Veteran reporter Doug Oplinger, as usual, stole the show with a commentary about his favorite newspaper and showed two home-made videos of some of the best of the BJ for an "E
nd of An Era" party for the BJ staff on Tuesday.First there was the official 12-minute video made by Knight Ridder to review its 1974-2006 history. When it ended there was no applause, no comment–nothing like the uproar when Oplinger finished his presentation.
Oplinger, dressed in bib overalls ala Fran Murphey, said he remembered one of his first encounters, sitting between Pat Englehart and this woman (Fran Murphey) in overalls that the only thing he heard either say was “Go to hell.”
He told of the visit of Lyndon B. Johnson to see JSK. Bill Aylward was assigned to take LBJ in the elevator upstairs to see the man. “Wait!” LBJ said. “How should I approach him? What should I say?”
“Don’t bullshit him,”Aylward replied. Returning on the elevator after his talk, LBJ said “That was good advice ”
Oplinger’s videos covered years of Pulitzer prizes and the “good old days” which were not always perfect but often rewarding.
The party was in the distribution center across Broadway from the main BJ. There were maybe 300 or 400 attending but that’s not even a police estimate.
Everyone got a Knight Ridder key ring, a JSK poster, a Knight Ridder mug and a Knight Ridder booklet. There was ice cream, of course, and a cake with the years 1974-2006.
It was an “End of an Era” but no doubt the gang at the flagship will “party on.”
And now..click on the headline above to go to an album of party photos by BJ photograper Paul Tople. Click on photos to enlarge them and use arrow keys to move about the album
3 comments:
Harry, I cant get to the pictures. The link doesn't work for me in Firefox nor IE.
...Ott
Harry, I cant get to the pictures. The link doesn't work for me in Firefox nor IE.
...Ott
Harry:
I was traveling with LBJ that day in '64 (I was with the Repository at the time) when he made the quick visit to the BJ and embraced Jack Knight. The two of them talked for a moment and then disappeared briefly. We all wondered what that exchange was all about. Jack Knight, years later, told some of us that Lyndon had put an arm around his shoulders, leaned in close to his ear and said: "Where does a fella go to take a piss around here?"--Bill Vance.
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