WWE Death-O-Mania!Irvin Muchnickbyline‚ Sep. 13‚ 2007Two committees of the House of Representatives are edging toward hearings this fall that will further define the blurred lines of our junk-besotted popular culture. The essential question before them is whether the lives of professional wrestlers are as highly valued as those of aging character actors and exploited children. Readers of a certain age may recall that in 1982 Vic Morrow, star of the old TV series Combat!, was decapitated by a crashing helicopter on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Two other actors at the 2 a.m. shoot, 7-year-old Myca Dyhn Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, met similarly gruesome ends. As a result, safety regulations for movie sets in California were reformed and federal child labor laws were strengthened. |