Today’s Drunken Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Guinness, the Irish maker of the stout ale, tried to entice writer Brendan Behan to come up with a catchy slogan for their company by delivering a half-dozen kegs of their best brew to his home. After tapping the last barrel, he decided on what he believed its most important quality and offered what he thought a winner: “Guinness Makes You Drunk.” They didn’t use it, and instead got Christian writer Dorothy L. Sayers to pen the trademark, “Guinness Is Good For You.” How good it was for Behan in the end was obvious. As Ireland’s most popular playwright, Behan made no secret, nor could he, of his fondness for the frothy brew, describing himself as “a drinker with a writing problem.” His persona as the jolly alcoholic, as he regularly showed up drunk on stage and on television, endeared him to the public.
He started on a path not as jovial, as a member of the Irish Republican Army, and was sent to prison for four years, convicted for involvement in a plot to murder two police officers. Once out he left his previous employment working alongside his father as a house painter, and made his first earnings by writing pornography. His brilliant ad-libbing and lubricated wit earned him a spot giving readings on radio and writing newspaper articles on a variety of subjects. He noticed his talent slipping and decided to rise early and not drink until the pubs opened at noon. This modified regime allowed him to write plays, focusing on his prison experiences, that became international hits. When he published an autobiographical novel, Borstal Boy, in 1958, he was considered a leading Irish writer of his generation, and dubbed by the New York Times as a “real writer.” (The theater adaptation of Borstal Boy received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the 1969-1970 season.) At the height of his career, Behan was heralded as a genius for capturing the quintessence of old Gaelic’s lyricism and spirit.
23rd June 1956: Irish playwright Brendan Behan (1923 – 1964) having a pint. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
However, Behan’s public deterioration became hard to watch, though he persisted at drinking, believing the public wanted to see his staggering and witty, drunken view of things. Much of the press he received at the end embarrassed his family and friends, though he lifted his mug and exclaimed, with his still-genius ability for coining a line (which later became a maxim): “There’s no bad publicity except an obituary.” He got his at age forty-one in 1964, after suffering diabetic blackouts, renal and liver failure, and being locked down in a mental hospital in Dublin. Crowds lined the boulevards to watch his casket pass, dripping the first sip of their opened bottles into the street in his honor, recalling Behan’s motto for the resigned alcoholic: “I only drink on two occasions – when I’m thirsty and when I’m not.”
Culled from: Genius and Heroin: The Illustrated Catalogue of Creativity, Obsession, and Reckless Abandon Through the Ages
Fascinating Flickr Feed!
Did you know that Morbid Anatomy has a fascinating Flickr feed? I didn’t either until C.M. Adams sent me a note to tell me about it. They have folders for various delightfully morbid museums. A morbid must-browse!
And here’s the delightful collection of Museum photographs. Time to update The Morbid Sightseer and plan some road trips!
