An observation about producer Robert Evans, shared by production designer Richard Sylbert in Michael Daly‘s “The Making of The Cotton Club,” published by New York magazine on 5.7.84:

“It’s not the page views or the ad revenue for Jeff,” says his friend Sasha Stone. “Well, it is about those things, of course, but Jeff mainly has to be Jeff Wells. If he can’t be ‘Jeff Wells,’ he’s dead.  It’s ‘is Jeff Wells still in the Jeff Wells business?'”

Seriously — isn’t everybody more or less committed to their “act” after it fully takes shape and firms up somewhere in their 30s? Everybody wants the income they feel they deserve as well as the status and respect, but mainly they need to fly their pride flag on a daily basis and be a living embodiment of their brand, the real thing, the guy or gal who’s paid his or her dues and come this far…right here, dammit!