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Gordon Gecko epiphany

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By ERIKA SCHICKEL

Special To The Los Angeles Times

Published: June 28, 2009

There were two red carpets at the Michael Douglas/American Film Institute shindig earlier this month. I was on the B carpet, which paralleled the A carpet. A shifting wall of paparazzi backsides obscured my view of the celebrities; nevertheless, I sucked it in and worked my borrowed evening gown like an A-lister, just in case.

The only thing mitigating my good time was that, at heart, I'm not a big Michael Douglas fan.

But the American Film Institute, in its wisdom, deemed it fitting that Douglas should have a lifetime achievement award, and who was I to argue? They put together a lovely evening.

Finally we arrived at Douglas' creme de la crud, Gordon Gecko. We all knew it was coming, that famous "greed is good" speech from "Wall Street."

"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed - for lack of a better word - is good.

"Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

"Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind.

"And greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A."

I heard a collective gasp, then a moment of stunned, suspended silence as the mostly over-50 crowd was transported back to those heady, grabby days of yore. That was right around the time Hollywood let the bottom line trump art once and for all.

Now here we all were, 22 years later, in our Loehmann's Back Room dresses and borrowed baubles, squeezed by Spanx, smoothed by Botox, mortgaged to our graying roots and anticipating a long valet line for our Priuses.

Why hadn't we listened? There was Michael Douglas embodying the message to lay off the Kool-Aid, and all we did was order another bottle of Cristal.

OK, so maybe I'm wrong and the AFI is right about Douglas. Maybe he is a genius after all.

Erika Schickel is the author of "You're Not the Boss of Me: Adventures of a Modern Mom."

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