Here’s everything I can remember about Aaron and Candy Spelling:
Beginning in 1976, film and television producer Aaron Spelling had a string of hits. He created the “The Mod Squad,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and “Beverly Hills 90210.” Mega-successful but a Mama’s boy, Spelling promised his mother he would never get on a plane. He never got on a plane.
Candy Spelling was Aaron’s second wife. She lived with him in a 123-room house in Holmby Hills, LA called “The Manor.” Candy never took a plane trip with Aaron but she did have a special room in The Manor for gift-wrapping.
The Spelling’s had two children: Tori Spelling, who was cut out of her father’s will, had to became a “reality” tv star to make money. Her brother Randy Spelling, the good child, received his inheritance but since he can’t wear a string bikini while pregnant (and isn’t broke), he does not have a “reality” tv show.
When the Spelling children were young and took a walk on the beach, the Spelling butler walked a few feet ahead of them. His job was to remove any broken shells that would injure the privileged feet of the Spelling children.
I remember reading the story about the butler years ago and laughing at its idiocy. I’m not laughing now.
Stepping on a broken shell is a wonderful metaphor for the risk-averse. Many of us are so afraid of a little pain we walk too gingerly. We’re overly-fearful. Though we know no one has ever died from stepping on a broken shell, we go out of our way to step cautiously, afraid we’ll bloody our delicate feet or worse…our sterling reputations.
The best companies in the world encourage people to screw up because it’s in the screw up that great ideas are born. The most creative people in the world don’t worry about a pinprick of pain. It’s imagination, desire, and confidence that drive them to do big things.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is Germany’s Shakespeare. His most famous quotation is for the broken seashell-averse to live by: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Too bad the Spellings didn’t read Goethe. They might have sent the butler back to The Manor to wrap a few gifts.
Beautiful!
And thank you for including Goethe, so often underrated in the English-speaking world.
He also said: ‘A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait’. He must have read your book! xx
Dear Andrea: I must confess: I’m no student of Goethe but I remembered his line about “boldness” and felt it was a great connection to a butler looking for broken shells. Those poor children — they were damaged by over-protectiveness. (I wonder what Randy Spelling is up to these days? Wink.) Most appreciatively, E.
This is by far the most joyous post by you. Am sharing it.
Ellen, I feel close to the thoughts. As ever, to you. <3
admiring
Sreemanti
Dear Job/Jobless: I am so thrilled my words gave you to green-light to pursue your dreams. Don’t wait a minute longer — go, go, go. Always with affection, E.
The Goethe quote is from a longer piece on commitment. Google Goethe on commitment. I share it with my clients frequently. HYSTERICAL bit on Randy and the g string. ~ heidi
Dear Heidi: I’m glad I made you laugh as Goethe isn’t exactly a laugh-riot. (wink) Love, E.
Oh, Ellen, this brings back memories of summers spent clamming with Dad. Rather than harvest the little steamers at the shore, my brothers and sisters and I would follow him out to waist high water. Using our toes, and braving occasional nips from small craps, we would search for large clams and dive down to retrieve them. We didn’t care for the encounters with the crabs, but the dinners…oh, the were well worth it.
Dear Anne: Not only were you clamming, you were preparing for life’s curve balls. Your Dad taught you a great lesson about having fun and not worrying about a little pinprick. Great story and thanks for sharing it! Regards, E.
God bless the screw ups of this world. One of my own personal (and original) favorite quotes is, “It takes far more courage to look bad than it does to sit back and watch or to pass the buck.” Have you read the little black book by Harry Frankfurt — It’s called On Bullshit. I loved it — he’s a professor at Princeton and he wrote this little book about the difference between a bullshitter and a liar. Well, I want to write a little book like that and call it, On Being Ruined. Why? because there’s no such thing as I see it. More on that in my book. Staying cheerful and worshipping all my shells…especially the imperfect ones. –Admiring seashells by the seashore.
Dear Jennifer: You will be pleased to know that the Harry Frankfurt book sits proudly on my bookshelf. I’ve stepped on plenty of broken shells (but thank god, not a jellyfish) and sure it hurt but so what? It’s a great preparation for all the broken shells we’re going to encounter. Thanks for writing! (Have you read The Unauthorized Biography of Johnny Carson? Riveting.) Wink.
amen.