David Angell: Another Impossible 9/11 Phone Call?

I came across this little gem yesterday on the official website of the Stephen Rollins film American Identity. Rollins dedicates his film to David and Lynn Angell and claims to have been very good friends with the couple, so much so that the couple apparently called him on the evening of September 10th 2001 to wish him Happy Birthday. And where, you might ask, was Mr Rollins celebrating his birthday? Well, it just so happens that his 'surprise birthday party' was held in the 'Windows of the World' complex atop the World Trade Center!

This is what the film's website has to say on the matter:

"On September 10th, 2001, while in New York working on a film, "American Identity" writer/producer/director Stephen Rollins was given a surprise birthday dinner by friends at the elegant ‘Windows of the World’ restaurant atop the World Trade Center. Emmy award winner David Angell and his wife Lynn, friends of Stephen’s, called to wish him ‘Happy Birthday’ from Boston, where they were visiting David’s ill mother."

There's a major problem with this story: David couldn't possibly have been visiting his sick mother on this date because his mother, Mae Angell, died thirty-one years earlier in August 1970. Nor could the couple be visiting David's sick father, Henry Angell, who died in August 1973. The only surviving parent at the time was Lynn's mother, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama. This being the case, what is Stephen Rollins playing at here?

I'd be inclined to view Mr Rollins' tale as a pathetic attempt to gain a little extra publicity for his horrid propaganda piece, were it not for the fact that the story itself has so much propaganda value. His account 'adds value' to the official version of events because it places David and Lynn Angell in Boston on 10th September 2001. In so doing it supports the claim that David and Lynn were passengers on American Airlines Flight 11, which allegedly flew out of Boston the very next day. It also tugs at our heart strings by making us dwell on the terrible irony of the couple calling the WTC only a dozen hours before they allegedly met their fate there. To hell with facts, what a tragedy!

In the interests of strict fairness, however, it's possible that Rollins did receive a phone call, but that this was a phone call of the "Hi mum, it's Mark Bingham!" variety. We know that all sorts of people received, or claimed to have received, all sorts of highly implausible calls from loved ones on September 11th. That said, Rollins' case requires us to believe that he simply didn't know that the parents of his good friend David Angell had been dead for twenty years. It's difficult, though not impossible, to believe this. Either way, we're left with just two possible scenarios, although the end result is the same in both cases:

1. That Rollins quite deliberately manufactured this story in order to lend credence to the official 9/11 storyline, both in general terms and in terms of how it applies to Lynn and David Angell
2. That Rollins was duped by a phony phone call and thereby 'primed' by persons unknown in the hope that he would go public with the details and help bolster the official version of events

Your preference for one scenario over the other might be swayed by the following, which is also taken from the American Identities website:

"The next morning, Stephen would stand in amazement near the smoking hole in the building where he just celebrated his birthday hours before, and watch in horror as a second plane struck WTC Tower 2. While working as a volunteer at the rubble that evening, he learned the awful news that his friends the Angell’s were on that flight, American Airlines Flight #11. American Identity is dedicated to the memory of David and Lynn Angell."

Before closing, it's worth noting that Rollins' account adds to the confusion over what exactly David and Lynn were supposedly doing in the Boston area at this time. The Angell Foundation's narrative refers to David and Lynn travelling to Cape Cod to host a family wedding at their home and does not mention a visit to Boston or a sick parent. Moreover, the Foundation's story conflicts with a third party account, which informs us that the couple travelled to Cape Cod in order to watch the final stages of construction of their home. Another third party account tells us that the pair had spent the entire summer holidaying on Cape Cod before hosting the wedding at their home, which may or may not have been under construction at the time...