Fame in the Twentieth Century

Taking 100 years of film down to eight hours is not easy, and "Fame in the 20th Century" is not perfect. But it is detailed, funny, heartwarming, painful and triumphant, and Clive James interconnects people from all corners of the world to show us that we are truly related.

Most of the footage is clean, from various sources, and some probably hasn't been seen too often. Maybe it's a bit heavy to go through all eight hours in one setting; but I find myself getting into a rhythm listening to him flow from one person (or decade) to the next...

It's similar to what Ken Burns did with "Baseball" and "Jazz". Except Clive is the only voice behind the film, and has a sort of 'prickly' (but witty) commentary which keeps it moving along.

My tape off PBS has gotten a bit soft after 13 years, and like the Burns series, if they released "Fame...", I'd be happy to invest in a DVD box set!. This would make a fantastic historical journey for generations to come!

This was a wonderful show, but like most of the documentaries on Hollywood stars, the true legends don't get their due. Mr. James DID point out one fact that is true, but if you asked anyone today, they wouldn't believe it: Doris Day was, in fact, a bigger star than Marilyn Monroe.

The way the tragic Monroe is portrayed in countless books, documentaries, etc., you'd think that she was the biggest box office star in the history of films. She wasn't. Doris Day holds that record. In fact, the three biggest female names to this day are: Day, Shirley Temple and Betty Grable.

I both saw and (fortunately) recorded "CLIVE JAMES' FAME IN THE 20TH CENTURY" when it was originally broadcast...and I am SO GLAD that I did!

This is the single most informative and entertaining examination of the nature of FAME in our civilization that has ever been undertaken.

(Any doubt that this is an important topic can be readily dispelled by a cursory glance at the daily news.)

My only regret is that Clive James has not updated his visual thesis; and that the original has never been released on either VHS or DVD.

Given the attention that Ken Burn's "The Civil War" justly garnered, one would think that another insightful treatise on History and Human Nature would attract SOME attention.

This 8-hour TV mini-series talks about being famous in the twentieth century. Fame captivate our imaginations through the media in this century. The series examines through art, science, politics and sports how people get famous. There more famous people in this century than in any other pointed out in the show. Fame in the Twentieth Century is perfect for a current events class.

I don't believe most of the public understands what fame really is, how it works, and what it means to be famous. Clive James' documentary explores how fame operates at a deeper if not more cynical level. It's not just about people becoming household names; their personas becoming bigger than even themselves. Fame is a misunderstood culture, and James tries to open the curtain so-to-speak and let the stranger and more enigmatic aspects of fame come to light. Most of what James reveals about "fame" is not flattering, and it's not always the fault of the famous.

James uses two iconic figures in the introduction to begin his thesis: Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. Shortly after Elvis' death in 1977 at the age of only 42, some people claimed "Elvis sightings". They believed they saw him, so he wasn't dead after all but was roaming the world, a bit like Jacob Marley from "A Christmas Carol".

Next, Elizabeth Taylor. Towards the end of the 1980's, Taylor was not starring in movies anymore. She was famous simply for being Elizabeth Taylor. In other words, famous for being famous. It's one thing to admire someone's work as an actress but quite another when the public elevates someone to where they are seen nearly as a demigod or demigoddess in their eyes. She played Queen Cleopatra, and was seen as a kind of queen of popular culture.

Before circa 1920 people were famous for their deeds, having won great military victories, or making some breakthrough in science or the arts. Then celluloid film was invented to record people in motion, unlike still photography: motion pictures.

The creators of the first films, such as Thomas Edison, originally thought motion pictures would mainly be used to document short episodes of peoples' lives. In other words, home movies. As with many technological innovations, the creators couldn't predict the uses of their creations. Motion pictures, movies and television, became an entertainment and news medium, possibly the most powerful the world had ever seen prior to the internet. Now people anywhere in the world could see people and stories being told from thousands of miles away. And on large and small screens.

Suddenly actors, few of which had ever been famous on stage, became famous on screen. Audiences fell in love with the people they saw in the movie theaters. But what were they falling love with? People in a movie would act and say lines which were in written scripts. After their scenes were filmed, they would get their paychecks and go home!

I think James' point is that people became enthralled with an illusion. It's interesting to note that silent movie star Rudolph Valentino who had captured the hearts of women under 40 in the 1920's was in fact a gay man in reality. "The Sheik" was one of the first block-buster movies, followed by "Son of the Sheik" (surprise surprise).

Mary Pickford often played the lost young woman in her films. Her standard plot was of a homeless and hungry woman being rescued by a young male. From nearly the beginning of her film career she was in fact married. However, her marital status was kept from the public. She was never the lost young woman, just an actress who played a lost woman in a lot of movies.

Each episode of "Fame" is by decade, from the 1920's through the 1980's. And with each succeeding decade, the reality of fame becomes broader and more complex. Girls of the 1960's didn't just enjoy listening to the song recordings of the Beatles; they would scream and fall to their knees and worship them. Their live concerts were the rock 'n' roll equivalent of attending church service.

John Wayne was thought to be a war hero because he played in many WWII movies. He was the American soldier/officer who made things right. In fact, he never fought in a single combat in WWII. His "wars" were all in Hollywood. He was also America's cowboy even though he never was such. Cowboys were hired hands to care for cattle. But Hollywood turned them into gun-slinging do-gooders.

According to James, by the 1960's and 70's television actors were famous but in a different way. Viewers often equated the characters they played on television with the real people off-screen. Even newspapers and magazines referred to those people by the names of their fictional character: "Kojack gets divorced." How could Kojack played by Telly Sevalas get divorced in real life? Kojack is a fictional character! And many people were often surprised to find out that Henry Wrinkler, who played the Fonz on "Happy Days" couldn't ride a motorcycle!

The writer Harlan Ellison once related a story in which a woman saw Tony Randall, who played with Jack Klugman on a television series version of "The Odd Couple". Klugman later played the title character Quincy in a TV crime-drama about a coroner. The woman ran up to Randall and told him her husband was in trouble and only Quincy could help her. She obviously made the connection between Randall and Klugman. As diplomatically as he could, Randall tried to explain that Jack couldn't help her. He wasn't Quincy; he was just an actor who played a coroner but he wasn't a coroner in real life. She needed to talk to real law enforcement. The woman was devastated but couldn't be convinced Klugman couldn't help! The actors were becoming a fictionalized versions of themselves to TV audiences.

James points out that John F. Kennedy became the first president who looked like a movie star. And then in the climax of the series, a movie actor, not a particularly exceptional actor, got the chance to play the role of his life. Ronald Reagan, unlike Kennedy who had been a war hero in real life, became President of the United States.

Why and how? Because Reagan understood how to be in front of the camera. Reagan had very little knowledge of current events but he knew how to communicate as actors must do onscreen. And he looked good in a denim jacket on a horse, even though in real life he hated riding horses!

Movie fame had caught up to the Presidency with dire results. Two years after Reagan's presidency, the US entered a Recession. His successor, George H. W. Bush, took all the blame for the US's economic woes, which were the result of horrid economic policies put in place by Reagan.

But Reagan was too famous to be criticized. George H. W. Bush was not quite as beloved as Reagan. Also, people tend to blame their current President for economic hardship even if it's not really their fault. So the less likeable G. H. W. Bush was slaughtered in his reelection campaign in 1992. Fame gives and fame takes away.