FITZGERALD ON POLITICS IN HOLLYWOOD; MOULTON ON PREZ,
It was a throwaway thought Tommy Heinsohn shared in a rambling, latenight conversation many years ago, but it often comes to mind here, as it did again Sunday night watching Hollywood heavyweights predictably turn the Oscar ceremonies into a political bully pulpit.
That’s not to suggest their opinions should matter less than anyone else’s. It’s just that they shouldn’t matter more.
Yet so often their voices are heard above others because there’s something in us that wants to believe those who are famous are also infallible, despite abundant evidence of the contrary.
How often do we have to see superstars of sports crash and burn in failed attempts to show they can be superstars in business, too, or even see them jailed because of who and what emerges when the uniforms come off?
Yet whenever it happens, which it too often does, we’re surprised. Why? Tommy, one of this town’s great raconteurs, was on a roll that night.
“The public,” he said, “sees an athlete as a guy who, in a very short period of time, conquers all adversity. He’s a victor, someone who finds a way to solve all of life’s problems in 48 minutes, night after night.
“It’s just like theater, only here the actors are ballplayers in a constant mini-drama, portraying roles that identify them.
“Cousy was the butler, handing out assists, and he’s still remembered for the imagination he brought to that role. All the great ones — Bird, Magic, Michael, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky — added their own special touches of emotion and creativity in raising their roles to levels of excellence that elevated them above the crowd.”
Tommy knew something about that, having mastered the roles of player and coach.
“But no matter how well you play your part,” he went on, “it’s still just a role you have in a drama. It’s not who you really are. When the curtain comes down and the play is over, you find you’re just a person like everyone else, maybe very much at odds with the role you play.
“Basketball? It’s only a game. Life is a whole lot different. You can fail out there, baby, for reasons that are very legitimate.
“The learned skills of living are much more complicated than the learned skills of playing, which is why at any given moment in your life you’re apt to find yourself 20 points down heading into the second quarter.”
What’s that got to do with how Hollywood feels about Donald Trump?
Perhaps nothing. Maybe it’s just food for thought.