Meryl Streep: Still Cooking on Behalf of Newspapers

David Carr, blogger for the NY Times, says that it is perhaps a measure of the urgent needs in the newspaper industry and the unprecedented staying power of Meryl Streep that a rather ancient commercial in which she promotes the importance of reading newspapers is making the rounds again, this time on the ledeobserver blog. Posted last December on YouTube by someone identified as Zosinkaaa, the video has had about 1,200 plays since. The rather distressed quality of the video suggests that it may be a bit vintage (although it is worth pointing out that Ms. Streep looks pretty much the same.) If you watch closely, you can barely make out at the end that the commercial was part of a campaign by the Newspaper Association of America. Some Web surfing did not turn up a date certain, but the other names that come up in the campaign — Jimmy Carter, (then) First Lady Barbara Bush, LL Cool J and Tabitha Soren suggests it was back in the day, maybe the ’80s? A Nexis search suggests that it was part of a series by the association called, “It all starts with newspapers.” Regardless of when it was actually filmed, Ms. Streep, who is currently inhabiting Julia Child in “Julie and Julia,” offers a recipe that remains both remarkably contemporary and timeless at the same time. “Whether you want to be an actor, an athlete or an architect, reading is vital, especially newspapers. Newspapers let you know what is happening like nothing else can.”