Michael Jackson's eulogy to James Brown Augusta, GA. Dec. 30, 2006 Michael Jackson speaks at the funeral of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown's funeral. "Ever since I was a small child - no more than six-years-old - my mother would wake me no matter what time it was to watch the television to see the master at work," he said. "Every time I saw him move I was mesmerized. I've never seen a performer like JB and right then and there, I knew that was exactly what wanted I to do with my life. James Brown, I shall miss you and I love you so much. Thank you for everything."
Marilyn Monroe's Funeral: The Eulogy By Lee Strasberg "Marilyn Monroe was a legend.
In her own lifetime she created a myth of what a poor girl from a deprived background could attain. For the entire world she became a symbol of the eternal feminine. But I have no words to describe the myth and the legend, nor would she want us to do so. I did not know this Marilyn Monroe. Nor did she. We gathered here today, knew only Marilyn - a warm human being, impulsive and shy, and lonely, sensitive and in fear of rejection, yet ever avid for life and reaching out for fulfillment. I will not insult the privacy of your memory of her - a privacy she sought and treasured - by trying to describe her whom you know to you who knew her. In our memories of her she remains alive, not only a shadow on the screen or a glamorous personality.
For us Marilyn was a devoted and loyal friend, a colleague constantly reaching for perfection. We shared her pain and difficulties and some of her joys. She was a member of our family. It is difficult to accept the fact that her zest for life has been ended by this dreadful accident. Despite the heights and brillance she had attained on the screen, she was planning for the future; she was looking forward to participating in the many exciting things which she planned. In her eyes and in mine her career was just beginning. The dream of her talent, which she had nurtured as a child, was not a mirage. When she first came to me I was amazed at the startling sensitivity which she possessed and which had remained fresh and undimmed, struggling to express itself despite the life to which she had been subjected. Others were as physically beautiful as she was, but there was obviously something more in her, something that people saw and recognized in her performances and with which they identified. She had a luminous quality - a combination of wistfulness, radiance, yearning - to set her apart and yet make everyone wish to be a part of it, to share in the childish naivete which was so shy and yet so vibrant. This quality was even more evident when she was in the stage. I am truly sorry that the public who loved her did not have the opportunity to see her as we did, in many of the roles that foreshadowed what she would have become. Without a doubt, she would have been one of the really great actresses of the stage.
Now it is all at an end. I hope her death will stir sympathy and understanding for a sensitive artist and a woman who brought joy and pleasure to the world.
I cannot say goodbye. Marilyn never liked goodbyes, but in the peculiar way she had of turning things around so that they faced reality - I will say au revoir. For the country to which she has gone, we must all someday visit." (more)
Gerald R. Ford Funeral - Tom Brokaw Speech Tom Brokaw's Speech at Gerald R. Ford's Funeral on January 2, 2007. Tom Brokaw was the NBC News White House correspondent from 1973-1976, covering the Watergate scandal. He went on to cover much of the presidency of Gerald Ford.
