[78-L] Billy Murray At Holy Rood Cemetery---Reply From Authorities

[Harold Aherne]

I partly understand why some people might object to a Billy Murray memorial as an
invasion of privacy--and of course, if the righful heirs say no, their wishes should be
respected. But other people have done much more extreme things to give someone what
they consider to be a proper memorial: for instance, Scotty Fitzgerald had F. Scott and 
Zelda disinterred in 1975 and transferred to a Catholic cemetery in Baltimore (they had 
previously been buried elsewhere in or near the city). Why? FSF was a non-practicing
Catholic when he died in 1940 and the diocese refused him a Catholic burial. Scotty
convinced them to reverse the decision 35 years later and so the Fitzgeralds were moved. 
 
St. Bernadette of Lourdes, who died in 1879, was disinterred three times between
1909 and 1925 and has been on constant display since the latter year. Probably 
thousands of people visit her each year without being revolted in the least, even though
her wax mask is not entirely lifelike. Visiting the graves or tombs of saints and other
people is not necessarily a morbid or disgusting practice; it can be a religious devotion 
and has strong roots in Western civilisation. Most people who visit Billy Murray's
grave (and those of other celebrities) undoubtedly do so for more secular reasons, 
but the precedent rooted in a religious understanding of the human body as a 
temple is nonetheless present. Personally, I would love to see Charles Ray's burial
place in Forest Lawn given a fitting memorial; there is currently no marker at all. I 
have a strong enough respect for his life and work that I feel this state of affairs ought 
not exist; that it signifies an unjust forgetting of a wonderful actor. Billy is fortunate
to have the marker he does; but I cannot see why some additional acknowlegement,
with proper permission, would be in the slightest offensive to anyone's taste.
 
-Harold