Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140072
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No rap against ambition, but at some point we have to make realistic readjustments of childhood dreams. Even Bill Clinton, who dreamed the any-boy-can-become-president American dream and actually achieved his goal, even Bill Clinton has to accept that he'll never be a great sax player.
So maybe when you were 10, you wanted to be president of the United States and, by 40, you've reached no higher office than president of your local civic club. That's fine, because you enjoy it and you are doing something worthwhile. There can be only one president of the country at a time (and all of them so far have been white males). Not every kid who has shared this dream is going to grow up to realize it. You are mature. You understand. Life is good and you are happy.
Then along comes Barney.
Along comes a purple dinosaur puppet who has never developed emotionally past the age of 4 and is not likely to at this point, and who, you learn from the blasted news media, is the third highest-paid entertainer for 1993-94. Right after Spielberg and Oprah, who at least are human.
Barney pulled down $84 million in one year, counting sales of all the spin-off merchandise like purple-dinosaur underpants, and this is many times your income - for life.
It can be a bit discouraging.
He's making more than twice as much as Billy Joel, for heaven's sake, whose songs are at least as meaningful and reflect a broader range of emotional experience. Sometimes he loves you and you love him, sometimes the whole thing is off.
The money pouring into the whole entertainment industry is obscene, you realize as you skim the Forbes magazine list of the 40 top-paid entertainers. Steven Spielberg, $335 million, Oprah Winfrey, $105 million. Does anyone do anything actually worth this kind of dough?
Well, by one definition, yes. If they can demand that much from the marketplace, they're worth that much.
The list yields small consolations. Michael Jackson is on it still, but he slipped from No. 12 to No. 13, with only $38 million. It was a rough year.
Rush Limbaugh - the voice (mouth?) of your average working schmo, ha-ha - is way down there at No. 36, making a mere $25 million. So Barney crushed Rush. Never mind.
Both make more than the president of the United States, which is a good thing. Like most of us, a president has to gauge his worth by what he contributes, not by what he brings home.
by CNB