Dick Clark, the iconic host of American Bandstand died today at age 82. As people rightfully applaud him for his huge contribution to American pop culture, it should also be noted that Dick Clark was a first-class prick to do business with. How do I know this? He stiffed me for over $20 thousand.
From 1990-2003 I owned a company that sold tools and equipment to cable TV companies. Dick Clark owned a small cable system in the Bakersfield, California area.
Although I never personally dealt with Dick Clark, I was happy to do business with a company that he owned.
At first everything was fine. We'd ship them equipment, send them an invoice, and in thirty days, give or take a few, we'd get a check in the mail.
After building up a good credit rating with us they started placing much larger orders. That's when the trouble began. That's when the checks stopped coming in.
When I started legal proceedings to collect the debt I found out that Dick Clark had a dark side. He had a reputation for "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and eventually stopping payments altogether. I was told that this pattern was pervasive and many of his businesses simply didn't pay their bills.
His cable TV company remained in business while vendors like me were left holding the bag. He could always find a new supplier. Everyone liked and trusted Dick Clark, right? I did.
My company went out of business in 2003 and Dick Clark contributed heavily to my demise.
I'm not a bitter person and I don't hold grudges. I haven't even thought about Dick Clark in years... until today.
Am I glad that Dick Clark is dead? No. Do I hope he rots in hell? No. (Partly because that would mean that there actually is a hell).
Do I think that he was an unethical businessman who traded on his impeccable reputation only to leave people like me in his dirty wake? Yes.
I hope that before he died Mr. Clark had a moment of clarity about an extraordinarily successful and dishonest life.
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Comments
I never did like that guy. Something about him was weird to me.
Good for you to not be bitter. That's not easy.
I suspect that way of doing business is rife the higher you go in the financial stratosphere. It's the small honest guys at the bottom who support the rotten upper structure. I was half-listening to tributes to Clark last night, there being not much else on the mindlessly repetitive CNN, and there were comments about how he was such a great businessman too. Yup - well, that's how great businessmen act.
Haha, I also caught Idol and Seahorse said something about how if it hadn't been for Clark and Bandstand programs like Idol would never have existed. So that's something else he has to account to St. Peter for.
I'd quit being a cynic, but it is SO accurate to be one.
Beyond his public personae, I can attest that he had at least one winning quality on the personal side. I personally knew a contestant on one of his shows, a fellow who called himself Comet, who did -- you'll forgive the expression -- a dead-on impersonation of John Lennon.
Unfortunately, in his early forties, Comet was diagnosed with terminal cancer. One of his last requests was to get a call from Dick Clark. My brother-in-law put in a call to Clark's people, and I happened to be there when the return call came thru from Dick Clark himself. It was a very generous thing to do, and it was a thrill and a final wish fulfilled for Comet, who died shortly thereafter.
Lezlie
Sorry you lost your biz, but you did get one hell of a story out of it. I've always thought Dick Clark was a robotic killing machine sent from 500 years in the future to destroy the world. This story continues to give mine credibility. Thanks for that.
No, I am not glad Dick Clark is gone but I still didn't think he was all that either.
A Congressional investigation more or less put an end to these practices, forcing Clark into being a TV producer of the $25,000 Pyramid, etc.
I love Myriad's 2nd paragraph here. Ditto.
It isn't surprising that celebrities and famous people are often cheats and scumbags in their private lives. Only a few of them, like Tom Cruise or Michael Jackson, ever have to face public revulsion for their misdeeds. Clark's nice-guy persona was kept pretty much intact throughout his life, except for Moore making him run away on-camera.
I pretty much still want my bad clients to stagnate in the outermost ring of heaven until they accept their asshattery. How's that?
As for his business dealings, it's another lesson in you can't take it with you. None of us is indispensable, and Dick Clark will be forgotten in a week, if not already. This lesson may be his greatest gift.
He was just too friggin' syrupy for me. Re: your business dealing with him...Not surprised at all.
And it isn't restricted to just show biz people. Let me tell you.