Eugene David
...The One-Minute Pundit

Tuesday, October 05, 2004


These last few days I've been reading what I fear will be the sole volume of Gary Giddins's projected two-book biography of Der Bingle, and the best and a most amusing chapter concerns the idiot Paramount publicists who could have given DAN BLATHER's crew a run for their money at lying (especially now as they'd work for the same company). One paragraph applies as much to today as it did to the 1930s, when at least the gold of the movies excused the dross of the publicity:

The power and arrogance of publicists was no secret. Hollywood lampooned them mercilessly, invariably portraying them as unscrupulous, ruthless, alcoholic, and utterly indifferent to the desires of the lost souls consigned to their unctuous hands....But the contempt of their associates by no means diminished the press agents' hold on the public's credulity. They were abetted by entertainment editors who cheerfully accomodated them, sometimes appending a reporter's byline to a standard press release.

USA OKAY!!!!!, Mrs. Slut, the DONALD -- the more things change....

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