When the late Brando some years later appeared on The Dick Caveat show, he told the host that of course he didn't approve of the star-studded crowd booing the political activist Sacheen Littlefeather--clad in full squaw regalia!--whom he had he dispatched to Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to pointedly decline his Best Actor Oscar*. But then Brando paused for a moment before adding to Cavett: "Well, I guess they were booing ME..."

Yes they sure were, Marlon...but her spectacle came off as pure grandstanding, in sharp contrast to George C. Scott's earlier refusal of own his Oscar for "Patton", which clearly seemed more principled**, at least to me. (After all, Brando had appeared in a number of Westerns over the years--though admittedly I can't offhand recall how the bad-guy tribes were portrayed therein.)

Mind you, I'm (1) a HUGE admirer of LOADS of Brando's work; (2) usually marveled at (or at least was bemused rather than annoyed) by his outsized personality and idiosyncratic public behavior; and (3) still consider him one of the titans of 20th Century arts and entertainment***.

But thinking back to that ABC telecast in the Spring of 1973--as well as of our current era and that disturbing new State Quarter portraying one of Littlefeather's comrade Indian activists--about the most positive thing I can say about Brando's oh-so-memorable stunt is that at least he didn't send Wilma Mankiller up to the rostrum.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
_______________________
* Littlefeather's startling schtick was on Tuesday evening, March 27, 1973, the day after the Monday when both Brit man of letters Noel Coward and St. Louis Browns star first-baseman/manager George Sisler died.
** The late Scott's reasoning, later explained to Johnny Carson and others, was that the notion of "best" was absurd when comparing disparate films and performances; at one point to some interviewer, Scott argued that the award would only make sense if all five actors up for it played the same role.
*** ANOTHER of those referenced titans died 45 years ago today in western Tennessee--an hour or two past midnight on what was another Tuesday--which gives me yet ANOTHER excuse to brag to y'all how I made it a point to by-hook-or-by-crook reach Memphis for his landmark-cultural-event funeral two days later...and you probably didn't****.
**** Groucho Marx SURELY didn't, as he expired in Southern California the next day, Friday, August 19, 1977.
===================================================https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sacheen-littlefeather-receives-apology-for-mistreatment-at-1973-oscars/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3b

NON DISC-JOCKEY ERROR:

When I had the good fortune to meet and chat with Dick Cavett at a radio industry confab in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, I made it a point to address him as Mr. Cavett, not Mr. "Caveat".

(Of course, I didn't have confoundingly-difficult-to-override auto-INcorrect software loaded onto a microchip implanted in my throat which, unsolicited, changed my spoken words willy-nilly.)

STYBLE/Florida

Did he/she start the trend of Oscar winners grandstanding and blathering
about politics?

"So if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a
political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about
anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less
time in school than Greta Thunberg.

So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and
your God and fuck off, OK? It's already three hours long. Right, let's
do the first award." - Ricky Gervais

The press about this ignores her real name (Marie Louise Cruz).

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

On Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 5:41:24 PM UTC-7, Louis Epstein wrote:
> The press about this ignores her real name (Marie Louise Cruz).
>
> -=-=-
> The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
> at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

so she was really a Mexican?

Louis Epstein <le@put.com> wrote:
> The press about this ignores her real name (Marie Louise Cruz).

(I wonder how important her terminal illness was to her public
embrace at this point).

> -=-=-
> The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
> at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

On 8/16/2022 8:49 PM, Topic Cop wrote:
> so she was really a Mexican?

Correct. Her sisters revealed that she was a "culturally appropriating"
fraud.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php

Travoltron <travoltron@defender.uni> wrote:
>On 8/16/2022 8:49 PM, Topic Cop wrote:

>>so she was really a Mexican?

>Correct. Her sisters revealed that she was a "culturally appropriating"
>fraud.

>https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php

With Sacheen Littlefeather's death 10/2/2022, the Chronicle did another
story.

Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native American icon. Her sisters say she
was an ethnic fraud
The "Apache" actress and activist wasn't Native American, say her
sisters. And that wasn't the only thing she lied about.
by Jacqueline Keeler
San Francisco Chronicle
Oct. 22, 2022
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php

The sisters also stated that Littlefeather's stories about their violent
and impoverished upbringing were also patently false. But that was how
their father grew up. Also, the "white grandparents" who fostered her
growing up was another lie. She wasn't fostered. The grandparents lived
next door.

What the hell was the Academy apologizing for? Couldn't somebody have
bothered to do a bit of background research before the Academy further
embarassed itself?

Ms. Littlefeatger referred to John Wayne's reaction to the Brando ibcident as being the most racist ibcident in Academy Awards history.

Really?

That was more racist than forcing Hattie McDanirel to sit in the back of the venue?

On 10/23/2022 5:21 PM, That Derek wrote:
> Ms. Littlefeather referred to John Wayne's reaction to the Brando incident as being the most racist incident in Academy Awards history.

It's being said that Wayne being held back from killing her was also a
lie that she fabricated.

Dennis Miller was calling her out as a fraud at least a decade ago. And
the liberal media slammed Miller for it.

https://archive.ph/6qCO4

Miller: Elizabeth Warren? Is that the chick that says she’s an Indian?

Leno [chuckling]: Well, yeah, no.

Miller: She’s about as much Indian as that stripper chick Brando sent to
pick up his Oscar for The Godfather, all right?

Surely there must be at least a couple dozen witnesses to what John Wayne either did or didn't do backstage that memorable night, no?

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

In article <992d39ec-2c05-441f-9fb3-01caf2027d47n@googlegroups.com>,
<"radioacti...@gmail.com"> wrote:

> Surely there must be at least a couple dozen witnesses to what John Wayne
> either did or didn't do backstage that memorable night, no?

Yes. Wayne was pissed off, but no one had to hold him back from
attacking Littlefeather. That part is just ridiculous.