Judging from Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself, part of the American Masters 2014 season on WNET, Mr. Plimpton was exactly what he appeared to be: an overhearty Old Boy with a little talent, a lot of personality and no inner life. He was George W. Bush except he became a celebrity instead of President of the United States.
Invited by his childhood friend, Peter Matthiessen, to start a magazine, Plimpton co-founded the Paris Review, with which he was associated for the rest of his life. For almost exactly fifty years, he ran and financially supported the magazine. Even to the extent of using his apartment as the office. It was more than a cultivated hobby, however. As someone in the film says, George needed the Paris Review as much as much as it needed him.
The same, however, can't be said of his two wives, Sarah and Freddy. Both are interviewed for this film and while they admit to marrying George, neither claims to have known him.
Public life is where George Plimpton made a distinct and lasting impression. There's his famously plummy accent - more upper-class than New England - as if Parker Fennelly owned Pepperidge Farm in addition to being their spokesman. The tall, slender figure topped with a round face, weak chin and mop of boyishly cut hair made him resemble the inverted exclamation point at the front of a Spanish sentence.
How about Plimpton as a writer? Was he any good? Ernest Hemingway seemed to think so. The aging author called him, "The real thing." Keep in mind, however, that "Papa" saved his compliments for sycophants and would never praise a writer whose talent in any way approached his own.
If George enjoyed any fame as a writer, it was due to his non-fiction. Under the rubric of "participatory journalism," Plimpton attempted several professions - pro sports,
circus aerialist, stand-up comic - at the highest levels and reported on his experience. It was a win-win situation, especially in sports. No one expected him to succeed and if he did - bonus! It was always about him, though. You had to like George more than hockey to read about him being a goalie for the Boston Bruins.
Perhaps the least self-centered thing he did was work on Bobby Kennedy's campaign for President. Not only did it show public spirit,
but when tragedy struck, he was one of the people who wrestled Sirhan Sirhan to the ground. We'll never know for sure, though, because George Plimpton never wrote about it
or spoke about it - to anyone. Ever.
The film has footage of George during a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic. Standing in as the percussionist, Plimpton is asked by the conductor, Leonard Bernstein, to repeat a passage several times. The Maestro is non-plussed. "They're all different," says Bernstein, "which one did you mean?" The same could be asked of George Plimpton's life.
May 20, 2014
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