Boom-Boom Remembered

I don't think this link will work for very long but while it's operative, you might want to read the 2001 profile of late Jack Valenti that ran in The New Yorker. Mr. Valenti had an amazing life and during the decades that he worked for the Motion Picture Association of America, he served that organization well. This is not to say I liked all or even most of what he did, which included consolidating the majors in ways that would suppress the minors and step on unions. Before that, he served a flawed Chief Executive who did a lot of damage. Jack Valenti is the man who said in 1965, "I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently because Lyndon Johnson is my President." A lot of us were glad someone did.

I'm sorry that I have no great Jack Valenti anecdotes to report here. I met him twice for a grand total of about three minutes and the only thing I recall is that I asked him which was tougher — working for the studio heads he then served or working for Lyndon Johnson. His precise response has long since escaped my memory but I recall noting it was a very measured, political answer. He was just talking to a jerky kid, not a reporter, but he still wanted to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing. I guess that's why he lasted as long as he did in both those jobs.