AP Photo/Bob Child
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My first memories of Paul Newman involve me ambitiously practicing the hula hoop on my back porch while my mother danced around the kitchen humming the theme song for the Sting—a huge hit that year: 1973.
Later, when I was an acting student at the Stella Adler Conservatory in NY, there was a lot of critical disdain for some of the 'method' actors, but hushed respect was always awarded to the work of Paul Newman.
More recently I had the pleasure of viewing the screening of Empire Falls at the Museum of Natural History as a guest of my gorgeous and connected sister Dawn Bridges. It was assigned seating and we were initially disappointed to be relegated to the very back row, but later relieved when we heard an opening announcement that the entire mini series would be shown back to back, with no interruptions, so as to "get the full effect of the storyline."
We figured we'd sneak out in a bit, anytime after we caught Mr. Newman who directed but also was expected to be brilliant (he was) as a feisty conniving old-timer with more brains than cash.
Our plan was foiled when the two empty seats next to us were taken up by Paul Newman and his radiant wife Joanne Woodward. (I swear I'm not pandering it—about 4¼ hours—was worth it, besides hearing Mr. Newman guffaw right next to us at certain lines, the show and the story was rich and deep.)
But my relationship to Mr. Newman did not end there. Nope, he was part of many a dinner as I splashed his mustard salad dressing on greens my kids actually ate. And squished into the lunchbox fairly healthy and completely natural choices of pretzels and Newman's Os.
So beyond his phenomenal talent on the big screen—his most amazing and generous gifts are what he's done for kids. From my kids, eating safe healthful snacks—to kids suffering from drug dependence and other illnesses, Paul Newman, through the Hole in the Wall Camp, and healthy alternatives from Newman's Own—searched for—worked for—and found, solutions. 100% of the profits for the wildly successful line of food goes to charity. To date that's $250 million dollars.
To Nell and Back
Paul's daughter Nell Newman is an active environmentalist and the reason Newman's Own was one of the first big companies to embrace organics. Here's an excerpt of what Nell had to say to me in a recent interview for my forthcoming book, Green Kids, Sage Families.
"Dad loves pretzels, that's his favorite food. He already had this amazing business up and running that was doing so much good for people, and the planet. I thought, what if we could offer people foods they love that also happen to be organic? I bet a lot of people would like those. The kinds of foods that dad likes.
"We know that pesticides cause damage through every level of the food chain. Years after DDT was banned we're still seeing it's devastating effects on wild birds of prey. They are like the canary in the coal mine. If it's doing that to them, what's it doing to us? That's why organic matters."
I guess the best gift Mr. Newman gave to us all is the ability to connect—to human emotions—to health—to nature.
Unlike underdog Cool Hand Luke, What we have here is an ability to communicate.
Lynda Fassa is Planet Green's babies and family expert. She's the founder of Green Babies organic cotton baby clothes and the author of Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby, and the forthcoming Green Kids, Sage Families: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Family, both from Penguin NAL. Read her previous posts here. Green Babies is a Registered Trademark of Green Babies, Inc.
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