Stanley Sheinbaum. Who could resist his always charming good humor and mischievous spirit, married not only to the ever gracious Betty, but to serious purpose in life?
Talk about an eventful existence. Stanley had a life of intrigue and exploits that would put many spies, politicians and even secretaries of state to shame. He was a bit of James Bond mixed with the civil rights champion Clarence Darrow.
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Indeed, I have always thought of him as a small Scandinavian state, audaciously leveraging the influence of his unique base as a wealthy “intellectual engage” to shift history at key moments. Springing Andreas Papandreou from jail under the boot of the Greek colonels. Taking the risky leap of faith to not only meet Yasir Arafat, but push behind the scenes to keep him to his word of a “no-terrorism” pledge when he sought to backtrack. Crisscrossing the Atlantic in shuttle diplomacy mode to smooth out the very rough edges between the PLO and Colin Powell, at the time a clandestine go-between for President Reagan and Secretary of State George Schulz, who were inclined at the wind down of their administration to let the whole fraught matter go.
I went with Stanley once to Tunis to see Arafat. We flew in from Paris and hung out at the Tunis Hilton waiting to be contacted. Past midnight a driver with a burly security squad arrived to pick us up. We wove back and forth on circuitous routes through backstreets in the balmy night, ending up at a big white villa. More security guards, Kalashnikovs drawn, met us at the entrance, taking apart and reassembling my tape recorder in case explosives were hidden there. After talking till just before dawn with Arafat and his many aides over Turkish coffee, CNN droning in the background, we broke for an early meal of hummus, eggplant and pickled vegetables. Apparently, Arafat was a vegetarian. He also had a glass of milk.
I wouldn’t want to be mis-interpreted by saying that Arafat exhibited a genuine fondness toward Stanley, impressed, perhaps even touched, by the risk this American Jew was taking to break bread with the enemy. I remember thinking that Arafat seemed less menacing than hopefully engaging in this informal setting without his trademark checkered kaffiya, which he discarded, exposing his bald head.
As if this wasn’t enough of an adventure for one day, it turned out, if memory serves, that Stanley’s secret absence from L.A. to fly off to Tunis made him miss a critical – but bitterly divisive — Police Commission meeting. Because he was not there to participate in the bickering, Mayor Tom Bradley asked him on his return to chair the Commission as a compromise candidate able to talk to all sides. From one conflict zone to another.
Together, Stanley and Betty were for many years the nexus between Hollywood glamour and liberal politics. I remember a dinner there with Bill and Hillary Clinton at least a year before he declared for his first presidential run. Hillary was already then keen, articulate and brightly wonkish. Bill was sheepish and almost quiet. Then the governor of Arkansas, he was evidently shy about his grasp of world events in the presence of the legendary New York Times columnist, Flora Lewis, another of the many acquaintances in the Sheinbaum’s vast social and political network. At other times one would find among the Moore sculptures at their home the likes of everyone from Daniel Ellsberg to Shimon Peres, Ted Turner and Jane Fonda.
The most memorable event at the Sheinbaum’s, however, was a reception for King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan.
Movie stars, producers and directors abounded – Gregory Peck, Barbra Streisand, Sidney Pollack, Mike Medavoy, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty and many more. They had come to see a real king who flew helicopters and fought real wars. The King and Queen, in turn, had brought along their brood for the opposite reason – to see the Hollywood royalty up close!
Stanley was larger than life. Though life has now left him, his warm presence remains in the affectionate memories of his many friends and of this city. His was a consequential existence.
Nathan Gardels is editor-in-chief of The WorldPost and co-founder of the Berggruen Institute.
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