Paul Newman's 'Shameless Exploitation'

Davina Morgan-Witts, BookBrowse editor

"There are three rules for running a business; fortunately, we don't know any of them." - Paul Newman in Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good

Paul Newman, actor, philanthropist and businessman is dead, but his legacy will live on - not just on supermarket shelves where his smiling face will hopefully grace the bottles and jars of Newman's Own products for many years to come, and in his more than 50 movies, and in the lives of the thousands of sick children he has touched and will continue to touch through his Hole in the Wall Gang camps - but also on bookshelves through his witty, inspirational and informative 'business' book, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good, coauthored with fellow Newman's Own business partner, writer A.E. Hotchner. 

The book describes how what started as a lark, gifting a few bottles of salad dressing to neighbors at Christmas, grew into one of the first all natural food companies with serious profits - profits that, since day one, have been donated in full to help others, about $250 million so far. A key beneficiary has been the Hole in the Wall Gang camps (a reference to the safe haven in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) which in the past 20 years have played host to over 135,000 sick children who attend entirely free of charge.  A further 17,000 children are due to enjoy a camp experience in 2009.

First published in 2003 in hardcover, Newman and Hotchner's book was released in paperback just a few weeks ago - although, sadly, the publisher saw fit to remove the tongue in cheek "Shameless Exploitation" from the title, so that the paperback is prosaically titled In Pursuit of the Common Good.

A couple of months back, when the news came out that Paul Newman was going home from hospital to die, I fired up our Netflix account and ordered up Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting in order to introduce the children to an example of humanity at its finest - which we did while slurping Newman's Own sauce over pasta.  To be honest, the movies felt a little dated; but one thing that certainly has not dated is Newman's view of sharing his luck with others by giving back both his time and his money.

Over the past few days we've read his obituary and talked about how there's a whole lot more to being a 'star' than getting your face on the front of magazines - that it's not about how much money you have or how famous you are, but what you do with your fame and wealth that matters.  Paul Newman exemplified this, not by lecturing but simply by leading by example.

Donations in memory of Paul Newman can be made to the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps.