First New Year's Eve in a Long Time Without the Classy Dick Clark

For those who stay safely at home and watch television rather than engaging in merriment and consumption of alcohol at dining and drinking establishments on New Year's Eve, there will be a void this year through the absence of the wonderful Dick Clark.

Though it had been painful to watch Mr. Clark on recent New Year's Eve programs after his devastating stroke, he was with us and alive, always a comforting presence. This year, sadly, he is not.

Today we ring in 2013 with the "entertainment" figures of this era, including the coarse, crude and offensive comedian Kathy Griffin and the undistinguished and undignified model and "actress" Jenny McCarthy. How Ms. Griffin was ever paired with the sedate and reserved Anderson Cooper I will not understand. He has my sympathy.

Dick Clark brought class, dignity and refinement to us for decades, and until his illness, he seemed to possess eternal youth. He was not tinged by scandal, not ever charged with having affairs with any of the bevy of beautiful young women he encountered through a long, long career on the groundbreaking American Bandstand.

New Year's Eve and our world are not what they used to be without the legendary Dick Clark.