Robin Williams (1951-2014)

I was sorry to note the passing last Monday of Robin Williams and now find myself strangely unsettled by it. I liked Mork and Mindy and most, if not all, of his movies. My favorite, I think, was Good Morning, Vietnam because it represents a touchstone of sorts in my own life, which I'll tell you about if you're interested. In late 1987 Lockheed was having real problems and it seemed to those of us employed there that the Georgia plant in Marietta was bearing the brunt of the ill effects the corporation was struggling with. Anyway, I was one of a dozen or more engineers from Advanced Design that went out to Burbank to work for a couple months on the LRAACA proposal, which was to be a replacement for the P-3 Orion.

It was an interesting period, but more for the "exotic" locale than for the work. Checking in at the plant, large cracks in the walls were pointed out to us, effects of the Oct 1 Rosemead earthquake (5.9) and the Oct 4 Monterey Park earthquake (5.6). Newscasters yammered for weeks about "the Big One", which was surely right around the corner. The Black Monday (Oct 19) stock market crash was the only thing to push the quakes out of the news for a while. Our Georgia contingent lived in the Oakwood Apartments just off Barham Blvd, less than a mile from Universal Studios, the Hollywood Bowl was a mile and a half south, and Forest Lawn Cemetery was just up the road and a little east. Mulholland Drive was a mile SW of us and Laurel Canyon was less than two miles away in the same direction. Without getting on the freeway we could easily drive the four and a half miles to the plant each morning within 15 minutes, which was better than I could do back in Marietta. We weren't being pressured to work overtime and there were lots of restaurants and places of interest to explore in our time off. Earthquakes and Hollywood... except for being away from our families, we felt like it was a pretty good deal.

One evening after getting supper somewhere up in Burbank, Chuck Narucki and I decided to catch a movie at a cineplex up on the hill near Universal Studios. As we got out of the car we were approached by a young man asking if we'd like to see a new Robin Williams movie on Saturday. We thought we might, and he explained that it would be free, but that we'd have to be at the Buena Vista Studios by 3pm and agree to fill out a survey questionaire afterwards. "Here's your tickets."

Saturday rolled around and we headed for the studio to see what Robin Williams had been up to. We got in the gate - on time - and were a bit surprised to find ourselves in a queue on a pleasant, shady street that suggested a small college campus. If there was any doubt that Buena Vista was a Disney operation, it was dispelled when we noticed the green cast iron park benches lining one side of the street about every 30 or 40 feet. It wasn't that they were green or cast iron. . . it was that, on inspection, each bench was cast with a different set of Disney cartoon characters. I was impressed... and find I still am.

The Snow White Theater, Buena Vista Studios. The lady on the right is seated on one of the benches that so impressed me. The picture was snagged from the internet; I don't know who took it. I looked for a better picture of the bench, but came up empty.

We watched the movie in the Snow White Theater, which was very comfortable, as one might have expected. Of course, this showing was before final editing, and the story itself seemed kinda uneven, "choppy" if you will. I enjoyed the whole experience - from the invitation till we were out the gate - but after filling out the survey, I didn't give much thought to the movie which, we found out later, was Good Morning, Vietnam. Eventually, we made our way back to our families in Georgia. Lockheed continued trying to deal with industry consolidation and by June '88 I had declined an offer to transfer to Burbank, resigned instead and took a job in Advanced Design at General Dynamics - Fort Worth.

One evening in the mid 90's I was watching TV and Good Morning, Vietnam came on AMC or TCM and I stayed up and watched it finally. Now, I'm not suggesting that I personally "saved it" from box office disaster with my critique, but I can say the Disney folks addressed all my concerns before it was released and I thoroughly enjoyed the final product. I watched it again a few months ago and I'm very pleased to say it still holds up well.

RIP, Robin. We'll miss you.