January 5, 2018

"She said she and another Star reporter were in the newsroom... when Ayers, then the newspaper’s publisher... told her she’d 'been a bad girl' and needed to be spanked."

"'I started laughing, because I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever heard,' she said. [Veronica Pike] Kennedy said [H. Brandt] Ayers picked up a pica pole – a metal ruler used to measure the size of printed type – and tried to pull Kennedy out of her chair. I was literally holding on to the chair,' Kennedy said. 'He picked me and the chair up, and wrestled the chair out of my hands. And he started spanking me.' Kennedy was 22 at the time of the alleged spanking. Ayers turned 40 the same year."

From an article in the Anniston [Alabama] Star, linked in the NYT article "Alabama Newspaper Executive Resigns After Admitting He Once Spanked a Reporter." The incident took place in 1975. Ayers now says (quoted in the Star): "As a very young man with more authority than judgment, I did some things I regret. At my advanced age I wish I could relive those days again, knowing the seriousness of my position and with the accumulated judgment that goes with age." Again, he was 40.

59 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

I like "As a very young man with more authority than judgment, I did some things I regret" as the first line of a novel.

It's got some of that "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since."

Big Mike said...

Yeah. I came up with an opening line for a novel: "This isn't working," he thought desperately.

Now all I need is to figure out the rest of the novel.

Well, it does beat "It was a dark and stormy night."

richlb said...

It's amazing what we regret once we've been caught.

Wince said...

In my comments last night I recalled similar experiences with my parents and a section of Hot Wheels track.

Jupiter said...

Hmmmm... How had she been a bad girl?

Mike Sylwester said...

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Jupiter said...

I guess the important question is, was he a buff, eccentric, aloof yet strangely attractive 40-year-old billionaire? Or not?

Bay Area Guy said...

Yes, he was 40. But, the "incident took place in 1975."

Don't you remember the 70s? It was a hang-loose era. I think playful spanking at work was allowed, particularly before Disco dances lessons.

tcrosse said...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that it was the best of times when I, Ishmael, dreamed I went to Manderley again.

Ann Althouse said...

I've a mind to restart the Gatsby Project.

Am I asking you, The Reader, if I should? Earlier today, one reader wrote — perhaps seriously — "Althouse, I actually look forward to your careful reading of, and commentary on, this book." "This book" was not a book that invites sentence-by-sentence close reading, but that woeful tome "Fire and Furious." I said, "I will write only what damned well pleases me and any effort to push me to do something or portray me as obligated is going to make whatever it is feel a lot less pleasing."

The last thing I want to do is ask you if you want me to restart the Gatsby Project. If you say yes, I'll get balky. If you say no, well, screw you.

So I decided to resort to divination. I decided to do a search for "spanking" in "The Great Gatsby" and if the word turned up, I'd restart the project.

The results are open to interpretation, because the word is there...

"The one* on my right was a colossal affair by any standard— it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden."

... but no one is getting spanked.

How did "spanking" get into "spanking new"? I look the phrase up in the OED and am merely told that it's a colloquial way to say "very new" and I'm a bit delighted to see that the third example of the use of the phrase is the very sentence — the spanking sentence? — from "The Great Gatsby" that put the question in my head in the first place.
________________

* "The one" refers to one of 2 "enormous eggs" that mark the edges of a bay.

holdfast said...

As a great Southern man once said, "You dun fucked up, boyah!".

tim in vermont said...

Ha! I have the perfect title for my novel! It's not Bomb Cyclone, even though that would be great too. This blog is like those word magnets.

sparrow said...

Spanking new, presumably, is a reference to spanking a newborn to clear the babe's airway

Ann Althouse said...

"Yes, he was 40. But, the "incident took place in 1975." Don't you remember the 70s? It was a hang-loose era. I think playful spanking at work was allowed, particularly before Disco dances lessons."

I was 24 in 1975, and I remember a number of things, including not viewing 40 year old men as being "very young." If such a man — however buff, eccentric, aloof yet strangely attractive — were to engage me in banter and describe himself as "very young" I would have laughed in his face or felt embarrassed for him and mocked him behind his back — depending on how strangely attractive he was.

Ann Althouse said...

"Fire and Furious."

LOL

n.n said...

Kinky, perhaps. Sexual, weird. I suppose sex sells and forces settlements. It was corporal harassment.

Curious George said...

Did he tell her to "put some ice on it/"

#ingaknew

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
YoungHegelian said...

Well, Mr Ayers had to keep himself in training for the annual spank-off contest at the Calhoun County fair on the 4th of July.

Good clean fun all around, you understand.

sparrow said...

Maybe 40 seems very young to him now, since he's in his 80s. 40 is plenty old enough to know better. However ~43 years is long time to wait to bring up an incident.

tim in vermont said...

Ann Bancroft was in her thirties as Mrs Robinson. Old!

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Dustin Hoffman was 29 when he was in The Graduate, but he still doesn't get a pass in The Reckoning.

TerriW said...

Big Mike:

Well, it does beat "It was a dark and stormy night."

The night was sultry.

Bob Boyd said...

First lines:

She was a bad girl with a good ass and don't regret putting the pica to it even though it cost me everything I had.

robinintn said...

I bet I’ve heard and used “brand spankin’ new” hundreds of times in the last 50 some years. I thought it was a general American expression, but maybe it’s only southern. He was married to an Alabama girl. Still, it must be a sign from the Gatsby gods.

Paddy O said...

Growing up I remember seeing Ricky Ricardo spanking Lucy on occasion on I Love Lucy. It was just those bits of "Oh Lucy finally got caught" moments that were part of the show.

It is very strange to watch those episodes now.

But given how playful it was played on the show, I could see how someone in authority would think that was a playful kind of correction.

It's still abhorrent and odd, of course, but it's still an odd part of culture that some men like to see themselves as daddy and "their" women as children.

David-2 said...

Only 14 years too old to be a child on his parent's insurance - so, really, more of an adolescent than an adult at 40, huh? And we don't expect good judgement from adolescents ...

Ann Althouse said...

"* "The one" refers to one of 2 "enormous eggs" that mark the edges of a bay. "

Wrong.

"The one" referred to one of 2 "huge" houses in the vicinity of the westernmost "egg."

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I was hopeful for a nanosecond that Mr. Spank was Bomber Billy Ayers and he was forced to resign in disgrace, not because he had once tried to murder members of the American military forces, but because he spanked a young woman. Unfortunately, it's not the same Ayers.

And no, 22 year olds do not see men in their 40's as "very young."

Humperdink said...

I was also 24 in 1975 and at the time, a young upstart supervisor. I had one geezer working for me who regularly made not so subtle, inappropriate comments to the young ladies in the department. I stopped that in a hurry. Even in that era, I could not imagine a spanking. The guy was a creep.

Virgil Hilts said...

Per the NY Times, spanking was popular in movies until the late 1960s. This was only 6 years later, so by Hollywood standards I think he gets a pass. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/04/23/spanking-was-popular-and-routine-in-hollywood-romances-until-the-late-1960s/

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Paddy O said...
Growing up I remember seeing Ricky Ricardo spanking Lucy on occasion on I Love Lucy. It was just those bits of "Oh Lucy finally got caught" moments that were part of the show.

It is very strange to watch those episodes now.


Scroll down to the Chase and Sanborn ad:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2617868/The-good-old-days-Horrendously-sexist-vintage-ads-wont-believe-made.html

Actually, I think the one with the man proppeing one foot up on the head of a woman who actually part woman/part tiger-skin rug is creepier.

Bob Boyd said...

First Lines:

They say if you remember the 70's you weren't there, but it isn't true, is it?. I remember the 70's and I can only wish wasn't there. "Why?" they keep asking, my wife, my...friends, the fucking reporters, "Why did you think it was okay to spank her?" Do you remember the 70's? I thought she was a monkey, I swear to God.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

At my advanced age I wish I could relive those days again.

I'll bet he does...


Virgil Hilts said...

I too had a momentary thrill when I saw the name Ayers and thought it might refer to the bomber.
It's one thing to participate in assassinations and bombings and conspire to commit a mass murder (too bad his girlfriend (who had to make the bombs because Bill was too scared to) blew herself up making the bomb for the big massacre) - that is something our liberal society can forgive and forget -- but it's a completely different ballgame when you engage in non-consensual spanking.

Fernandinande said...

If she was working for a newspaper, she probably was a bad girl.

So, why'd the guy resign? He should see if they could get away with firing him for something that happened 40 years ago.

Jupiter said...

Ann Althouse said...

"I was 24 in 1975, and I remember a number of things,"

Yeah. Like, "Never trust anyone over 30". Like I would ever be over 30!

Bob Boyd said...

Nobody on his deathbed ever said, I wish I hadn't spanked that reporter.

Jupiter said...

Blogger Bob Boyd said...

"She was a bad girl with a good ass and don't regret putting the pica to it even though it cost me everything I had."

A "good ass"? I could see giving up everything to take a pica to a good ass, but I would regret it. How about a "great ass"? Behind every great fortune, there lies a great ass.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

43 years is long time to wait to bring up an incident

Decrepit and rotting. Goes to motive.

Jupiter said...

Blogger Bob Boyd said...
"Nobody on his deathbed ever said, I wish I hadn't spanked that reporter."

On the other hand, this may be the only known case of a man on his deathbed saying, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".

tcrosse said...

A spanking breeze blew across Alabama.

Mary Beth said...

How did "spanking" get into "spanking new"?

I'm picturing a doctor spanking a newborn's bottom and that being generalized to anything so new it's like it's seconds old.

Jupiter said...

Pre-med joke from 1976;

Q. Why do Doctors spank newborns on the ass?
A. To knock the dicks off the dumb ones.

robother said...

"At my advanced age I wish I could relive those days again..."

Ahh, the 70s. "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,. But to be young was very heaven!"

Ann Althouse said...

Spanking the newborn baby sounds logical, but I don't think the historical analysis will prove that correct.

The adjective "spanking," meaning "Very big, large, or fine; exceptionally good in some respect, frequently with implication of showiness or smartness" is much older than the verb "to spank" referring to the type of hitting or the noun "spank" with the same reference. The meaning "strutting" for "spanking" is also older than the hitting.

Even more telling is the old phrase "span-new" which means "perfectly new." It goes back to the 14th century: c1374 Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iii. 1665 This tale was ay span new to byginne Til at the nyght departed hem atwynne..

Ann Althouse said...

Isn't that a kick in the head?

Sydney said...

I would like it if you resumed the Gatsby project. Loved it!

Henry said...

You couldn't get away with that these days. Everything is in pixels.

Etienne said...
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Henry said...

"I'll spank you with my pixel ruler" wouldn't even get you a ligature.

The most abusive thing about that episode isn't the spanking. If the editor had let fly with the pica ruler as she walked by that would have been hostile. But he forcibly wrestled her out of her chair with both hands. That's abusive.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

"that's assault," I should have written.

It is true that physicality was more accepted back then. A nun could hit a child with a ruler just as readily as publisher could hit a reporter.

Henry said...

"As a very young man with more authority than judgment, I did some things I regret."

That ship has sailed.

"Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."

* * *

Various accounts having appeared from time to time of my early life and adventures, and I myself having published thirty years ago stories of the several campaigns in which I took part, and having written later about particular episodes, I have thought it right to bring the whole together in a single complete story, and to tell the tale, such as it is, anew. I have therefore not only searched my memory, but have most carefully verified my facts from the records which I possess. I have tried, in each part of the quarter-century in which this tale lies, to show the point of view appropriate to my years, whether as a child, a schoolboy, a cadet, a subaltern, a war correspondent or a youthful politician. If these opinions conflict with those now generally accepted, they must be taken merely as representing a phase in my early life, and not in any respect, except where the context warrants, as modern pronouncements.

* * *

The children had discovered that their lives would be unendurable without pistol-practice. After much forethought and self-denial, Dick had saved seven shillings and sixpence, the price of a badly constructed Belgian revolver. Maisie could only contribute half a crown to the syndicate for the purchase of a hundred cartridges. ‘You can save better than I can, Dick,’ she explained; ‘I like nice things to eat, and it doesn’t matter to you. Besides, boys ought to do these things.’

* * *

"And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth."

* * *

Sadly, I don't think people write like this anymore. "I have done some things I regret" is a Victorian Edwardian beginning.

Jupiter said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"Isn't that a kick in the head?"

To knock the Pussy Hats off the smart ones?

MadisonMan said...

He was 40. The incident took place in 1975: 43 years ago.

The octogenarian should've retired long ago.

readering said...

Lots of Hollywood spanking in clip at the link

https://pictorial.jezebel.com/i-dont-know-whether-to-kiss-you-or-spank-you-a-half-ce-1769140132

Anonymous said...

Can anybody explain to me why "Who's your daddy?" is considered a hot thing for a guy to say to a girl during sex?