I’ve been relentlessly scolded over the years for my obituaries, and particularly for saying that this or that dear and departed enjoyed a peak period. Which every single person of serious fame or accomplishment has come to accept because it’s true, like it or not.

The great and widely beloved Bob Newhart was the first noteworthy WASP standup comic…respect! And a droll, soft-spoken guy who may have invented the classic, quietly subversive middle-class attitude that began to emerge in the 1950s.

Popular narrative notwithstanding, Newhart didn’t peak in the mid to late ’70s, which is when The Bob Newhart Show was on.

Newhart peaked for two or thee years in the early ’60s, particularly ’60 (“The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart“) through ’62, when he delivered one of the most tonally out-of-synch cameos in in a straight WWII film — Don Siegel‘s Hell is For Heroes (’62). The bit is mildly funny, but it stops the film in its tracks.

An ex-accountant who didn’t really connect as a comedian until he was 29 or thereabouts, the mild-mannered Newhart was, many felt, a magnificent cultural presence during the Kennedy era.

My WASPy adman father loved his skits, and brought home and relentlessly played a couple of his albums.

Born at the start of the Great Depression (9.5.29), Newhart passed earlier today at age 94. Hugs, condolences and endless respect.

Quote of the day: “[Drooling Joe’s] choice is to be one of history’s heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there’ll never be a Biden presidential library,” one of the president’s close friends has told Axios‘s Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen. “I pray that he does the right thing. He’s headed that way.”

“Glory, Glory Hallelujah!”

Reported earlier today by VandeHei and Allen:

“Several top Democrats privately tell us the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend.

“The top leaders of his party, his friends and key donors believe he can’t win, can’t change public perceptions of his age and acuity, and can’t deliver congressional majorities.

“The president is being told that if he stays in, former President Trump could win in a landslide and wipe away Biden’s legacy and Democrats’ hopes in November.

But if Glen Powell was a costar in Conclave (Focus Features, 11.15), there might be a problem. There would at least be cause for concern.

A Telluride peek-out? Please?

I’m pleased to announce the launch of the Anti-Psychopath Political Action Committee.

Because it’s time to start talking about what should be the number one issue in the 2024 presidential election.

Join the conversation at @PsychoPAC24 and at https://t.co/7Jw8lgMa2q. pic.twitter.com/vCL8dayVA8

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 18, 2024

…was that the spooky effects looked bargain-basement-y. In Beetlejuice 2 they look slick and elaborately expensive, which is less charming.

Willem Dafoe is the most over-employed character actor working today.

Kai Madison Trump plays golf?

The correct self-intro would have been “at 17, I am Donald Trump‘s eldest granddaughter.” Instead she said “I am the granddaughter of Donald Trump,” and in so doing brushed aside her sister Chloe, and her cousins Arabella (daughter of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner) and Carolina (daughter of Eric Trump and Lara Yunaska).

She thinks Donald’s “success” in business is “obviously” a high bar?

The only part of her speech that I personally related to was “[Grandpa Donald] gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking.”