Obit

Norma Nannini

by PETER BESAS

Sadly we must add yet another obit to this webpage. It is for one of the longest-remaining Variety troopers, Norma Nannini, who passed away in New York on August 10th after a long illness. Norma had just turned 70.
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Lyle Stuart

by PETER BESAS

Lyle Stuart, born as Lionel Simon in Manhattan, probably the oldest surviving ex-mugg, died in Englewood, N.J. on June 24th, aged 83. Stuart served a stint on the old Variety in 1946 as a cub reporter. After leaving the company he published a book called “God Wears a Bowtie” a thinly-veiled novel which uses its author’s experiences on the paper as the armature for a first-person assault on Abel Green’s venality. At the time the book came out, it supposedly was read “under the desks” on West 46th Street.
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Watt ankles this mortal coil

by Peter Besas

After doing his military service, and following a stint working for Bernard Chevry’s MIP-TV organization, Roger joined Variety in London as a junior salesman. Upon the temporary retirement of Harold Myers as London honcho, Bob Hawkins, who had been bureau chief in Rome, took on the job as European manager in London (thereby making way for Hanka Werba to move from Madrid and take over the Rome operation.) When Hawkins took charge of the London office, Watt ankled the paper.
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George Gilbert (Gilb) passes away

Veteran Variety, film scribe and copy editor George Gilbert, 92, passed away in a hospital near his home in Crystal River, Florida, on the evening of February 12. His daughter, Corinne Pinkos, was with him at the end and says his illness was sudden. He was suffering from a bad cold that he just couldn’t seem to kick.
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