Column Chronicles: Blurring star images

Blurring star images

Frank Cotolo
April 19, 2018

We like to feel that a big part of attaining celebrity is due to perfection. The "star" of any particular field must have an image that is not an image at all; the star has to be free of debilitating characteristics. Isn't that what made the star a star?

Nope. Image is a volatile element and certainly not a partner of perfection. Here is a list of stars that, over the years, had their images debunked by a tattletale rag of a publication that will remain nameless (RN), though it published the names of its sources.

Dennis Nessbaum claimed he was a stunt double for actor Mel Gibson in "Braveheart." Dennis told RN that Mel had Arrow-Puncture Trauma (APT) and that he shivered and shook during scenes when hoards of Scottish rebels portrayed being impaled with arrows. "One night after filming," Dennis swore, "Mel kept his crying hidden by covering his face with plaid skirts."

Esther Williams, the famous swimming beauty queen of movies in the '40s, was afraid of water, according to Eleanor Smirks, who helped Esther spell her first name correctly ("She always left the 'h' out," according to Eleanor, who often left the 'a' out of her first name when spelling it). Eleanor claimed that Williams was a great swimmer because she was always trying to defy the water, challenging it from not drowning her and that she made it look graceful for the camera, which was her real talent.

Rector Dizness claimed he coached Charlton Heston to cope with his role in "Planet of the Apes." Rector said Heston was convinced he was contracting germs from people disguised as simians. "Chuck once told me," Rector said to RN, "if people evolved from monkeys, then the germs monkeys carried were activated when people portrayed monkeys and that the makeup in 'Planet of the Apes' was so authentic it fooled the germs into thinking they were still in monkeys and can come back to infect humans."

According to RN's article on the behavior of mathematician Jon von Neumann (1903-1957), his assistant, Hildebrand Winecork, kept herself a secret from the press because she gave Jon all of his ideas, many of which contributed to the fields of mathematics, physics, economics and what today is known as the digital platform. Hildebrand spilled the beans on her deathbed when she said, "Jon couldn't balance his checkbook, no less apply the operator theory to quantum mechanics and when it came to digital math he thought the game theory could not work without having opposing teams. Not only those things but his book about the computer and the brain left out essential facts having to do with the brain's right side because Jon thought the brain was a hundred percent progressive."

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.