Word: wolper
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Consider John Adams the founding executive producer of this year's Fourth of July festivities. The second President did not, of course, know about the Statue of Liberty, much less Hollywood mini-series or the value of a rating point. But David Wolper, the actual executive producer of Liberty Weekend, likes to cite Adams as a kind of 18th century mogul in a powdered wig. Were Wolper to stage a historical scroll of credits for his extravaganza honoring the Statue of Liberty's restoration, he might even see fit to list Adams as a creative consultant...
Adams anticipated the pomp and ceremony and would no doubt have appreciated Wolper's efforts to bring forth tears and goose bumps from the masses huddled around the New York City waterfront for Friday's spectacular fireworks. But he could not have imagined the 200 Elvis Presley look-alikes who will perform during Wolper's Sunday night finale. Nor could he have dreamed of spending up to $30 million for a party or making $10 million by auctioning off broadcasting rights to ABC television. He would be puzzled by the multifarious products with the Statue of Liberty imprint: Liberty charcoal...
...litany of superlatives: it will feature the biggest fireworks display in U.S. history, the largest street fair ever in America, the greatest massing of Coast Guard and auxiliary vessels for a single event since World War II, the biggest security mobilization in New York City history. For David Wolper, the man who brought America Roots, North and South, and the ceremonies for the 1984 Olympics, less is less; more is better; most is best. His script calls for the President to light the statue on the night of July 3. On July 4, tall ships will sail up the Hudson...
...King, Mary Lou Retton and Hank Aaron parade around the stadium. There will be a gymnastics exhibition and skating by Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton. A planned tug-of-war between the New York Jets and Giants football teams seems to have been a casualty of David Wolper's unpredictable kitsch detector, which has been on alert since recent criticisms of the weekend's rampant schlockiness...
...closing gala that night, Wolper will stage a kind of macro-Ed Sullivan show. The production calls for a 20-tier stage, waterfalls, lasers and a cast of 12,000, not counting the thousands in the audience who will participate in a flashlight stunt. Performers include the Statue of Liberty All-American Marching Band, a 476-member consortium from 92 colleges and universities that will have 40 sousaphones and 76 trombones; 300 banjo and fiddle players; an 800-voice chorus; a 250-voice gospel choir; an 850-member drill team; 300 jazzercize dancers; 200 square dancers and 300 tap dancers...