We’ve all been there — right? Staring into your clothes closet a day before testifying as the lead witness in the murder trial of a homicidal maniac wondering, what in the world should I wear? Linda Kasabian, who died last month at age 73, and whose testimony put Charles Manson behind bars, asked writer Joan Didion to pick out her dress. “Size 9 petite,” she guided Didion. “Mini but not extremely mini. In velvet, if possible. Emerald green or gold. Or: a Mexican-style peasant dress, smocked or embroidered.”
Linda did not participate in any of the gruesome killings over two nights. The first night, when actress Sharon Tate and four others were killed, Linda mostly waited in the car. The second night, two victims were tied up, but Linda left with Manson before others did the killing. She was granted immunity for testifying.
A different cult member, Susan Atkins, provided the crucial grand jury testimony in the case, but refused to testify at the trial, so it came down to Kasabian, to the delight of lead prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, because she was a better witness. For one thing, Atkins had participated in the killings. Bugliosi said Kasabian was not a violent person and was brought along — get this — because she had a driver’s license. Apparently, the California traffic ordinances were more of a concern to them than the ten commandments.
Her testimony lasted 17 days during which the defense tried relentlessly to catch her in contradictions but failed at every turn, despite having a 20-page summary of all of her interviews with the prosecution and her letters. Years later, appearing with Linda on the Larry King show, Bugliosi left no doubt that it was Kasabian who put Manson behind bars.
In his book, Mr. Bugliosi recalled his summation to the jury: “Charles Manson, the Mephistophelean guru who raped and bastardized the minds of all those who gave themselves so totally to him, sent out from the fires of hell at Spahn Ranch three heartless, bloodthirsty robots, and — unfortunately for him — one human being, the little hippie girl Linda Kasabian.”
The British rock band Kasabian, which has released seven albums, is named after her. She was born in Biddeford, Maine and raised in Milford, NH. She had two daughters.
I heard the late comedian Gilbert Gottfried say he visited Charles Manson in prison once. They brought Manson into the room, and he sat down, looked at Gottfried, and said “Am I crazy? — or is it cold in this room?”
We heard from Owl Chatter math guru Judy on the alphabetical batting order calculations. She gave us a thumbs up but added: “My only tweak is the order of the numbers: the chance (or probability) of the batting order in alphabetical order is 1 to 362,880 (or 1/362,880).” Thanks Judy! Batter up!
OMG readers, I am kvelling with anticipation. (There must be a portmanteau in there — kvellipation? anticivelling?) Anne Hathaway was in the puzzle yesterday, and Chatter fave Taylor Swift returned today after way too long a hiatus. Could there be two more beautiful guests?
Yesterday’s constructor, Aaron Rosenberg, needed an ANNE at 41D and must have had a zillion to choose from. Lucky for us, he picked the glamorous and talented Anne Hathaway, boringly clued as “Actress Hathaway.” Anne is 40 years old and Brooklyn-born. At six, her family moved to Milburn, NJ, right up the road from Owl Chatter headquarters. Her dad’s a labor lawyer and her mom a former actress, and Anne is primarily of Irish descent. She was named after Shakespeare’s wife [not kidding].
She was romantically involved with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri, but that exploded when he was arrested and charged with defrauding investors by claiming he was the Vatican’s real estate agent. How’s that for chutzpah with a capital chutz! As part of the investigation, the FBI confiscated Hathaway’s journals from his apartment. He wound up in prison, but Anne was not charged with any crime.
In 2012, determined to stay away from creeps like Rafaello and marry a nice Jewish boy, Hathaway married actor and businessman Adam Shulman in a traditional Jewish ceremony. They have two sons and live in NY on the Upper West Side. They sold their wedding photo and donated the proceeds to a same-sex-marriage advocacy group. She is active in a broad range of progressive causes as well as support for Ukraine.
Among her numerous acting awards are an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Les Miserables, and a nomination for Best Actress in Rachel Getting Married (Kate Winslet won for The Reader). She also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her voice role in a 2010 episode of The Simpsons.
Here she is looking pretty glamorous. The Owl Chatter photographers told her she’d be appearing alongside Taylor Swift today and she just laughed. Bring her on!
The puzzle was universally loved today, which is rare. The theme was STEM CELLS, with the word STEM shmushed into a single square (or cell) three times. E.g., “ghoST EMoji” at 38A crossed “lose one’S TEMper” at 10D.
You know when people talk with every sentence ending like it’s a question? I learned that’s called UPTALK. It was at 11D with the clue: “Speech that ends sentences with rising tones.” Joe Dipinto noted: “Per Wikipedia the ‘official’ name for UPTALK or upspeak is High Rising Terminal (HRT)? In Britain it’s known as Australian Question Intonation (AQI)?”
Commenter Alice Pollard wrote: “UPTALK is definitely a thing. An annoying thing. People in my office do it all the time. I even asked one young kid who reports to me ‘Why are you talking like that?’ It is something most people grow out of, but not all. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre does it – it is nails on a chalkboard to me.”
“Palindromic staple in Indian cuisine” was ATTA. Many of us tried NAAN first. As egsforbreakfast put it, “My first attempt at 5 across was a NAAN-starter.” He also noted that Eeyore uses “downtalk.”
“Sites of many revolutions,” was SOLAR SYSTEMS. Someone noted: SOLAR SYSTEMS is a very timely answer, as last night Jupiter and Venus had a lovely conjunction which I missed cuz clouds. Jupiter is great to look at with a telescope because of its lovely string of 4 moons, discovered by Galileo. Interesting that the latest count of Jupiter’s moons is something like 95. 95!!!! I think when I was a kid it was 6 or 7.
That’s a shitload of moons. Who needs that many moons? Do they bump into each other?
Last, “Whom so-called Swifties are fans of,” of course is TAYLOR. Let’s see if she’s popped by yet — Taylor!? Ha! — wonderful to see you again! Gorgeous, as usual. Anne Hathaway’s here — you two know each other? Anything to drink? Settle in . . .
The Wellington Files 