Talk:David Whiting/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Daniel Case (talk · contribs) 18:26, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

I will take this. As usual, I will start by printing it out and doing a copy edit so the article won't be failed on that ground. Within a week I should be able to get back and tell you where it stands. Daniel Case (talk) 18:26, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Kingsif (talk) 11:34, 27 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your copy edits to the article! I have made some tweaks (little by little, so individual edits can be reverted), could you look over those? Thanks, Kingsif (talk) 22:12, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Other than the insistence on not ending sentences with prepositions, your tweaks were OK and helped clarify some things. Daniel Case (talk) 04:46, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

OK, now, for my more in-depth critique:

I always start with what is good about the article. In this case, it did a pretty thorough job of acquainting me with another now-forgotten Hollywood mystery (of sorts ... officially, of course, it's solved, but Questions Remain, and I doubt now we'll ever know the answers.

There's enough here, pretty much, for this to be a GA. But ... there are some issues I would like to see addressed before promoting it:


 * The intro: It is almost entirely devoted to his death, and in that (ahem) vein goes into more detail in the bloated second graf than an intro really should. I get the feeling that this was as it was pre-expansion, and just not expanded as the rest of the article was. It would make sense if this article were Death of David Whiting, but it's not. There is now enough detail about his life to establish that he was in life notable for more than just his death ("youngest Time correspondent ever") and that should be in the intro as well. If you'd like and you're OK with this, I'd be happy to expand it as I've got a lot of experience with this.
 * I'd be fine with you expanding the lead (one less thing for me to do!) Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * There are a few places where the article seems to contradict, or not have read, itself. Two grafs after learning that he was expelled from St. Alban's (where, full disclosure, my brother graduated in 1993) in his junior year for failing to meet academic standards, a graf tells us that he "chose to skip his senior year". Well, gee, he had been expelled. Kinda makes that an easy choice.
 * Hmm, well Whiting attended college straight away, rather than finishing high school somewhere else. Perhaps there is a more adequate way of saying that he entered college in the fall following his junior year expulsion? Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * The intro graf to the "background" section under "Death" (and is that really the best word for that subhed? It seems more of a synopsis of the days leading up to it) tells us that the Directors Guild screening for Lady Caroline Lamb was on February 11 ... the last night of Whiting's life. Is this an error? Was February 1 meant? Because the account of that night a few grafs down says nothing about Miles going out to LA to talk to journalists.
 * No, it really was the same day - further down the article does mention the media learned of Whiting's death because Rona Barrett was at the screening and Robert Bolt wasn't up to himself. One of the sources does mention Miles asking police officers (who sealed off her room, naturally) on February 11 if they'd be able to get an evening dress for her, but it seems like that was for Reynolds' second birthday party (also mentioned) rather than going to the screening. Of course, I doubt Miles was part of the Directors Guild, though as Bolt's wife may have been invited. Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * Can we either explain what John Flynn's connection to Miranda v. Arizona is/was and why it's relevant here, or get rid of the reference entirely? As it is it sits there like a movie credit.
 * Removed (it is of course that Flynn was the lawyer who created Miranda rights, in that case - perhaps it is strange he doesn't have his own article). Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * Link Bernard Beryl Brodie and explain, briefly, why his expertise is relevant. Don't just drop his name in there.
 * Added "a leading pharmacologist" (with link). Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * I also wonder if some of the personal life section can go into sections before "Death". Or, really, if it might make sense to move the whole section ahead of the "death" section. Knowing that he'd at least threatened suicide when he'd lived with Bolt and Miles makes that theory of his death a little more understandable (I believe Miles has also said in one of our cited sources, or her memoirs, quoted in one of those sources, that she prevented at least three suicide attempts on his part when he lived with them. That's relevant and should be in here. And I love the big reveal that he was secretly married to a flight attendant the whole time. I honestly thought we were going to find out that he was gay. Doesn't the whole story feel like it's leading up to that revelation?
 * You're right: in biographies, typically, the personal life section does come before death. I hadn't really thought about this when adding the personal life section here, of course; but maybe with how the most notable aspect of Whiting's life was really his death, it takes some sort of precedence? I have no objections to moving it up, of course. I will also check which source says three suicide attempts and add that in. Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * What, specifically, bothered Burt Reynolds so much about the movie's slogan? What was it changed to? Surely these details can be researched and added to the article.
 * The original slogan was "Burt and Sarah in the torrid love story that shocked the country!", and the modified slogan was "Burt and Sarah in a torrid love story that shocked the Old West!" (added this to article, but feel welcome to also put in the original). The changes were from "the torrid love story" to "a torrid love story", and from "the country" to "the Old West"; it seems to me like the original was playing a line between fiction and reality. That "the torrid love story that shocked the country" was implied to be whatever fight went down before Whiting's death. While a story in the Old West is specific to the film only. The AFI article doesn't say that, of course; I'm looking for the "9 Aug 1973 DV article" that AFI uses as its source for Reynolds' displeasure to see if there's more. Update: found it, it's more in a gossip column. Full text: "Item 7: Spurred by a protest from Burt Reynolds, MGM changed the ad copy for The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing from "Burt and Sarah in the torrid love story that shocked the country!" to "Burt and Sarah in a torrid love story that shocked the Old West!" Hmm." Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)


 * I'd also love to know, if this information is available, if Whiting's mother is still alive and what, if anything, she has said or done about her son's death since 1973, given her credibility problems with the media. Likewise, is Evans still alive? She's the closest thing to an eyewitness here. I'd think she's still alive barring some unfortunate accident or disease ... has she said anything more?
 * I would be surprised if his mother is still alive now, and I think Rosenbaum mentioned she again drifted into obscurity after the case, but I'll see what I can find. Likewise for Evans. Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

OK, if these things can be addressed, I think we can move forward here. If you're able to do it, and want to improve the article further afterwards, I've found some more sources with stuff we can add, mainly in books. Daniel Case (talk) 05:21, 5 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Definitely interested! Kingsif (talk) 23:45, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

OK. We are at that point: ✅ Daniel Case (talk) 19:39, 9 April 2022 (UTC)