Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 8:40 AM by Gene

MICKEYMOUSE NIXON delivers His RESIGNATION ADDRESS before BOARDING THE HELICOPTER:

"We cannot escape that Hollywood is in the middle of a wave of technological change," he said. "... Exactly where we are in a technological revolution is impossible to predict, but one thing is true: It is totally contingent on product, and that product is American product, and most of that American product is produced in Hollywood."

He then stopped himself to point out that this was from a speech he gave on Jan. 27, 1981 -- nearly 25 years earlier.

"As should be pretty self-evident from these 24-year-old remarks, the current angst over all the implications of new entertainment technology is nothing new," he said. "But of course, in our industry, we always have angst to spare, so we are also wringing our collective hands over the high cost of production coupled with the low rate of success of movies and TV shows."

But e went on to say that America's entertainment industry has faced these problems since its beginning -- pointing to a 1936 industry analysis from Joseph P. Kennedy that spoke of production problems, high costs and failure to meet deadlines -- yet has continued to thrive.

"It seems our industry has always felt itself to be on the brink of disaster, either because the economics are out of control or because new technologies are threatening our business models or because financiers and boards don't understand what really drives this industry, or all three," he said. "And yet the reality is that, on the whole, the American entertainment industry has thrived decade after decade after decade."

Aside from observing what a moral night light Joe Kennedy Sr. was we should note it is true this amoeba called show-biz can be split up a thousand ways to pester us more than before. We would also note every time some new show-biz "delivery platform" arrives it leaves the old one gagging and wheezing. Movies effectively killed vaudeville and undermined the theater. Radio decimated recorded music in the twenties. Television destroyed the movies' audience. Cable TV has routed the networks. The Web is slowly working on all television. We would agree the future is gadgets. Whether the future is quality entertainment is another thing. TRICKY MICKEY did His part to gadget us up.