[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 30, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11193-S11194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MELVIN VAN PEEBLES

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in a year when we have seen such 
terrible news about New York, we do well to remind ourselves of all the 
good things that come from that great city.
  One such thing was the awarding of Chevalier in the Legion D'Honneur 
to my friend, Melvin Van Peebles, by the Consul General of the Republic 
of France on April 24 of this year. The award was made to Mr. Van 
Peebles because of his work as an author, a producer, and a director of 
award-winning films.
  I have known Melvin for years, and I know him as a man of conscience, 
talent, erudition, and eclectic friendships. I have always considered 
myself honored to be one of his friends. The man who first introduced 
me to Melvin was my good friend, Dr. Henry Jarecki, of New York, and he 
and Gloria Jarecki hosted the investiture at Gramercy House in New York 
City.
  I ask consent to print in the Record the comments made by Dr. Jarecki 
at that event, and to add my own congratulations to Melvin Van Peebles 
for an award justly deserved.
  The comments follow:

                      Remarks of Dr. Henry Jarecki

       Back in the fifties, while Melvin was becoming well-known 
     in America, I had been out of the country. So it is no 
     surprise that when Katie McGee first mentioned the name 
     Melvin Van Peebles some thirty-five years ago, I knew so 
     little about his work that I expected to meet a Dutchman. It 
     was indeed some years before I knew who I was dealing with 
     but in the meantime he had become a

[[Page S11194]]

     close friend who I could hang out with and gab about 
     philosophy, somebody who was an advisor and when needed, a 
     fellow mischief-maker. Gradually, I got to see and know all 
     about the famous Sweetback movie and his other films and I 
     read and saw his plays, especially Ain't Supposed to Die a 
     Natural Death and Don't Play us Cheap, two of the ones I 
     think are among the great works of American literature. Waltz 
     of the Stork, a musical I backed, was not one of the great 
     works. Otherwise I would be rich today. But we reflected on a 
     lot more plays, too, including the Bessie Smith piece called 
     the Champeen that we argued about for five years and still 
     have to make.
       Close friends sometimes disagree--we solved that by making 
     bets. One bet he lost made him work for me on Wall Street for 
     a year during which he became the first Black trader on the 
     American Stock Exchange. Not surprisingly, he wrote a book 
     about it as he does about almost anything he does. That book, 
     called Bold Money, introduced many nonprofessionals to the 
     world of security option trading. He always writes books 
     about what he does. He makes movies about the making of 
     movies and he writes books about the ``making of the making 
     of a movie'' movie. Happily, all of this piques his viewers' 
     and readers' interest and makes him a bunch of money.
       But he's made a lot more than movies, plays, and money. He 
     has made a number of wonderful children, all of whom I've had 
     the pleasure of hanging out with over the years, Megan, 
     Mario, Max, and maybe more. Megan has the beauty and the 
     wonderful heart she had when she worked at Mocatta and Mario 
     has become a distinguished motion picture actor and director 
     himself. Very few people know that one of the steps of his 
     professional life, maybe the step that taught him all there 
     was to learn about acting before he went to Hollywood was 
     working as a gold trader for me at a company called Mocatta.
       The Van Peebles children have been friends of my children 
     and Melvin himself has helped each of my children, most 
     recently my son Eugene, who made a film called The Opponent 
     based loosely on Eugene's early life friendship with Mike 
     Tyson. Melvin's most recent French film, A Belly Full, was 
     not the reason for this Legion of Honor award but was its 
     occasion.
       Even before making a great name in America, Melvin had 
     become well-known in France, partly for his book and movie, 
     Story of a Three-Day Pass which had won many awards there, 
     and throughout his life he has remained an American bridge to 
     France, even having one French son, Max, who has helped him 
     work on many of his movies. And so this clearly American icon 
     has gradually become a French figure of the arts as well.
       We are all honored to be here tonight with Melvin Van 
     Peebles to help celebrate his receiving this award from 
     Consul-General Richard Duque who honors us with his presence. 
     I personally have in my own very modest film-making career 
     achieved only one thing: when I, following in Melvin's 
     footsteps, was making a movie about Cuban music in Havana 
     with my friend Gary Keys, I managed to buy some Cuban cigars 
     and also a wonderfully appropriate humidor in which to keep 
     them. And so, Melvin, I take pleasure in presenting you with 
     this unusual-looking humidor and the accompanying box of 
     Cuban cigars. If you choose to give some of these cigars out 
     to some of your guests here, feel free to do so: I have a 
     second one upstairs. And those who worry about smoking Cuban 
     cigars--and I'm not one--can always say the words of Melvin's 
     friend Pat Leahy, the Senator from Vermont, who tells us that 
     he cannot be criticized for burning Castro's crops.
       Thank you all for coming.

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