Published: May 16, 2008 01:16 pm            

Barbara Walters’ audition

“A strong imagination begetteth opportunity”

Michel De Montaigne



One of my favorite and most enduring journalists of all time is Barbara Walters. When the traditional door of news anchor was shut to her, she broke many barriers in her career and created a new genre of TV. Through her gumption and imagination, she reshaped TV journalism in a way that made it interesting for many. We have enjoyed her interviews over the years with the world’s most influential people.

I seldom read modern fiction or poetry. And by seldom I mean never. The maudlin rantings of writers like Maya Angelou or Alice Walker that win liberal accolades like the Pulitzer Prize do not interest me. But a good autobiography by someone that made such an impact on the world, such as Barbara Walters, inspires me to get all Oprah and read it.

Barbara broke the mold in broadcast journalism in a male-dominated world. She is as 70’s as Ro-tel dip and Blue Nun wine to me. She was the first to make TV interesting to many of us, as she interviewed some of the most fascinating people of her time. Her book, Auditions, tells of many of these encounters. It is a weighty book of some 609 pages, but it reads quickly.

Barbara looks good for her age. And, while she will not say how old she is, (archeologists estimate her age as 80), she is still getting it done. I am on page 286, which tells of her early life, prior to the War of 1812.

The ABC Diva, who was probably one of the first women to earn a million dollars a year, with her interviews, filled the curiosity gap as to what celebrities were really like. An inquiring public needed to know intriguing tidbits; like that Johnny Cash would only pay people by check.

Working her way up in a man’s world, well before James Brown pointed it out, Barbara handled herself well, employing just enough flirting and substance to survive. Probably what kept her going was the knowledge that, statistically speaking, all of these men would die before her.

As a reporter Barbara was intrepid, interviewing some of the world’s most vicious bullies and thugs, including Idi Amin, Yasir Arafat, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein and Rosie O’ Donnell, among others. She also did not mind traveling to dangerous and war-torn areas to get her interviews, venturing into Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, The Sudan and even the set of The View.

Not only was Barbara making history while traveling the world, she was getting it done with the men too. And she was sleeping with Republicans, the men who needed it the most. Getting the most notice in her book is the admission that she had a two-year affair with Edward Brooks, the African-American Senator from Massachusetts. Again, Barbara defied conventional wisdom by ending the affair and not in fact “going back,” but instead moving on to a tryst with a very white Republican Senator, John Warner of Virginia.

In days of yore, to gossip that a celebrity was a drunk, philanderer, cad or trollop was considered character assassination and frowned upon in polite society. To say the same about a celebrity today just means that you have read his or her autobiography. Titillation sells; in fact, just using that word gets folks’ attention.

Nevertheless, Barbara is a consummate professional who has made few mistakes in her career. As a result, her interviewees trust her and this is important. Recently Diane Sawyer got into trouble for interviewing a prostitute whom she tried to disguise; the problem was the prostitute’s mother was able to recognize her on TV. So did Eliot Spitzer.

The one good thing about growing old gracefully like Barbara has, aside from eliminating the possibility of dying young, is that you become an icon. Larry King, Dave Letterman and others have accomplished the same feat by being consistent, fair and enduring.

And given her history, if she wants to help a fellow woman out this year, she will dust off her seductive skills and sleep with Senator Barack Obama, creating a scandal that will allow Hillary to win. Go for it Barbara!



Ron Hart is a Southern libertarian columnist who writes a weekly column about politics and life. He worked for Goldman Sachs and was appointed to The Tennessee Board of Regents by Lamar Alexander. His E-mail: RevRon10@aol.com

        

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