MADONNA. Uniquely proactive penchant for artistic reinvention.
WHEN people hit middle age, they console themselves with the optimistic bon mot, “Life begins at 40.” Well, if that works for “just folks” like you and me, show biz stars can’t be quite as sanguine about their long-term career prospects.
In an industry that prizes youth and perfect looks above other assets, many stars in their 40s realistically lower their sights and ambition and agree to do second-lead mother or even grandmother roles, just to keep their careers viable.
And, when they hit their 50s, most “golden girls” are older girls who resign themselves to enforced retirement from the “cruel” industry to which they gave the best and most beautiful years of their photogenic lives.
Exceptions
Happily, there are exceptions to that realistic rule, and the inexorable downward tug and spiral of the Law of Gravity. This season, they are best exemplified by Betty White, who’s turned a still nimble 90, and by Madonna, who at 53 is by no means a has-been, and in fact has just launched “sidelines” that will keep her in the public eye for years to come.
After the smash hit that was her mini-show at the Superbowl, Madonna is now riding high on her first effort as feature-film director with “W.E.,” her film on Wallis Simpson, and the honors that the song she wrote for the production has been reaping.
“MR. PEABODY’S APPLES.” Things are not as they seem
In addition, her new albums and international concert tours are hits, proof positive that she’s still very much in step with the musical times, thanks to her uniquely proactive penchant for artistic reinvention.
Less showy and noisy than Madonna’s new show biz initiatives is her foray into the world of literature, as a writer of stories for young readers. She published her first book, “The English Roses,” in 2003, and it was so eagerly anticipated that it was released in more than 100 countries. Since then, she’s written four more such books, which received similar attention and acclaim.
At first blush, one tends to think that Madonna’s little books for kids have done extremely well mainly due to her celebrity cachet and pulling power, not necessarily because she’s a great writer and storyteller. For our part, however, we had a change of mind—and heart—recently, when we read her second book, “Mr. Peabody’s Apples.” —Hey, the lady can write!
More to the point, she writes not just to divert and delight, but also to impart a telling “lesson”—but lightly, without browbeating her young readers with the “significance” of the thematic teaching point she seeks to impart.
Specifically, “Mr. Peabody’s Apples” is Madonna’s reworking and updating of a 300-year-old story that was told to her by her kabbalah teacher. The original storyteller, Baal Shem Tov, thought it up to dramatize “the power of words, and how we must choose them carefully to avoid causing harm to others.”
“MR. PEABODY’S APPLES.” Things are not as they seem
Adaptation
In her updated adaptation, Madonna sets the cautionary tale in a small town in the United States. It’s told from the point of view of a boy named Billy Little, who thought a lot of his weekend Little League baseball coach, Mr. Peabody.
One day, another boy, Tommy, saw Mr. Peabody “stealing” an apple from a fruit market—and rushed to tell his friends. The following week, Mr. Peabody again got an apple without paying for it, and Tommy and other kids saw him do it—and again spread the word about the otherwise perfect coach and teacher’s single “flaw.”
Eventually, people stayed away from Mr. Peabody’s weekend baseball games, and he wondered why. Finally, Billy spoke up and told him why. To clear things up, Mr. Peabody took Billy to the fruit market, and the owner cleared everything up by explaining that he and Mr. Peabody had an agreement that the teacher could pick an apple each weekday
—and pay for all of the apples he’d gotten at the end of the week!
Things are not as they seem, indeed. And, as author Madonna has Mr. Peabody sum everything up to Tommy, “It’s impossible to undo the damage that you have done by spreading the rumor that I am a thief. Next time, don’t be so quick to judge a person. —and, remember the power of your words!”