XANADU, Florida - Johnny Carson, the beloved former host of “The Tonight Show” who spoke for millions of Americans and was hated by as many more, died in his wealthy Florida estate, uttering the word “rosebud” before passing away, his nephew reported.
“When Johnny Carson died, he said just one word, Rosebud, just that one word, but who is she...what was it?” asks Laurence Leamer, Carson’s biographer. “Here's a man that could have been president, who was as loved and hated and as talked about as any man in our time. But when he comes to die, he's got something on his mind called 'Rosebud.' Now what does that mean?”
A search for the meaning of “Rosebud” and thus the complex soul of man himself ended fruitlessly after two months of searching for meaning through interviews with some of Mr. Carson’s closest friends and associates.
“Johnny was like a brother to me,” recalls Ed McMahon, Johnny’s loyal friend and sidekick on “The Tonight Show”. “Friendship, loyalty, and respect: what are three things that describe Johnny Carson? He was a man who loved to smoke, enjoyed a joke, and wouldn’t [have gotten] a bit upset if he were really broke.”
Former bandleader Doc Severenson presented a more critical portrait of Carson: “I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away; he just left you a tip, hmm? Ha. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Johnny Carson.”
“Johnny Carson was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it,” concluded McMahon. “Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Either way, it wouldn’t have explained everything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece. Hey-oh!”
TODAY'S QUOTE
"You die, motherfucker!"
-Tony Montana, 1983
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