So Just Who IS Roger Smith?!?

So JUST who the f**k IS Roger Smith?  No, not the one who was married to Ann-Margaret nor the GM honcho whom Michael Moore deservedly skewered in his famous documentary "Roger and Me."  Perhaps the more pointed--and certainly more polite--question is this: Why should I want to hear this particular Roger Smith's opinions on all manner of subjects?  Has he enjoyed a lifetime of distinguished achievements?  No, not particularly.  Has he demonstrated unusual skill or talent in a specific field of accomplishment?  Not exactly. 

What he has had is a life that brought him into close contact with all kinds of celebrated and highly accomplished people, as his intelligence, charm and wit enabled him to make many of those encounters reveal essential truths about these celebrated personalities.  How did he come into contact with such luminaries as Robert Redford, George Soros, President Ford, Hal Prince, Barbara Walters, Beverly Sills, Roy Lichtenstein, Brooke Astor and Stephen Sondheim? Or Clint Eastwood, George McGovern, David Merrick, Mischa Baryshnikov, Leo Castelli, Orson Welles, Princess Grace and David Geffen? Thanks to Roger’s multiplicity of careers, he became familiar with leading figures in the film industry, the music business, on Wall Street, in politics, on Broadway and the world of high culture.  He knew them all, with each encounter often resulting in some sort of meaningful interaction and, on occasion, a genuine relationship.  

His newly-released podcast, “Who the F**k Is Roger Smith?” offers fascinating insights into these varied personages, enabled by Roger’s insatiable curiosity, his broad knowledge of all these fields and his essential charm/pushiness.  From his initial career on Wall Street; to a senior executive position with the parent company of Warner Bros.; to supervising the production of more than a dozen Broadway plays and musicals; to the entrepreneurial launch of the Criterion Collection; to moving to Hollywood where he became the CEO of LIVE Entertainment, the largest independent video company; to CFO of Carolco Pictures, then the leading independent film company; to a career in journalism as an expert on the media industry, including his own column in Variety and numerous appearances on CNBC; to an advisor to a number of venture-financed media-based internet companies.  While in these varied capacities, he maintained an active involvement in politics (on the Democratic side) and served on a number of Boards of arts, theatre and environmental organizations.

In these varied roles, he became involved with the many accomplished and celebrated figures named above, as well as Jasper Johns, Rupert Murdoch, Barbra Streisand, Ahmet Ertegün, Josephine Baker, Robert Downey Jr., Gloria Steinem and Ethel Merman.  He met them all and, in many cases, got to know some quite well.  These names will be familiar to anyone who is fairly cultivated and who has spent at least a decent chunk of their lives in the 20th Century. Roger promises meaningful insights—generally laudatory but sometimes critical—into the fascinating personages.  Perhaps more important, he promises to offer the listener nothing about the Kardashians or Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson--thank God.