Aug.26

electoral-vote.com

Dem 52

Ties 1

GOP 47

America Loses a National Treasure

Surely everyone has heard, by now, that Dolly Parton has left this plane of existence. She succumbed to cancer yesterday at the age of 80.

Is her passing a political story? Our gut feel is that yes, it probably is. First, we have no idea exactly what her politics were, and we don't think too many other people do, either. She very clearly remained above the fray, because that was the right choice for her, personally, and for her careers in entertainment, in business, and in charitable work. Consequently, she is one of the few A-list celebrities who is beloved by Americans of all political stripes. She came of age before our current, hyper-polarized times. Someone like her may not be possible anymore.

Second, Donald Trump tried mightily to appropriate Parton, and to bring her into the MAGA tent, at least tacitly. Most obviously, he tried to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon her—twice. And she turned it down—twice. The first time, she said it was because her husband was ill. The second time, she said it was because of the pandemic. Maybe these excuses were the truth. Maybe they were an attempt to avoid taking sides. Maybe they were because she didn't care for Trump. The only person who knows for sure is no longer with us, so the question will remain unanswered.

Yesterday, when the news of Parton's passing became public, Trump got on his social media platform for shameless opportunists to share how saddened he is by her death, and to declare that U.S. flags would remain at half-staff (or half-mast) for the next week. With any other president, Republican or Democratic, we would believe that this was an instance of them doing a fundamentally decent and respectful thing. With Trump, we don't believe that for a second; he's just trying to squeeze a little juju out of her death. It would seem we've grown cynical over the last decade or so.

Since we've decided it is a political story, we're going to give Parton our "obituary" treatment. We cannot possibly outdo the traditional obits you can read in The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Associated Press, or Rolling Stone, so we won't try. Instead, we'll pass along 10 instructive bits of information about Parton you may, or may not, know:

1. Humble Beginnings: Parton grew up dirt-poor. Her parents had 25 siblings between them, and had 12 children of their own, of which Dolly was the fourth. There is documented evidence that the doctor who delivered her was paid for his services with a bag of cornmeal. And the home she grew up in had just 2 rooms—one was the bedroom, and one wasn't.
   
   
2. I Do: Given the crowded conditions at home, not to mention the fact that her music career began flourishing while she was a teenager, Parton moved to Nashville the day after she graduated high school. Not too long after arriving there, she met a fellow named Carl Dean at a laundromat. They started dating, got engaged, and then got married in 1966. Dean assiduously avoided the spotlight, and only ever saw his wife perform one time. Still, it is one of the great love stories of our time; the very happy marriage lasted 59 years. They did not have children, due to Parton's health issues (including a partial hysterectomy in her 30s), but the pair said that was OK, because it meant that all kids could therefore be "Dolly's kids." And if you want evidence that kids just loved, loved, loved Parton, watch the video for "What's Up," particularly the final segment.
   
   
3. Charity Drive: We can hardly do an item like this without mentioning Parton's extensive philanthropy and charity work. There is an embarrassment of riches here, enough so that we've actually written about it before. To keep things manageable, we'll limit ourselves to two illustrative examples. First, Parton and her foundation were asked to help the Sevier County School District, which had a serious dropout problem. This led to a program in which students chose a partner to pair up with, and each member of the duo got a check for $500, but only if they both graduated high school. Dropout rates went from 30% down to 6%. Second, Parton was a big believer in literacy and in reading, and backed that with a generous book-donation program, giving to both schools and to individual students. How generous? In 2018, her foundation has given away more than 300 million books.
   
   
4. Money Moves: Parton was wildly successful in business, of course, and her personal wealth has been pegged at between $350 million and $700 million. One of her great successes was Dollywood, which was a failing concern called Silver Dollar City before Parton acquired it in 1986 and put her name and personal spin on it. It is now the largest employer in her home county, and her overall economic impact on her home state was pegged at $1.8 billion/year, along with supporting more than 25,000 jobs.
   
   
5. Jill-of-All-Trades: Parton had her fingers in many pies, given her philanthropy, her entrepreneurship, her music and her performances in films like 9 to 5. Sometimes, as a result, her name turns up in very unexpected places. For example, through her production company, she was an executive producer of... Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV series, not the movie). That said, even Parton had her limits. She turned down a $7 million offer to play the role of Selena in the 1984 movie Supergirl because she did not think she could play a sorceress convincingly.
   
   
6. She's a Rainbow: It is easy to find reference to the fact that Parton once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest (a story that has also been told, accurately, about Charlie Chaplin, Gabby Hayes, Marlon Brando and others). What is often left out is that the contest Parton lost was a drag show at a gay bar. Parton was staunchly pro-LGBTQ, embraced her LGBTQ fans, and worked many times with LGBTQ artists including, very recently, Lil Nas X and Linda Perry. To the extent there's a clue out there about Parton's politics, this is probably it.
   
   
7. Whatta Night: Parton's two biggest hits were surely "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You." Remarkably, she wrote both of them on the same night in 1973.
   
   
8. You're (Not) So Vain: In contrast to Carly Simon, who won't reveal the inspiration(s) for "You're So Vain," Parton was happy to reveal the subject of "I Will Always Love You." It is not her husband; it's country music star Porter Wagoner, who gave Parton her first big break, namely a regular booking on his show. She remained with the show long after her original contract had run its course, and long after she had outgrown it. When she finally did depart, she wrote the song as a way of thanking Wagoner.
   
   
9. Funeral Plans: Parton recognized that there was no way to avoid "I Will Always Love You" being played at her funeral. However, before she passed, she made clear several times that there was another song that she wanted played. It's an old gospel tune called "If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven," which is about the possibility of reuniting with loved ones in the great beyond. It was sung at the funeral of Parton's father, and the funeral of her husband, and she wants to hear it (in a manner of speaking) one last time.
   
   
10. The Final Chapter: Many artists release an album or two after their passing. Or, in the case of Tupac Shakur, seven albums. It's not yet clear if Parton had any more albums in the can. However, it can be said that the last act of her musical career will not arrive for nearly 2 decades. She recorded a new song, title currently unknown, and locked it in a time capsule at Dollywood, with instructions that the time capsule was not to be opened until 2045.

Good-bye, Dolly. (Z)