Poseidon Adventure Red Buttons RIP

[Jim Kalafus]

Sad to announce that TV pioneer and film star Red Buttons has died. To those of my parents' generation he will be remembered for his 1950s variety show- and his trademark "Ho Ho Song," but to film buffs and children of the 1970s he will ALWAYS be "Mr. Martin' who needed a pretty wife and who passed off his Red Devils as being Wheat Germ to the gullible folks at Shelley Winters' table in the Dining Saloon on New Years Eve. Although denied a voyage long carnival of lust with randy widow Wilma Lewis as in the book, Mr. Martin- as limned by Red Buttons- was truly one of the major romantic characters of 1970s cinema:

MARTIN: Nonnie.....your brother is dead.
NONNIE: Did you like his music?
MARTIN: I would have danced to it....if I had anyone to dance with.

coming as it did immediately after the sad revelation that he was alone on New Years Eve remains, and will remain, Mr Buttons' shining onscreen moment....matched only by the part where he 'becomes a man' and bawls out Mike Rogo, and the sequence in which he breaks it to non-swimming Nonnie that drowning is very much the same as going under water.

Poseidon buffs can draw consolation from the fact that had elfen Mr. Martin's lifespan paralleled that of Mr. Buttons, he and Nonnie would have had 34 years of extremely obtuse bliss ahead of them.

He ran on time. Like a train.

RIP Mr. Buttons!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

For any of the somewhat younger set who may not know who Aaron Chwatt aka. Red Buttons is, you can read about him at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000999/

I think it's a safe bet he'll be missed. Requiem eternum Red.

 

[John Clifford]

quote:

Poseidon buffs can draw consolation from the fact that had elfen Mr. Martin's lifespan paralleled that of Mr. Buttons, he and Nonnie would have had 34 years of extremely obtuse bliss ahead of them.

That was what made the plot, in "POSEIDON", of Richard Dreyfuss and the lady trying to get to her brother in a New York hospital, such a downer; "real wasted plot-line", IMHO. It was also an awful rip-off of the Rosen "We need to see our grandson" storyline.

quote:

He ran on time. Like a train.

Actually that reminded me of an incident that was reported in March 2001. It was during that time when California was enduring the Enron-induced "rolling blackouts" (my term, not an E.T. view).
Anyway, Red Buttons was out either shopping or at a restaurant when the power went out. He later joked about thinking he was imagining things, stating "I'm glad it wasn't just me".
His "delivery" was quite humorous.

Also it was either him or Red Skelton who attended the funeral of a disliked Hollywood movie figure: noticing the large crowd, the comment was made, "See!! You give the public what it wants, and they'll come"!!
Even if it was Red Skelton who delivered that line, Red Buttons could have said it just as well.

Anyways, Red Buttons had a good life.
For those E.T. Members who, like myself, get to attend a special screening of "The Poseidon Adventure", it is a special joy to see the people who were involved in that film, especially since so many of them have now passed away.

TO RED BUTTONS: REST IN PEACE.​