English Script Request

In this era of belt tightening, it's kindof refreshing to take a look at people whose happiest pastime is to give money away. Such a man is 77 year old Eli Broad, a self made billionaire, card collector, and for the past 10 years, one of the most consistently generous philanthropists in America. Supporting education reform, medical research, and the arts; who also wants to transform that scrawling monster of a city, Los Angeles, into our cultural capital. Eli Broad thinks big but his critics say he can act very small, that he may give billions away, but he tries to micromanage almost every dollar he gives. Eli Broad doesn't really care what they say, all he wants to do it die poor; well, relatively poor.

The story will continue in a moment.

I believe in 2 things. One, Andrew Carnegie [I think] said: he who dies with wealth dies in shame. And someone said he who gives while he lives also knows where it goes.

There's noone quite so civic minded in America. Eli Broad and his wife Edye have become paparazzi pets because of the money they lavish on Los Angeles. So far, more than half a billion dollars. [Crowd says something]. Who says money can't buy ya love? [Crowd again]. Behold his footprint on Los Angeles. He's a driving force behind 16 major public institutions. In the center of downtown, the cultural corridor, anchored by the magnificent Disney hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Next to it, the home of the Los Angeles opera, the museum of contemporary art, the high school for the performing arts, and the school of music. In greater Los Angeles, 3 scientific research centers, a theatre, an art center, and another contemporary art museum. He puts his name on almost all of them.
You've said that your... sense of being a wealthy man actually increased the more you gave money away. I think it's true. I don't feel I'm here to just maintain the status quo, I'm here to make things better or different. And you want the world to know about it by putting your name on all the things you do support. I don't keep it a secret, that's for sure.
Broad took us to Grand Avenue. This is quite a vista. Which he plans to transform into a vibrant city center rivaling New York's museum mile. Disney Hall, designed by Frank Gehry almost did not get built. Broad rescued the project by putting up his own money and putting the squeeze on fellow plutocrats. Its [It has] really become the symbol of our city. And then there is his own museum, The Broad. This is a rendering. It's still a parking lot. But it will eventually hold his 1.6 billion dollar art collection. How much is this gonna cost you? Something approaching a billion dollars? More. More? More. We were interrupted by an Angelino driving by: "Eli, buy the Dodgers, buy the Dodgers". Eli, buy the Dodgers. You could be the George Steinbrenner of our time. No, no, no. I've got enough on my plate.

Broad runs his philanthropic foundation like a "For profit" business. Not a charity. Charity, he says, is just writing checks. He practices what he calls "venture philanthropy." We don't give it away, we invest it. We want a return. Remember, I started work as a CPA. So that gave me fiscal discipline in everything I did in business and I guess some of it carries over into philanthropy.

Eli Broad says "I want results and if you're not gonna show me results, I'm not gonna give you the money, and incidentally, after one year if you don't show me results, I'm gonna stop funding you."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, no mean philanthropist himself, admires Broad's uncuddly approach and the 32 million dollars hes [he has] given to New York's schools.

Eli Broad sets the standard, I think it's really being a role model for others. When they look at Eli, and because of him they get the idears [slang for ideas], I'm going to be innovative, and be philanthropic, and do some other things. The leverage of Eli Broad is really quite amazing.

Amazing to the extent of almost half a billion dollars he's poured into improving public education. He spends even more on medical research. Years ago, he teamed up with Harvard and MIT to create, you guessed it, The Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Broad is the worlds leading genomic medicine institute. All discoveries are free. Available to anyone.
Now let me be rude and ask how much have you put into this institute?
Six hundred million dollars...total.
Broad grew up in Detroit, the only child of immigrant shop keepers. At twenty one he married Edye Lawson.
We borrowed twenty five thousand dollars from our parents.
And that twenty five thousand led ultimately to...
A lot of money.
In 1957, Broad and a partner launched a "no frills" home building business. He was a millionaire by 27. He bought some life insurance in 1971 and sold it in 1999 for eighteen billion dollars. And that's when he and Edye decided to give most of it away.
You giving seventy five percent of your wealth away...
Maybe more by the time it's over.
Or maybe more.
You have two children?
Yes.
What about them?
They're well taken care of. They're different than their dad.
Different how?
They don't have, frankly [truthfully] the the the, ambition to build a great business that I had.
You've been open about admitting that you were not a great father.
Look, when I started, it was 24-7's [24 hours a day, 7 days a week] as they say and I didn't spend enough time with the kids as they were growing up. I admit that.
Is that something you regret now?
I do to some degree. We all go back and we'd do things over differently in our lives.
Today, Broad balances his life with his passion for contemporary art. Like this Richard Sarah sculpture.
Civilizations are not remembered by their business people, or bankers, or lawyers. They're remembered by the arts.
He's collected over two thousand works of art. Unlike most collectors, almost all of Broads art is available for loan to museums. He loaned these pieces to the LA County Museum of Art and threw in a fifty million dollar building to house them. One of his favorite artists is the irrepressible Jeff Koons and here a veritable cornucopia of Koonzian genius. All of course paid, and crafted, by hired craftsmen. Koons is nothing, if not worshipful, of Eli Broad.
You know I'm Morely and Eli [phrase is unclear] I just have to say standing here, what a fantastic location. I mean, look at the, the natural light that's coming in on these works. It's just a tremendous gallery.
And the balloon dog? What does it do to you? Do you get some kind of emotional kick?
I do. It makes me smile. Makes me feel good. It makes me proud. It especially makes me proud when I see young people and others looking at the work. And it introduces an art in a way that no other work really does.
And a piece that quite honestly mystifies me...Michael Jackson and a chimp is it?
Michael Jackson and Bubbles. When I made this series, the banality series, uh I was...
Series of of banality?
Images. I was trying to communicate to people, that whatever you respond to...it's perfect.
If you find Koons art speak, incomprehensible...well just wait.
These are to make reference to be in the womb a little bit...before birth and uh...uh...prior to any kind of concept of death.
Do you totally get what he's talking about?
Not to the extent that Jeff does. But uh I I do listen, I understand. I learn from artists. Especially Jeff.
But not all artists are as respectful as Jeff Koons. Take Architect Frank Garret.
Eli's a control freak. I worked on a house for him. I didn't wanna do it.
Why didn't you wanna do it?
I just told him I didn't like him. He said, you'll learn to like me.
Broad fired Garry, then built the house anyway using Garry's drawings.
After two years and seven different models. I was impatient. I think you wanna spend another year or two deciding. I said, Frank, a work of art is never finished. It's only abandoned.

They worked together again three years later to build Disney Hall. Once again, Broad fired Garry, but he had to eat humble pie [be humbled] when the Disney family insisted that he hire Garry back.
We did it, we built it. We weren't friends.
You've made your peace with them at the same time you...
I won't do a project for him, that's true.
Eli's middle name is "strings attached" [see *Note* at bottom], Eli "strings attached" Broad. Christopher Knight, the art critic for The Los Angeles Times has "Broad Watching" [pun on "bird watching] for years.
He is a first generation, male, self made, gazillionaire [really really rich guy - gazillion isn't a real number] and people in category typically, um, believe, and with good evidence, that they know how to make something a success. And, that can be a problem.
With science, Broad leaves the details to the experts, but when he dangles his money and his art in front of most major museums in LA [Los Angeles], he sees himself as the expert. And if they won't play, he won't pay.
Well, I'm a perfectionist. And on things I know something about, I do get involved.
We've talked to a number of people who say that you can turn into a bully.
I don't think I'm a bully but on the other hand I'm not a potted plant either.
No, I'm sure you're not a potted plant but these people who say some pretty unkind things about you will not talk publicly. They clearly are scared of you.
I don't know why they're scared of me.
Well, because you're a rich guy and therefore a powerful guy, and uh you've got a temper.
I've got strong views on things.
But even your good friend Frank Garry says "Eli can be a real pain in the ass".
I can understand why Frank could say that, because I am impatient, and patience has it's limits.
Number one, it's his money. And you don't have to take it, so I'm sympathetic with that. Eli is not a micromanager as much as he has ideas on how you can make society better. And, he's devoting his own money to doing it. Kinda hard to argue with that he doesn't have the right to do it and you don't have to play the game if you don't want to.
When you've got one eight hundred pound gorilla in the room, you're scared to death of the guy. Everyone does want something from Eli and since he is the biggest game in town, nobody wants to alienate him.
I just appreciate you all so... much.
Just watch this crowd at the recent gala for the Los Angeles Museum for Contemporary Arts which Broad bailed out two years ago for thirty million dollars. It was a scrum [tight mix] of culture vultures, fashion victims, and art victims; dealers and collectors; a night when skinniness was next only to Godliness. When philanthropy and social climbing, self aggrandizement, and greed disolved into one gigantic air kiss. All under the benevolent eye of that feared and admired dictator, Eli Broad.
Beyond the altruistic part of it, ego plays a part of it.
Oh, absolutely.
A desire to be loved?
A desire to be respected. I'm not doing these things to become the most popular person in the city. I wanna be the most respected person.
We left him on the roof of his art foundation. This fully contented man. This master of all he surveys [looks at].
What's this at the very end here?
I know what this is.
What is it?
It's big foot.
It is big foot.
And who is the biggest foot in Los Angeles right now?
I don't know? I don't think so.

*Note* - Typically, the phrase is "no strings attached". "no strings attached" means it doesn't come with any extra hidden undesired features, connections, or requirements. "strings attached" implies he comes with many hidden and annoying requirements.