A Bushel And A Peckerwood
Celebrating a Deathday™: Long-suffering screen legend Gregory Peck (pictured here without eyebrows, for some bloody reason) was put out of his misery on this day, June 13, 2003. Now, if you’re thinking that an extended illness is sad business, one that can rob even the most vital and adored cultural icon of their dignity, not to mention their last breath, let me reassure you that Peck died peacefully in his sleep — of natural causes at age 87 — with adoring wife Veronique at his side. ‘Twasn’t death that caused him to suffer, you see, but something far more benign. If you know anything about this handsome Hollywood everyman, or if you’ve simply scoured his Wikipedia page like yours truly Dooley, you’ll know that Peck was born Eldred Gregory Peckerwood on April 5, 1916 in San Diego, that he attended military school as a lad and teacher’s college briefly, before being introduced to drama at the University in Berkeley. You’ll know that his ascent to movie stardom was fairly swift, that he enjoyed acclaim from the ‘40's clear through the '90’s and was nominated for an Academy Award five times — winning just once for his role as spirits salesman Atticus Flinch in “Tequila Mockingbird." You may know all that and then some, but did you know that he suffered in silence for some fifty years, all on account of a '50's Broadway show tune that crept into the nation’s consciousness and dogged him for his life thereafter? If you've ever heard Doris Day warble, “I love you, a bushel and a Peck…a bushel and a Peck and a hug around the neck. A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap, a barrel and a heap and I’m countin’ bloody sheep,” you'll understand. Yes, that miserable "Bushel And A Peck" ditty — first performed in the stage musical “Guys and Dolls” — would follow Peck around like odious flatulence trapped in the trousers of his gray flannel suit. Fans would say, “I loved you a bushel and a Peck in 'Moby Dick'!” “You bet your pretty neck I loved you in 'Cape Fear'!" Crikey, even his own children would say, “I love you a bushel and a barrel and a Peck, daddy.” His second wife was said to have whispered it in his ear at the altar, “I love you a bushel and Mrs. Peck” and he nearly had the union annulled. Peck had hoped interest in the song would wane, but 'twasn't so. He expressly forbid the song be played or mentioned in his household, but his grandchildren’s nannies would sing it to them and they would approach their grey-maned grand-dad and shyly tell him that “I love you a bushel, Grampa Peck,” which 'bout gave him a coronary. It just goes to show that we all carry great burdens and no matter how much prestige one enjoys, the photo-choppers at the weblog "Celebs Without Eyebrows" can have their bloody way with you. Happy Anni-hearse-ary™, Gregory Peck!
