During one of his legendary late ’70s interviews with Tom Snyder on Tomorrow, the magnificent Sterling Hayden was asked what was the benefit of staying at Silver Hill, the pricey dry-out clinic in New Caanan. Hayden lived and abstained at Silver Hill for two months.

Snyder: “What did they do for you…anything?”

Hayden: “Well, many things, of course. But I came out feeling like a young ocelot with his first erection…y’know?”

Is Hayden saying “young ocelot” or “young Lancelot”? The former, I think.

This interview excerpt is a pure contact high. Imagine what Hayden, who died in ’86, would have to say about the wokester cult. It saddens mer, of course, that there aren’t more people like Hayden around these days. There are, of course, but the vast majoirity are sitting silent, simply too scared to open their mouths.

Here’s my sixth or seventh re-posting of a Hayden appreciation that initially surfaced in 2010…one of the finest and most grounded HE essays ever: