It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp

People generally can’t believe that I’ve had so many careers. Comedy writer, baseball announcer, director, Amway salesman, screaming disc jockey, etc. They say no one has worn more hats. That’s lovely to hear and I’m very proud of my accomplishments (especially Amway), but I’m here to tell ya – it’s not even close.

Reading the wedding announcements in a recent New York Times I came upon this guy. Check out his resume:

Dr. (Sander Marc) Rabin, 66, an ophthalmologist, has a line of clothing and accessories for girls. And until 2011 was a patent lawyer in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He graduated from New York University, and has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a law degree from Columbia and a medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

(By the way, his fiancée’s father won a Nobel Prize so she didn’t exactly come from a trailer park background.)

Holy shit! Suddenly my being a weekend disc jockey in Bakersfield and writer of MANNEQUIN 2 doesn’t seem so impressive.

There are over-achievers and there are over-achievers.

Another is former actress Hedy Lamarr. In addition to being a huge movie star in the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s she also invented some frequency hopping device that serves as the forerunner of Wifi and Bluetooth and prevented the enemy from detecting our torpedoes. Let’s see Kim Kardashian do that.

And then there’s Paul Winchell. He was a ventriloquist and kids’ show TV host in the ‘50s who in his spare time invented the first mechanical artificial heart.

Although she didn’t invent any miracle medical devices, Rachel Sweet has had a varied career. In the ‘80s she was a punk rock star. Today she’s a very successful sitcom writer.

My favorite though is James Lipton. Dean emeritus of the Actors School at Pace University in New York. He’s also the long time host of INSIDE THE ACTOR’S STUDIO where he has perfected obsequious to a new art, is an airplane pilot, and now this: in the ‘50s he was a pimp in Paris. I wasn’t impressed until the last one.

The truth is all of us are multi-faceted. Whether that translates to varied careers depends on what those careers are, levels of initiative, age, and (in my case) luck. But time is wasting. If there’s something else you’d like to do or try why not give it a shot now? It’s the start of summer – a good excuse for a new beginning. Reading about the accomplishments of these individuals is inspiring. The message is clear: IT CAN BE DONE.

And I for one am going to take my own advice. Anyone know how you start an escort service?