It’s been like this for 60 years. Since President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, someone, even in Brazil, has always asked, “What were you doing when they killed Kennedy?” The answers vary in importance and solemnity, but my favorite answer is this with Rubem Braga and Otto Lara Resende. The two were sucking jabuticabas in Rubem’s penthouse when someone called to break the news. Otto wanted to run to the newspaper, where he should have been at that moment, but Rubem calmed him down: “Stay cool. The body won’t escape. And these jabuticabas are great.”
Aldous Huxley, one of the most influential writers of the century and author of Brave New World, also died that day, and people never wanted to know what someone did when they heard the news. That’s the problem: When two famous people die, the more famous makes the other forget. The composer Sergei Prokofiev, fame of Russian music, had the misfortune that his death naturally coincided with that of his compatriot Josef Stalin on May 3, 1953. It has evaporated. The Panther Farrah FawcettMajors, ditto, with Michael Jackson, on July 25, 2009. Ibid, Federico Fellini and River Phoenix, on October 31, 1993 Fellini took 2nd place. Just like Yul Brynner and Orson Welles, Yul took 3rd place on October 10, 1975.
But there were also absurd draws. Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same April 23, 1616, can you believe it? Edith Piaf and Jean Cocteau, on October 11, 1963. Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, on July 30, 2007. And dear Doris Monteiro and Leny Andrade, last July 24th.
The coincidence between Buddy (“Peggy Sue”) Holly and Ritchie (“La Bamba”) Valens is invalid the two boarded the fatal plane together on February 3, 1959.
I myself was playing naked when I heard of Kennedy’s death. I was 15 years old and wasn’t shaken. Shortly afterwards I scored an own goal.
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