In Memoriam: William Francis Buckley Jr., 1927-2008

There are but a tiny handful of conservative thinkers for whom I have a grudging measure of admiration. This is because they eschew the attack-dog style of modern right-wingers and show that they've actually thought through their opinions, and demonstrate at least a modicum of respect for my side of things, to the point where I can actually find myself once in a blue moon agreeing with them on something. Charles Krauthammer is one; George F. Will is another (when I can get past his smug polysyllabic-word dropping).

Today a third has gone to his eternal rest. Commentator and novelist William F. Buckley Jr. has died at his Connecticut home at the age of 82. Cause of death is not as yet reported, though it is known he suffered from emphysema. Associated Press reports here.

Bill Buckley brought to his work a writer's skill, a professor's erudition and a true believer's conscience. Sadly, his like has all but been eclipsed by the Gingrichista strain of soi-disant "conservative" that dominates our discourse and policymaking today. Only Will approaches being on his level; it is to be hoped that pundits on both sides have learned from his sterling example.

A silly little song blasts me back to childhood

Listening to American Public Radio's weeknight business-news program Marketplace tonight, this story about saving elephants in Thailand was followed by what I'm sure most found a perfectly innocuous piece of music as a bumper between it and the show's closing segment: "Baby Elephant Walk" by Henry Mancini.

But for many of us baby-boomers who grew up in south Louisiana and watched lots of television—particularly on weekday afternoons after school or the rare morning off from it—that song has a special meaning: it was the theme to one of the two kids' shows hosted Monday through Friday on Baton Rouge's WAFB-TV (then, as now, that city's CBS affiliate, on Channel 9) by one "Buckskin Bill" Black. So powerful is its signal that it can easily be caught even without cable or satellite aid from either Lafayette (where I grew up, to the west) or New Orleans (where I later lived, to the east). Together with his now-deceased Cajun colleague John "Polycarp" Plauché (closer to home at Lafayette's ABC station, KATC), Mr. Black livened up many a dreary school-age day for me.

A genial, Western-styled character in the "Buffalo Bob" Smith mold, Buckskin would probably seem pretty cheesy and dated today, but back then, to kids not yet jaded by growth and more mature fare, he was the shizzle. His "Storyland" program would follow the late Bob Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo each weekday morning, and his "Buckskin Bill Show" came on about 3:30 PM right before reruns of Gilligan's Island and such. "Baby Elephant Walk" always opened and closed the afternoon show; both were filled with silly stuff like Bill talking to his marionette sidekick, Señor Puppet, leading youngsters in the "Monday Morning March" with his pretend flute and running classic Warner Bros. and Paramount cartoons featuring the likes of Bugs Bunny and Popeye. Along the way, he encouraged reading, good manners, civic-mindedness and responsibility.

Black and his short-panted/pinafored target audience were instrumental in raising funds for the establishment of the Baton Rouge Zoo in the 1970s. He was among the first kids' hosts to offer sign language on his show for the hearing-impaired, and later went on to teach communications to somewhat older kids at my alma mater, Louisiana State University. (Sadly, I never was able to take his course, though he and I were both there around the same time.) TV Acres lists him among its pages of children's TV hosts here.

Who was your favorite TV personality in your rugrat days? And what music takes you back to those days whenever you hear it?