“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Lord Acton. I read the news today, oh boy, about a good Jewish boy from Brooklyn that sold his Jackson Pollock to buy the news. Sounds like a lead into some kind of ballad.
According to Editor and Publisher, the intrigue surrounding the troubled Tribune Co. continues to swirl. How else to explain news that L.A. mogul David Geffen sold a Jackson Pollock painting last night for a record price – about $140 million – was taken as further evidence that he intends to buy the Los Angeles Times any week now? Recently he sold two other classic paintings for $143.5 million. See:http://www.editorandpublisher.com/
What I want to know is, will it make him happy?
According to David Geffen: “Happy is harder than money. Anybody who thinks money will make you happy, hasn’t got money.”
So, who is David Geffen and how did he get so much money? More important, why would anyone with the good taste to acquire a Jackson Pollock considering selling it to buy a news print that gets all over your hands and wrecks your new white linen tablecloth?
According to AskMen, a publication that has a catchy title, David Lawrence Geffen was born February 21, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Abraham and Batya Geffen, were working-class Jewish Ukrainian émigrés who manufactured bras. His mother considered him a “miracle child” and called him “King David” until he was a young adult. In response to this, I venture to say all mothers’ believe their offsprings are “miracles.” Most, however do not own brassiere factories.
According to the article in summary, David did not like restrictions and limitations of the school system. He did like musicals and movies. Quite the field scientist at a young age he experimented with more restrictions, limitations and outright bigotry by attending the University of Texas wherein he definitely sharpened his taste for the finer things by leaving. At this early age his father passed away, which may have caused him obvious loss, but may have provided him with the impetus to set in flight his true calling.
David Geffen is the personification of “Staying Power.” (1) Endurance: Uninterrupted existence or succession: continuance, continuation, continuity, continuum, duration, persistence, persistency. 2. The quality or power of withstanding hardship or stress: stamina, staying power. See: Webster’s Dictionary, Roget Thesaurus.
In the early 1960s, David Geffen worked as a CBS usher and then took a job as a mail clerk with the most powerful talent agency in the US, the William Morris Agency in the 1960s. He acquired the latter job by stretching his credentials and pedigree to get the job. Fearless and relentless, David Geffen began to put in motion his objectives. The old adage, “Being in the right place at the right time,” may be a cliche, but this simplistic wisdom resonates with truth.
Being in the right place landed him a spot as a talent agent where he could show what he had and by 1967 he was the agency’s sizzling hot new talent agent. No sooner did he reach this objective, but he moved onto another agency where he narrowed his focus to music and always with his eye on the ball got a nice salary to boot. He represented some of the icons of the late 1960s in the music industry. He knew star power, and he sought advice from power brokers like Clive Davis and was financed by Ahmet Ertegun to start his own label, Asylum Records in 1971.
David Geffen attracted the giants of the 1970s to Asylum Records, Bob Dylan, Jackson Brown, Joni Mitchell, the Eagles and others with the promise his company would be the asylum for artists, hence the name. By 1972, Mr. Endurance, a.k.a. Geffen sold Asylum Records to Warner for millions and took some in cash, but a significant amount in stock in Warner Communications providing him with the next leg of his objective a huge stake in the film industry.
From this launch pad, David Geffen bought the hip spot of the LA scene in the early 1970s The Roxy. His loyal friends were there to get the club going. Neil Young headlined the opening that night.
He had some bumps along the way when he hooked up with others who interfered with his innate sense of “uninterrupted existence.”
He rose again, when he relied on his “will power” defined as; unwavering firmness of character, action, or will: decidedness, decision, decisiveness, determination, firmness, purpose, purposefulness, resoluteness, resolution, resolve, toughness, will. See CERTAIN, STRONG. See: Dictionary.com
By the 1980s he launched Geffen Records and initiated relations with the power stars of the era, John Lennon and Elton John to cite a few. By the early 1980s with sales declining, Mr. Timeliness, a.k.a. Geffen moved onto Broadway musicals, producing Dreamgirls and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, “Cats.” In turn he produced hot movies like Risky Business and Little Shop of Horror and Personal Best. Always with an open eye, he signed Guns N’ Roses at the same time.
By 1987 he sold Geffen Records to MCA for over a half a billion-dollar making him Hollywood’s first self-made billionaire. His future accomplishments give most of us a migraine. He is relentless. He is on of the three power elites of Hollywood, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg being the other two who formed Dreamworks SKG. Their film accomplishments need no further accolades as they stand on their merit as great.
David Geffen has in short accomplished every objective he has set for himself since he was a kid in Brooklyn heading off to the movie house to watch movies and musicals instead of succumbing to the restrictions or limitations placed on him by others.
He has a personal side. He has loved both women and men. He is proud to be gay and stated his preference in 1992, when it was not popular to do so. He supports artistic and humanitarian causes. He is friendly with people with a political pursuasion and helped President William Jefferson Clinton.
David Geffen recognizes that while money cannot bring happiness, the “power of the purse,” exercised by the legislatures carries great weight when budget requests are made to fund valuable services and programs dear to his heart. An ugly old newsprint can at least place some checks on these powerful votes for public purposes.
The Power Elite of the United States is a term used by the American sociologist C. Wright Mills to describe a relatively small, loosely knit group of people who tend to dominate American policymaking. This group includes bureaucratic, corporate, intellectual, military, and government elites who control the principal institutions in the United States and whose opinions and actions influence the decisions of the policymakers. See: Bartleby.com
For anyone interested, PBS is running their viewpoint of the current status of “News Wars,” sometime in mid-January 2007 that touches on the current status of the Tribune Corporation with some pithy comments by former L.A. Times staffers.
So, why would a good Jewish boy from Brooklyn consider selling a Jackson Pollock to possibly acquire a flimsy piece of paper that is black on white and may smudge your linen tablecloth. It’s simple; it’s read all over.
Reference:
- AskMen; MediaBistro; Editor and Publisher;
