I guess it's not too late for them to lock horns in court.
Don't let 'em vote you out of show business, Kirk.
I used to spend some time with Mort Sahl. You remember him? He once joked, "A woman's place is in the stove."
Will somebody declare he shouldn't work again for saying that? Fortunately for him, he has only one gig, a weekly sit-down hour in a small venue in Mill Valley. The place is run by a female friend of his, and she's fan enough to say that it's better to keep a cranky guy who once in a while goes too far, than book some bore who takes no chances at all.
I'll paraphrase a Mort line that is pertinent at the moment. Mort liked to say, "If you keep to a steady political position in this country, eventually you'll be tried for treason."
This applies to show business, too. What was ok even five years ago, could be banned from the air NOW. A popular TV show (or going back further, radio show or silent film) could be declared "politically incorrect." People will not be allowed to make up their minds if this is true. The stars become "non-people." Anyone know who Tim Moore was? He played "Kingfish" and was an original comic actor.
During the Red Scare, some of our greatest talents were not allowed to work. Many had done absolutely nothing wrong. Maybe they attended a meeting, curious to know what Communism was all about. Maybe they knew a friend who happened to think Communism wasn't a bad idea. The venomous scapegoating was lethal. It's the same now; there's a fiendish delight every time a famous face is ridiculed and banished. "Innocent until proven guilty" has, like the witch hunts in Salem, been ignored.
Extinguishing stars in order to be "politically correct" isn't new. Al Jolson is never mentioned as "the world's greatest entertainer" in his lifetime. His obscurity now isn't because his style of singing is any more out of date than Frankie Laine or Johnny Raye. He's no longer in the company of Enrico Caruso or Bing Crosby because he performed some numbers in blackface. He sang "My Mammy" and "Old Black Joe." Like Warner Oland impersonating Charlie Chan, Al impersonated a black character not for ridicule, but for sympathy and understanding. Too bad. No understand for what motivated Jolson. Erase his memory. Deny that he was once the biggest star in America.
It's only a matter of time before Groucho's cry of "Sho 'nuff" during "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" gets clipped out of "Room Service." Somebody might even determine that "Sam," in "Casablanca" is too subservient about playing "As Time Goes By," and that sequence will be removed. Any scene of any woman being hit with a pie in a Laurel and Hardy movie will be OUT.
In this PC world, there's no room for a simple explanation of, "Those were ignorant times, and today we know better." People are preaching tolerance by being intolerant: "YOU have to RESIGN! You did something years ago that we now think is wrong! Never mind you're not doing it NOW. You did it THEN!"
Today, Al Franken resigned from the Senate. This is a powerful position. We need all the bright, experienced, forceful people we can get, and in the Senate there might be 5 out of 50. He's gone because he allegedly asked some woman for a kiss (nothing more) and because on the campaign trail as he was moving endless people into position for photo ops with him, his hand touched a bottom or two. That's worth LOSING a United States Senator?
Also today, New York's local public radio channel suspended two old men (in their 70's) for unspecified but inappropriate behavior. Ever hear of a book called "RUSH TO JUDGMENT?" They are OLD men. They could drop dead from the stress. In fact, being innocent and charged this way, could be more stressful.
So we wait to hear the fate of Lenny Lopate (30 years doing political radio commentary and celeb interviews) and Jonathan Schwartz, one time a rock DJ on WNEW and a long time devotee of playing "the American songbook," including pieces written by his father Arthur. Jonathan, talk about respecting women, is married to Zohra Lampert, a sultry beauty in some classic films.
Who will be "voted out of show biz" tomorrow? Who will be told that behavior that was perhaps a bit rude but quite acceptable at the time 20 or 30 years ago, must now be burnt at the stake of PC opinion? Who will be the next Dustin Hoffman, to get abused by the next sanctimonious John Oliver? Hoffman flirted and joked with a chick who was making herself ridiculous on a movie set with her fawning over him and the other male stars. He flirted back in full view of everyone, and the atmosphere was full of sophisticated, silly, urbane remarks. That's part of show biz. At least, it WAS. At some point, this tart decided she was no longer amused, and years and years later, decided she was suffering from post traumatic stress cramps, or something. And a surprised Hoffman said, "I don't recall this...I apologize if she was offended." Something like that. Which was not good enough for a finger-pointing parrot-nosed owl-faced full-of-himself minor league cable TV quipper like Oliver.
And will Oliver one day be hoisted onto the gallows for being a bit too irreverent, or telling a low-blow joke, or for simply not being "respectful" in his humour? We can wait and see.
And, seriously, do you DOUBT that somebody might actually come forward with a 75 year-old complaint on Kirk Douglas? Sen. McCarthy is dead. But twits like Sen. Kirsten Jellybrain are very much alive, and just as misguided and dangerous.
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