I watched an NFL football game last night. It was played in Philadelphia and it was broadcast on national TV, but the game was incidental; the star of the show was Rocky. Sylvester Stallone was all over the place; on the sidelines before the game and in the broadcast booth during the game, and everyone within shouting distance wanted their "Yo" moment. They love Rocky in South Philly.
Rocky is a big deal in Philadelphia--except in that rarified world of locked jaws and hyphenated names that rule the city's arts community. The Philadelphia art mavens view Rocky's statue like a boil, and years ago they banned it from the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum where it attracted more interest than the exhibits inside the museum. A museum which over the years has been forced to close its doors on certain days for lack of funds to pay the poor security guards.
Rocky was shuttled off to the sports complex in South Philly, and the art mavens thought, that was that. But the public clamored for Rocky's return and after much pressure and wringing of silk hankies, he was allowed to return to the Art Museum area, but not to his old home atop the steps. Rocky was planted on the side of the building, discreetly away from the main entrance, and presumably away from the windows of the curator and her smug accomplices inside that blue-blooded palace of privilege.
Never-the-less as ESPN reminded us last night, you can't keep a good man down--even on the Main Line.
Sylvester Stallone is as far removed from Philadelphia's snooty art denizens as Albert Barnes was in his time. Dr. Barnes despised the exclusive, condescending ways of Philadelphia's coupon-clipping arts crowd and he was careful to remain apart from that world even as he prepared to enter the next world. Dr. Barnes left very careful instructions in his will about what to do and what not to do with his incomparably valuable collection and he left an estate to finance that gift.
Of course you know the rest of the story. At the same time as the Philadelphia arts community was banning Rocky from the steps of the Art Museum, apparently they were planning to hijack the Barnes Foundation. And they did! Now they are building a new palace across the street from the Art Museum to house the Barnes Collection.
May the shadow of Rocky darken its doors.
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