Pathological gamblers, compulsive spendersand kleptomaniacs: Are they simply weak-willedor do they have a chemical glitch in the brain?

An antidote to credit cards?By William Green

■ hirty years ago a 14-year-oldkid from Brooklyn, N.Y.skipped school and spent a

. magical day at a local racetrack. He picked six winners in a row,and that was his downfell. Hooked ongambling, he owed $60,000 to loansharks by age 26. When he fell behindon his payments, a mobster put a gunto his head and eatened to kill him.

Gamblers Anonymous didn'thelp. After joining, he used hisemployer's checks to cover a$14,000 gambling debt. Thena few months ago he heardabout a new research study atM a n h a t t a n ' s M o u n t S i n a iSchool of Medicine. Psychiatrists there put him on Luvox,an antidepressant. "I haven'tgambled in three weeks," hesays. "That's the longest I'veever abs ta ined. "

Eric Hollander, a professor ofpsychiatry at Mount Sinai,thinks pathological gamblershave a biochemical imbalance inthe brain. He looks to moodstabilizers and antidepressantsto help them kick the habit.

Hollander's studies suggestthat the brains of addicted gamblers often have unusually highlevels of the chemical norepi-ncplirine. He also dilnks there'ssomething wrong with the gamblers'serotonin—a neurotransmitter associated with impulsiveness. Hollandergot striking results last year when hetested the drug fluvoxamine on 16pathological gamblers. Seven of the10 patients who completed the eight-week trial quit gambling.

Susan McElroy, a biological psychiatrist at the University of CincinnatiCollege of Medicine, is similarly reappraising kleptomania. Usually women,kleptomaniacs feel an irresistible urgeto steal things they don't need. Over-

Forbes ■ April 6, 1998

come with guilt, they often discard orgive away their plunder.

McElroy stumbled upon her findings while treating a 23-year-oldbul imic who was also addicted tostealing clothes from shopping malls.When the patient took trazadone forher bulimia, her impulse to steal vanished. She went off the drug and waspromptly arrested for shoplifting.

McElroy decided to look systematically at the effect of medication onkleptomania. So she gave drugs likelithium and Prozac to 20 kleptomaniacs. Half of them stopped stealing orstole less often. Her conclusion: Kleptomania, like pathological gambling,is a "biologically based" mental disorder treatable \vith drugs.

Donald Black, a psychiatrist at theUniversity of Iowa College of Medicine, studies a third money-relatedproblem: compulsive spending. Typically, compulsive spenders pile up

Edited by Joshua Levine

huge debts on clothes, shoes, jewelry,makeup. Credit cards are their undoing. Black thinks Mary Todd Lincoln,Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis andImelda Marcos may have been compulsive spenders.

In 1995 Black put ten compulsivespenders on a nine-week course of theantidepressant Luvox. Nine out of tenimproved dramatically. Black suspects

the drug helps restore order to anabnormal serotonin system in thecompulsive shopper's brain.

But don't expect these economic disorders to disappearunder a barrage of pills. Blackdoesn't think that all spendoma-nia t races to chemical imbalances."! doubt you're going tofind tliis problem among AfricanHottentots," he muses. "It 'sWestern culture that offers easycredit, a lot of good products tobuy and a high degree of disposable income. It's a society ripe forcompulsive spending."

Pathological gambling also hasa strong cultural component. EricHollander worries that gamblinghas become too accessible: Airlines offer cheap tickets to LasVegas, supermarkets sell lotterytickets, and now you can try yourluck on the Internet. As a result,women and youngsters are get

ting hooked on what was traditionally an adult male vice.

David Krueger, a Houston-basedpsychoanalyst, points out that compulsive spending, gambling andshoplifting provide thrills that manypeople use to compensate for an overwhelming sense of emptiness andabandonment. "Medication," he says,"takes care of the symptom, not theunderlying issues that motivate thebehavior." So far no one has come upwith a pill that will cure an innere m p t i n e s s . H

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Rebirth of the coolWas there ever a figure in jazz whoevolved as much as Miles Davis? Atthe birth of bebop in the late 1940she was playing trumpet in CharlieParker's lineup. A decade later hiscollaborations with the great arrangerGil Evans yielded such classics asSketches of Spain and Por y and Bess.Kind of Blue., released in 1959,remains one of the genre's finest.

I n t h e m i d - 1 9 6 0 s M i l e s f o r m e d aband made up of some of theyoungest talent around. Backed byWayne Shorter on tenor saxophoneand Ron Carter on bass, the groupalso included two up-and-comingmusicians—23-year-old pianistHerbie Hancock and Tony Williams,an unknown 17-year-old drummer.

On Mar. 24 Sony Music's Legacylabe l re leased The Mi les Dav is

Quintet, 1965-68: The CompleteColumbia Studio Recordings, a six-disc set that captures all the band'sm u s i c a n d t h e n s o m e . T h e c o l l e ction (price; $109.98) clocks in at440 minutes, chronologically

The Great White Wayis a legend.Can Jed Bernstein

tft turn it into a brand?

arranged over the course of 27 sessions taped between January 1965and June 1968.

Of d ie four other boxed sets ofMiles' music available, this onestands out. It was this quintet thatchanged the trajectory of jazz,moving it from the confines of bebopi n to t h e f r e e - f o rm f u s i o n t h a t t o o khold in the la te 1960s. This remarkable band's life cycle was all tooshort, but this collection, remasteredfrom the original four-track tapes,exquisitely recaptures the quintet'sm a g i c . - P e t e r N e w c o m b

I t 'sshowt imeBy Ben Pappas

Jed Bernstein sits ina sparse conferenceroom at die Leagueo f A m e r i c a n T h eatres & Producers,

t h e fl a s h o f T i m e s

Square peeping diroughthe windows, and talksabout theater. Broadway to you—h o m e t o B e r n s t e i n .

Bernstein, 43, grew up on a GreatWhite Way that operated essentiallythe same way as when the first playwas produced there in 1893, atCharles Frohman's Empire Theatreat 40th Street and Broadway. "Legitimate theater" was what Broadwayloftily called itself, as if to say moviesand TV weren't the real stuff.

Legitimate or not, by 1995 Broadway faced stagnant revenues and risingcosts. Its auclience was aging. Broadway theater depended on touringcompanies for 63% of its revenues—ithad almost no loyal following. Therock generation was not tuning in.

Enter Bernstein. Like Guys &Dollf Sky Masterson, he was a tall,h a n d s o m e o u t s i d e r . H e h a d w o r k e dfor 17 years as an adman, but the thea t e r w a s h i s r e a l l o v e . W h e n t h e

league called, Bernstein droppedeverything and took his dreamaccount. His assignment: gettingunder-40s to buy tickets.

"Broadway theater needed to createinnovative ways to solidify its image,"r e c a l l s B e r n s t e i n . H e s e t a b o u t t h etask the same way an ad person setsabout selling blue jeans or cars: by creating a strong and attractive image for

die product. With Bernstein as execu- |tive director, the league rolled out an iofficial "Live Broadway" logo, a §Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval ifor theater. Then Bernstein landedhigh-profile sponsorships, including adeal with Continental Arl ines that letstravelers relax to a new lineup ofBroadway music on its in-flight headsets each month.

He persuaded the league to movelast year's Tony awards to Radio CityM u s i c H a l l f r o m m u c h s m a l l e r

Broadway theaters and asked talk-Tv's Rosie O'Donncll to host. TheTony awards ceremony scored itshighest ratings in a decade.

Can you sell a form of entertainment the way you sell soap or sneakers? Bernstein sure means to try. Hislatest stunt took place at the recentNBA All-Star game, where more than100 actors, singers and dancers fromthe casts of ten musicals took centercourt for a rousing half-time medley.

Is it working? Last season Broadway shows, at home and on tour,raked in $1.3 billion, up 16% fromtwo years ago. Bernstein's antics maybe only partly responsible, but atl e a s t h e ' s r e m i n d e d A m e r i c a n s t h a tthere's more to life than TV, movies,C D s a n d t h e I n t e r n e t . H

1 6 2 Forbes ■ April 6, 1998