Steve Martin Funds Banned High School Production of his Play

Brett Singer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:40:00 GMT

I always liked Steve Martin. One of my first R-rated movies was "The Jerk," and I listened to his comedy albums "Comedy Is Not Pretty" and "A Wild and Crazy Guy" over and over again. (Two words - cat juggling.)

More recently, Steve (he lets me call him Steve - well, we've never met, but I think he'd let me call him Steve. Maybe.) has written a few plays, including "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", which ran Off-Broadway for awhile and has since had many productions around the world. Students at LaGrande High School in Oregon were rehearsing the play when 137 people signed a petition protesting the show. In a bold move, the school stopped the rehearsals.

So Steve (for now, I'll just call him Steve, OK?) offered to pay for a production off campus, far from the reach of the long arm of the educational law.

What was the perceived problem with the show? It features "people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects." Now, far be it from me to tell a local high school what they should and should not allow on their stages. But any Shakespearean tragedy features murder. Does that mean it can't be performed? How about the perennial high school musical favorite "The Pajama Game"? Unions. And we all know that "union" is code for "communism."

Steve wrote a letter to the local paper defending his work.

"Because of the controversy, I recently reread the play, and, frankly, I could understand how some parents might object to certain lines if they were to be delivered by a 16- or 17-year-old. Yet I do believe that the spirit of the play and its endorsement of the arts and sciences are appropriate for young eyes and minds.
"So while the question of whether students should perform the play at their high school remains something to be determined by the community, I firmly believe that seeing the play will bring no harm to them and might well uplift them — and acting in the play, if they are permitted by their parents, would also bring them no harm, and may help them to understand the potency, power and beauty of the arts and sciences."

The fact that he decided to go the extra mile and go all "Hamlet 2" and rent a theater off campus is kind of amazing. On the one hand, why should he care? On the other hand, if he believes in freedom of expression, why not put his money where his mouth is?

I bet the students are pretty excited. I know I would be.

Source: The Onion AV Club

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Does Quoting Steve Martin's The Jerk Make This Politician a Racist?

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:30:00 GMT

By all accounts, Paul Pugmire might be a jerk. But a racist? I'll let you be the judge.

The Salt Lake City Utah City Council candidate quoted Steve Martin's classic The Jerk on the Website reunion.com early in 2006 - not in campaign-related literature. Pugmire, who is white, began an introduction to his old classmates "I was born a poor black child in Mississippi. No wait, that it something else. Quick summary since HS . . . "

It was almost word for word how Martin began The Jerk, the '79 classic that sits on the American Film Institute's top 100 funny movies (100 Years . . . 100 Laughs). And, surprise, surprise, the person slamming Pugmire most for the comment isn't the NAACP representative in Salt Lake City but the chairman of the city's Republican party. The Republican Chair is black, yes, but he's put up a candidate against Pugmire for council. Pugmire is a Democrat.

Although dubbing a movie (or book) a classic doesn't mean it can't be racist, The Jerk (in case you've been living under a rock) is pretty harmless. It might be the guy's version of Clueless. Or maybe the 1979 version of Forrest Gump? White guy Navin Johnson was adopted by black sharecroppers in Mississippi as a child. The movie begins with him living away from his family, a homeless bum telling his story (hence the narration, "I was born a poor black child . . . "). As dumb as a box of rocks (but apparently not the ones you've been living under), he stumbles from one adventure to the next and comes out on top of the world in the end - back with his family in Mississippi and thanks to his foster father's wise investments, much wealthier. It's one of those stories that lends credence to the thought that racism isn't something our kids are born with. It's something they (unfortunately) learn as they grow up. Martin's Navin never learned a difference between black and white, and he's proud of his family.

Of course, the movie was a comedy. And an often quoted comedy at that. The NAACP is Salt Lake City readily accepted Pugmire's apology and issued statements saying his comments might have been in poor taste but were not mean-spirited. I'd tend to agree with them - especially in light of the feelings I had walking away from the Jerk (and not the ache in my ribs from laughing so hard). Republican Chair James Evans says they show Pugmire thinks poorly of African Americans. What do you think?

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

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