A Letter from Andy Rooney

This is the actual letter brother Ted received from Andy back in 1982 with all the typos and strikeouts intact. I believe Andy probably typed it on his old typewriter because the letters are not all the same weight. No secretary worth her salt would ever present such a messy affair to her boss for a signature to send on to the recipient. Therefore, we can assume that Andy typed it himself.

Here’s what he had to say about Ted’s column. I’ll try to type it exactly as he did (including the typos) except for the strikeouts.

“Dear Ted,


 Im glad you sent me your whole column and not just the pertinent experpt. Good stuff.

 That was a coincidence. The flashlight battery idea is fairly obvious but it’s funny we both hit on shoelaces.

I don’t know about your being chief of the NEWS Rockland Bureau. Reasoner and a couple of the Evening News Writers and I eat lunch together every so often and for years we’ve had a Faint Praise Award for the week. It started in about 1970 when one of the writers said his son was going to Clemson, which he said was “one of the best colleges in South Carolina.” The most recent winner was the sports writer who referred to 1981 as “one of the best years the NY Giants have had recently.”

Personally, I thought your column said more for you than the boldface at the bottom.

Good to hear from you.

                                                                    Regards,


                                                                     Andy Rooney
                                                                  

The boldface at the bottom Andy referred to is Ted Sylvester is chief of the NE Rockland Bureau.

Andy was interviewed by Reasoner on his last night on 60 minutes, shortly before he died. In that conversation he stated that he never signed autographs and rarely if ever answered correspondence sent to him. So this letter from Andy means even more. It shows his respect for Ted as a fellow journalist and he also added a personal story of his own.

I was a big fan of Andy. He said what he meant and meant what he said. Kinda like my brother, Ted. We’ll miss you, Andy.