Nearly Famous Friday - Born in Bourne

We all have those stories we tell that have been passed down to us, told so many times, we barely remember where or when we learned them. We rarely question their validity. 

One of the first such stories in my life is that I was born in Bourne. I love saying it. I always have. I can't even imagine being born in Evanston or St. Louis, Pittsburgh or even Boston. Being born in Bourne certainly has a ring to it and alliteration as well. 

Beautiful beach cottage rental in Bourne, MA

Just in case you don't already know, Bourne is a town in Massachusetts, wherein lies (or did way back when) Otis Air Force Base and its military hospital. And according to our family mythlore that is where I was born, destined to be defined for a long time by my self-imposed "Air Force Brat" status. With the base closure in 1973, the hospital too was closed and eventually was torn down. 

And again a brush with fame and fortune, but just a brush. Turns out that someone famous was born at the same dang hospital on the same dang air force base -- just two months after my entry into the world. While my birth was barely noticed, other than by my own family and close friends on the base, the world more than noticed this other baby's entrance and mourned his loss too soon. 

President Barack Obama and his family arriving at the Cape Cod
 Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Massachusettsin 2009 Photo: EPA 

According to wikipedia.org, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born five and a half weeks early by emergency caesarean section at the Otis Air Force Base Hospital in Bourne, Massachusetts. Born premature, he was transferred right after his birth to Boston Children's Hospital, where he died just two days later of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). Interestingly, my own son was born by emergency c-section but he survived and is now thriving into his teen years. 

Part of my personal story has always been that I was delivered by the same doctor as JFK's son. I hadn't realized which son until just now when I looked up my "story" for authentication purposes. I didn't even remember they'd had a third child, actually a fourth. 1963 was a very sad year indeed for the Kennedy clan. 

And so shortly after my birth, as the story goes, I was in an odd way connected with John F. Kennedy, delivered by the same doctor in the same hospital as his 2nd son. It would not be our last connection to the President. 

Nearly Famous Friday - Born Nearly Famous

I was born nearly famous. 

I myself wouldn't realize until much later in my life just what all was insinuated or attached to my name, at least to ... let us say ... gentlemen of a certain age. 

I don't believe my parents had a clue that this name carried any connotations either nor any of the other gazillion and one parents who named their baby girls the same dang name in 1963, just one year after a young actress by the same name gained instant fame in the somewhat scandalous movie, Lolita.

Wikipedia says this: Based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel of the same name, Kubrick's Lolita, though a toned-down version of the book was nonetheless one of the most controversial films of its day. 

Just 14 years old when she was cast in the role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze, the sexually charged adolescent and the object of an older man's obsessions in the film, this woman whose name I share, became quite the sensation. It is probably good that I never knew any of this. I just thought my name was boring. Somewhere in my twenties, however, I did notice a thing or two about my name. When speaking to slightly older men, I began to notice a theme emerge when I would introduce myself and share my name. I would begin to see sly smiles appear and odd smirks as they would ask me if I knew who the other Sue Lyon was or anything about the film she starred in called "Lolita?" Nope - I didn't then. I do now. 

Despite the fact that it was a rather odd moniker to be carried by an innocent and naive young lady (yes I did call myself that), I figured out just what it meant and soldiered on (he he he). I read the book, I got the joke and the winks and nudges and that was that. 

Funny thing is when I'd practically forgotten all about it, it reared it's head again. I was in my mid-twenties, living in Hollywood (Burbank actually) and about to sign a lease. Entering the rental office, I was caught unawares when the lovely young receptionist asked my name. It went something like this: 

"Sue Lyon," I said.

"Wow. Really?" she said. 

"Yes.", I said. "It is a popular name."

"It is just that my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend is Sue Lyon, the actress." 

Nearly a brush with fame - or something. While the actress (or boyfriend's ex-girlfriend if you choose) caused quite a stir in her prime, landing major roles including in "The Night of the Iguana" and "The Flim Flam Man" opposite Frank Sinatra, she was relegated to mostly secondary roles by the 1970's. She worked off and on in film and television until 1980. She was mostly ending her career before I'd even really begun my own. 

And so it goes. That is one of my first memories of being nearly famous -- close to it but not it myself. I've said for years that I need to get a large movie poster (the one with the heart-shaped red sunglasses), frame it and hang it prominently in my living room. Not everyone can have their name displayed as a star on a movie poster! 

Of course I could get this one instead: 

We are all famous in our own right. Be well.

Ciao for now, 
Mama Zuzi