His Theater Career Soared Like a Balloon, Filled With Hot Air

Maggie Massimine denied that her husband had exaggerated or misled people, but said that, because of ongoing legal discussions, she could not address some of the questions raised about her husband’s background.

“Our side of the story has not been told,” she said. “I really wish I could say more.”

The annals of résumé padding stretch deep, and often the padders are people who have already achieved a good measure of success. A former chief executive of Bausch Lomb. A Notre Dame head football coach. A celebrity chef.

The chef Robert Irvine said in 2008 that he should have stood on his accomplishments alone, “without embellishment,” after he was found to have pumped up his résumé to include a bachelor of science degree, knighthood and stints as a chef to U.S. presidents.

Evidence of Massimine’s willingness to tell a tall tale dates back to his youth in New Jersey, according to a local theater director. Gerry Appel, then director of a theater now known as the Somerset County Cultural Arts Center, recalled that in 2003 a teacher at a local high school forwarded him a request from Massimine. According to Appel, the teacher said Massimine had told her he was a nephew of the actor John Stamos, best known for his role as Uncle Jesse on “Full House,” and Massimine wanted to stage “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the theater.

“I said yes,” Appel recalled. At the time, he said, he was leading a post-flood renovation of the former vaudeville venue and thought he could use a celebrity donation. Also, he thought correctly, “this kid might lead a theater someday.”

Massimine would later tell a Forbes magazine contributor in a 2020 interview that he had “sold out the entire run of a professional theatrical production” as a high school senior.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/theater/christopher-massimine-pioneer-theater.html