This morning we wake up to the news that Andy Rooney has died following complications from surgery at the age of 92. Like many of you, I’m saddened to hear of this.
Me, perhaps more so, because I had the occasion of meeting and speaking with Andy when I did some work for CBS News at their West 57th Street office in New York years ago.
Back in 1989 when I worked for WeatherNews, I designed a broadcast graphics system for television weather presentation based on the old IBM-AT with its 286 Intel processor and “massive” 20 megabyte hard drive. This was in the era of MS-DOS 3.0 It was based on the venerable Targa frame buffer board, and my own specially designed RGB to NTSC broadcast quality video encoder board, the first ever such device to fit on a full length PC card. CBS news bought one of these systems to deliver satellite imagery and weather maps to its affiliates via their satellite newsfeed service called CBS Newspath.
Being the inventor of this system, naturally I got the job of installing it at CBS News. It was a proud moment for me to be able to enter the place that at that time I considered the “revered halls of broadcast journalism”. Most of the work though was in a control room, behind equipment racks, away from the on-air product of the studios. Getting our 9600 baud modem to connect and deliver images and get the presentation system working automatically was a challenge, but I relished the work.
On my second day there, I had the occasion of heading down from the 4th floor to the basement where they had the commissary to get some lunch. On the elevator ride back up, it stopped on the first floor, and when the doors opened, this curmudgeonly guy in a beige trench-coat gets on, none other than Andy Rooney himself. Being no stranger to the hassles that sometimes follow you from being on television, my mind raced to find something to say without looking stupid or to give away my being in awe of the man.
I managed to blurt out “Good day Mr. Rooney”. His response was a grunt while looking at the elevator panel, next to me, then he said “three” (IIRC) which was the floor he wanted, and I dutifully punched the button.
Of course I didn’t know what else to say, but when he got off the elevator, I felt obliged to say something as he was leaving. I said. (thinking of his work but being too dumbstruck to elucidate it properly) “Thank you Mr. Rooney”.
He turned and looked at me, maybe wondering “What the hell is this idiot thanking me for?” and then I added “Your broadcasts”.
He grunted an “eh” turned, and with that trundled down the hallway. I recall thinking to myself, “he’s just like he is on TV, a curmudgeon”. A few years later, when his book came out, I was pleased to see this passage about elevators:
I suppose it might be vanity for me to think that maybe in some small way I contributed to that passage. I was just one of thousands of such events in his lifetime no doubt.
Like many, I’ll miss Andy, here is his farewell.
I often tuned in for the last 5 minutes to see what my elevator buddy was going on about this week, but now I have no reason whatsoever to watch 60 Minutes again, as I can’t stand the biased reporting.
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He had a special way of cutting thru the crap. He will be missed
“I often tuned in for the last 5 minutes to see what my elevator buddy was going on about this week”
Exactly what I have done for many years.
He and CBS fit together like a hand in a glove.
Hi Anthony
I had many years of fun in the ITV (UK) studios, control rooms, in racks etc., so I know what you mean.
I had not too similar ‘lift experience’ with Mohamed Ali after his appearance on a chat show.
-You were great sir.
– Want a punch? I was not great, I am the GREATEST!
I was not amused, then he burst into huge laugh.
ps lift = elevator
.
While at one time I found Rooney to be funny, I gradually found him to be just bitter. The last 10 years especially so.
I am not with you all on this. I thought Andy Rooney evolved into the person from whom ‘It was expected” that came sage commentary and everyone waited to hear what the the man said.
I found him cruel, nasty, and presumptive and often wrong and ceased listening to him.
I acknowledge his long career but quite a bit shorter duration as relevant. In any event, may he rest in peace an may God have mercy on his soul.
I too will miss Andy. Sadly, he was one of the few remaining reasons to watch the now remarkably biased show.
Funny, I happen to remember very well the piece on elevators!
He looks and sounds so frail in his farewell broadcast. Sad what life does to a person. No such thing as a happy ending.
I disagreed with his view on eyebrows. With his logic (you work with what you’ve got), one need never perform any personal hygiene. There’s really no need to scare the children.
I recall sometime in the ’80’s Andy Rooney was commenting on the NFL playoffs, which had just started. Andy ended his commentary by stating, in a completely matter of fact voice, “The San Francisco 49ers are going to win the Super Bowl.”
The 49ers did win the Super Bowl that year. I was impressed that Rooney was willing to gamble his credibility on a prediction like that.
I once shared an elevator with Scotty Bowman and Phil Esposito. I simply nodded to them saying “Phil, Scotty”. They smiled back and said “How’s it going?” Phil didn’t mention me on that night’s broadcast.
Some bit ago someone sent me a piece by Andy Rooney, “In Praise of Older Women.” I got sad this morning and went hunting for it, on the Internet.
This is what I found:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/rooney2.asp
Ah, well, so… He was quite an interesting grumpy man.
….Lady in Red
He was the best part of Sixty Minutes. Too bad in later years the other 59 minutes of the show was unwatchable.
Who was this guy? What did he do? Weatherman?
Totally unknown in UK.
Ah Anthony,
the TARGA card, that takes me back. I worked on TARGA-Paint published by AT&T with the TARGA cards.
Andy will be missed, his segment on 60 Minutes was a staple.
I suspect Andy was a rather LOYAL, “FDR type Democrat”.
For this I DO NOT condemn him! And in fact, I praise him for the fact that despite his political leanings, I NEVER detected it in his life commentary. His life was not his politics and his politics was not his life. (Alas, too true. Both on the conservative side and the liberal. But in my own limited observation MORE SO these days on the liberal side. However, I think, to be fair, it was LESS SO during the marvelous WWII era that Andy “came of age” in.)
One must remember not only “growing up” in the “Great Depression” having an effect, but Andy was among the first journalists to witness first hand the death camps at the end of WWII. This certainly will have an effect on you the rest of your life. (A grade school friend’s father spent an extra year in the Army, at one of the camps, nursing the survivors back to life. Talking to him, that was pivotal in his life!)
SO my hat(s) off to a dear person. A person not afraid to be seen typing on a MANUAL type writer, well into the ’80’s, 90’s etc.
Andy, we’ll miss you!
Max
Latimer Alder says:
November 5, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Who was this guy? What did he do? Weatherman?
Totally unknown in UK.
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Think Jeremy Clarkson, without a sense of humor. Or cars.
I am with Paul Weshaver on this
I agree with those who remarked that somewhere along the line he transited from curmudgeonly inciteful and entertaining to just curmudgeonly bitter. As for 60 Minutes, it became an untrustworthy, biased muckraker.
I walked past Mr Rooney in an empty hallway. I also made a comment and he gave me the same “grunt” reply.
I recently heard Dick Cavett tell Mel Brooks (and obviously Brooks had heard it before, as he begged him to tell it again) his “riding the elevator with Jack Benny” story. Cavett was a young writer on the Johnny Carson show, and found himself in the elevator with Benny on the way out of the building. Unfortunately, the doors opened 1/2 way down and a bunch of tourists got on as well. Poor Benny was peppered with questions, to which he just smiled and nodded.
Finally they reach the ground, the doors open, and the tourists rush off. Cavett finally turns to Benny and says “Doesn’t that ever get old?”
Benny looks at him, puts his hand on his shoulder. . . and you have to be old enough to hear Benny’s voice in your head to really be floored by this. . . and says, “Kid, sometimes I just want to tell them to go **** themselves.”
It helps that Cavett’s Benny impersonation is pretty good.
An all time classic, Ali G interviews Andy Rooney. I think Rooney got the better of him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg-imSRIkYc&feature=related
He worked for CBS and never complained about the left leaning company he got his pay from.
I’ve heard the name, but I never knew who or what he was.
“I often tuned in for the last 5 minutes to see what my elevator buddy was going on about this week”
For me, it was one hour recorded on TiVo, 55 minutes fast forwarded through, and 5 minutes of great television, thanks to Mr. Rooney. Thank you too for sharing your story.