Difference between revisions of "Paula Hawkins"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | [[File: | + | [[File:Paula Hawkins.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Paula Hawkins, 1985. Photo credit: Wally McNamee.]] |
Revision as of 14:28, 6 August 2026
Paula Hawkins (January 24, 1927 – December 4, 2009) was an American Senator of Florida (1981-1987). She was a member of the Republican Party.
Contents
PMRC meeting
On September 19, 1985, during an infamous PMRC, hearing the following conversation between her and Zappa took place:
Senator Hawkins: "Mister Zappa, you say you have four children?"
FZ: "Yes."
Senator Hawkins: "Pardon me?"
FZ: "Four children."
Senator Hawkins: "Four children, have you ever purchased toys for those children?"
FZ: "No, my wife does."
Senator Hawkins: "Well, ah I might tell you that if you were to go in a toy store — which is very educational for fathers, by the way, it's not a- a maternal ah responsibility to buy toys for children — that you may look on the box and the box says, this is suitable for 5 to 7 years of age, or 8 to 15, or 15 and above, to give you some guidance ah for a toy for a child. Do you object to that?"
FZ: "In a way I do, because that means that somebody in an office someplace is tell[ing]- making a decision about how smart my child is."
[Laughters]
Senator Hawkins: "I'd be interested to see what toys your kids ever had."
FZ: "Why would you be interested?"
Senator Hawkins: "Just as a point of interest. In this ah total-"
FZ: "Well, come on over to the house. I will show 'em to you."
[More intense laughters]
FZ: "Really."
Senator Hawkins: "I- I might do that. Have you ever made- Do you make a profit from ah sales of rock records?"
FZ: "Yes."
Senator Hawkins: "So you do make a profit from the sales of rock records?"
FZ [interrupting Senator Hawkins between "profit" and "From"]: "Yes. Mm-hm."
Senator Hawkins: "Thank you. I think that statement tells the story to this committee. Thank you."
Other references
Hawkins' voice is sampled during Congress Shall Make No Law and Porn Wars. [1]
The toys' question was referenced again during A Few Moments With Brother A. West.
Frank Zappa about Paula Hawkins
"The media zoo that sprang up around the issue. One of the stars of the hearing was Paula Hawkins, the Nancy Reagan lookalike from Florida – she had the reputation of being the least effective senator; she was really a disaster. Another one of her outstanding features was that all the Watergate burglars had found employment in her office in Florida. She was just this miserable thing. She wasn't a member of the committee, but she was having trouble getting re-elected, so Danforth, who was the chairman of the committee, did her a favor – one Republican to another – and allowed her to participate in the media circus, make some comments, and, you know, to grill me. She was the one who wanted to know what kind of toys my children had." - Frank Zappa in The Mother Of All Interviews (Part 2, interviewed by Don Menn and Matt Groening, 1992.
