Eluding Fame

Imagine the guilt my mother laid on me when I was a five-year-old and she asked how I felt upon meeting Mickey Mantle and I confessed that I wanted to be famous someday, like he was; and she replied, "Maybe you will," spoken in her always calm, quiet voice, "but there are more important things in life than being famous. You should aspire to be a good person. Fame is fleeting. Character lasts."

With mentoring from the television professionals at a small-market station, the author learned to operate every piece of equipment that was needed to create television broadcasts. He studied for and passed the exam to obtain a First-Class FCC Broadcast Engineering license. By the time he graduated from college in 1975, he had four-year's experience directing live newscasts, which helped him get a job in a major market television station. Within a year, he was given his first job as a producer. His work began winning awards, first a Clio for advertising, and eventually Emmy Awards, the highest honor in the television industry. Soon, the show he was producing began to attract famous individuals as guests. At last, he was a peer among individuals who had achieved fame.

The detailed accounts of the projects he worked on, and the people with whom he worked, reflect the author's journey toward fame. They range from concerts and music videos; to corporate events and executive profiles; to professional sports and athletes; to science and medicine; to politics and crime; to writers and actors. And then, suddenly one day he looked into a mirror and the face staring back was not that black-haired boy of fourteen. Instead, there was white-haired man, who had achieved success in his chosen field, but whose desired fame remained elusive.