At some point in the late 1980s, I was gifted a hardback copy of Seven Stories of Christmas Love by Leo Buscaglia. The thin volume related seven autobiographic tales from Buscaglia's life, from childhood to relatively recent adulthood. Being a bookworm who was Christmas-obsessed (surprise surprise), I would end up reading it multiple times over the next few years, at least once per holiday season. Had I been more curious about the author, I would have discovered that Buscaglia, a professor at the University of Southern California, had made quite the name for himself as a motivational speaker and author whose message was, essentially, "love is good". A simple enough message, but one that resonated enough that his books regularly appeared on the New York Times Bestseller lists and his filmed lectures would draw in high ratings--and high donation amounts--when they aired on PBS stations during pledge weeks.
His 1987 special, Stories of Christmas Love: Leo Buscaglia, was clearly filmed to tie into his then-new book. It was a remarkably simple setup, even for the mid-80s. Onstage was an assortment of evergreens, a podium, and nothing else. Buscaglia employed no video, no slides, no demonstrations. Other than a quartet of singers in Dickens-style costumes who performed Jingle Bells over the opening credits (and the gaggle of kids on stage with them), it was a completely solo show.
And what did he talk about, in what appeared to be a packed auditorium? Why, love, of course, and how it relates to Christmas. Even though I hadn't read his book in ages, I still recognized a couple of his stories from it, such as how very young him, on an epic naughty streak, concluded the Christmas Angel (who visited the very Italian Buscaglia family instead of the Americanized Santa Claus) was way too busy to pay any attention to him, only to wake up Christmas morning to find a switch in his stocking (and not the Nintendo kind), and how, while visiting someone in the hospital shortly before the holiday, ended up having a massive coronary right then and there ("best place to have a massive heart attack" he laughed).
Given that he managed to turn promoting love into a solid career, Buscaglia is a very good lecturer. For nearly an hour (perhaps longer--it wouldn't surprise me if this was edited down from a longer presentation, though I didn't notice any obvious cuts and editing), he has the audience eating out of his hand. Even if what he was saying would fall under obvious common sense (Christmas is too commercialized, you should give gifts from the heart, things like that), he is able to find a spin on it that gets the audience applauding and/or laughing.
That said, watching a guy talk at a podium for an hour doesn't make for compelling television. Even though I enjoyed the talk more than I thought I would, I did find my mind wandering by the halfway point and had to go back and rewatch some of it. To be fair, there are a lot more distractions today than there were in 1987, but still, it surprises me that this was one of PBS's most sought-after series.
Since his death in 1998, Buscaglia has largely fallen into obscurity. Maybe his message is a bit too simplistic for the 21st century or perhaps his style has been passed by. Stories of Christmas Love: Leo Buscaglia is interesting and somewhat insightful, but doesn't exactly inspire me to seek out his other work. That's a shame, because it is possible we might need his message now more than ever.
Next time: For these beloved characters, after these final specials, away they went
No comments:
Post a Comment