Ayn Rand's Last Public Appearance/ Speech

[Backlighting]

[sjw]

She should have stuck with glorifying engineers as she had done in Atlas Shrugged, they are the true heroes that bring the discoveries of science to man. Many of these heroes happen to also be businessmen, but they are engineers first and foremost (just like Rearden). For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Carmack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._J._Rodgers

These men -- these engineers -- are who should be put on a pedestal, both them and their lesser-known counterparts who work to master nature. Silicon Valley isn't Silicon Valley because of the MBA's, they happen to have control over the resources (sometimes from nefarious activities of their own -- see the Federal Reserve), but they aren't the prime movers.

Shayne

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I saw this entire thing a few years ago. I have a copy around somewhere.

I haven't watched it again because Rand appears so weak.

It makes me feel bad to see her like that.

Michael

[Dennis Hardin]

I disagree that Ayn Rand looks weak here. All things considered, I think she looks fairly strong. Hard to believe that this was only three and a half months before she died. The speech was given in New Orleans on November 18, 1981. She became sick on the train ride back to New York and never recovered. She died on March 6, 1982.

For a woman who. according to Anne Heller, no longer had anything to live for, she was holding up pretty damn well.

[Starbuckle]

I listened to the speech a few times before I ever saw it on video (VHS). I first heard it some time in the early 80s, not long after she died. What sticks in my mind the most:

* She doesn't want to be photographed. "I am much too old for zat. Just leave me as I am." Of course, she was on camera...

* Racket from some crewmen moving stuff around at one point. "I seem to have competition."

* Roar of approval when she announces that "..._I_ am writing a nine-hour teleplay of Atlas Shrugged."

* One last dig at I guess libertarianism (or whatever "that movement" was) in response to a (written) question about the difference been man's life and happiness as a standard of morality. "I don't regard zis as a legitimate question. I know what sort of movement is behind zat kind of junk. If you really don't understand it, read Galt's Speech in Atlas Shrugged. It will explain it to you very clearly. And I do not grant anyone ze premise zat zat speech is unclear."

[Rich Engle]

Not exactly her best gig.

And on top of that, she comes out of the gate with a blanket group-statement about scientists. I don't remember how she got into this gig, but I am sure someone around here will.

That is just sad to watch. She still has it, but. . . It is the same thing when you watch the Phil Donahue interview; she's got this fleeting look in her eye. She wasn't exactly a media person, and no one ever expected her to be, but still. Man, that one is rough.

It is interesting (and sad, sometimes) to watch people do filmed commentary in their declining years. This is for sure true for a number of reasons, one of them being that you want to hear what such people with that amount of acquired wisdom (and the effort put into getting it) are going to say. Sometimes, how the look/feel of the thing doesn't matter, and there are countless examples of this.

There isn't that much video of Ayn Rand out there, on the whole. She looks like a doe in the headlights. But, that doesn't take anything much away from her, in my eye; that is not what her work was about.

In a way, it is nice to see her struggle to get her ideas out under camera-pressure. Ayn Rand was a philosopher, not an actress--she admired actresses but it was not really what she did other than when she aspired to in her early years.

I think it is good to see these things, but as to her memory I do not believe it will ever do that much to convey her actual ideas.

rde

[Starbuckle]

Engle: "In a way, it is nice to see her struggle to get her ideas out under camera-pressure."

HuH? She apparently didn't realize she was being filmed.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying that she has a "doe in headlights" look. Rand always read from a script, and when delivering this one flubbed a few lines and exhibited physical weakness because of her advancing years and recent illness.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Starbuckle

[Rich Engle]

Engle: "In a way, it is nice to see her struggle to get her ideas out under camera-pressure."

HuH? She apparently didn't realize she was being filmed.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying that she has a "doe in headlights" look. Rand always read from a script, and when delivering this one flubbed a few lines and exhibits physical weakness because of her advancing years and recent illness.

You ought to try that one over.

[Backlighting]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

[Rich Engle]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Like what we have of it isn't enough?

She's horrible in front of the camera. I've seen everything I can get my hands on down to her bit parts and she is fucking horrible.

That doesn't make her a bad writer or philosopher. She just wasn't a performer. Too stiff.

rde

[sjw]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Like what we have of it isn't enough?

She's horrible in front of the camera. I've seen everything I can get my hands on down to her bit parts and she is fucking horrible.

That doesn't make her a bad writer or philosopher. She just wasn't a performer. Too stiff.

rde

Jesus, what an inane thing to say.

Shayne

[Rich Engle]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Like what we have of it isn't enough?

She's horrible in front of the camera. I've seen everything I can get my hands on down to her bit parts and she is fucking horrible.

That doesn't make her a bad writer or philosopher. She just wasn't a performer. Too stiff.

rde

Jesus, what an inane thing to say.

Shayne

State your premises, horror-boy.

Actually, do what you wish. I just remembered I still have this one to watch again, and that is more fun, all 2 hours and 25 minutes of it. You learn a lot from things like this, if you are in show business for a long time:

That, or anything other than this numbness. Man. . . it gets haenky around here at night these days, and that comes from one of the first ones into this joint.

You boys ought to reconsider your weirdness.

r

I Bet They Private E-mail Each Other, Too!

[Dennis Hardin]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Yes, I saw both of her appearances, and she did a terrific job of presenting her ideas. She was very relaxed with Johnny Carson, and came across as utterly charming and benevolent. Of course, this was long before the break with Branden.

Incidentally, Duncan Scott is in contact with someone who has audiotapes of her two 'Tonight Show' appearances, and excerpts of those interviews by Carson will be included in "The Birth of Objectivism, Volume 4."

[Dennis Hardin]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Like what we have of it isn't enough?

She's horrible in front of the camera. I've seen everything I can get my hands on down to her bit parts and she is fucking horrible.

That doesn't make her a bad writer or philosopher. She just wasn't a performer. Too stiff.

rde

Jesus, what an inane thing to say.

Shayne

He has a natural flair for that.

[Starbuckle]

Rand always had a great charisma in her public appearances, despite any "stiffness" entailed by the way she read her lectures, and was often great on her feet in Q&A; though, as has been often noted, she sometimes unfairly blasted questioners. Barbara Branden's bio includes a description of Rand's lecture style and why she was so appealing, always drawing overflow crowds.

Claiming that Rand was always "fucking horrible" as a public presence is extremely offensive and gratuitous. What is the point in making such a vulgar statement, except, like any troll, to annoy people who like and appreciate Rand? (And why would anybody who thinks Rand's public appearances were uniformly "fucking horrible" assiduously seek them out?)

Edited November 28, 2010 by Starbuckle

[Dennis Hardin]

Rand always had a great charisma in her public appearances, despite any "stiffness" entailed by the way she read her lectures, and was often great on her feet in Q&A; though, as has been often noted, she sometimes unfairly blasted questioners. Barbara Branden's bio includes a description of Rand's lecture style and why she was so appealing, always drawing overflow crowds.

Having seen her in person, I can attest to her profound, electrifying charisma and the quickness of her enormously powerful intellect. Her appeal was nothing short of hypnotic, although she did not always come across well on the small screen. A nasty interviewer such as Les Crane could make her very ill at ease.

Claiming that Rand was always "fucking horrible" as a public presence is extremely offensive and gratuitous. What is the point in making such a vulgar statement, except, like any troll, to annoy people who like and appreciate Rand? (And why would anybody who thinks Rand's public appearances were uniformly "fucking horrible" assiduously seek them out?)

Yes, I too am shocked that he would say such a thing. His posts typically reflect the sound judgment and profound insights of a discerning intellect. What would OL be without the incisive contributions of RDE--the psycho-epistemological equivalent of Moe, Larry and Curly Joe, without the cleverness.

[BaalChatzaf]

I saw this entire thing a few years ago. I have a copy around somewhere.

I haven't watched it again because Rand appears so weak.

It makes me feel bad to see her like that.

Michael

Concur. It is rather sad seeing someone with one foot in the grave ( proverbial use of "foot" , "grave" here). Seeing pictures of FDR shortly before he died at Warm Spring shows the same kind of waste and rot. Impending death from illness or infirmity does not make us beautiful. The bloat shown, is a fairly reliable symptom of congestive heart failure.

When the late actor Steve McQueen was wasting way from cancer he made sure that he was not photographed or televised. Apparently he did not wish to be remembered looking sick and dying (which he was).

I have concluded, by empirical means, that many people are uncomfortable around the dying. Perhaps they do not wish to be reminded of their own mortality.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Edited November 28, 2010 by BaalChatzaf

[9thdoctor]

Back when I ran a campus club, this video was one of the things you could get from the ARI lending library to show at meetings. Very early on in the video, she gets upset (the flash bulbs seem to set her off) and asks that she not be photographed, since she’s much too old. I’m not sure if that’s in this clip, the whole thing with the Q&A has got to be over an hour. It always left a bad taste that ARI offered something that she clearly didn’t want seen. Cheap shot? One thing’s for sure, her hair looks awful. That can always be controlled, and she just didn’t bother.

Now to be extra picky, her last public appearance was actually the next night, on Louis Rukeyser’s PBS program. I’ve never seen that one, but it’s transcribed here:

http://www.amazon.com/Objectively-Speaking-Ayn-Rand-Interviewed/dp/0739131958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290916272&sr=8-1#reader_0739131958

The Carson appearances are also in this book.

[BaalChatzaf]

I saw this entire thing a few years ago. I have a copy around somewhere.

I haven't watched it again because Rand appears so weak.

It makes me feel bad to see her like that.

Michael

I recall seeing Ayn Rand in an appearance she made at the Commiador Hotel in Cambridge, MA in 1968. It was in April just before her then annual appearance at the Ford Hall lectures. She was very sharp that night, plain spoken and feisty. One learned, at sight, this was not a lady to tangle with. Very impressive. How could such a smart lady have become a Den Mother to a coven of losers?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[kiaer.ts]

I disagree that Ayn Rand looks weak here. All things considered, I think she looks fairly strong. Hard to believe that this was only three and a half months before she died. The speech was given in New Orleans on November 18, 1981. She became sick on the train ride back to New York and never recovered. She died on March 6, 1982.

For a woman who. according to Anne Heller, no longer had anything to live for, she was holding up pretty damn well.

Exactly, I thought she looked quite well.

[Brant Gaede]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Yes, I saw both of her appearances, and she did a terrific job of presenting her ideas. She was very relaxed with Johnny Carson, and came across as utterly charming and benevolent. Of course, this was long before the break with Branden.

Incidentally, Duncan Scott is in contact with someone who has audiotapes of her two 'Tonight Show' appearances, and excerpts of those interviews by Carson will be included in "The Birth of Objectivism, Volume 4."

Barbara Branden wrote that AR appeared on Carson three times in 1967-68. I saw one in Tucson before I moved east in April 1968. Barbara was sitting in the audience front row.

--Brant

[Mikee]

This is a wonderful speech. Thanks for posting it. Does anyone know the whereabouts of a transcription of the whole speech?

[Backlighting]

This is a wonderful speech. Thanks for posting it. Does anyone know the whereabouts of a transcription of the whole speech?

Here's more of the speech:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LibertyPen#p/u/34/A-lptr_0Xck

[9thdoctor]

This is a wonderful speech. Thanks for posting it. Does anyone know the whereabouts of a transcription of the whole speech?

It's in this collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Reason-Objectivist-Thought-Library/dp/0452010462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290983997&sr=8-1

[Selene]

It's too bad the tape of her appearances on the Tonight Show were destroyed. Anyone on this Board remember seeing the show?

Yes, I saw both of her appearances, and she did a terrific job of presenting her ideas. She was very relaxed with Johnny Carson, and came across as utterly charming and benevolent. Of course, this was long before the break with Branden.

Incidentally, Duncan Scott is in contact with someone who has audiotapes of her two 'Tonight Show' appearances, and excerpts of those interviews by Carson will be included in "The Birth of Objectivism, Volume 4."

Dennis:

Thanks for this link. Also, ND's and the other references. As I have mentioned, I was out of the loop for decades and missed the "tribal wars" as Michael refers to them. I also missed the books and articles of the excommunicated which I am slowly catching up on.

As to Rich Engle's statement about the "doe in the headlights" reference, this is quite accurate, but it is restricted to her television appearences. Rich's description is absolutely accurate when referring to her television appearances. It was that look or the wide eyed little girl facade that she subconsciously donned for the TV camera. Carson, being the incredible interviewer that he was, enabled her to be more relaxed in her appearances there, but in her other interviews, Rich's perception is correct.

As to Starbuckle's response to Rich, I do not believe that Rich was referring to her public speaking engagements where she was in her milieu. Her Q&A's, or at least all the ones that I attended, were great. She was extremely comfortable in that medium.

In fact, Jennifer Burns specifically refers to how well and how much she enjoyed stepping out on the movie theater stage during the Wilkie [?] campaign and debating with the regular working American who she found much more well informed and knowledgeable about morality and philosophy than most effete intellectuals thought.

Adam