Thursday, January 16, 2003
Celebrating excellence in the Beltway - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER – When Jason Robards received his Kennedy Center Honor in 1999, British thespian Kenneth Branagh, said, had Robards been an actor in Britain, by now he'd have been "Sir Jason Robards."
Anyone who knows me, knows I await The Kennedy Center Honors with greater anticipation than that of the Oscars or the Emmys. For me, I like the broadcast because it's classy. It's the classiest program that the Americans can come up with, and the award, given to about five legendary artists, per year, is probably the most prestigious (given to someone in the arts) in the United States. The Kennedy Center Honors have been equated to a knighthood in Britain and the Legion D'honneur in France. Jason Robards, nonetheless, got his ‘knighthood' from a grateful nation.
In my mail three mornings ago, I got a new book entitled Honored: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of The Kennedy Center Honors. It's published by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, with a generous bequest from the Phillip Morris company. For $20 (American), you too can take custody of a fabulous photo essay book, that isn't big enough for the coffee table, yet chock full of some great photos from 25 years of Kennedy Center history.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is a legacy of the late President Kennedy, who in his presidency spearheaded the effort to create a performing arts center in the nation's capital. Modelled after the Lincoln Center in New York, the one in Washington, President Kennedy hoped would honour the arts, as the nation honoured achievement in business and statecraft. When the Center finally opened in 1970, it was obvious that it would be named after the slain President. In 1978, George Stevens Jr. and Nick Vanoff created the Kennedy Center Honors to pay tribute to artists in the field of music, theatre, television, dance and motion pictures, who had made significant contributions to the United States through the performing arts. Each year hence, five or so individuals are singled out for recognition, feted by the sitting Secretary of State at the time at a dinner at the State Department, and a gala performance in their honour.
This year, with The President and Mrs. Bush in attendance, Secretary of State Colin Powell held the annual dinner for the honourees, and thus followed a performance in the Kennedy Center's opera house. The tear-filled, standing ovation-ridden show last month, included dancers, singers and comedians celebrating the 2002 honourees: James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon and Elizabeth Taylor. The caveat in being an honouree is that one must be alive, as the prizes aren't given posthumously. Paul McCartney was to have been an honouree this year, however because he had to be somewhere else on the night of the gala, he was replaced with Paul Simon. (Word is that Sir Paul will get his just reward next year.)
The list of those so honoured is vast and distinguished. The book goes through the list, featuring photos, both on stage and off. The book opens with President Kennedy's inspiring quote, which happens to open every Honors telecast. There are some great pictures. The first we see is a black and white one from the 1978 ceremony, the first, where President Jimmy Carter is seen kibitzing with honouree Arthur Rubinstein and his wife. Fred Astaire, the legendary actor and dancer was also an honouree that night and we see him chatting up with his former screen partner Ginger Rogers. Both aged, she dolled up with tinted hair, in full make up, talking, whilst the erudite Astaire gazes listening intently.
The honourees are given a medallion of sorts. It's a ribbon that both males and females don, multicoloured and awfully distinguished. There's a neat shot of Elizabeth Stevens fastening it on Fred Astaire, one of the neat behind-the-scenes shots that pepper this very remarkable tome. Photo essays are, by their very nature, revealing. They reveal the situation(s) captured on film, giving credence to the adage that every photo is worth a thousand words.
What was happening the moment the shot of Martha Graham and Halston was taken? Were they backstage waiting for cues? Why did Graham, allow Halston to smoke in front of her? What are they looking at?
Go to the spread on the 1990 batch of honourees. Honoured that year were Katherine Hepburn, Dizzy Gillespie, Rise Stevens, Billy Wilder and Jule Styne. There's a candid shot of Katherine Hepburn, the elusive Kate, embracing Glenn Close. It makes one think of the legendary and non-conformist that was Hepburn. She was by then into her ‘80s. She still looked youthful, with that beauty that exuded the fact there were brains and brawn behind it all. This was no tough cookie to mess with. She won four Academy Awards, yet she never went to the ceremonies to accept them. She didn't care really. By the way, to the 1990 gala at the Kennedy Center, whilst operatic singer Rise Stevens is coiffed from head to toe in a disgustingly lavish outfit, The Great Kate is wearing what looks like a raincoat, a trailing white scarf, and what look like boots. Her hair isn't set, but who gives, she's Katherine Hepburn.
Each year they take a sort of class photo of the honourees. There's a shot of Dizzy Gillespie straddling two chairs, waiting for the other honourees to get in place for the photo call. He's sticking his tongue out to someone, his cheeks blown up, much the same way when he played his legendary trumpet. In the actual ‘class photo' he manages to stand up straight between the seats, where Rise Stevens and Katherine Hepburn sit. Jule Styne stand to the left of Gillespie, whilst to the right stands the legendary film director Billy Wilder, one hand leaning against Hepburn's chair, the other, prominently on his hip. It's a grand photo.
There are some other great shots of some of the behind-the-scenes action. There are Presidents and some of the Washington elite. The remarkable shot of Katherine Graham bending down to shake the hand of Bette Davis, as the latter was honoured in 1987 is unique. Davis, gaunt and frail, shows the signs of a stroke. She's got a lit cigarette in one hand holding it at the filter, with a sort of scowl on her face as the beaming Mrs. Graham comes over to greet her. It seems Bette Davis doesn't know who the hell Mrs. Graham is. Considering that Mrs. Graham was the socialite in Washington for decades, it could be that she probably never bent down to anyone. Not even Nixon. In this photo, however, she's gushing at Bette Davis.
For a muckraking gossip like me, it's neat to see Ben Bradlee chatting up Isabella Rosselini, or another grande dame of the Beltway scene, Pamela Harriman arrive for a soiree with Morton Gould. What about that remarkable shot of Leonard Bernstein, kneeling on one knee to kiss the great operatic diva Leontyne Price. Or the Walter and Betsy Cronkite entranced by the lovely, Lena Horne. Lena, who must have been in her ‘60s during her 1984 Honor, looks enchanting as ever, sexier I dare say, than Halle Berry in her prime. (Berry, would no doubt agree with me, as she is an admirer of Miss Horne.)
Each year the Kennedy Center presents a dignified ceremony that reeks class and that is in high taste. In 1999, Halle Berry and Coretta Scott King, the widow of the slain Dr. Martin Luther King, both took to the stage to honour Stevie Wonder. In 2001, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan got a standing ovation when he came on stage to pay tribute to Luciano Pavarotti. That same night, Warren Beatty lauded pal Jack Nicholson, while National Security Advisor, Condolezza Rice wandered out to participate in the tribute to Van Cliburn. Dr. Rice, the only Bush cabinet minister I've seen in a strapless evening gown thus far, even joined in the finale singing "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You" in tribute to Cliburn.
The book Honored: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of The Kennedy Center Honors is an engaging history of what went on off and on the stage of those fine television specials, as well as a tribute to the remarkable artists celebrated in the Honors' 25-year history. Everyone from Fred Astaire to Cary Grant, Tennessee Williams to Neil Simon, to Ella Fitzgerald to Willie Nelson. It's also an interesting piece of Washington history, the glittering nights had in the nation's capital. Often seen as a staid and boring place (it is of course the seat of the American government), at least once a year it lights up with the spirit of America's best in the performing arts.
Honored: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of The Kennedy Center Honors is published by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and is available there or through their website, for $20.00 USD.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .