John Edwards - A Painful Fall From Grace

"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins.  I am responsible, and if I want to find the person who should be held accountable for my sins, honestly I don't have to go any further than the mirror.  It's me.  It is me and me alone."

Sunshine, Go Away Today - Don't Feel Much Like Smilin'

When John Edwards ran for president in 2004 he lamented with passion about "the two America's, ... where some attend the public schools in the good neighborhoods, with the well stocked library, and the nice athletic fields, and the clean classrooms... while others sit in crumbling buildings, with no books to study, and no opportunity to ever get ahead ..."  What he never remembered to mention was the third America - where his kids and mine went to private school and enjoyed excellent teaching and attention, with all the amenities.

Edwards came to town following election in November 1998 as Senator for North Carolina.  He later smartly enrolled his young children in St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School, where my daughter also attended.

"President Edwards"

It wasn't unusual to see a 'public servant' like Ken Bentsen, Jr. (D, TX 25th) or media politicos like Tucker Carlson and Cokie Roberts around the corridors.  But there was definitely a buzz around Mr. Edwards, a dapper barrister rumored to have Presidential ambitions.

You are correct if you imagine that Elizabeth Edwards was a much, much, much beloved woman in the school. Very involved, and very full of life.  She is deeply missed by the staff and many friends she made among the parent/volunteer tribe, and when we worked together on the annual fundraising auction she made a point to contribute a week at the Edwardses' North Carolina beach house.  Separately, we arranged to offer a luncheon in Washington with John, for the high bidder and ten guests.  The private meal was hosted at Sen. Edwards' next door neighbor's very beautiful home in what had been until 1959 the Cuban Embassy on 30th Street, N.W.

That particular prize went for the high bid of the evening, over $20,000, purchased by the wife of a lobbyist.  Welcome to Washington!

Beloved Alma Mater: St. Patrick's

On Family Fun Day in spring 2003, there was Senator John Edwards, on campus.  We passed each other in the hallway between the church nave and the school development office at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School.  Holding hands with his young children Emma Claire and Jack, he looked kind and fatherly, but intensely focused at the same time - he was thinking about something.  "Hello, Senator!" I ventured, and in response he smiled gently, nodded in my direction and kept moving.

I was struck by his height - maybe my height at best - 5'6".  He's listed as 5'11" but on this day he was 5'6" - or else on that day I was 5'11"! In this sense, I guess, I was uplifted by his presence.

That was nine years ago this month.  Much water has passed under the Edwards bridge.  John launched his own 2004 Presidential run resulting in selection as Sen. John Kerry's Vice President.  Edwards later made an aborted attempt for the 2008 nomination as well, but by then was mired already in a terrible cascade of family betrayal & loss, and personal, political and ethical scandal.  Some might say today that, under Ponte Edouard, justice has rolled down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.  But in the end, none of us - saints and sinners alike - really know.

There has been precious little Family Fun for John Edwards lately.  I despair for his children, and miss his wife, and I hope that time is kind to all concerned.

Heat Wave: My Ice-Cream Eating Marathon with Ben & Jerry

I Scream, You Scream - We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

I got to crash a weekend-long confab of Ben & Jerry's "Scoop Shop" Operators, with ice cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner and every possible between-meal snack.

Irresistible Delight, served up by Dynamic Duo

Ben & Jerry were rewarding the operators for their hard work by taking over a conference facility near Phoenix, gathering the scoopers to celebrate their success, preview the coming new flavors and "novelties," exchange tips, and discuss all things ice cream.

The ticket? My piece of the multi-front effort to launch Animal Planet cable network was the development and publishing of Animal Planet CD-ROM, an animal encyclopedia and one of the first ever "internet-linked!" titles (animal video profiles on the disc connected to MS Encarta entries).  We'd cut a fun cross promotion deal with Ben & Jerry - they'd promote Animal Planet and give a $5-off coupon for the CD-ROM on the lid of every carton of Rain Forest Crunch (2 million units) and we'd promote Ben & Jery's by advertising a "free pint" coupon inside every CD-ROM package.

Save Rainforest by Eating

Usually I'd send the project manager on the road to do these previews.  In this special case, I pulled rank and went west to do the demo myself.

Those days and nights in Phoenix were long, and filled with ice cream.  The guys by then were fairly rotund (occupational hazard) and jolly (I'd be too), and Jerry in particular was genuinely interested in where we planned to go with the television network.  We discussed at length over Peace Pops - at the time, Animal Planet was envisioned to be a nature documentary and human/animal interest channel, and a strong advertising play.  Of course now it has become nothing but exploitative "reality"....  A violation?  Perhaps we were meant for each other (read on).

My afternoon demo followed the Marketing presentation:

Remember, Ben and Jerry's' well-earned brand promise is rich-tasting deliciousness based on innovative flavor combinations and mix-in's.  No one was ever going to look to B&J for vanilla (though their vanilla is unquestionably delicious).  But in spring 1996, the Marketing department had the idea that vanilla was the future for B&J.  Marketing Girl's logic? "People buy our pints, but we need market share of Ice Cream 'Occasions' - nobody's going to buy pints of NY Super Fudge Chunk to serve with the Thanksgiving pie, or at junior's 10th birthday party."

Ben & Jerry - Young Idealists

Well, that idea never panned out.  People don't look to Ben & Jerry's for vanilla (and if they do want a gallon of vanilla, they won't visit the scoop shop and stand in line to see it hand-packed).

Talk about following your bliss: here are a couple of ice-cream loving best friends from Merrick, NY who conquered the world of ice cream.

Cool Like a Brain-Freeze:
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were so "cool" they could, in corporate life, violate their socially-minded/counterculture identification with moves like the hiring of expert CEO Perry Odak from U.S. Repeating Arms Corporation (manufacturer of Winchester rifles), and ultimately the $326M exit sale to corporate megalith  Unilever.  Both were the right move, btw.

But now the duo are "Occupy Wall-Streeters" ...

Credit Where Due:

Come to Northampton MA, visit Herrell's, and meet Steve - the Albert Einstein behind the mix-in.  He selflessly schooled Ben and Jerry and they took the concept all the way to the bank.  But only Steve has the Hostess Cupcake Ice Cream Sundae...!

On-Stage with Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn ... presently President Fitz ... formerly Crow

He's the President of the United States now - on Scandal, that is - but in 1978 he was just a fresh-faced lad landing the second lead in a campus production of Sam Shepard's "Tooth of Crime," and we became friends.

Lights, Camera, Beer... in the Pub

My roommate and fraternity brother Chris Walsh played the aging and decidedly Jagger-esque rock star Hoss, who is challenged and ultimately unseated by the up-and-coming rock star Crow, played by freshman Tony Goldwyn.  This play was cast during the early autumn and produced that semester.

7 Truly Bold Plays by Master Sam

Four of us - Dave Scofield, Dave Schleifer, John S. Keim, and yours truly - comprised the band.  Billed as the "Overhead Lifters," the band was on-stage and the music was an up-front element of the play, particularly during Becky's soliloquy, and the scene when the two rockers square off inside a boxing ring as the Rolling Stones' "Sister Morphine" plays.

In another scene, Crow warms up for a confrontation by singing Cream's "I'm So Glad."

Following this exposure to Sam Shepard, I became a fan - and particularly loved seeing the Quaid brothers tear up the stage in "True West" at the Cherry Lane theater in 1984.  As for Tooth of Crime, I can recite every word of dialog in this fantastic play.

What I most vividly remember about our little Minor Theater production at Hamilton College are two mesmerizing, invigorating vignettes: Tony warming up behind stage using bizarre impressive and in-your-face method acting technique, and - in the second act, night after night - "Becky" taking her shirt off ten feet away on-stage, while delivering a bitter monologue.

Have a "Futchnerf's" Summer

Chris and I tried unsuccessfully to rush Tony for Psi Upsilon, but he went to Sigma Phi instead, and ultimately left Hamilton early.  Next stop was Brandeis University and I don't believe he even admits to having attended Hamilton, now.

I ran into Tony on the street in NYC the summer of 1980, and since then I've seen him as you have: a cad in Ghost, a lawyer in The Pelican Brief, behind camera (as Director) with the tremendous A Walk on the Moon, and now - his star turn on TV as Fitzgerald Grant, President of the USA, in Scandal.

I suppose that Tooth of Crime - the zenith of my own stage career, as I never auditioned for anything else, before or after - was a small but wildly interesting steppingstone on Mr. Goldwyn's path to craft mastery.  I remember Tony well as a genuinely nice guy,  unassuming - even quiet, while also full of energy and intensity - a totally committed thespian.

And he's really knocking it out of the park on Scandal!

"I'll develop my own image. I'm an original man. A one and only. I just need some help."

... as Crow, in Tooth of Crime

Titanic Discoverer Bob Ballard Asked ME For Directions...

Captain Fantastic, Bob Ballard

For a guy who found a needle in a haystack, a mile below the surface and hundreds of miles out in the dark and desolate northern Atlantic ocean, Bob Ballard was clueless on land.

The Titanic went down 100 years ago tonight.  Yours truly was "present" - on the very fringes - at its rediscovery in 1986 and this was a huge, huge thrill!  I was working at National Geographic Television while Ballard's research and exploration grant was in effect, and during 1984 and 1985 we'd get news of hopeful progress that Captain Ballard and his crew were zeroing in - "vectoring" - and that the discovery was close, close, close at hand.  We had film coverage on board, in case he struck gold.

Ballard: "The actual ship was much, much bigger than this!"

The Holy Grail.  Noah's Ark.  The Titanic.  In 20th Century popular ambition, no lost object loomed larger, nor seemed more of an impossible dream.  In all the vast, deep sea, could one man and his team possibly find something so elusive?  The mind boggled to imagine it.

Well, you know the rest: the discovery, later the romantic movie.  In between Bob Ballard became popularized as a hero on par with Edmund Hillary and Howard Carter.  He went on to locate the Bismarck, and to found the Jason project that has educated and engaged thousands and thousands of schoolchildren to be budding scientists and researchers.

We rushed our National Geographic EXPLORER Special onto the air in December 1986 and earned the highest-ever ratings for a basic-cable TV show, with 1 in 8 Americans tuning in that Sunday night.  Later we hired Bob to host National Geographic EXPLORER and he did pretty well for himself - handled the on-air work with charisma for a few seasons, and ended up marrying a young colleague of mine.  Ultimately popularized by James Cameron and depicted by Bill Paxton in the blockbuster "Titanic," Bob is now a permanent icon of Neil Armstrong magnitude.

So, the funny thing was, one sunny day in the summer of 1987 when my UCSB '81 fiancee and I were knocking around Montecito in Santa Barbara, a block inland from the beautiful Biltmore Hotel near El Cabrillo and Channel Drive, a car pulled up, rolled down the window, and a friendly voice said "Hey, can you tell me how to get to Summerland from here?"

My companion yelled at him "Hey! You're Bob Ballard!! We work for Tim Kelly!!"  Immediate recognition (Tim was the leader of NG TV who had flown the edited Titanic show in his hands, via helicopter, to WTBS to make air).  We stood in the street shooting the breeze, recalling the craziness of the previous year's TV production, talking about this or that project that he was working on either at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute or as a National Geographic "Explorer-In-Residence," and eventually sending him on his way.

Where Am I?  ... And Where's That Darn Ship?

Now, get this: Summerland was about two miles south of where we stood, and on the main road toward Carpinteria and Ventura.  Nobody leaving Santa Barbara bound for LA could get far without immediately seeing signs for Summerland.  And here's the funny thing: much later I learned that among Bob's distinguished credentials he held a dual degree in Chemistry and Marine Biology from UCSB, so he had lived right there in beautiful Isla Vista for four years (he'd also been an ROTC student).

So it's inexplicable to me how a master-class navigator could have been so befuddled.  But we were happy to correct his course, of course, and did see a good bit more of him in his EXPLORER-hosting days from 1989-1991.  A sharp, driven guy with absolute leadership class, who dreams big and is never averse to being in the spotlight.

Oed und leer das meer!

Yo Ho Ho , Me Matey - Mel Fisher and Yours Truly

Kanye West?  KEY WEST!

I struck up a rich friendship with "Treasure Salvor" Mel Fisher in 1985, when he found the Atocha shipwreck and its incredible $450,000,000 bounty of gold coins, mountains of emeralds, and other riches just miles off the coast of Key West....

 The National Geographic Society had supported Mel's research with expedition grants, much as they had supported Bob Ballard in his quest to locate the Titanic.  In a barter for exclusive rights to 'break the story' in its own pages, NGS funded numerous promising, interesting explorers, expeditionists and researchers such as Jane Goodall (chimps), Dian Fossey (gorillas), Louis and Richard Leakey (homo erecti), and Sylvia Earle (sharks) - along with aforementioned gents Ballard et Fisher.  In 1985-86, both of these gentlemanly bets would pay off spectacularly.

"The Atocha Motherlode" as it is known amounted to nearly half a $Billion worth of gold and silver - over 40 tons (and the intervening years have been very kind to the commodity price of precious metals).

Mine, Mine, it's all Mine ...

Even as Mel began hauling the Atocha loot to the surface, word reverberated around the Geographic headquarters - and especially within the TV Division, where our leader Dennis Kane had earlier made a personal investment in Salvors, Inc. (the romance of discovery aside, Fisher is a shrewd businessman; note the prominence given Investor Relations on Fisher's site).

Mel Fisher had to fight the state of Florida over ownership of the trove (Mel won it all at the Supreme Court; he's donated 20% of the find to FL).

We were prepared, and we hastily accelerated a prime time documentary to air on WTBS as a Sunday evening National Geographic Explorer Special.  On Thursday of that week, a panicked call came from Atlanta, where the ad sales office at TBS had noted Mel's personal purchase of a pair of spots, to air during Explorer, in which he personally pitched jewels, coins and artifacts with an (800) #, direct to viewers.

It was the cheesiest commercial imaginable: home-made production values like you'd see in a spot for a local car dealership, Mel draped in gold chains over a Hawaiian shirt, glowing and lit up like W. C. Fields.

Total Class!

The National Geographic saw its sterling reputation for taste, quality and accuracy about to go down the drain! ... and instructed my boss Tim Kelly to talk Mel out of the buy, which he did.

The special, "Atocha: Quest for Treasure" was a giant hit, eclipsed only a year later when we presented "Secrets of the Titanic" following Ballard's histrionic find.  In both cases, we in the hated TV Division had to fight the powers that were, in order to scoop the Magazine where 'breaking news' could be turned into a cover story.. 9 months later at earliest.  So we had to vanquish Bill Garrett and the magaziners in order to get on the air.

Swashbucklers Two: Fisher & Porter

We were victorious in our little battle, so was Mel in his grand quest, and That's The Way It Was.

Discovering Mickey Hart

I am first and foremost NOT a "Dead-head."  My wife has dragged me to latterday Be-Ins with Furthur, RatDog, the Other Ones, and sundry spin-off projects but it isn't working.  I guess it's over my head.

WORLDBEAT IT!

Groovin' & Grateful

But in 1990 I really enjoyed meeting Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart a few times while he was forging his career as ethno-musicologist on the Smithsonian Institution's dime.  My close colleague Denise brought Mickey in to Explore Our World and develop a Discovery Channel TV miniseries co-production for our "People & Places" strand.  On one occasion, Mickey had worked a hat-trick on his DC tour - an honest day's work at the Smithsonian, a pop-in to see us at Discovery, and then a performance at the Cap Center.  After our afternoon meeting, my colleagues went to the show; I passed.

Mickey had great energy and charisma.  He was comfortable pitching and fielding ideas - not desperate nor conniving as was the case with some of the shysters who came to Landover to shill projects.

A real delight to get to know.

Mickey gave me a 4-CD set of project work that he had produced, which I later gave away in a lead-up to courtship with Mrs. Porter.  In the end, Mick and our gang did not work out a TV deal.  But no matter: Mickey was busy establishing what now amounts to a tremendous cornerstone in the World Music movement, in partnership with Smithsonian.  Some of this stuff is interesting, although it doesn't have the "razor edge" that I usually listen for...

... and I still lack the Vision to appreciate the Dead or their ilk!

But check out the Mickey Hart Band if that's your cup of T . . . .

My Friend Russ Meyer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to a HAPPY MAN

One of the true great joys in my life was to know and share laughter with the amazing, brilliant filmmaker Russell Albion Meyer.

I was already a fan dating back to 1975 and SuperVixens, and in awe of the Meyer 'intensely personal and unique vision of the world,' when we met in Las Vegas in 1989 and became friendly.  Over the next several years we saw each other many, many times.  Russ was a guest in my home in Washington DC, and I his guest numerous times in the Hollywood Hills and out in Palm Desert.

We enjoyed a great many meals, film screenings, nights on the town, and sundry adventures - including a rendezvous in Paris, and a day shooting cutaways in the Mojave Desert.  One of the great nights of all time was our dinner, twenty years ago tomorrow night, celebrating Russ's 70th birthday.

Magnum Opus

I was staying at the Bel Air Hotel, and we'd arranged to celebrate in style on the premises. He drove across town, arriving late, and laden with armloads of artwork - Annie Fannie-style illustrations he called "Bust-oons" that he was having prepared for his long-awaited, by then much-unfinished masterpiece "A Clean Breast."  He laid these out on the table at dinner.

We talked about the book, the production hassles, his can't-miss film project ideas (a shot-for-shot remake of Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! with LaToya Jackson, for instance), the usual recounting of amorous escapades, and life as an iconoclast in the company town.

Then we turned to his third marriage, to Edy Williams. It turned out the 1970 wedding had taken place on the premises, in the Garden of the Bel Air Hotel.  Russ's tardiness arriving for dinner was due to his having rooted around in the garden on the way in, but he'd gotten lost; we agreed that after dinner we'd scout around to see if we couldn't find the 'scene of the crime.'  Many glasses of wine later, that we did.

To stand under the stars at midnight, stumbling about on the rolling lawns of the Bel Air, while Russ rhapsodized about Edy Williams' charms even as he brandished the rolled-up Bust-oons in the air, batting wildly at the stars, railing against her "shrewishness!" - "But I have no regrets, Sir - I have None At All !"  Pure heaven.

Over many years' time, Russ introduced me to a cavalcade of characters, among them Dave Friedman, Stuart Lancaster, James Anthony Ryan & Bert Santos, Charles Napier, John Lazar and others, as well as trusty Janice and his leading ladies Melissa Mounds, Haji and Tura Satana.  Here is a beautiful clip that provides a glimpse of the work, the spirit and joie de vivre of old RM.

I learned so much from this unique man.  And our friendship meant and still means very much to me.

Thanks for the memories.

Happy 90th Birthday, Russ.

Julie Montgomery: The Girl Next Door

All American Beauty Julie Montgomery

Growing up, my favorite adventures were always to visit cousin Frank in Livingston, New Jersey.  We used to run around at night and ring doorbells, or climb on the roof of the school and throw firecrackers, sometimes with other nerds on the block.

As we 'came of age,' lo and behold but the girl literally next door to Frankie-boy, Julie Montgomery, got work as a regular on One Life To Live in the popular and long-running role of Samantha  Vernon (see video 0:10 - 0:30).

Long-running enough, that is, that she ultimately played Samantha Vernon Buchanon, later still becoming Vernon Buchanon Garretson

Julie moved west to try her hand at films and made a bunch of interesting entry-level projects - Senior Trip ('xploiter), Girls Night Out (slasher), eventually progressing to Stewardess School ('xploiter), and so forth . . . Until the big break in 1984: Revenge of the Nerds (0:49:00) as Betty Childs.

Some recall that Julie bared it all for the screen in this classic.  I certainly do.

It's Tom. My Aunt Next Door Needs A Cup of Sugar

Julie later starred in Revenge III and IV.  But II ? Well, legend - on the always reliable Internet - has it that :

"Julia Montgomery refused to reprise her role as Betty because in the original script Betty is caught cheating on Lewis. Montgomery felt it betrayed the change in her character from the first film. Joe Roth offered to have the scene re-written but Montgomery still refused. She eventually returned for the following sequels. Lewis is shown packing a picture of Betty in the beginning of the film implying they are still together. Ironically, this means that Lewis cheated on Betty with Sunnie."

Fascinating, don't you think?!

What Nerds We Were

The ground was fertile on Rock Hill Drive, and Julie's older sister Suzanne was an even more beautiful brunette, although she didn't go into acting as far as I know.

Still, reaction-inciting Hill-Topper classmates up the block at the local public school included the eventually notorious funnyman Jay Greenspan (a.k.a. Jason Alexander), attitude snot Chelsea Handler, and Governor/future President Chris Christie.  Must have been something in that Livingston water.

The great news is, after nearly 20 years off the screen, Julie is coming back in 2012 in a flick called "Altered Reality."  More to come on this.  Until then,

Have I but One Life To Live - after this one, that is - surely let it be with Julie Montgomery...