by PETER BESAS
It took 73 years to accomplish what most people seem to achieve in 50 or 60, but “Besa” finally managed to achieve the status of “grandfather” last August 29th. The little Besas was born in Madrid and her name is “Alexandra”. Parents are Mark Besas and Pepa Eizaguirre (in Spain, the mother maintains her maiden name even after marriage). Now for those long sleepless nights with the feeding bottle — for the parents, not grandpa.
by JACK LOFTUS
What sad news to hear about Norma. I will remember her high-pitched voice (did she have any other?), her uncanny knowledge that your Variety ID card was about to expire, and, natch, if you ever went up to the fourth floor you better have a damn good reason. I don’t recall how many cats (the animal kind) guarded that space, tho Norma was a terror if they got out and downstairs where the reporters lived and anything could happen. I miss Norma. I can hear her still…
by MORT BRYER
This happened, I estimate, about twenty years ago, plus. My point of reference is based on the year I moved from the Garden State, (NJ) to lovely, bucolic Connecticut, 1983, and before the big ball knocked down that noble, towering edifice on West 46th Street in early 1988, a period a.k.a. as “after the sale”.
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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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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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