Bill Scheft's June 5th review of a new Joe DiMaggio biography, “Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil”, in the NY Times Bbook Review quoted Oscar Levant as saying that the slugger's failed marriage to Marilyn Monroe "proved that no man could be a success in two national pastimes."
The quote was new to me. I thought Levant's most famous quote was either “I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin” or, my father's favorite, a quote about Heddy Lamarr, “Everyone knew that under her clothes she was naked.” (Heddy Lamar, a stunning beautiful actress was infamous for running around au naturel in the 1933 film, Ecstasy.)
I took to the web to see if the quote was listed under Levant's name. It wasn't. What I did see once again that sites poach from each other and proofreading, if it exists is poor. Both ThinkExist.com and BrainyQuote.com were missing the “m” from “my” in the quote, “I have no trouble with y[sic] enemies. But my god damn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night.”
I'm glad I took the time to search, though. I found a quote which becomes more true as you grow older: “It’s not what your are, it’s what you don’t become that hurts.”
I think my father's fondness for Oscar Levant stemmed from hearing Levant generate his quotes on the fly and the tragedy of his later life. Depending on the source Levant's stays in mental institutions were the results of dependence on prescription drugs, manic depression as bipolar disorder was known at the time, or a combination of the two.
A random mental walk.
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