FAME…What’s Your Name, What’s Your Name?
This is the final post in this week’s series, Grounded: Stories From the American Southwest. If this is your first visit to Grounded, click here to start the series. If you’d like to subscribe to my blog, subscription boxes are on the right-hand side of the page. If you like me enough to Like me on Facebook, simply click Like in the Facebook box on the right. I’ve updated my blogroll with lots of new lovely folks. Check them out if you’re seeking more great content. As always, thank you for reading my little blog.
For Earlybird and her mention of "True Grit"
It’s a long story.
I never thought I’d find myself in LA this week. Los Angeles. Staring down the barrel of two straight weeks of travel for work, on top of having to travel this week for work, I thought it might be fun to accompany MTM on his trip to the Urban Land Institute Conference. I created a couple of light days on my calendar and hopped a plane to the Left Coast.
There’s illusion, and there’s the real thing. LA is a city of illusion, of dream-making. It summons people from everywhere with the allure of being discovered, making it big and getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The biggest mirage of all – the star – is steps from my front door.
I’m not going to lie. Since I was a little tot, I dreamed of being famous. What would it feel like to have my name be a household word? To have people know who I am wherever I go? To earn be awarded a star of my very own? When I was younger, those hankerings came from performing, from throwing on the cloak of varied people and convincing a few that I really was the person I pretended to be. Everyone told me I was talented. I liked hearing it.
Anybody would.
Eventually, we have to grow up, to realize our sagging faces are never going to be ‘discovered,’ to accept that, no matter how much we try, we’re going to be stuck in the land of community theater. Forever. Even on my professional gigs, that’s really all it was. I don’t regret releasing that dream, even if the quest for the current one has wounded me more in the past week than the worst theatrical review I ever garnered.
Yesterday, I got to pretend again, shuffling along the (gritty, seedy, sex-shop ridden) Hollywood Walk of Fame. I always wondered how they packed all those stars into the space in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
Duh. They don’t. Instead, they extend for blocks in two directions, on both sides of the street. An endless stretch of pink-and-black granite wedged into concrete, filled with names…………unfamiliar to me. Name after name after name clicked under my feet like I was walking on a movie reel. Me – a movie fanatic, a lapsed actress – recognized about a quarter of them.
Andy Garcia‘s star caught my eye, mostly because his aunt used to own a tiny grocery store and cigar shop steps from my office in Charleston. His star made me remember how much I loved her sleek Cuban hair, wound into a regal Spanish bun. How I melted when she said hello to me, because it was the closest thing I got to something foreign in my twenties. I barely remember anything Andy did, but thinking about her pride over her collection of gums and magazines, her impeccable coiffure, brought a tear.
Is the struggle to achieve fame merely the chance to have people wander past in a few years and say Gee, I wonder what happened to them in the fleeting seconds they can remember the name? Why does our society give so much cred to people who are famous?
Someday, they’ll be nobody again. Just like me.
Hey, Dudette, we’re all somebody and famous in someone’s eyes…
At least, MTM finds me fetching.
Fun one.
On the other hand…”I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”
We can always find a quote to suit any mood, can’t we?
Andra, I’ve found myself thinking all these things over the years. As a youngster, I wanted to find myself no on the cover of the Rolling Stone, but on the stage at The Met or other opera house, only to realize I didn’t have the drive to get there and at that age, I doubted I had the chops, or chords.
Those of us who love the stage, I believe, always need a forum. We find it in other ways, other places. Now when I give a presentation, I’m thankful for all the stage skills I learned starting at age 6. Or when I answer the phone. I even have a client who says she loves to call my phone to hear my voice mail!
Once a performer, always a performer. Famous or not.
All my pent-up performance energy goes into the hosting of Rotary meetings these days.
Which means they’re fun.
I wanted to act when I was younger too, but not for the fame, but instead to entertain. Even know, when I watch something like Community or 30 Rock I really wish I could be a part of it. I always knew that if I were to act, that it could lead to fame, but that wasn’t part of the desire. It was the opposite in fact, and might be one of the reasons I never pushed on it too hard.
Even know I love to make people laugh, I just have a much smaller audience and anyone watching gets front row tickets.
I never realized you had that bug. You are one of my funniest friends.
heh, that’s why I sound so odd even though I am from here. I trained my accent out when I was a kid so I wouldn’t sound southern. Most people can’t quite put a finger on where I’m from, even though it is from Charleston. lol
I took drama class and some other stuff, but unfortunately the reality of not having any resources did me in and I just couldn’t pursue any acting stuff.
And thanks for the compliment, I definitely try to keep the people laughing!
The Google + Nerds Equals Naked post did come from a conversation with you.
Well hopefully I will continue my funny streak well into the future to help inspire awesome hilarity, posts, and good times for all!
Never wanted to be famous…but I did want to be a hooker when I was growing up. They had the coolest clothes and I loved their shoes….it wasn’t until many years later that I realized just what a hooker was – thank God for unlived dreams.
Being famous is definitely not what it’s cracked up to be and all you have to do is look at the gossip rags to see this. You’re right Andra – in the end who truly remembers you? (Is this why people have such a big carbon footprint? Cause they want to be remembered for something? Anything?)
Your post made me very reflective and contemplative…perhaps it’s because my son’s sole goal is to act, to work out his inner demons on screen, to entertain, to make others think and feel. He craves it and feels complete when he’s acting whether he gets paid or not. (I wish he’d get paid.) He does hate the “wait” time though. Hmmmmm.
As always, lovely post, thoughtful post, sad post (the sad part is just how I felt after reading it – not that I’m thinking your post is sad…does that make sense?).
I always try to follow through and watch the links you post of Sterling. He’s very talented, Lori. I hope he goes as far with it as his dreams will take him. I totally understand that need. For a period in my life, it was the best place to work out my inner demons, too.
I probably didn’t know what a hooker was, either, when I was a teen.
My favorite actress is Meryl Streep 1. because she is obscenely gifted and 2. because she has never allowed herself to get caught up in the silliness of fame. I got to see her star, too.
I had a sad undercurrent when writing this post, Lori. You picked up on it, so it makes sense to me.
even if the quest for the current one has wounded me more in the past week than the worst theatrical review I ever garnered.
Is this something I should have read about already?
No, Roxanne, though you are a true Dear to pick that line out of this post and ask about it. Got some very tardy bad news this week on the tome. Sobbed over how late it was, because if I’d gotten it when I was supposed to, I would’ve approached recent months entirely differently. It is frustrating to get such set-backs, especially when you think you’re months further along than you may, in fact, be. As it stands, others are still considering me, so all is not lost. To throw in my own platitude, I’m sure I’ll look back on all of this someday and realize it was for the best……….yeah, that’s just not doing it for me today……..
As hard as it must be, I’m glad to see you keeping your chin up!
That’s what people want to see, so that’s what I give them. Nobody wants to read about how it really feels, even me.
Famous? Never… always wanted to be a billionaire recluse, with my own private island.
Where you could play Formula One racing all day. Heck, if you had your own private island, you could BE a Formula One racer.
True. With enough money you can buy yourself a ride, at least on one of the slower teams that’s cash poor. If I had $50M or so to drop on a season of racing I’m sure HRT or Virgin would give me a ride even if I’m not very fast.
I’d be more likely to build a nice compound on my private island with lots of room for people to visit. Theater for musical performances and such.
Yup, if my nose was running money…
I might come and never leave……….
When we get the island, you and MTM are welcome to come and stay as long as you like.
I have that in writing…….;)
I’ll just make the circuit – your private island, race at Monza, David Bowie’s island, race in Singapore, Richard Branson’s private island, race in Austin, then a vacation from all that hard work. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Sounds lovely. I will try to pretend that’s what I am doing over the next two weeks instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make a living.
Fame is highly over rated. I value friendship far more, and you will always be my friend.
I will admit this though, there is no greater thrill to me than walking into an unknown, out-of-town store and picking up a book or magazine to see my name in print. It is a rush. But a short one. Good friendships give you a long term rush.
I count myself fortunate to have so many friends.
I’ve done my share of musing over the what-ifs of fame…when younger I hungered for it so that I wouldn’t feel invisible, so that fame would make me real. Now, I would be very happy if my writing became famous (read and loved), and I would be content for my name to be a tag-along on its coattails. Now, being invisible, or behind the scenes at any rate, feels ok. I mean, just look at Oz! Great, thoughtful post Andra.
I can understand payng an athlete more than I can understand paying someone to “pretend”. However, I cannot understand why people want autographs from anyone – why? It’s not like they’ve solved the world’s problems or anything – they are just people with a different skillset than some of us.
I do not understand paying an athlete more than anybody else. They’re playing A GAME for a living. It’s preposterous in this country that we pay athletes and actors millions of dollars, but we don’t pay our teachers squat. Our schools are lagging, and our infrastructure is crumbling – so let’s all go to the ball game! (I know I have a lot of readers who are sports fans. I am not saying anybody’s passion is wrong.)
Elizabeth, I would also like for my writing to be famous, though the ingredients of that are so elusive, especially when one is in the midst of trying to simply get a book published. It is SUCH a game of chess, and I suck at chess. But, I know I’m good at telling stories. You are, too. I love your writing.
Oops, I didn’t mean to say that they are better than anyone else – I was trying to say that their “work lifespan” is a lot shorter than a lot of actors, but I get what you’re saying (I was only comparing athletes versus actors). I’m also saying that they do work hard for their money (the ones that are paid a lot less than the QB, WR or RB), but was not implying that the “real” workforce was any less. You are definitely right on that we should pay our Military, teachers, policemen, firemen, etc., a lot more than we do…and (even though you didn’t say it…) pay our congressmen a lot less. I was trying to say that I can see paying an athlete more than I can see paying an actor, or a musician (seems like we pay a lot more to those that portray the things that we enjoy, i.e., games, shows, music, rather than those things that are necessary as in teachers, Military, firemen, etc… I’m going to be in the doghouse if my son reads this…..
Man, after reading this I’m still not sure I got my point across….need to take writing lessons from you. 
I don’t think our congress people should be paid anything. And, yes, a pro football player has a much shorter work lifespan than I have as a management consultant. I get that. But, that doesn’t mean they should be paid millions of dollars a year to play football. I know the ‘stars’ get paid more than many of the workhorses on a team.
I guess I was questioning more what we value. People are starting to complain about the rich getting richer, yet a lot of this kind of thing is driving that. I love a good movie, but I don’t think anyone in it should be paid a million-plus dollars to be in it, and I don’t think it should cost the price of a nice dinner to get out of the house and see it. I still think that whole industry would do well without the bloated salaries.
The obvious answer is that every single one of us is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay us. Just because you don’t agree with the majority’s values (I rarely do) doesn’t mean these people are worth less than they earn.
Of course, this does not account for politicians, who often end up being in the position of being able to decide for themselves what they want to be paid (sure would love to be able to vote myself a raise, my own private healthcare system, my own private pension…). Politicians pretty much have to rely on the public having really short memories concerning what happened yesterday and on people being gullible enough to believe their tall tales of what they’ll do tomorrow (despite the politician’s actual track record).
Bill, I know that adage is true about anything being worth what people are willing to pay for it. I just get tired of people who complain about what things cost, as they clamor to watch the game or see the movie or be part of the big thing. They only help perpetuate this absurdity by supporting it with a few bucks.
Congress. Yeah. They suck.
Lou, John Lennon sings back up on this (but I’ll bet you already knew that).
Andra, A fitting end to a week of great posts. Can’t wait to see what next week holds. Enjoy your trip!
David Bowie has been staring at me from over the bed for the past few days. I will be glad to leave him here. It’s sort of eerie to sleep with David Bowie.
Good final question, Andra. I wish someone could answer that one for me… and also why we pay football stars so much money…
I wish I knew the answer to that one, too. I guess people are willing to spend a lot of money on sports.
Hoping you don’t come back from LA with inflated lips and new boobs!
Ha! Ironically, I haven’t seen too much of that, but I did see a woman last night who was wearing a dress that she outgrew when she was five. Meeeeeooooooowwwwwwww.
As usual, Lou is right on the money!
(Sometime I’ll tell you about my girlhood ambitions.)
Meantime, how interesting that you and Kate would both write on the same day, on the same subject, yet from such different approaches.
Enjoyed this!
I enjoyed Kate’s post today, too, Karen. Am on my way over to comment.
I like that the famous Veras are designers
Ha!
Hi Andra, Karen sent me scurrying over here to read your take on the whole recognition-of-great-art thing. I loved this.
And possibly after that (with disastrous consequences I am sure).
Stars: they’re a real twentieth-twenty-first century phenomenon, aren’t they? Media has overblown what they can do and they’re all puffed up like blowfish, having us believe they really are those characters they act. Yet they were made to act, created with this vocation in mind, the Johnny Depps of this world, they’re doing what they were made to do, and they’ve found their audience.
As creators we have to to what we have to do, and I believe if chasing the rainbow every day with 800 words is a compulsion- if it’s what I was put on this earth to do – then hey, that’s what I shall do, in defiant wrinkles and a red dress, until the devil comes and claims my marbles
The finding of the audience thing is the trickiest part. Everybody has one, I suppose, if they can only find them in all the noise. Like you, I am compelled to show up here every day and say something. (Lou and Carnell won’t let me sleep if I don’t give them something to read at 6am.) But, I’ve already learned that so much about the writing process is how it’s packaged and presented, and having it come across the right person’s inbox at just the right time. Some luck is involved in finding that readership. Like your Hogarth (who I love, by the way). He was gifted, but he was lucky. He put his cartoons in the right hands at the right time.
I’m glad to hear that we’ll be writing together until we’re ancient. We’re practically the same age, so we will hopefully have years and years of scribbling left.
The concept of celebrity is, I’d suggest, not a recent century phenomenon. Kate, think back to the celebrity castrati, like Farinelli http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farinelli (Carnell and Lou, these were male singers who were “snipped” in childhood to preserve their incredible voices with the power of a male’s voice, and the range of a female soprano’s voice) and then there is of course Lilly Langtry, she of the theater, and of course the face of Pears soap. In American in the 19th c we had the Booth family legacy.
These people were just as much “stars” in their day as Beyonce is in ours. Given the limited speed of communications early in the century, it was not until the telegraph made possible the wire transmission of stories with vast popular appeal that the lives of the “rich” were fodder for the masses in the volume it took to make or generate stardom.
Though — if we look back to the makings of the fortunes of William Randolph Hearst, his yellow journalism that told tales of the convention flouting rich helped make the public clamor for “news” of those celebrities.
Celebrity has always had a rarefied element to it, I think. Whether it is limited access to privilege, or huge pots of money, or the rare (among many) to flout convention, making one’s self a spectacle, has always attracted the perhaps unqualified desire to look at the one living the public “train wreck” life like Charlie Sheen. (Go back to the notes from Martha Beck–that which terrifies us pulls us in).
Andra, there is where I think the tragedy is. The people who allow themselves or put themselves in these places/positions to be acclaimed, or celebrated will almost assuredly fall—as Shakespeare frequently wrote—from a high place of position and privilege to a lower rank, order or level of esteem. Because like is or not, there is a natural rhythm to everything and that means rise and fall. The sine wave is the most pervasive pattern…See the Wikipedia entry on sine waves “describes a smooth repetitive oscillation” “most basic form as a function of time.”
So we are all “sines” of the times.
Its going to be a roller-coaster semicentury
But, roller-coasters are fun.
Interested to see that you have a homeless book (novel?) and have had the usual runaround from agents and publishers. I also earned that T-shirt. Then I got an agent after entering a competition. Agent represented some household- name authors, but failed to do anything constructive for me. I finally gave up and went the self-published route. I also made the books available for order on the internet. Sales were not great, but readership feedback was very positive and my books did start finding their way into libraries, schools and universities. Then a copy was bought by a smallish USA publisher who was talent scouting, and a contract offer was made by them. Another small publisher in South Africa also made an offer and the second proof of my latest has been posted to me today.
Small beer as yet, but a start which wouldn’t have happened had I not taken the plunge of self-publishing in the first place.
After what happened to me this week, just heartbreaking, that route is something I am going to have to consider. But not yet.
I am glad you have found success with your writing. Please come back and share a link so that we can check you out.
You WILL realize your dream Andra, I just feel it!
I had to believe that to even try, Debbie. I still do.