EDITORIALS
Op-Ed: Pride, prejudice and hope – the genesis of Michael
Landon
Coronado’s Cheryl Landon shares the story of how her dad became Michael Landon with a message of hope for the holidays.
Cheryl Landon
November 17, 2023
He was a Jew with long hair in an anti-Semitic neighborhood. He had a clinically ill mother who attempted suicide in front of him almost daily, starting at 5 years old. She further terrified him with public humiliation throughout his early tween years.
Dad wrote about this public humiliation in the movie: “The Loneliest Runner”.
Her insanity continued to haunt him at every phase. Fortunately, Eugene Orowitz, (Michael Landon), had a dream of being in the Olympics.
He held the national record for javelin throwing. Awarded a scholarship to USC, Eugene’s dream of escaping the insanity now became reality.
Eugene was excited to leave the nightmares in New Jersey, and start a new life in Los Angeles.
Eugene Orowitz would finally become somebody special.
But, his dream was short lived.
The USC football players at that time hated Jews and especially Jews with long hair.
Samson complex
Eugene had a Samson complex. He believed his long hair gave him strength.
One day, the players captured Dad and chained him to a sink, shaving his head bald. The next day, Eugene tried throwing the javelin.
To no avail, he tore the cartilage in his elbow from hours of trying to throw the spear.
Needless to say, Dad lost his scholarship and left his dream.
Finding ways to survive
Humiliated, scared and alone in a strange city, he found humble ways to survive. He even worked as a lifeguard at the YMCA, and he didn’t know how to swim.
Yet, every night, he’d sneak into the “Y” and practice how to swim. There were barely any breaks in his life for years until he landed a role in a long-shot gamble television show, “Bonanza.”
“Bonanza,” the first color TV show, aired Sept. 12, 1959,
and it ran 14 seasons to Jan. 16, 1973. Cheryl Landon, a Coronado resident, is
the daughter of Michael Landon, who played Little Joe. Photo courtesy of Cheryl
Landon.
Eugene Orowitz became the superstar who would become Michael Landon, reaching millions in the media encouraging hope, belief in God and love.
Dad had a core belief: “Love, it’s the most powerful force, it’s what lets us live on. Don’t ever take it for granted.”
‘How my father got his name.’
I ask you, how is it that a man who had every right to hate
and be angry instead teaches us
about the power of loving one another?
It began when Eugene Orowitz became Michael Landon.
Many ask me how my father got this name?
Dad told me when he knew he was destined to be an actor. A friend he met on the job in a warehouse asked him to help with an audition for a play. All he had to do was read the other role.
It was a cold reading, which a person is reading impromptu. No problem.
Well, shocking, Dad’s reading was quite emotional. He easily
felt the pain from how sad his
life had been. Dad described how there were huge emotional releases he felt reading the script, which he was a natural. His delivery was passionate, he even cried. It all came to him so easy and he got the part.
Eugene was thrilled to have discovered this creative outlet.
Now his name was next. One sunny afternoon, Eugene was being interviewed by an agent. He was in a public phone booth.
The agent asked his name.
Dad couldn’t be Eugene Orowitz. So he randomly opened the phone book attached to the phone booth, and there was the name: “Michael Lane.”
The agent told dad that name had been taken. Well Eugene responded, “What about Michael Landon?”
That’s how Eugene Orowitz became Michael Landon.
I share this story as I propose a simple yet powerful solution for this holiday season: For each of us to look inside ourselves and see what elements of prejudice, anger, fear, even supremacy we may have hidden.
Pull these roots out.
Outdated beliefs are passed down through generations and need to be tossed out so that destructive, toxic beliefs will go no further.
I’d like to close by borrowing a line from the Rev. Craig D. Lounsbrough, a licensed professional counselor, life coach and minister.
He says: “There’s no greater way to destroy the negative rhetoric in our culture than to consistently live out a greater good.”
Link to Post 17 November at 2023
.jpg){kind=small}
EDITORIALS
Op-Ed: On the edge of darkness and the power of the toupée
Coronado’s Cheryl Landon, daughter of “Bonanza” star Michael Landon, shares a personal story and ways to get help to prevent suicide.
Cheryl Landon
August 21, 2023
"Bonanza," the first color TV show, aired Sept. 12, 1959, and it ran 14 seasons to Jan. 16, 1973. Cheryl Landon, a Coronado resident, is the daughter of Michael Landon, who played Little Joe. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Landon.
“Bonanza,” the first color TV show, first aired on Sept. 12, 1959, and it ran 14 seasons to Jan. 16, 1973.
It was the second longest Western in broadcast history recounting the fictional story of the Cartwrights, a family of ranchers living on the bountiful Ponderosa Ranch in the mid- 1800s, near Virginia City, Nevada.
The Cartwrights were an all-male family headed by Ben, (Lorne Greene), thrice a widower with a son from each marriage. They were Adam, (Pernell Roberts) serious and intellectual; Hoss, (Dan Blocker) a giant-sized man with a mighty blow and big heart; and Little Joe (Michael Landon), a feisty, handsome romantic and definitely a lady’s man. My father was Little Joe.
Growing up on sets of “Bonanza”
As a little girl, I was fortunate to grow up on the sets of “Bonanza,” all 10 of them, and go out on location to Lake Tahoe, home of the outdoor scenes.
What set “Bonanza” apart from other Westerns was how the Cartwrights employed diplomacy and dialogue more than solely shoot-outs and show-downs.
Not to say they didn’t have their fair share of fights. But uniquely, each episode featured a major celebrity and also left us with a message to ponder.
Cheryl Landon (above) made a deathbed promise to actor
Michael Landon, her father. Staff photo by Willem Quigley.
Bonanza had many funny moments, especially behind the scenes such as the introduction to the show featuring the Cartwrights galloping in unison towards a camera and stopping at the edge of a lake.
The camera zooms in introducing each Cartwright showing off a warm, dazzling cowboy’s smile greeting the audience while on their horses.
Now the truth is none of those actors knew how to ride a horse, and they had to learn to ride fast.
Scene behind the scene
The actual scene behind the scene is all of the Cartwrights were holding on for dear life trying to look masterful in handling their horses.
I remember all of the Cartwrights forcefully pulling the reins and their horses immediately halted sending each one flying into the lake and landing underwater.
Suddenly an arm reaches up and we all saw a hand feeling around for something floating.
It was Lorne Greene’s toupée!
For Greene, the patriarch of the family, the toupée was his source of power, and he lost it when he was submerged into deep waters.
Being over our head
He literally was in over his head.
I wonder how many of us have been in situations like this where we are over our heads?
So deep are these situations that many of us experience hopelessness that takes us to a dark places in our minds. Some, sadly, may have suicidal thoughts.
Instead of getting help most often the pain becomes so unbearable we may be tempted to jump into a dark abyss to end the pain.
In Coronado, we see that abyss all too often with bridge jumpers.
Suicide bridge
The Coronado Bridge is frequently used as a suicide bridge, and at least 407 suicide deaths by bridge jumpers have occurred on the Coronado Bridge, which trails only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as the most often used for suicides in the United States.
Link "Coronado woman works to stop bridge suïcides
The Coronado Bridge is the second most frequently used bridge for suicides, after the Golden Gate Bridge, records show. It’s been in operation since 1969, and since then, it’s seen more than 400 deaths.The Coronado News!
Why jump?
There are all types of mental disorders causing suicide.
Also social, economic, health, lifestyles and relationships
including divorce and death contribute to suicide.
The self talk we entertain is the critical point leading to death or life.
I know this darkness.
At 20, one year after a car crash that left me as a sole survivor, I endured chronic pain, surgeries, experimental procedures, trial and addictive medications.
I only saw darkness and made a decision to end it. But instead of jumping, I ran into a plate glass window.
I was sent for 2 years to a residential, therapeutic ranch in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Both as student and then teacher. Their motto: “The truth shall set you free.”
Truth began my freedom out of darkness into light.
Challenges became opportunities. Meaning gave way to purpose. Most of all I found God in the forest mountains. And a deeper love.
Family, faith and purpose
Since then I’ve endured other surgeries and pain, but I’m blessed with a beautiful son who is happily married to the best daughter in law. And today, I have grandsons, other family, Coronado Community Church, friends, and a connection with God to make these golden years filled with purpose.
There’s hope for those feeling lost, hopeless and contemplating suicide.
It’s a link or a call away.
Here are a few resources to help: San Diego 24/7 crisis line 888-724-7240
National Suicide Prevention Life Line: 1 800 273-TALK (8255)
Cheryl Landon is a Coronado resident and is a daughter of actor Michael Landon.
Link to Post August 21 at 2023
Coronado’s Cheryl Landon fulfills promise to her father, TV star Michael Landon
The island resident says she keeping a promise to her dad, who starred in “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie.”
.jpg){kind=small}
Sofie Fransen
May 23, 2023
“Fight, baby, fight!”
It was a desperate plea, a call to his 19-year-old daughter who was in a deep coma after being the sole-survivor of a car accident. More than a plea, it was a promise.
The doctors told Michael Landon, actor and filmmaker, that his cries were useless—his daughter Cheryl Landon would probably not make it through the night, let alone be able to hear his coaching.
But he persisted, holding a vigil and promising God that he would do something useful with his life to make the world a better place if she lived.
After three days, Cheryl came out of the coma. She said she had heard his voice. She could repeat the words he had told her.
Fulfilling father’s promise
Cheryl Landon, now Coronado resident of six years, says she has since dedicated her life to fulfilling her father’s promise.
Author of “I Promised my Dad: An Intimate Portrait of Michael Landon by his Eldest Daughter” and “Michael Landon’s Legacy: 7 Keys to Supercharging Your Life,” Cheryl Landon can testify to the incredible impact her father had in shows like “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie.”
Since his promise, Michael Landon always incorporated a spiritual message into his productions, she said.
Cheryl Landon (above) made a promise to actor Michael Landon, her father, to honor and protect his name.. Staff photo by Willem Quigley.
In fact, he had just started “Little House on the Prairie” when Cheryl got in the accident. He stopped everything for a month to be by her side, she said.
“Family man”
“He was very much a family man,” Landon said. “I am so proud to have a father who had such an incredible effect on our people because he truly loved us.”
Landon said she was seven years old when Michael Landon came into her life and married her mother Lynn, pulling her from a young 20-year-old father with a hot Italian temper.
She said she considered Michael her rock from that moment on.
Since the accident in 1973, Landon has been faced with numerous surgeries.
She recalls being told by the doctors that she would end up in a wheelchair, have chronic pain and would never be able to have children.
Overcoming odds
Contrary to these predictions, Landon did not end up in a wheelchair and has a son, James Michael, who is currently living in Texas with his wife and their three boys.
Landon has, however, said she has dealt with excruciating pain since the accident.
She said that in order to make it through the pain, she had to find a purpose bigger than the pain.
For her, that purpose has been her dad’s promise, which she didn’t know existed until she was at the foot of his deathbed.
“And he squeezed my hand; he said: ‘We don’t know how to love each other; we’ve forgotten,’” she said.
Protecting legacy
Landon said she has been on a mission for 32 years, promising to protect her father’s legacy and mission.
She has been on talk shows and radio shows.
She has lectured internationally, published two books and written many articles.
Last year, Landon was a monthly contributor to the “Women’s Federation for World Peace International” newsletter.
After getting her masters in Curative Education at Emerson College in Sussex, England and Running Springs, California, she spent many years teaching through lectures.
Return to Coronado
Moving to the island in 2017, Landon said she loves that she is able to walk everywhere.
She is very involved with her church, Coronado Community Church, where the Rev. Eric Smith preaches.
She is also the chairwoman of the outreach program.
“My family is the church…I love the people in the church. I am just happy here.
-Cheryl Landon.
“My family is the church,” Landon said. “I love the people in the church. I am just happy here.”
Continuing her father’s promise, Landon strives to enrich communities.
Sitting at the foot of her father’s deathbed, she said she remembers thinking: “What could I give this man who has given me the world?”
So she made a promise to keep his message alive.
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada