Basic HTML Version
winter
|
spr ing
77
had toured Forest Lawn during a Hollywood visit to broker the film rights to
his other masterpiece,
Brideshead Revisited
. In 1965, the film version of
The
Loved One
was released, and combined Waugh’s dark humor with inspiration
from another British writer, Jessica Mitford (1917-1996). Her exposé,
The
American Way of Death
, caused such an uproar after its 1963 publication that
Congressional hearings ensued, investigating the funeral industry and its
increasingly “comprehensive” sales tactics.
In another cemetery-related twist of fate, two of Montecito’s most
beloved actors had roles in the celluloid version of
The Loved One
. Tab
Hunter played a tour guide at “Whispering Glades,” thinly disguised as
Forest Lawn with its white statuary set amidst lush gardens. And in a dual
role, Jonathan Winters gave a tour-de-force performance as two brothers:
Henry Glenworthy, the fast-talking manager of a pet cemetery known as
the “Happy Hunting Grounds,” and his unctuous sibling Rev. Wilbur
Glenworthy, who morphs into a lecherous maniac when alone with a
female employee in his mortuary’s “Chapel of Love.”
Because of the continuous, careful oversight of the Santa Barbara
Cemetery Association’s board, it has managed to avoid such scandals
raised by periodic controversies of marketing and interment practices.
Indeed, some of the most difficult moments in the cemetery’s history
have had more to do with the vagaries of Mother Nature, such as when a
few graves had to be moved due to part of the ocean bluffs succumbing
to tidal erosion.
Anyone who believes in eternal life is confident that the Santa
Barbara Cemetery looks even better from heaven than it does at sea level.
But until the day comes when we may enjoy the angel’s-eye view, we can
revel in the cemetery’s beauty while pondering an observation posted by
the late Earl Pittman, who served as grounds superintendent from 1930-
1966. He reportedly hung a sign above his home’s front door that read,
“Any day above ground is a good one.”
Both the County’s and the cemetery’s
growth and change can be read
in the idyllic layout, filled with
tombstones bearing the names of
early settlers and civic leaders who
saw or made those changes happen.
landmarks