The Fountainhead (1949) From the novel and screenplay adaptation by Ayn Rand, King Vidor directs Gary Cooper, as the ruthless architect Howard Roark [modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright] and Patricia O’Neal as the devoted socialite Dominique Francon in this allegory celebrating unbridled capitalism in the struggle between individualism and collectivism. During the final courtroom sequence, Cooper delivers an impassioned speech that embodies Ayn Rand’s philosophy. Standing atop the tallest building in the city, Cooper watches as Patricia O’Neal ascends on a scaffold to join him in a visual homage to futurism.
The main lobby is an arrogance of kitsch opulence:
Pink white-veined marble, brass abs polished smooth,
All beneath a five-level atrium with internal waterfall,
Suspended walkway, cafés, and pedestrian bridge,
Its shops selling the owner’s merchandise and memorabilia.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
Sewage, water heaters, and back-up generators.
The Seventh Floor is restricted to offices
For managers, lawyers, and security guards,
With a specially designed, sound-proofed room
For monitoring the surveillance cameras
That record what happens in the guest suites.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
Secret rendition and water-boarding.
Corporate executives rent office spaces
Between the Eighth and Seventeenth Floors
Where hedge funds, Ponzi schemes, and pharmaceuticals
Are telemarketed through fiber-optic cables
Into the heartland and around the globe.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
Tax returns, lawsuits, and bankruptcy filings.
The Eighteenth Floor boasts a high-tech convention center
For fashion shows and Victoria Secret models,
Where even a First Lady could strut her stuff
Down the runway before visiting foreign billionaires
Surrounded by gold-plated bowls of sour grapes.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
Presidential failures and female reporters.
Starting on the Nineteenth Floor, condominiums
House rich Saudi Princes and American Movie Stars,
And once even “Baby Doc” Duvalier, ex-dictator of Haiti —
For the higher up you go, the more expensive the rent,
Although everything is negotiable, depending on your fame.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
Illegal Mexican slave labor.
The Top Floor is the owner’s private residence,
Fully equipped with his own broadcasting studio,
Where antiquity slimes everything in gold,
A bronze of Eros and Psyche for the Apollo
Of deal-makers the only thing black in the room.
Nobody goes into the basement. That’s for
The golden calf to be eaten by worms.
[Disposable Poem December 7, 2016]
Welcome to the New Year 2017
Dr. Mike
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