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Current Talk '24 I / Re: And Now The Return of Another New Slideshow (Sort of) [**Now featuring alternate versions of sce
« on: July 14, 2016, 07:58:14 PM »Wasn't he known as The Smiling Cobra? 😈😈😈😈
I don't think I'd ever heard that before, but sure enough when I looked up his Wikipedia page it says:
Despite his successes in television, Aubrey's abrasive personality and oversized ego – "Picture Machiavelli and Karl Rove at a University of Colorado football recruiting party" wrote Variety in 2004 – led to his firing from CBS amid charges of improprieties. "The circumstances rivaled the best of CBS adventure or mystery shows," declared The New York Times in its front-page story on his firing, which came on "the sunniest Sunday in February" 1965. He earned the nickname "Smiling Cobra" for his brutal decision-making ways. Aubrey governed CBS with a firm grip, and it did not go unnoticed. He was suddenly dismissed in February 1965. Aubrey offered no explanation following his dismissal, nor did CBS President Frank Stanton or Board Chairman William Paley. After four years as an independent producer, Aubrey was hired by financier Kirk Kerkorian in 1969 to preside over Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's near-total shutdown, during which he slashed the budget and alienated producers and directors but brought profits to a company that had suffered huge losses. In 1973, Aubrey resigned from MGM, declaring his job was done, and then vanished into almost total obscurity for the last two decades of his life.
He sounds even worse than we've been led to believe. Who knew that the way he acted with DC was apparently the way he acted with practically everyone (by comparison, the details of how Aubrey operated as laid out on his Wikipedia page make DC seem positively like the gentlest of kittens!!). It's awful to say, but after reading all about his antics, I have little sympathy for the supposed fact that at the time of his death he had been largely forgotten. But NoDS fans will never forget what he did to the film, largely because we're still dealing with the consequences to this day. If only he'd resigned from MGM before he'd ever heard of NoDS. But alas... Well, unless one of us can figure out how to go back to '71 to change history. Where are those I Ching wands...