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AndNowA New Trend
THE
CELEBRITY STALKER
by
John Ross Schroeder
Recently Queen Elizabeth awoke from sleep to find a strange
man sitting on the edge of her bed. Buckingham
Palace had been penetrated by one of a new breed- the celebrity-stalker.
T
HE QUEEN
of England
is the Queen of Smiles!
She goes out of her
way to smile at her subjects.
Few monarchs i n history
have made themselves so
accessible to t heir people.
In addition to constant media
exposure, the Queen has regular
garden par ties at Buckingham
Pa lace for several thousand
people at a time.
Also, the whole Royal Family
is constantly on the move ful fill–
ing various and sundry public
functions over the whole of the
British Isles. Tbey hardly enjoy
the private life that most of the
public seem to prize so much.
Britain has a population of sorne
60 million people and, of course, it
is simply impossible for every sin–
gle individual person to have a prí–
vate audience with the Queen. That
should go without saying. Yet one
misguided individual felt he just
had to speak with the Queen in her
prívate quarters.
But why is society producing so
many disturbed persons who waste
valuable time seeking out celebri–
ties?
A New Western Phenomeno n
Lesser celebrities than the Queen
are being plagued by a plethora of
. psychotics demanding prívate and
November / December 1982
personal attention. Especially is
this true in the United States, tra–
ditional home of the movie stars, or
as they used to be called, the "mat–
inee idols."
John Hinckley was so obsessed
with a young Hollywood actress
that he wrote in an unmailed Ietter
before the assassination attempt on
President Reagan, "Jodie, l would
abandon the idea of getting Reagan
in a second if I could only win your
heart and live out the rest of my
life with you."
A jury found John Hinckley
insane on al! counts. Now one can
read of "tbe tortured mi nd of
Michael Fagan"
(Daily Express),
tbe intruder at Buckingham Palace.
Obviously celebrity-stalkers are
people with deeply ingrained men–
tal aberrations.
Who l s to Blame?
The obl igatory resignations and
t ransferals of duty occurred in the
wake of the Buckingham Palace
security scandal. Predictably na–
tional newspapers and magazines
called for "heads to roll." Clearly
the intrusion into the Queen's bed–
room was a failure of human vigi–
lance. Those responsible for the
safety of the sovereign had Jet her
down.
Bu t the problem goes far
beyond blaming police personnel
and faulty electronics. The media
never seems to ask: Why is our
Western society producing so
many celebrity-stalkers? Why do
movie stars have to build barbed
wire fences around their houses to
protect themselves from their own
fans? Why do the grounds have to
be patrolled by trained dogs and
security men? Why do they have
to constantly change their home
phone numbers in order to screen
out a steady stream of sick call–
ers?
We live in a sick society! That's
not a popular view of social condi–
tions in our Western world, but it 's
all too t rue! Far too many people
are feeding their minds mental gar–
bage. Just take a look at the books
and magaz ines on the market
today!
The Fan Magazine
The advent of motion pictures in
the early part of tbis century pro–
duced a whole array of glittering
fa n magazines. Who was your
favoríte movie star currently dat–
ing? What leading actor was
about to walk out on his wife?
What was bis favorite color of
socks? The answer to all these
questions and other juicy tidbits
of information could be had in a
wide ranging selection of fan mag–
azines.
Later their contents were ex–
panded to include television stars,
sports heroes, rock and roll per–
formers, and even charismatic
political figures.
Movie actors and actresses will
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