Washington Life Magazine
Washington Life Magazine

Pollywood MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

Honoring Jack
The night was billed as a fundraising screening of Charlie Wilson’s War for Woodley House,
but the night belonged to Jack and Mary Margaret


Jack Valenti, a beloved Washington luminary, enriched the lives of a great many people. From cabinet secretaries to interns, from Hollywood celebrities to those who worked behind the cameras, he taught us all about human nature and common sense through Texas witticisms, quotes from the classics, and rules passed on by his mentor, Lyndon Johnson. Today many reveal the lessons learned with a Jack story or a Jackism – such as the call I got that began, “Matt, the ox is in the ditch.” The New Yorkers among us now know that means a project is in big trouble. I answered, “Remember the three most important words in the English language: ‘wait a minute.’” He replied, “Well, I didn’t know if you would advise that or ‘hunkering down like a jackass in a hail storm.’” Recently, a former Motion Picture Association of America staffer told me, “I had to testify last week and couldn’t get him [Valenti] out of my head. I wrote it and rewrote it and practiced it a dozen times. Best of all, I kept it mercifully brief.” Rule number one for Jack was that character is defined by loyalty. In Washington and Hollywood people often desert their socalled friends at the first whiff of public disfavor. Not Jack – he insisted that you never abandon someone who was going through a rough time. He always stood with a beleaguered colleague. At Jack’s funeral, actor Kirk Douglas captured the essence of his longtime friend when he said, “Your problems became Jack’s problems.” You didn’t have to be Spartacus to receive that kindness. One day when an MPAA employee told Jack that a mechanic would not give back his car, Jack immediately called Williams and Connelly. I have this vision where within hours former Supreme Court clerks are in the auto body shop ready to battle. Of course, the car was returned – probably with a complimentary tank of gas. Jack was there for us – he would never cut and run.
Jack and Mary Margaret in an earlier time: a black and white photo from their wedding day on June 1, 1962 and together on the front lawn of the White House in 1964 with daughter Courtenay and two of President Johnson’s prized pooches.
Jack rejected the partisanship that gripped Washington. On the day the MPAA headquarters was named the Jack Valenti Building, Republican Senator Ted Stevens said of this LBJ Democrat, “Jack works across the aisle because he doesn’t see an aisle. It is the root of his success and what others ought to emulate.” But the best weapon in his arsenal was his wife, Mary Margaret. In her thoughtful, refined and understated way she was the sounding board who set him straight when his own political instincts were temporarily out of kilter. One Friday when the MPAA was in the throws of a debate on depictions of violence he set out a plan – which, frankly, didn’t have a whole lot to it. When we reconvened on Monday morning Jack announced a change in strategy. We were somewhere between livid and confused and when he saw my quizzical look he simply said, “It was Mary Margaret – she shamed me all weekend.” Washington is fortunate Mary Margaret deployed that same sense of judgment and persistence – mixed with a large helping of compassion and a network of committed friends – to help turn Woodley House into a nationally recognized program. On a daily basis, Woodley House now provides a continuum of consumer centered care for over 200 persons with mental disabilities. Jack loved “bragging on” her devotion to those whose lives it enhanced, and the way in which she helped its services to grow and prosper. If Jack were here to read this tribute I know I would receive a handwritten note thanking me profusely. And it would conclude with the mock dismay that only he could get away with – “the accolades were a bit brief, but what the hell.”

 



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