Hemingway’s passing hits 50-year mark
Raise a mojito today to the memory of literary giant Ernest Hemingway.
He died 50 years ago today, ending his own life with a shotgun in his cabin in Ketchum, Idaho. He was 61.
In 1953 he had won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Old Man and the Sea." A year later: a Nobel Prize in Literature.
He inspired writers, journalists and adventurers. As a teenager, he was a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star.
Still in his teens, he was wounded as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. He was a war correspondent, mingled with the literati of Paris and explored Spain's passion for bullfighting.
James Michener's books about Spain, "The Drifters" and "Iberia," served as my main introduction to Hemingway.
Before bucket lists came along, one of my Top 10 to-do's was Pamplona's running of the bulls, thanks to Michener and Hemingway. My closest connection to Hemingway came on July 8, 1978, my 36th birthday. After the bull run, I noticed TV camera crews surrounding a middle-aged man in a runner's traditional white outfit set off with a red scarf.
Someone excitedly whispered, "It's Matt Carney," an Irish-American whose name I instantly recalled from "Iberia."
He was among the most famous and revered foreigners who ran at Pamplona over several decades.
He was just as well-known for famously tossing red wine in Hemingway's face. His beef: Hemingway was celebrated for writing and talking about the bull run, but he never joined the runners on the cobblestone streets.
When the TV camera crews left, I introduced myself as a reporter with The Associated Press (who, much to his chagrin, didn't have a tape recorder with him).
On my return 10 years later, I interviewed a dozen runners the day before another birthday. Exhilarated, my running mates -- Denny from Montana and Phil from Tucson, Ariz. -- and I celebrated with 9 a.m. beers at Bar Txoco, a Hemingway haunt also known for its mud-thick hot chocolate.
He preferred cognac with vanilla and later, during his years in Cuba, mojitos.
Salud.
SIGHTINGS
In separate groups at Celine Dion (Caesars Palace) on Friday: "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, Perez Hilton and Imperial Palace headliner Frank Marino. ... Danny DeVito, dining with wife Rhea Perlman on Thursday at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant (Paris). ... Dot-Marie Jones of "Glee" at Barry Manilow (Paris) on Friday. ... NHL great Jaromir Jagr, who signed Friday with the Philadelphia Flyers, dining at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (MGM Grand) Thursday.
THE PUNCH LINE
"A lot of people are taking time off for the holidays. For instance, Rod Blagojevich is going away for a while." -- David Letterman
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
