Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : A CENTURY OF LIONS/THE 20TH CENTURY TOP 100 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (285)	10/18/1999 11:47:00 AM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3246

A couple of comments on the list of suggestions so far: 1) IMO, it's insane to even attempt to RANK the "most influential"; it's hard enough (and perhaps presumptuous enough) to select a "top 100" list in the first place. 2) Dump most of those entertainers. I can see (reluctantly) Elvis & the Beatles & Louis Armstrong on such a list, because they DID have influence, beyond their music. But the others? Julie Andrews? Tom Hanks? Fairbanks (I presume Douglas)? Ernie Kovac? BOTH Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca? etc. Their influence certainly pales when they are set side by side with the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Henry Ford, James Joyce, etc., etc. I realize that your original list was composed "semi-seriously"; but all the more reason to drop American pop entertainers. BY THE WAY -- I EXCEPT CHARLIE CHAPLIN. HE WAS A TRUE CREATIVE ARTIST, WITH WORLD-WIDE APPEAL. 3) Now that I think about it, the same thing goes for other types of performers -- from Babe Ruth through Arnold Palmer to Mikhail Baryshnikov. I think we are confusing two things here: excellence in one's metier, and INFLUENCE. (Thus, I might admit Jackie Robinson to the list, as he was the symbol of the desegregation of sport. Or perhaps it might make more sense to admit Branch Rickey, for having the guts and foresight to take on Robinson.) I admire Baryshnikov and Nureyev, for example; but what influence have they had on me, or on ballet in general? If you want to pick somebody who really DID have an enormous influence on ballet,you should pick the great impressario, DIAGHELEV, who probably never danced a step in his life himself; or that great teacher and choreographer BALANCHINE. 3) Personally, I would prefer to see Dylan Thomas here rather than Just Plain Dylan. (At least Dylan Thomas didn't sing through his nose.) :-) 4) Too many movie directors!! They get 10 of the 100 available spots! Somebody here is one heck of a movie buff. Not to sound "politically correct,"but a final list, IMO, should aim at some sort of professional, geographical, and sexual balance. That means doing some really painful cutting. Joan