An old movie was on—can’t remember what it was, but PN was the star. And he’s doing some kind of spy thing, and there’s a young woman (with Big Hair—must have been an early 60’s movie) and I can’t remember anything except that they’re standing in the foyer of her apartment, and she’s politely showing him the door, and he’s trying to convince her to let him stay.
They exchange a few words along the lines of “Just one drink…” and “I have to wash my hair…” and then PN leans back against the wall and looks at her with his blue eyes and says “Aw, come on…”
And suddenly I, at twelve, sitting there with my poor excuse for a head cold, ducking a math test, sitting on my mother’s couch pretending to be sick…suddenly, I understood the Whole Thing…romance, sex, love, eros, puberty, hormones, babies, marriage…
Like that scene in Young Frankenstein: Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you…
Love that guy. Still buy his spaghetti sauce. Always will.
Sorry, what was the question?
Awwww . . . Sis. This is such a wonderful tribute to, as you said – an “admirable” man.
I know he’s smiling down on our precious remarkable Kate as she fulfills his admonition to:
Kick back and raise a little hell. :)
Yeah, I thought about putting something in there about “easy on the eyes,” but he doesn’t get much credit for that. Just blessed with incredibly good looks.
…to blaa-a–athe…
Can always count on you to raise a little hell, BDB. You win!
Hah, when I saw the topic of “Paul Newman” the first thing I thought of was Kate B’s reference to him in her book. She was discussing with her children what qualities she might want in a husband should she remarry, and one of them suggested Paul Newman might fit the bill, which she thought sounded all right. Made me grin, Kate! Those blue eyes.
I don’t know about his politics but based on one interview I heard, I think Paul Newman was a good guy. He said he had arguments with his wife sometimes and would storm out of the house but immediately stop and think “Where would I go?” And go back in. Now, ladies, we can all agree, he could find somewhere else to go. So I think he realized he didn’t want to go anywhere else.
No, WC we’re not going to talk about other admirable people, we are just going to talk about Paul Newman. Did we mention the blue eyes?
Raawwwrrr.
Glad to hear the camps are so successful and your Kate is up for adventure.
I think Paul Newman understood love. It showed in his life and work. It is not what is done in front of the “cameras” but what is done when they are off.
I don’t know if he are someone else came up with the idea but it was a work of genius. Create good products and jobs and from the profits help people. Profits are good. Jobs are good. Charity is wonderful.
WC,
I spend a lot of time and righteous effort ‘ginning up my disdain of Hollywood stars. I always thought the labels of PNs sauces and dressings just read a little too self-satisfied and smarmy and precious. And I knew nothing of the Serious Fun Children’s Network.
Now I gots to reevaluate (dagnambit).
Hope your daughter has a wonderful time and does get to raise a little hell.
On the contrary, I think you get kicked off ricochet if you *don’t* get the classic reference… You witch!
What impressed me was the quality of the products. I have never had a bad one. I took the charity with a grain of low sodium.
Love hearing about little Kate, by the way. My boys and I just watched “cars,” with Newman. Good fun.
And let me chime in with a shout-out to Children’s Hospital in Denver. When I lived there, I gave blood every 6 weeks for years at their very own, tiny blood bank. The nurses were all alumnae of their burn ward and needed a less stressful and more easy-going work environment. They were all totally terrific.
And this was far enough back in time that very few walls existed between donors and recipients: I even received a handwritten thank-you note from one set of parents.
Ahhhh, for the good ‘ole days.
The only story I know of the man indicates that he was (a very) not nice man in person, at least to those in the service industry. But it could have been just a bad day.
Lovely story. I hope Kate has a wonderful time!
Many years ago a very sick young fella from our parish went to “Paul Newman Camp.” Paul Newman made a visit to the camp. The kids didn’t know him as a movie star, but it was enough that the staff considered him to be a star, but he was nice and spent time with the kids. That young guy spent several months telling everyone he met how he had visited with Paul Newman. The trip gave a real boost.
We’ve set the bar awfully high for good human beings, haven’t we?
Hurrah for little Kate—I hope she has wonderful summer.
People are complicated, iWe. I have no doubt the man was flawed.
Trink and I had a brother-in-law who was (a very) not nice man to his wife (our sister) and some of his children. He compensated by being a good and generous (to hard working farmer types) orthopedic surgeon.
Some people compensate more spectacularly than others. What Paul Newman has done for kids with serious medical conditions by starting these camps? That’s pretty spectacular.
Adam Carolla just did a documentary about Paul Newman’s car-racing career, which is well worth watching to understand a little more about the man.
He started racing at 47 (!) when most professional racers were retired.
He raced as an amateur, and as a pro, and finished second at the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France.
He originally raced mostly with the number 33 on his car. As he got older, he started changing the number to match his age. His last race was in car #82, at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. He won, against a field of competitors each a fraction of his age.
When he realized that his new salad dressing venture would only work if he put his face on the bottle, he decided to give all the proceeds to charity. He raised $430 million. Million!
Apparently his politics were pretty left-wing, but in his personal life he was a paragon of good virtue, by all accounts.
One of a kind.
I grew up near where PN lived… He had a reputation as being a very nice person, and everyone in the area had good things to say about him. He did a lot of charity work in the area around land preservation, one of my favorite parks was preserved, in part, due to PN’s involvement. He was very well thought of.
With one caveat: one wasn’t to ask him for an autograph. He considered autographs to be an invasion of his privacy, and he was a private individual, by all accounts.
I had the opportunity to meet him at the race track—I went to school with his partner’s son, who was also racing that day. Perfectly nice guy, but shorter than I expected. And I’m not tall.
And yes, my friend warned me not to ask him for an autograph.
Thanks for the bump, Editor.
Slight edit to clarify that Kate is going to camp (Roundup River Ranch).
My other daughter is traveling from Hillsdale to London via Detroit today with one of Hillsdale’s summer study abroad programs. We were able to afford her this opportunity because RRR is completely free for Kate.
I think I can speak for all these families when I say, we’re forever grateful to Paul Newman, the camp staff and volunteers, and all those who purchase Newman’s Own or otherwise support the Serious Fun Children’s Network.
I remember him showing up on some anti-nuke (“Reagan’s trying to blow up the world”) videos in the late 1980s, so I always had him pegged as a lefty. Nice to hear he had some redeeming qualities.
Miracle Max
I went completely ga-ga over him after seeing Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid in high school, many,many years ago. Then I discovered he was my dad’s age…eww. But I got over it and enjoyed his movies ever after. Interesting, huh, how people aren’t all just “one” way in their personalities? I loathe the labeling that occurs in our political world. If you are THIS, then you must also be This.
Hope your daughter has a fantastic time just being a kid!
He was a Hollywood liberal, but as you’ve describe a very good man and, of course, one of the greatest movie stars in history. I’ll take this post as an opportunity to post one of my favorite Paul Newman scenes…aw, dang it. I can’t find The Hudsucker Proxy double-stitch scene on youtube. I’ll settle for linking this Butch Cassidy and the the Sundance Kid scene:
Annnnnnnnnnnnd… just now I’m remembering that I have to add The Sting to the “Must-See Movies” thread. Talk about “they just don’t make ’em like that anymore.” A period piece about independent con artists vs. organized crime that neither lionizes nor vilifies law enforcement and trusts the audience to be intelligent enough to follow a horse race front-running scam without a pile of excruciating exposition about it?
As an avid amateur magician at the time, I loved John Scarne‘s work doubling for Paul Newman’s hands. I was fascinated by the debate between Scarne and Ed Thorp over Thorp’s “Beat the Dealer.” The math at the time was well over my head. Of course, we now know Thorp worked with Claude Shannon, John Kelley, et al. and that we should think of Thorp’s system as a progenitor of modern machine learning.
As for Newman’s Own, I drank the lemonade for years because it was the best. Ate the occasional pizza. Knew he contributed to charity. Knew he was “a lefty.” Didn’t care much, partly because he put his own money where his mouth was, partly because I never heard any of it went to International A.N.S.W.E.R. or any other transparently evil Stalinist front-groups. And yes, because of his 50+ year marriage and insistence on personal privacy. A guy who sells a good product, loves his wife, minds his own business and prefers others do, too, and would like to see fewer nuclear weapons in the world is A-OK in my book.
Oh, and I’m scary straight, but if you’re a guy and you don’t have an “Oh, $^*#!” reaction to some of PN’s glances in The Sting, there’s something wrong with you.
GG:
Yep. He’s proof that lefties can do good things, too. Especially when they stay out of politics.