WHEN LIFE IMITATES ART
By Peter Vuono
In 1967 two films came out, one being "Ulysses" which had the dubious honor of being the first mainstream movies to use a divisive, offensive word that is now so common that it's used as much as the articles "a" and "the". This is an example where art can proliferate and propagate an idea or term that really can't be very much helpful to society in general. However if we take a different path, depending on how we think, art can be a great influence indeed.
Comedian Steven Wright once said "I tried to day dream but my mind kept wandering". This happened to me yesterday as I was driving and I thought of another event at about the same time in 1967 that I witnessed and never forgot.
My folks took me to the historic Boston Garden because not only did I want to see Bruno Sammartino, I wanted to see the return of a sports entertainment legend who had been out of the Northeast for quite sometime- William D. Calhoun.
William was better known as Haystack Calhoun and his "shtick" or "angle" as it is called in wrestling was to wear Oshkosh farmer jeans, a horseshoe around his neck, and to wrestle barefoot. Haystack, who weighed 600 pounds took on the persona as a good natured farm boy who would never break a rule.
Fifteen thousand were there and the thing I remember about this the most is the incredible roar that Haystack evoked with just two kind words. He entered the ring, waved and merely said "Hi neighbor!". I couldn't believe the roar of the crowd echoing the same two words. In wrestling, this is called a "pop". However this wasn't a "pop". It was a 21 gun salute!
I then thought to myself, WHAT IF, I addressed every stranger as Neighbor, Friend, Sir or Madam?
WHAT IF, I did it every time I went out. Wouldn't it be possible that JUST MAYBE one other individual may follow suit?
Haystack Calhoun became terribly diabetic. He had a leg amputated, and spent his latter years in McKinney Texas in a grossly rusted trailer. Author Jim Wilson stated that Haystack died "Without an audience or a dollar". I sometimes wonder if he would have died with a little more pride if he knew that just one person remembers his "angle" and thought that his art wasn't such a bad thing to copy. I wonder indeed.
