Linked by Death

When two famous people have the bad luck to die on the same day, or at least so that their deaths are noted in the news on the same day, we can help but compare their relative contributions to our culture. So we note that the Chicago Tribune put Johnny Cash?s obituary on their September 13 front page, while John Ritter was in the Tempo entertainment section. This also despite the fact that Ritter died Thursday night, September 11 (no irony marked there) and Cash very early on Friday the 12th, so while both deaths were all over the morning TV and radio on Friday, the papers couldn't get to them until Saturday morning.
The placement of these stories in the paper, and the order in which they were covered on broadcast news, clearly favored Cash as the more pre-eminent person. That?s likely so, what with his being "there at the creation" of rock?n?roll and a pioneer country crossover, and influencing even punk and later styles, and managing a comeback in the 1990's, while Ritter was "just" the lead in a "jiggle comedy" most people are embarrassed to admit they watched.
However, had theseoccurred occured in, say, 1985, Ritter would have certainly gotten more play as one of the most successful sitcom actors in TV at that point, and one whose show sparked a host of imitators, while Cash had been largely ignored, influential but not as far as the mainstream was concerned. And with the reach of TV being what it is, its possible more people saw an episode of "Three's Company" than ever saw Cash perform. Whether more people might have heard one of Cash's records than saw a Ritter performance is up in the air. But each had a part in shaping the world we know today.
Of course during the whole time these two were alive, it's impossible to imagine that one had compared himself to the other, whether favorably or unfavorably, the way death has invited these implied comparisons. Now it is possible their paths had crossed: the Internet Movie Database cannot put them together on the same production, although Ritter was doing TV work starting in 1968, the same time Cash had his own variety series. And Ritter was the son of Tex Ritter, who had to have shared a bill with Cash at some point, maybe with little John backstage. The mind boggles.
And you haven't seen the video for Johnny's last single, "Hurt?" (a cover of a Nine Inch Nails tune, yet), Cash's website has links to it. Watch it; it's astounding.