Elderism #34

December 24th, 2008

Michael Riedel’s column in the New York Post today is about 86 year-old Broadway titan James M. Nederlander Sr.–whose bright red vest either says, “Merry Christmas” or “I am a riverboat gambler.”

Although the producer of “Annie,” “Nine,” Noises Off,” et al. is still involved in all the major decisions made in his theatrical empire, Nederlander points out his son and a longtime associate to Riedel and says, “I’m the past, they’re the future.” Then Riedel asks Nederlander if being “the past” bothers him, whereupon the man in the red vest replies,

“I accept the truth for what it is, my boy. The only trouble you have when you’re ‘the past’ is if you don’t know it.”