I really enjoyed
this article in the Guardian today. I also read
this obituary of Charlie Drake.
These articles got me thinking about the fickle nature of the business I have found myself in. I didn't really have any idea that Charlie Drake had been such a massive star. It's sad to think of his decline, but then at least he had success for part of his career. More than most people get. Even if he pissed it all up the wall. I saw a programme about Gareth Gates the other day, who you can't help feeling a bit sorry for. Partly because you feel with him that he was little more than a puppet for the record company and TV executives and was thrown on the rubbish heap as soon as he was no longer profitable. Though it's hard to feel that sorry for this 21 year old who lives in a flash pad, has a BMW and bought his mum a plush farmhouse. He did all right out of it all and looks like he was sensible enough to invest it properly, but you can see in his eyes that he really just wants to perform. And he's had that long term ambition probably ruined by this short burst of lucrative success.
Most actors, singers and comedians do not have quite such extreme highs and lows and that's why I like the David McKie piece. It says a lot about the transient nature of fame. When I tour in theatres I often see old posters of stars and performers of the past who are now totally forgotten. Which is not a surprise. A night in a theatre is about the experience at the time. That's what is good about it. It's there and you witness it and then it is gone. You might remember it, you might not.
But there's something a little chilling about the juxtaposition between those glitzy and dazzling posters and the anonymity that comes with the passing years. And it's better to be dead and forgotten, than forgotten and not dead. And still working.
It's not like most people don't live lives that are forgotten very quickly, but there's just some kind of hubristic tragedy about having lauded yourself up, only to allow time to make a chump of you.
But I liked the way David McKie looked at it all. Ultimately life is about now, rather than retrospect. Make the most of your brief seconds on this earth my friends for soon we will be gone.
