Jake Halpern, a young and ambitious reporter and freelance producer for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” hasn’t learned yet not to worry about what other people think. He’s self-conscious, afraid to make a mistake. A nerdy kid who grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., he seems ill suited to his subject – fame and America’s dizzying obsession with it.
Halpern attempts to figure out those desperate souls trying to become famous, those who have achieved stardom, and those who flock to Hollywood hoping to find any sort of work among celebrities. For his book to come alive, Halpern would need to be willing to look at his own conflicted feelings about ambition and desire and fame, something he chooses not to do here.
Halpern takes us with him on a chaotic road trip to meet some of Hollywood’s wannabes, crazed fans, stage mothers, agents, producers, directors and stars. What could be revealing interviews often fall flat. Halpern never seems to home in on the vulnerability and raw hunger of aspiring actors. He interviews a bunch of sociologists and psychologists and cultural critics who all seem to be saying the same thing ad nauseam: We all want to be loved, we all want more self-esteem, and we all harbor secret fantasies about fame.
So what? None of this information remotely approaches what it might feel like to be an actor or actress obsessed with making it – someone who refuses to consider doing anything else. Instead of delving into the complex and creative and often self-destructive psyches of those lured by Hollywood and its promise of unlimited adulation, Halpern settles for generic oversimplifications.
But his research does uncover some unsettling facts about our society. For example, some recent studies have shown that most teenagers would prefer to have lunch with Paris Hilton than Gandhi or Jesus or the president. We are all reading less of Time and Newsweek and more of People, Us Weekly, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly where circulation numbers have soared over the last five years by almost 20 percent. In comparison, over the same time period, the major news and opinion magazines have increased their circulation by a mere 2 percent.
Halpern studies the way celebrity magazines are attracting thousands of new readers by constructing star personas that are friendly and accessible; the reader actually begins to believe Jennifer Aniston could be her best friend.
Our heroes are no longer political or spiritual gurus, as they were back in 1963, when the Gallup polls revealed that Americans most admired Lyndon Johnson, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr. In 2005, Americans chose Donald Trump and Bono as those that they held in the highest esteem.
One of Halpern’s experts points out that there are many more households today with people living alone and wonders if this has spurred an interest in celebrity, perhaps serving as some sort of antidote for loneliness.
After interviewing the lead guitarist for the rock group U2, a man commonly known as the Edge, and a childhood idol of Halpern’s, the author writes candidly, “We chatted about celebrity and the emptiness of fame for almost an hour. The irony of this whole episode was that as soon as our conversation was over, I felt compelled to call a number of my friends and tell them I had just talked with the Edge.
“I was especially excited because he had offered me two tickets and backstage passes for U2’s concert in Boston the following weekend. For the next 36 hours I actually walked around under the blissful delusion that he and I were on the verge of becoming pals…In my heart I admit that I felt thrilled, privileged, and special.”
Elaine Margolin is a freelance book reviewer and essayist in Hewlett, N.Y.
