On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 4:14 PM, stan <[email protected]> wrote: > (SNIP) Lewis came from an era > > when kids who misbehaved got smacked or spanked -- even though I was > > born decades after he was, so did I. Lewis sees Lindsay and Paris as > > crying for attention and acting out just as most people half their age > > do. But when most people were half their age, they were punished for > > misbehaving -- they were taught right from wrong -- they were taught > > the difference between getting attention for doing good things as > > opposed to getting attention from doing bad things. I would encourage > > people to watch the full clip as opposed to the out-of-context bit > > that is bound to be truncated in news reports. > > > While I agree with Jerry Lewis regarding the three people that he > discussed, he also comes from an era where it was acceptable to appear > full time as a character who's never without a highball glass in his > hand (Dean Martin) or completely plowed (Foster Brooks). It has since > been widely reported that Deano always kept apple juice in his glass > while on stage. So what's better, actually being stoned or playing a > full-time stoned character? In the public's eye, except for the DWIs, > isn't it essentially the same thing? >
I think most people knew Brooks wasn't really drunk, but you might have a point about Martin. But I think the basic premise that in Lewis' day young celebrities who misbehaved got smacked or punished is simply incorrect. In the 1930s, 40s adn 50s plenty of young actors and actresses "misbehaved" (driving drunk, occasionally maiming or killing people in the process; sexual acting out, occasionally with non-consensual partners, and sometime straight out murder). I think you could argue that celebrities in Jerry's day misbehaved more often than they do today (depending on how you define celebrity), its just that in Jerry's day studios and publicists sanitized the press and much of the dirty laundry either never got out, or was diluted. If Lindsey Lohan and the rest of her tribe were active in the 1940s at least 75% of their fans would never know that they had ever been in any trouble (and we wouldn't be getting upskirt shots of them without their panties in the morning paper). -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
