“I’m an influencer, a wielder of opinion, a force — a force!”
-Lonesome Rhodes in "A Face in the Crowd"
"A Face in the Crowd" was adapted by Schulberg from a collection of short stories published by Random House in 1953 under the title "Some Faces in the Crowd."
The story source from the book was one titled "The Arkansas Traveler," which was the working title for the movie. In fact, Kazan filmed all the initial scenes in "A Face in the Crowd" in a rural northeast Arkansas town called Piggott in August of 1956. Bottom line: "Influencer" may date back to '53 or '56, invented for either the short story or the film. It depends.
And I doubt if Olivia Jade was there for either.
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~images~
(from top)
~Andy Griffith in a scene from "A Face in the Crowd"
~photography: Warner Bros. 1957©
~Dust jacket for "Some Faces in the Crowd" and a page from the story, "The Arkansas Traveler"
~photography: Random House 1953©
~Opening title card from "A Face in the Crowd"
~photography: Warner Bros. 1957©
~Andy Griffith in a scene from "A Face in the Crowd"
~photography: Warner Bros. 1957©
~Dust jacket for "Some Faces in the Crowd" and a page from the story, "The Arkansas Traveler"
~photography: Random House 1953©
~Opening title card from "A Face in the Crowd"
~photography: Warner Bros. 1957©
Joe- My guess is that Schulberg didn't necessarily invent the word "influencer" but found it in a dictionary where it's been hiding for decades but never used.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia: "Influencer marketing (a.k.a. influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placements from influencers, people and organizations who possess a purported expert level of knowledge and/or social influence in their respective fields." It seems to me that, in "Face in the Crowd," Andy Griffith's character spouts his politics more than he promotes products. Olivia Jade is into endorsements of luxury products exclusively.
ReplyDeleteIt all seems to be about controlling opinions. I thought that the word in question was a new one too but apparently it simply hasn’t been in use just recently until now. Some millennial must have discovered it.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that Schulberg was absolutely brilliant! Our introduction by him to the word influencer was prescient.
ReplyDeleteHey, Joe! The word "Influencer" may even predate Schulberg!
ReplyDeleteWalt- You are absolutely correct. Heaven knows exactly how old it is. -J
ReplyDeleteThough many words and phrases may have been around for a very long time, there's always the moment when the word enters the public discourse. A FACE IN THE CROWD is a notable example of artists working at their peak, and really having the foresight to see the way the media will become so crucial to people's understanding of the world. (One comment: i think so many contemporary hipsters are just too precious in their condescension to the past. I'm talking about Dennis Miller, who, with various friends, introduced a series of movies on TCM on Fridays last month. The reason it was so irritating was that he had such a superior attitude, which he showed when he said how he had no idea if Andy Griffith had any awareness of what he was doing, as if Griffith was some sort of rube who had been manipulated by Kazan and Schulberg. Which is far from the truth! I've heard Andy Griffith talk about his career, and he was very aware of what A FACE IN THE CROWD was doing. But he also said that he knew this was one of the highlights of his life: the opportunity to work with artists like Kazan, Schulberg, Patricia Neal, Lee Remick, Walter Matthau was once-in-a-lifetime, and he realized that the options for him were not that extensive. So when the opportunity came to work in TV (courtesy Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas), he decided that it would be a smart career move. But he knew about the satire on (reputedly) Arthur Godfrey, and the "folksy" con job so many of them pulled. Andy Griffith was anything but an uneducated rube.)
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad trend, trying to impress people by acting superior to the material. A few years ago, John Landis--who, full disclosure, is a friend--introduced SON OF FRANKENSTEIN at the TCM Festival, and devoted most of his time to telling us how it really wasn't very good and pointing out all the scenes that were later spoofed in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. I was really surprised at this, since he's definitely not that kind of guy. Maybe he felt he had to, in order to connect to the folks in the theatre. And it "worked"--of all the times I've seen it with an audience, it was the only time when they laughed at it. It's okay to have fun with an introduction--I do it myself all the time--or even point out a specific weakness, but there's no call to put down an entire film, and especially the people who made it. As Peter Bogdanovich once said when a critic paid him a back-handed compliment, "It's like they think we aren't capable of those ideas."
ReplyDeleteThanks Daryl & Mike- Dennis Miller’s condensing comment about Griffith jumped out at me, too. I had to hear it two or three times to convince myself that Miller wasn’t joking. He actually thinks that Griffith was clueless. No surprise. Miller has always come across as a tad too self-satisfied for my taste. Not funny at all. I’m disappointed that TCM didn’t call him on it. Why is it so important to be "cool"? -J
ReplyDeleteDaryl Chin writes that Dennis Miller speculates how Andy Griffith probably had no awareness of what he was doing in "A Face in the Crowd", as if Griffith was "some sort of rube who had been manipulated by Kazan and Schulberg." What a snub! Is this because Griffith subsequently went into lowly television where he also worked with the best? Or, as Joe says, because Griffith simply wasn't "cool"? Would he have said the same thing about Sally Field in her Oscar-winning roles, that she had no idea what she was doing in "Norma Rae" because she had played "The Flying Nun"? Probably.
ReplyDeleteRe Dennis Miller's comment about having no awareness of what he was doing in "A Face in the Crowd," it was used in all the promos for the showing, so it's safe to presume that TCM was on the same page about this insight.
ReplyDelete