[Veeck: A Man For Any Season raw #5]

Bill Veeck is interviewed in his living room at home. Raw footage for "A Man for Any Season."

00:00Copy video clip URL Bars and tone.

00:44Copy video clip URL Veeck takes a seat on the couch in his living room as the camera pans out into the garden and across the room.

01:45Copy video clip URL Cut to Veeck on the couch, in the middle of a story as the crew prepares for the interview.

03:15Copy video clip URL Interviewer asks him to comment on the word, “optimism.” He agrees that he is optimistic and notes that anyone who works as an operator in baseball for many years has to be optimistic. He claims that spring training is his favorite time of the year because everyone is optimistic and it’s simply the most enjoyable time. He says that it’s never as bad as it could be, and that “it’s only a matter of degree so things must be good.” He notes that his life has been extremely enjoyable and tells the story of how he was married once before and it didn’t work out, but if he wasn’t optimistic, he wouldn’t have married Mary Frances.

08:50Copy video clip URL Interviewer asks about his use of humor and his history having been a stand up comedian. He responds that there’s plenty of difficulty in the world, so the best way of dealing with it is to laugh at it or to laugh at yourself. He claims that this is a national trait and that this was something especially important in the service. He talks about different kinds of humor and that humor at another’s expense is cruel. That’s why he tries to focus on himself or situational humor.

11:48Copy video clip URL He goes on to speak of the use of manners as a way to smooth things over. He talks about the human animal and the quest for trying to be superior, but notes that we aren’t as smart as dolphins because they are always smiling. He speculates about animals’ use of humor, and posits that a cobra may be humorous to other cobras, perhaps.

14:30Copy video clip URL The interviewer speaks about how artists who’ve enriched lives continue to be busy later in life, and compares this to Bill’s life. He begins by talking about Georgia O’Keefe and her ability to get better with age. He talks about the resistance to aging in our culture, and how he doesn’t allow himself to get bothered by aging. He goes on to say he enjoys every day, and that ultimately there’s hope, saying that “it’s just an attitude. Nothing else.” He begins to tell how he would’ve liked to continue operating a ball club, and then the tape abruptly ends.

18:34Copy video clip URL End of tape.