Posted 8:22 PM by Gene

Someone had better tell these assorted Hollywood nuts and fruitcakes the more they talk politics in public the more they subvert their careers. One reason we can still regard the Old Hollywood with affection (whatever its demerits) is that the stars' many handlers were wise enough to tell their charges to keep their bouches fermezed away from them. Some didn't need telling. Mary Pickford, who had great intelligence, style and sense (and beauty), told the film historian Kevin Brownlow, "I will not have anything to do with politics. The minute a politician walks into the room, I'm finished." It was only when the biz got the same disease of self-importance as the press (and as new-line reactionaries replaced the old-line reactionaries, just like in the press) that every thespian had to "speak out," more often than not voiding the compressed air in his skull. And it is hurting their careers: Witness the ratings fall-off in The West Wing or George Clooney's directorial-debut bomb. Even those who've avoided economic fallout cannot escape judgment: Jane Fonda's first name will always be Hanoi. The Nose can yap words from "Shakespeare" because her career is effectively over. Fame is fleeting enough. Open your mouth and you displease half your audience -- and given the high regard most have for show-biz nowadays, maybe more. Is it worth the risk of being called an airhead, even if you literally are?