Last night fizzled. It was supposed to be dinner-and-movie night for the Thriller and me. The dinner part worked fine, but then our video-on-demand service died, 30 minutes into the movie. Hmmm.
After calling the cable guys, the Thriller decided to go downstairs and watch the ball game, and I stayed on the sofa (drugged with DayQuil/NyQuil…stupid cold, ugh) and flipped channels, passing the time before passing out. I ended up on CNN, where Larry King was celebrating his last 25 years in the interview business. He had many predictable and entertaining favorites (Bette Davis, Johnny Cash, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando), but one of his top picks really struck me as odd: Tammy Faye Bakker. He’d had her on his show several times over the years. What was the draw? I had to find out.
I did some research this morning on Tammy. Turns out I didn’t really know much about her, despite having her overpainted face taking up my TV screen every night as a teenager (my parents were staunch PTL devotees). After my hour of looking at vids, transcripts and pictures, I decided that regardless of what happened to the PTL network and all the craziness and criminal activity, Tammy was always Tammy. She described herself and Bakker as “two kids who hadn’t even graduated from college” heading up a huge empire and eventually falling for the glitz. Here is a picture tour of the deterioration of Heritage USA, the dreamboat of the Bakkers that eventually sank when Jim Bakker sold way more $1,000 PTL memberships than he had rooms to house them (everyone was promised a free stay). After the revelation of his tryst with Jessica Hahn, the whole project was pretty much in the crapper. I can only imagine the panic…
Anyway, her seemingly unabashed honesty continually impressed me. Faked or not, it was compelling. She said in one interview:
I never dreamed that someday, my name would be known everywhere. Only God could do that for somebody with no talent. Thank you, God.
Here is a clip from her final interview, where she talked candidly with King about the inoperable cancer eating up her lungs:
She died the next day.
So, Larry and Tammy — I never would have understood the attraction. But after watching videos this morning, I realized that she might have had a hidden grace; a dignity that the press (and her dedication to the clown makeup) never allowed to shine through.
Eenteresting. RIP Tammy.
Now to the sofa, with a blanket and Kleenex. *sniff*
Testing the comment thingy for leaks.
Well, seems to be working now….
I saw that LK interview with Tammie Faye when it aired and was really impressed with her grace and charm in the face of not being able to eat anything, what I imagine was excruciating pain along with the knowledge that she was not long for this world. I remember when that whole Bakker thing happened and all the jokes that circulated about Tammie Faye and her makeup. If you got to watch the whole LK interview, she talks about the makeup; even laughs and jokes about it.
This is a prime example of how a jaded media can influence our opinions and twist our views. Before this interview, in my mind Tammie Faye was that crazy preacher-lady who wore all that makup. I came away from the LK interview with an entirely different outlook on her. Under all the makeup, you wouldn’t find Jimmy Hoffa; rather you’d find a genuinely kind person.
My 2-cents’ worth.
PK
Beautifully spoken, my friend. You summed up my own experience with the interview perfectly. We can be so cruel as a species –so quick to judge and so effortlessly swayed by what the media shows and tells–that it’s sometimes easy to forget that these “targets” are people, with feelings and families and terrible struggles of their own. Thanks for the comment…I totally agree.
I’m making that a future quote of the day for AskMen if you can give me the source.
I found it on YouTube, Ross. When I get home I’ll check my browser history and let ya know.
Perfect, thanks. I just finished reading the transcript to King’s interview with Jessica Hahn. There were moments where it felt like a newsworthy event- like when discussing the collapse of the Bakker empire and her allegations– but most of it was just pure absurdity.