Word: talker
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...recently from New Jersey. I suggested that the advanceman look up my friend the town clerk, who pumped gas and sold dog licenses and could, in theory, write out a permit that would allow you to bury a body on your land. The town clerk was a good, brisk talker, and although no gossip, he was the preferred source of reliable information on town affairs. He was also a good, brisk businessman, a state legislator, a considerable landowner, and the president of the bank that stood across the road from his gas pumps, conveniently situated to make a nice, punchy...
...extent that David Rockefeller is a typical New Yorker. But he knew what was required, and he gave a good, understated interpretation of his role as an upright rural citizen somewhat bewildered by the attention that he and his state were getting. The network's No. 2 talker did the show, and congratulated himself for extracting a snappy interview from the town clerk...
...Ayuh." (I am now, though only in fantasy, being interviewed by the network's No. 2 talker. My friend the town clerk is so beset by journalists in search of the average New Hampshireman that he speaks only to Theodore White and James Reston, and I am the likeliest interview subject that the No. 2 talker could come up with. We are standing in my wood lot, surrounded by beechwood slash and camera cables. Since this is a carefully produced fantasy, I am wearing a DeKalb Seed Corn baseball cap, a green-and-black checked wool shirt, Ralph Lauren...
...That's trying too hard," Beer said, adding "there's no reason to force a non-talker to talk. The problem is that some students are more able than others...
Just as his welcome was wearing out in Los Angeles, Mankiewicz was saved by the arrival of another brilliant talker, Orson Welles. The young director suggested a collaboration. The result, a thinly disguised biography of Press Lord William Randolph Hearst, was Citizen Kane. Even before the classic flickered onscreen, Welles and Mank were disputing the writing credits; who contributed what remains a matter of acrimonious debate. After exhaustive research, Meryman convincingly concludes that though the script was a cooperative venture, the controlling interest belongs to Mankiewicz...