What does the chief executive of a multibillion-dollar company do in his spare time? If you’re Robert Iger, head of Walt Disney Co., you might search for yourself on YouTube.com.
That’s what Iger said at a gathering of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society on Tuesday. Iger was there to moderate a panel on the future of digital media, and whose participants included Jason Kilar, chief executive of Hulu.com, and Jonathan Miller, chief digital officer of News Corp.
While he was doing research to prepare for the panel, Iger typed “Disney” into YouTube and came up with more than 50,000 videos. Out of curiosity, he then typed in his own name.
“I came up with 117 results,” he said.
“Not bad.”
One video in particular caught his eye.
“There was one by some fellows claiming that I was the worst Disney villain ever,” Iger said with a chuckle.
Emotional Farewell
Joe Cerrell didn’t attend the funeral for Sen. Ted Kennedy a couple of weeks ago because he had just returned from the funeral for journalist Bob Novak.
Taken together, the deaths represented the passing of an era for Cerrell, which he realized while sitting in front of the TV in his Hancock Park home.
“I got very emotional watching Teddy’s funeral,” he said in his New York accent. “I’m not usually emotional, but I was so close to that family.”
Cerrell, founder of L.A. public relations firm Cerrell Associates, met John Kennedy in 1956. Three years later, while helping run Kennedy’s California campaign during the early stages of the 1960 presidential election, Cerrell shared an office in a Beverly Boulevard building with the candidate’s youngest brother, Ted.
After that campaign, Cerrell kept in contact with the family. He attended the June 5, 1968, rally at the Ambassador Hotel, but left 20 minutes before Bobby Kennedy’s assassination.
Cerrell often visited with Ted Kennedy when he came to Los Angeles for fundraising events or to see his sister Patricia, who lived in Malibu with her husband, the late actor Peter Lawford.
“We weren’t close, I’m not going to brag about that,” Cerrell reflected. “But I would see Teddy if I went to Washington. It was a long friendship. He was a good guy, with pluses and minuses – but overall a very good guy.”
Gearing Up
Jeff Castelaz, amateur bicyclist and co-founder of Dangerbird Records, a Silver Lake music production and management company, has found purpose in tragedy.
The first time he participated in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon – a grueling extravaganza including an 18-mile bicycle race near Zuma Beach – it was simply “to get into a competitive situation and ride as fast as I could.” The annual triathlon helps fund research into pediatric cancer at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
A year later, Castelaz, 37, participated again, this time as the parent of a child diagnosed with a tumor. The record producer’s 6-year-old son, Pablo, passed away in June.
Castelaz was to race again last Sunday, but it was with a more focused purpose. “My motivation this year,” he said, “is to kick out my sorrow to fight cancer in his name. I’m excited to be doing it.”
The event was expected to raise more than $1 million for the cause.
Staff reporters Charles Proctor, Joel Russell and David Haldane contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
