Even Shakespeare is entertainment
Those of you familiar with 20th Century American poetry have certainly heard of Mark Van Doren at some point or other, even if only in passing. I personally only recall a line or two of his—”when lamp and rug were one and warm” is the one that stands out for some reason. At any rate, his son (Charles) gained a great deal of notoriety for appearing on a quiz show in the 1950’s. A subsequent film by Robert Redford in the 1990’s rekindled that notoriety.
Now Charles Van Doren is 82 and still has a few things to say about the events of 52 years ago when he was recruited to become a contestant on the game show “21.” The unsympathetic (read ‘ethnic’) Herbert Stemple had been dominating the show winning week-after-week until finally the show sponsers and hence, the show runners, decided that something had to be done. Enter Van Doren.
With some ‘help,’ Stemple took a ‘dive’ and Van Doren became the quiz show champion, until he too took a dive some time later.
Now, nearly five decades later, Van Doren speaks out in a piece published by the New Yorker in late July. In it, he recounts the events but offers little about why. As I am sympathetic to Van Doren, I am willing to let it go because, in the end, does it really matter?
It is not the quest for objective truth (if such a thing exists) that compels the narrative forward once again. Rather, it is our interest in Van Doren, a tainted figure cut from the finest American cloth: an educated, well-spoken, handsome All-American man who seemed to capture our attention for appearing in something as trivial as an entertainment program. His subsequent vanquishing and expressions of dignity serve to remind us that those whom we admire do not just bleed, they sometimes lie for money.
Thus, Van Doren really is ‘like the rest of us’ in that last respect. He did what many of us might have done were we in his place, and have done, in our own unique narratives—whether it’s the well-intentioned boss who fudges a few numbers to save an employee’s job, or the college instructor who realizes the arbitrariness of television game shows. In sensing a greater truth, he lied.
We continue to like Charles Van Doren.
