I know there are some dopers familiar with the entertainment industry so if they would weigh in it would be appreciated.
I have not followed the Cosby trial in a detailed fashion and I know even less about the norms of the entertainment industry in the 70’s and 80’s but in looking at the accusations against him a number seem to involve personal dinners and one on one get-togethers on the pretext of some kind of mentoring that eventually wound up back at personal residences where it is asserted he would drug and molest them. Putting Cosby’s alleged drugging aside is this sort of interaction normal in the entertainment business?
If I was looking to hire or recommend a woman for a job I can’t even conceive of anything more than possibly a lunch meeting or meeting in my office. I am wondering what the norms are in the entertainment business regarding this. It’s a “people” business more than administrative so I suppose you’ve got to get to get to know someone personally but is this level of intimacy in meetings normal with people (objectively) far less powerful and more desperate than you or are men who do this usually looking for some kind of exchange of favors?
It seems kinda-sorta predatory on the face of it but is that level of intimacy just the way business is normally done in the entertainment industry?
Sure but that would involve a mutual exchange of favors with both parties being aware of what is expected, in this case I don’t think any of the accusers are saying they had any knowledge of that being the expressed or implied expectation on the table. It is asserted they were approached on the basis of his taking some interest in their career and future success.
I suppose the question is, is this something big male stars might normally do (ie non-sexual mentoring interest in a young actresses career) and if so are the one on one dinners and get togethers in residences the way they would go about it? Is this normal behavior in the entertainment world?
I did at location set decorating for movies in Hollywood when I had my decorating business. One of my decorators was a solid 12 on a scale of 1 through 10. She had plenty of mentoring offers from big stars and directors of both sexes who promised to get her into acting.
Before this clarification I was going to answer the first wording of the question, “Is it normal behavior for big male stars to mentor aspiring female actresses the way Cosby did?”, by saying if you mean mentor spelled F-U-C-K, then yes.
I don’t know how exclusive it was to entertainment, but at that time every large company in Britain would have an elderly executive or two with the designated duty ( volunteer ) to take out new young female employees to push them to reach their full potential.
Thinking on this, I was reminded of Lisa Lisa from Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam. She tells the story of going into a dark basement with four musclebound men who had seen her and wanted to help her in her singing career. She said she remembered thinking that perhaps this wasn’t her best decision.
Turned out it was Full Force and they had a recording studio in their basement and they did help her in her music career.
That wasn’t pre fame. She had a massive number one smash with Wuthering Heights in 1978 followed by another top ten hit, The Man With The Child In his Eyes, the same year.
Her first album, The Kick Inside, was released in February 1978 and went to number 3 in the UK.
But her family had musical connections anyway - Dave Gilmour helped her get started. He was a friend of a friend of the family.
I don’t think it was actual mentoring; drugs, booze & casual sex with “aspiring actresses” was the norm for Hollywood stars in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, and Cosby’s one of the few who’s getting busted for it.