newsmakers

September 16, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

NBC newsman Edwin Newman dies

NEW YORK

Edwin Newman, who brought literacy, wit and energy to NBC newscasts for more than three decades and battled linguistic pretense and clutter in his best-sellers “Strictly Speaking” and “A Civil Tongue,” has died. He was 91. NBC News did not immediately say Wednesday where or when Newman had died or the cause of death.

At NBC from 1952 until his retirement in 1984, Newman did political reporting, foreign reporting, anchoring of news specials, “Meet the Press,” “Today,” “The Nightly News,” midday news and a variety of radio spots. He announced the death of President John F. Kennedy on radio and analyzed the Vietnam War. He also narrated and helped write documentaries, back when they were an influential staple of network programming.

Newman, with his rumpled, squinting delivery, impressed his audience not so much with how he looked as with the likelihood that what he’d say would be worth hearing. And his occasional witty turn of phrase might be accompanied by a mischievous smile.

Sondheim gets his name on a theater

NEW YORK

Stephen Sondheim has gotten a belated birthday gift: his name on a Broadway theater.

The 1,055-seat theater on West 43rd Street named after actor-producer Henry Miller was formally renamed Wednesday in honor of Sondheim, who turned 80 in March.

Hootie & The Blowfish get SC monument

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Hootie & The Blowfish is getting a monument in South Carolina’s capital city. The State newspaper reported that a large steel- and-black-granite art piece will be unveiled Oct. 21 in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood, blocks from the University of South Carolina.

The newspaper reported the monument is expected to be about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and at least 12 feet tall.

The Southern rockers sold more than 16 million copies of their debut album, “Cracked Rear View,” released in 1994.

Eatery named for funkster closes

CINCINNATI

The curtain has come down on a Cincinnati restaurant named for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame funkster Bootsy Collins. Restaurant owner Jeff Ruby said that Tuesday was the last night for Bootsy’s, which featured a display of memorabilia from Collins’ career. Ruby says the downtown establishment never turned a profit since it opened in December 2008, so the place will be given a new name and concept.

He told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Collins will remain involved.

Ruby said when people heard the name Bootsy’s, they thought it was a nightclub, not a restaurant.

Vindicator wire services