Acting Mature

Unlike his mighty Samson pulling down the walls or his noble Demetrius facing the lions, Victor Mature in his acting days was the epitome of timidity. At one point, During the making of Samson and Delilah, Director Cecil B DeMille took out the megaphone and spewed this observation of Mature to the cast and crew.

“I have met a few men in my time. Some have been afraid of heights, some have been afraid of water, some have been afraid of fire, some have been afraid of closed spaces. Some have even been afraid of open spaces -- or themselves. But in all my 35 years of picture-making experience, Mr. Mature, I have not until now met a man who was 100 percent yellow.”[

Yikes! Let's put it this way if you were Victor's body double or stuntman, you got a lot of work during Mature's days of "stardom".

DeMille was discovering that he had projected a fantasy attribution of personality upon a real life Victor Mature who was antonymous to the mighty character that he was portraying.

Not only was Mature pretending  to be courageous but he was also a dark haired, muscular hunk of beefcake pretending to be Biblical while simultaneously pretending to be an actor.

Later in his life, Mature was turned down for membership in a California country club because he was an actor to which Mature responded. “I’m a golfer. I’ve never been an actor. Ask anybody who ever worked with me.”

He might have said the same thing about himself as a husband as Victor had five wives all pretending, as was he, to be eternal soulmates. In the end, there was heartbreak, disillusion and cold hard truth.

How could you not be what I dreamed?

This common phenomena has a clinical name. 

Paratoxic distortion.

We are all familiar with it.

I remember when I was teaching that on my way from the parking lot to my classroom, I could feel myself transforming into Mr. Rivers...a kind, patient, empathetic, energetic soul who couldn’t wait to get into the classroom.”

On my way to work, I was an exhausted, worried, heartbroken manchild who dreaded entering the classroom and hoped that somehow before I got to the students, I would miraculously transform into “Mr. Rivers” while not having a clue how to initiate that metamorphosis.

Turns out I didn’t need a magic word.

Turns out I was a teacher after all which after a few decades ceased to surprise me.

I was Mr. Rivers. I miss him today.

I started teaching when I was barely 21 years old. The “kids” I taught were only a few years younger than I. Today my oldest surviving students are in their 70′s. They still call me Mr. Rivers which is cool with all of us. 

Then there’s Donald Trump who proves over and over again that he is exactly what he seems to be. This is why 70 Million Americans voted for him. He’s no actor. He’s a liar they can trust.

This is also why 75 million Americans voted against him. He may be exactly who he is but whoever that is, it’s not what those millions dreamed when they dreamed of a president. That’s why they/we fired him.

So, in conclusion it comes down to acting. I disagree with Victor Mature on his acting ability if acting is the process of becoming a person that you are not. He was pretending to be an actor even though he knew different. He was pretending to be a husband even though he knew he wasn’t.

I found out to my surprise that I wasn’t an actor. At first I pretended to be one but soon discovered I wasn’t pretending. I was in fact a teacher.

I don’t pretend to be a husband.

Thirty one years of marriage has convinced me that I am one although I never take it for granted.

Donald Trump continues to believe that he will be inaugurated in January and that it is safe to throw Christmas parties for mask less crowds in the White House itself encouraging through example nation wide invitations to the plague which he pretends immunity from.

With his actions, Trump is proving that he, unlike Victor, is immature.