Whenever Dakota Fanning came up in conversation, I’d make the crack that she’s the modern-day Quinn Cummings. Only one person got the slam.
Quinn was so precocious and elderly in the movie The Goodbye Girl and TV’s Family, that I went out of my way to avoid her. We were basically the same age, but she reminded me of a cantankerous senior citizen. That she soon fell off the Hollywood radar seemed appropriate.
Much like the odor of nitrus oxide equals dental pain, when Dakota Fanning first entered into my radar range, I felt an odd tinge of sense-memory familiarity. She annoys me, so I go out of my way to avoid her. I keep making the too-obscure Quinn crack to the sound of one hand clapping.
Today, I google-wondered what became of Quinn.
I found another who put the Dakota & Quinn pieces together.
But Quinn actually went on to have a varied and successful life. A quick run through her blog turned into a lengthy visit, because she’s an engaging writer with a clever way of tossing off societal observations.
Since 1977, she’s been trapped in my brain as an annoying child. An XTC song as a post title, and Quinn becomes a vibrant lady. 28 years of negative perception erased in 5 minutes, an old pop culture dog learns a new trick. I’m ashamed to have compared Quinn to that little Dakota. This may be a sign that I’m evolving into a magnanimous and mature person.
Thank you, Quinn.
P.S.
June 17th Entertainment Weekly, Tom Cruise cover
To Benjamin Svetkey, cover story author:
ABBA’s “Waterloo” is in no way, shape or form a DISCO song. My new-found maturity understands that it’s OK to hate the song, but to describe it as disco is to be grossly misinformed. To thrice deem it disco is just flaunting your ignorance for the sake of a weak narrative device. Thumbs down to you and your editor.
3 comments:
"Family" was the poor man's "Eight Is Enough."
No doubt, Anon. My mom saw "The Goodbye Girl" and LOVED it -- not only that, but she identified me with that girl for, like, ever.
You are not the only one who avoided her.
Hey, have you seen VH1's "Child Stars All Grown Up"? It's a fairly entertaining bit of "where are they now?" fluff on the children of TV from yesteryear. Hosted by Chris Knight, no less. Not sure if Quinn Cummings made the list though... could be wrong... as I only saw about an hour of the mult-hour program. VH1 Web site most likely has the whole list on it, but as always, I'm too lazy to check.
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