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BUDS Carl and pal learn the ropes.
DOWN-TO-EARTH ED ASNER
TAKES FLIGHT IN UP
Sky Guy
Movies
ON A MANTEL in his Los Angeles
home, Ed Asner has a photo that
appears to show him embracing
a baby hippo. “That’s not me,” he
says. “Someone gave it to me. They
thought it looked like me.” Fans often
hand Asner such tokens, a tribute to
YANKEE LEGEND He’s still famous for being a card,
Yogi was smart-
er than the aver-
age catcher.
the “one of us”-ness he brought to
his role as the gruff Lou Grant on The
Mary Tyler Moore Show. He conveys
that quality, behind a microphone, in
the new Disney/Pixar animated film
Up. Asner plays Carl, who escapes
life’s drudgery by affixing balloons to
his house and floating away...acciden-tally bringing along a young boy. “The
man is not respected by society,”
says Asner. “The child brings into his
life caring and tenderness.” Asner,
a social activist, sees in Carl a touch
of Paul Douglas, the Illinois senator
and civil rights crusader: “That white
hair. The dignity. If I had hair, maybe
it would give me that quality....”
Asner, 79, also identifies with Carl’s
young friend: “I’m still a child. Still
bewitched, bothered, and bewildered,
at odds and ends.” —Bill Newcott
See page 62 for details of AARP’s
UpAdventure Travel Contest.
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Books
MOONDUST MEMORIES
Forty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin strolled on
the moon, Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts (Abrams)
enlists lunar explorers to present their favorite shots. Here’s
one of our faves: Apollo 16’s Charlie Duke snapped John Young
making a low-gravity leap (notice there’s no shadow below his
boots) while saluting the flag. Says Young: “It shows how nice
it will be to live and work on the moon.” —B.N.
Books
The Berra
Necessities
Yogi Berra is remembered mostly as a lovable
lug with a comical way
of speaking (“Nobody
goes there anymore. It’s
too crowded”) who happened to catch for the
New York Yankees. But
a new book by Allen Barra, Yogi Berra: Eternal
Yankee (Norton), paints
a surprising portrait
of a supremely gifted,
competitive athlete. At
16 the son of Italian immigrants turned down
a St. Louis Cardinals
contract—because they
had offered his pal Joe
Garagiola $250 more.
“Who knows?” reflects
Barra. “As a free agent
today, Yogi might have
been higher paid than
Alex Rodriguez.” —B.N.
