Randy L. Schmidt > Quotes

“what does it take to just be kind? They could see she was melting away like a snowman in front of their faces, but they couldn’t do it. It was brutal.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“From the project’s beginning, Frenda was certain there would be disapproval from A&M and especially Richard. According to her, his negative opinion of Karen’s solo work signaled a turning point in the siblings’ relationship and one that Karen never seemed to get over. “He told her it was shit,” Frenda says. “All Karen ever wanted was his approval. It could have turned everything in her life around, but it wasn’t there. What’s sad is that he has to live with that, and I don’t think it even fazes him. I do think he should be excused to some extent because he had his own problems, but God Almighty, what does it take to just be kind? They could see she was melting away like a snowman in front of their faces, but they couldn’t do it. It was brutal.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Allyn Ferguson, who worked with the Carpenters in the early 1970s, witnessed the downhill slide of many artists, even legends like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. “It happens to everybody,” he says. “It has nothing to do with the people themselves. They’re doing the same thing they always did. The public gets tired of them. It’s a strange thing how the American public is not only fickle, but they respond to a lot of different things that are not musical at all, like the publicity and the attention that everybody’s giving them. It’s like a mob mentality. When the idol starts to have the image disappear, American fans just move on to the next one. That’s a part of show business. We have a great term in showbiz—everybody’s a ‘star fucker,’ which means if you’re not a star anymore everybody just turns their back. It’s very fleeting, and there are tragedies. I think Karen was one of those tragedies, and I could name dozens of other people who can’t deal with the fact that it’s not like it used to be.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“As Frenda explains, Agnes’ inability to nurture and nourish her daughter with affection, as she did Richard, led to Karen’s own inability to love herself.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“I traveled in her orbit only for a while, but it was an exciting while and one during which it seemed that the joys in her life outbalanced the miseries.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Judy Garland on Judy Garland: Interviews and Encounters (6)

“Musician Russell Javors was worried to hear of the unenthusiastic response from Richard and A&M. “Poor Karen,” he says. “She was an artist, and she was just trying to work and to explore her craft, and she had every right as an artist to do that. Collaboration is only as good as the sum of its parts, and you have to let each one of those pieces explore what it is that they do. There have to be equal parts. Nobody can be controlling. Karen was every bit as important to those records—if not more so—than the other part. She had the right to explore it.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“According to her, his negative opinion of Karen’s solo work signaled a turning point in the siblings’ relationship and one that Karen never seemed to get over. “He told her it was shit,” Frenda says. “All Karen ever wanted was his approval. It could have turned everything in her life around, but it wasn’t there. What’s sad is that he has to live with that, and I don’t think it even fazes him. I do think he should be excused to some extent because he had his own problems, but God Almighty, what does it take to just be kind?”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“...I know it is good for us to get a few knocks on the chin. Which can't be glass, if we are to survive.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Judy Garland on Judy Garland: Interviews and Encounters (6)

“A few months later on January 20, 1981, Karen arrived at A&M Studios wearing a new patriotic-themed running suit with large block letters across the chest: MADE IN AMERICA. Although the Carpenters had Republican ties, neither was known to be political. But this was Inauguration Day, and Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the fortieth president of the United States. Richard noticed the suit and immediately said, “Well, there it is!” He felt “Made in America” was a perfect name for the duo’s forthcoming album. Karen agreed.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Tom had wanted Karen to think that he was Mr. Money Guy, but it wasn’t long after they got married that he started asking her for money,” recalls Wallace. “He’d give her some excuse, and she’d give him the money. He’d ask for $35,000 and $50,000 at a time. Finally it got down to the point where all she had left was stocks and bonds.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“KAREN’S DISASTER of a marriage only served to exacerbate her mental illness and physical descent. “You expect a marriage to go through its ups and downs,” says Phil Ramone. “Unfortunately hers read exactly like the solo album, but it was her life. Its failure was exactly the same. That’s too much for any human being to take. Any way you look at it, that disaster was the final nail.” According to Itchie, “Karen tried to put a smile on her face all the time. No one wants to own up to having been deceived, especially with her life in the spotlight. Her wedding had been the centerfold of People. In truth, her marriage didn’t really last more than about three months.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“According to Karen, Tom had told her he wouldn’t even consider having children with her and called her “a bag of bones.” Karen was well aware that her weight had plummeted since her wedding to Tom the previous year, but hearing such callous words in response to a physical advance toward her husband was unbearable.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Over the years, Karen Carpenter became beloved in the world as a very special artist, a very special voice, who reminded everybody of the daughter they wished they had. In her own home she never was told or maybe never even felt that existed from her own parents, especially her mother.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Laxatives were her major companion,” Itchie says. “When we were in Paris we made quite a scene in a pharmacy across the street from our hotel about her needing to buy more laxatives. I suggested natural food groups that might relieve her ‘constipation,’ but she always won those arguments.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“If your own parent doesn’t love you, you’re going to walk around with a giant hole that’s not ever going to get filled.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“There came a time when she did not want to lose more weight, but by then she knew the disorder was out of her control. She wanted to stop and was even ashamed of how she looked. As she had done years before, Karen began layering her clothes to disguise her skeletal frame. She would tell others she was cold and then add a sweatshirt to a turtleneck sweater. “She’d put on so many layers of clothing because she didn’t want people to know she was that thin,” Frenda says. “My feeling always was that she wanted to disappear. I certainly know that’s not a medical diagnosis, but that is what it seemed like.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“cause of death as “emetine cardiotoxicity due to or as a consequence of anorexia nervosa.” The anatomical summary listed pulmonary edema and congestion (usually caused by heart failure) first and anorexia second. Third was cachexia, which usually indicates extreme weight loss and an apparent lack of nutrition. The finding of emetine cardiotoxicity (ipecac poisoning) revealed that Karen had poisoned herself with ipecac syrup, a well-known emetic commonly recommended to induce vomiting in cases of overdose or poisoning. A letter detailing National Medical Services’s lab findings was composed March 23, 1983. After testing both blood and liver, it was determined that 0.48 micrograms/g emetine, “the major alkaloidal constituent of ipecac,” was present in the liver. “In the present case,” they explained, “the finding of 0.5 micrograms emetine/g, with none detected in the blood, is consistent with residua of the drug after relatively remote cessation of its chronic use.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“married. I believe in the institution of marriage very strongly. I’m family oriented and I’m proud of it. I had a happy childhood, and I would like to do the kind of job my parents did.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

“Karen admitted to Levenkron she was taking an unfathomable number of laxative tablets—eighty to ninety Dulcolax a night. The ingestion of large quantities of laxatives did not surprise Levenkron. In fact, it was a common practice for many anorexics. “For quite some time, I was taking sixty laxatives at once,” admits Cherry O’Neill. “Mainly because that was how many came in the box. . . . I would ingest the entire contents so as not to leave any evidence.” What did stun Levenkron was Karen’s next casual disclosure. She was also taking thyroid medication—ten pills a day. He was shocked, especially when she explained that she had a normal thyroid.”
― Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter