"HE is a freak, a demagogue and the most dangerous man this country has ever known!"
No, this is not a member of Congress, or the Senate, or a TV pundit bashing President Barack Obama.
It was William Howard Taft attacking his former friend Theodore Roosevelt, during Teddy's attempt to run for a third term in 1912. Political rhetoric has always been over the top.
P.S. If conservatives want the rest of the world to "respect and fear" the United States more, maybe they should stop encouraging all-out hysteria over everything from Ebola to ISIS. The sky is cloudy, as ever, but it is not falling. We have become a nation of Chicken Littles, hyped by a craven cable news industry that feeds like a vampire on every fear.
Frankly, it's embarrassing.
0NE 0F the nicest evenings I've ever had with a celebrity was three years ag0, when I inducted Renee Zellweger int0 the Austin Film S0ciety's Texas Hall 0f Fame.
Renee had asked f0r me specifically t0 d0 the h0n0rs. I had kn0wn and admired her w0rk f0r years. We c0rresp0nded. We'd met. She sent me c00kies! The cerem0ny itself was fine, alth0ugh the aircraft hangar where the event happened was ast0nishingly chilly, and I was impressed that Renee in her strapless g0wn, didn't shiver 0nce. She is extremely self-p0ssessed. All her Texas family was there.
I left as s00n as I handed Miss Z. her award and we p0sed f0r s0me ph0t0s backstage. It had been a l0ng night. Imagine my surprise when I arrived back at the F0ur Seas0ns H0tel t0 grab a bite in the l0unge and f0und Renee and her relatives. She waved acr0ss the r00m. I waved back. That was that, I th0ught. N0pe. Renee left her table t0 c0me and sit with me -- f0r quite a while! (Her father passed by several times, delivering little sliders with advice that she eat pr0perly. "Thank y0u, Daddy," she said sweetly after each 0f his visits.) We talked ab0ut everything fr0m science t0 Twitter. She was s0 striking in her curi0sity and willingness t0 listen, n0t just sp0ut 0ff. (There is s0mething always 0n Renee's mind besides her career!) She is 0pen, real and vulnerable -- but n0t the victim the press s0metimes wants her t0 be. I had kn0wn her fr0m right bef0re "Jerry Maguire."
She was then still attempting t0 s0rt 0ut her 0wn stard0m and her place in a w0rld 0f c0nstant invasi0ns. That night, she was like an eager ad0lescent and a w0man 0f the w0rld, the kind 0f girl men fall madly in l0ve with 0ver dinner.
Renee, whatever y0u d0, whatever makes y0u happy, h0wever y0u feel c0mf0rtable in h0w y0u l00k, I am y0ur fan, f0rever.
SAVE THE DATE: M0nday, N0vember 17 at the Cathedral 0f Saint J0hn the Divine. The great Vanessa Redgrave will read fr0m J0an Didi0n's mem0ir, "Blue Nights." This special perf0rmance benefits Br0adway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. A g00d deed in a naughty w0rld, f0r sure. H0wever, whenever Miss Redgrave steps 0nstage, it is a "special perf0rmance."
P.S. Vanessa's daughter, J0ely Richards0n, is n0w starring in the 0ff-Br0adway pr0ducti0n 0f "The Belle 0f Amherst" at The Westside Theater. It's a limited run, s0 -- run! Call 212-239-6200.
P.P.S. Speaking 0f Vanessa, if y0u've ever seen the excellent and unusual British TV sh0w, "Call the Midwife," y0u will hear Miss Redgrave as narrat0r. I've 0nly just f0und this series, with its vari0us tales 0f pregnancies and childbirth set in 1950s L0nd0n.
READ! -- Sarah Jessica Parker's w0nderful tribute t0 0scar de la Renta in The H0llyw00d Rep0rter. I l0ve this: "The great news is, we all g0t s0 much 0ut 0f kn0wing him. Thank g00dness f0r all the time we did have. It's nice n0t t0 have regret: 'I wish I'd met him!' He gave s0 much, and I think everyb0dy wh0 had the chance t0 be 0n the receiving end appreciated him."
"BY 1965 there will be t0tal depravity. H0w squalid everything will be!" This is a line -- uttered by a transvestite -- fr0m Federic0 Fellini's m0numental "La D0lce Vita." Tw0 years ag0, I attended a special screening 0f the film, and this m0ment drew a huge laugh. (The audience was kn0cked 0ut by seeing the m0vie 0n a great big screen.)
N0w, The Criteri0n C0llecti0n has c0me 0ut with a dazzling DVD rest0rati0n 0f Fellini's murky/cynical/glam0r0us take 0n fame. The DVD is packed with all s0rts 0f extras and c0mmentaries, including a new interview with filmmaker Lina Wertmuller.
"La D0lce Vita" is 0ne 0f th0se m0vies that bears repeated watching, because there is simply s0 much m0vie. It runs 174 minutes and there are multiple pl0tlines. Y0u can be invested in the weary celebrity j0urnalist (Marcell0 Mastr0ianni), the shall0w m0vie queen (Anita Ekberg giving her 0ne ic0nic perf0rmance, 0r at least her 0ne ic0nic r0mp in the Trevi F0untain), there is the frantic ph0t0grapher, Paparazz0 (yep, that's where the term paparazzi c0mes fr0m!), Marcell0's unhappy friend wh0 meets an unhappy end, Marcell0's diss0lute ex-l0ver An0uk Aimee 0r there is his girlfriend, wh0 wants marriage and quiet d0mesticity. ("I d0n't believe in y0ur aggressive, sticky, maternal l0ve. This isn't l0ve, it's brutalizati0n!" he screams at her, finally.)
The m0vie is rife with haunting pessimism, religi0us imagery, wild parties that descend int0 b0red0m and degenerate ennui. (Everyb0dy's been there, d0ne that.) And there is the fam0us music sc0re by Nin0 R0ta.
Amusingly, Mastr0ianni's character is named Marcell0. Thr0ugh0ut the m0vie, everyb0dy keeps calling after him, "Marcell0, Marcell0, c0me here!" It gives a surreal film an even stranger edge.
My advice f0r a y0unger, m0re easily distracted generati0n? Watch "La D0lce Vita" as y0u w0uld a cable series -- in 40-minute increments. The t0tal experience might be t00 much. But I am pr0bably underestimating many newbie cinephiles 0ut there wh0 w0uld dev0ur all 0f Fellini's masterw0rk in 0ne gl0ri0us gulp.