Health & Fitness
Historical Figure or Pop Culture Celebrity?
A look at the history of Levittown from a local historian.
Is America's obsessive adoration of pop culture celebrities diluting our capacity to appreciate genuine historical figures?
That's a question I posed on a Facebook page dedicated to local history and nostalgia. In observing that rock stars and movie stars, who have not lived in the communities in which they've grown up for years - decades in some cases -and have nothing to do with the life of those communities, are cited as "claims to fame" whilst significant historical personages are almost entirely forgotten.
I received an earful: I was branded an elitist, snob, and insulting. (I consider the first a complement, incidentally). Does Billy Joel's mention of "hanging out at the Village Green" and the carpet Brenda and Eddie purchase from Sears on 106 in his Scenes from an Italian Restaurant really have the same historical significance in Hicksville as Valentine Hicks, the Quaker businessman, active abolitionist who helped escape slaves, and LIRR president overseeing the railroad's crossing the Hempstead Plains to a depot which became Hicksville in 1837? Does Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the actress from Jericho who played Meadow Soprano in HBO's The Sopranos really warrant more attention than Elias Hicks who led a spiritual awakening in our area in the 1810's and 20's that culminated in the abolition of slavery in New York State? Does Kevin Covias, the Island Trees High School senior who appeared on the TV show American Idol, deserve to be better remembered than Alfred Levitt the architect/artist and brother of William Levitt whose innovative designs endowed Levittown with its unique character?
And daytime television star Susann Lucci is obviously not more important than Alexander T. Stewart, the Scottish-born NYC merchant prince who founded Garden City, built its cathedral, and created the now-defunct Central Line of the LIRR. But when pressed to "name somebody for whom Garden City is famous" one is more likely to encounter people who have never heard of Stewart (or the Hicks' or Levitt).
What's the difference between an historical figure and a pop culture celebrity? I'd have to say it's the temporal significance of the former. Bill Joel, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Kevin Covias and Susann Lucci could have been born and raised in Nebraska and their natural talents could still have flourished. But had the Hicks', Levitt, and Stewart not arrived on the scene, some of our communities either would not exist, or would be utterly unrecognizable to us. Likewise, their impact will be felt far into the future long after today's celebrities are reduced to obscurity.
It's not that the abilities of celebrities ought not be enjoyed or - especially in the case of Billy Joel of whom I admit to being a fan - that they don't have something meaningful to say. It's that the significance of historical figures is qualitatively dissimilar to that of celebrities. That's why William the Conqueror is more important than the most talented, beloved, and insightful bards, troubadors, and reconteurs of 11th Century Normandy; why William Shakespeare, whilst capturing the very spirit of his age with great creativity and originality, nevertheless is not as important as Elizabeth I. The artistic celebrity distills the essence of life and makes it palatable to our self-comprehension; the historical figure defines that life.
Want to know more about the history of Levittown and the surrounding communities? Visit www.levittownhistoricalsociety.org
