University of Virginia Library

George Plimpton

'Always A Pleasure To Get Involved'

By BILL BERNO

George Plimpton, the man
who has done the things that
"90 per cent of American men
go to bed dreaming about,"
charmed a sparse crowd of 250
Wednesday night with
anecdotes about his numerous
accomplishments.

Obviously benefiting from
the training he received to
become a stand-up comedian in
Las Vegas, the Harvard
graduate talked for 45 minutes
about all experiences from the
New York Philharmonic
Orchestra to the locker room
of the Detroit Lions.

'The Animal'

Mr. Plimpton suggested that
he wasn't afraid to "cross over
the box railings," referring to
the fan who attempted to steal
the football in a Baltimore
Colt-Miami Dolphin game a
few years ago. The fan was
leveled by a vicious tackle from
Colt linebacker Mike Curtis.

"On the Colts, Mike Curtis
is called 'The Animal.' Even his
wife calls him 'The Animal,'"
quipped the former editor of
The Paris Review.

"It is part of his psyche to
separate the ball from the
person who is carrying it. It is
instinctive."

He spoke of his days as a
writer for the Harvard

Lampoon. "For my initiation,
I had to run in the Boston
Marathon. So I waited in the
crowd about 200 yards from
the finish, and when the
first-place runner came by, I
stepped out of the crowd and
started running after him."

In spite of the fact that he
was chasing a man who had run
26 miles, Mr. Plimpton was
unable to catch the leader and
crossed the finish line second.
"The officials came out and
wrapped blankets around us. I
really didn't need a blanket
because I had hardly broken a
sweat."

The "amateur pro" got his
big break when he talked to
the sports editor of Sports
Illustrated magazine, Sidney
James. "He was a
daydreamer," said Mr.
Plimpton.

Dream About Lineups

"Ninety per cent of
American men are put to sleep
every night dreaming about
striking out the lineup of the
New York Yankees. Girls are
disturbed by this."

"But it's too complicated
dreaming about girls. It's easier
to think of throwing footballs
into the Green Bay
secondary."

Talking about why he
undertakes all these challenges,
Mr. Plimpton said, "Most of us
are content to sit in our seats.
It's when we go to college that
we cross over the box rallings.
There was always a sense of
pleasure in getting involved in
someone else's
occupation–getting away with
it."

"When one does climb over
the box railings, one learns
extraordinary things that one
can't find sitting up in the
press box."

"I have to keep telling
myself that my true
occupation is writing. The only
real satisfaction I get out of
this is the books I write and
the great people I meet."

Orchestra Terrifying

Remarkably enough, he
insists that his most terrifying
experience was not swinging in
the high trapeze but playing
the triangle with the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra.

"Musicians have this way of
commending each other for a
good performance. They
shuffle their feet. When I
struck the triangle properly I
could see all these feet
shuffling. Sometimes, none of
the feet would shuffle."

"These people are under
great tension. Music is an art.
You can't make a mistake.
There is as much tension in an
orchestra's dressing room as in
a Green Bay locker room."

Pink Leotards

Referring to his experience
as a trapeze artist, Mr Plimpton
is amazed at the pressure
placed on circus performers.
"These people push themselves
to the limits of their ability in
each performance. I don't
think the crowds realize this."

On his own exploits in the
circus, he chuckled, "I'm not
at my best in pink leotards."

After training on the
trapeze for a month, he
suffered hemorrhaging in his
shoulder joints. On the
morning of the performance,
he visited the local hospital to
get painkilling shots, clad only
in his leotards and a raincoat.

"When I exposed my
shoulders to the intern, he flew
into a rage, screaming, 'The
human body is a cathedral and
you've desecrated it!'"

Swimming and Schollander

His most impossible feat
was to try to beat Don
Schollander in a 100-meter
freestyle swimming race. "My
only chance to get Schollander
was to psyche him out, so I