By The Pricking of My Thumbs….
November 22, 1963 was a cold, rainy Friday. Nobody wanted to be outside in that slop. There was a blizzard underway on the East Coast.
My father was the head of the Speech and Theater Department at the university where I was a freshman. His students were underway in the production of that infamous accursed play by William Shakespeare, about the Scottish king who is killed off by a usurper whose wife goes nuts and kills herself.
He had hired a professional stage actor, Ramon Bieri from New York, to play the part of the usurper. He did this so that his students could have the experience of working with a pro real time and learning something from it. Now, we’d call it mentoring.
There’s a long-held traditional of a curse attached to this play. You can use the name of the main character on stage during production, but do it in an offhand way or outside the place of production, and something will happen to stop your production, maybe your opening night, among other things. Opening night was Friday, 11/22/63. My father was not superstitious and ignored the tradition of the curse, not believing that anything would happen.
And happen it did.
Ironically, Nov. 22, 1963, Pres. and Mrs. Kennedy were in Dallas, Texas. They were supposed to return to Washington, DC, for Thanksgiving, which was on Nov. 28, 1963. For some reason, Kennedy decided to not have the bulletproof shielding attached to the Lincoln convertible he and Gov. Connolly were riding in. If you are old enough to remember what happened, then you know what happened and how much it was like being smacked by a 2×4.
I was in history class, a little after 1PM. Dr. Wilson was expounding on something, pointing at each of us and asking questions. The door was closed, we were all nearly dozing off, when someone came running down the hallway, opened the door, and said “The President has been shot!”
Huh? What? Confusion?? Yes, in spades.
Dr. Wilson was probably the only person in that room who had the presence of mind to ask immediately “If the President dies in office, who is next in line for the Presidency?”
Inappropriate? No. It was meant to shake your out of your stupefaction.
Someone finally said, “The Vice President.”
And then class was dismissed.
As things came to light, I was convinced for the longest time that LBJ had something to do with it, because he was such a gladhanding sack of crap, but sometimes assassins simply work alone.
Everything shut down. We all watched the funeral procession to Arlington Cemetery, with a black horse named Blackjack led by one of the Guard, with boots reversed in the stirrups. That symbolized a fallen leader.
The play? Opening night was postponed until the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
The irony is that Duncan, the rightful King, was much more popular than his rival, who killed him and took his place.
The video clip is from Patrick Stewart’s TV production of that Scottish play. I believe the full length video is available.
Category: Politics
Nov. 22, 1963 I was in the Great Lakes Navy boot camp barracks when the word came out that JFK was shot. That day, We had Rope Yarn Sunday.
It seems that I have always been driving to work during major tragedies, when Kennedy was shot I was driving to my after school job on main street. When the twin towers were hit I was driving to work on the highway here.
I was driving to Alhanbra (CA) when I heard about the first plane hitting. A few minutes later, I was on my way to jobsite when I heard news of the second plane.
I called the ex and told her to stay home. My job that day was near the 91/710 freeway, and in the LAX landing pattern. To say it was eerily quiet would be an understatement.
Finished the job and went home to see the carnage on TV about noon. I hope my kids never have to bear witness to that.
Me? I was in college when Kennedy was shot, looked out the dorm window when the news came out, strange to see about a thousand people who had all stopped moving and were standing in groups listening to transistor radios, and total silence in the student union.
When the Twin Towers were hit, I was in school again, working security at a fairly large high school. Strange to walk out the door at 2pm, look up and not see a single contrail in the clear sky.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
Attributed to Mark Twain
A bit of JFK Assassination-related trivia: the assassination changed both the release date and dialog of a movie now considered an all-time classic.
The movie “Dr. Strangelove” was set to be released in December 1963. The first screen test of the finished film was in November, 1963 – on the 22nd of November.
Afterwards, the Major Kong survival kit scene was modified. Originally, the final line of that scene was “A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all this stuff.” The word “Vegas” was redubbed over the original “Dallas” in the version finally released.
JFK’s assassination also delayed the release date of the film by a month, until late January 1964.
Thank you, Hondo.
I was in high school in NC when the word was passed. Girls cried, as did boys. Me? I was ambivalent. My parents were very conservative Republicans so, as often happens with children, I was conservative as well. It was only later that I realized we had lost a good man, a President who could bring the country together. I believe we would have much less civil strife today had he not been assassinated.
Almost exactly the same as my upbringing and thoughts, both then and now. Damn, HMC Ret, are you as smart as I am, or am I as smart as you?
My dad was always Republican, but he loved JFK … Kennedy authorized them to wear the beret. Dad had been in the 77th in the 50s, then after commission, again from 1962~68.
We were in Monterey on that fateful day. Dad was in the Thai course at DLI and I was in 5th grade, eating lunch. We were dismissed early that day.
That’s the only time I saw my Dad cry.
I commented to several people that this was the first time I had seen absolutely zero notice taken of the day. Don’t think I saw anything about it.
i was not to become me for another 3 1/2 years… but i grew up with a bust of President Kennedy as well as Abe Lincoln in profile on a plack. they hang on my walls now.
I was five, and when the bulletin came my family was visiting my grandparents in Georgia. Mom was ironing, and Dad was out of the house for a while. When he came back, Mom was still ironing, but crying too. When she told him the president had been shot, he cried as well. I didn’t understand what was going on, but later in life JFK and his time came to mean a lot to me.
Today is my birthday, same as John John Kennedy’s is and the anniversary date of President Kennedy being buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
I only wish you could see what has become of your political party.
Not only would you not recognize your party, they would call you a misogynist, a bigot, homophobic and a host of other things and deny you entry to any of their functions…
I have never understood any of this. I was in 8th grade at the time of the Kennedy assassination. When the teacher came in the room and announced that the president had been shot, the whole room erupted in cheers. Kennedy was not a popular president where I lived.
I was in third grade, in Virginia, and didn’t hear about it until the bus ride home.
Me? I was abord the USS Midway CVA41 headed out for a even month deployment to West Pac
That even should be seven.
I was out of the Navy, working at a Sears store in Buena Park Kal. I read recently where John Jr was killed in the plane by a bomb, he was going to do an expose of dad’s killing and go into politics…the scum that be, didn’t apparently like that!