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Go Home I Apologize...

THE SPINE AUGUST 24, 2010

I Apologize...

BY MARTIN PERETZ

I apologize to my readers and to Liza Minnelli for quoting from Tunku Varadarajan's otherwise estimable column about John McCain a remark slighting to her and her gifts. Minnelli has been a talented singer and actress for several decades, and she still has the the warranted courage to perform. What's more, she is one of those paradigmatic entertainers who gives of herself--her ample brain and enchanting personality--in the cause of human rights, a cause not as popular as it once was was.

As it happens, my movie director son, Jesse, cast her in his film of three years ago, "The X." I am biased: the film was very very good and so was Liza in it.

I am sorry for the grievous mistake...which in a way was not mine. But I take responsibility.

And, by the way, what an exemplary private life she has had.

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22 comments

bravo!!

- miceelf

August 24, 2010 at 10:50am

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Bravo? "I am sorry for the grievous mistake...which in a way was not mine. But I take responsibility." (Emphasis added.) What a douche. First, he quoted the piece, which he probably did not read. Second, when his son Jesse, who is a director, reminded him to read his own crapt, writes an apology, and the undermines it immediately by this elipsis. Marty can't even sound sincere when, presumably, he is sincere ...

- icarusr

August 24, 2010 at 11:05am

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To clarify: the mistake - quoting an insulting piece about an entertainer he professes to admire, while the insult was in fact inapposite - was entirely Marty's. He can say "those were not my words, and I was too drunk to read them before posting"; but he cannot say that the "mistake" of having posted them was not entirely his. The mistake was his. Entirely.

- icarusr

August 24, 2010 at 11:07am

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Small steps, ic, small steps.

- miceelf

August 24, 2010 at 11:12am

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Fair enough, but isn't Marty 78 or something? I wonder if the apology was triggered by a cancelled invitation.

- icarusr

August 24, 2010 at 12:03pm

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"hanging on a little too long, at great cost to their public image. Think of McCain as the Liza Minnelli of American politics." The only quibble I have with this is that Marty and Tunku seem to think that Liza Minnelli ever had an esteemed public image. Liza was campy from day one.

- blackton

August 24, 2010 at 12:26pm

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"hanging on a little too long, at a cost to their public image." you know, on reflection....

- miceelf

August 24, 2010 at 12:32pm

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I saw Minnelli last on "Sex and the city II". If she is old and decrepit, it didn't show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhcioXH2AHk&feature=related

- noga1

August 24, 2010 at 1:38pm

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The apology is appreciated. Thank you. PS - ageism and lookism are just as bad as racism. Casting people aside because they're older? It's terrible. And, it robs people of our talent, experience and accomplishments simply because we're not kids. Does this make any sense whatsoever?

- Sophia

August 24, 2010 at 2:43pm

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Sophia, I largely agree. (I'd feel much less squirrelly about looksism, if what I think is the natural and right order was the case- i.e., everyone has an individual and idiosyncratic way of viewing looks and men did it no more often than women- in that altnerate universe, looksism wouldn't matter much because it would be much less systematic, structured, and gendered). But in terms of ageism, I think "staying past the point at which one should leave" may be an expression of ageism, or simply a natural course that can happen at any ages past a certain point of progression. I have had colleagues both young and old who got complacent, weren't challenged, or managed to get themselves promoted past the point of accountability and simply went into a different and less productive mode. It's stasis and complacency that's the real problem, not age, in those situations. One MIGHT make such an argument about editors who aren't allowed to be edited, for example, regardless of the age of editors.

- miceelf

August 24, 2010 at 3:49pm

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It's not just Marty - nobody seems capable of simply apologizing without some sort of equivocation these days. At least he didn't do the passive aggressive "I'm sorry if YOU were offended" non-apology.

- Lymon1

August 24, 2010 at 8:31pm

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Jesse Peretz's 2006 movie was entitled "The Ex." (It is about an EX-boyfriend, not the letter X.) Liza Minnelli was not in it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458364/fullcredits#cast

- mingoc

August 24, 2010 at 9:15pm

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Harem boy, icarusr sez: "What a douche...." Didn't expect anything else from this narcissist.

- jdyer

August 25, 2010 at 1:40am

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" ageism," "lookism" what's up with all this baby talk?

- jdyer

August 25, 2010 at 1:41am

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I must admit that I am surprised at the apology. I thought the remark about Ms Minelli was mean-spirited, but not out of character for the kind of thing Mr Peretz often has to say here. Spine might better be named "spite" -- I rarely read this blog but manage always to drop in and find some spiteful and mean-spirited comment. Perhaps I should not so much be surprised at the apology, but by the rarity of such an acknowledgement. Having said all of this, which in a way I cannot take ownership of but will take responsibility (ha!), I do commend Marty for offering his apology. If it is a predictor of better behavior in the future, it is worth something, but who really believes that? Neil

- purcellneil

August 25, 2010 at 9:33am

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Blackton, I'm afraid I must disagree, Blackton. "Camp" would better describe Liza's imitators (I'm talking trannies, here). She is an amazing performer. Recently, I had the chance to watch one of B'way's top female performers perform "Maybe this time," one of the numbers from Cabaret, which is one of my favorite all-time movies. The woman couldn't hold a candle to Liza, who is in truth one of the great American performers of our time. Every inch of her soul is on display when she gets on stage.

- MOLLYSIMON

August 25, 2010 at 2:50pm

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jdyer, you reveal yourself to be an insensitive and unaware person. If you don't realize that people are victimized simply by being older and/or supposedly less beautiful then you are living a most fortunate bubble. I guarantee you haven't worked in the service or entertainment industries or even as a secretary and probably not in the business world at all. Am I right? Old age in the corporate world begins in the mid thirties at least in the big powerful city where I live. That's the point at which human resources and legal departments start worrying about age-related lawsuits by "elderly" people in their late thirties. I found this out when I was 37 and having issues with a really nasty boss. Legal backed him off because they were afraid I'd launch an age-discrimination suit and cost them big bucks. Eventually he got fired and HIS boss got "promoted" and we got a new department head. But, I was staggered to learn that I was considered OLD at a very young-looking and (ahem) stunning 37. Also at this same company I was chastised (age 33) for not projecting sufficient "youth and beauty." I kid you not. By the way - unattractive I am not. I admit I was kinda pooped at my day job because I was working as a professional dancer at night. In any case what the hell did "youth and beauty" have to do with my efficiency as a secretary???? I shoulda sued the bastards. OH PS - I have a gay friend who is a real doll. He gets discriminated against at his job (bartender) because he is considered ancient. Age 39. I think you are the one who needs to grow up.

- Sophia

August 25, 2010 at 4:44pm

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Sophia- you *should* have sued. (the other side of the coin, just pointing out the vagaries of it- women who are too attractive are often not taken seriously in traditional male jobs:) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100809/od_nm/us_women_jobs_odd

- miceelf

August 25, 2010 at 6:36pm

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It seems to me that Golda Meir, for example, exerted a lot of authority (and was taken quite seriously as Israeli PM) despite the fact that she had a relatively unremarkable appearance and a grandmotherly demeanor. It may have been Segolene Royale's gender, relative youth, and attractiveness that did her election prospects some harm, but I'm not sure if it wasn't a mesh of other things, including the lackluster state of the French Socialist Party, that played the key role in her defeat. It could be that age-ism plays out differently for women here, in that they are a more politically attractive option if they seem as if they are no longer in the market for sexual/romantic connections. Ludicrous, in a way, but we are so scared of sexuality in the U.S. that looking as if you're past it is a plus. Palin is in many ways the refutation of the foregoing, of course, but I remain unconvinced that she is a politician in any serious way. She has been mayor of a small town in Alaska, a losing VP candidate, and a half-term governor who dropped her office into the trash can on her dash out to Fox News.

- ironyroad

August 29, 2010 at 3:02pm

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You forgot her, ironyroad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Campbell "Had I, my lords, been born crested not cloven, you had not treated me thus!" ~ Elizabeth I Regina

- noga1

August 30, 2010 at 8:20am

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Btw: I've just returned from this thread: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/77206/dating-advice-swf-loves-sebald-seeks-same-in-man where I was astounded to read how men reflect upon thinking women and the way they cannot speak about it without making some allusion to their looks. It's useless to try to deny that for men beauty in a woman is still the primary measure by which a woman's worth is appreciated. And any foregoing of that commodity thus become a sort of exceptionalism which entitles the man to self-salutation. The scarcity of that beauty is thus a sort of a hurdle, and a certain act of will has to be exerted in order to step over it. With that kind of instinct, it is nothing but rational that women who are still sexually alluring will not be taken all that seriously in domains dominated by men. They get distracted, even the most best-intentioned of them all... Quite aside from everything else, I find that personal beauty is certainly an asset. It cannot be a coincidence that at an age that some call "post feminist" the industry of beauty and youth is booming more than ever.

- noga1

August 30, 2010 at 9:09am

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Cambell seems to have had such a dramatically short career at the top that it's difficult to assess how the authority dynamic worked in her case. I believe that there is the undeniable fear in the popular mind that the female who is still "alluring" as you put it will be untrustworthy and emotionally weak -- she might fall in love with a foreign leader and give away her country's interests. This, despite the fact that there is a whole sorry history of men betraying their country for sexual pleasure (or even just the promise of it).

- ironyroad

August 30, 2010 at 1:36pm

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