(Peter Stickney) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(ArtKramr) writes:
Subject: Dr. Strangelove
From: (Paul A. Suhler)
Date: 8/9/2004 5:41 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

Guy Alcala wrote:
There have long been claims that Kubrick based Strangelove at least partly
on
Henry the K. (he got the hair right), the other relatively well-known figure
at
the time. Of course, Kissenger's bio is about the opposite of
Strangelove's,
who has more in common with Werner Von Braun (which gives me an excuse to
post
the lyrics of the Tom Lehrer song):


And the other candidate is Edward Teller. I read an interview
that he gave in the last year of his life and the interviewer
asked about it a couple of times. Finally Teller threatened
to end the interview if he heard the word "Strangelove" one
more time.



I am certain ir was Edward Teller. I heard him lecture one evening at the New
School in NY where I was teaching at the time. Teller was lecturing on Theory
of Relativity. It was an illustrated three hour lecture and all I could think
of as he spoke was Strangelove.. But the line he ended the lecture with
brought the entire audience in that large lecture hall to their feet. His
lastline was, "Zee trupple mit science ficshun is es ist zu unimaginatif" The
crowd exploded applause After the lecture I went upto Teller and said,, Herr
Doctor Professor Ich danke sehr fur das.. He replied bowing slightly from the
waist with, : "Ich bedanke mich" German speakers will understand the formality
and elegance of his reply..Yup. He was Strangelove.


Strangelove was, according the Peter Sellers, based on an amalgam of
Henry Kissenger, Wehrner von Braun, Edward Teller, and WeeGee. a
German Photorapher in Manhatten. A lot of it also seems to have come
from the German characters that Sellers voiced when he was doing "The
Goon Show" radio series for teh BBC in the 1950s. (Most notably the
fiendish Dr. Hans Eidelberger and his Horsehair Zeppelin.)


Wasn't a bit of Curtiss LeMay in there? Afterall LeMay was seriously
preparing SAC to fight a pre-emptive nuclear war against the USSR and
win without any harm comming to the USA. That's why the USA had SAC,
SAGE, F102's, Mach 3.2 YF12s, B47s,B52s,B58s,XB70s Safeguard, Spartan
and Sprint.