Today is this guy's 81st birthday, or would have been if he were still with us.
Jack Horkheimer was the director of Miami Space Transit Planetarium, but was known to most of us who saw him on PBS as the Star Gazer. Actually, I used to watch him when the show was Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler back in the eighties.
Where we lived in New York City, which was late to adopt cable TV in our borough, I could get three PBS stations: WNET in the city, WLIW in Long Island, and WNJN out of Montclair, New Jersey. The latter two showed episodes of Dr. Who, mostly from the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker/Peter Davidson seasons, although we also got Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. They were all rather fuzzy, because those two PBS stations came over UHF. Anyway, Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler was a five-minute show used as a bumper, and what better place to show it than between episodes of a science-fiction series?
I always enjoyed Horkheimer's enthusiasm for the subject. He'd tell us what was visible and where as the year progressed, and discuss any cool events like comets or eclipses or meteor showers. The episodes I saw he always wore that windbreaker, standing against the universe, like we were out there and it was a little chilly.
Much of what he was talking about was lost on me, though. Living in the city, the night sky was usually obscured with light pollution and plain ol' pollution pollution; we were lucky to see the moon. To this day there are only a handful of constellations I can identify with confidence, including the Dippers and Orion. I certainly can't blame my ignorance on Jack. He tried.
Here's an episode from 1991.
As far as I know, he always ended the show with the same tagline: "Keep looking up!"
A year or so ago I thought of his show and looked him up; I was sad to see that he had passed away, but hardly surprised. I was very happy to see what he'd requested on his tombstone:
"Keep Looking Up" was my life's admonition
I can do little else in my present position
Thanks, Jack Horkheimer; you certainly were an astronomical star in your own right.
2 comments:
Yes. I admired his enthusiasm. We need more enthusiasm in this world. It seems it has been replaced with sarcasm and angry tribal passion. It takes courage to be optimistic and enthusiastic. Cynicism can be a form of cowardice which keeps us from discovering, hoping, dreaming, and loving.
I left suburban CT in 1980. Don't recall him being on before then. Thanks for the story and the video. He was engaging. Our light pollution here isn't too bad yet, especially the last couple of hours before sunup. I can see the Milky Way and all the visible planets, especially during Winter. This morning, Jupiter and Saturn greeted me and the dog.
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