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From the Editor

by Bom Kim
March/April 2008

Photo by Mark Ostow

When we started thinking about doing an issue on Harvard’s presence in Hollywood, some bright-light names quickly came to mind: Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, Conan O'Brien, Tommy Lee Jones, the subject of this month’s 02138 interview. Their status alone is proof positive that Harvard has more than a foothold in the world of entertainment.

But as we delved further into the history of the Harvard- Hollywood relationship, we found that the connections between the two ran much deeper than those stars of the big and small screens. Harvard alums began making inroads into Hollywood in the early decades of the 20th century, but the first of them to head west really were pioneers—entrepreneurs, rebels, and men who, whether because of their sexual orientation or their artistic preference, didn’t want to make their way within the traditional East Coast milieu. Hollywood and the movies were nouveau, popular, and democratic—all the things Harvard was not. But for some Harvardians, the burgeoning industry offered a chance at cultural freedom—and enormous wealth. And as Peter Rader chronicles in When Harvard Met Hollywood, the emerging titans of industry were interested in forging a relationship with Harvard. Who knew that the early studio heads wanted their industry awards to be based in Cambridge? Imagine the possibilities if Harvard had said yes.

Today, Harvard graduates populate every corner of Hollywood (see Crimson Tide) and most of the tension between the two American icons has evaporated. Somehow, the world’s most elite university and one of its most populist art forms have managed to happily entwine. Elsewhere in the issue, we look at some stories with a different kind of Hollywood connection.

We’re getting used to the idea of actors in politics—Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Thompson—but what about a comedian? Al Franken, who’s running for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota, would certainly make an entertaining elected official. But would he be an effective one?

And we report on a story that’s nothing to laugh about: the rise of Jan Adams from a smalltown kid raised by a single mom to a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon with his own TV show. But when the mother of perhaps the country’s most successful rapper died following an Adams surgery, the media turned its attention on Adams’ up-by-his-bootstraps story and found that not all was as it seemed to be. It’s a fascinating story of Harvard in Hollywood—one of many that we tell in this issue, and many that we’ll tell down the road.

Bom's signature Bom S. Kim