Celebrity Takes a Holliday

Once I had a job as a police reporter. This took place in Springfield, Mass., sometime around the Pleistocene. In any case, this job was all kinds of fun. My duties required me to plant myself next to a police radio in the newsroom, listening for bank robberies or shoot-outs, anything promissory of bloodshed.

When this happened, a photographer and I would leap from our desks and race the squad cars to the crime scene. Speed was the important thing. If we arrived first, the blood would be fresh for the photographer and the victims available for me to interview.

One day we rolled to the scene of a bank robbery. Much to our disappointment, there was no bloodshed. But there was a hero. It turned out a 50-year-old hardware store owner had chased down the robber and took away his gun.

Then something even better happened. The gun was revealed to be a police department revolver. And the robber was an off-duty cop.

The next day, the hardware store owner was brought to the mayor’s office and told he had saved the city from shame. The man’s name was Henry Luckley. I remember that name because one headline referred to him as “Lucky Luckley.”

Anyway, Henry Luckley shook the mayor’s hand, accepted a small plaque, and went back to his hardware store. He had handled his hero status gracefully. We heard no more from him.

That story took place about 25 years ago. Not really so far back. But civic heroes don’t seem to behave like Henry Luckley anymore. I am reminded of the difference each time I turn on the television and see George Holliday, our most famous plumber, holding another press conference.

Since March 3, when he made his videotape of the Rodney G. King beating, George Holliday has emerged as a new form of civic hero. So intriguing has been his recent career that I have made notations on the major events as they happened. Here are some highlights from the last several months:

March 29: George Holliday calls media together to reveal that the “The George Holliday Life Story” will be made available to Hollywood. Holliday takes opportunity to reflect on corruption of power in our time. “We, the people, will not tolerate it,” he advises.

April 11: George Holliday announces decision to terminate deal with Bytches With Problems, a rap group desirous of using the King tape in a rock video. In a statement, Holliday says Bytches With Problems planned to use lyrics that were “anti-police.” Media calls are referred to Holliday’s publicist.

June 14: The George Holliday Foundation is formed. Faxes are sent to newspapers and other outlets describing the foundation’s plans to investigate instances of police brutality nationwide.

Sometime in late July: Holliday attorney James Jordan creates the George Holliday Action Center for Tenants. In brochure, Holliday tells prospective clients, “My now famous video of the beating of a motorist taught us one thing: Justice belongs to all citizens and that includes you.” The Action Center, headquartered in Jordan’s law offices, offers justice at rates beginning at $29.95.

Aug. 27: George Holliday unveils how-to video that teaches amateur cameramen the nuances of selling their tapes to news organizations. The video is titled, “Shoot News And Make Money With Your Camcorder.” The price is $39.95. On same day, Holliday announces he is filing $100-million lawsuit against unnamed organizations who allegedly used his videotape without permission.

And so it goes. There is an infinite distance between Henry Luckley and George Holliday. But it is not just a distance between two men. It is a distance between worlds. In Henry Luckley’s world, celebrity was not a thing that visited hardware store owners. It belonged only to Presidents and certain movie stars. And so Luckley went home and was never tempted to translate his heroism into the trappings of fame.

But our world is different. Celebrity can strike anywhere. We see it happen all the time. If it can happen to some kid who sprays more graffiti on more walls than anyone else, why not us? If it can happen to a goofy dog who shows up in beer commercials, why not us?

George Holliday saw those possibilities and he went for it. In the end Hollywood did not want his life story and it’s my guess that the George Holliday Action Center for Tenants will not become a major profit center. It’s also my guess we’ve come close to seeing the last of Holliday.

But he took his shot. And by doing so, Holliday managed to show us the difference between our present world and the one we used to inhabit. If I had my choice, I would go back to that older world. But, of course, I don’t.