There's an interesting article here in today's Sunday New York Times by Gretchen Morgenson about women on corporate boards and executive pay. I note this, however, for a completely separate reason.
Throughout the article, only one person is quoted, referred to as an "expert on corporate governance," and at the top of the article, it is headed by a photo of her. That would be Nell Minow. As readers of these pages well-know, I often write about Nell and discuss her expertise in many areas -- most notably corporate governance and as a the "Movie Mom" movie critic (not to mention partner with me in the Apology Institute of America...) -- so, I like to point out articles like this to make clear I'm not just exaggeratiing about a friend but...she really is this good. For those who are taking the holiday weekend off from clicking links, in short the article discusses the oddity of how a study shows that companies with woman on their board of directors pay their chief executives more money. One reason for this, Nell points out, is that because it is so extremely difficult for woman to get on a corporate board of director, a lot of pressure is put on them to "go along" in order to stay on the board. As a result, when higher pay is proposed for the executives, they are more likely to support it. The article goes into other areas and explanations of this, as well (including on how some of these business may simply be more successful and therefore pay more), but that's the basis of the piece. But mainly, just check out the article because Nell is in it so much. Or simply to see the very nice photo. We have our priorities, you understand...
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Last night, as part of their Memorial Day series of war films this weekend, TCM showed A Bridge Too Far, which I consider perhaps the greatest war movie ever made. Okay, fine, admittedly I'm biased for an exceedingly odd reason, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. That's because my cousin, Susie Elisberg Duttge is in it, if you look closely enough. A Bridge Too Far was shot in 1976, made on location in Holland and the surrounding area. There's a sequence in the film when Allied troops have liberated a Dutch town and enter it to waves of celebration by the residents, almost as a parade. As it happened, my cousin and a girlfriend of hers were hiking through Europe, and were in Holland at the time and heard that a movie was being shot nearby. Curious, they altered their plans a bit and made their way over to watch. As director Richard Attenborough was setting up the elaborate sequence, he felt that something was missing. What he decided it needed was to have a couple of local girls sitting on one of the Allied tanks as it drove though the cheering throng. And so, at the very last minute, the filmmakers started to do some scouting -- and they spotted these two pretty, young girls there among the spectators and asked if they'd like to be in the movie. And you got it, that was my cousin Susie and her friend. They were cast, gotten into hair and make-up, put in place on the tank, and the scene was shot. No doubt first discussing with Richard Attenborough the motivation of their characters. (Probably, "You're really happy.") Yes, okay, it's hard to spot from the angles the scene was shot and edited, but they're there. And as the saying goes, it's not the size of the role that matters, but the size of the actor. Ultimately, of course, that's an artistic decision by director Attenborough of what was most-need to make the impactful scene as effective as it is, perfectly balanced without overwhelming the focus of the scene away from the troops. And in the end, I've always believed that that moment is what helped make A Bridge Too Far the highly-regarded epic it is, as much as the performances by Sir Laurence Olivier, Sean Connery, Robert Redford and others. UPDATE: I heard back from my cousin about the piece She noted a few corrections, but I'm pleased that I got as much of the story as accurate as I did. However, I do stand by my larger point that she is the star of the film. For the sake of accuracy, here's what she wrote -- " Bob, you're so funny. That's amazing you remember (kind of remember) the story from 4 decades ago! I was traveling Europe, by myself except for the people I kept meeting and traveling with along the way, two of which were friendly Dutch boys. I went back to their town to visit them while A Bridge Too Far was being filmed. Hans had a minor role and brought me to the set a lot. That's when Richard Attenborough asked me to be in the scene where I sit on top of the tanker with a soldier as it rolled into town. It was a ton of fun and my spot was edited down to a couple nano seconds. Blink and you'll miss it! wink emoticon The photographs I have from being on the set for a week look reflect " Oh, okay, for those interested in seeing the other actors and scenes, to each their taste, so here's the trailer. You'll note that it only includes a partial cast list, leaving out such important actors as."And starring as 'Girl Sitting on Tank'..." But that's most-likely contractual, set before production began, to protect traditional hierarchy in advance of any casting changes that might occur later. ABC is re-running tonight (Saturday) their terrific mini-series on Bernie Madoff, that starred Richard Dreyfuss, who often looked uncannily like the main figure. I wrote about the show here, so I won't repeat what I said, but will note how well it was thoughtful, low-key and smartly done. I suspect many people missed it the first time around because they opted for the flashier mini-series on O.J. Simpson that aired at the same time. It's a two-parter, so there isn't much time to invest, and it airs at 9 PM East Coast time, 8 PM in the Midwest. Here's a clip --
On this edition of the 3rd & Fairfax podcast from the Writers Guild of America, the guest is Aziz Ansari who is interviewed about his career and his Netflix series, Master of None, which he created and has written most of the episodes.
The other day, I posted a video here of a very good, interesting and somewhat aggressive performance by Anthony Warlow in a 2015 Australian production of Fiddler on the Roof. From that same production, here is a lively rendition of the opening number, "Tradition." I got a call yesterday afternoon from a friend asking me if I'd seen the news about the Inspector General's independent report on Hillary Clinton. I hadn't, I'd been busy with other things here, but did see a headline about how it seemed the report was very critical of her actions. "Just read the stories," he said, outraged. "It's huge." And it presents real problems, he said.
I should note that he hates Hillary Clinton. To be clear, he's not a Republican and is aghast at Donald Trump. He calls himself a Libertarian, though more often than not votes Democratic. But this year I expect he'll vote for Gary Johnson. But to be fair, he's always liked Gary Johnson, so it doesn't have everything to do with what he thinks of Clinton and Trump. But he does hate Ms. Clinton. (To be fair, he's said that if he lived in a state where there was a chance that Donald Trump could win, unlike California, he'd vote for Hillary Clinton. But since he's certain she'll win the state, his feels comfortable voting for his favorite Mr. Johnson.) I did finally check the story. And it wasn't good. It also wasn't a Major Story. And it too wasn't what he said. It basically said what we largely knew, though was more pointed. But it also criticized other Secretaries of State, most notably Colin Powell very harshly. And what it didn't say was something equally important -- it didn't say that she had broken any laws or even had any breaches of security. It said that she broke some rules. Rules of an incredibly antiquated system that, among other things,requires printing out every email sent and received, and putting them in boxes, unfiled. (Ms. Clinton turned in 55,000 emails. Colin Powell has turned in none. Nor he he keep them.) But antiquated or not, rules are rules, and Hillary Clinton broke some That's not good. But I don't find it remotely as horrific as my friend suggested. I think politicians push the boundaries all the time, and end up breaking rules. FDR tried to pack the Supreme Court. It was a bad thing to do, and he's been criticized for it heavily -- at the time and through history. It doesn't impact the view that FDR is one of America's great presidents. And it's breaking some department rules. Not breaking laws or making a criminal act or causing a breach of security. I don't say any of this to let Hillary Clinton off the hook. I don't like a lot of things about her positions, and think she's often her often worst enemy. And what she did with her mail server was wrong and stupid. But there's a great deal I do like about her. Much more to the point is what I'd have said to my friend if I was interested in getting into a discussion with him about this and had read the news stories yet. It's this -- One of two people will be elected President of the United States. One of them is not Gary Johnson, who will get zero electoral votes. It will be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Hilary Clinton has a lot of issues about her I don't care for her. But much of her "reputation" is based on 20 years of the Republican Party slamming her with irrational hatred in every way possible -- and coming up with nothing. If St. Francis of Assisi was attacked and pounded with such unrelenting vitriol for two decades, even he would likely be reviled. But even far more to the point, she is a bright, experienced, very qualified candidate who also had many positions I do like and could be a president. Donald Trump is an empty carnival barker who has zero experience about pretty much anything and everything the president does, and is a misogynist, bully, egomaniac with racism running through him, pandering to the least-common denominator and worst in people, and has nothing in him that says he could be a president. So, if one wants to vote for Gary Johnson and help get Donald Trump elected, or vote for Donald Trump directly, that's a person's choice. But make no mistake: whatever one thinks of Hillary Clinton, the alternative is only Donald Trump. But vote how you're going to vote, and don't yammer at me for the next six months about Hilary Clinton and Gary Johnson. Because the choice is that either Hillary Clinton will be president -- or Donald Trump will become leader of the free world and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces... And to me, Donald Trump as president isn't an option. And transcends ghastly, horrific, mind-numbing joke. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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