Evening is Nye

What with this, that and the other, it's been some time since I glanced at the obits. This morning, I find a report in The Nyok Times that veteran comic Louis Nye has bought it, at the ripe old age of 92.

The obit does not adequately explain Mr. Nye's appeal, to my mind. Perhaps his persona did look down his nose at the audience; but he wouldn't have got anywhere with that attitude, if it hadn't been for the sorrowful eyes, the poignant eyebrows, and the vulnerable mouth, than all of which there were none than-whicher. You got the feeling that Louis Nye was doing what many citizens along Broadway were doing at the time, which was the best he could, as Damon Runyon put it. A career that included playing a mountain-top guru in a TV spot (could it have been in a Lay's potato chip commercial? Mr. Nye was always more memorable than the product) only served to reinforce this impression.