The not-so-long road to redemption

Former NBC sportscaster Marv Albert, who pleaded guilty to a sexual felony misdemeanor charge by his accuser, Vanessa Perhach, last month and was given a year’s probation, began his road to redemption Nov. 7 in an interview with Barbara Walters on “20/20.”

Whether the public will embrace Albert the way they forgave actor Hugh Grant for his arrest a few years ago for soliciting a prostitute is still too early to predict. Grant’s scandal it seems has not affected his acting career.

I never thought the day would come when America would stoop to the level of what director Oliver Stone was trying to say with his fictional biographical film, “Nixon” (1995). There is one scene in particular, even if it never happened, that says everything about this country when it comes to celebrity’s and politician’s downfalls.

The scene has James Woods Bob Haldeman and J.T. Walsh’s John Erlichman talking privately shortly before the president fires them.

Haldeman tells Erlichman that if Nixon had told the public three things about his role in the Watergate burglary in 1972, “the public would have forgiven him.”.

“I was wrong. I covered up. I’m sorry,” Haldeman says.

Today, it is those three sentences that makes the public sympathize with people like Albert who are divided in opinion on what happened.

As the 1996 presidential election drew closer, a couple friends of mine and I argued about why we are or aren’t going to vote for Bill Clinton or Bob Dole. I kept telling a friend of mine even though him and I agree what President Clinton did in the 60s was wrong such as dodging the draft, smoking grass, and cheating on his wife, not everyone else felt the same way because he admitted it. My friend refused to see the point I was trying to make in the discussion and said society is in an “immoral abyss.”

Then another friend of mine threw the JFK thing back in my face saying, if I don’t like Clinton, why do I have a library of Kennedy books in my room?

“As much as you like JFK, that man wasn’t perfect,” he said. “And neither is Clinton.”

I admit I have a weakness for famous writers and had JFK not become president, he might have probably pursued political journalism.

The fact is Kennedy’s stories of adultery, well known in the press at the time but never reported, illnesses, and ties to organized crime did not come out until after he was assassinated. That is the reason why society still holds high regard for JFK as a young, catholic president and family man.

The problem I have is society no longer cares about what a celebrity or politician did in the past. They don’t care about right and wrong. Who cares if Clinton is being sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones? The public feels what is important is we have a president who has charisma and knows how to sell himself to the public. A president must have a personality.

Along with that I suppose is we are all human and make mistakes. Politicians and celebrities are no worse. They shouldn’t be put on a high pedestal as people who could do no wrong. Doing that will only destroy the high regard believers may have had.

I was surprised to hear of Albert’s arrest earlier this year. Much the same way, I and everyone else was shocked that O.J. Simpson was accused and acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.

I have no doubt a few years from now, Marv Albert will be back on the air possibly doing sports again or maybe even hosting his own radio show. But that will not erase all the supposed stories of cross dressing and rough sex the public heard about during the short trial. Albert said on “20/20” half the stories reported didn’t happen. The scandal, however, is like a police record. It doesn’t go away and it is permanent.

“I realize there will be skeptics, no matter what I say here or elsewhere,” Albert told Walters in the interview. “I know that this is a stigma that will be out there. I have to be able to deal with that and I am a big boy and I have to deal with it.”

©11/19/97

Death renews interest in fading star’s career

It ever fails.

The moment a shocked public learns that a major celebrity met an untimely death, hundreds of adoring fans race to the book, music, and video stores in search of anything this person had accomplished in their all-too-short life.

The most recent case was when country/folk singer John Denver died Oct. 12, 1997, in a plane crash. The only memory I had of Denver was when I saw him on a TV special with the Muppets back in either the late 1970s or early 1980s. I still haven’t seen his 1977 debut movie, “Oh God”, and I had only heard two of his songs on the radio; “Sunshine” and “Rocky Mountain High.”

But last month, a television commercial promoting the late singer’s double compact disc collection of his greatest hits reminded me that I had heard more than just two lyrics over the years from “Annie’s Song” to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”

It was at that point (and NO I am not ashamed to admit this) that I bought one of Denver’s greatest hits on CD. A search that was meant with slight disappointment when I learned two days after the singer’s death that all his music at Best Buy and Blockbuster Music were sold out.

And it isn’t just music icons who die unexpectedly that a search for their various works becomes a nationwide manhunt. When actor Robert Mitchum died over the summer, I was one among several customers who was told by a video store clerk that the original “Cape Fear” (1962) and “Night of the Hunter” (1955) were on moratorium.

A couple days after Princess Diana died, used bookstores were cleaned out on anything that had to do with her and the royal family. All that was left on the front counter was the July 1997 issue of Vanity Fair wrapped in a sealed plastic see-through bag. The magazine, which cost $20, featured a cover story on the princess posing in a couple of expensive dresses scheduled to be auctioned off later that month at Sotheby’s in New York.

And whenever an actor, musician, or prominent figurehead dies young, it is a sure bet the tabloid TV shows and print journalists will end their televised tributes and commentaries saying how unexpected it was for the tragedies to happen to someone like Denver, who was on the verge of making a musical comeback or Princess Diana, who was beginning a new life apart from the Royal Family.

There is a painting I saw a few years ago at a custom framing store titled “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” The portrait featured 1950’s icons Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Humphrey Bogart crowded around a counter where Elvis Presley tended bar.

It didn’t take me long to figure out the painting’s message. These beloved icons were stars who had gone before their time; a portrait of promises never fulfilled. If someone were to do an updated version of the painting today, Marilyn, Jimmy, Bogie, and The King would be joined by several people whose futures were cut short.

The list is endless from politicians like John and Robert Kennedy, musicians such as John Lennon, Selena, and Stevie Ray Vaughn to actors like John Belushi and River Phoenix.

Talents who left behind motivational speeches, writings, music, films, and charitable lifesaving causes. If you can’t get your hands on such memorabilia at the time of their deaths, wait a couple weeks or a month and the merchandise will be back on the shelves.

“Night of the Hunter” and “Cape Fear” were re-released on video a month after Mitchum died. And you can’t walk into a bookstore now without seeing two shelves of magazines and books dedicated to Princess Diana.

I have no doubt a month or two from now, music stores will be well stocked with John Denver CDs again.

And if not, I’ll just have to watch for the advertisement of that greatest hits collection I saw advertised on TV fast forwarding through dozens of commercials on the VCR while watching reruns of “The Rockford Files” and “All in the Family.”

©11/5/97