Nuncio

An ambassador to the Hollywood stars

Today’s New York Times Spelling Bee letters:

C, G, I, L, N, O, and center U (all words must include U).

Merriam-Webster says…

Silly little dictionary! Don’t you know nuncio can’t possibly be a word if the New York Times says it ain’t?

For further fascinating facts, check out the Spelling Bee Master.

What’s your favorite dord* from today’s puzzle?

My Two Cents

Just in time for Easter Sunday (Happy Easter, to those who celebrate), when the New York Times decides to get cute and reject a word related to the papacy.

Easter Sunday is, of course, one of the most important days of the year in the Vatican. The pope leads mass from Saint Peter’s Basilica and gives the Urbi et Orbi address and blessing, a ritual that began in the 13th century with Pope Gregory X.

Holy ambassador, Batman!

Nuncio comes from the Latin word nuntius, meaning messenger.

Turns out that what is referred to as the Holy See is not the same as the Vatican City State. The former is the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, which conveniently happens to be the pope. That is administered by The Roman Curia, the central government of the Catholic Church. The Vatican is the Holy See’s city state, independent since 1929.

The “ambassadors” of the Holy See are the nuncios, also called apostolic nuncios or papal nuncios. They are usually archbishops. Interestingly, within diplomatic protocols of Catholic countries,, nuncios rank above ambassadors. In those countries that don’t accept such precedence in rank (in other words, the nuncio is not above other ambassadors), the Holy See envoys are called pro-nuncios.

Which is a bit ironic, given that these countries don’t seem to be very “pro” nuncio. (Cue rim shot.)

Now, about that second definition the dictionary provided, the one with the Polish diet. That’s not a pierogi-free nutrition plan to lose weight. It refers to a term meaning “a legislative assembly”.

But I have no idea how nuncio relates to that.

Unholy Superman

Just riffing here… Nunzio with a “z” is the name of a 1978 drama directed by Paul Williams, best known for helming a handful of counterculture movies in between 1969 and 1978.

Although this Paul Williams — not to be confused with the sax player, the Temptations singer or the songwriter — is not well-known as a director, he happened to work with some famous people.

▹ In 1969’s Out of It, which he also wrote, he directed Jon Voight, Gretchen Corbett (of The Rockford Files fame), and Lada Edmund Jr., who at one point became the highest-paid stuntwoman in Hollywood and worked on Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds.

▹ In The Revolutionary, a political drama released in 1970, Williams worked with Voight again, as well as Robert Duvall, Seymour “I’ve seen his face in hundreds of movies” Cassel, and Collin Wilcox, best known for her role as Mayella Violet Ewell in the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. This movie was also the film debut of actor Jeffrey Jones, famous for his role as Principal Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And, well… also famous for being a convicted pedophile.

▹ In 1972 Williams worked with another handful of later-to-be-celebrity actors in the film Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues: Robert F. Lyons, Barbara Hershey, John Lithgow, Charles Durning, and Paul Sorvino.

▹ In 1976 Williams had an acting gig in Tracks with Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, and Sally Kirkland.

▹ Finally, in 1978, Williams directed Nunzio. This movie featured David Proval in the starring titular role. Proval had already worked with Martin Scorsese in Mean Streets, and would later achieve his acme of fame playing Richie Aprile on HBO’s The Sopranos. Nunzio also included Tovah Feldshuh (Holocaust, Law & Order, and The Walking Dead), Joe Spinell (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Rocky, Rocky II, and Taxi Driver), and Theresa Saldana (Raging Bull and The Commish).

The briefest synopsis of this movie appears in IMDB: “Protected by his brother, a mentally impaired Brooklynite pretends he’s Superman and becomes a hero.”

It’s probably interesting to watch just for its star power. Plus, no mention of Martha.

Remember that whole 1990s craze about Kevin Bacon and how he was the center of the Hollywood universe because you could connect any other actor in the world with him through a series of connections with other actors? It was dubbed “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” and even spawned a board game and a pretty nifty “Oracle” that you can use yourself to see how many steps separate Bacon from any given actor. Give it a whirl.

Maybe we need to do the same for director Paul Williams. It would be even more impressive, given that he was involved in fewer than twenty movies, some of them not even feature films.

In any case, if you want to discuss Nunzio and director Paul Williams, you’ll be okay.

Just don’t talk about the pope and his ambassadors. Because according to the editors of the Spelling Bee puzzle, nuncio is a dord.*

You can check out my previous entry on another dord* here:

*What the heck is a dord, you ask? Here’s the answer: