Elizabeth Taylor Scrapbook

MS CE~TAINLY IS MAKING II TOUGH ON US Oi'Hei:t

GR5AT LOVERS!

Shj: already owns the 33-carat Krupp diamopd,•. and assorted other baubles worth. a' fortune. Stitl, here was a rock to outshine them all: a flawless, pure white, 69-carat diamond, set in a ring that an anonymous owner had put up for bids at Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries. Elizabeth Taylor wanted the jewel so badly that the Burtons' agent was willing to pay $1,000,000. Alas, that was not enough. The stone, which is as large as a peach pit, went for $1,050,000, making it the world's costliest single piece of jewelry ever auc-

f>i1monds For Liz On Oscar Night HollywOod· (AP)-Elizabetb Taylor plans to bedazzle tonight's Academy Awards audience by wearing her million· dollar .. diamond, newly transplanted into a abi~ing necklace. · .For the privil11ge of doing so she will pay three Australian insurance companies a pl'eJlllUm of $2,500. ' .A ·dE6criptlon of Miss Taylor's gown and jew~. ~or the Academy Awards presentation was provided by Edith Head, who has created a periwinkle blue chiffon gown and coat for Miss Tiaylor. ~"n1e color is the color of her eyes," said Miss Head. She said Miss Taylor collaborated with her in designing the outfit, Miss Tiylor an updated version of ~ dress the actress wore in the 1951 movie, "A Place in the Sun." "Elizabeth's whole idea for the Oscar," said Miss Head, "is to use the gown we designed together as a background for a diamond necklace which features the Cartier diamond and some of Elizabeth's other diamonds." · The Cartier diamond, a l.os-million-dollar gift from Miss Taylor's husband, Richard Burton, was previously set in a ring.

Liz Taylor Gets The Huge Diamond tioned. It was carried off by Cartier.

But in the end, the lady had her way when Richard Burton bought the gem from Cartier. The price? Still a secret.

~EW YORK (AP) - Actress was made by Robert Kenm()re, Elizabeth Tarlor has added the chairman <>f the board of K _ 69.42-carat diamond - sold at en auction Thursday . for $1.05 more Corp., owner of Cartier's. million - to a jewelry collection Mrs.. Burton, 37, will have that already includes the 33- to wait a few weeks to take carat Krupp diamond and the possession of her new gem s~t in a ring ~it~ two half-moon famed La Peregrina pearl.

Miss Taylor's husband, actor d!a~on,ds w~1ghmg 2.92 carats.

Richard Burton, bought the huge Carb~r s said. tbe stone would diamond Friday from Cartier's be displayed m the New York the Fifth Avenue jewelry store: st?re through Nov. 1.,and Bu~ton for an undisclosed sum. will get the ,,stone some time Announcing the sale, a Car- after Nov. 8. tier's spokesman said the <Ha- The huge stone is one of the mond ,had been purchased <>n few, large unnamed diamonds.

Burton s .behal~ by Al Yagler.

It was the third largest stone The big~ bid - r~portedly ever sold at auction. Parket~e top p~1ce ever paid . for a Bernet would not disclose the piece <>f Jewelry at auction - seller.

THEY'RE LAUGHING NOW, but as soon as the cameras shut off, Liz's radiant smile turned to a scowl and she bawled out Burton and David Frost (left).

By IAIN CALDER

Elizabeth Taylor was so angry at being tricked into a television appearance with her husband that she publicly called the show's host, David Frost, "a 1ittle fink."

Six million viewers on March 19 heard Liz sP._it the wor<ls out at Frost after he coaxed her before the cameras on the pretext of "just saying hello."

6 Million Viewers Hear Liz 'I ylor Call David Frost 'A Little Fink'

But what they did not see was the off-camera fury Liz unleashed on Burton when she realized he had plotted with Frost to get her on the show.

The incident occurred during a recording of the David Frost Show in Hollywood on March 11.

Richard Burton was the only member of the · famous husband-wife acting team scheduled to appear on the 90-minute talk show. But during a commercial break Frost hurried from the stage upstairs to a private room where Liz was watching on closed circuit TV. During the few minutes Frost was absent Burton nervously watched the doors. He knew Frost had gone to get his wife. Frost ran back on stage, the cameras started rolling and he announced that Liz was to join AFTER THE SHOW Liz, Burton and Frost were all smiles ot party given by the Andrew Frankl ins (center). the show.

Soon she ran out from behind a curtain ing at Frost, she said, "Charlie Charming lightning surprise appearance, but isn't it and Frost led her to a seat between himself here came out three minutes ago and spoke perfect that she doesn't need any?" and Burton. to me .••" When the audience applauded in agreeShe wore, incredibly for a star of her Burton lamely tried to explain to the ment with Frost, Liz was disb~lieving. "I magnitude and experience, no makeup on audience, "My wife has no makeup on," he saw that light that says 'applause~ come up. the face that has been called the most beau- said.

That means they had to applaud, right? tiful in the world.

Elizabeth, suntanned from a vacation in "I knew I shouldn't have come on here,'' The three had a breezy talk, during which Mexico, pointed at Frost and then at Burton she said a little later as Frost tried to pry Burton occasionally leaned over and touched and said: answers to personal questions out {)f her. his wife's arm reassuringly. But when the "I'm the only one without makeup. Look "I just thought you got me out here to say cameras and the microphones shut off for a at them, they are ladled with it." hello. You really are a little fi~~ aren't station break, Liz's radiant smile became a Frost said to Liz, "This proves you don't you?" frozen scowl. need any."

After the show there was a frosty ·silence She turned her back on Frost, and leaning But two studio makeup artists came on- between Liz and Burton as they waloked back to her husband, began bawling him out be- stage and quickly patched up Liz with a few to the dressing rooms. fore a studio audience of several hundred deft touches of powder and lipstick before Later at a party at the home of British people. the cameras came on again, after the sta- Consul Andrew Franklin, Liz told friends: Burton tried to shift the blame for the tion break was finished.

"I had no idea I was to go on and when I SOCK IT TO ME: This tricky trick to get her onstage by pointing at Frost Back on the air, Frost explained for the agreed I didn't know it would be for more camera angle makes it look and saying, "It's him, he did it." benefit of the viewers who would not see that than a few minutes. like the battling Burtons are at She then turned to the audience and told part of the taped conversation.

"I was upset that I didn't have any makeit again at party after 1970 them, "I was conned into this, I was only "Elizabeth was worried because she hadn't up on. That's not the way to appear on Academy Awards. suppos~ to come on and say hello." Point- got any makeup on because of making a te.levi&io.n, is it?."

How did she do it? Elizabeth Taylor's crash program for getting her amplitude into shape for hot pants is said to have included a regimen of grapefruit juice, steak and vitamin B. The new, attenuated Taylor left London last week with Husband Richard Burton for a holiday in Switzerland and the U.S. Burton, who is taking a percentage rather than a salary for his soon to be released film Villain, then plans to begin "hovering," as he puts it, "over the box office return like a Welsh bird of prey."

THE NEW TAYLOR

ELIZABETH TAYLOR COMES RUNNING

Wild tide on a rough shore.

"Sometimes, unexpectedly, in the early morning, I will imagine an extraordinary woman-lush and lavish and lovely-and . . ." Many a man's earlymorning fantasy may look quite a bit like Elizabeth Taylor. But few could go on, as did Richard Burton when he saw the latest photograph of Liz: "I will reach out with my hand and find the reality of the dream woman. She existS', and Io and behold, she is alive.

She is warm. She responds. She murmurs. She weeps. She is wild. She is dangerous. But sometimes, like this photograph, she will come running at me with all the beauty of the unmistakable tide coming in on the rough shore.

And I lie there like a rock ..."

Modern screen's

page gossip extra bJ Ho1111ood's greatest co1umn1st

The Party of the Month: Richard Burton proved hlmsell the best sport of Academy Award history by hosting, with Elizabeth, the Losers• Party, for all the nominees who came out minus Oscars on Oscar night. And poor Richard has lost out on the big prize six times! Which makes him champ of all losers!

The Burtons' bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel was too small to hold all the weepers who accepted the invitation, so Richard and Liz took over a private room at the hotel for their lavish buffet and champagne bash.

Notably absent were Liza Minnelli (her kidney had started to act up after that motorcycle accident with Tony Bill), but she sent her father, Vincente. to represent her.

Hal Wallis was another "no show." After his Anne of the Thousand Days re_· 'ceived the most nominations of all (11) and ·won only "best costume designs" award, Hal ,- - said, "I don't feel like being a good loser." l'lut Jane Fonda was very much present -Qnd some quests felt out of line by bringing with her three representatives of Black Militant causes whose polit~al ideologies Jane was expounding to everyone she could back into a corner to listen. If Jane wants to go all out for her Indians and her Blacks, well and good.

She has every right. But at somebody else's p arty?

Genevieve Bujold, who lost the "best actress" award to Maggie Smith, didn't stay too long. She said she was packing to leave for London the next day. But she and the other pretty loser, Susannah York, toasted each other in champagne with: "Better luck next time."

Dyan Cannon came with her father (she seldom appears these days without her mother or father} and admitted she was a little shook at losing "best snpporting actress" honors to Goldie Hawn, who was in far off London.

Dyan had been the most highly touted candidate to win in her category.

Elliott Gould, her losing pal from Bob & Carol. Ted & Alice seemed to be bearing up well and so did Jack Nichoi• son, a n early favorite in the betting for his Easy Rider performance . . Jon Voight came with his best girl, Jen• niler Salt, a nd cracked, "Who says I'm a loser? I've got Jenntfer."

At the Awards: John Wayne's son holds his coveted True Grit Oscar.

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continued

Proud John Wayne is ff,anked by wife Pilar and his daughter.

Maggie Smith and husband Robert

Stevens~elebrate

her Oscar.

The ECJ,stwoods chat with Elizabeth.

Genevieve Bujold with her husband.

Richard lost, but Liz glittered as always.

One point on which all the losers agreed: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are the "winningest" hosts of the Oscar season. The Burtons' party for the losers was a lot more fun than the official Governors Ball for the winners which was a pretty dull affair.

Brief Afterthoughts on the Academy Awards: There were plenty of gripes, mostly from older, staid members of the Academy, that an X-rated film, Midnight Cowboy, won first prize-also from the hard working press corps isolated way up on the 4th floor of the Music Center so that reporters and photogs couldn't get to the stars. . . .

Cary Grant considered not showing up to receive his Honorary Oscar because of a pending alleged paternity suit which might "embarrass" the Academy. The great recep-

10

Cowboy Jon Voight with his Jennifer Salt.

lion he got, however, negated any doubts he had. . . .

Meantime, my own private awards to: Most Charming Performer: Fred Astaire, wonderful old smoothie. . . .

Most Popular Winner: John Wayne who won "with his clothes on" . . . .

Worst Dressed: Raquel Welch who covered her glorious figure with so much junk she looked yards wide..•• Most Gloriously Dressed: Elizabeth Taylor in violet chiffon the color of her eyes . . • also those diamonds. . • .

Most Improved Dresser: Barbra Streisand, looking radiant in pink with matching pillbox, a vast improvement over that seethrough nonsense she wore last year when she won for Funny Girl . ...

Most Freaked-Out Outfit: Ali MacGraw's get-up which looked like a motorcycle. accident going somewhere to happen.

Conspicuously Absent: Jaae Fonda's

papa Henry and brother Peter, the latter off "hunting locations" and the former an ardent objector to Academy Awards; also Peter Allen, the first tip-off that something was wrong in his marriage to Liza Minnelli which she confirmed the same day.

Also ''out of town" for some reason or other, Gig Young's steady gal. Ruth Hulsman, who surely wanted to be present to see him pick up his Oscar for They Shoot Horses,

Don't They? ...

Conspicuously Present: Katherine Ross who flew in from location on Fools in San Francisco to weep with joy over cameraman Conrad Hall's win of best cinematographer for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And Conrad tipped the seriousness of their romance on camera when he said he was glad he won, "because Katherine wanted me to." They'll be married when his divorce is final . . . • You saw most of the rest of it on TV.

WALTER SCOTT'S

Personalltv Parade Want the facts? Want to spike rumors? Want to learn the truth about prominent personalities? Write Walter Scott, Parade, 733 3rd Ave. \lewYork, N.Y., 10017. Yourfull name will be used unles~ otherwise requested. Volume of mail received makes personal replies impossible Q. Will Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew campaign in 1972 the same way they campaigned in 1970?Noel Fletcher, Arlington, Va.

return for Southern votes, promised to help textile manufacturers keep Japanese goods out of the U.S.?

-Edward Driscoll, Charlotte, N.C.

A. Every man is a victim of his own nature. Mr. Nixon

A. It is true. Mr. Nixon is one politician who does

and Mr. Agnew are men with considerable quotients of hostility and aggression. When they feel threatened they strike out. If an electioneering situation obtains in 1972 which threatens their security and position, they will react according to their natures.

his level best to pay off his promises.

Q. Has the U.S. ever considered the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam?-Manfred Hentshel, Washing~ ton, D.C.

Q. Did singer Tom Jones ever attempt suicide?laine Kelleher, Harrisburg, ~a.

A. When Jones (real name -Thomas Jones Woodward) first came to London from Wales, he could find no work. One day at the Notting Hill Gate underground station, he thought of throwing himself under a train: "I was at my lowest point of despair." In 1964, however, he recorded "lt;s Not Unusual." The record was a hit, and Jones since has never entertained a thought of suicide.

ELIZABETH ANO RICHARD

Q. I have read-that no film producer will pay Richard Burton or his wife Elizabeth Taylor one million dollars per film any more. Is this so?-Helen Hurley, Baltimore, Md.

a book, Conversations With de Gaulle. The book was not to be published until after de Gaulle's death.

Now it will be.

A. When Burton began his latest film, Villain, he explained "I will not receive a penny in advance tor this picture. T have become a partner in the venture, and if it is a success I shall get my share of the profits. The days of a million dollars a picture are over now. We must all cut our suits according to our cloth and take a piece of the action rather than a huge fee right off the top."

Q. What's happened to

Q. Is Dr. Ralph Bunche of

Mme. Nhu, the sister-in-

the Urrited Nations losing his eyesight?-M. T. T., Mineola, N. Y.

Mair.aux has been ~' n d to finish General de Gaulle's mrmoirsl-Chrislirtc .olney, Denver, Colo.

Q. Is it true that

Anq~

A. No. Malraux, de Gau Ire's closest friend, has written

faw of the late South Vietnamese President, Ngo Dinh Diem?-Alice Geer, Boston, Mass.

A. According to Richard !3arnet, co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies and a member of the State Department and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the Kennedy Administration, "Under pressure from the military, President Johnson gave serious consideration to the use of tactical nuclear weapons to relieve the garrison at Khe Sanh in 1968. Reports that the White House was sounding out <;:ongressional reaction to such a move elicited strong public reaction and all such plans were dropped."

Q. Who is the girl who has hit James Brown, our number-one soul singer, with a paternity suit?-E. T., Rome, Ga. A. Mary Christine Mitchell, 26, has charged-singer James Brown, 37, with fathering a girl born to her three months ago. Miss Mitchell claims she has known Brown for about ten y~ars, has been intimate with him in New York, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and other places.

She is seeking child support.

A. Yes, unfortunately.

A. She has lived in exile

Q. I understand Las Vegas

in Rome and Paris since her husband and brotherin-law were killed in a 1963 coup. Recently she was allegedly defrauded out of $144,000 by a Roman Catholic priest, Msgr. Pietro Gelmini, in jail on charges of issuing bad checks and defrauding people to the tune of $500,000.

men have moved into southern California and are establishing a series of gambling casinos there.

Any truth to that?-M. H., San Clemente, Ca/if.

A. Veteran Las Vegas gamblers who sold out to

Q. How many times in the fast 15 years have Argen-

Howard Hughes have moved into southern California to set up resorts and real estate deals but no gambling casinos. One such resort is la Costa, 25 miles from San Diego.

Q. Is the Bob Wagner-Tina Sinatra affair serious?

tinians been allowed to vote for their President?Alfred Amadeo, Las Cruces, N. Mex.

-Q. Can you verify or deny a statement in Fortune

Isn't he old enough to be her father?-Helen Barnwell, Winston-Salem, N:C.

A. Twice.

magazine which says that in 1968 Richard Nixon, in

A. It's serious. Wagner is 40, Tina is 22.

TINA ANO BOB

Elimheth Taylor hospitamed LA JOU.A, Calif. (AP) - Actress Elizabeth Ta~lor is hospi· tallzed at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation for what hospital off1cia1s describe as "a routine annual physical."

Miss Taylor entered the hospital last Friday and is expected to remain fer several more days.

In Los Angeles, a spokesman for United Artists denied a published report that Miss Taylor was suffering s~ere stomach :ramps. She said the hospital stay was for a routme checkup.

A hospital spokesman said he was un11ble to confirm or deny the teport of stomach trouble. As to the length of her stay, he sai • ..These checkups normally run anywhere from a couple of day9 t1> a week and a half."

Some mmdlu ago Ilene UJett rvmon tlae ftGlun of EUzabella T~.Jlor·• iU....., hi llae actral aewr clarijietl wlaot IDOi ailing ltn. Don •nvone really lcnowP-.R. E., Miami, Fla. flbtnll

Liz Taylor has ovary removed NEW YO~ (AP) - A~tress Elizabeth Taylor had an OYary removed dunng 8!1 operation to reli~ve abdominal pain last month, her attending surgeon said ·Friday through her press representative here.

John 'Springer, th9'.press representative, said that Richard Burton left Europe Friday during a break in filming to.join his estranged wife, who is recuperating at UCLA.Medical Center in Los .Angeles.

Divorce proceedings are continuing, however Springer said.

• .

Hubby Burton does, and says: "When sbe

was in the hospital, it was for some very routine things that she'd put otT. So the press bad to gasp in speculation about can· cer of the spine. What rot! Can't a superstar ever have a case or hemorrhoids?"

ON

THE~ Poor New York. Like the corrupt harlot, all you ever read about her is bad. It's either too hot or too cold, or it rains all the time and there are floods. To the outsider, a New Yorker is a daily target for muggers and murderers, robbers and rapists. It's really not that bad, honest. I won't say New York is Shangri-La bui having seen the movie, 1 can assure you that things weren't so hot their either.

Of late, one of New York's happiest moments was the glittering party given by Pat Neal, daughter Tessa, Kathie (Brown) and Darren McGavin in honor of their latest film, "Happy Mother's Day, Love George." The spacious rooms of the Four Seasons were stuffed with the rich, the famous, the infamous, and the celebrated. Race-driver Peter Revson was there with his new girl Pixie Loomis, who used to. be married to millionaire Bo Polk, but Peter is richer (heir to the Revlon fortune) and prettier. Peter's sister Jennifer Revson is about to marry Harry Guardino, that is if she can get the consent of the family.

Standing around the groaning board were that Odd Couple, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, puce-colored Andy Warhol; and Don Rugoff, who owns half the theaters in New York, says business is good, and wishes somebody would say something good about New York. Lois Nettleton came with her agent, Milton Goldman. and her lawyer, Arnold Weissburger. The terribly brilliant and beautiful Shana Alexander was there with her longtime friend Harry Craig, the Irish playwright who lives in London and commutes to New York to see Shana. I don't blame him. Patsy Kelly dropped in after the theater as did George Plimpton and Kevin McC<trthy. If there-had to be the star of the evening, it was Warren Beatty, who did not come with Julie Christie, although they have been seeing each other at other places.Julie is co-starring opposite George C. Scott in "Uncle Vanya," and Warren has been battling the Internal Revenue over an alleged million dollars in back taxes. Speaking of George C. Scott, he must be thrilled out of his head over the news that he will have Cybill Shepherd as leading lady in "Bank Shot." Cybill is pretty to look at and we all know she has marvelous connections, but as an actress she is about as responsive as a pound of lard.

Doris Ully

PROWL

Naturally the one topic of conversation at the party was the Burton split. Oh, so many theories. Was it because of Helmut Berger who played with Elizabeth Taylor in ." Ash Wednesday" and went bananas over her? Could it be because Liz went to California to see her ailing mother and Richard can't stand to be around anyone who is ill? Could it possibly be Peter Lawford?

What about Nathalie Delon who caught the Burton eye? All nonsense. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton have simply discovered the horn of plenty also has thorns---mai nly Elizabeth's health and Richard's drinking.

The almost constant pain Liz lives with began years ago when she suffered a crushed disc and had a major operation to save her legs from being paralyzed. Since then she has rarely been out of pain. She has had three children by cesarean birth and in 1959 nearly died from double pneumonia, followed by a virus infection caused by an abcessed tooth and then a siege of meningitis. In 1961 she underwent a tracheotomy and was kept in an iron lung.

More recently she underwent a hysterectomy, a painful broken finger, and arthritis in her hand, and just last May. she was quarantined with measles. If Mrs. Burton was a little edgy about her husband's excessive drinking and dark moods, I think it is understandable. Anyway, she put her foot down and the couple split. Prognosis---divorce.

"

, '-;~

;;-..:

,'Ji~;

Over in Monte Carlo you may be sure Princess Grace is not at all amused at daughter Caroline's ambition to become a movie star like mama. Her Serene Highness is not easily ruffled. When ¡it became known the Marquis Dalmas de Polignac, a first cousin of Princess Grace and Prince Ranier, had gone into the sex shop business, the lady simply went to London and opened an art exhibit. The Prince stayed behind with a kidney ailment.

What Princess Grace would really like is for Caroline to ma rry somebody like Prince Charles. If not the throne of England, then how about Prince Leopold of Bavaria, who this past summer has become a constant companion of the pretty young Caroline.

"Poldi," as he is called, is trying to impress. He cut his hair, turned in his Harley-Davidson hot rod for a chauffeur-driven Mercedes-

urtons Plan to Retire

Welsh Village London CAP)-Richard Burton Ud Elizabeth Taylor are makfng their plans for retirement.

When the time arrives they infend to settle down far from the glitter they have known.

The two stars have chosen a village in a co8l valley of th Wales where Burton grew up. It ia Pontrhydyfen, ·proaounced approximately pont}beed-a-ven.

"It's been virtually untouched tince my childhood," said Bur'1u. "When I really wan~ to llope off and simply be garruus in my old age I shall go ack to my village. ''Ttiey'll understand me, you bow, becaUBe there's a couple around Pontthydyfen who are 4Jso difficult and about 80 years eld; and I suppose I'll be exact)Y like them."

At 45 Burton inttnds to keep m making movies-"this keeps lie alive" -but he is taking it lasier. One reason is taxes.

Elizabeth Taylor at 38, has ~ plagued by illness and is already semiretired from film-

l

tng.

Burton was the 12th of 13

lhildren of a coal miner. His

!lf:lother died when he was not l(Uite 2. He t7 lks phllosophieally Shout his past and future. And ibout Elizabeth, the Londonborn beauty who was a child acreen star and gre\V up in wealth.

Clad in fur, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor step out.. Min The Burtons are in the milTaylor wears a $40,000 Russian Burtons lonaire class and live lavishlyAble coat while Burhtn ts warm • $2,400--a · week floatin~ d~ . in his mink l•cket.

(Wirephoto) l!mnel moored in· the Thames when they are in London, a pri- "I have this awful pit-scarred vou will find in New York or tate plane, yacht, numerous memory of poverty. I am pretty 1,!\.i.mc1c~._"_ _ __ homes, jewels galore. ::ute busilres!l-wise. Some time 'Burton, asked by an inter- ~~· :e~, ~to_a dee! ~~~ ~o viewer whether all ·this monev ~WlB.. ,no -~ ' a d P!l .m<· -". · 1was an embarra5sment, replied .!5t ~nd set '!,JI a ban.!' ~-~Wltzerl>luntly· .aoc. SJ I ...:n 11 b.nk .. a::itl 2. · better banker than any ba."lker "Ol course it is, but we both - - - - - - - - - t,ry to live UT'J to th-, rule<; ~ fasy wealth. Elizabeth treats it •ll as fairy money. S!la scat~e:rs it.

!

Liz, .Richard together again NAPLES, Italy (AP) -Rich- He refused to discuss the recard Burton and Elizabeth Tay- onciliation, telling newsmen: lor arrived in Naples aboard ·"Don't be so stupid. I am not their private jet today to begin going to tell you intimate dea holiday in south Italy cele- · tails of that nature." brating their reconciliation.

He said be and Miss Taylor Miss Taylor smiled but ap- would spend Christmas in peared tired as her husband Venice or Rome. helped her down the steps of Burton said his wife would the plane and into a waiting be recovered from her recent limousine. operation in about ·a month.

The couple declined to speak "It is just a question of reto waiting journalists. ' They cuperation," he said. "The .·went directly to a seaside ho- trouble started when s~e intel and after a rest, reportedly jured herself in a fall while planned to go to Positano, a making a film. The injury led nearby fashionable sea resort. to the operation."

During a stopover in London, the film actress said, UNTIL BURTON ARlllVED , "We are back together again, in Los Angeles Friday night, 1 friends said Henry Wynberg of and that must be good."

Los Angeles, a former used SHE AND BURTON arrived car salesman, was the No. 1 from Los Angeles by ·com- man in Miss Taylor's life. mercial airliner after a hospiBut on Sunday it was Burton tal room reconciliation. Bur- who pushed his Wife's wooelton wheeled her off the ·plane chair onto the plane for Lonand they boarded the private don and told "newsmen: "She's jet for the flight to ~aples, going to get a lot of rest and where Burton is making a pic- sunshine."

A spokesman for the couple ture.

"I~ a very happy man," said Miss Taylor, 41, was exsaid the 48-year-old Burton. periencing pain from her ab-

Burtons .MOSCOW

(AP)

dominal surgery two weeks ago.at ~he UCLA Medical Center. Doctors said the surgery was for removal of an ovarian cyst and Correction of stomach condition. · Miss Taylor ·had been expected to leave the · h~pital this weekend and Burton was reported to have traveled to Miss Taylor's bedside out of concern for her illness.

a

"BIS BASIC INTENT was to visit her while she was ill," said a spokeswoman for the actress. "But after they got together they decided to work out a reconciliation. ''The decision to leave was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

They are very excited and happy about it."

Burton and Miss Taylor were married March 1~. 1964.

They separated last July 3 aild the actress wrote: "I believe with all my heart that this separation will ultimately bring us back to where we ·should be and that is together." ·

to -

Actor be reunited in Rome later this

R~chard Burton says the only week.

AP plHto

Richard Burton pushed his ..,ife Elizabeth Tayler in a wheelchair at Los Angeles lnternatienal Airport-prior to their flight to London. The celebrated film couple were reperted to have reconciled following their separation in July. Burton visited her at UCLA Medical Center where she had abdominal surgery. She ls wearing a diamend heart necklace which he brought with ldm. · '

thing that kept Elizabeth Taylor from flying here to be with The actor said he plans to him is the illness of her moth- leave on Tuesday to return to er.

Italy for an awards ceremony "Sj1e wanted to come here for his film "Massacre in but her mother is very sick' Rome." Miss Taylor is to Dy to very ill, so she had to stay with R~me from Los Angeles, he her," Burton said as he arrived said. h~re Sun~ay for the premier of In Los Angeles a ·spokesman . for Miss Taylor confirmed th~ his new fll~.

Burton iatd ~ubhshed report$ pair plans to meet in Rome. The t~at the couple s recent separa. tpokesman said there are no ~10n may . be. pe~~lanf'nl are ' 1• outside romantic interests on ournalls c oke and th will either sid~ of the· marriage.

Rig hf for .each other Calm usually · ·f,ollows the storm, and<we . see Liz 'J)aylor and Richard Burton are travel. irig tog~ther again, apparently intent on remarriage. You don't have to hke ·either· one immensely to say tha.t they are rig}lt for each other. And if each agrees that living within .the marriage bond iS what is best, they undoubtedly are tight for each other. : It will be Miss Taylor's sixth ~arriage. She has been married to five men. Burton would be a re-run.

Still, it does appear that more .experienced, more mature ·persons are marrying these days. One of our editors was going over the Vital Sta tis-

•·

tics copy the other day, and he

look~

lllp to inform us that fully one-fourth of the marriage licenses issued that day were to men and women who gave the same address. .'

We urged him not to leap to apy bold conclusion about that fact, pointing out that there still are some boarding and rooming houses around town.

We still can see the incredulous look on his face, and we think he mumbled somethi-ng about some people being nai x_e. ·· Be that as it may, fans of Liz and Richard-w~ certainly are among them-will be pleased to see them-wed. We wish them much . happiness-and more good pictures.

EXCLUSIVE

"·Top Astrologer Predicts Your Horoscope for the ·Next 3 Months .

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ce_nrerfold

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The Unhappy Childhood of 'Ugly Duckling' Christina Onassis page 4

***

How to Handle Bad Moods

page 33

***

Yleather Forecast For Your Area In September '

page 20

***

The Glowing UFO That Baffled 30 Policemen For 4 Days haclc page

***

How to Handle Freeloaders And Moochers '

page 12

She Puts Him on a No-Booze Trial "We wont the world to know we're bock togethe·r·agoin, the camera the day ofter their joyful reco.ncillotion cefoond this picture will· show how happy we are," exclaim brotion. But Burton will hove to stay off the booze if radiant Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, as they pose for . he wonts the reuniom to last, declares Liz. (Page 8.l

M T~ Wash., l"'5-, Mardi 26, 1974 The News Tribune

A11's well with Burton, Taylor -1.....:~ ANGELES -

•

0

A friend says that· all is well with the -•u.ge of Eliza~th Taylor and Richard Burton, despite re:.::.~ctor s gifts Of jewelry to two young women on a

Jilt8

lei ~ friend denied on Monday rumors that Miss Taylor ha~ Oroville, Calif., location of ''The Klansman" in a pique uq;;ause Of her husband's attentions to other women ~'It's a publicity stunt for the picture," said th~ longtime _.__d of the Burtons, who preferred anonymity. "Elizabeth ...._ down here last week as scheduled, to have some appointre'1ts at UCLA M~cal Center." He said Miss Taylor would reurn ~ the film locatmn after the ~pril 2 Oscar prese~tations.

~

Together again

AP photo

~iz,

.Richard nUght remarry GSTAAD, Switzerland '1\}>) - Elizabeth 'l'aylor and Richard Burton were re-

and singer Eddie Fisher, both Jews.

Burtol), now 49, ·was Miss Taylor's fifth husband; she is 43 and was his second wife. Their marriage lasted 10 years. and for much of that time they .were among the movies' biggest - and highest paid - attra.ctions.

In the latter years, the marriage turned' stormy, ,and last year a Swiss court awarded Miss Taylor an uncontested divorce on grounds of incompatibility.

Sinee their divorce. Miss Taylor has been the constant companion of a Los Angeles used ear dealer named Henry Wynberg while Burton has had a string of girl friends. But Springer said they had been in communication by telei>hone for some

dorted traveling together 1;omewhere in Swiizerland" ti>day after 14 months of di*>rce and another reconciliation. Burton was quoted as $lying they might remarry in Israel.

"They are driving around ·in Switzerland and are ex~ed to be back here before .,ing to· Israel next week." said Miss Taylor's secretary l$ the home the star mainuuns in Gstaad to reduce her t)xes.

"The reconciliation is conttrmed." she added. "They are new driving around tolether in her car, but I don't lnow where they are."

A spokesman for the coufle in New York, John time.

Springer, said Burton had He said Miss Tllyli>r relt>ld him: "This is not a trial turned to Switzerland last »econciliation; it is perina- weekend from Leningrad, nent." where she had been making Springer said Burton also the film ''The Bluebird." tt>ld hiin they might remarry Burton joined her, and they during their visit to Israel ·were reconciled, Springer re. because "after all, Elizabetl) ported. is Jewish."

"Whether they will get Miss Taylor converted to married immediately is not Judaism ln 1959, between absolutely certain." he gaid, ber third and fourth hus- addlna that it was probable bands. producer Mike Todd t would remarry.

While Burton Broods ••• It's back to the gay, carefree life for newly divorced Elizabeth Taylor _ but for ex-husband Richard Burton . . . ' the highly publlClzed breakup has resulted in a life of near-seclusion.

Miss Taylor, 42, is enjoying a holiday whirl around Eqrope with longtime boyfriend Henry Wynberg - mingling with royalty; attending a wild soccer match and yachting happily on the Meditenanean. · Burton, meanwhile, has retreated to an isolated villa in the countryside of France with 27-year-old Ellen Rossen of New: York. Miss Rossen says she and the actor are simply friends; Burton is her godfather.

A photographer who crossed the Atlantic on the same ship with Burton and Miss Rossen described the actor as "miserab'le, broken up ... desperately unhappy." But at his villa, Burton declared: "I've never felt better."

Miss Taylor and Wynoorg,

Richard Burton has retreated to an isolated vllla in the French countryyjde with his goddaughter, Ellen Rossen.

39, were in Munich, Germany, Jj.tly 6. for the World Cup soc"Cer fmal between Germa?Y and ~he Netherlands. \_V1th them m the stands were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco.

Smiling gaily, Miss Taylor waved the tricolor flag of the Netherlands and cheered for the Dutch team.

But Germany won the

m~tch, 2-1. Following the game, the actress and her companion flew off to her .$750,000 yacht - part of her divorce settlement - for a cruise around the island of Sicily.

After the divorce, Burton, 48, and Miss Rossen boarded the luxury liner France in New York June 27. Photographer John Launois of New York also was aboard. "The first time I

Liz weal'S ·a T-shirt that says 'Waar is Henry Wynberg?' (Dutch for 'Where is Henry Wynberg?L), but she knows the answer - by her side on their European tour. saw Burton was two days af- New York, I always pop in to ter we'd sailed," said Launois. see Ellen.

"I've never seen anyone look "That's what happened this so thoroughly miserable and time. Then she told me she broken up. He looked green was bored with her job as a and sick.

TV company executive, so I "Burton seldom came out said, 'Okay, come to Europe after that. But each time he with me - you'll find it anyalways had the same blank ex- thing but a bore.' ., pression. He seemed like a Lifting his orange juice, Burbroken man - so desperately ton added proudly: "I'm disunhappy." gustingly fit. I've not had a Later, at his villa outside drink for three months and my Paris, Burton casually sipped doctors tell me I'm so healthy a glass of chilled orange juice I could pass for a 35-year-old. and said: "After a short holiday here, "Ellen's a very clever girl. I'm going to Switzerland. Then I've known her since she was I'm off to England to play 5. Her father, the late director Winston Churchill in a new Robert Rossen, was a close movie, and then I go to Rome." friend of mine. When I'm in - ROBERT G. SMITH

••• Liz Lives It Up

February 2-5, 1970

-WAIKIKI BEACH PRESS-33

BURTONS SAY ALOHA--Affer a hideaw.ay spell ef -relaXl!tioffm a suite high atop of the Hilton Rainbow Tower--; Mr: and Mrs. Richard Burton are escorted through the Hilton Hawaiian Village lobby by -executive assistant manager Stuart Russell (center). Burton and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, spent several days at the hotel accompanied by her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor of Kauai.

--Hilton Hawaiian Village Photo

'The most unique trade in baseball still maintains that some day he's going history," Susanne had gigglingly called to throw it all over and become an Oxit when the press learned that her hus- ford don. According to Oxford, it is up band, Yankee Pitcher Mike Kekich, and . ~o him to choose the date. his best buddy, Yankee Pitcher Fritz • Peterson, had exchanged wives. The new There is only one class on the Lerarrangement did not take, and Mike montov, the first Soviet passenger ship ended up losing not only Susanne, his to sail into New York harbor in 25 kids, Fritz and Fritz's wife~but his dog years. One member of that classless soas well. The final blow: Mike himself ciety was Composer Dmitry Shostakowas bartered last week to the Cleveland vich, 66, who after disembarking with Indians for Minor League Pitcher Low- his wife Irina, took in Aida, one of his ell Palmer. · favorites, at the Metropolitan Opera.

Shostakovich was on his way to get an • "Go home and forget the war" went honorary degree from Northwestern the disk jockey's sexy, close-to-the-mike University. After talking to the comline to the G.I.s. Broadcasting from Ber- poser about his visit to the campus, his lin, alorigside her German lover, Mil- host. Dr. Irwin Weil, said, " I feel like dred Gillars, alias "Axis Sally," sand- I've just talked to Beethoven." wiched Nazi propaganda between • records by "der Binge!" Crosby. Her "You showed you could do it . . . get broadcasts eventually drew Mildred a rid of your suet." sang Bob Hope to the twelve-year stretch in a federal prison tune of Applause. His Manhattan aufor women. Out on parole in 1961, she taught French and German in a sub- LIZLANDS WITH DICK urban school. A long-ago dropout from Ohio Wesleyan University (she had been the first coed to wear knickers on campus in 1920), Mildred, at 72, quietly finished work for her degree- an A.B. in speech.

•

Her husband Joe and her sons Joe Jr., Jack, Bobby and Teddy had all been Harvard men. In Harwich Port, Mass.. at the class of '38's reunion, Rose Kennedy, 82, thanked Joe Jr:'s classmates for their gift of roses and a pewter bowl in memory of the Navy lieutenant whose fatal plane crash in 1944 had been the family's first violent tragedy .

•

. Was that really Elizabeth' Taylor's face under the faded blue denim cap?

Sure enough, Liz and Richard Burton had landed at Kenne9y Airport on one of their guest appearances in the U .S. They ·were off to Quogue, Long · Island, and then to Arizona to see. Liz's mother. In July, Richard will star in a film from a Pirandello short story and Liz in the cin• ematic adaptation of Muriel Spark's chiller The Driver's .Seat. But Richard

BQUB TWO OLD FLAMES SMOLDER AGAIN AS LIZ AND DICK RECONCILEAT LEAST FOR A WEEKEND They stepped from the limousine into a London disco called, appropriately, Legends. Inside, they cuddled and kissed, held hands, danced cheek-tocheek and declared their undying love.

At 1:30 in the morning he escorted her home. For an awkward moment he hesitated, then she invited him inside.

There, the aging but still elegant heartmates held their first reunion in five years, chatting merrily about old times for four hours.

"You know what you are, don't you?" he later told reporters he asked her.

"Tell me," she said.

"You're a kind of instant nostalgiaand nostalgia means a ferocious longing for home."

"And am I home to you?" she asked.

"Of course."

She kicked him. "You're a Welsh phony," she shouted.

And so it came to pass that Richard Burton, 56, and Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner, newly 50, embraced again in

the tiny lightning of flashbulbs and the warmer but less predictable glow of middle-aged remembrance. After almost 20 years, two marriages, two divorces, 11 movies together, countless cataclysmic quarrels, several diamonds only slightly smaller than the Ritz, and enough newsprint to denude the forests of Brazil, the world's longest-running romance was back on the front pages. The occasion for the meeting that put new bubbles in the Liz-and-Dick soap opera was a fitting watershed: Taylor's 50th birthday. And the reunion prompted Fleet Street scribes to pop the inevitable question: Will you marry again? "We are married," said Miss Taylor. "We are married to other people."

True, but just barely. In December Taylor had announced her separation from her sixth husband, Republican Sen. John Warner, 55, of Virginia. Last month it was announced that Burton and Susan Hunt, 33, the stylish blond ex-model who had been his third wife for more than five years, had been separated since last August.

CONTINUED

Dick escorted Liz Into her 50th-blrthday party in London. The apricot sponge cake was fittingly decorated like a newspaper's front page and

readers Included, from left, Steve Carson and new wife Maria Burton, Zev and Vilma Bulman, Burton, Liza Todd, Hap Tlvey and Aileen Wild Ing.

105

Bwton's performance raised $11,000 to place a plaque for fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Maybe producer Zev Butman (left), Liz's frequent companion of late, benefited most from the reunion. Thanks to his star's antics, The Little Foxes' advance sale is $2 million.

someone else, and so may I, but we will always be drawn back to each other."

That night Liz was drawn to the Duke of York's Theatre, where Burton was narrating Under Milk Wood (they once starred together in a 1972 movie based on the play). Richard had arrived for rehearsal after three hours sleep, much the worse for wear. During a pause in the performance, Liz, clad in blue jeans and sweate~. appeared onstage.

She curtsied to the packed house and then told Burton, in Welsh, "Rwy'n dy gsru di," meaning "I love you." Startled and overjoyed, Burton replied, "Say it again, my petal, say it louder."

She did and the crowd cheered. Burton lost his place in the script. "Excuse me," he apologized to the audience.

"I'm flustered." Later they had a private dinner with the cast at the Garrick Club, and a garrulously jovial Burton drank double vodkas. He gave her a birthday present, a drawing of Dylan Thomas that he had purchased for $1,500 at an auction at the theater.

Was the gift more to Liz than just another expression of affection in a year cloyed with praise? From semiretirement, she had leaped back to the pinnacle with The Little Foxes and followed it with a General Hospital cameo that drew the largest U.S. soap opera audience ever. The year was less successful for Burton. A painful spinal degeneration forced him out of his Camelot revival and into surgery. His weight dropped to a gaunt 140 pounds. Then Susan left Burton, and in October he underwent surgery again, this time for a perforated ulcer.

He had, however, not lost all his fire.

Even amidst his beery, bleary testimony of love in London, Burton regaled

his Fleet Street confessors with humorous jibes at his beloved. "I firmly t:>elieve she cannot act onstage, " he said. "In fact, when it comes to the stage, I always tell Elizabeth that she is a divine joke. She normally hits me over the head when I say this." He was only slightly kinder to Senator Warner: "He once took me outside our chalet in Gstaad, put his arms around me to give me a bear hug and said, 'How could you let your Liz get away?' What can you say to a remark like that? In a curious way, I was delighted to learn about the separation." He was not, however, quite so thrilled to learn about his own.

"It is a matter of deep personal regret to me that my marriage to Susan has broken up," he said. "I did not want it to happen. When I was told she had done it, it was a terrible blow. When I recovered, I said, 'Okay, bugger off then,' and I am afraid she did just that."

Even while baring his soul, Burton could be as engaging as ever. "For some reason," he said, "the world has always been amused by us two maniacs. Seeing her again was like having my stomach ripped out. Last week I wouldn't have dared to presume to say she still loves me, but yet she does."

He then flew back to Italy, and no one really knows whether that was the beginning or the end of their reconciliation. Taylor, playing it cool and coy in a press conference, had what might be the last word. "I am wonderful at playing bitches," she said, referring to her character in The Little Foxes. "Regina is avaricious, ambitious, slightly vulnerable-a coquette and a killer." She then paused dramatically, raised her world-famous eyebrows and added: "I hope she is not like me." O

Taylor first

EQUE

•libbed Burton's attention in

1962 on the Cleopatra set. She later dubbed him "the Frank Sinatra of Shakespeare."

After their first marriage(above), in 1964, Burton only had ice for Liz, lavishing some 200 carats on her before their 1974 divorce.

After her flhlg with car dealer Henry Wynberg and his with exPlayboy model Jean Bell, they remarried in Africa in 1975, then divorced a year later.

E•b•tged wife Susan Hunt reportedly was always jealous of Dick's affection for Liz. "Wouldn't it be great for me ii I could have them both?" asked Burton.

With the st51ge thus so deliciously set for speculation, Taylor had flown to London the last week of February to begin rehearsals for the West End run of her Broadway smash, The Little Foxes. At her first London press conference, she joked that she was "a single lady on the loose." Could Burton resist that call of the wild? He was in Italy playing composer Richard Wagner, opposite Vanessa Redgrave, in an upcoming eight-part English TV series about the romantic 19th-century musician. The morning of Liz's birthday,.

Feb. 27, he called her from Pisa, got permission to attend her party and, boarding a private jet, flew to London where he was scheduled to be the narrator in a fund-raiser production of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas' classic, Under Milk Wood. Wearing a fur jacket, he arrived at the elegant Cheyne Gardens home of their mutual friend Norma Heyman, where Liz was a guest, an hour before the party. Liz emerged in a glittery silver-and-lavender harem pants outfit, with Burton protectively guiding her through a hubbub of photqgraphers.

At the $50,000 birthday bash (Little Foxes producer Zev Butman picked up the tab), they delighted a crowd of celebrities, including Rudolf Nureyev, Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach, with their tendernesses. At one point Liz, who discoed barefoot, lassoed Dick with a napkin and drew him close enough to plant a peck on his cheek.

The Mayfair disco was decorated with blow-ups of photos of Liz. Heartshaped silver balloons, imprinted with images of her famous eyes, hovered over the 120 guests. The celebrants washed down poached salmon trout, chicken a !'orange, "bangers and mash" (Liz's favorite-sausage and mashed potatoes) and strawberries and cream with nonvintage champagne.

After escorting her home in his darkblue Daimler, Burton swigged beer with tabloid reporters who had staked out his hotel room, entertaining them into the dawn with tales of his tempestuous life with Liz. "Elizabeth and I will never remarry," he said. "We haven't even discussed it. It's not going to happen." Still, he admitted that theirs is an endless love. "I bred her in my bones, and I love her passionately. I love her not for her breasts, her buttocks or her knees but for her mind. It is inscrutable. She is like a poem. She may marry CONTINUED

106

1\11 I could see was Elizabeth and that roek' What happened when Taylot and Burton were filmed for next week's Lucy show

By James Bacor:i

Best way to get lost on television is to do a scene with Lucille Ball, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor complete with violet eyes and the world's biggest diamond.

After the filming before a live, celebrity-studded audience, I asked Henry Fonda what he thought of my acting.

"Were you. in that scene?" he asked.

"All I could see was Elizabeth and that rock."

The summit meeting of superstars I refer to will be on CBS-TV Sept. 14 when Here's Lucy kicks off its new season. And if the show comes across .~:,''.l"Jll•M• on film as it did live, then Lucy has a classic.

Those of us who have known Richard Burton since he first came to Hollywood 20 years ago long have been aware of his comedic talents. Movie producers, unfortunately, have not. Burton, over the years, has done a medley of films

•llMI•"

"in which he has either been dour or angry or both, and within the past year he lost out on several good movie scripts because of producers who don't believe a Shakespearean actor can do comedy.

Elizabeth also has gone the serious route over the years. She comes off as the big surprise of the show, getting solid belly laughs.

Along with some surprises on film, there also were some surprising things happening during the week of rehearsals.

For instance, when I arrived at Paramount studios-on time-for the first rehearsal call, the Burtons were already there. "They were here a half hour early," said one amazed member of the crew.

And so it was all week. The Burtons were never late and often early. They stood on their marks before the camera just like Festus and Doc in Gunsmoke. "'When director Jerry Paris moved them, they .moved graciously.

Superstar demands were few. Edith -Head did Elizabeth's costumes and Sidney Guillaroff, who has done every MGM star since Garbo, did her hair.

Richard asked that Brook Williams, s<>n of the noted Welsh author-actor Emlyn Williams, be given a part (it proved to be good casting).

When it came time for a party scene, Elizabeth did insist that the champagne be Dom Perignon, 1961.

Usually TV shows use iced tea or some other amber nonalcoholic drink.

The prop man had to hit six different liquor stores to fill that request but it was worth it. When the scene was shot, all of the guests certainly looked as though they had been partying.

Lucy had some uneasy moments with Burton and Williams, whose early scene is the key to the show. It sets up the plot and is filled with gags.

By Lucy's count, there were 15 solid yaks. But Welsh actors, like the _ British, tend to throw away punch lines.

TV GUIDE SEPTEMBER

s.

1970

They can get away with it in the movies because the camera follows them and it looks like magnificent underplaying.

But with three cameras in front of a live audience-the way Lucy's show has always been filmed-the throwaway method is a disaster. Gags have to be punched to the balcony.

Right up through the dress rehearsal, Burton was getting only half the laughs· he should have---polite chuckles with the rest.

Lucy was dying to tell him what he was doing wrong but, as she said later: "Who am I to tell Richard Burton how to read a line?"

Finally came show-time and Lucy nervously brought it up.

"Richard," she said, "I hope you won't mind my making a suggestion, but some of the laughs aren't coming in the hotel-room scene. Perhaps the audience can't hear them."

To which he replied: "Well, luv, perhaps they aren't funny to begin with."

But when it came time to film, Burton punched the lines up into the rafters with his big ca1hedral voice, and as he came backstage, he whispered to Lucy; "You're were right, luv, I clocked 15 laughs."

The show marks some kind of theatrical history for Burton. While the rest of us were sipping Dom Perignon, 1961, in the party scene, Richard took only ginger ale. He was on the wagon.

"You know," he confided during a break, "this is the first time since I was 16 years old that I have ever appeared before a live audience without considerable spirits within me."

Once, in a legendary feat, he consumed a quart of brandy during Hamlet, without missing a line. "I was shrieking gaily at the end," he said, "but that was the only noticeable effect."

Elizabeth was not on the wagon. Besides the champagne, she sipped her usual drink--a double-between takes. ~he was in great pain during the week ~ and was to go directly to a hos17

_..,. pilal for minOr Sl.lf98'Y aftet the filming.

She never complained becauSe sourmash Whisky has a 'fRll ol making one feel no pain.

Masi of the time she was on the Siat. jolling wilh ._ crew and lelting one and all see al 69 carats ol 1hat million dollar diamond.

Once I casually asked her ii it were the real one. She pul it up to my eye, blinding me temporarily, and said: "Did you ever ,see glass sparkle like thal'7' SiJc anxious security police stood around her while it was used in 1he shcM. And Lucy had to spend $1500 a day to insure the diamond's salaly.

The insurance. in fact, cost almost as much as lhe guest stars. Lucy and CBS each g8ll8 $10.000 to Oxtord University, Richani's alma mater. for lhe week's WOik. The guest slals wortled onlr for expenses and tringe benetils.

And how did Lucy get these two that inexpensively?

"Well," said Lucy. "You remember the right 11'8 British consul general g8ll8 thal party for David Frost?'"

The party was well-nmiembered because of the huge crowd, mostly celebrities. who surged to see the Burtons and that ring.

About lhe time the mob had pushed Elizabeth and Richard ii'*» an ...,_ room. Lucy arrived with her husband Gary Morton. Both thought they were in the midst ol a campus riot.

They had decided to leave. when Burton spied Lucy. The two had rMNer met but Burton is a Lucy tan.

"I lhink your show is abs01utetJ mahh-h-vellous.. I'd lcwa ID be on it sometime,.. shol*!d Burkin OW!f the beads of about sewn or eight rows of people separating 1hem.

"Thanlls.'. said lhe flabberga$1ed Lucy, "but how would we evet get "f'OU?:' available... Rictad shouted.

Lucy was flattered bul unc:omrinced and sfarted to leawe. N 1hat, Elizabeth caled out. ''He must play a diamond men:hmd, and I will come in aa the

..rm

ta

anct

or

1t1e show."

N this Morion, who is eMCUtive producer ol Here's Lucy, nudged his wife and said: "Let's get 'em."

Bui O..J. Simpson ccUdn't hiwe golten through ltlal crowd. and Lucy and Gary s1arted to lea\le. Once mont Elizabeth shouted: "Come over to Bungalow 3 al lhe eewoo, HiDs Hotel aner this. We'n talk..'.

Lucy and Gary did stop by Bwigalolr 3. When they arrived, security police were scunying around and Elizabe4h was on lhe front pon:h yelling frantically. Lucy lhoughl immediately: -Good healN!ns.. someone stole 1he diamond.'. (It turned out. however, lhal . . dogs had gollen loose.)

Inside, a party was going on. Mike Nichols, Roddy Mc:Dowall. and about a dozen other friends were there. "t found myself mixing drinks and fDting sand111iches," said Lucy. "Not once diet the subject or the show come up. Gary and I wenl home believing it was just one of those things.•• The next day Burton called his agetll and said, "Please call Lucile Bal tor me. I IDld her last nighl that Elizabeth and I want to be on her show and I don't think she befiewed me."

He was right She didn't But wilh the agent in lhe act. it was a different sloly. "Al of a sudden," Lucy realized, '"the 8urfons were available but my show wasn't I was set for the season. All our writers were busy on other projecls. Wrth the Burlons' timetable. I figured I had onlr 10 ~ to come up with a script-Gr else blow it."

Lucy pul in an emergency call 10 the writers of the C)figinid I l..IW9 Lucy sl)ows. Bob C8rroll Jr. and Madetyn Davis. They don't wrile much now.

They spend most of their time CDWll"'ing residuals. But in 10 days they came up with a scripl.

Baca again to Bungalow 3 went Lucy. .., was abs:Olule ~ worst case of neNeS since I auditioned for

.._

Scar1ett O'Hara." (In lhal famous audilion, Lucy coutdn't get off her knees and did the reading while kneeling before Dawid 0. Selznick. who was impressed, but not enough. to gi¥9 her the part.)

Lucy read the script to Elizabeth and Richatd, hoping to sell it that way.

Nerwusty, she raced through it lilfe w~ Winchetl on his old Soodaynight broadcasts.

"Then my lips froze. The words wouldn't come out. I was petrified.

I would still be frozen Dae if Richard had not leaned over and said, 'Here, hN. you need this drink mom than r ."

That was before Richard decided to go on the wagon.

The reading finally finished, Richan:I spoke fifst: .., rather like it" Then Bizabeth said, "I wish I had asked for a bigger part."

AH the niceties sealed, Gary and Lucy decided how best to reoei¥e the ~·s

roplly on a ielevision

-.ge.

First. they bonowed the dressing room Barbra Streisand used in her latest film. At a cost of $30,000, the $100,000 trailer was mdeoorated ink> a miniature VersaiUes. II was absolutely the most lavish dressing trailer since the invention of talkies. . Elizabeth took one look and screamed: ''It's ge>fgeOUS. I must have It.is always wherever I WOik." Morton said: "It's yours, baby, if

Paramount will sell it to us... Morton says he offered $150,000 but the studio wouldn't sell.

Only one question is unanswered.

How can laugh-In hope to beat out lucy and the 8urtons in the Mondaynight ratings?

"We thought of getting Eddie FISher and Sybil Burton," said Dick Martin. "but nothing came of it."

It's just as well. Laugh-In might have matched ~l there's nothing, absolutely nothing, they could get that would spartde like Liz's ring.

E!J TV OUIOE SEPTE- S. 111'0

...,_....... ...... . ..........

A vlluble atra .. .

.

1,000 free alftl.

...... _,.. __.... .._..___

t'She's ad~rahle,' says Burton NEW YORK (AP) "Sh • her," says actor Richard-Burto~ ~b~bustohl~tely.fador.able; I love lor.

Is w1 e Elizabeth TayBut Burton's companion tt don't expect them to be reco~~1::f~.ey Aaron Frosch, says "I A spokesman for the coup! · . that the pair would seek ad. e an,nounced In New York July 31 their legal residence. ivorce in Switzerland; the country of " Burt?n arrived here from R ' . .

What divorce?" when asked ab ~me ~edn~sday. He replied the couple. · ou manta! differences between Burton is expected to visit F . for two weeks. The actor is taki rosch at his Long Island home Italy. ng a rest from movie making in

Burton P·uts Down Divorce Talk New York (AP)-RJchard Burton swore anew his love for Elizabeth Taylor as he arrived in New York yesterday with a lawyer friend who said the couple probably can't reconcile their differences.

Burton, Miss Taylor's husband for nine years,

tried to put dowa talk of a divorce by asking, · "What divorce'.!," and by ,proclaiming, "She's absolutely adorable; I love' her." · But bis lawyer, Aaron Frosch, said, "I don't expect them to be reconciled." Frosch said he was not handling tlle Burtons' marital matters himself, but Burton was ~xpected to visit the Frosch house on Long Island while on a 2-week respite from movie-making in Rome.

Miss Taylor is in Rome acting in another film.

Burton said be Wl!S able to get free because his director, Vittorio DeSica, is ill.

BURTON

storing five programs-incli.iding hospital construction, regional medical programs, and public health and allied health training-that the Administration had tried to kill. Moreover, the measure passed by such an overwhelm- Making.It in Munich Her career, observes Actress Carrie ing margin (372 to 1 in the House; 72 to 19 in the Senait:) that President Nixon Nye, has been "9bscure enough to be last week quietl)'signed it into law. Now considered pra~tically invisible, generCongress is trying to salvage other ally involving lbsen plays in converted health ·measures. The House, under the pizza parlors, Euripides revivals in conleadership of Representative Paul Rog- demned bowling alleys and many happy ers of Florida, has passed a $415 million hours at Channel 13 [New York's pubtraining and fellowship bill that is also .l ie television station]." So, despite her expected to win Senate approval. The .extensive stage experience on and offHouse Appropriations Committee is at- Brbadway, including a Tony nominatempting to restore all NIH items to or "• tion performance in Half a Sixpence, above the 1972 funding level and re- .~lie "was somewhat surprised last fall establish the old ratio between new and when she was asked to appeflr in two ongoing research grants. If Congress movies for TV with Super&'l~rs Elizasucceeds in saving these programs, it beth Taylor and Richard Burton. The can still prevent both the lights in the laboratories and the luster of American medicine from being dimmed.

tall, or at least he was when we began.

Why did I go? Why, indeed. Wild stallions couldn't have stopped me.

Urged on by family, friends true and false, agents, a sense of the grotesque and a positively overwhelming curiosity, I went to Munich.

My introduction to the Stars was delayed somewhat by Madame Gisele.

Somehow my I00 lbs. had been translated into roughly 1,000, and Madame Gisele had designed accordingly. The problem was eventually solved by wearing the roomy creation backwards in an attempt to conceal several miles of mournfully trailing crepe de Chine.

Eventually ·my presence was re-

The Errant Cell Atherosclerosis, a form of arterio-" sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a major cause of the heart disease that claims more than 1,000,000 American lives each year. Most doctors believe that fats like cholesterol are primarily responsible for the gradual arterial buildup of the hard, .fibrous deposits that characterize the condition.

A University of Washington pathologist offers a startlingly different explanation.

Relegating cholesterol to a secondary role in heart disease, Dr. Earl Benditt suggests that atherosclerotic deposits, or plaques, may be derived from a single abnormal cell that multiplies into tumor-like growths.

Benditt's hypothesis is based on experiments with chickens, which developed arterial deposits identical to those found in ·humans, whether or not the birds were fed cholesterol. Some fatty material was found in the growths, but it apparently had begun to accumulate after the formation of the plaques.

Outlaw Cell. Benditt then turned his attention to post-mortem examinations of human atherosclerotic plaques, which look like lumps on the insides of the arteries. His research revealed that the cells forming the plaque, while genetically identical to each· other, were different from the cells in the arterial wall. Thus his finding suggests that abnormal cells may reproduce themselves to form plaque, just as outlaw cells can duplicate themselves to form tumors.

Benditt has yet to explain the origin of the abnormal cell, which could result from exposure to a virus or chemical agent. His call for further study to determine if his hypothesis is correct is already gathering support. As one of Benditt's fellow scientists recently wrote: " In conversations with people, the first reaction is disbelief and ridicule, changing slowly to interest and logical reconsideration, and evolving shortly into amazement and enthusiasm."

TIME, JULY 2, 1973

ACTRESS CARRIE NYE & RICHARD BURTON; LIZ BURTON

"I am old and gray and incredibly gilled!" movies, a matched set of thudding disasters coyly entitled Divorce His and Divorce Hers, were shown on ABC Feb. 6 and 7 and, incredibly, are being rebroadcast this week. Now back in New York with her husband Dick Cavett, Nye offers th,e following memoir o f her disconcerting brush with moviemaking, Burton-Taylor style:

I was, as Mrs. Onassis' cook and others who rat on their benefactors phrase it, in their employ. An unidentified party, demonstrably in his cups, had called from Zagreb, and in hushed tones and cold blood invited me to be in a movie with Them. You know, Those Two. The voice from Zagreb tossed off a few bits of information: the two films were to be shot simultaneously. Although the action takes place in Rome, it would naturally be filmed in Bavaria.

My wardrobe was to be knitted up by someone known as Madame Gisele.

Unreassuringly, the director in command of all these forces was an Etonian Pakistani who was 4 ft. 11 in.

quired to do a smidgen of acting with the Male Star. With great dread, I was taken away in a Mercedes-Benz redolent of the high command and delivered, in a manner usually associated with parcels, to Bavaria Platz Studios.

My acting chore for the day was to be introduced to Himself and launch without further ado into -a long, loud and boring scene during which I was to be I) obstreperous, 2) a general nuisance and 3) drunk as a billy goat. All went as anticipated except for one detail. The Star had beaten me to the punch. Or, if you will the stirrup cup.

And so ended the first day.

As a matter of record, so ended the second, third and fourth days. After a spell, it became apparent that Mr. Burton did not do an awful lot of work after lunch, and Mrs. Taylor-Burton, whom I had yet to clap eyes on, did not generally arrive until about a quarter of three in the afternoon. And as our little moviettes were love stories, albeit so mew hat mature love stories, it was important that the lovers meet before the

47

SHOW BUSINESS & TV

cameras at some point. So until all of this was ironed out, the rest of us had quite a bit of time on our hands. The problem of mutiny was solved in classic movie fashion.by issuing a daily call sheet. Examples from this extraonlinary document: 10:00: Mr. Burton's car arrives hotel. 10: 15: Mr. Burton's car leaves hotel. 10:40-10:45: Mr. Burton gets out of car ... etc.

Epic Cases. After a while, we began to be invited to lunche()n chez Burton. I can only assume this was intend· ed as a kiflllness, an admirabl~ act of noblesse oblige. Mrs. Burton was a charming and gracious hos1ess, and Mr. Burton, if a bit expansiv~· ~t times. did his best to make us all feet.' rlgitt at home, except during a rather murky incident somewhere between the hors d'oeuvres and the fish course, when it appeared that either my wrist or my neck was going to be snapped by the host. l am still mystified as to my transgression, but Mr. Burton's reputation' as a lady killer took on for the moment a rather sinister hue.

What was actually eaten, if anything, at these cozy impromptus for twelve (most of whom are in the Bur· tons' permanent employ, as opposed to us temporary help) is lost to memory.

What was imbibed will be permanently inscribed on my liver for the rest of my days. There was a goodly amount of joshing about who drank the most Jack Daniel's, or tequila, or Jack Daniel's with tequila, or vodka and champagne, or Sterno and Scotch, and in just which European capital, South American port or Balkan satellite these epic cases of alcohol poisoning took place. All this good fun would be punctuated by phone calls from the anguished director to inquire when, if ever, work could be resumed. Mr. Burton could generally be relied upon to knock off work early. usu0:.- ally with a magnificent display of temper, foot stamping, and a few exit lines delivered in the finest St. Crispin's Day style. My favorite was "I am old and gray and incredibly gifted!"

Both Bs had a genius for delivering breath-stopping statements. One day Mr. Burton said to me: "You know my wife-my wife Elizabeth [in case her identity had not come to my attention] ..o....-is the most beautiful woman in the world." I wisely decided a firm yes would cover that one nicely. He also volunteered the information that he could read an entire book every day.

He didn't say he actually did, just that he could if he wanted to. Fortunately, no reply was needed, for at that moment I trod heavily on either a beer can or one of the old Dom Perignon bottles that were usually kicking around underfoot. My wounded toe was promptly dealt with in a manner that in addition to being exquisite for its agony was im~ pressive for its style. A bottle of Napoleon brandy of priceless pedigree was poured over the toe, the floor and the ankles of several dress extras.

I am told every brush with the great

48

and the near great supposedly has its poignant moments, proving that they are just folks after all. My experience seemed notably lacking, though there was one that might qualify. While a deux with Mrs. Taylor-Burton and a beaker of champagne, she remarked that Richard often considered returning to Oxford.to become a simple don. This was said with great sincerity and a straight face. Which-since the lady was at the time wearing a stupefying wig made from the scalps of at least nine healthy Italians and a frock costing upwards of $5,000-gave me a poignant vision of donnish simplicity.

Just as I was considering building a home in Austria and putting in some annuals, our dlores finally came to an end.

Four weeks and umpteen transatlantic phone calls after it began, I returned home-richer, thinner, sporting a veneer of W eltschmerz and the ability to do a staggering imitation of R. Burton, which is pretty effective, if not particularly useful.

Viewpoint: No Time for Partisans "The news media should never create news, it should only cover news .. .

Take all these cameras -out of here .. . do that within 15 minutes and this crowd would peter out."

The speaker is a delegate to last summer's Republican National Convention, nervously eying a group of weird-looking youths assembled to taunt him and his fellows at the entrance to the Miami Beach auditorium. The listeners are a cinema verite team from CBS News, working on a stylish documentary about how one aspect of the big story-the hipp~yippie-zippie street demonstrations-was covered by their colleagues.

Unfortunately for Producer-Reporter John Sharnik, this story within

the story did not amount to much more than a few gaseous brushes between cops and kids--stuff that Executive Producer Robert Wussier, wlio called most of the shots in Central Control during the convention, chose sensibly to ignore.

Thus, through no fault of its creators, CBS RqxJrts: Anatom-y of a News Story, which is being aired this week, does

not have quite strong enough a spine.

On the other hand, the demonstrators' lack of emotional intrusiveness does allow the reporters--and the viewer-to concentrate on how raw information travels up the pipes, how various hands shape it into a manageable story as it goes along.

High Pressure. For some, A natomy should be very reassuring: things move so fast that liberal or conservative commentators do not have time to slant the news. Quite obviously, the kind of nervous system that used to be attracted to city rooms in The Front Page's era now finds its true home in TV control booths. The keyed-up newsmen working for CBS are good at their jobs, at least in part because they are juiced by the constant demand to make decisions at speed. Yet within the inevitable limits of time, this documentary shows, they did a reasonable, balanced news report of the convention.

Anatomy of a News StOl'y never directly responds to that anonymous delegate's injunction merely to cover, not create, news. There is no need to do so.

The program simply and quietly accepts the fact that such neat divisions of function are no longer feasible. Hearteningly, it also implies that TV newsmen are acutely aware of the dangers this new situation presents and, even in the most heated moments, do their best to guard against them. Anatomy is neither selfcritical nor self-congratulatory. It is, rather, what any good news story ought to be-a cool, objective, craftsman-like report on the way one interesting, quite typical happening worked out. Good •Richard Schickel show.

CBS NEWSMEN AT WORK DURING THE 1972 G .O.P. CONVENTION

The trick is to cover, not create.

TIME, JULY2, 1973

lI

THE $125,000 LIZ 'N' DICK MINK ...

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways To go with his little wife's Peregrina pearl (under half an ounce, $37,000), her Ping-Pong diamond (.042 carats, $38), the Krupp one (33.1 carats, $305,000) and her Cartier (69.42 carats, $1,050,000 plus markup), the Welsh-man o.f the house turns now from stones to skins and buys the hides off 42 Kojahs just dying to b-e the world's costliest fur coat for a fading movie queen who has much and wants more.

FOR SIX GLOWING YEARS, ever since their love found its way, they never once gave us humdrums a chance to stop worrying about them. Every time Big Giver (he's the one in poetic transport on the left) gave, and Big Getter (she's to the right in the seascape) again got, we palpitated at their pleasure. From each of us there arose vast sucking gasps of envy followed by our same old waves of worry. Was this to be the time her breaking point broke, his cup o'erran, their drawer o'erstuffed? Now was Big Giver at long last to hear Big Getter come right out with it aRd say, "Oh, Richard, you shouldn't hava"?

Nope-. She says she never once said anything of the sort, and never expects to either. Any baubles he has the scratch to buy up, she's finding display space for, even if she has to grow more of it. But sooner, or later, each man finds the maw that is too much for him. And who is to say it was not this last diamond (that's the $1,050,000-plus-markup one) that drove Big Giver out of rocks and into skins in quest of satiety. Whereupon, he gave her that $125,000 Kojah fur she's enwrapped by for the seascape.

It was only days later that he let out the secret that, Croesus notwithstanding, and Onassis be damned, no man before him ever paid more for a coat for his wife.

So let us humdrums and assorted rubes regard this transfer of property in which his generosity, her receptivity and our palpitations mix once â&#x20AC;˘ again, etc .... let us regard all this from the Kojahs' point of view. For

TEXT BY JOSEPH RODDY PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN HAYNSWORTH 28 LOOK 6-16-70

continued

One of those, one of

THE BURTONS CONTINUED

The central artifact of this study(top), the high-priced Ko;ah coat, here shields its owner-wearer from the tropical sun and diamond glare. Below, the damn waves get the new thing all wet.

3Q LOOK &.l&.70

these. Make it one of everything. Just so they are "such things as any reasonable person might not purchase." that, we go first to Zion, Illinois.

To Zion years back, there came, or was carted from Canada, Big Boy, a nine-pound mink with a square nose, smooth hair and a patriotic duty to procreate. Patriotic, because trade being the dicey thing it Is, we honest Americans in the skin game had found ourselves clipped by the Russians when we swapped fully functioning male American minks for equally live but covertly altered Russian sableswonderfully funy little fellows, but every last one of them unmanned.

Hence Big Boy. He was about three times the girth of most minks, and in some remote stretches of his hide he looked sable. His proprietors in Zion enjoined him to beget with avidity and showed genetic preference for those of his spawn with sable traits.

Over the generations, Big Boy's heirs, square of nose, smooth of hair, and recessively mink, came to be called Kojahs. Pelts, the best of them are called now. That's all there is to show of them, pelts and her bespoke coat.

The Kojahs of Zion had no way of knowing last fall that already on deposit with Neiman-Marcus, the storekeeper in Dallas, was a large check from Big Giver. It was to be spent for - here let us stay with the exquisite formulation of B. Getter's lawyer"such things as any reasonable person might not purchase." The Almighty and some alert Texans created Neiman-Marcus so that thinkers like that would never get away emptyhanded. Forthwith, N-M snapped up the best Kojahs at $2,700 a pelt, and pieced together 42 of them Into a coat selling for $125,000, after throwing in a few grand to cover the thread, seamstresses, etc. B. Giver thought the price just right, and B. Getter again got.

Now what every one here in Humdrumsville wants to know is whether B. Giver and B. Getter even care what these proofs of his love and her lovableness do to make our already barren lives seem loveless too. Earnest speculators on this important topic should not overlook answers given to some question or other recently put to the Bigs. He, i.e., B. Giver: "In my particular case, and with my particular wife, she's just as excited if you give her something that costs $3.75 as she is if you give her a million-dollar diamond-both of which I've done." And she, i.e., B. Getter: "Anyway, who the hell's business is it?"

END

Coatless, but otherwise well turned out for a stroll through the Pacific surf, the coat-owner and its provider head home.

The coat went on to Texas to get dried.

•Not Bad for

4-0Years Old~

eh?'

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burton are in good form as they make a TV show

By Robert Musel 16

Richard Burton and the pretty German Arab terrorists might try to kidnap actress standing in for Elizabeth Taylor world-famous figures to force an exwere mildly embracing on the floor of change for the three surviving Arab participants in the Israeli massacre, the living room set, strictly in accordance with the script, when an unwho were then held in German prisons. mistakable voice cut across Stage 7 at The theory proved wrong. The pristhe Bavaria Studios in Munich. oners were released when guerillas Standing there was as rewarding a hijacked a German airliner and threatvision as the eye of mortal man gets ened to blow it up with passengers on to see here below-Miss Taylor in the board. But the guard around Miss Taylor, shortie nightgown she wears in one of • a convert to Judaism, was not rethe scenes of "Divorce His" and "Dilaxed. There are a great many Arabs vorce Hers," the two ABC TV movies in Bavaria. in which the Burtons are making their The rich and renowned soon learn TV debut (Feb. 6 and 7) as a team.

Her great violet eyes had been ob- to live with vigilance in this turbulent serving the little tableau on the carpet, world, and Miss Taylor never referred and now Miss Taylor was addressing to the security. Nor did Burton, except to say once with great intensity: herself to director Waris Hussein. . "Why can't I do that?" she said. "I'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her."

Since they were simply adjusting the There are few love scenes in "Dilighting for Miss Taylor's performance, vorce His" and "Divorce Hers," but Hussein seemed surprised that a star- in their suite of dressing rooms the in fact, one of the biggest box-office Burtons seemed to spend all day restars in the world-should want to do a hearsing for one. chore traditionally assigned to an extra, "I came to see what you were dowhich shows that a man can know a lot ing," said Miss Taylor, on entering about directing films and still have Burton's office after an extended absomething to learn about women. sence of about 20 minutes. There followed some lighthearted badinage and The stand-in detached herself from she went off to see about lunch, folBurton and Miss Taylor took her place, lowed all the way by Burton's eyes. uttering a little purr of contentment They did not, as many believe, meet as she crawled along her husband's when they were starring in "Cleopatra" torso. She was, one now had time to 11 years ago, surrender to a grand passion and discard their mates of the notice, also wearing a diamond and moment so they could marry. The sensapphire ring from her fabulous collection. But everything else, visible and sational headlines obscured a deep friendship known to their intimates long suggested, was naturally her own, arousing such husbandly pride that before then.

Burton announced to what had sud"You must realize I met her 20 years ago and fell madly in love with her denly become a small army of onlookers, "Not bad for 40 years old, then," Burton said, adding with a eh?" · smile: "I'm afraid at first it was lust, The studios are just a few minutes but then I got to know her and it was from the scene of the Arab guerrilla love. I chased her for nine years," he attack on Israeli athletes in the Olympic said, "but she kept on marrying someVillage, and only special badgeholders one else all the time. Everytime I were permitted in during the filming. found out she was divorced, she got The security measures included an married again and I arrived in time around-the-clock guard on Miss Taylor to congratulate the bridegroom. And because of a police· theory that other when we did get together, it was a -+

..•

1V GUIOE FEBRUARY 3. 1973

17

continued

terrible thing. She didn't listen to my stories. She didn't laugh at the right time. She just looked at me through those strange eyes. I had to marry her to teach tier."

He had another complaint. "She's too honest," he grumbled. "She'll never back you up in a lie."

Despite this drawback they were married in Montreal in the spring of 1964. " Divorce His" and "Divorce Hers"the breakdown of a marriage seen sep• arately through the eyes of the tiusband and the wife-is the first flowering of a promise Burton made four years ago when he. put a small fortune into Britain's Harlech Television, which broadcasts to Wales (where he was born, one of the 13 children of a coal miner, 47 years ago).

Burton and Lord Harlech, chairman of the company, saw it as the start of a fruitful association in which the Burtons would lend their time and tafent to the company and help elevate TV to the standard they all agreed fl could and should reach. Burton went on the board of directors, but all that has really happened since then ls that his shares have grown into a bigger fortune.

The Burtons try to keep their many philanthropies private, but perhaps one shoul<'.Lsay here that the entira income of the Harlech stock goes to a fund for handicapped children, one of Miss Taylor's abiding interests. Some years ago she adopted Maria. a handicapped child, who had the last of a seriJ!S of operations when she was 5, and now, at 11, according to Burton, "can walk and talk perfectly." · " She doesn't like school and wants to come and five with .us," he· said.

"She wrote me from. sWitzerlanct saying, 'Aren't you a professor qr:. something? Can't you teach me?' " Burton went to the dressing table to have his make-up repaired by his personal make-up man and friend, Ron Berkeley. "Elizabeth makes herself up, 18

but I can't draw a line straight." he said. He is a leaner, physically tougher Burton than he has been for years. " I went down from 180 to 165 pounds by cutting out hard drinking and doing the exercises Ron sets for me." he said. "What convinced me was ~laying Marshal Tito in a film. In World War II nto crossed a raging river by pulling himself along a rope. He was 51. I was 46; and though I did it. I came into a room the next day creaking like a terribly old gentleman."

which includes Garrie Nye (Mrs. Dick Cavett) as The Other Woman.

On the set a clapper boy chalked " Nacht Effekt" on the striped blackboard that identifies a scene for the film editors, and Hussein asked whether there had been any word from the star dressing rooms. "He won't come until she's ready," said an aide. That gave Hussein time to explain the threecamera technique plus video-tape instant replay he is using for, he believes, the first time in a feature film .

But what about the Harlech TV deal?

Burton said the four-year hiatus was not his fault. · "The whole thing has been a bit disillusioning," he said. "People in TV are frightened by new ideas. It's safer to show old movies. I've made suggestions and put up ideas for programs but nothing happened. The things they wanted us to do were trash. The present scripts are fine, but we had to wait a long lime to get this quality."

Back in London Lord Harlech did not see it exactly the same way.

"It's not easy to get the right vehicle for the Burtans,." he said. "You. can't put Richard into a quiz program, for example. It's got to be something first class. Richard doesn't realize that a regional company is not in a position to make a feature film that might cost a million dollars. He wanted us to back a series on student revolt, but it was years too late. He hasn't attended a single program meeti~ Writing leltets is not the way to get things done on television."

There was no heat in the exchange.

The men are friends.

Harlech TV was able to make "Divorce His" and "Divorce Hers" because of the involvement of ABC and a plan whereby the two programs would be recut into one feature-length film and shown in theaters outside North America and the United Kingdom. The plan was conceived by British producer John Heyman, who also chose the cast,

Three cameras are trained on the scene, thus when one runs out of tape the shooting can continue with the others. The cameras also shoot different angles of the same set, and the instant replay shows the director whether he has captured the scene the way he visualized it. The big problem is the difficulty of fighting for the threecamera system, and Hussein conceded that " a lot of people are against it."

But if the director knows what he wants. this technique can save time and money, anq is " a good middle ground for the meeting of the film and television mediums," he. said.

Hussein, who is small, slender, swarthy and spectacled, was born in , India and educated from boyhood in Britain. He made his reputation in dramas and series for the British Broadcasting Corporation, but he had never had two such mammoth stars to deal with. It was taking all his inner and outer strehgth to keep the production on the tight schedule that must be followed with limited television budgets. " It's a difficult show," he said, " because it depends on mood and the interplay of character rather than action.

Elizabeth knows exactly what to do.

She's an incredible performer. Nothing · that can happen will faze her. Ric;hard, being theater-trained, needs more flexibility.'' Burton was also baffled early on by the multiplicity of cameras. · "What's that one doing behind me?"

TV GUIDE FEBRUARY 3, 1973

he demanded at one point.

When the stars arrived they sat offstage and chatted about the next scene, in which Burton had to strike his wife. " I've hit her in four or five films," he said, "but I've never hurt her. There was a scene in 'Cleopatra' where I knocked her across a room and she landed on a mattress."

"I hit my head-clunk!" said Miss Taylor. " And they kept it in. They made me do it, take after take. I wonder . if the director enjoyed it," she said darkly. . .

She wore a . blue dress; a jewel around her throat covered the faint scar from the operation that enabled her to breathe--and saved her lifewhen she was stricken with a rare form of pneumonia in London before " Cleopatra." " A doctor once told me I was the only one in the world to survive that type of pneumonia," she said.

I recalled journalists setting up what is known in the trade as a " death watch" at the clinic, and how, when she had barely passed the crisis, the phone rang in my home and a weak voice said: "This is Elizabeth. " " Where are you.?" I said", caught off balance. " Well," laughed the girl who was all but written off a day or .two earlier, ''I'm not at El Morocco.''

Despite her great beauty; Miss Tayloris shy. Sl')e is also religious. She is not a jet-setter. She says her 40th. birthday party in Budapest was the only party she and Burton have ever • given, and it caused so much Griticism she donated a sum equal to its cost to the UN children's fund . She is worried about the disturbed state of the world and what it will mean to her .children (four, one adopted) and her grandchildren (one so far}. She contributes to preservation of wildlife.

She loves to aet, hopes to move eventually. into character roles.- and. · although she and Richard sometimes talk about retiring, she knows they will fall . for a good script anytime. ("We're ~ 19

continued

in such bloody demand and we're so bloody weak at saying no," Burton lamented.) She loves to eat but keeps her weight under 115 (at 5 feet 4). She has won two Oscars and dozens of other awards for acting and beauty.

She agrees with some of the aims of women's lib but not with discarding bras-the shortie nightgown scene to the contrary. "Most women can't afford to be without a bra," she said.

She has been married five times; but she has really loved only twice-the late Mike Todd and Burton . The memory of Todd, who died in a plane crash, is so precious that anyone· who knew him well has a passport to her presence. His death nearly shattered her own life. Burton, she said, taught her to love Mike's memory, not his ghost. . She lets nothing interfere with her marriage and will nonilm unless they can be together, wherever it is.

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They have a secret code for their "I Love You" messages-the opening bars of a piece of music whistled, hummed or tapped out. She has a jewel collection worth millions, but it is the beauty of the gems that enchants her, not the value. Burton says she plays with them with the delight of a child.

He also says there are drawbacks to having so "famously beautiful" a wife.

He would have liked to have gone to the annual Munich Oktoberfest, the biggest beer party in the world, at which several million people consume several million liters of specially reinforced beer. " But it was too dangerous for Elizabeth," he said. "What if someone got funny? ti was 500 yards from the beer tents to the exit. Imagine fighting through that?"

What about more television?

"We'd like to do some," Burton said.

But a rundown of his commitmentsfour films already scheduled-appears· to mean there will be nothing for the next year or 18 m·onths-whatever his good intentions. (§) lV GUIDE FEBRUARY 3, 1973

Pqe Dick And Uz For 1.- Shows In London London, .Jan. 25.

The Woodrow Wilson Award--one of the highest honors that Princeton can bestow on an alumnus-went this year to the youngest recipient in history. Because, said President Robert F. Goheen, from his "determined and persistent efforts we may look forward to more safety in our mines, highways and factories, less explosive accidents in our gas pipelines, cleaner meat and poultry on our tables, and broader public representation in the management of large public corporations," the $1,500 prize was awarded to 38-year-ald Ralph Nader.

•

Oldtime Swing King Benny Goodman, playing a one-night stand with his band at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, was honored to receive one delighted Goodman fan backstage after the performance. "I was particularly thrilled when you played I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas," said U.S. Ambassador to France Arthur Watson.

Whereupon the ambassador gave out with a vocal:

....

est Elizabethan dazzler was a present from Burton: the flat, heart-shaped diamond given by 17th century Indian Shah Jahan to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal -for whom he built the Taj Mahal.

Shah Richard promised to match the cost of the pendant (guesstimate: $100,000) with a donation to charity; he also said he would give UNICEF an amount equal to the bill for the party (perhaps another $70,000). There was no shortage of flowers or balloons or big names, such as Princess Grace of Monaco, Ringo Starr, Michael Caine and Raquel Welch (whose cast on her recently broken wrist was quickly loaded with autographs).

And there were plenty of little names, as well-including an impressive Welsh choir made up of five of Burton's brothers and three of his sisters, plus their spouses.

•

The fact that it was leap-year day probably had nothing to do with it, but while Britain's Prime Minister Edward Heath was . suggesting in the House of Commons that 60-year-old I'm a ding dong daddy from Labor M.P. Barbara Castle should take Dumas her parliamentary question to one of And you oughta see me do my his ministers, she suddenly broke in: stuff.

"I cannot, my dear boy." The 55-yearI'm a ding dong papa from Harlem old Prime Minister paused, then icily And you oughta see me strut. informed the House: "l am not the right honorable lady's dear boy."

• Lesser ladies may slide past their Blushing to the roots of her red hair, 40th birthdays with nothing but a pri- Mrs. Castle sat down. It was also gaffe vate sob or two to mark the occasion. time in Ottawa's Parliament: Prime Not Elizabeth Taylor. In Budapest, Minister Pierre Trudeau referred on the where Husband Richard Burton is mak- . floor to the opposition leader's "goding a movie called Bluebeard, the beau- damned question." Two days later he tiful 40-year-old invited some 200 apologized on an open-line radio profriends in from all aver the world for gram. "I agree that one shouldn't use a couple of days of drinking and danc- profanity," he told a shocked lady who ing and laughing and looking at the called in. "I'm sure my grandmother birthday girl and her jewels. The lat- wouldn't like it at all. I'm really sorry."

BIRTHDAY GIRL WITH FRIEND PRINCESS GRACE & HUSBAND RICHARD

Drinking and dancing and laughing and looking at Elizabeth.

TIME, MARCH 13, 1972

Tbele'• a 4ea1 eooldnl for .Jalm FraDtenbel!Per to d l re c t Rlchard Burton and Elizabeth ,_••,..... ln · baek•baek 90-mlnute themed to the apllt uf a husband and wife aa told ant from the viewpoint. of one and then _the. other.

The twln plays have 'been writ-

tied':amaa

ten by Enlll&h dramatist John Hopklnl mcl the parlay la being packaled by World Film ~~ces, John Beyman's Lo~on·b- production lndle. Apparently the onlY ttry point at the moment ls when the two shows fUID--IOUletime next fall looks UkelY-Gnce both Burton and Frankenhelmer have feature commttmenta upcom-

1.Dg ~•

l1z y r urt n Battle Anti Part- er ne 11·ght

By ROGER LANGLEY

The battling Burtons - Richard and Liz-were at it again recently, engaged in a verbal brawl which began in a private Hollywood club, spilled out into the street and ended up with Miss Taylor spending the night with an old girl friend.

Liz and Dick had been drinking when they arrived in their rented Cadillac limousine at Bumbles, the new members-andguests-only in-spot opened last December by Peter Sellers, Anthony Newley, Roman Polanski and several others.

The Burtons were the guests of Liz's physician, Dr. Rex Kenammer, and they were joined by actor Skip Ward and actress Stella Stevens.

"Burton was pretty well smashed by the time he arrived," Andrew Howard, secretary of the club, told The ENQUIRER. "His wife had also had a couple too, although not nearly as much as Richard.

"When the Burtons got here they were introduced to Brian Morris, part owner and manager of Bumbles. When Elizabeth was introduced to Morris, she held out her hand to him and he leaned over and kissed it. ·~whereupon B~rton ~de

THE BATTLING BURTONS: The violent quarrel between Richard Burton· and wife Liz Taylor (left) started when the manager of a Hollywood club kissed Liz' hand.

some remark, wliich Morris ignored. It was obviotU> lhat

stood up and threw her napkin on the plate and yelled in a loud voice, which everyone Burton resented the hand could hear, 'I've had about as kissing bit. much of this as I'm going to "Then the Burtons were take.' seated with Ward and Miss " 'I've had enough of this Stevens and Dr. Kenammer drunk.'" and they ordered drinks. Liz Morris said he walked over drank champagm~, I don't to the table with the waiters know what the others had. who were getting ready to serve the food.

Richard was drinking two "I hoped the sight of the drinks to the others' one and regaling them all with stories. beautiful food would quiet "Then Morris went over and them down but Liz would have joined the party. Burton denone of it and left the table, headed for the exit,'' Morris manded to know who had invited Morris to sit down at said. bis table?

"Rising slowly and uncer"~ wld Ji~ton, 'This tainly to his feet, Burton folhappens to be ~- mib and lowed her. The others got up I'll sit down any place I care ti14 ·~ l aftel: t}lem but couldn't persuaae thetn to to and you will do well to remember that while you are stop, so they returned to their dinner. They left the Burtons here, you are my guest and, if you don't like that, you know outside in the parking lot. what you can do. You can Richard and Elizabeth conleave right now!' Morris then tinued their verbal assault on got up and walked away. each other in front of the club.

"This is the thing that upset "Elizabeth was determined Liz and she scolded Richard to go and she got into their limousine and left Burton waitabout his behavior."

Bumbles' dining room seats WITNESSED QUARREL: Brian Morris was at in?, o.n the s~dewalk., .

Richard Jumped m a taxi about 65 persons and when the Richard and Liz' table when the brawl between noise started at the Burto~s' the celebrated couple reached its height. and. took off in the same ditable, all eyes focused on 1t. rection."

Some of the diners said Burton was over the blare of the band. It was Just what happened next cannot in a very touchy mood, that every- really rough. Elizabeth's cheelCs turn- be confirmed, but Elizabeth spent the thing bothered him. ed fiery red with and she in Bel Air at the home of her One party said Burton called his wife, "Elizabeth the Fat." Another person in the room said, "Everybody was watching what appeared to be building up into a first class family brawl. Burton was especially abusive but Elizabeth gave it right back to him, just as good as she got it."

Morris, the clulis manager, said, "The Burtons' dinner companions tried to ease the tension but failed. Burton told Stella that the quarrel was none of her business and continued aiming his verbal barbs at Elizabeth.

"Then Elizabeth said something that must have really hit home with Burton because ms reaction was explosive. He didn~t care who was listening.

"He just cut loose with a tirade that rocked everybody who could hear him, t , >

I

p_age

30

~~c>::-l;i:' i;~~:~:~#~;':!fh:

Burtons fought end ported at this club, -·Bumbles.

friend, Mrs. Edie Goetz, whose late husband, William, was a close friend of the late Mike Todd, Elizabeth's second husband. Mrs. Goetz is also the daughter of the late Louis B. Mayer, a founder of MGM Studio.

Dick Spittell, the Burtons' public relations man, said, ~'Ye~, they'd been at Bumbles and he'd been drinking too much. Instead of arguing in their own bedroom, they argued out in public.

"She was mad and went to spend the night at Edie Goetz's place. She didn't call her lawyer. The next morning when Richard sobered up, he came around and they made up and had a jolly lunch together."

Mrs. Goetz also confirmed that the Burtons are happily -back together after their public tiff. "They are both as happy as they can be," she said.

"T haal'd from them by phone the other day and they told me that everything is wonderful with them and that they -plan to be back in Hollywood again soon."

Liz an Burton in, Anoth•r M.ovie .

New York CAP)-Ricllard Burton and bl• .wife, .Elizabeth Taylor, will costar with Gregory Peck in the film version of Charles Collingwood's novel, "'nle Defector!'

Burton also will direct and write the screenplay· of the film, Which involves the story of 14 t.eleyisio!l C!llJlmelitator who goes t.o North Vietnam. .

Peck will play the part of the correspondern, Burton will be a CIA agent iand Miss .Tayl()f an .Amer.ican ·:gut with whom Peck becomes involved 1n·uanoi. .

Collingwood ls chief foreign correspondent for CBS television.

•

• •

•

5Q CENTS · JUNE 16, 1970

BURTON BUYS LIZ THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE COAT

The worldwide debate over

WHOIS AJEW An ex-Army doc or's disturbing report on addiction in Vietnam

DOES B ARMY FIGHT ON DRUGS?

Elizabetli Taylor Was Late Diner, One of Two Visiting Chefs Recalls

AROUND THE WORLD

chef. krlik Qwned a restaurant and KIESSLING and a fellow operated a delicatessen with a Characteristics ~f.some Hol- chef, Frank Kankrlik, present· _wholesale wine and_Iiquor buslywood personalities were ly from Memphis but original· mess. When he decided to flee known to a young German- ly from Czechoslovakia, were the com~try, ™: had to leave born cl_ief before he came to here recently to assist in make~~rything behind. . ing hors d'oeuvres for nearly I was forced to leave w1ththe Uruted States.

"I was working in Paris .at 700 persons. The guests had out ~y wife and so?. the fir~t the Hotel Lancaster w~en ~hz- been invited by Downtowner time, ' he related. I was m abeth Ta:>:lor and E~die. F1~er Motor Inn executives to view West Germany a year and were staymg there, said Diet- the redecorated interior at one-half before I could go back er Kiessling, visiting here Thirteenth and Central streets. to Czechoslovakia for them.

The two men took time to Then the three o~ us escaP.ed from Denv~. ''They never or· d~ed ~ything before 3 or 4 talk about food as they created togEther by '!alking 2 ~s o clock m t~ a~rnoon. They hundreds or deviled eggs with through the ~ght. We sl~pt m seemed to like liver. I don't the mountams and finally know maybe they needed a. ~astry .bag, squeezed ch~ crossed the border into · · · filling mto celery sticks, ,, the iron. stuffed giant mushroom caps German~. · "MISS TAYLOR had been with crabmeat and speared Kankrlik has w~rked . m quite sick in London, just be- whole fresh pineapple with many resta~ants,. including fore coming to Paris. Report- cheese squares and cherry to- the Statler-Hilton m Dallas, ers hung around the hotel for mato slices. ~ex., where he was executwo days before she ap"C king 1. ainl using our tive chef for 11 years. . . <?O t' ~ m 'd YK. "I have worked alongside peared " · · the imagma ion, sai iess1mg. many American chefs " he A no 'th er unpresSlon "Y h0 uld 1 think . ' F.Lshers left on Kiessling was ou s a ways said, "and I believe they are th . tr The 'd about color. Never put two of very capable. They are creat. Y6~ the same colors next to each ing competition for $90eir aexn1.aghv:g~th or ell' other. Always use contrast, Europe just as Califo · room. like blue and red or red and · · "It was as much as I made If , king 'th wmes are now competing ,, h "d green. you re wor w1 the belt a""*' ,, / in a. wholem~th • e 581 ·• a pale cheese, don't put some• M1~ .Taylor IS n~w the wife thing yellow next to it." of Bntish actor Richard Bur· The 32-year-old culinary speton. . cialist has been in this country Y~ B~ner is .another per- little more than five years, 1onality. w1~ exorbitant tastes, while Kankrlik has lived here nearly 20 said Kiessling, who met the actor in Vienna. "He liked to · order chateaubriand and ca vi.BEF~RE he ~scaped from ar for breakfast. said the his ~ve land .m 1948, Kai?By Laura Rollins Hockaday <A Member o1 Th• Star's stattl

thosei

AP plte&e

Surprise visitor I

Elizabeth Taylor and actor Peter Lawford shared a laugh Friday as they left a Rome movie studio. Lawford dropped In on Liz as she worked on a new film.

Auctioning for war relief

AP Plte&e

Actress Elizabeth Taylor banged her gavel as auctioneer In Am$•erdam daring auction by an Israeli at· &ion committee to provide funds for Israeli war wld· ows .and orphans.

WALTER SCOTT'S

Personalilv Parade

ant the facts? Want to spike rumors? Want to learn the truth about prominent personalities? Write Walter Scott, Parade, 733 3rd Av ewYor~, N.Y., 10017. Yourfull namewill be used unless otherwise requested. Volume of mail received makes personal replies impossibl Q. Will Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew campaign

return for Southern votes, promised to help textile manufacturers keep Japanese goods out of the U.S.?

-Edward Driscoll, Charlotte, N.C. A. It is true. Mr. Nixon is one politician who does his level best to pay off his promises.

in 1972 the same way they campaigned in 1970?Noe/ Fletcher, Arlington, Va. A. Every man is a victim of his own nature. Mr. Nixon and Mr. Agnew are men with considerable quotients of hostility and aggression. When they feel threatened they strike out. If an electioneering situation obtains in 1972 which threatens their security and position, they will react according to their natures.

Q. Did singer Tom Jones ever attempt suicide?laine Kelleher, Harrisburg, ~a.

A. When Jones (real name -Thomas Jones Woodward) first came to London from Wales, he could find no work. One day at the Notting Hill Gate underground station, he thought of throwing himself under a train: "I was at my lowest point of despair." In 1964, however, he recorded "It's Not Unusual." The record was a hit, and Jones since has never entertained a thought of suicide.

Q. Is it true that Andre Malraux has qeen signed to finish Genera/ de Gaulle's memoirs?-Christine OJney, Denver, Colo.

A. No. Malraux, de Gaulle's closest friend, has written a book, Conversations With de Gaulle. The book was not to be published until after de Gaulle's death.

Now rt will be.

Q.

Whats happened to Mme. Nhu, the sister-in/aw of the late South Vietnamese President, Ngo Dinh Diem?-Alice Geer, Boston, Mass.

A. She has lived in exile in Rome and Paris since her husband and brotherin-law were killed in a 1963 coup. Recently she was allegedly defrauded out of $144,000 by a Roman Catholic priest, Msgr. Pietro Gelmini, in jail on charges of issuing bad checks and defrauding people to the tune of $500,000.

Q. How many times in the last 15 years have Argen-

Q. Has the U.S. ever considered the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam?-Manfred Hentshe/, Washington, D.C. A. According to Richard !farnet, co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies and a member of the State Department and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the Kennedy Administration, "Under pressure from the military, President Johnson gave serious consideration to the use of tactical nuclear weapons to relieve the garrison at Khe Sanh in 1968. Reports that the White House was sounding out Congressional reaction to such a move elicited strong public reaction and all such plans were dropped."

ELIZABETH AND RICHARD

Q. I have read that no film producer will pay Richard

Q. Who is the girl who has hit James Brown, our

Burton or his wife Elizabeth Taylor one million dollars per film any more. Is this so?-Helen Hurley, Baltimore, Md. A. When Burton began his latest film, Villain, he explained, "I will not receive a penny in advance for this picture. I have become a parfner in the venture, and if it is a success I shall get my share of the profits. The days of a million dollars a picture are over now. We must all cut our suits according to our cloth and take a piece of the action rather than a huge fee right off the top."

number-one soul singer, with a paternity suit?-£. T., Rome, Ga. A. Mary Christine Mitchell, 26, has charged singer James Brown, 37, with fathering a girl born to her three months ago. Miss Mitchell claims she has known Brown for about ten years, has been intimate with him in New York, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and other places.

She is seeking child support.

Q. Is Dr. Ralph Bunche of the Urrited Nations losing his eyesight?-M. T. T., Mineola, N.Y. A. Yes, unfortunately.

Q. I understand Las Vegas men have moved into southern California and are establishing a series of gambling casinos there.

Any truth to that?-M. H., San Clemente, Calif.

A. Veteran Las Vegas gamblers who sold out to Howard Hughes have moved into southern California to set up resorts and real estate deals but no gambling casinos. One such resort is La Costa, 25 miles from San Diego.

tinians been allowed to vote for their President?Alfrecl Amadeo, Las Cruces, N. Mex.

TINA AND BOB

Q. Is the Bob Wagner-Tina Sinatra affair serious?

Isn't he old enough to be her father?-Helen Barn-

Q. Can you verify or deny a statement in Fortune well, Winston-Sa/em, N:C. -.....-iu...."""'"-------~---------'-----•--.~-~-;_.,.,._J.,,_~ I.. .. · . -11l...CD D...:..-J--.......J ~-i.-...1.--.oc-i..,__ _ _•~------------~-ft.:.•

ELIZABETH TAYLOR continued

Liz has been beautiful since babyhood {above). At 8 {left}, she was under contract, went to studio school with Alfalfa Switzer, but didn't make her first movie until 11.

She was the "girl who has everything" Elizabeth Taylor has been preparing all her life for her success in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. A veteran at 26, she has already chalked up one of the .Jongest consecutive working records in movie history: 5lie 1 be!!fi t 1 i empfaym !ltnee '11 ¡ when-she was 11. At 12, in Na~hal Velvet, she was so outstanding that she was made a star. She became known as the "girl who has everything."

But though her career has been impressive, her private life has been dogged by misfortune. At 18, in a stab at womanhood, she left home to marry Nicky Hilton, son of the multimillionaire hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. It was an adolescent marriage that lasted less than a year. But Liz has led a life of independence ever since. Nicky Hilton, a perennial playboy, has not remarried.

Nic'ky Hilton, 23, and Elizabeth, 18, married in May, 1950, were two shining youngsters with all the money and immaturity in the world; their marriage lasted eight months.

Elizabeth's womanly beauty, in both face and figure, was already apparent when she was 15.

At 16, she became engaged to Army football star Glenn Davis; their engagement ended when he went to Korea.

In late teens, she had a regal bearing and beauty envied by most of America's teen-.agers.

continued

92

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

continued

Liz proposed to Wilding When she was a brash 20-year-old, Elizabeth has admitted, she proposed marriage to British actor Michael Wilding, 40. The four-year Wilding-Taylor marriage was never a really solid one, even in the setting of an idyllic hilltop house in Holly¡ wood, where they lived with their two sons.

Money was one of the obstacles. Wilding, though a star in England, never made or saved much money. MGM gave him a lucrative contract to keep Elizabeth happy, but he didn't enjoy his ambiguous position. When their marriage broke up, Liz said, "I know of only a few marriages that are happy when a wife is a star." Wilding remarried and went to London.

Alpine honeymoon with Wilding found Liz happy "at last."

She won first real respect as an adult actress in A Place in the Sun, 1951 (above}, with Montgomery Clift. He was again her costar in last year's Raintree County (right). continued

Wilding made occasional movies at her studio, but resented his position.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR continued

In third marrwge for both, the Todds were wed in a gala ceremony in Mexico on February 2, 1957.

Liz, here wearing one of the queenly tiaras Mike gave her, was always impressed by his display of money.

Liz and Mike flew thousands of miles in the Lucky Liz; he died on one of the few flights they didn't take together.

She boasted: ''At last, I've got a real man."

Elizabeth Taylor found her first real happiness in years with her third husband, bold, brassy Mike Todd, a man in sharp contrast to the quiet gentleness of Michael Wilding. Mike showered her with fabulous gifts and constant attention.

More important to her, he admired her as an intelligent woman of talent. She said, "It's nice to be married to someone who thinks I have a brain."

But Mike also bossed his wife with a firm hand, gave her a stinging swat on the rump when she got out of line, and staged Homeric battles with her in public. Liz told her friends proudly, "At last, l've got a real man."

A grief-stricken Liz flew to Mike's funeral.

After their marrwge, she was flown to New York for examination of her spine, operated on two months earlier.

96

continued

LIZ TAYLOR IS 40! .

JOHN LINDSAY The Media-sexy Candidate

®

I

~

I I

Against the rich backdrop of a tapestry designed by Hungarian artist Istvan Ban, Elizabeth Taylor lounges in her hotel suite in Budapest

HAPPY 40TH, DEAR LIZ

by THOMAS THOMPSON

W

hen Elizabeth Taylor becomes 40 years old this week, the sea will not boil, nor will the earth convulse and crack. There will be but a small party in Budapest, where the Burton-Taylor court is in residence this winter. And there will certainly be, for those of us who have followed the Ghild with velvet eyes through her opulent public decades, the feeling that the years have gone too fast, that all of us are suddenly middle-aged.

Richard Burton's first idea had been to charter, with the aid of Baron Rothschild and Pres-

ident Pompidou of France, the Concorde SST. He would fill it with friends and champagne and they would race across the heavens of Europe at twice the speed of sound. But the first five men he invited said no (though the first five women said yes), and he turned to another notion. Perhaps he could hire a jumbo jet and dart about the world. Stopping to collect friends in Paris and London and New York and Beverly Hills. Dipping down in Hawaii for earthly revel. But some art dealer in Atlantic City beat him to that idea.

There followed a flurry of activity involving a private train from Paris to Budapest, a plan that fe11 through when authorities in the various countries

refused cooperation and there loomed the eminent possibility that the Burton Train might be shuttled off on a siding somewhere in Transylvania, during which Elizabeth's birthday might come and go.

So on the great night, Feb. 27, there will be but a few friends and family, a cascade of gifts and, of course, Richard's present. One wondered whether there were any great jewels left unpurchased by him for her in the world. He has founti one. It is an enormous heart-shaped diamond the color ofa pale new lemon. It is embraced by showers of rubies and lesser diamonds. It contains a secret. When the flames of a candle dance behind CONTINUED

57

The Burtons are never apart CONTINUED

it, h'.!re are revealed ancient words oflove carved discreetly into the stone by an artisan of centuries ago. "It's by the fellow who did the Taj Mahal," Burton likes to say.

In the first week of February, the Burtons and their entourage-secretary, hair stylist, chauffeur, valet, dressmaker, to name but a few-settled in for a ten-week stay in Budapest, where Richard would star in Bluebeard. Elizabeth is not in the film; by choice she works less these days and calls herself a "semiretired grandmother." But she and her husband are never apart.

O

utside the Dunainter-C.ontinental Hotel, their dark green Rolls-Royce sat gleaming in the driveway. In the presidential suite, Richard was talking. It is a new and lean Richard Burton, with 30 pounds gone thanks to his two-year abstinence from whiskey. "We've been together 11 years now," he said. "Eight years married, three years clandestine, and I can't see any physical change in Elizabeth. Her weight got;s from 120 pounds up to 135, but she's most happy at around 128, which is about where she is now, I do believe."

He stopped talking because Elizabeth appeared. She wore a soft green dressing gown of Grecian cut whose folds contained perhaps a pound or two more than Richard had estimated.

But there was no denying the face. The collection of ordinary human features which, when put together with the huge and wide and violet eyes, formed a composition so startling, so haunting

that one held the breath, fearful that the canvas would melt, or sag, or vanish from a disrespectful sound.

She took a firm chair because her back will trouble her all her life, despite the steel corsets, despite the massages and pain pills. During the making of Raintree County, Elizabeth had had an operation on her spine. She winced in recollection.

"That was when they removed three spinal disks," she said. "They made sort of a gothic column from my waist to my tail."

In her left hand was a tumbler of Jack Daniel's and soda, refilled often as the night crept by, and on the ring finger of that hand, a modest diamond band overwhelmed by its partner, the 33.9-carat Krupp diamond. "I think it's charming and fitting that a little Jewish girl like me ended up with Baron Krupp's rock," she said with a malicious glint. (Elizabeth became a Jewish convert when she married Mike Todd in 1957.)

"You got your first diamond from Mike Todd during Raintree, I seem to remember," said Edward Dmytryk, the director of Bluebeard, who was also in the room. "Twenty carats, wasn't it?"

"Twenty-five." Women tend to remember numbers like that.

The talk this night was of the motion picture business. On a windowsill, next to the hundreds of paperback books which partly explain the Burtons' routine $2,500 overweight baggage charge for transatlantic crossings, was a pile of movie scripts a yard high. ¡ "I'm terribly worried about our¡ industry be-

High above a wintry Budapest, Elizabeth and Richard snuggle in furs (below). At right, bewigged and bejeweled, Elizabeth shows off some of her treasures. The pearl drop pendant in the lower picture once belonged to Bloody Mary Tudor of England.

cause it seems so bloody disorganized," said Elizabeth. "For my next picture, the money's being put up by a perfume maker. For my last, it came from a manufacturer of trailers. I wouldn't dream of asking for a million dollars in front now. It's not moral. Richard and I both have a gambling sense. We'd rather take expenses and no salary against a large percentage of the gross.

It makes everyone work harder to bring the picture in. If you win, it's like winning on the red. lf you lose, well, it's roulette-but not Russian roulette."

Someone mentioned that perhaps Nixon's visit to China would permit a Western film to be made there. Elizabeth nodded enthusiastically.

"And I have a property I'd like to do," she said.

"It's a Pearl Buck novel about the last empress."

CONTINUED

'I've always wanted to be older' CONTINUED

Could Elizabeth Taylor possibly look Oriental?

Her response was to take her diamond-clad fin- · gers and pull those great violet eyes back, toward her temples. Again the room was hushed. The effect was astonishing. "Any questions?" she said. noon the next day, an oppressive day with fog and gray rain sweeping across Budapest, Elizabeth looked through the glass walls of her suite at the Danube. There were chunks of dirty ice moving down it and she watched, fascinated, for a few moments. "One thing about getting older," she said softly, "is being able to observe. Observing! To sit and look out this window at this very moment and see that castle over there those cathedral spires, the kind 1 of Whistler beauty of that bridge. I find myself much more relaxed and confident and aware just now. I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have ~done, QI' am, or have been. But I'm me.

God knows . .. I'm me."

And being'40?

"I think it's fantastic!" The awesome face lit up. "Forty always sounded so important. The big four-oh. Well, after all, it is halfway, or more.

But I've always wanted to be older. So I find actually being 40 very appealing."

She lfegan to reminisce, looking back to the very beginning in Beverly Hills during the war.

"Everybody in our neighborhood was in the film business one way or another. One of Father's fellow air-raid wardens wanted me to be in a picture at Universal. Mother agreed, Father was against it, but I was dying to try. I finally got permission and-Jesus, I can't even remember the name of the movie. I played a tiny, tiny part. I was a monster and ran around in the background shooting people with rubber bands. The star was 'Alfalfa' Switzer of the Our Gang comedies. After that, the little English girl MGM had hired for Lassie Come Home had gotten too tall during six months of shooting. So they decided to redo her part with a new girl, and they needed a real English accent, and I certainly had one-you could cut it with a knife. It was then I began serving my sentence at MGM. It lasted 18 years."

She filled her glass again and drank deeply and quietly. Her face turned hard. "I remember a time when I went down on my knees to an executive at MGM who shall remain nameless. I was married to Michael Wilding and was pregnant and they put me on suspension. We had bought a house and we desperately needed $10,000~r else we would lose it. I begged him to loan me $10,000. It seemed the end of my world.

He said, 'You didn't plan things very well, did you?' I said, 'I'm truly sorry I'm making a baby instead of making a picture, but all I'm asking

-

..•

Elizabeth rode King Charles in National Velvet, then got him as a gift from MGM on her 13th birthday. Two years later, a well-developed 15-year-old, she posed for cheesecake photos (right).

Child star, sex symbol, mother and widowall by the age of 26

~

CONTINUED

Supercharged showman and producer Mike Todd was Elizabeth's third husband. With their baby daughter Elizabeth (Liza) Frances, the Todd trio made a contented family group in 1957.

Accompanied by her brother, Elizabeth attended Mike Todd's funeral in 1958.

The marriage was only 13 months old when Todd's plane, The Liz, crashed in New Mexico. Because his wife was running a 102° temperature, Todd had refused to let her make the fatal trip.

61

'Forty isn't the end of the world' CONTINUED

is a loan.' He pulled out a wallet choked with hundreds and thousands. He held it before me to humiliate me. He dressed me up and down and made me realize I was nothing to him but one of the cattle. I got the money only on the condition that I would make an exhausting tour -pregnant, mind you-to promote a picture. I vowed then and there that I would never have to ask anybody for anything again."

She stopped and put her hand to a place just beside her nose. Below her right eye. "I think it's coming back," she said. "And it hurts." "It" was a sebaceous cyst which was removed a few months ago by an ingenious surgeon who went through the nasal passage so as not to leave a scar on the face. That was her 30th operation of her life. She has become almost as familiar with medical terminology as she has with the techniques of her craft.

Word had come this morning of the sudden death in America of Mrs. Mike Todd Jr., at 41.

The news had devastated Elizabeth. "Do you think about death? Do you worry about death?"

"I've been too close to death to fear it anymore," Elizabeth said. "I enjoy life far too much to want to die. But I'm certainly not afraid of it.

I've been as close as you can get about four

.E

~times. '-"•

no ugh of that. It seemed wasteful to sit with Elizabeth Taylor in a presidential suite above the Danube and talk about death. Better life and beauty. How does she manage to keep on looking so beautiful?

"First of all," she answered, "I don't think I am a beautiful woman. Ava Gardner is. I think Au9rey Hepburn.is. But the way I look is all right with me. Because I want to be me. I don't take vitamins or do exercise. I can lose weight when I want to, mainly by just not eating."

She was wearing no makeup and the skin gleamed. Even .in the light of noon there were no wrinkles or blemishes. "Richard prefers me with no makeup at all. Sometimes I go around for days like this. All I ever use is soap and water anyway.

And a little hand lotion that I put on my face at night. Grace [Princess Grace of Monaco J told me that when she was hitting 40 she got a Ii ttle nervous and went out and bought every cosmetic in Paris she could find. I did it the other day mainly for a giggle. I put them all on and looked awful and I went right back to soap and water and hand lotion."

Later this afternoon, she began to pose for her ,40th-birthday portraits. For an hour or two there was a flurry of jewels and silken caftans and furs and hai rdos. But suddenly Richard came back early from 'work and the sitting was canceled for the day. Her life revolves around the man. Theirs is obvio u:;ly not only a good marriage, but a great one. It is, hc>wcver, one wrapped in isolation. The Burtons 111( ve from hotel suite to hotel suite rc:·ms the v:orld, rarely doing or seeing or feeling thi 11 ~s the rest of us do.

"Our idea of bliss," she would say the next

62

day, ••is being alone here together. We each have our book and we read for half an hour, then put our books down and talk al:out \\-hat we have read. And the best times are \\-hen we lie in bed in the darkness and touch hands and talk for two or three hours-about everything and nothing.

"I didn't even want to marry Richard, you know. I said to him, 'If you want me to be your mistress'-now there's an old-fashioned word - 'then I will. But no more marriages.' He changed my mind. Now I cannot imagine life without him.

I love him. I adore him. Our love is so deep that I don't give a goddamn what people think or say about us. If you have a real relationship with your lover, you can do anything and make it magic."

There seem to be but two gaps in an otherwise satisfactory life. The Burtons annually donate around $1,000,000 to charities, usually anonymously. This, however, is but an easy stroke of the pen. Elizabeth has become fascinated with the work of UNICEF and is planning to l:eccme an active member. "I obviously cannot sing or dance and raise money the way Danny Kaye can," ~he says. ••But what I can do is teccrne a sort of super con woman and solicit money. I think I might be successful at that." She wants a came.

The other wish is poignantly remote frcm the world of diamonds and royal suites and RollsRoyce automobiles. When she tells of it, her voice almost breaks. At first it is embarrassing for a guest to hear, but then tlie visitor realizes that it is legitimate, nontheatrical and from the heart.

Her own three children-Liza, now 14 and in

A remarkably beautiful child, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London in 1932. When she was 7, her art dealer father moved his family to Beverly Hills. Today Liz's jewels are almost as famous as her beauty. At right, she wears the 33.9-carat Krupp diamond, a gift from Richard Burton.

schcol in England, Christopher, 17 this week and in schcol in Ge1many, and Michael, 19, married and father of a baby daughter-are all grown.

Maria, the crippled German child adopted by the Burtons, is now, after considerable surgery, a happy and normal child; living at the Burtons' principal residence at Gstaad, Switzerland. But she is almost a teen-ager.

Though Elizabeth is delighted to be a grand-. mother ("I'm not the grabby kind. When they let me hold the baby, or change her, or feed her, I'm delighted"), she yearns to begin again herself. "I would give up everything I have," she says, "I would live in a shack-if I could give Richard a baby." She cannot have children anymore, so she has tried to adopt one. She solicited Jewish agencies in New York, but there are few Jewish babies to adopt. While in Yugoslavia last year, when Richard starred in a film of Tito's early years, she asked Tito's wife if perhaps there was a baby there which could be adopted. Nothing came of that. Finally she turned to Vietnam, where hundreds of children are being born of American fathers and Asian mothers. She hired attorneys who fought their way through the barriers of red tape and rules-to-get-around. Only to be refused.

The rejection so stunned her that she put aside the idea for a while. But now it has come back.

Once again she is at work. She is going to find a child. "I'm going to do it," she announces firmly, "it's that simple. I mean, after all, 40 isn't the end of the world. It can te a beginning."

•

Uz Taylor, Richard get Swiss divoree GSTAAD, Switzerland (AP) - A

Swiss civil oourt granted a divorce

today to Elizabeth Taylor and Rich-

ant Burton on the grounds of.mutual

incompatibility.

The decision was announced after a 45-minute hearing at Sarnen, near Gstaad, the Burt.ons' legal residence.

Miss Taylor appeared wearing heavy makeup and looking tense, accompanied by seteral American lawyers. t â&#x20AC;˘ Burton was nof present Court officials said his lawyer presented a medical certificate to excuse his ab-

sence.

The oourt awarded Miss Taylor custody of their 11-year-old adopted daughter, Maria.

Terms of a financial settlement negotiated previously were not announced in the ruling.

Burton Divorce This T~me?

PARIS (UPl)-A Paris weekly new~paper Wednesday quoted friends .of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as saying the pair bad bad another of their celebrated quarrels "but this time it's finished. It's divorce."

The newspaper France Dimanche said the Burtons were barely speaking to each other at their winter home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

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THE END OF HER FIFTH MARRIAGE-Liz Taylor lowers her glasses on the set of "ldentikit" (The Driver's Seat), in Rome today. She has avoided public comment on a spokesman's announcement in New York that she and her husbank Richard Burton are going to get a friendly divorce. (AP Wirephoto)

Divorce Is 'Friendly'

By HILMI TOROS

Associated Press Writer ROME (AP) Elizaebth 'tiylor spent the day before the cameras today, Richard Burton stayed out of sight, and neither one had any public comment on their divorce plans.

A spokesman in New York fflr the Burtons announced 'l?uesday that they would get a ftiendly divorce in Switzerland, their legal residence. ;"They are not going to fight efich other," said the spokesman, John Springer. "They are very amicable toward each othet."

He added that the Burtons are parting because of "a s e r i e s of personal disagreements" and not because efther one is romancing with stmebody else. ;:Miss Taylor started filming llrtonday in the film version of British author Muriel Spark's novel "The Driver's Seat." The fltst scenes are being shot insme a DC9 jet at Fiumicino air-

pgrt.

'.Burton starts making the movie "The Village" in Sicily later this month, with Sophia

Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schneider.

The American actress and the Welsh actor separated on July 3. A tearful reunion followed in Rome on July 16 and they moved in with producer Carlo Ponti and actress Sophia Loren at their palatial villa on the outskirts of Rome.

Springer said Miss Taylor had moved to a hotel, but none of them would admit she was a guest. Burton was supposed to be at the Ponti villa still, but nobody there would talk.

Miss Taylor and Buron met while making the film "Cleopatra" in Rome in 1963, when her beauty was one of the American screen's biggest boxoffice attractions and he was one of the greatest talents on the British stage. After a highly publicized romance, she divorced her fourth husband, singer Eddie Fisher; Burton divorced his English wife, Sybil, and they were married in M.ontreal in March 1964.

They starred together in eight movies and for a time were the highest paid couple in films. Their greatest triumph was as the battling pair i~

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" But their most recent films together have caused no great excitement among either the critics or the public, and their last joint venture-a twop~rt. ti:levision moY,ie "Divorce HIS-Divorce Hers, was generally panned.

"Maybe we have loved each other too much-not that I ever believed such a thing was possible," Miss Taylor said when they separated last. month.

A star since she made "National Velvet" at the age of 12, Miss Taylor was married first at 18 to Conrad "1'1tcky" Hilton, son of the hotel magnate. That marriage ended in divorce as did her next one, to actor Michael Wilding. Her third husband was producer Mike Todd, who was killed in a plane crash in 1958. She married Fisher 14 months later.

Her nine years of marriage to Burton is a record for Miss Taylor; her shortest was five months, to Hilton.

Miss Taylor is now 41 while Burton is 48. She has two sons

by Wilding, a daughter by Todd, and she and Burton adopted a daughter. He has two daughters by his first wife.

quits for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. After a 17-day separation and brief reconciliation, the Burtons were filing for a "friendly" divorce in Switzerland, their legal residence. In spite of rumors about Peter Lawford, Warren Beatty and Helmut Berger, Liz denied that there were any other men involved.

Richard was equally insistent that he had no new loves. Meanwhile, Liz began work on her new film The Driver's Seat. Her comment to those who tried to console her: "It takes one day to die -another to be born."

â&#x20AC;˘

When Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty thrashed to death as the gunfire of Texas Rangers sheriffs' deputies hit their car in the climactic scene of Bonnie and Clyde, audiences too were riveted to their seats in horror. Now Peter Simon II, 22, a casino owner from Jean, Nev., who saw the movie three times, has become the proud owner of the actual death car, a Ford V-8 sedan that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow stole in 1934 from a farm in Topeka. (Barrow wrote Henry Ford I: "I drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble, the Ford has got every other car skinned." Its new owner plans to exhibit the sedan, still bloodstained and riddled with 160 bullet holes, at $2.50 a throw. For him it wasn't exactly a steal. He paid $175,000 for it at

LIZ STARTS A NEW LIFE IN ROME

Taylor-Burton Separate But Want Another c ·hance LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actress Elizabeth Taylor will leave July 21 for Rome, the city where her romance with Richard Burton blossomed and wher~ frien.ds say their ailing nw:r1age will mend.

Burton, who ~ew to Rome Thursday, and MISS Taylor are scheduled to begin separate movies there this month. The couple arranged their work schedules before their separation 10 days ago.

In New York, Burton's lawyer, Aaron Frosch, said friends expect the Roman reunion to end their split. "They expect the two of them, Mr. and Mrs. Burton, to return to Rome and

'b1voaca

RIS-DIVORCI:

rent a villa there where they will stay during the filming " h "d ' e sat Miss Taylor came to California soon after she announced the separation on July 3. Her spokeswoman Donna Quinn of . ' John Spnnger Associates, said she is staying at the home of costume designer Edith Head.

BDS

WIUa Blebard Barton, El._._b TaJ'lor, Carrie N7e, Bal'l'J' F• ter, Gabriele Fenet&I. oUaera Preducer: Terence Babr, GareUa Wigan

JUST TEMPORARY? - Film stars Elizabeth Tayl•r and Richard Burton, who have separated, are shown together in an earlier moment. (AP Wirephoto)

Liz RevealS Separation NEW YORK (AP) - "Maybe They starred in "Divorce His e have loved each other too - Divorce Hers," a recent two. much," actress Elizabeth Tay- part television movie portrayor said in announcing that she ing the breakup of a marriage nd Richard Burton were sepa- through the eyes of both tbe ating after nine .years of mar- husband and wife. riage.

During the course of their "I believe with all my heart world travels Burton 47 gave that this . separation will ulti- his wife · such highly 'publlcized mately bnng us back to '!here · gifts as a !~passenger jet and ~e should be - and that 1s to- a 69-carat diamond from Cargether," she said through a tier's.

The . d . M spokesman Tuesday.

Miss Taylor, 41, checked into Y were mame in onthe Regency Hotel here early treal on ~arch 15,. 1964, 8!ter this week. She said Tuesday d I v o r c 1 n g thell' prev.1~us she planned to leave for Cali- s~uses. She bec.ame a Bnttsh fornia shortly. Burton was said, citizen the following year. o be secluded on Long Island.

In her 15~word statement, Burton and Miss Tayl.Qr have Miss Taylor said she and her atle l1tllf films ·•tber, in- husband "have been in each Iudin9· ''Cleopatra," the ac- other's i>ocJtets constantly" and F~~mett "Who's Afraid of Vir- that she was convinced the sepl(inia Woolf?" and the "The aration was "a good construcaming of the· Shrew." tive Idea."

Dlreetor: Warla Bmaeln Writer: Jobn Bopldaa lit Mlm., Ta-., Wed., 8:10 p.m.

ABC-TV Thia two-part soupbone made It official: Liz and Dick Burton are the corniest act in show busineas since the Cherey Sisten.

The hype of 4:his couple was prevlouslJ dllcemible in such feature film ripoffs ~ "The Sandpipers," which bad the couple .UP to their ey4!'balla in aucla, and ''The Only Game In Town," with .Miss T9ylor ludicrous]J miscast as a Lu Vepa cbonas girl.

But "Divorce," etc., billed as their "first dramatic appearance on tv," was Uni ultimate. Rarely has the medium achieved •uch parity between the ethics and moraDl:,J of performance and 1Cript in the program and the blurbs.

Taklnl a cue from the first clutter of blurbs on the first nipt, 1t became perfectly legitimate for a viewer to presume that tbll profoundly unbeUevable melodrama concemed the thorn-ridden rela· t:onsblp between a woman sufferinl from psoriaaia •nd a . man •uf-

ferinl

rinl-around-the-eollar.

In

part one, Rin1-around-tbe-eollar leaves Psoriasis in Rome and some kind of an exec post with AWi, some kind of a company, for some tiftd of socially redeemin1 work with some kind of a government In some sort of emergin1 African counlJ'1. In part two (''Hen"> 1t wu revealed that both Rini and Psor were Involved in some specific sexual ·hanky-panky with friends and neighbors in Rome before the viewer bad the ereat misfortune to come across the couple. In the crunch - when •DY tubesider left around wu supposed to cry, .but laughed, 1f be didn't spit at the .et - the couple dec!dea to split for good - for the 1oocl of the tots and the. African emergers.

Po9b sets and • lot of sadomasocbl.UC dialoe, about brealdDI Psor's bona and kissln1 them well and such> did nothln1 to lift boredom and dismay. Tbe same goee for vlrtuall7 all aupportlq performances (that posh sceneey took a fierce chewing from virtually all the belpmeets>.

Miu Taylor wallowed in sucla to a point where the many closeups between her ample bazooma failed even in dlstract1111 from the nonsense. ·Burtvn was wooclen-le11ed and wooden-lipped, and seemed to ll'OW atlffer as the two-nllbt fiuco crept on its petty pace• . <>nq the teacbinp of democraUc behavior prevent the spelllnl out here of the punl9bment in mind for scripter John Boptina.

Miu Taylor, anyhow, will be 1ettlq 90me kind of undeserved redemption when CBS-TV on Feb. 22 aln "Who's Afraid of Virlin1a Woolf."

Bill.

the

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People Burton, Liz Get Divorce GSTAAD, Switzerland 'lbe DW'}.iage of Elizabeth Taylor and RJchard Burtfn was dissolved in a Swiss j COlirtroom Wednesday after a temptestuous decade of headlines, fabulous earning$, $hared . billing in superfilms, ISeJ>8ratiOOS and tearful reconciliation. Miss Taylor a~ . pearOO t.Erl9e and fidgety and Burton did not show up as a district civil jlllige declared them divorced on the ground of · mutual incompatibility.

Lawyers presented a medical cettificate that Burton, who ~ was Miss Taylor's fifth fws. band, was ill and tmable to travel to the hearing in Courthouse at Saanen, a small town near this fashionable Mpi.ne resort where the couple legally resided. The actor has b e e n hospitalized in Santa Monica, Calif. with a bronchial ailment. He was staying Wednesday at the Plaza Hotel in New York, where he coultl. not be reached for comment Judge Joh an n·e s Friedli awarded the 42-year-old London-born actr~ custody of ~ir adopted , daughter, Maria, J;l, The child is in

the

school here.

Richard, Elizabeth to file for divorce NEW YORK (AP) - A spokesman for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor said Thursday the actor and actress have aslced their lawyer to start divorce proceedings immediately.

John Springer, publicist for both Burtons, said they "have 1'ilnested their long-time friend and attorney, Aaron R. Frosch, ta proceed to legally terminate their 10-year marriage on the ~Jmds of irreconcilable differences."

Spring said Frosch "has indicated that the divorce will be dJJtained in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, where the Burtons lt(Ye been residents for many years."

Frosch's office said the attorney was out of town but ex~ed to be in touch with a Swiss lawyer later to set the divorce ~ngs in motion.

- Hollywood has been expecting the break, following reports ~t the Welsh actor had been drinking heavily on a Northern tilJfornia film location. He was said to have bought jewelry for ~l girls, and Miss Taylor left the location abruptly.

Burton was hospitalized for a bronchial ailment following M¥l end of the film. Miss Taylor returned Wednesday from Hahn, where she was visiting her son, but reportedly did not visit BGrton in the hospital.

lens pictures of their illicit smooches, Dashed the pictures iu'ound the world, and millions of old ladies shrieked in horror that Eddie Fisher's wife and Sybil somebody's husband were carrying on that way in public.

Then came the daily pictures of them as they lovingly awaited their divorces, got the divorces, then were married. ~y were always arriving at Heathrow Airport, or Orly Airport, or at Rome's airport. I couldn't understand why they kot married if they were going to spend all their time hang~ around air terminals.

Fli

I HOPED TIIEY WOULD SETI'LE DOWN and fade away.

But instead they started giving each other gifts. And as they arrived at the airports, the picture-stories said: "Elizabeth ,T aylor arrives in PJris wearing a new $200,000 fur coat given to her by husband Richard Burton. It is made of the 'skins of 20,000 white polar mice and is considered quite rare. ·Burton wears a jumpsuit made of the same material."

When they ran out of gifts to give each other, they shifted to their emergency ward routine, with Elizabeth rushing off to .London to get a boil removed from her bottom, while Richard jetted in from Rome to be at her side, whichever stde that would be.

-la between, there was Elizabeth bfiJI& mauled by fans at an rpCJ Jl.,icbard being slugged In an eye by teddy boys in Mnd6ft, and a temarkable picture in which they had matching black eyes.

Finally they both got so fat I thought they would be too big ~ fit in the pictures together. But the photographers used .Wfde-angle lenses.

At least, I thought, It was over, when Elizabeth said Richard was starting to celebrate New Year's Eve as early as Labor Day and she left him for the company of a California used surf board dealer, and he ran off with a deposed queen of. Transylvania. Now, I thought, they are gone tor good.

But that will never be. They are now In Israel Where they will remarry. ' , He'll probably give her a 40-caret diamond shaped like a ;natzo ball and she will give him a platinum hip flask. They .will again begin making the rounds of the world's airport tenoinals. · Why can't people. give divorce a chance to work?

By Arthur J. Bl Daily News Sc

Liz and Dick, forever ours tt i:) the year 2000. You leave your job in a solar-heated bQUding in what used to be known u the Loop1 Tbe old L tnOlllt 11re ~ 1lTld prl ·~ cars are bannJ. streelS are walking malls, abounding with foliage. Even more great art fills the sprawling plazas. Trout leap in the crystal-clear Chicago River. · Fighting off three muggers, you bop aboard a high-speed riionorail, powered by squash seeds, and whiz put the Daley-O•Hare Airport, where a charter-rocket is blasting off for the moon with a load of vacationers.

The train deposits you in your suburb near Madison, Wis., where a moving sidewalk transports you to your modular housing unit. .

After unwinding with a hashish cocktail, you eat a dinner of microwave-heated high-protein kelp patties, and go to get the evening paper. Not on the porch. You push a button on Your TV set, there is a humming sound, and out of a slot drops an instantly printed newspaper, which you will drop back into the slot when you are finished so It can be in~antly recycled.

YOU UNFOLD IT TO LOOK JaT TIIE LATEST news in tti's modern world.

Tbere on the front page is a big picture of a very old ci>uple. · Tiie old woman is very stout, has white hair, four chins, ii 1111\r!ng a great feathered bat, a huge old fur coat, 16 dian1iitcf Ttngs, five layel'S of ~ makeap; and Ir In a wheelchair pushed by a male nurse. She bas a fur-clad poodle in her lap.

The old man is bent, bald, hobbling on a cane. has enormous bags under his eyes, which stare vacantly into space, wears a purple jumpsuit, and has a bottle of ~ in one hand and a bottle of scotch in the other. He is being held erect by two male nurses.

The story beneath the picture says: "Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton arriving at London's Heathrow Airport, where they announced to reporters tbat they hive reconciled after their 6th divorce and will marry for the 7th time. Miss Taylor is wearing the famous Bowling Ball ruby, the 45-pound gem that Mr. Burton gave her as an engagement gift. .

"She is in a wheelchair because, in giving her the gift, Burton dropped it on her foot.

"Mrs. Burton, who had recently been escorted about by Ringo Starr, who plays Grandpa Dalton in a popular TV s,eries, told reporters: "Richard and I tried our best to make our love die. But I can't live without the old coot. Besides, one more diamond and I can open my own tool and die factory.'

"Burton Aid: •i..•• have another snort, old girl,' before ptnching Miss Taylor and passing out."

IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN THAT WAY. I realized it Wednesday when they were there again, on Page 1, j~ as they have been for the last 13 years. They are never gomg to fade away.

In case you have forgotten where it began, it was in the picture shown below. That's right. July 14, 1962. A photographer snuck up on them near a deserted Island in Italy,

A capsule qf . to be worn con mouth is the Ill preventing tootl low cost.

Scientists at search Institute Ala., told the J

JcaLIPs

the disk~ would relea1

Fir

By Jon Hahn Daily News Labor

The bead of the Workers (UAW) wants Christophe: moved as dire<. state's Bureau of ment Security.

The disclosure c a noon-hour dem< the State of lllln• 11> N. La Salle.>.

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and 8JJ&l1 UAW members putiet demonstration.

Robert J ohnstm

UAW Regicm '4, 1 tbe demonstratio1 officials there to that Johnston ha Call outright for moval.

TIIE UAW bu members in mine 000 of whom are Many of the laid complain that th• unemployment c checks on time at can't get them at The UAW is or large unions £11 ported Gov. Dan

Singe1 probe under ly Thomas E. Se ml Jay MeMulle Gov. Dan Walll of William Singe: bwestigatlon of School system'• been blasted by t ard J. Daley and ' members.

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"doesn't answer

nor's responsibillt ernor is failing 1 education for ti dren of the entin Referring to S cessful campaig earlier this year that Singer "got February when schools a politic&.

Singer to throughout the t campaign and ll I critical report system.

"When a cane overwhelmingly the people on tb and is tberr ll1 '. b 1U e-ribbon Cl governor is 11 needs of the ch charged.

I

WALKER ap1 to direct the ta School Supt. de· P. Hannon invit study the schcx nances to deten system can save "I understanc lted over 500 st said in defendir ef Singer. "Ha done that? He I tem."

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OUTSPOKEN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - member Mrs. sharply disagre Mrs. Wild ca nor "an Idiot" Singer.

·~ Get the winning numbers here!

Win~ing n~mbers in this week's Illinois lottery drawmg will be printed in all editions of Friday's Daily New&. Winning numbers in the Super Slam drawing will be printed Saturday.

We are not able to give out the numbers over the telephone. So get The Daily News for winning numbers Friday and Saturday.

·24

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THE BO

Wednesday's n Ialso approved l

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The plan, de principals mor running their S< icized by a beaded by the Jackson.

Jackson said tion will be sh: ministratlve se so miserably" Supt. Benjamin Board memi Sbarboro conte that the reorga a sureness ai that augurs we lntendent and tern."

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Don't Ever Count Elizabeth Out Editor's Note: This is the last installment of a three·

part series on "The Rise and

FaU of the Richard Burtons."

It details how they live, how they manage, in light of dwin· dling success, to maintain their regal standards a n d what t h e future holds f'1t'

The Hortons

them.

Their Rise and Fall

By MARILYN BECK C-nrrtdlt

1m.

Marttnl kek

"We fully expect that one d a y Elizabeth and I shall wake up and find ourselves o l d , very married people, whom the world, thankfully, bas forgotten."

They were both married to others when Richard Burton made that prediction as we t a l k e d on a sun-scorched Mexican beach, while hordes of photographers and autograph seekers scurried about, driven by desire to make contact with the man who was the lover of the most famous actress in the world.

Their relationship· had caused international headlines and condemnation. Infamy h a d boosted him to a position of dramatic new fame. And he probably never expected nor wanted - his dreams of future anonymity actually to ever come true.

• Now, nearly a decade l~ter, - . he fights to stay professionallf alive, 'to make the world he once said he hoped would forget him recognize him anew as a (No. 1) star.

Now he Is 46, not old, but llQt ' .hi& years graciously. The effects of middle age and self-punishmedt have left bis eyes puffy, and an overweight paunch and thinning hair have become exceedingly challenging f o r makeup men to disguise.

Elizabeth at 40, though she fights a weight problem with succeeding lack of success, is still beautiful, her face unlined, her eyes the magnificent cobalt blue too startling e v e r to be adequately captured on screen.

As they settle ever more deeply i1*> middle-aged domesticity, they display signs of growing disillusionment, of we~ in trying to buck the tides of profes.sional misfortune. And she falls into moods of retrospection about the days long past when the public first claimed her as their precious - if - precocious daughter, later heaped scorn upon her as a scarlet woman, but never ignored her as they are wont to do now in her pose of the diamond-bedecked, middle-aged matron.

Memories to muse: A first marriage at age 18 to hotel chain heir Nicky Hilton which didn't last much beyond the honeymoon marked by the long hours Elizabeth spent waiting for her groom to leave the gambling tables and enter their bridal bed.

Michael Wilding was h~ band number two. A dull and colorless man who some felt irovided a father figure f o r Elizabeth. At least f o r a while. He would tell me, while his ex-wife was still living w i t h Richard ·Burton in unmarried splendor and her children were scattered at boarding schools around the world, "I respect Elizabeth because she's been such a good mother to our sons."

2-T

Elizabeth Taylor Of her m~ role, sb4 would say - after third husband Michael Todd died, to be replaced by Eddie Fishec, to be replaced by Richard Burton (over whom she would reportedly attempt suicide when she feared he wouldn't marry her) - ''The only way to hurt me is through my children.

Although I 1 o v e Richard desperately, I would never do again what I did to my chlldren for the love of a man.

My children have h a d too many fathers."

Those children a r e now nearly grown. Liza Todd is 15, Christopher, 17. And Michael.

21, still lives in the Wales hippie commune where he moved after having rejected hiS mother's grandiose, garish life style a n d the elegant Hamstead home she bought him for a wedding gift.

However, Michael's wife, Beth, has left him and returned to live with her mother In Portland, Ore., with Eliza.. beth's year-old granddaugh-

ter.

With those children occupying even less of her time than they ever did, and with adopted, German-born, 12-year-old Maria residing with servants at their Gstaad, Switzerland, estate, the Burtons remain a closely entwined l:Ollple - in flhe midst of recurring rumors that their love song is fading.

She also remains, as she has been since their beginning, very much the boSs of their households and his actions: possessive, jealous ~ an insecure, mlcldle-cla~ bousefrau.

He continues to be a tiger when he escapes f o r brief 4rinking bouts w i t h h i s l>uddies, a n d a pussy cat around the woman who has tamed him.

In these days Of flagging

THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, Sat., Dee. 2, 1972

public appeal, and while they await ratings reaction to their ABC "Divorce His, Divorce Hers" films which mark their entry into the ranks of oncesuper slam seeking fresh income thro~ television employment, they display signs of restlessness.

She makes statements of going into semi-retirement.

He makes idle - if public declarations of giving up acting, "which I hate" to accept a tutorial p o s t at Oxford University.

Yet they continue to commit themselves to one theatrical assignment after the other, one less prestigiotm than the one before, as one released picture follows the next to be too often heaped with critioal scorn.

Richard maintains stoutly that they have been going through no m o r e than a t.emporary cycle of public rejecti-~li a new tdt&tV e obviously earned in the school of recent hard professional knocks, ratiooalizes that part of every actor's life is sometimes to be on the downgrade.

He has, to be sure, supporters for bis theory, industry leaders who are convinced the Burton's box -office power will someday be revived and that they will enjoy a rebirth of audience popularity.

Elizabeth, particularly, has experienced broad fluctuations cl her appeal in the past, her career spinning up and down in yo-yo fashion as the public displayed varying love-bate reactioM to h e r off.screen behavior.

She was scorned as a family wrecker when s h e took Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, public hositility reaching a peak at publication of a picture showing Debbie Reynolds, h a i r in pigtails, tears in eyes, diaper pins at· tached to gingham blouse as she made her sad Eddie's-left announcement. · And the howls of "homewrecker" were raised again when Elizabeth booted F.ddie aside to claim Sybil Burtoo's husband.

She was cast in the role of a heroine supreme when she almost died on a London operating table during a 1 9 6 O tracheotomy. And that year, in a gesture of showing how they had forgiven their erring daughter, voting members of the Motion Picture Academy awarded her an Oscar for the "Butterfield 8" film she terms "A piece ol trash."

But, love her or hate her, she was nearly always able to geri'erata e n o u g h emotion among the f;tl~ to cemmand a tlcket-buying"itudience.

It isn't that way very often any longer. It could be, as Burton claims, a mere tempo-

Richard Burton rary cycle. Or it could be that their decline in power will continue and the idle prediction he made long a g o of becoming the couple the world

has forgotten shall come to pass.

Then, of course, there still exists the strong possibility that her days Of being the central character in a scandalous situation are not over, that her current pose of settled.down domesticity proves to be no more than a mere inter1 u d e between outrageous adventures s u c h as those which earned her headlines in the past.

Certainly she is still capable of geDe!"ating such headlines.

A few months ago, when s h e a n d Aristotle Onassis dined in Rome without their respective spouses, clashes b e 't w e e n t h e paparazzi photographers w h o w e r e hounding lllem and their bodyguards who were protecting them grew so fierce that wire service versions of the incl· dent were reprinted in newspapers around the globe.

What fodder for the fantasy to imagine Jacqueline Onassis in pigtails and diaper pins, tearfully accusing Elizabeth of breaking up her hooie.

Jackie has never diapered a child in her life, you say.

Well, neither d i d Debbie Reynolds. Nursemaids p e rfonn such chores far those in the Debbie-Liz-Jackie league.

But that didn't stop. the picture of Miss Reynolds in Jtlari. tal mourning capturing the fancy of the world.

One way or the other, don't count Elizabeth permanenUy oot of recapturing her title as No. 1 actress i n the world.

Even if it take5 some sort of intimate intrigue or involvement to do it.

You just never know.

Bond and Beauty Roger Moore, who is replacing Sean Connery in the James Bond movies, poses here with two of 007's favorite props: a lady friend and his trusty Walther PPK 38 pistol. The lady is Jane Seymour, who co-stars with Moore in the upcoming "Live and Let Live." Moore starred on television in "The Saint" and "'lbe Persuaders."

1z, Continued from Page 2-T aries immoral when she could still command them.

And, when she says, "We'd. rather take expenses and no salary against a large percentage of the gross because it's more fun to gamble," one doesn't remind her that they seem to have no choice these days but to gamble. Not if they are to remain actively before the cameras. Not if they are to maintain a staff of 25 aides and go-fers whose salaries the Burtons usually manage to have padded onto a film's budg~t. as part of their necessary living expenses.

See The Constitution TV-

New Serial Dueon CBS HOLLYWOOD - A new half-hour daytime d r a m a series, tent~tively titled Tile Innocent Y-ears, is planned for presentation in the spring of 1973 on the CBS Television Network.

The serial, created by William J. Bell, creator and writer of numerous daytilpe serials over the past 17 years, will be produced by Corijay Productions, Inc., in association with Screen Gems.

'ani11g Amusements Guide n e x t Sattn'day for Part 2 of Mari-

lyn Beck's report on the Burtons.

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Of Brando and Burton Continned from Page 1 artificial changlngs of pitch and stress, your bleeding lo•e of words, words, words and your high-toned, fustian, bombace technique. He throws away your books and he burns your academies. He does it from within. And he is better than all of you!"

Unreasonable and overheated it may sowid, but it was ·true. His Kowalski on stage (forget the film) generated . true mystery and overwhelming excitement. Surely there had never been such a person! But he was standing before us and we believed him as one believes an eccentric encountered in a subway. Uncomfortable and dangerous, perhaps, but there. Such behavior seemed hardly possible in a living room, let alone on stage, but it toqk place before one's eyes and could not be denied. It was a fire within him. Even Laurence Olivier, hugely accomplished though he was, could not produce such incendiary effects. Technically, Olivier drew rings around him, but Brando's heartbeat was stronger. Olivier could not match him, with all his voice and knowledge, any more than Edith Evans (great) could challenge Laurette Taylor (greater). As Richard Burton has said of Brando, "He surprises me. He's the only one who does." That he says it of his film work leaves me dismayed, but on stage it was certainly true.

•

At any' rate, in 1947 many of us felt that Brando promised a vindication of the American conviction and style. Perhaps we now realize that what we wanted aY along was Olivier's training, will power, and intellectual appli· cation grafted onto Brando's muscles, sensibility, and passion. For passion, in Brando's dish-shattering hands, was a thrilling sight indeed. He has not matched it since. And on film he surely never will, for film cannot hold a great actor. Theatrically speaking, Brando was our candidate in the late forties (much like Kennedy, Roosevelt, or even Eisenhower) - he was American; he had brawn; he was beautiful; his head was shaped like a bullet, and he had guts.

He would show those damned superior Englishmen with their rhetorical nonsense what acting could really be. If speaking was so al· mighty necessary, he would learn to speak. He was good in "Julius Caesar," after all, except that it was a. movie and few things can be learned from a. movie, least of all by an actor, but it surely demonstrated that he could speak with clarity when clarity wa.s required.

He would take singing lessons if he had to (he didn't) and dancing lessons (he did) and fencing

lessons (he did), but perhaps these things were not quite so necessary as the academicians maintained.

Perhaps acting really did come from the soul and the Elnglish were even more fraudulent than we suspected. Perhaps even Talma was mistaken when he defined acting as "Voice! Voice! And more voice!"

True, Brando didn't have much voice. It was pretty, in a feminine way, but lightweight and mushy.

As for his speech, it was discon· certlng even when his more spectacular faculties were at their highest. During the run of "Streetcar," some dissenters cried that he c;ouldn't even be heard. His inaudibility has been much exaggerated and was, in fact, more a conscious selection than his detractors could concede, but it is true that a number of words were woolly.

No amount of rationalizing can get around his love of mumble, but he had a way, in those days, of making meanings clear without the help of words. He was like a prize fighter: brutal, but strange-' ly graceful; illiterate, but unaccountably sophisticated. Hamlet would be a preparation, but the real parts for him would be Macbeth and Othello. As for "Liliom" he would knock it down with one hand. He was born for it. Goddammit! He was better than those Englishmen!

But he wasn't. Because he would not or could not accept any of the challenges an English actor accepts every season. He would not study, nor would he attempt im· portant roles. His final stage appearance was in "Arms and the Man" on the straw-hat circuit in 1953. He played Sergius {by choice) and your correspondent played Bluntschli. He was brilliant once or twice a week, usually when nervous or otheIWise disturbed. The remainder of the performances he threw a.way. When I occasionally complained, he would say gently, "Man, don't you get it? This is 8Ummer stock!"

•

After one matinee in Framingham, Mass., a. delegation of angry housewives accosted me at the stage door to inquire whether or not he would emerge. I told them he would not. "Well, look here, Mr. Redfield," their spokeswoman said, "we'd like you to tell him that we're not a bunch of yokels. Does he think we can't see that he's laughing at us while we sit out there! Does he think we're deaf and dumb?"

I told them I would convey the message, but I knew it would make no difference. By that time he was indifferent to the audience unless it contained Adlai Stevenson or Pandit Nehru. Originally he had been hostile t o d1·

mce, and when he was young his fury constituted a major part of his strength. Too many; young actors are intimidated by the crowcS in front. Truthfully, I think the young Brando was afraid of them, too {some young actors consciousJy culttvate hatred of the audience in order to counterbalance their fears), but being afraid o~ly angered him, and so he came on stage to defy his tormentors-tit pound the wits and wise guys intq submission.

•

But by 1953 he no longer care4 -which is ·t he last stop on the streetcar. To try may be to die but not to care is to never be born.

Indifference may fascinate an au• dience for more than a minute, but beware the Second Act. A number of critics worship boredom in an actor (they confuse it with relaxar tion), but the audience despise$ it on balance, and Brando can no longer fool a thea,ter audience for five minutes. And he knows it. And that is what is sad. Unhappily for the American conviction. Scofielcft Finney, Burton. Richardson. Guin• ness, and Olivier are our remain• ing first-rank actors. Brando ts nothing of the kind. He is a. movie star. A little more than kind (Rock Hudson) and less than kin {Spen• cer Tracy).

But what will Richard Burton's future be? Is there a similar dis· illusion or even disaster ahead since, after all, Burton faces preciselY. the choice Brando faced ten years ago? Will Burton confina himself to film and deteriorate as all actors who so confine themselves inevitably must? For the moment, the answer is obviouslY. no. If only from Burton's impend"' ing appearance in "Hamlet," we see that he is not yet afraid and far from indifferent. Some flame of ambition still licks at his in· . nards-some sublime cognizance that there is something he can do which neither Spencer Tracy nor Cary Grant (surely the best of the film · stars) can any longer con· stder-that ••something" is called acting. Whether Burton wins or loses as Hamlet, he remains an actor: too big for films, really; and not merely a commodity, ,; product on a. shelf-which is all ~ movie star can ever be, since nath• ing more is required and nothin~ else sells tickets. , Brando knows this, I belleYt'i He knows it all. He is no one's fool.

I believe he even knew it ten years ago, but it was too difficult for him and too expensive, and so he temporized. Brando is not to be blamed, merely regretted. The money he commands ts lrresfstlble; while important roles alarm him.

As an actor, Brando must be either forgotten or tondJY,

FOR RICHARD AND LIZ

A Long Slide from Royalty to Potboilers Editor's Note: This is the

· first of a three-part series on "The Rise mul Fall of the Richard Burtons" - how they lit:Je, how they manage, in light of dwindling success, to maintain their regal stanci.. ards, an d what the future holds for them by Marilyn Beck, t h e noted Hollywoo<J columnist. ·

The Burtons Their Rise ontJ Fall

By MARILYN BECK

Respectability hasn't become Elizabeth and Richard Burton, at leasf not professionally.

Their faces still adorn the covers of fan magazines, their social doings are the stuff of which gossip column item' are made. Yet, in the 11 years that have passed since the beginning of· what Richard refers to as "Le Scandale," and in. the eight years since t.beir marriage, t h e y have slipped from the royal stature of.idols commanding the most pteStigi.ous of f i I m assignments to the position .of an anachronistic king and queen who grind out one pot boiler after the next.

And now, in what some regard as their .most dramatic professional compromise to date, they a r·e · turnmg. for work to the televlslon field alr'3'1y littered with the bodies of O)lce.g~ts wbo failed to mat!" Tl1 e transition from large screen to small.

"Divorce H i s , Divorce Hers," which has recently completed prodf.lction in Rome and Munieh, will be aired next yirat 1'' •pc as bro uaecial movies for TV. For their short-term assignment, the couple is receiving in the neighborhood of onemillion dollars. Only time and the ratingi; will prove if they were worth that fortune. Or if, indeed, ABC hasn't r_,.ted ~...-the 1971 error in judgement iD.ade by an industry so eager te lure to i ts ranks sµch mppogedly-super s t a r s as atqdtony Quinn, Glenn Ford, J'ifumy Stewart and Shirley MacLaine, it failed to check the figures which proved theater audiences already consid·ered many of· those names washed up.

Those same sets of statlstjcs tell the story of the Burtons' fall from grace, graphieally illustrating that although they maintained an apo~ of adulation when they were damned and-or adored as public sinners, they have dropped ever further from audience esteem as t1ley have Settled more deeper into the rut of middle-aged domesticity.

At first, amidst the solicited and unsolicited publicity that surrounded their every move, few seemed to notice or care that their motion picture achievements - even at the beginning - did not match their off-screen perfonnances as personalities extraordi•aire.

They've beeri almost constantly before the cameras since their explosive meeting in 1961, yet together they've tnlY made on film (the 1966 "Wlw's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") that's been an unqualified box office-critical success.

For Elizabeth, nine of her U ·films since 1960 have come

2-T

Richard and Liz During 'Le Scandale' up losers in one department

or another. Among her moot flagrant cinema disgraces: "The Only Game in Town," which proved to be one of the worst pictures in town; "Reflootions In A Golden Eye," refleeting anew how shallow her acting portrayals ·could be; and ..Secret Ceremony" which became a public laugh.

F o r Richard, though his widely trumpeted liason with the cinema goddess resulted for a while in an abundance of sweet success, .such failures as ' ' T h e Taming of t b e Shrew," the unintentionally .comedic "The Comedialls" and a bomb named "Boom" (to list but a few) were acutely . to taint his professional reptation.

It was a reputation that, prior to his and Elizabeth's headline-heralding "Cleopatra" coupling, had earned him but minor renown as a di.stinguished English stage a n d screen actor. So infrequently were his services in demand, in fact, that "Cleopatra" had marked his first film assignment in two years.

H o w dramatically t h a t situation had altered hit home in 1963 when I visited him during "Night of the Iguana" filming in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he was savouring the fruits of his new-found fame and infamity.

He and Elizabeth were to co-star in "The V.:L.P's" and "The Sandpiper," he boasted.

(Films that were to turn out to be the first in their long string of artistic disasters.)

TIIE A'i'LANTA .t••oNSTI'rtrri:0N, Sat.; Nov. 1'' ,,t, · "' • f

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fa, ..

1972

So many film offers were suddenly pouring . in by the time he and Elizabeth had set up housrekeeping in Mexico In summer of ·'63, he had hired Michael Wilding - one of her ex-husbands - to sort out the deals and negotiate terms.

He was outstandingly ai:>pealing then, in spite of his roughly sculpted, pock-marked face and a body which, even at age 'n, was already showing t h e effects of too many battles with the bottle.

And those eyes, how they bore into one's heart as he set out to captivate and charm!

And that Welsh miner's laugh, how it erupted from bis innards as he belted tequila and rejoiced at his startling UJ:>tuni of fortune since he'd become Liz Taylor's man.

There in Mexico I would first become aware of something that grew more transparent each time we m e t throughout the years; .his crafty knack of delivering "quotable quotes" that ranged from scorchingly shocking to sensatfonally personal;. the fodder for public consumption that would gain him increased publicity.

His salaries weren't nearly as astronomical t h e n ; of course, as the million dollarsplus p e r project Elizabeth commanded as a long~stab­ lished film queen; as an actress who had starred in some 30 m o v i e s before Burton entered her life; as the personality ranked Number One Box Office Draw the year of their memorable meeting.

Later, when amidst hb fail~ ures there came a haadfw ,of

resounding victories ( t h e fin,ancially successful "Where Eagles Dare," the critically superior "Beckett" and "Anne of tbe Thousand Days") his price would overtake -hers, ·fDpping at the million dollarspius-25 per cent-of-t.be-'profits he received f o r "Thousand :Pa~."

But successes for them both became the exception rather than the rule.

By 1968 their track record of flaps was blatantly em.baJ'I.. rassing. By the following year their names would no longer make the list of Top Ten Box Office Draws as compiled by the Motion Picture Herald.

They had toppled from their pedestals and, as fallen idols, became t h e subjects of a steady barrage of critical at-

tacks.

"Taming of t h e Shrew," commented o n e reviewer, "has demonstrated how truly uninteresting and thin Burton can be."

"Dr. Faustus,.. another 1968 release, was received with similar criitical scorn and, considered such a total disaster, was pulled out of theaters after just a few-city American run and placed back on the shelf until a television sale could be arranged.

One failure followed anothe ~ , with studios unloading costly Liz..and-Richard fiascos th.at h a d been rejected in theaters to television in an effort to recoup losses.

TV became the graveyard for the Burtons' bombs, to be sandwkhed between a sea of oooamercials and siries~ rer,uns.

"Their natnes still mean something," one network head believes. "Maybe they can't sell movie tickets, but there's enough magic that remains about them to get people to turn on the tube."

ABC considered the Burton banner magic enough to spend $5,000,000 for "Clopatra" TV rights several years ago - a sale which resulted in finally inching that $32,000,000 20th Century Fox epic barely into the black six years after it.s theatrical debut.

"Taming of the Shrew" was scheduled for ABC airing this fall. And "The Comedians" and "Raid on Rommel," the latter a three-week quickie war film produced in 1970 by Universal, have already been run and re-run on TV. Some of their cinema efforts soch as the recent "'X, Y & Zee", earn enough from world-wide sales to turn an eventual profit. But for too many others (including the 1 9 6 9 "staircase" in which Richard a n d Rex Harrison portray aging homosexuals) not even the burgeoning fore i g n market proves help enough. · And the results are still out on others.

"Hammersmith Is Out," the dreadful Peter Ustinov-<lirected drama, was so poorly received in limite~ U.S. openings this swnmer it was yanked from circulation to undergo a fresh advertising campaign and a possible retitling.

Burton's "Bluebeard" was given the benefit of an intense bally-hoo publicity campaign in August and has done 56 well at the box office it shoold net the star at least one million dollars. However, it has been subjected to such critical scorn as that unleashed by the S a n Francisco Examiner's Stanley Eichelbaum, w h o wrote, "Though Richard Burtonts recent ~s have included some dogs, he's done nothing to equal the unqualified disaster of 'Bluebeard'.

"Were the film not so unintentionally h i 1a r i o u s, one might be moved to tears seeing such a g~tied actor fall on ms face."

"Under the Milkwood" and •"nle Assassination of Trotsky," the Dsla!l Thomas tale, are both slated for showing soon. "Milkwood," ·according to NBC critic Gene Shalit is a beautiful fihn that will help atone for so much of the junk tmt Burton and Taylor have slagged on the public recently. .For Elizabeth: a turn before the "London" cameras with Laurence Harvey this s u m m e r in "The Night Watch," financed by the Faberge perfume company.

And a 1973 com1Y1iiment to star in the film adaption of the Broadway "Twigs" stage play.

They continue to grind them out, in nearly endless procession, always Searching for the "bi'! one" that remains elu~uvety around the next beno.

"I wouldn't dream of asking for a million dollars in front now." Elizabeth recently said during discussion of the current suf(ering state of the motioo pictu:-e industry. ' ' I t simply wouldn't be moral" One' doesn't remind her that she didn't consider such salConti.nued on Page 16

.Entertainm nt

'.

The News Tribune, Tacoma, Sat., Sept. 25, 1982

.

Liz-Dick pairing is strictly busines Celebrated couple's private lives won't mirror 'Private Lives'

By PAIT-MORRISON Loa Angetes Times

BEVERLY WLLS, Calif. - To see them again, to remember their story, is to bring to mind all the classic couples of history: Helen of Troy and Paris. Romeo and Juliet. Charles and Diana. Punch and Judy.

And Thursday, the endless saga of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the love-crossed stars who have shared eight films, two marriages, two divorces, and myriad gossip columns, moved into its third decade -with what the publicity man billed as a "very exciting announcement." .No, don't buy the rice. Taylor and Burton are "still best friends" who happen each to be separated from respective spouses Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Susan Hunt. Now they will be reunited for what they hastened to assure everyone Thursday is strictly business - ro-starring in stage and made-for-cable productions of the Noel Coward play, Private lJves, which will run on Broadway, in Washington and then to Los Angeles next August.

Keep in mind that Prince Philip, a royal prince of Greece and Denmark, husband to Queen Elizabeth n of England, is in town this week. But you would not have known it from Thursday's press crush at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where another Queen Ell7.abeth and King Richard reigned from amber velvet.armchairs behind a microphone-strewn table, after an entrance . through parted velvet curtains and four security guards - she in purple and black silk. blue eyeshadow and scarlet toenails, be in a double-breasted ribknit sweater, bands thrust deep into his pockets, his white sideburns curling over tanned skin. · "Can we addrem them by their first names?" one newsman had

love?" Even his colleagues tamed on him with disapproved sbodk.

"Next question, please," said Burton icily, and Taylor fd>ste4 the offender with, "This, bf • e way, is a conference aboul play called Private Lives. It is not about our private lives."

On her left band, she there flashed a very larg and glittering diamond. Whet r it was THE very large and glittring diamond, the 69-carat gift i.Jf 19'9 --irom Burton, no one w•, of course, supposed to ask.

Still, it was a deliciously titillating bit of irony for ev~ryone including Taylor and Horton that the two of them, wbo have "a~ways enjoyed working together," said Taylor, should be performing in a play about a divorced couple who fall in love again on their respective honeymoons with other mates.

"One of the attractions was the ironic situation," declaimed Bur· ton. But life will not imitate art, ~ured Taylor. "We've already done that once."

Noel Coward's play is a sleek drawing-room comedy, as sinuous and occasionally venomous as a snake, a triumph of Art Deco theater - an era where every.thing, to be chic, bad to be thin and silvery, from cocktail shakers to cars and dancing partners.

Burton and Taylor discussed plans for upcoming play Still, recalled Burton, Coward bad told him nearly a decade ago, No personal questions of the "You know, you two should play asked earlier, suggesting "We all couple whose personal lives have Private lJves; I think I'll write it know them well enough." been public property for 20 years. for you."

So the photographers greeted It made for a few embarrassed At their ages - she is 50, be is the two as they stood and turned silences between questions at 56 - Burton says be still is perto answer calls of "Richard!" and first, as newsmen struggled to plexed by their public appeal.

"Liz!" "This way!" Or "Mr. Bur- thnk of impersonal queries, or at "I remember many years ago ton, over here!" and, once, "Mrs. least personal queries that soundsaying to Elizabeth . . . now once Warner!" ed impersonal. When a tart British we're married we'll just be a nice voice asked one question that was But for reporters one ruled ap- too near the knuckle, the PR man middle-aged couple and nobody plied. "No personal questions, begged, "We're getting close, let's will bother us," be said [n fact, things got worse. We still don't unthat's the ground rule," warned derstand why,people are intrigued the advance man. "They may get not get naughty, now, okay?"

Finally, one foreign newsman or whatever it is by the combinanervous and leave us all with a lot broke and asked, "Are you still in tion of Elizabeth and myself." of cameras."

as f:ke,

STILL LOOKING GOOD, AT 48 - She's a 40-year-old grandmother, but Elizabeth Taylor still has what it takes to.He counted among the world's most beautiful women.

At left, provocatively percped <in. a director's chair, she relaxes between scenes while making "Hammersmith' ls Out" in Cuernavaca, Mexico, with her husband, Richard Burten. At right she wears a daringly-<!ut swimsuit in one of the movie's sequences. (AP Wirephoto)

GRANDMA UZ--Actress Elizabeth Taylor is shown with her granddaughter, Leyla Wilding, in photo from the April issue of Ladies' Home Journal. In an accompanying article, Richard Burton, Liz's husband, stated, "I never think of Elizabeth as a Fandmothâ&#x20AC;˘ er." Leyla is the daughter of Miss Taylor's J.9.year-old son, Michael Wilding Jr. (AP Wirephoto)

GRANDMA LIZ FLIES IN TO SEE BABY - Now a grandmotMr at the age of 39, actress Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Richard Burton arrived in L9ndon today from ce. She is in London to see the daughter born to her 18-year-old son Michael Wilding and his wife Beth. (AP Wirepboto)

Battening Down Unlike lesser folk, who are prone tonervous eating, Elizabeth Taylor, 42, is said to be happiest when fat. That, then, would seem to be a good omen-now that she is un-Burtoned-for the relationship she has re-

Liz a Wvnberg: The look of love

sumed with California used-car dealer Henry Wynberg. Her avoirdupois and his new poise were evident during their recent junket together to Monaco (to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Prince Rainier's reign). In the beginning of

I

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I

"She's brought a new dimension to the role of polltlcal wife," crows Wamer, but Liz lodges a modest protest: "They come to see me, but they stay to hear John."

To the old man slumped in a wheelchair at the nursing home in Hopewell, Va., she appeared as if in a vision. "Cleopatra!" he whispered hoarsely. "It's you!" She stopped to shake his wrinkled hand. "Yes, it's me," said Elizabeth Taylor Warner, "but that was a long time ago." The elderly face brightened as he gazed into the celebrated violet eyes. "It doesn't matter," said the man with a sigh.

"You'll always be Cleopatra to me."

Virginia politics has rarely seen an x-factor quite like Liz. To the deep dismay of supporters of Andrew Miller, the

32

Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, she has been leaving Old Dominion voters positively agape. She grins on cue when lnstamatics surround her, purrs to the blandishments of party angels and pros and submits to public curiosity with awesome serenity-all this on behalf of the political career of her sixth husband, John Warner, the Republican hopeful. Through the endless receiving lines, the rubber chicken dinners and the 12-hour days, she is flawlessly gracious. "We're working her hard," says one Warner aide, "and the reception is phenomenal. People may come to

gawk, but they stay to be charmed."

The spectacle of her public appearances, however, often overwhelms simple decorum. An elderly woman in Hopewell broke into sobs as she clutched at Liz's hand. "I used to be in movies," she blurted. "Now look at me!" "Well, look at me!" replied Mrs. Warner consolingly. However age has eroded her charms-and Mrs. Warner is a plump 46-she is still, inescapably, Liz. "It's the eyes," blares a whitehaired crone, elbowing through a crowd for a peek. "I just want to look at the eyes."

But with the public attention has Photographs by Diana H. Walker

THE VIRGINIA SENATORIAL RACE TURNS INTO A BATTLE OF THE WIVES: LIZ VS. DORIS WHO?

"He's not running against Elizabeth Taylor," says an aide to Miller (above). But Mrs. Miller Is dubious. "I feel sorry for Liz," says Doris. "I think she's being used."

come a predicament that might have been foreseen even before Warner's campaign began last August: Liz has become the focus of the race and perhaps its most volatile issue. For opponent Andrew Miller's wife, Doris, the inevitable upstaging comes as a challenge. The result is a political rarity: a battle of the candidates' wives.

"There have been a lot of personal comments on our backgrounds," says Doris Miller carefully. "It hurts me, and I know it must hurt her. But in a way it's really a humorous situation. Who would have thought that old Doris Miller, blessed with a good husband and

three great children, would ever be compared with Elizabeth Taylor?" Still, if comparisons are to be made, Mrs. Miller is not loath to contribute, though she insists she is not being catty.

"Someone asked about the differences between us," she says, "and all I said was, 'She is 46. I am 46. She is a gorgeous woman. I am not. I am an American citizen. She is not. I have had three babies and one husband.' " The rest is silence.

In truth, the Senate race is a dull one, and the wives' flare-up is perhaps its major highlight. Both candidates describe themselves as moderate

conservatives, and their debates are remarkable for cautious close harmony. Some Virginia voters don't even know there is an election next month.

Of those who do, 36 percent are said to be undecided. Miller, 45, led by six points in one recent poll. But Warner's campaign style-heavy on flagwaving and a strong America-is generally believed more effective. Liz is a bigger draw than "drab Doris," as Warner staffers call her disdainfully, and the finely chiseled Warner, 51, looks the part of a senator. "He seems to have as much sex appeal as Elizabeth," says one observer.

CONTINUED

33

IT'S FALL AND THE 1979 MODELS ARE COMING OUT, SO TAKE A LOOK AT THIS NEW FORD NAMED BETTY It was, almost everybody agreed, a triumph of the surgeon's skill. Oh, a grouch here and there suggested that one side was higher than the other, or that her cheeks looked swollen. But Rona Barrett spoke for the multitudes (news in itself) when she enthused to Polly Bergen, "She looks abso-lute-ly beee-you-tiful."

The cynosure at a $250-a-couple evening at Century City in L.A. was former First Lady Betty Ford, appearing in public for the first time since undergoing plastic surgery.

"I'm 60 and I want a nice new face to go with my beautiful new life," Mrs. Ford announced last month with the same marvelous candor that led her to talk openly about her breast cancer operation and her problems with drugs and alcohol.

The unveiling took place at an ANT A West benefit performance of Annie, followed by a champagne supper honoring Fred Astaire. Celebrities abounded; the star of the evening was Mrs. Ford. With her hair lightened to a honey blond, she wore an iridescent electricblue chiffon gown. "I feel like a million dollars," she said, which may be close to the advance she reportedly landed for her memoirs, The Times of My Life, to be published next month.

i

JI

Annie Lockhart Is third-generation Hollywood. Mom is June of Lassie fame, her granddad was character actor Gene.

Betty stole the show, but Fred Astaire, with sister Adele and Robert and Rosemarie Stack, was the man of honor.

36

Photographs by Julian Wasser

And how does the former President like the new Betty Ford? "Jerry Ford's like most husbands," said one congressional-pal fondly. "He's happy with anything that makes her happy that doesn't require too much of his time." D -

Before and after: above, as Mrs. Ford ap¡ peared In May this year, and at right, with her new visage. One friend admired it, but confessed, "I couldn't stand the pain."

Oscars to Liz~ Scofield, 'A Man for All Seasons' SANTA MONICA, CAIJF. (AP)-Elizabeth Taylor, the harridan housewife of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", and Paul Scofield, the martyred Sir Thomas More of "A Man For All Seasons," won the top acting 1 honors at the thirty-ninth Academy Awards Monday night.

"A Man for All Seasons," the story of a • man's strogle with his conscience, w a s hailed as t h e best movie of 1966, and its director, Fred Zinnemann, was IELIZAHTH named for best T" y LOil direction.

Walter Matthau, the ambulance chasing lawyer of "The Fortune Cookie," and Sandy Dennis, the hysterical wife of a college instructor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", Patricia Neal were selected as best support- _ __ G _ e_t__ s _Ovat _ _io_n_ ing performers. you thlnll: thii ls going too The award for best 110ng far?;' went to the Wting "B o r n Sandy Dennis, 23, a Nebraska Free," by John Bany ud . 1 .......... ~ Has•:-- and _.., Don Black.

Ill" ""(' .. m WI•.re... " AM f All Se850ns" w88 in Lincoln, was not in the aadian or. . ence, and her award was acclearly the wmner of tbe night ce ted by b director Mike · a· P er ' v1c Audi- Nichols. at Sata n Moruca torium. ..... · · l o w y blonde was iue w 11 . . .Besides wmning for Sc.ofield, reached by telephone in a New Zmnemann and as best picture, the British-made Columbia film York cafe where she watched scored for Robert Bolt's screen. the awards with her husband, play and for costume design jazz musician Gerry Mulligan. and cinematography - six 08- "I'm thrijled," • ~ cars in all.

"I never thought about winning, I did." but I'm gl•"' "Woolf' Wias 5 .., 11 ''Virginia Woolf" tallied five, ; . ~ Film -for Miss Taylor and Miss Why didn t she attend the Dennis and in art dir~tlon awards? cinematography · and costum~ "Because I wai. working until design.

8 o'clock in a movie here," she Neither of the top acting winners was present. Miss Taylor, born in London 35 years ago, was in Nice, France, where she is making another film with her husband, Richard Burton. Scofield, born in Sussex, England, 45 years ago, was in England.

Their awardl were accepted by Anne Bancill't and Wendy Hiller, respectively.

It was tbe .econd Oscar for j Mi11 Taylor, who won tbe big prize in lHI for "Butterfield 1

SANDY

l'AUL

8."

Zinhemann, the quiet-spoken Viennese who will be 60 Apr. 29, was also a repeater. He was rewarded for "From Here to Eternity" in 1953 as well as for a couple of shorts when he was in the shorts department at

MGM...

Oihef Wiilaeti Matthau Triumph WALTH Other winners were: For Matthau, as with last MATTHAU Cartoon short subjects Alpert and Tijuana Brass "Herb ~ear's suppor~ng winner, Mar- explained. She is appearing in Double Feature," John and tin Balsam, 1t was a joyful her third film for Wame.r Bros.

Faith Hubley. triumph after a long career of "Virginia Woolf" was her first.

Live action short subjects playing second fiddle to stars.

"A Man and A Woman" "Wild Wings,'' (British) Edgar In truth, some critics hinted wu a popuJar wioller for best Anstey. that bis "Fortune Cookie" role foreign lanpa,e film. The Art direction (color) outshone Jack Lemon's and was presentation wu made to "Fantastic Vo ya I e ," Jack less supporting than starring.

French d i r e c t o r Claude Martin Smith and Dale BenThe · 43-year-old New York- Leloacb by Patricia Neal, aeuy. born Matthau came to the stage making her firtt Hollywood with his arm in a cast and appearance since tbe three 1 Scoring of music (Adaptation or treatment) - "A Funny bruises on his face. "The other maulve strokes that nearly Thing Happened on the Way te day as I was falling off my killed Iler. bicycle ... ".he began. Back- Tl)e auditorium greeted lllr the Forum," Ken Thome.

Sound e f f e c t s - "Grand stage be admitted that he broke with a ltandlng ovation. bis arm and suffered 2t cw Leloucb and Pierre U,... PriI," Gordon Daniel. and bruises in a motorcycle fall boeven also won for best story D ocumentary feature and screenplay. at 2.5 m.p.h. last week.

"The War Game" (British), Peter Watkins.

He wryly admitteil that An oddity in the awards was be al!eady bad been rewarded the OiCa1" ~ lmGe Sbaratf ur Documentary short - "A by a J*1 )11111, "• p'Ut deal her costume design In "Who's Year Toward Tomorrow," (for of money aad a great deal of Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Her Office of Economic Opporti.mijoy" by playing in "The For- designs ·conaisted of two dresses ty), Edmond A. Levy. tune Cookie." He glanced at and two suit~ for the four actors Special visual effects - "Fan-j' bis Oscar aad cracked "Dea't, in the cast. tutlc Voyage," Art Cruickshank.

!

Hairdresser knows: She's lieau

By FRANCES CRAIG R - - Slaff Wr119r

''Only her hairdresser knows for sure," goes the slogan.

Des Moines hairdressers who were called in by actress Elizabeth Taylor when she was here last week say she is lovely.

The actress is prettiest Without her makeup "fresh-faced and freckled," in fact - and has beautiful dark bair that appears not to be tinted, says Sandy Lamb, division director of Younkers Glenby Salons.

She accompanied Frances Blackford, a stylist who did most of the bair-settlng, using hot rollers on Taylor's

tresses.

The actress was in Des Moines with her husband, Virginia senator John

Warner, who was involved in a Republican campaign event. The hair¡ dressers were summoned to her hotel suite Tuesday afternoon for an appointment made by her secretary the day before.

They freshened up Taylor for a dinner party tbat evening, Lamb says: "Sbe didn't have time for a shampoo, so we used the rollers and brushed her hair oal" The star told them the hairbrush was one she had ''borrowed" from Burt Reynolds.

Taylor- was barefeot and wearing a pale green silk negligee when she met the hairdressers at the door of her hotel- 'Buite. "She said she had been restlnJ - tired from five days straight on the campaign trail," says Lamb. During the 90-minute visit, she got dressed more elegantly for her dinner party.

"We saw her without makeup, and I thought her even prettier than when she applied it later," recalls Lamb.

"Her face is cute and freckled and

Elizabeth Taylor Warner fresh looking - really very youngappearing. She says her husband liltes her best without makeup, too."

Taylor's beauty secrets for her fresh complenon (aa told to tbe hairdressers who asked for them) are soap and water - "whatever soap she finds in the hotel where she is staying," she says - and Jergens band lotion applied afterward to her face.

Lamb says that Taylor_ has lovely hair - "medium fine and lots of it."

There wasn't any gray, but judging from the normal tenure of her locks, Lamb and Blackford are convinced she uses no tints. Taylor, who carries two sets of hot rollers with her on the road, told them she generally sets her_ own hair, even for movie parts.

The movie star generally wears her hair soft and tousled but wanted a somewhat more formal look for the dinner she was attending that

evening; hence, she asked for a little back-combing, and the hairdressers allo arranged wispy tendrils around her face. The actress was pleased with the hair-do, Lamb says, and so was her husband, "a perfectly charming man" who was present part of the time.

Getting dressed in their presence for her dinner party, Taylor donned a white silk pants suit with a tunic_top, worn with silver sandals and bag, both by the designer Halston. Her jewelry was a double strand of pearls and a matching bracelet, each piece with a diamond cobra-design clasp.

"She also was wearing a really beautiful ring with a large green stone and diamonds," Lamb recalls.

"She said all the jewelry she was wearing was the real tblng, although she keeps her bigger pieces in a vault."

Taylor applied her own rDakeup, and it was tastefully heavy on eye cosmetics in blue shades of eye shadow to accent her famous eyes of the same hue; she also wore black mascara and eye liner.

The actress was ''very friendly, very nice," according to Lamb and Blackford. Whether she was a good Upper, they decline to say. Blackford, who is manager of the downtown Des Moines salon, says it's "company policy" not to tell. However, Blackford says she was "very, very happy with the entire experience."

Is it true that author Irving Wallace based the heroine of his best' seller ..The Fan Club" on Raquel Welch?

The Word on that one is no. The actress

A who got Wallace's creative juices flowing enough to write the book - about a sex sym-

bol kidnapped by four "fans" - is none other than Darling Liz. On Academy Award Night, 1969, the announcer said about Taylor, "The sexiest woman in the world comes back to America." The statement got Wallace thinking and "I went right to the typewriter and wrote all kinds of things that never got in the book - just let my mind flow," he says. "I was hot with the idefl."

Kidnap Threat to Liz London .CAP)-Detectives.guarded EliJabeth

Taylor for several days because of an anonymous telephone threat to kidnap her, police said today.

Police said the threat was received 10 days ago at the Dorchester hotel, where Miss Taylor and her hU&band, Richard Burton, are staying

while Burtc>n makes a movie. A spokesman for tlia. ~ 4&i4 tAe .;uard ,... W.- withdrawn

L

:f_v_~ _-__antt_ew~-~ ~~to~~~~l

, QUEENING IT, Elizabeth Taylor re i g n s over film royalty at a gathering in Lecce, Italy, as she holds the Rudolph Valentino statuette p r e s e n t e d to her there-an nctlng award.

Liz and No. 7

AP photo

Liz Taylor • • marries again NEW YORK (AP) Elizabeth Taylor was married at sunset Saturday to John William Warner, former secretary of the Navy, at his estate near Middleburg, Va. It was the seventfl marriage for the bride, count· Ing both her marriages to Rlcha.rd Burton, and the s~nd for the groom who was previously married to Catherine Mellon of the wealthy Pittsburgh famt· ly.

The actress telephoned friends here, and the news was relayed by her press aide John Springer, that the ceremony was on a hilltop at Atoka Farms and that she wore "a knee-length cashmere dress tile color of heather and a tweed coat with all the "'colors of the countl')'· side with a grey lox collar."

It was desigl'M!d by Flor· ence Klotz.

Miss Taylor carried a bouquet of wild heather.

The service was performed by the Rev. Neal Morgan of Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Miss Taylor, 44, was brought up in the Chur~h of England, but converted to ~u­ daism at the time of .her 1957 marriage to the late Mike Todd. Warner, 49, is trustee of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation.

Miss Taylor said she 1ave Warner a gold wedding band melted down from an ornament she gave her father shortly before his death. Warner gave her a wedding ring which his father, also John William, gave his mother, Martha Stuart, 50 years ago.

The couple plans to leave for Israel on Monday where Miss Taylor will be guest of honor at a hos)jtal fund-raising dinner in Jerusalem.

Warner, who headed the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, will dedicatt! a Bicentennial forest in Israel.

From. Israel, Miss Taylor said, they will go to visit her childhood home in Kent, England, and then spend Christmas at her home in Gstaad, Swit· zerland They will be joined at the Alpine resort by all seven children from various marriages, she said.

From Gstaad, the Warners plan to return to Virginia and live at Atoka Farm.

Miss Taylor was previously married to Conrad Hilton Jr.; actor Michael Walding; producer Mike Todd; singer F.cldie Fisher and twice to actor Richanl Burton.

She has two sons and two daughters. Warner has one son and two dau2hters.

Liz Taylor May Quit

Film~om

London (Af>)-Elizabeth Taylor, actres~ says, "I may never work again." The film beauty discussed bet career at a ceremony in a hotel where she handed a checl ff?r $240,000, raised by voluntary organizations, to the National' 8'>ciety for Handicapped Children.

"I don't have a film in line and shall not consider one unless s0411ething captivating comes along," Miss Tayor remarked.

THE BRIDE WORE FLOWERS-Michael Wilding, son of actress Elizabeth Taylor and acq:ir Michael Wilding,. leaves Caxton Hall in London following his flower-carrying briae Beth Cuttler after their wedding today. The new Mrs. Wilding is from Portland, Ore., and met her husband in Hawaii last year. (AP Wirephoto)

LIZA GRANDMA

ATJ9?

When Michael Wilding wed Beth Cluttw, his mother Liz and brother, Chris, attended.

• It had been an emotional day.

In fact, Liz could not remember going through such an emotional day since she had become Richard's bride back in March, 1964. But she was even more nervous now than she had been then.

Back in her rooms, she fell exhausted onto her bed.

Richard came in carrying a bottle of Lits favorite cham· pagne and two glasses.

He couldn't .resist a tease and he had been planning this one all afternoon.

He opened the bottle, poured the b~bbly and raised his glass in a toast: "To the world's most gorgeous grandma to be," he bellowed, bowing low to the lady before him!

"GRANDMA??" shrieked Liz. "Give

Wit y

sON· ,S •

the kids a break. They just got married this afternoon."

"True," conceded Richard, "But I'm willing to wager that by Christmas 1971, you'll be spending our ill-gotten gains buying out every toy shop in New York· and London."

"Oh, stop it Richard, you're beginning to sound like a gossip columnist" "At your bidding grandma," he laughed, and filled the glasses again for another toast to the newly-weds.

"Grandma," Liz murmured. She liked the sound of it As she toasted her son Michael and his bride Beth Clutter, she secretly prayed Richard's prediction would hurry and come true.

The following day, Michael's marriage (c01ttinued on page 58)

MARRIAGE ~ON'T

n•

CltANGE

HER

LOVE

L•I fE' •

47

Elizabet Taylor Has Surgery Hollywood CAP)-Elizabeth Taylor, actress, underwent what waa delcrlbed aa minor gynecological surgery yesterday at Cedars of Lebanon hospital, and a hospital spokesman reported she was recovertng satisfactorily.

Admitted to the hospital late Sunday, the 38-year-old Miss Taylor is expected to remain wain tomorrow, the spokesman said.

Dr. Rex Kennamer, a Beverly Hills gynecologist, performed the operation.

'1'be raven-haired beauty and her husband, Ricllard Burton, act.or, have said they plan to spend a few days in New York after her hospital discharge and then go to Europe on a Miis Taylor summer holiday.

Liz Taylor His Surgery Again Palm Sprhlp, Calif. (AP)-Elizabeth Taylor, actrell, ent.ered Desert hospital on an emergency basis Wecfna. . day night and underwent surgery for a minor problem, hospital officials said.

A spokesman for the hospital declined to say what type of surgery was performed but said Mias Taylor was doing well. Her husband, Richard Burton, actor, was with her when ahe.

WU admitted to the hoepital.

The operation wu performed by a proctola! gist, Dr. Byman Swerdlow of Beverly HDll, ·jt

. . .______

WU reported,

• Mlle T1ylor

Mill Taylor only two weeb ago under· WU deacn'bed u aucceasful minor anecolollcal surgery in Hollywood•

went what

__,

How to gellhe Zip Codes YOU need.

1

When you receive a letter, note the Zip in the return address and add it to your address book.

2

Call your local Post Office or see its National Zip Directory when you're there.

3

Local Zips can be found on the Zip Map in the Yellow Pages.

Mail moves the countryZIP CODE moves the mail!

98

MOVIES

Which Twin?

Ever since Don Siegel's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" became an underground success, horror films have increasingly focused on the seizure of souls. "Rosemary's Baby" several years ago and the current Shirley MacLaine film, "The Possession of Joel Delaney," built their horror around the idea of one not-so-nice spirit taking up residence in some innocent body. Robert Mulligan's THE OTHER, a screen translation of Thomas Tryon's best seller about a pair of identical twins-one benign, the other malignant-works one more variation on the theme of soul transference.

Like erotica, horror thrives on suggestion, an approach hopelessly at odds with a period in films in which audiences are calling for increasingly explicit celebrations of violence. It is to Mulligan's credit, then, that he treats his spooky story in the ambiguous style of Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw," constantly keeping us wondering whether Holland, the _bad brother, is or isn't a projection of his twin's fevered brain.

Niles is as good as Holland is bad.

While Holland is accident-prone in a very special way-everyone who crosses Holland dies by accident-Niles spends his time bringing bouquets of flowers to his mother, who can barely get out of bed from the shock of losing her husband to a lethal swing of a barn door.

Niles also passes the days at the Connecticut homestead with his Russian grandmother, Ada, who has taught him how to enter into the minds of all living things through a special gift of supernatural concentration.

Dreary: Uta Hagen, for years a powerful and technically dazzling stage performer, here makes a disastrous debut as the babushka, her Russian accent sounding like a nightclub imitation of Bela Lugosi with a soup~n of Oscar Homolka. Her part is a dreary one, being nothing more than a series of wearisome bits of wisdom like "All life must die-it's nature's way."

The great failing of this film, in the end, can be put simply: it's not so much scary as confusing. Each new detail that illuminates the relationship between Niles and Holland-is Holland real, a ghost, a psychic projection?-keeps the viewer off balance, but with no real return on his ruminations. As he did in "Summer of '42," Mulligan controls light beautifully, telling his tale of multiple murders and personalities through a golden eye of time recollected-this time the summer of '35, when the Lindbergh kidnaping trial dominated the newsan all-too-obvious clue about the film's flashy ending. And he works well with children, drawing decently responsive performances from a pair of amateurs, Chris and Martin Udvarnoky. His theme, as usual, is the corruption of innocence,

but his .Cain and Abel story, with its constantlr changing sets of clues, conveys neither surprise nor horror, only the heavy machinery of essentially nineteenth-century Gothic fiction.

-PAUL D. ZIMMERMAN

Sly Sleeper In the hands of a director less impish than Peter Ustinov, HAMMERSMITH IS OUT would very likely rate as one of the season's most thoroughgoing celluloid •disasters. Its neo-Faustian fable of an insane-asylum attendant who liberates a lunatic in return for untold power and riches is the stuff tipsy screenwriters

company that manufactures pills that cure and cause diseases, to his final triumph as ambassador-at-large for a President whom he has financed into office.

"I've heard so much about you, sir," he tells the Pope on a goodwill tour. "Do you speak English?" Bridges's great diplomatic drawback is an inveterate habit of picking his nose before foreign dignitaries. (The Japanese, polite to a fault, pick their noses to make him feel at home.) Co!lsistent with the aqsur,d tone of this film, Bridges is undone. by a highspeed collision on water skis With a 300pound ex-Nazi.

"• , Without stressing his theme' too hard, Ustinov is making the same point Francis Ford Coppola put forward in "The Godfather": that men of power and the criminals in our society are distinguished only by their situation, not their morality. The delicious screenplay was written by Stanford Whitmore but everywhere one feels the devilish hand of Ustinov, who also plays the role of the asylum's psychiatrist, a Viennese with a barely controlled set of sputtering aggressions who reads books like "Studies in Anal Retention" for their comic value.

"WeDJake onet~

perfectlj dear.. )

0 urwater!'

,

Gordon's keeps its gin up.

We could use ordinary distilled water. But when you take the minerals out, you also take the air out. And that takes· all the taste out. At Gordon's, we take the minerals out but we leave the air in. It's as close to pure spring water as you can get.

So if you want a gin with an impressive name; but you also want a smooth, crisp, super-dry taste, you should be drinking Gordon's.

-P.D.Z.

Emetic Comedy THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOM· EN is a warm, human comedy about go-

Taylor: Souvenir doll toss about at midnight but never get on film. But Ustinov, an original mind at the service of a sly sense of humor, has parlayed this silly story into an outrageously funny, freewheeling farce that qualifies as a true sleeper, if any film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton can be so defined.

Dream: Burton is Hammersmith, a crazed agent of the devil who blithely murders his way to fame and fortune, enunciating every line, even to the identification of a stick of chewing gum"toooooti ... froooooti." Ustinov cleverly plays Burton's orotund manner and hairdresser looks against the grease-monkey style of his protege, Beau Bridges, who brings a Gump-chinned, Presley-haired hillbilly style to the role of the simpleminded male nurse who sells his soul for a dream of stereo players, tape decks, big cars and fast women.

Elizabeth Taylor is the fastest one he finds, a roadside-diner waitress who dresses like a stuffed souvenir doll.

Bridges takes her along on his rise from car thief to head of a pharmaceutical Newsweek

ing blind. Jack Lemmon plays a cw·mudgeonly cartoonist and satirist named Peter Wilson who is, in fact, a lightly camouflaged stand-in for the great James Thurber. As Lemmon goes blind, he discovers that life can be beautiful and that women, dogs and children aren't agents of ·the devil after all.

This is the kind of tribute that makes you want to throw up. In its smug celebration of marriage between Lemmon and Barbara Harris, as the divorcee who wants to save his soul as he loses his vision; in the silly, witless failing-sight gags that set Lemmon stumbling like Mr. Magoo through thick New York traffic; in the mindless animation of Thurber's wonderfully sharp, satiric sketches just for the novel effect of mixing cartoon and live domestic drama, the movie becomes the muddle-minded, sloppy, sappy antithesis of everything the tough-minded Thurber held dear. Once again, Jack Lemmon plays his specialty-the harried modern Everyman as chump and victim -and once again he is mired up to his raised eyebrows in celluloid manure.

Writer-director Melville Shavelson and writer-producer Danny Arnold, who began bastardizing Thurber with their TV serial "My World and Welcome to It," have now extended their misrepresentation of Thurber as a kind of sweet, toothless humorist to an audience that in the main doesn't know his brilliant work and certainly won't want to rush to their bookstores now. With friends like Shavelson and Arnold, Thurber needs all the enemies he can get.

-P.D.Z.

June 5, 1972

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99

-IACOMA 1nALL Taoome Mall Shopping Center• 472-4448 (G) 7:20-9:40

It's more than a movie It's a celebration!

• •· •• ••e ••• •• •• • .~

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Nows photo by Robert Rosemlllo

Audrey Hepburn, ~路 ho was awaiting the overture to "Chorus Line" at the Shubert Theater, W. "4th St., got one of the big surprises of her career when a latecomer tapped her shoudler. Fellow actress Liz Taylor was arriving. Neither knew the other had planned to see the hit musical.

!Vii

---

----

---~--

_ _v .....

...-u--.~~ 1 Hallywood

Deca·de

Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra Made. News Tm& last part of a series

By Bob Thomas OLLYWOOD (AP) -They ttarted with the death of the '"ting" and ended with a mass murder.

Tliese were the 1960s, a decade of stress and change in the movie world.

But the Hollywood news during the last 10 years was not ~tirely somber. It also included the liveliest marital mixup in film history and the electieo of actors to high politi@I office. · The top Hollywood newslilakers of the decade were Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra.

H

Liz Taylor Miss Taylor dominated the headlines during the first hail 6£ the ~ecade. She had created MARLO THOMAS plenty of them in 1959, when An Emmy for the "That Girl" star? she married Singer Eddie Fisher after he had left bis I wife, Debbie Reynolds.

In 1961 Miss Taylor nearly ••• • • • died in a LOndon hospit,al. She

By Vernon Scott Barbra Streisand: A cana- recovered enough to teeter across tlie stage at the HOLLYWOOD (UPI) - In dian province.

Aca~ awards and collect hopes that St. Nick has an Oscar for "Bµtterfield 8",.

Katharine Hepbarn: A new c;leposited the following gifts one of tier lesser films. pair of slacks: under the tree.

She llllS making "Cleopatra" Bill Cos~: The recognition the folf>wing year when she John Wayne: An Oscar for became enamored of her cohe deserves. best actor of 1989. star, Rit:hard Burton. It took a year for them to shed their Lee Marvin: A hair of the Mia Farrow: A wedding respecti~e mates and marry. dog. ring.

Christmas Gifts

••• ••• ••• Tiny Tim: A field tulips.

• • •A role to meet his talents.

• • • talent to Pat Boone: meet roles.

•Sinatra: • • The ·governorship New Jersey.

• •A•hit movie.

Jerry •Smothers: •• A of

Dutln Hoffman: A

bis

Frank

of

Lewis:

Temmy

CBS

·ce-presidency.

• • * Buntz Hall: A comeback.

••• Dean Martin: Lotsa luck.

••• Elizabeth Taylor: The Hope Diamond.

••• Raquel Welch: A halt to inflation.

••• Llberaee: A new tailor.

• • •A month's Omar Sharif:

est.

••• ••• ••• ••• Rod Steiger: A carload of

Sinatra

chewable scenery.

**•

Joey Bishop: A guest shot on the Johnny Carson show.

• • • Lana Turner: An eighth husband.

• • • steve McQaeen: Ano t be r "Bullitt."

• • • Marlon Brando: A new cause.

***

Don Blocker'• Retirement.

hor se :

***

Marlo Thonia1: A n o t her Emmy award.

•••

Li1.8 Mlnnelli: An Oscar for her performance in "The Sterile Cuckoo".

1

Sinatr.a was making news in 1962 with his engagement t.o Dancer Juliet Prowse. The engagement was called off because she declined to give up her career to become Mrs. Frank flnatra.

In 1963, Frank Sinatra, jr., was kidnaped and released unharmdd. His th re e abductois were captured, tried and sentenced.

In the same year the senior Sinatra was required to divest himself of his Nevada gambling holdings bilcause he had entertaiped a Mafia mobster.

Sinatra took a m u c h • publicized yacht trip in 1965 with his movie friends, including the young star of "Peyton Place", Mia Farrow.

He married the actress, 30 years his junior, in Las Vegas the following year. In 1968 she divorced him.

The "probable suicide" by a sudden overdose of pills of Marilyn Monroe in 1 9 6 2 shocked the world and brought forth a flood of writings about the futility of fame, Hollywood style.

In 1969 the life of Judy Garland ended, also from an Dverdose of pill~.

Politics Actors in politics provided much controversy in the 1960s.

Many political o b s e r v e r s snickered when Tap Dancer George Murphy announced in 1984 he was going to run for the U.S. senate. He ran and won against a former White House press aide, Pierre Salinger.

'Iben in 1966 Rona!d Reagan, a Republican like Murphy, challenged t h e incumbent, Edmund G. Brown, for the governorship of California and won.

Not so successful were two other Republicans, S h i r 1e y Temple and Wendell Corey, who were defeated in races for congress. In 1969 the former child star was appointed by }>fesldent Nixon to be a delegate to the United Nations.

The death of Clark Gable in 1960 removed the star who had been acknowledged the "King" of Hollywood films, a title he did not enjoy. After his

death his widow gave birth to the actor's only child, William Clark.

Cary Grant became a father for the first time at the age of 62. His fourth wifi,, Actress Dyan Cannon, divorced him in 1il68, charging him With erratic behavior while on LSD trips, ", I

·~

Walt Disney The death of Walt Disney in 1966 was a blow to the millions who had known his genius with fantasy for a generation.

Some feared for the future of his entertainment empire, but he had planned carefully. By the deeade's end the Disney enterprises were flourishini;• never before.

Oscar provided his annu spate of headlines.

In 1961 Jimmy Stewart delivered an emotional tribute to Gary Cooper, and television viewers realized for the first t i m e the seriousness of Cooper's illness. He died of cancer a few months later.

Sidney. Poitier won t h e Oscar for best actor of 1963, and his victory seemed to symbolize the emergence of the Negro in American life.

In 1964, Patricia N e a 1 , whose 'personal life had been marked by tragedy. was a popular wiDner as best actre5s~ The following year she suffered a massive stroke while pregnant, yet managed to recover, give birth to her child and resume her career.

Katharine Hepburn twice starred in the Academy awards. In 1968 she won her

second Oscar after a 35-year lapse. Then in 1969 she tied with Newcomer B a r b r a Streisand for the best actress award.

Thus Miss Hepburn became the first star to win an Oscar three times. Her victories were poignant because of the death in 1967 of tier longtime CO:.Star and friend, Spencer Tracy.

Death removed m a n y famous names from t he Hollywood scene in the 1960s: Amq the losses: Charles Laughton, Dick Powell, Jeff Chandler, Jack Carson, Mack Sennett, Nelson

Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Stan Laurel, Harpo and Chico Marx, Nat "King" Cole, Eddie Cantor, Gracie Allen, David 0.

Selznick, Clara Bow, Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, Ed Wynn, Francis X. Bushman, Clifton Webb, Jayne Mansfield and Robert Taylor.

In the marital news, Lucille Ball divorced her co-star, Desi Amaz, and married Comedian Gary Morton. Debbie Reynolds became the wife of Shoe Ty-

coon Harry Karl. SammJ Davis, jr., wed the Swedlsb actress, Ma, Britt, and the, were later divorcfd. Elvis Presley abandoned his bachelor status.

The most shocking news from Hollywood came at the end of the decade with the incredibly vicious murders of Actress Sharon Tate and four others at her rented estate in the Hollywood Hills.

• Father oj the Bride was released May, 19SQ; and if MGM had had a private wire to Cupid, their timing: touldn't have been more appropriate. For Liz Taylor, their very specilll baby and their "Bride" in this amusing . coJDedy, was becoming a bride in real life, too1 Every magazine and newspaper vied for pictures of Liz in her wedding gown. And if she chose to p6se in her movie costume instead of her very own "secret" dress, no one was an)' the .nser. Liz at eighteen was beau~ radiant and Badly in love with Nicky Hilt4#( who was "considered the luckiest guy in town," for having snagged the young beauty. for his bride. Liz told everyone that she and Nicky were made for each other because, "We both love oversized sweaters, hamburgers with onions, and Pinza." The perfect courtship ended in a perfect marriage-com~ with bridesmaids, ushers and a candlelit ~tar. Seven hundred guests attended the rece~ at the -Bel Air Country Club, whe,_ lbey were feted with champagne, caviar and. a five-layered cake.... Father oj the Bride concluded . with the weary parents about to have some peace as the bride and groom went happily off into the sunset. Liz and Nicky went off into the sunrise-Europe-and proceeded to live anything but happily ever after. For three lPOnths, the Hiltons made the Grand Tour. They bought originals in Paris, and glass in Venice; they loafed on the Riviera and were Reeived by the Pope in Rome .. Meanw~ bad at the ranch, Father oj the Bride was breatlag &I box-office record!!.... ·Suddenly, the re.. life lairy tale exploded. Nidi.y was suppos'!f to be drinking and gambling and te!q Liz she bored him to tears. She lost twenty p0u~ .and came home haggard-looking. Within CigM months of her wedding day, she ·was in a 'divorce court tearfully telling the pr.ess, "I 'tii been like a person trying to catch a tram. But ..it was a beautiful wedding, wasn't it-?" She wound up'.. with a divorce and an ulcer, and the. news that her movje marriage was goiq to contintte' anywayin a: leq_uel called Foilucs Little Dividtlfd . •

Place io the Sun, tal'ring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters, retel1 Drei r's An meriean Tragedy.

• When, in 1931, Theodore Dr i r Ji of his documentary novd An American Tra dy hrought suit, Ull8uccessfully of cour , to pr v n it being . hown. His ludy of bow capitali ti tw nti th. century society and the current American Dr m had victimized a poor, weak boy bad, he decl red }, n turned iuto nothing more than a hallo lale.

Its new title A Place i11 the Sun and the name of the rharacter changed from those in the bopk, An Amer· ican Tragedy has recently been re-made by Param1mnt Pictures. this tim produced and directed by th talented George Steven , and peopled with such contem· porary ho offite attra<:tions as· Montgomery Clift.

El~~beth Taylor and Shelley Winter . A bigger, ~lnmer. more t chnically-compelent picture than it p~edece!'sor. it still JdrL coyly about and shie . pin· 111ngly awa} from Dreiser's theme. ignoring the social implication of the novel a.nd emerging again a e • murder tale.

When Dreiser. for hi dissertation on the valu and aspirations of American youth in a societ} where <1U('· cess is mea ured in term of mone} and position, cho as material some newspaper account of the upper 1 ew York State drowning of a girl b} her }'Oung lover. it wa not because he was interested in the running-down and bringing lo trial of a killer. It was becau. e it seemed to him that in the helplessness of an immaturf'. poverty· tricken hoy, stupidly plotting murder to e • tricate .himself from a situation in which force. greatf'r than hunself had thrust him. all societ} wa, indicted.

Jn A Place in the Sun we are shown merely tht> harr outlin~ of _the ~toq. A poor young man man~g to aet ~ routme 1oh rn a mill owned h} his wealthy unde i 1gnored by his snobbish relatives and, fru~trated and l~oely: has an affair with a handy mill girl. Meeting n_ch g1rl of good family. who will marry him and raise him automatically and painles ly to the circle to , hich he has always aspired, he find~ him!lelf trapped. Thf' factory girl is pregnant.

J~n~rant. without resources. unable to rid him~f'If o~ his mcuhus, the hoy can think of no , ay out of hi. dilemma save to murder his inamorata. He takes hn r~wing on a mountain lake. determined to drown her srnce she cannot swim. loses couragf' at thP la. t m . ment, and has his wish come true when the boat over· turns accidentall and the girl is killed. Hi. pitiful littlf' attempts to cover his track. are so obvious· that ht" j arrested and t>xecuted for a crirn ht> failed, char. acteristic:ally, to rommit, pa ;ng apparent! . for hi moral guilt.

The picture slarL with Clyde Griffith lhere called George Eastman) thumbing a ridt> into a town wher an uncle whom he scarcely know. i a man of uh. stance. Several reference are made to Cl ·de' dr adful poverty and to an earlier job as a hellbo in lu ur h?tel. ~ut. the condition. that shap d hi tem ' his c~dlike ~ascination for the big p nde t th hotel with theu unbelievahlt> (continued on pa e 9i}

but Theatre! And that, apparently, is what some of the people want. They are proving it hy giving Charles Laughton and his as· sociates an average attendance of three thousand people and avera1e receipts of five thousand dollars a nighL

Dreiser (continued from page 16) superiority,' his eagerness for the pleasures swirling all "ilhout him yet of which he can in no way partake, his conviction that the aim of life is to have money to lb.row away, is never touched upon. It is the 'boy's· ,early background that accounts for his determination to let nothing stand in the way of a marriage which will give him the status he has always craved. And it ill an acquaintance with this early background that is necessary if the audience is to have any under· standing of or pity for the character.

There is, too, a strangely-dated quality about the picture that may very well be caused by the fact that. laid in no particular era and purporting to be of our own day, it obviously tells a story of a former generation. Boys still dream, of coun~e, of marrying the boss's daughter. Girls get themselves seduced. People murder each other for a variety of reasons apparently senseless. Yet young people of today seem somehow more mature, more able to take care of themselves in unexpected situations, than did their counterparts of the nineteen twenties when An American Tragedy was written. Setting the tale in the period in which it occurred, with its extremes of poverty and wealth, its well-defined social strata and its generally-accepted notion that success was worth any price, might have given the film the ruggedness, authority and power it now lacks.

Montgomery Clift, in the role of Clyde Griffiths-George Eastman, seems curiously JDiscast as a well-meaning but ignorant exl:>ellhop. Intellectually his performance is sound enough but, unfortunately for the part, Mr. Clift looks too intelligent to make it seem credible he would ever find himself in such a predicament, much less choose ao unimaginative a way ouL Elizabeth Taylor

1111

FEAGIN SCHOOL OF

&

DIAMA

RADIO

36lh Year An intensive course of study designed for training the Individual in preparation for professional work In

• STAGE • SCREEN

i , as alway , lusciou ly beautiful in hrr role of the cmpty-hcad1•<l <laugh! r of till' rich who manipulate •p ·ediJoats, driv s fast cars and takes an iron fancy to a hoy not of her own circle. Shelley Wintel'B is strangely uhdued as the factory girl who made a mLtake.

But, although there are moment of beauty and terror in A Place In The Sun · the boat-scene, for instance, where the hoy with murder in his heart and the factory girl, implacable in her love and need, drift into shadowy inlets on black water, or the bus-depot scene where tl1e pregnant girl, telephoning to her lover while he is at din· ner with his new, e11chanting friend~. forces him to come to her on the threat of dc~ouncing him publicly, the picture only occasionally approache.i the greatne•s it hll:! obviously tried for.

Dreiser's first novel, Si:.ter Carrie, which caused a furor in 1900 when it was wrillt"l anJ was even for a time suppres,eJ, has r~ cently been filmeJ, also by Paramount Pictures. and will probalily be -hown to lbP public in the late fall .\ William Wyler production, starring Laurence Olivier anJ Jennifer Jones in the rnle~ of George Hur.twood and Carrie Mccbcr, ii has b :en adapted for the screen by playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz of The Heiress fame.

Judging solely from the cript and stilb, an excellent job bas been done of convert· ing into a picture a book JescribcJ in its day as a 'study of the Jemoralized life of an actress.'

Hewing closely to the Dreiser line, it~ one big omission the famous street-car strik.e incident, the fihn picb up Carrie at her $4.50 a week job in a shoe factory in 1889. shortly after she haJ left her Wiscon in farm town to live with her married sister in Chicago. Keeping the story in its own period enabled the screen writers to give a colorful account of the manners and moral< of the time and to portray, in some little detail, that vanished era of gaudy splendor with its logical concomitant of block-lon1i breadlines.

In its own day, Sister Carrie was a defiance of nineteenth-century Puritanism, perhaps the fir t American novel in which a ainnin& heroine suffered no puniahment but, over the bodie1 of her seducers,

Public appearances

•

Summer Term: Aug. 6-24 Fall Ter111 legln1 Oct. l Courses In Diction. Public Spooking, Pol11 • DIJI' A Eve. • Toon-Ao• A Chlldre11'1 Dept1. • Cat. T

ROCKEFELLER CENTER-Radio City

630 Fifth Avenue, N.Y., N.Y., Tel. CO 5-0926

THfATRE ARTS, AUGUST 1951

September 24t•

TELEVISION

Wete1'1111 approval

Conservatory of Musk

TAMARA DAYKARHANOVA SCHOOL ;~~STAGE ";alt 7e-u#

•RADIO •

Dut, in pite of ill cruditi of style, it preoccupation with d tail that emed ~ then e traneou , it~ fr quent <lha tio from any fixed point, Sisier Carrie real chararten that still live, that remain unf • ne. j!eltalilc in the American literary Carrie her elf, timid, ofr, ('harm d tu l1•ar hy a jacket in e hop window, carri J almost passively to •Ut'l't' Ir s hy bPr beauty than iJy her innul1· hopdulne •, 'a h rp in the wind' Drf'i-er •·allr.J her. Drou1.,1, tra1 l· ing salc"man 11nJ ma h1·r, with hi tripcd •liirl~ ta11 qJio and promin1·11tly-di play :d Elk' in.ignia, an t•pitornP of all the drummer of th then worl11. nd, 1.11 t of all, llurstwood, the hand ome, !IOCially.at·ca manager of a luxurious r taurant patron· ize<l by the big bu ine• men, th politi· rians, the elite of the town, re~p ted LJ hi~ •Up..rior and fawned upon Ly the Uroucl•. Hurstwoo•l who. for love of Carrie, cle•er1s hi• famil) and •t ..al hi employer' money, . Lepping -..ithout a qaulm out of the unly position in which he can function UC· ces~fully a• au inclivi<lual and in a moment sealing hi~ Joom.

Hur•twood is pnhaps the b t-drawn of auy of Drei er's rharoctrr and certainly onl' of the mo t interesting. Laboring at menial job \1 hich he cannot holt!. o.Jiam,.d of hi, inahility lo provide for Carrie, loafing drearily in ~ tenement room and rock· ing. rocking in bi. 1·hair as he ret·all pa t glorit' and. at la~t. committing «uicidr, to be buried in Potter·~ Fit>ld, Carrie having left him to go on her upward way, be is a tragic and fa,cioating figurP. fo the picture aipt as it now tand Hur~twood disappear-;, finally, into the lim· ho of the Bowery, <ick, diut:d, a ]Jt•ggar.

Rumor ha · it that two ending to i.ster Carrie will be filmed, a happy and an un· happy one, leaving the final deci ion on whlch shall be U5ed to its first screen au· dienceL The Voice of the People will al· ways be heard thro~out the land.

Applications now accepted Approved hy Veterans Admlnl1tratloa 27 West

67t~

DRAMA DEPARTMENT

Harlan Grant Director Actin9-Dlrectln9-Speeclt-Productlo-O.•lga Modern Theatre seah 500 Court• /Hd/ng to l•ch/or ol Fin• Arts Degree &perlmental Theatre ••II 125 Catalog on request

Dr•m• Dept.

Street, New Yorll 23, N. Y,

Trafal9ar 7.5134

BOSTON CONSERVATO Y OF MUSIC IOJton, M

2' Fenway

7

This VVeekS IVlovies SATURDAY, NBC SUNDAY, ABC TUESDAY, ABC THURSDAY, CBS FRIDAY, CBS

By Judith Crist Torn Curtain The Brotherhood The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again A Place in the Sun Night Chase

A number of fine performances make this a network-movie week of distinction, even with two film spots preempted by specials.

The week's one rerun, A Place In the Sun, shown in 1966 and 1967 by NBC and now in the hands of CBS, should not be missed, if only because this 1951 Oscar-winning George Stevens film shows the claims to star stature Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters and the late Montgomery Clift made early in their careers. The three youthful actors are nothing less than brilliant as the coveted girl of anyone's dreams, the unwanted girl friend and the greedily ambitious young man.

Pertinent too, in these days of shocked morality, is the realization that this presently rather naive film, dealing with out-of-wedlock pregnancy and the murder that results was as "daring" in 1951 as Dreiser's novel, "An American Tragedy," on which it is based, was on its publication in 1925, when it outraged censors and conservatives.

1101'.LYWOOD ISSUE

â&#x20AC;˘ Romantic love has been a major theme of the films for more than three decades and the clinch a signal for the fade-out. Whether or not love and love alone can revive a flagging industry remains to be seen. Currently the picture most talked about, A Place in the Sun, is studded with roman¡ tic interludes, one of which, with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, we have featured on our cover.

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'" IVANDOI!:'' will be Augu t' important picture, starring ROBERT TAYLOR, ELIZABETH TAYLOR; JoAN FONTAINE, GEORGE SANDERS, EMLYN WILLIAMS in Sir Walter Scott's exciting story of love and adventure. From M-G-M, the company that gave you "Quo Vadis", in all the splendor of color by f!7ec~~.

'Ivanhoe' Comes To the Strand "Ivanhoe," rousing good drama made from the stirring Sir Walter Scott classic, will open Tuesday at the Strand for an engagement at regular prices. Spectacular and dramatic, shot in beautiful technicolor, impressive with old castles and turbulent with exciting battles, "Ivanhoe" is a superior piece of story-telling and movie-making.

Robert Taylor ls the dauntless Ivanhoe, who must outwit the Norman conquerors of England, defeat the wicked Prince John, help return Richard the Lion-1 Hearted to England, save the lovely Rebecca and win the comely Rowena.

Elizabeth Taylor is Rebecca, Joan .Fontaine is Rowena and George Sanders has the BUbstantlal role of a Norman villain.

IVANHOE- "M-G-M, Technicolor : Big, oplendid action epic of knighthood days, with Robert Taylor oo the • non hero who defie1 KinK John and io loved by Eli1abeth Taylor, ao Rebecca, and Joan Fontaine, a• Rowe11a. (F) September

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RETURNS

AFTER

40

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.BLOOD, SWEAT, OIL, IlARS IN MAY OF 1955, Hollywood descended upon scorching Marfa, Tex., assembled the facaQe for a grand mansion to be called Reata, and painted the town green. "It was dry that year," explains Clay Evans, then 19, who recalls that to achieve the look of a healthy lawn on his family's land, the movie people took brushes to the brush, paying Evans' daddy $20,000 for the privilege.

The movie, of course, was George Stevens' oil epic Giant, and the movie people included Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. Five weeks later, they left Marfa a lonelier place-and the inspiration for Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean-but Reata, ancestral home of the fictitious Benedict clan and the film's central image, remains. After 41 summersanii several hurricanes-its skeleton stands on Evans' 47,000-acre ranch, attracting only the occasional pilgrim or wayward steer.

Giant also lives on-and has reopened in selected cities-though it too spent

II)

JIMMY DEAN COMES BACK: The rereleased fllm's mansion rests In pieces

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two generations decaying. "Time does terrible things to films," says George Stevens Jr., who helped found the American Film Institute in 1967. So he revived an expensive Technicolor dye-transfer process and harnessed digital soundtrack mixing to refurbish his father's three-hour-plus opus, which for 22 years-until 1978's Superman-stood as Warner Bros.' top grosser.

James Dean's last film (he died eight days after wrapping), Giant still generates heat for its survivors. "We were so silly on location. There was a competition," remembers Carroll Baker, who was 24 and played Dean's love interest.

"Jimmy decided he was going to take Liz away from Rock. There was no sex involved; [Dean] was just, like, 'Ha, ha, ha! I may have third billing, but I'll show you who gets the most attention from the leading lady!"' James Dean ... behaving like a rebel? Some legends always endure. -Jason Cochran

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By James R. King i\sSMi&ted

Press

MARFA. Texas -! The fancy ''T'anchhOuse·· where Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor pretended to live and love for movie fans a genera· tion ago bas been torn down. The lumber was used to build new barns and pens on the vast ranch of real-life cattleman Worth Evans.

What's left of the old house - actually it was only a facade - has been taken over by jackrabbits and snakes.

It's been 25 years since the motion picture "(iiaat'' was made on Evans' sprawling ranch. and about tbe oa,17 thing that bas not cblnged in that quart.er~ is the arift rangeland itself.

It's stiU bot and dry, and cattle still grue among the yuccas and scrub brush.

Evans, 76, who played a cowhand in .the 1955 epic. bas sold his ranch to one of his two sons and moved into town.

Ironically, he lives in a former motion picture theater - the "Texas" - which he bought six years ago and converted into a residence for himself and his wife, Catherine. Sbe has a respiratory ailment and has spent most of the past year iD a hospital in nearby Alpine.

Out at lbe Evans ranch, 14 miles from town. the Evans· elder son, Clay, who was a teen-ager during the filming of the movie. ls 44 years old.

He runs the ranch now. and has b9ys of his own. ages.2Q and 18. both rodeo riders. H~ also bas a 15-year-okl daughter who plays tenms.

Clay!s kid brother, Bub. also Is a rancher in this West Texas cattle country. Clay and Bub donned long dreaies and substituted for actress Mercedes Mccambridge during the scene in which she supposedly was bucked off a horse

ARTSAnD EltTERTAlrtMEHT and fatally injured in the cl~ic based on t:dna Ferber"s novel.

"My boys rode. I guess. 25 bucking horses to get that scene," the elder Evans recalled. They finally used Bub in the movie, but Clay was at a disadvantage - he had a broken foot.

Like tts set. the movie also has suffered the nva11!5 of time. . '1\!e seen it seYeral times, but they've cut it way down. It was a three-boor show to start . with," said Evans, at.all. h~ving c.attJeman who worked his land from the saddle of a horse and was definitely not a "gentleman rancher."

"But I thought it turned out pretty good. I didn't like the book. As a matter of fact, if I'd have read that damn book before I signed the contract, I don't think I would have signed," Evans said.

The contract altowing Waro~r Bros. Inc. to film the movie on bis land stipulated that Evans could have "all improvements."

That included about $5,000 worth of shrubs of all kinds, trees and hedges - rarihes in these parts.

But the magnificant "home," the centerpiece of the set built on Evans' land, has been stripped to its skeleton. Only the 60-foot·tall frame remains. towering over a heap of weathered, gray boards about 150 yards from the new ranchbouse Clay and his wife. LaBlanche. built.

"Tbere·s some lumber left, but we used most of it on the ranch,"' Evans said. "We'd send the boys out there to get lumber whenever we needed it for barns or pens or fences. what have you."

The Evans ranch spanned 55 sections 35.200 acres .,..- at the time "Giant" was filmed here. Since then, the ranch has grown to nearly 100 sections, or 64.000 acres. ''You'd be surprised at how many people still go out there to look" at what's left of the Hollywood set, Evans said. He chuckles when he recalls tricks the "Giant" crew used to create images.

"Ben Avant - he's dead now - had a little place down the road with a rattletrap of a windmill, and that's where they 'struck oil.' They used molaS&eS mixed with water, and when they made it squirt up, Jame5 Dean went up there and got it all over him."

Evans said his cowhands were paid $15 each for playing themselves as "extras" in the movie - "and that was a hell of a price in those days."

Besides the money, they got to meet the celebrities.

"Rock Hudson was sure a nice old boy.

James Dean was a peculiar kind of a boy, but he was all right Elizabeth Taylor was awful proud af herself.

"It took two days to get her off the train'' that runs on tracks skirting the northern edge of Evans' ranch. He said she stayed on the train night and day, resting while the crew prepared the scene of her arrival.

"They hauled up a truckload of tumbleweeds on one side and a truckload of dirt on the other and used a motor with a propeller to make a big wind. It was kind of unpleasant with that dirt and tumbleweeds blowing all over them," Evans said.

He said Miss McCamhridge "was the most popular girl on the location." And actor Alexander Scourby, who played the ranch boss "was a real nice old fellow, but I don't think he ever saw a horse before." Evans said.

EDNA FERBER'S epic ianl told of the novel G d trife intolerance an s that beset a rich Texa~ cattle rancher and has family. Directed .by George Stevens, the hlm covered 30 years, play· ed 31/2 hours. It starr~ James Dean (above) in role before fatal auto accident, Elizabeth Taylor (r.), Rock Hudson. -

..

Film Reviews GIANT Scott Fitzgerald claimed "The very rich are different from W you and me", and Hemingway countered, "Yes, they have more money", both novelists were commenting fairly revealingly on HEN

themselves, and indirectly indicating a social attitude. Roughly speaking, and with a slight leaning towards the Hemingway viewpoint, these are the propositions with which Giant, George Stevens' massive screen version of Edna Ferber's novel, concerns itself. The central characters-a Texas cattle king, his wife, and a glf-made oil tycoon-are very rich indeed; behind them, but at the centre of the film, is Texas itself, the millionaire state founded on beef and oil, with its derricks rising to the sky like challenging symbols of power and money.

The story of Giant (Warners) is in essence the not unfamiliar one of the husband and wife who love each other without understanding. Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) is a Westerner who looks back to the simpler traditions of the frontier; his wife (Elizabeth Taylor) brings from the East a more sophisticated appreciation of the relations between power, privilege and r~ponsibility. Benedict experiences a kind of failure, when he reluctantly realises that to his children human relationships mean more than the link between the landowner and his property; and the second half of the film develops this theme through a series of minor family conflicts.

On the edge of this central story is Jett Rink (James Dean), the ranch-hand who strikes oil, makes his fortune, but cannot enter the society he both despises and envies. His story seems designed to illustrate, on a rather elementary level, the old bw that power corrupts: the diffident, ambitious boy becomes an arrogant vulgarian, and at the climax of his career, a dinner held in his honour, he greets his guests by slumping drunkenly across the table. There are traces of Gatsby in Jett kink, the man blindly in' pursuit of an ever-receding dream.

What the characters stand for, though, is more important than who they are, and it is a social rather than a directly human picture that the film presents. The opening episodes-the Texan's visit to the Eastern aristocracy, the atmosphere of condescension and privilege, the sudden romantic encounter-are all very reminiscent of A Place in the Sun. Stylistically, Stevens echoes the earlier film: here again are the slow, romantic dissolves, the repeated running of one image into another, the immensely deliberate and gradual Characters are placed firmly and working into the story. authoritatively; and, as in A. Place in the Sun, the attitude to the rich is one of snobbery lightened by irony. The transition to Texas provides some of the film's most telling passages. The private railway coach, with its Edwardian opulence, the ranchhouse, a Gothic monstrosity set down in a bare expanse of desert, the open Rolls touring the dirt roads-these are the images of luxury and desolation through which an attitude is established.

The ostentation of Texas, its blatant materialism and self-sufficient isolationism, are satirised in a series of episodes whose tone ranges from open disgust to gentle reproof. But the film (and presumably the novel, which I have not read) concludes that Texas makes up for the Texans: size and splendour are their own justification.

Stevens, who in A Place in the Sun built a style out of mannerism, 'here puts less and less reliance on decoration as the film progresses.

The tempo is slow and controlled, and the even pace has tiie effect <>f giving flat passages in the script (by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat) an emphasis they can scarcely sustain. As usual with this director, the dramatic tone is extraordinarily quiet: voices are seldom raised, conversations, overheard rather than heard, come in broken snatches of dialogue. This can create a remarkable impression of intimacy; ¡ it can also, when the material lacks intrinsic interest, become deadeningly monotonous. The weakness <>f Giant is the weakness of the big, as opposed to the great, American novel: characters and situations are finally .too. stereo-

148

typed to bear the immense weight that the director is putting on them. There are Jong stretches when nothing much happens <>r seems likely to happen, moments of over-coloured action; ~nJ there are the sudden insights; passages of sharp dramatic concentration, the realisation that what we are getting, with all the film's defects, is an authoritative picture of a certain social climate.

Dramatically, the story loses through the failure to bring Jett Rink sufficiently close to the centre of the action. At the OUl!>!:t Rink is sullen, wary, restless. The script presents the chara.:tc; through a series of statements, but James Dean's perfonnance is 8 matter of implications, suggestions of neurotic stresses and tensions The delicate little scene in which he entertains Leslie Benedict 1~ tea, the shots of the ranch-hand pacing out the boundaries of his property, glorying in the fact of ownership, ue beautifully managed.

In the later scenes, though, Dean for the first time in his tragically short career had to go beyond the characterisation of the young rebel; and his technical resources fail to see him through. His relative failure (and it is only relative) throws some incidental light on Stevens' direction of his players, panicularly in the context of Stevens' own comment on Dean quoted elsewhere in this issue.

Putting it very approximately, one might- say that Kazan works through his actors, while Stevens prefers his actors to work through him-the value of the performance, in other words, is essentially its contribution to the mood and temper of the individual scene.

A somewhat limited player, such as Elizabeth Taylor, can appear at her best in a Stevens picture; an actor like James Dean seems to be putting more into the part than the director needs for his own purposes.

As Giant assumes the proportions of a family history, with its leading players going unconvincingly grey, this formidably lengthy film becomes something of an endurance test. But Stevens keeps a steady grip on his subject, and the film emerges from an anticlimax that should have been a climax-Jett's drunken speech to an empty room-into a remarkably firm and impressive final statement. It is not panicularly striking or surprising that J;tenedict should become involved in a brawl in defence of his Mexican daughter-in-law's right to eat in a roadside cafc. But in contrast to the semi-hysterical tone of so many American problem pictures, Stevens gives the episode real weight. The last slwt holds tte image of Benedict's two grandchildren, one fair and Anglo-Saxon, one Mexican; and in a final characteristic dissolve, the faces of the two children merge together. It is an affirmation, and it is net the way one expects an "epic" to end.

Giant's strength is its sheer solidarity. Its weakness is that solidarity, the authoritative style, sometimes seems an end in itself, that the director may miss the significant moment by putting as high a dramatic pressure to bear on the trivial and obvious.

No-<>ne minds an artist setting out to plough a field with a knittingneedle, as someone said of James, but it's important that he should wholly convince us the field is worth ploughing. Giant, though, remains something to reckon with: one hopes that Stevens will not keep us waiting another three years for his next picture.

PENELOPE HOUSTON.

'Giant' Returns for Special Showing IN SALUTE to Elizabeth Taylor for her Academy award this year as "best actress," ltoosevelt theater will show for one week, starting Friday, George Stevens' produc" Giant," in which Miss Taylor stars with Rock Hudson and James Dean. With her ¡~ 41( ..... ~.Sat-.. ~ 1. _ _...,...._ _ __

showing up

'' ' • ,,.i·

Sally Kellerman is being paged to star in Harvey Peer's Rosebloom when it gets to New York. The role of the wife was played by Carrie Snodgress for the Los Angeles debut. Miss Snodgress meanwhile has been asked if she would be interested in playing Zelda in the planned film version of Nancy Milford's biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife.

The picture will be produced by Ross Hunter if he can come up with the rights to the book. The American Film Institute is coming under fire from the Women's Liberation Movement. A group caHed Women for Equal Rights in screen. Barbra Streisand will not star.

Media have presented the Institute with 12 immediate demands. Anyone who has followed the -grants, the internships and the fellowships wouldn't have any trouble seeing the inequalities.

Kris Kristofferson showing up on the Top 40 charts with two of his songs, "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" and "The Good Times" is making his motion picture debut in Columbia's The Dealer. Picture centers on out of work musicians who make a living dealing dope. The ultimate challenge is offered: sell an enormous load of grass in 48 hours. Who makes the challenge? A narcotics agent, played by Gene Hackman. The Dealer was written and directed by Bill Norton, Jr., 27 years old UCLA graduate film student. Producer is Jerry Aryes. George C. Scott plays an aging gangster who comes out of retirement to help an escaped convict and his girl in MGM's The Last Run, shooting in Portugal under the direction of John Huston. It is Huston's first film since The Kremlin Letter.

A full length animated cartoon is planned of The Wizard of Oz starring none other than Liza Minnelli as the voice of Dorothy.

Kurt Vonnegut's off-Broadway play Happy Birthday, Wanda June is being made by the Filmmaker's Group. Mark Robson will direct .from Vonnegut's screenplay.

*

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Last spring, Sean Flynn, the gifted photographer son of the late Errol Flynn and of Lili Damita, was captured hv the Viet Cong. Shortly thereafter a search party was organized on his behalf. As yet there has been no definite news of his condition, but his mother says that the reports are optimistic. The pa,rty has reason to believe that he is alive.

AP . Springer Bettman Film Archives Director George Stevens, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson on location for GIANT.

Showing up in Dallas at Southern Methodist University for seven days, March 8th through the 14th is the first U.S.A. Film Festival, co-directed by L. M. Kit Carson and G. William Jones.

"The festival pays tribute to the new American film, its heritage as a leader of world cinema and its recent resurgence to the forerfont of experimentation and innovation. Tribute is also paid to its directors, to those who have broken the barriers between art and entertainment to bring us movies which are unmistakably both." This year director George Stevens is the honored guest and a Stevens retrospective has been mounted with the cooperation of The

8

SHOW

American Film Institute. The selection committee of the 1971 USA Film Festival includes Dwight Macdonald, former Esquire critic and now a writer for the New York Times; Pauline Kael, film critic for the New Yorker; Andrew Sarris, film critic for the Village Voice; Charles Champlin, film critic for the Los Angeles Times; G£rald Nachman, film critic for the Oakland Tribune; Willard Van Dyke, chairman of the film department of the Museum of Modern Art; Jonas Mekas, founder of the Film-Makers Cooperative; P. Adams Sidney, editor of Film Culture; Paul Schrader, editor of Cinema.

* * *

GIANT E ~l%AIETH TAYLOI plays a woman from 20 to past 50 in G ia nt -and even with her hair grayed for the role, she's one of the loveliest women in the world. And one 9f the most unhappy, if we're to believe reports. Just 25 (born Feb. 27, 1932 in London, England), she's been divorced from _Nicky Hilton and Mike Wildi~g. and shortly a~er her last divorce was wed in Mexico to producer Mike Todd.

Her two sons, Michael and Edward, ore ~ilding's. Since her fil'lt important film, Louie Come Home, in 1942, Liz hos spent her life in the Hollywood limelight, growing up in such films as Notional Velvet, Cynthia (fil'lt kiss). Little Women, Tlie Conspirator (first grown. up role). and Ploc:e in tlie Sun among others. Her hair's block. her eyes violet; she stands 5'4". liz'll be seen next in Rointree County. She dotes on star sopphirM, modern houses, and antique furniture.

IOCK HUDSON stands a whole foot taller than his cO:.star in Giont--hich is why all agent Henry Willson had to do was talte one look at the attractive ex-trud driver to know he had found potential box-office bait. That was back in 1948. Willson 9ot Rock a screen test that led to a small role in Fighter Squadron. U-1 took it from there-buildi119 ~ock steadily in such films as Bright Victory and Coptain Llghtfoo+--ond giving him a chance for pennonent stardom in Magniflc:ent Ob..Won. Born Roy Fitzgerald in Winnetka, Ill., on Nov. 17, 1925, Rock song in the church glee club and joined the Novy in World War II. Upon his discharge, he come to California. A million hearts brpke when Rock married Phyllis Gotes in 1955, but our boy couldn't be happier. His work in Something of Value O(ld- Bottle Hymn is his best yet. He's just completed Pyl~.

7

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S111tlay, October 1i, 1970

Epic Film

Returns

THE KANSAS CITY STAR ,

Lusting for power,. James Dean surveys the Texas mansion of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor in "Giant," to open Wednesday at HY• · eral theaters. The film, now in re-release, won George Stevens his second Academy award for direction.

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Post-Intelligencer

Setting for 'Giant' Torn Down

By James R. King A1sotiilted Press MARFA. Texas ....! The fancy "ranchhouse" wher-fi Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor pretended to llve and Jove for movie fans a genera· tion ago has been torn down. Tbe lumber was used to build new barns and pens on tb~ vast ranch of real-life cattleman Worth Evans.

What's left of the old house - actually it was only a facade - has been taken over by jackrabbits and snakes. h"s been 25 years since the motion picture "Giaat~ was made on Evans' sprawling ranch. and about the °"'1 thing that bas not cbanged In that quarter~ is tbe arid rangeland it$elf.

It's still bot and dry, and cattle stiU grue among the yuccas and scrub brush.

Evans. 76. who played a cowhand in tbe 1955 epic. bas solc;t bis ranch to one of bis two sons ancj moved Into town.

Ironically, he lives in a former motion picture theater - Ute "Texas" - which he bought six years ago and converted into a residence for himself and his .wife, Catherine. She bas a respiratory ailment and bas spent most of the past year in a hospital in nearby Alpine.

Out at the Evans ranch, 14 miles frOttt town, the Evans' elder son. Clay, wbo was a teen-ager during the filming of the movie, is 44 years old.

He runs the ranch now, and has boys of bis own. ages JQ and 18, both rodeo riders. He. also has a 15-year-oJd daughter who plays tennis.

Clayls kid brother, Bub, also ts a rancher in this West Texas cattle country. Clay and Bub donned long drelleS and sumtituted.for actress Mercedes McC1n1bridge during Uie- scene in which she supposedly was book~.off· a horse

and fatally injured in the classic based on Mna Ferber's novel "My boys rode, I guess. 25 bucking horses to get that scene," the elder Evans recalled. They finally used Bub in the movie. but Clay was at a disadvantage - be bad a broken foot.

Like its set. the mOVie also has suffered the ravates of time. . '1\le seen it several times, but they've cut it way down. It was a tbretHiour show to start with," said Evans, a taU, ha.nH!rivtng cattleman who worked his land from the saddle of a horse and was definitely not a "gentleman rancher."

"But I thought tt turned out pretty good. I didn't like the book. As a matter of fact, if I'd have read that damn book before I signed the contract, I don't think I would have signed," Evans said.

The contract allowing Warn~ Bros. Inc. to film the movie on his land stipulated that Evans could have "all improvements."

That included about S5.000 worth of shrub5 of all kinds, trees and hedges - rarities in these parts.

But the magnificant "home," the centerpiece of the set built on Evans' land, has been stripped to its skeleton. Only the flO.foot-tall frame remains, towering over a heap of weathered, gray boards about 150 yards from the new ranch· house Clay and bis wife. LaBlancbe. built.

"There's some lumber left, but we used most of it on the ranch," Evans said. "We'd send the boys out there to get lumber whenever we needed it for barns or pens or fences. what have you."

This Week's Movies Continued from page A-8

Patton (see the Background article on page 40) will not be seen Wednesday, November 15. It will be telecast Sunday, November 19 at 8 P.M. In most areas.

SPORTS SATURDAY College Football 11 :45 A.M. (2, 9, 13) Al Onofrio 12 noon (4) Horse Race 2 P.M. Washington- D.C. International (4) Thia Week In Pro Football 2 P.M. (27), 5:30 P.M. (41) College Football 3 P.M. (2, 9, 13) LSU vs. Alabama SUNDAY Noire Dame Football Highlights 9:30 A.M. (41), 11 A.M. (13), 1 P.M. (2) College Football '72 11 1'.M. (9) Grambling Football Hlghllghta 11 : 30 A.M. (5) Pro Football 12 noon (4, 27) Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.

Len D._on 12 noon (9) Pro Football 1 P.M. (5, 13) St Louis Cardinals vs. Dallas Cowboys.

Pro Football 3:30 P.M. (5, 13) Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings.

Otis Taylor 10 P.M. (41) Vince Gibson 10:35 P.M. (13) MONDAY Pro Football 8 P.M. (2, 9, 13) Cleveland Browns vs. San Diego Chargers.

WEDNESDAY Hank Stram 6:30 P.M. (4) Bob DeVaner 10:30 P.M. (19) THURSDAY Don Fambrough 10:30 P.M. (13) SPECIALS Hollywood Televlslon Theatre Sat 9 P.M. (11) Continued on page A-61 A-8 TV GUIDE

The Evans ranch spanned 55 sections 35.200 acres - at the time "Giant" was filmed here. Since then, the ranch has grown to nearly 100 sections, or 64,000 acres.

ARTsflltD ErtTERTfllltMEHT

Sociologists as well as cinema buffs among us can find much food for brooding In Giant, George Stevens' 198-minute movie version of Edna Ferber's· Texas-family chronicle, to be pre-sented on two evenings. It's the sort of generations-of-millionaires they don't, for good or ill, make much any more but that mid-'50s audiences loved to wallow in. You get to see Elizabeth Taylor, at her loveliest, and Rock Hudson, at his rockiest, grow old with a grace denied mere mortals, suffer though they do through the decades as only the rich and the beautiful can.

More Important, you can see the reasons for the James Dean cult in his early portrait of the amoral young ranch hand who becomes an oil tycoon. (The young actor was killed in an auto crash just after "Giant" was filmed.) You can also spot Dennis Hopper (subsequently actor-director of "Easy Rider") in an early and excellent performance as Hudson's son, who breaks a few conventions.

"You'd be surprised at how many people still go out there to look" at what's left of the Hollywood set, Evans said. He chuckles when he recalls tricks the :'Giant" crew used to create images.

··een Avant - he's dead now - had a little place down the road with a rattletrap of a windmill, and that's where they 'struck oil.' They used molasses mixed with water, and when they made it squirt up, Jameli Dean went up there and got it all over him."

Evans said bis cowhands were paid $15 each for playing themselves as "extras" in the movie - ··and that was a hell of a price in those days."

Besides the money, they got to meet the celebrities.

"Rock Hudson was sure a nice old boy.

James Dean was a peculiar kind of a boy, but he was all right. Elizabeth Taylor was awful proud ef herself.

"It took two days to get her off the train" that runs on tracks skirting the northern edge of Evans' ranch. He said she stayed on the train night and day, resting while the crew prepared the scene of her arrival.

"They hauled up a truckload Of tumbleweeds on one side and a truckload of dirt on the other and used a motor with a propeller to make a big wind. It was kind of unpleasant with that dirt and tumbleweeds bloWing all over them," Evans said.

He said Miss McCambridge '"was the most popular girl on the location.'' And actor Alexander Scourby, who played the ranch boss "was a real nice old fellow, but I don't think he ever saw a horse before," Evans said.

close up

EDNA FERBER'S epic 1 Giant told of the nove d strife intolerance a!1 Texan that beset a nch . cattle rancher an: ~s family. Oirecte fly George Stevens, the l m covered 30 years, play· ed 31/2 hours. It starr~d J mes Dean (above) in ale before fatal auto ::cident, Elizabeth Taylor ( r. ) • Rock Hudson.

MOVIE

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A sprawling saga of modern-day Texas.

Edna Ferber's 1952 best-seller pro~ldes a colorful tale of romance, wealth, family conflicts and racial prejudice in the state she described as "exhllaratlng, exasper~lng.~ violent charming, horrible, delightful, ahve. T~e film' traces the fortunes of the ~r?ud Ben~1ct family from the Thirties to the F1ft1e:i-:-a period when the 011 boom shaped new destinies.

Director George Stevens won an Acade!11y Award for this 1956 box-office hit, which concludes Monday evening. ~in! oth~r Oscar nominations went to the movie, mcludmg best . picture screenplay (Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat) and music (Dimitri T!omkln). .

Cast . . • Leslie: Elizabeth Taylor. Bick.

Rock Hudson. Jett: James Dean. Luz: Mercedes Mccambridge. Uncle Bawley: Chill Wiiis.

Jordy: Dennis Hopper. Luz II: Carroll Baker.

Juana· Elsa Cardenas. Judy: Fran Bennett.

Vashti". Jane Withers. Bob: Earl Holliman.

Dr. Lynnton: Paul Fix. Mrs. Lynnton: Judith Evelyn,

GIANT, PART I

For fans of the more traditional John Wayne than is offered in "True Grit," there's a fifth network go-round for McUntockl Why this 1963 Western version of the taming of a shrew (Maureen O'Hara, yet) should become a television standard escapes us-and we won't worry.

If worry's your dish, the unpreviewed made-for-television movies offer food for it. Ida Lupino and Andy Griffith are held as hostages by a gang In The Strangers in 7A and Elizabeth Montgomery is a possible murder victim in The Victim. It's to worry.

In some areas network movies may not be seen on the days indicated.

8:00PMTONIGHT INCOLOR ONNBC4,27

JWN'l'llll coum

continued

e Most anywhere you mention, poets have symbOlized man's quest for the unattainable: The Fountain of Youth. El Dorado-the City of Gold. Apollo's Golden Apples. In Raintree County, Indiana. midway in the tast century, the symbol was a golden raintree. It had been transplanted from the Orient to frontier America, so the legend went, and stood waiting-somewhere in the county-for a ·man to find it John Wickliff Shawnessy went hunting for it the same summer he was graduated from Pedee Academy. He went lunging through the dank swamps back of Paradise Lake-partly because Garwood Jones had tried to cut him out with his best girl, Nell Gaither. But then; too, there was another reason.

"Find that tree and you find greatness I" So Perfessor Jerusalem Webster Stiles-he of the roaring virility and the tongue like a thunder of devils and angels-bad told his class. "Johnny Apples,eed, who spent. his life traveling the wilderness, planted one-just 011e~xotic seed from China, the seed of the Raintree. Here in this County I" Where could such a tree grow unseen ? In the great swamp smack at the County's middle, the Perfessor thought, where there were places of druid silence, places where man never had been. The Perfessor thought it was there, that tree of sacred fire, waiting ....

So on this day when Garwood Jones cast eyes at John's best girl Nell, John went searching for the tree. And all but died for it. Deep where a mottled sun beat the swamp flowers, he stumbled intO a quicksand bog. A thick net of roots laced his body as he struggled. Slowly, certainly, he went down, - fighting the swamp's suck. If he hadn't grabbed a willow root, just at the lastWell, that was the finish of his search. And logic said his finding the tree wouldn't have helped him with his other dream-:the writing of a book, some day, telling of the life around him in Raintree County. No, if he ever were to become the County hero (a most unlikely thing!) it would have to be done in some more practical fashion.

Only to Nell could.John even try to tell what he had found in the swamp: the knowledge that trying to find anything you r~ally wanted was dangerous.

• Certainly, the great foot race was nothing John really wanted.

That came about because John Shawnessy was crossing the town square one day. Near the saloon he met up with a highly spirited group. Garwood Jones had been telling them the comic tale of John's misery in the swamp. And one listener-horsetoothed Flash Perkins, fastest man in the Countywas now high enough to challenge John to run in the Fourth of July meet.

One great brag led· to another, and John was 1 stripping for an immediate contest, then and there-when the Perfessor took over.

"He's not racing," said the Perfessor. "You're afraid to run him official, Perkins, because you're afraid of losing money." And that got the cash beb • &tarted. Most Of the hard coin went down on Flash; but the Perfessor wagered his yearly teacher's stipend on John.

"Five years since a bet was laid against Flash Perkins," he explained to his pupil later. "If you

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·Seductres~, liar, thief--:yet all had to be for given her, for Susanna~ s mind .was· sick • • • • could beat Flash- Dear boy, you're going to win a race. And a beautiful girl will fit a crown of oak leaves on your locks."

When the whole foot-race business came up, John had been on his way to have his picture taken for the Pedee Academy yearbook. He was late climbing the stairs to Mr. Sterling's studio, and a customer was ahead of him: a girl he'd never seen before, posing in a classic robe, with an artificial . lily in her hand. She shrieked when she saw him, and darted behind a nearby screen.

She was nobody he'd ever seen Jn Freehaven, or in all of Raintree County-those great violet eyes, that red mouth perpetually pouting as if offtred for a kiss. John retired in confusion, the instant Mr. Sterling had finished taking his picture. But, dressed now for the street, the girl caught up with him on ' the stairs.

"I saw you-all gettin' ready to run," she said. Her voice had the drawl of warmer country in it "What happened?"

"We postponed it." John couldn't look away from her face. "Until Fourth of July."

"You're John Shawnessy," she said. "I asked the photographer." And somehow they were crossing the square together, her scarlet parasol shading them, until they came to the ofd Drake house.

"This is where I live," she said. "Senator Drake was my father. My name's Susanna.

When my aunt died, I inherited this place."

The blue, blue eyes studied him. "You're cute. You'd make an awful nice pet." · And up the sidewalk-yes, close enough to hear-walked Nell Gaither, on the arm ~f Garwood Jones. Nell stared grimly ahead as she passed John, and went on in silence.

The violet eyes narrowed in speculation.

Then Susanna purred: "That Fourth of July race-what happens when you win?"

"If I win I A beautiful girl will fit a crown of oak leaves on my locks."

"I'd like to be that girl!" She laughed and ran up the stone steps.••• And-the strangest thing about a strange Fourth of July-she was the girl.

Strange.•..

The Perfessor, up to his usual schemes, had stood both runners drinks beforehand. But Garwood Jones discovered cold tea in the bottle given John and insisted the boy must.match Flash Perkins round for round of the real stuff.

The first whisky ever to pass his throat, it burned John Shawnessy like a fire.

He never had any recollection afterward of running the race. But it seemed that he won it. He was carried on the shoulders of the whooping crowd, and su'sanna put the crown on his head-and Raintree had a new hero.

What John remembered longest of all was the coolness of her hands placing the wreath. And afterward, at the picnic, how she laughed ·-all husky and excited-while they swam together, away from. the others, and · then while he chased her

through the green-gold light of the swamp.

He caught her at last and they sank down together onto the soft grassy carpet of the marsh. They clung, breathless, panting.

"I'm~ving tomorrow, Johnny. I'm going home to N'Orleans."

"T01norrow!" he protested. "I thought-I mean, I was hoping-" .

"You're sweet You'll have to come visit me sometime. Johnny, you'd love the South."

She looked at him eagerly. "Tell me about the Raintree !"

"Where'd you hear about that! Doo't tell me Garwood-" "Maybe someday you'll find it." And sle wasn't laughing at him at all. And suddmly the earth was tremulous beneath them, and her lips l>umed his.

• Those summer months after Susanna's departure, John worked in his father's wheat field. Nell's graduation-gift A t1as still sat on his desk,. and John's leather-bound copy of Lord Byron's i>OfPIS was now hers. But she kept clear of him. John missed her. And once, when he glimpsed her far off in the branches of the big oak in the Academy grounds where they'd often met, he ftUDg aside bis scythe and followed her.

"Why won't you talk to me?" he demanded, "You've been running away."

"You weren't so anxious to see me wbai that girl was in town I" "Sometimes a writer ~ll kinda of experience."

"So tltal'.s it! John Shawnasy, the Byron of Raintree County I" "SollH'day I'll write. Yoa were busy enouch with Garwood I" "Garwood's diJ/t"rnd than Susanna. 1-1 hate her. I envy her."

"You weren't like this before," John aid, bending to Nell.

Her face was swaying toward bis, when rough voices sounded below. Peerinr down through the leaves, they realized that a PQ11C of angry searchers had mistaken them forfor whom ? These men carried guns and a rope. And one of them was Ganrood. wbo eyed Nell unhappily.

"It's the Perfessor," he said. "He'• nm off with Lydia Gray."

John winced. The lush, buom Joans Lydia-oh,' yea, the 'ririle Perfeuor 1md alway• .cast bri1bt 11ances at her. Bat Im' elderly, stolid, very aabstantial lnnbmd lad

.

bit about that book he never seemed to get eat doll. Slitherin1 to her feet, lhe h...W the written. Then, just as he was about to go, limp body actOBI the room, laugbiq wildly u it smashed, and then pitched another.

Nell came along the path. She smiled.

COlltiltued from paCJ• JS "Hello, Johnny. You look at the sky as if Every one of the waxy heads and fat, stuffed bodies lay in a shambles before lbe was you understand at." ~-··-·-----------------Together, they walked along at the water's through.

THE CAST "Now," John breathed heavily, "maybe we edge. Quietness never had been awkward with them. But suddenly Nell broke out with can have a little privacy I" And with a stranI oh Wiclllil Sllowmess1 MontgometY Cllft gled cry, his wife rushed into bi1 arms. words. "Garwood asked me to marry him, StlSaltU DNlle • ••••..•. EHubeth Tmylor· More and more, u time drew dole for Johnny. Everybody says I should. He's !f<>: Nell Gailller •••••••• •••.Eva Marie Saint ing into politics. What do you think? You ve the baby to be born, Susanna awolce at night Jmuak• Websw Stiles . . ·•. Nisei Patrick · always been my-my best friend." screaming. What deviled her, John could Fllull PeriiNS .••••••••••.•••..Le9 Marvin "I think Garwood would make a fine-- only guess. But she was back at the fire, ia those nightmares, searching for her doll.

Garwood JOflU ••••••• : •••.•. ~Rod TQlor politician,'' John said atiflly.

Her blue eyes lifted to his. "I had to krtow.

And then she'd seem to find something, to see BUert s~ ...... Aaml• 1111'9oorehead something too horrible to bear•••• Before it was too late."

T. D. s~ ............. Walter Abel "It is too late, Nell," Jolm said, anil the Freehaven was rocking with excitement on Bobby Dro1e ............. , •.• Tom Drake words were heavy. the day little Jim Shawneasy first saw dayB•""'- l>Nlle •••••••.••••••• Jarma Lewis light. The Southerners had fired on Fort BlnJ GNy ....... ......... Rhys Wiiiiams Sumpter, and news of it had just clattered in • The morning of the day on which Abe llrs. Lyditl GNy••••••••• • llynui Hansen Lincoln was to be elected President of the on the telegraph. War was oo its way. Bat United States, John had a strange battle John Shawnessy had black troubles of his traveled. But she was too far gone. Finally, with Susanna. When he opened the bedroom own. Susanna seemed obsessed with the idea in Cuba, he met ~. the other woman. curtains, she pouted at his rising so early on that there'd been two babies born, and that The fire had some odd wrinkles. Two of the Election Day- school holiday. Especially one, that wasn't right-that had dark skin-bodies were found together. Like they might since he'd been out late, speechifying for that had been thrown away. Busy with quidinr . have been killed before the fire. And then- Mister Lincoln. John tapped the morning pa- her, it was a long time before John had a which was the odd woman? There was talk per in his hand. He hadn't been the only chance even to touch the incredibly tiny band of Susanna's father and the woman he was speechmaker, last night. Garwood Jones, of his new IOll. fOIDld with being shot." youngest candidate ever to run for the Indi"What happened then?" John demanded. ana Legislature, had delivered a scorcher • Those next two years and more, baby Jim "After the fire, I mean?" · over at Three Mile Junction to wind up his was what he lived for. Despite the patriotic "Nothing much. Through the excitement, campaign.. He had sounded a ringing warn- fever burning Raintree County, Jolm could Susanna took her doll and disappeared. They ing to the Academy trustees against hiriD¥ a , not help ~ut agne with his slow-speakins found her, finally, in Henrietta's empty cabin. teacher who preached the rabble-rousmg father that war was the most moastrous ol Then her aunt took her up to a place they had Abolitionist doctrine and corrupted the youth all human illusions. Even ii he'd wanted to near Savannah. That's all I know. You'll have of Raintree County. It was obvious whom sign up, with quick-footed Flash Perkins and to wait until Susanna's ready to tell you." the rest, John coaldii't have left Jim with Garwood had been talking about.

"Susanna? But she was only tltree when-" "He's right," Susanna pouteci "Politics Susanna. Her dreams were growinc worse.

The ice in Bobby's drink tinkled mocking- should begin at home." , For two years, the E"'l"irer carried daily ly. "You think you married a child bride, John nodded. "That's just where I intend accounts of the grim siege of Vicksbur1, and boy? At the time of the. fire, Susanna was to begin. What about Bessie and Soona? of Union armies reeling back. Two ,ara of nine years old I" · blood and death. In all the County, J oho Are they slaves?" Of course they were, All this had made him uneasy enough. thought, he was the ooly civilian under forty Then one day, on a visit to Cousin Bobby's called maids or not. "You have to free those -himself and Garwood B. Jones, man of the plantation, John had to forcibly prevent the girls or get rid of them. When you're south, people, a big fellow now in the Indiana state young man from splitting his black footman you can have your slaves. But Raintree capital. Nell Gaither was working for editor with an ax-just for glancing at Barbara's County is free. . You can't have them here."

Niles Foster on the paper, now, to replace The argument .ended with Susanna's· sobankle as she seductively descended from her men gone to fight. She had gone to Indian· carriage. After that, all the magnolias and . bing that she hated this place.

All through the day, John carried the apolis-but had come home. She hadn't moonlight in the world didn't make him want wanted to go on living with her sister in a to linger in this cruel, decaying country. He memory of her anger and hurt-and of the town filled with· disloyal Copperheads. .. sudden, sly terror in her face as she'd begun told Susanna right out: _,. .

Two years and more ••• and thm came "I've got to get away from here. I want to whispering her knowledge that he had been the night when John sat late by little Jim's asking questions about her. go back to Raintrec County." .

By late evening, they knew Abe Lincoln crib because Susanna was nowhere in the "But whj?" Susanna pouted. ''We have was to be the next President. In the Free- house. He was still telling the worried bo)' plenty of money, and-.-" . bedtime stories when she came apstain to · · "Your money. I want a job. I want to write haven square, the celebration boiled over. her bedroom. He went to her room. about Raintree County, and I can do some- The sky was red with brandished torches.

She'd been to Indianapolis, she said, ~ thing· to make a living while I write. Any- Marchers waved banners and rang bells. It way, we should be home and you should rest. was a local triumph, too. Garwood Jones had ping. But then, she'd left John a note in her photograph album--9o they were. sill7 to· made a ~t in the Legislature.

Tbat's stand1m:I' for expectanf mothers."

Nell was in the crowd, and she and Jolm have worried. Laaghing, she produced the Susanna eyed him like a guilty child. found each other. The Lincoln victory had folded paper foe him. But when he c:ausht it ~'Johnny, I want to tell you something. When from her, there was nothing on it at all.

I told you I was to have a child I lied." her triumphant, but she didn't seem elated She stared at him in fright. "Yoa thinkThere was a terrible moment when all he about Garwood's. She •had decided that tltey took it? You don't think 1Jv7 read it. could see was Nell's face, all he could think he would make a terrible husband-and poli- do yoa? i must find it befoce it's loo late!" tician, too. Jolm guided her along, shielding of was what might have been, ifJohn looked at his lovely wife, his heart her from the crowd, for as long as she would "I wanted you more than anything else I let him. But very soon she made him leave. broken. "What was written?" can remember," Susanna was whispering.

"I could never tell. I promited DOt to.• Susannl''s house was ablaze with lights "Somehow, I feel I'll be safe u long as when he· returned to it. A feverish victory Her blue eyes dilated. "Yoa tee, l''ft had a ~·re with me. I can tell you something else. party was in progress-in Garwood Jones' great loss. The dt-arest thing ia all the I'm gomg to have a baby, Johnny, for'real." hooor I But after John's first curt words to world-" The door 'opened, and there was "Let's go home," he said. the flushed man who had attacked him in his little Jim staring in panic at bis mother.

"Daddy I" he cried, ftinaing himldf ecr-. wind-up speech, the guests began to slink • They a«led into the old Drake home in away. Susanna's obviously fal11e annoWK:ethe room. And whm she tried {e'ftrilbly to Freehaven, and it became the Shawnessy · ment that she had given Bessie and Soona catch him op, he 1ereamed, "I want Daddy !" house. Jolm got himself appointed school- their freedom did little to add to the gaiety, J oho carried the boy bad: to bed ud teacher, and lllOlt of his girl pupils fell in and people were glad to head elsewhere. soothed• him uleep. Then be 1etarned to love with him when he read poetry. Susanna Up in their bedroom, having shown the Susanna. She was quid now, but white. took a fancy to the gardens, and she looked last straggler out, John found Susanna "Jim doesn't like me, Johnny. 1 don't anchanning among her flowers to every passer· · crouched by the bed in a pose of slavish sur- dentand. Orildren are luppOled ~ es~t, perhaps, Miss Nell Gaither. render, an ugly leather whip coiled belide tablish a bond between parmta. Jim las One afta11oou, months after his return . her. He dragged her, moaning, to her feet, erected a barrier. 1111! two of you belCllW ..,_ John pained at the riverbank on his way and dropped her not very gently among her rether. You're dnwn apart from me." home. The Shawmucky seemed to glow un- gruesome collection of dolls.

John took her on his lap end rocbd her u ~er the sun with a living warmth, and he en"You're too good for me, Johnny. I'd do if she were JOUll«er than Jim, and besaa thl JO:yed lookinc at it. First, old Niles Foster anything for you-" she be,an. slow, slow basinaa-«ttempted often before editor and publisher of the Freehaven Ert~ "Let's start by getting rid of these!"

-of ~9C to make her tell him wMt Md ti6 qvt,er, drove by and paused to needle him a Suunna nodded and grabbed up the nearhappenedltbat lons-aao nisht of the fin. If

Raintree County ·

seemed like a rock in the path of any real romance.

"Maybe it's iill a mistake,'' John offered, without conviction, picking out Gray among them-the ftinty eyes, the face greedy for vengeance.

But mistake it ·was not. Back in his father's barn that night, storing the scythe he had dropped in the field, John found the Perfessor hiding-with maybe a hundred men combing the County for him.

"If we hadn't missed that train at Three ' Mile," he mourned, "we'd be a hundred miles away by now. Lydia? She's home right now, waiting for the wart hog. Upon depositing her, I took o(f like a striped baboon."

"Come on," John said quietly, lifting down a thickly-coiled bullwhip from its hook.

"You're getting out of the COIDlty."

They waited together until dawn in a ditch under the railroad embankment. At last, a far-off whistle wailed.

"The train from the South," the Perfessor. breathed. "Goodbye-,·my boy. You have a girl who loves you. Marry· her, love her, beget broods of brats."

-' · . John was watching the tracks. "Susanna?

I'll probably never see-" · "I was referring to Nell,'' . the Perfessor said, jumping to his feet.

• In the woods, a gun cracked. A bullet ricocbeted off the rock above the pair. Shouting, four men began surging from· cover to the embankment. Mr. Gray, Garwood, two others. But the train was rattling closer.'

The Perfessor did not hesitate. He took off like a hare. Alone, John uncoiled his whip and barred the way. "Your wife's been · • home twelve hours," he told Gray.

Nobody much wanted to oppose a strong young man ,with a bullwhip. Ezra Gray tried one lash with a whip of his own but John fticked it out of the old man'~ hand as though it were scalding hot. The others •hruued and turned away. After all, if the hen were back in the nest again· ••• When the train was gone, the fugitive Perfes&C?' with it, John crossed the embankment. ~ smoke still was wreathing the depot m a brackish cloud when he heard a soft voice behind him: '1/oltrtrt~" He jerked around, and there she stood her dark hair untidy, her scarlet dress wrin~ kkc!o her two negro maids and her luggage b;ebind her,

:'Johnny, I had to come back to you. I'm going to have a baby.•.." · They were married at the white-steepled Freehaven Church on a day in late summerthe same day newspaper headlines were talking about the hanging of a crazy Abolitiqnist named John Brown, in Harper's Ferry.

Ellen Shawnessy, Johl')'s mother, refused to attend the ceremony. But T.D. Shawnessy stood up beside his erring son. On his w.ay into the church, John passed Nell Gaither leaning against a tree, like a nostalgic memory, with the bright leaves falling about her.

He turned aside for just a moment and took her hand. Her words came to meet him in a broken rush. · "It wasn't your fault, Johnny. Everyone knows that. Why do you have so much conscience? Wltyf" But then Nell managed a smile of sorts. "In the words of Lord Byron, in that dear book, Fare thee well, mid if forever-" "-still /orrver, fare tltee well," John finished for her. Nell turned and stumbled away blindly, and he went inside, where Susanna waited.

• • They went South, to her home country, on a Mississippi riverboat-a floating hotel. It was in their ornate bedroom, that first night, that he saw the dolls. She unpacked them, one after another, out of a special trunk. One was a hideous wooden thing, charred and burned.

"Sort of a hobby," Susanna explained shyly. "I take them wherever I go. This is Jeemie. I've had him the longest. Oh, Johnny, don't mind my foolishness. I do love you so much. Nothing can happen to me as long as I have you. You won't let anything happen to me, will you, Johnny? We're going south I We're going home! You'll love it, honey.' ..."

Well, some of it was all right enough. A lot ·of it. There were gay parties at all the handsome river plantations, and everyone tried to be kind to the young Yankee Susanna Drake had brought home. Two months went by and, except that the menfolk talked so much of secession, there wasn't an ugly ripple on the charming surface. Everyone made "Cousin John" feel right at home. Especially languorous Barbara Drake, the wife of Susanna's amiable young Cousin Bobby. Yetsomething was wrong.

John could feel it in Barbara's veiled hints that perhaps Cousin Susanna had married a Yankee because the men at home knew too much about her. He could feel it, too in Susanna's own suppressed excitement. Then, one day, she drove him out to the place where she'd lived first.

The drive leading up to the mansion once had been wide, but now was a mere foot trail through marshy growth. Ruins of classic gardens flanked their way, rank with weeds and broken statues-and then they reached stone stairs sweeping up to nothingness, and rows of giant, charred pillars. That was all there was left of the mansion-a burnedout shell, and within it a sunkm pit all boiling with brush and rotting undergrowth.

"The garden used to be lovely and cool,'' said Susanna, in the fluted voice of a child.

"I used to play among the roses. The house was white."

"How did it bum, Susanna?"

"No one knows." She pointed to two headstones behind a filigree gate. "That's wh~re Daddy and Mama are buried. I was lucky to

get out alive. I slept next to - Hemidta'• room, and 1he was burnt."

John felt, for some reason, aneasy. "Who was Henrietta?"

"My dearest friend. A great. lady. I wu three then, maybe four. Everybody talked about it for years. I'm not sure what 1-1 saw, and what I was told later." She wu pulling him alone, toward the river. "There used to be a little cabin here, but I gueas it's gone." And then she found the weedchoked stone lettered Hna,.t,t1a Cowlaey.

Susanna went down on her kuees. "Here's where th~ buried her. She took care of me.

She was lovely, Johnny. Of course, she was a nigra. She came from Cuba. That's where I was born. Daddy was there several years, and Henrietta came back with us. It's funny to think o{ her lying there. That is, if she is there. Some people said the graves were mixed."

"How could that be?" asked Johnny, watching her intently.

"They could hardly tell the women apart, they were burned so bad. My aunt said she wasn't sure but that hussy Henrietta was sleeping in Mama's grave." Her voice was tight and twisted. "ls that )'Oii doum IMre, Hertri,ttaf" she cried suddcnly,.and cocked her head as if to listen. "I lot•e H narietta r She jumped to her feet and ran off through the weeds. • . .

'°"'

• That was all John could get out of his bride, but 'he hunted down her cousin Bobby Drake in a tarnished sin palace the youth frequented in New Orleans. From him John tried to get more of the story. He had to know what had happened, if he were to take good care of Susanna. It was so obvious that she was haunted by some memory.

Bobby sat sipping his drink, elegantly. "It's just an old family skeleton, John. It all began when Susanna's mother went-you know.

She went insane. Her father gave up everything-his business, his seat in the Senate.

For a while, they (carttirtwed ort '4ge 66)

~

.... . . . . . . .KW . _ .

-

she could talk it out of her shadowed mind, there still might be some hope. And this

~after

a long while, ·she did talk. ''There's nothing I wouldn't have done for .

1111 father and Henrietta. Mama was-so violent I wanted to hurt hef'. I'd been reading a story where a ~son wrote a letter to another person and didn't sign it So I wrote a Jetter. It just said, Daddy loves Henrietta.

Yows tndy, A Well-Meani11g Friertd.

Wasn't that silly?" But Susanna did not laugh. "That night I ~rd something like firecrackers. In Henrietta's room. Next thing I knew, I woke up coughing. My doll was on fire. Then a man came through the window -one of our nigras, George. • . . They took me to stay with my aunt . . . Mama killed them I I hate her !-1 hate what I did I" "My darling, you didn't have anything to do with it." He rocked her back and forth.

"I don't know-" Susanna. whispered, a I~ child. "I don't know .••"

e

The Rebels invaded Pennsylvania, and a big battle was shaping up somewhere. If Lee won this one, the Union was through. But on that day--ilS on other days-it-was personal peril that filled John's thoughts.

Nell told him in the street that she'd seen · Susanna at the railtoad station. And when, troubled, he rushed back to the big old house, both his wife and his son were gone. He raced from empty room to empty room, and finally he found it-the big square envelope printed with his name.

This time she had written a real note : Dtwl#tg, do11't be alarmed. They can't follow me. I am outwitti11g them this lime. They will stop at twthi11g. I have friends in lndia11apolis. This is the best plan.

He closed his eyes in agony and leaned hard against the bureau. Then, knowing what he'd have to do when he found her, he headed for the railroad depot.

The ticket agent reriiembered selling Susanna tickets for herself and a little boy on the early train. But it was late afternoon before John himself reached Indianapolis, that city of traitors and· deserters and cut-throats and pimps. Somewhere in ~II this corrupt whirl~! were his mad wife and his little son. Haggard, frantic, he searched.

First off, he headed for Maddon Hallwhere the Honorable Garwood B. Jones was deli~ering an address under banners lettered: ABE, WE WANT JUSTICE! NO MORE BLOODSHED FOR SLAVES! The scum who had gathered to hear him turned John's stomach-but Susanna always had favored Garwood and now• B.ut she was not there among the motley audience. And Garwood, squirming when John confronted him in the stage wings, would only admit to having seen her during the morning and to having noted that she seemed WlStrung. She'd been with some man in the uniform of an Army colonel. , John took a hotel room and combed the advertisements in the paper for some word of a madwoman or a lost little boy. Nothing.

Later, he went to the newspaper and placed an ad for information on them. Then he called at the police station. It was the next morning before even this bore results.

Then a policeman notified him that some ~ running a novelty. shop thought she might have seen Mrs. Shawnessy. He rushed to ~ addres5: gi_ven, and its sharp-featured pn>pnetress did mdeed have news for him.

The afternoon before, a pretty but vague lldy with a Southern drawl-and a little boy -had been in the shop. And she'd bought . the oddest thing-a doll. Not for the child, she'd said. She needed it for something else.

After that, the curtain fell. There was nothing. Nothing to tell him where Susanna and little Jim had gone after they'd left the ~e. Nothing except that one photographer lft the teeming city had taken a picture of a woman calling her11elf Henrietta Court-

ner. When she'd left, the Photographer re- These were the Bummers, filthy and doomed, called, she had said that she was going home. who had volunteered to go out across the ADd to Susanna, home meantland like locusts and forage for the advancing . Jolm Shawnessy, as he haunted the rail- Army of the West These were tough men road stati0n, was wild with dread. But there and hard, and stripped for action to knapwaa no sign of her anywhere. 'I'he only fa- sacks, canteens, a musket and forty rounds. miliar face in the crowd was the last one he'd "This army,'' their Lieutenant barked, "will thought to see thef'e--Nell Gaither's. She had cut itself off from its base of operations. It come all the way from Freehaven with a will strike straight into the heart of the telegram that had arrived there. The ticket enemy. You Bummers got a sticky job. You agent had told her where John had gone. ' knew that when you volunteered. Move on Thly are after me again, the telegram the Army's Ranks, point the way to provir~ I must go ho'Me. I have a safe co11duct sion, live off the land I" (KF'OSS the lirles, so dOff't worry. y OU will They were moving out when the Perfes~ see me or Jim again. sor came up to John, at first scarcely recogThe yellQw sheet quivered in. Jol,n's hand nizing the gaunt, ragged, pickled-in-brine as he sank lo the nearest bench in defeat. forager. Dirt, lice, slime, blood-two years of it all were in John's burning eyes. · • The war-although he was but dimly "I'll humor you with a tasteful gravestone, aware of the headlined VICT,O.~Y AT • when I get back to Raintree County," the GETTYSBURG-was what realty had John Perfessor told his young friend. "To I oh" licked. In his dread for Jim and for Jim's W . SltaWJtessy, in absentia. Sleep i11 thy mother he had stQOped to begging a favor hero's graire, beloved boy- I think I'll take of Garwood Jones. But as Garwood pointed another whirl at Mrs. Lydia Gray, John. So out, no known Abolitionist .could get a safe conduct through the Southern lines. There was no way Jotm could follow his family.

"There is 01U! way," John contradicted.

And that was how John Shawnessy got himself signed up to go to war. His father and mother and Nell and the old editor Niles Foster saw his train off at the Freehaven depot. And his uniform of Federal blue was still fresh and pressed, weeks later, when he reached the forward bivouac, ·from which a man could see the Rebel campfires.

Flash Perkins was there, roaring him a welcome, slapping his back. as loud-mouthed and quick.-footed as ever. More surprising, Perfessor Jenisalem Webster Stiles , was there. He had spent the time since his dawn flight from Raintree Comrty investigating tlie more responsive ladies of New York , City. Now here he was, a war correspondent for the New Y Mk W Mid. "Where else should I be," be demanded, "but among the brave, half-bearded throwbacks of Raintree County? I loved that girl."

"Lydia Gray's husband died two months ago," John said slowly. "The widow is available. Like to write a happy ending?"

The Perfessor studied him for a wry mo-- much for me. But yo~ , Bummer?"

Overhearing, Flash boomed happily, "All mart, before uncorking a bottle lifted gently out of Flash Perkins' boot. Then: "A toast ! over Georgia I Free of all command I" Free of all command. At last the PerfesLet's drink to sleep, and then get a· good night of it Tomorrow,· Crusader, you're sor understood. "Is this your way of finding starting a journey to a new and unknown Susanna and your son?" land-a place called Hell.•••" John touched the map in his pocket. "That plantation's around here somewhef'e.••."

It was flell, all right No other name for it The first time he saw a comrade die, the An army of thousands ftowed across first time he heard screams and saw bayonets Georgia's earth. And way out in fronf, where charging toward him, John knew that But Reh guns waited in every wood, the teams for him neither lead nor (:Old 5teel put an of Bummers crept about their business. Flash end to things. The men who died were to bis Perkins and John Shawnessy were one team right and left. He himself endured. It sur- -,alone, cut off. Folks said Abe Lincoln himprised him. Warns for the Perkinses, yet- self didn't know where these men operated.

Chickamauga, Septeitlber 19, 1863, the It was a queer, queer place to have for the Perfessor scratched on the dateline of his end ·of your rainbow. But to John, after his dispatch for the paper . • • Chattarwoga, No- years of searching, it was just that. He and WMbtr 2 • •. Missio11ary Ridge, NOWM!Jer- Flash came on it almost without warning, 25 ••• KenMsilw Mountai11, June Z'l, 1864. one day when they were marching a wounded Reh officer they'd captured along an un· • The scream of shells had become a famil- important country road. • The gate sagged rakishly, and the onceiar tune to Jolm, long since. The cries of the dying no longer curdled his heart Dirty, pleasaot cabin had been thoroughly sacked.

But by the akimbo fence a stone had been red-eyed, unshaven, he now could run with the toughest, shoot with the steadiest, gore cut with letters: Fairweather, Mrs. Heflriwith the beastliest It wasn't himself doing etta CoiwtMy. His face twisted and he moved swiftly past the gate. these things ; it seemed to be another man.

By November of that second year in the John and Flash herded their Rebel prisplace called Hell, they had fought their way oner through the door, its hinges shrieking to Atlanta. Troops tore up the railroad as they opened it. The house was a shamtracks and twisted them into what they bles, its furniture bayonet-ripped by raiders, called General Sherma" necilies. The city its treasures·lo<»ed. He searched it in frenzy, of Atlanta barned to ashes. And a new cam- from room to room. And upstairs, on a milpaign was on, a sweep clean across Georgia. dewed bed, an old colored man lay dying.

Lined up before the gutted buildings, where At first John thoYght he was alone, and the Perfessor could watch and make notes tried to make him say where Susa.Ma and for his story, assembled a band that no man her son had gone. Then he noticed a trap68 coald call . the flower of the Union Army. door in the c~ling, and opened it to study

-

cns1t

the attic space aOO.e. Out of the dartr a hmutiful, soot-smeared child of four. A child who stared at his beard uneaaily, aod then cried, "DaddY'I" and 811111 himMlf forward in an agony of relief.

The dying Negro was not, after all, alone with the· child. An equally aged due, a woman whom y0W1g Jim called Parthenia, came in out of the fields at nishtJall. She helped pack the boy's belongings in a rucksack. While Jim drowsed and Flaah tended the Rebel officer, Parthenia talked to John.

"Mister Shawnessy, where you takin' Jim?" "Back with me to my outfit. Then he can ride to Atlanta on a wagon or an ambulance or wait for me there."

It was a while before she spoke again.

"When the war's over, you gwine get Miss Susanna?"

He nodded. "I'm going to the place you told me and bring her home."

"Mister Shawnessy, don't do it," the old slave begged. "You don't know what she was like when they took her away. She's got a sickness no lovin' care in the world can rid her of. I know Miss Susanna. Old George upstairs,. he saved her in that fire. And jus' before she got sick, she talked mos' strangeahout Henrietta Courtney bein' her mother."

It was a thing to be faced squarely. "Maybe she was."

"You cruy, too? I delivered Smanna.

Mrs. Drake never could take care of her, JO Henrietta did. They were always together.

Susanna wa,.ted Henrietta to be her mothef'.

But she hated the idea of wanting her, because Henrietta was"-the touched her dark slcin-"like me. Long as I knowed that chile, there's been a war goin' on inside of her."

In the dark, the four of ~John, young Jim, Flash and the prisoner-quit Fairweather and took to the blade, piney woods. And it wasn't a night John Shawnessy hankered to remember afterward. Reh snipers found them and chased them, recapturing their of. ficer. The two Bummers split up as they ran and somewhere in those trees, Flash Perkins' loud bragging 'r.IS 1ilenced forever.

But John-he never knnr how-somehow made it down a wild cliff, his boy on his back, to the campfires of a Union regiment.

He scarcely knew until afterward · that his leg was bullet-shattered. His war was done.

• As soon as the fighting was OYer, as soon as he could walk well with a cane, John went south again. This time, in the dreary land of defeat and ruin, his visit was brief. The asylum about which Parthenia had told him was a grim place of barred windows and haggard, twisted faces. War had robbed these poor creatures of even enough to feed their scarecrow bodies. But Susanna-ob, so white and wan, with her cropped hair-was having one of her periods of normalcy. They said he might take her, if he wankd.

"You shouldn't have come," she told him, in her lost child's voice. "I've always been in your way. You would han found your Raintree." · "That's not true," he said gently. "1nere ii no JU.intree."

"I think it's true-I'U say it ~ and again. It'll make both of us miserable. Yoa11 pity me, and I can't accept your pity."

"Can you aocept my love?" Jolm Shawnessy asked. . • • .

So the enormous house at the end of Frtthaven'1 square showed li1ht1 in the aicht again, after so long. From its high porch. a group of them-tho9e who had come throqh the war alive-10ntberly watched the paaainl of a train draped in mourning crepe, on its westward way from Washington.

"When Lincoln died," said the PainM>r, at the side of his good wife Lydia, "all the Dlft1 who died in the war achieftd a ftllftsentative." And it sttmed to John a fitter monument than the atone memorial his fa~ was already advocarinc. The suests were still

there, subdued but reluctant to part, when he saw- From the back of a trai- With a limped toward his study to correct the Eng- brat in my arm1t--" He still was trying it on lish compositions that seemed alway• to await for size as .he led away the ripe Lydia.

Nell was left alone by the door with John, a returned schoolmaster. ' But the Perfessor followed him, with pur- just for a minute. "John--" Her voice was poseful maJice. "I thought the war you fought grave. "I think your great book is your own was for larger issues I And what are the is- life. Just don't spoil the ending! The Persues today? The country's ripped apart. Lin~ fessor's not my candidate. Yot1 are."

When he had closed the door behind her, coin's reconstruction policy-" . _ The speech was checked at the study door ; Susanna came forward, her eyes on him.

"It's because· I'm sick. That's why you for there, in the most comfortable chair, sat the sleek and splendid Honorable Garwood won't run for Congress."

"I want to star right here,'' he said, "in Jones with cane and glov~s: _" I , 1"as in the neighborhood; at the station· paying a last Raintree Co1D1ty.'

"I wonder. I wonder if things would have tribute to Lincoln." He seemed to feel .he had done Uncoln a great favor .1 "111 ~ brief. I been better if you had found your Raintree. intend to run for Congress, Jyiui. I mtend to .Be patient 'with me, my darling I" see that the rebellious South get's its just des~.

• It was late in the night when Susanna left serts. I hate to write speeches. John, you're a the house. John, bent wearily over his Engveteran, while I-" lish papers, never heard her go. But little Jim "Garwood," John corrected quietly, "I'm a lay awake upstairs, for his mother had schoolteacher."

"My election could lead to big things, paused by his bed, a broken, burned doll in John. For me, perhaps the Presidency. For her hand. And the lamp she'd carried had . you-you name it So long as we let bygones cast eerie shadows.

"Jim," she'd said, sweetly and clearly, "I'm be bygones. We each of us had a war to fight -you, me, Lincoln. But now-" · going to find the Raintree. Then everything "Now Lincoln't a. useful symbol you're will be all right. There'll be no more bartrying to cash in on." Suddenly, John's face riers. I'll find the Raintree for him, and hand was frightening. "Get out of here I" it to him gently, with love."

In silence, the whole group watched Gar"Can I go with you?" the child begged. wood stamp away. The Perfessor • softly "Oh, no. I'm taking Jeemie. Jim, darling. broke the stillness.· "You've got to run if sometime when you're older and I'm not against him. You could do it, John I" here, you think about this night, talk to "I'm no politician. Not me, Perfessor."

Daddy about it. He'll be able to explain.

"You!" the great voice cried. "You've That's what fathers are for. . . .'' spent your days teaching so you could spend · Wind whipping an open door was the your nights·on a book. A book which never sound that aroused John from his work. got written. Why?" Somehow, he could feel that the house was Susanna, at least, knew the answer to that. empty. He hurried. from bedroom to bedWith Nell's blue eyes on her, she flushed room, and Susanna was gone-and so was painfully. But the Perfessor took no notice. Jim. As he burst from the house, he could "The book never got written," John agreed see a figure no bigger than a doll running slowly. "But the children got taught You across distant moon-white meadows in the couldn't IDlderstand. You· were an awful direction of the great swamp. • . . teacher. But-you might make a good poliThe church bell, pealing urgently, aroused tician. Why not?"

Fairhaven from its sleep. Men poured from "Me?" The notion was staggering to Jeru- their houses to form into posses. Torches salem Stiles. "Mef If I couldn't out-lie and flared and lanterns swung yellow. In the seoat-promile Garwood the best day he ·ever cret streams among the tangled vines, feet

splashed and houndt bayecl. Jubu .:>1~111. tried to be everywhere at once.

"Susanna I" be ~ied. u be lal'ched. '"s. sanna I Jim I Susanna I" Deeper, deeper into the swamp the torchn probed. The aky began to pale at last Some-time during the hmt Nell had found Jolm. and was now 1loshi111, grim as a ~ at bia side, saying nothing. What words wwld do l It was the Perfessor who brought John word that they'd fomd her: whitt hand reaching up o.ut of the botr-the same quicksand mire where once, those years long sone, John himself had fouodered. But their son wasn't with her.

The search stumbled on. The sun blued higher, and the rank reeds stank. "Ii•!"

John's voice called endlessly. "JiM-11!"' And suddenly, after so long, there was an answering, "Dadlly!"

When they had run toward the cry, when • John had scooped the muddy little figure into his arms and hugged him close and wiped the tears from his eyes, he stared down in wonderment at the child's matted hair and the front of his rliined nightdress. For all over the boy, caught there, were little golden flowers. John Shawne11y never had seen them before-yet how well he knew them I He looked at his son in awe. "Where did you get these?"

"Under a tree," said Jim. "Your father was right," Nell Gaither told John quietly. And her own hair, shining in the sun, was as golden as the Raintree'a blossoms. "There will, tome day, be a great man in the family. Maybe two of them I" As she looked at John, Nell's lifted face held love and faith.

Jim shut his eyes, and ·leaned bis head against his father,,.and was asleep. And with Nell beside him, John turned and carried his son through the great swamp toward the safer, realer world they'd left behind.

one

TU KllD Adapted from the METRO-GOLDWYN.MA VER CAMERA65 Prodattion-Coi>yri1bt 19S7 ~LOEWS, lNC.- Dirn:ted by EDWARD DMYTKYJt Pn> dU«d by DAVID LEWIS-S~rttr>play by Mil~ LARD KAUFMAN-BaKd oa the D<>Yel by ROSS LOCKRIDGE, JB. Aclapud for SCRU:N STORIES by JEAN FRANCIS WEBB

ECOND NOMINATIO~ wasgjven 'Elizabe-,th for her best part:-Maggie in C a Hot Till Roo ~an unfulfilled woman ihe is driven t~ noisy d11l 1 .

riJi

Josh Logan Down Under; , Seeks Lad;·Liz Taylor

Possible For 'Careful' Producer-d.trectoi: Joshua J:.ogan is in Sydney, Australia, this week; auditioning six-year--0ld Australian boy for a role In his upcoming production, "CarefUi; He Might Hear You.'' A local grocery Chain has agreed to conduct · a · contest: for young aspirants, and a tv station ·will run special m~terial ·on the contest.

Lead femme role is being discussed with Elizabeth Ta)tlor~ if she agrees, pl8ns are te _shoot exteriors in Australia and fil~ors in Spain, where Miss Tay~or's husband, Richard Burton, is skedded for "Don Quixote" this summer.

No distributor is set for · the property, adapted froin a Sumner.

Locke Elliot novel, though ·p_.a> mount is understood to ha-re . ex. pressed an interest. · ··

and

'Cleopatra' AHit

At Last; Pix Give .ABC.Winning Wk. ABC-TV, spea.rheaded on Sundll'.Y night 1by a strong perform-

ance by "Cleopatra-Part I", edged OBS 1by 0.1 ratilng points, 20.4 to 20.3, to take the Nielsen national fastie for the week ending ·Feb. 13.

ABC parlayed the Sunday night win with its u·sual Tu es d a y strengih and a stronger-tban-usual Monday to wrap up its iweekly vilCtory. CBS took only Monday and Saturday while NIBC took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but was hampered on other nights by ·lessened ratings on Winter Olympics coverage, finishing third with a 19.4.

How Television Cuts the Bleep ·Out of Shows Deleting offensive language is no longer crude hatchetwork, but a sophisticated and sometimes touchy job

By ~aul Braun '\lirqm1a wooW:

They went over it syllable by syllable.

· DAY ONE. We are going down a quietly tasteful, functional, anonymous, executive hsillway: CBS, the 34th floor.

Secretaries look up and smile courteously. Swafford, Nelson and Cunneff are on the way to a screening room to see Mike Nichols' blistering film of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Thomas J. Swafford is Vice President, Program Practices, at the network, and while he is not overly fond of the word, he is, in fact. the network's censor.

Swafford is the man who must dqcide how much of the film w·e millions of viewers get to see in our .homes Jhe night of Feb. 22, 1973. ,"We've had a test edit, suggesting cuts that needed to be made," Swafford says, introducing the other two men in the room. "Norm Nelson. my assistant, helped me decide the cuts.

6

Ray Cunneff is in the Program Department-he rode shotgun on the editing of the film."

The screening this day is the end of the first phase of a process that began six months earlier, when the Program Department asked Swafford to take a look at the film to see if it could be shown on television. Swafford did, then saw it a second and a third time. About a month ago, he looked at it with an eye to specific cuts he wanted to have made. Subsequently, he sat down with Cunneff, who has seen the movie more than a dozen times. They went over it syllable by syllable to determine the technical feasibility of doing the cuts.

Today, we are viewing the results of Cunneff's labors.

The lights go down. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton commence their

'I never cornered the sonovabitch, ' destructive and scornful repartee. Twice during the opening scene Taylor says about her imaginary child. That's one that still bothers me." "damn" to Burton. "Wow!" Swafford "I imagine . . . some affiliates will sits up. " Both of those damns were be . . . less than pleased," Swafford goddamns." Cunneff looks very pleased says gravely. " I think we must disclaim with himself. It took about three or four it. We'll urge our more sensitive view- . days to do the physical editing of the ers to be admonished. It's such a film, but they also had to do an enpowerful goddamn movie." · tirely new magnetic track for it. Apparently it is not that easy a job to get DAY TWO. Anybody who imagines 1he "god" out of "goddamn." the stereotype of the censor as a prissy, "When they [ABC] ran 'Love Story'," thin-lipped moralist will be interested recalls Swafford with a grin, "a lot of people thought Ali MacGraw had a · to know that Swafford is neither. but an urbane, sometimes earthy, somespeech impediment." times thoughtful but always well-tailored At the end, Swafford and Nelson gentleman. He is. ruddy, balding, agree that Cunneff has done a splendid mustachioed, with a hearty approach to job, and Swafford says, "OK, let's go things. One can well visualize him playwith this." He is giving a few close calls ing the role of a colonel in a British the green light. including one that gives flight group-"Well, dammit, why ~ Nelson a twinge: "Where Taylor says.

TV GUIDE MAY 5, 1973

7

continued continued

can't we show the boys this stuff?"

"I think that oftentimes people tend to approach this kind of job with the idea of keeping things off the air," Swafford says. "l won't work that way.

I see my job as how to figure out how to get things on the air." In all, he put "Virginia Woolf" on the air with 64 seconds missing. (Subsequently, Ernest Lehman, the film's producer and screenwriter, wrote to express his pleasure with the way the film had been handled.)

The telephone rings. "Here comes a · crisis now. . . ·. . Hey, how are you?"

Swafford answers all calls as though they were from his best buddy. This one is from an editor with a problem in a show called "Hotel Ninety," starring Tim Conway.

"The problem is a sequence in the show depicting Conway, in an attempt to revitalize his marriage, bringing home some marijuana for himself and his wife to smoke." " Is the implication that marijuana saves their marriage?"

"No, no. It's a gimmick. They smoke it and get silly and she says I'll slip into something comfortable. While she's out, Conway's secretary calls and says they made a mistake--it's only Chesterfields. Then the wife comes back and · Conway says, what the heck, let's go along with it."

Swafford ponders a moment and then comes up with a reassuring precedent: "This is similar to that Dick Van Dyke Show we did. His mother got busted for possession, and it turned out to be ordinary cigarettes. We did ' somewhat the same thing on Maude.

She was pushing oregano and trying to convince the desk sergeant it was pot."

Swafford tells the editor to ~o ahea~.· DAY THREE. Swafford's office js more like a way station than a place of rest, as befits a man who spends a good part of his work time traveling as a representative - of the network. It is, however, an elegant way station. The

view out across Manhattan is stupendous. There is no desk but there is a round marble-top table surrounded by red swivel chairs. Against one wall is a three-set television console. Swafford sits at one .of the swivel chairs, having just returned from Fort Worth, Texas, where he had attended a banquet of the Southern Baptist Convention. On the way hOme he paused in Washington, D.C., to attend a meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters' Television Code Review Board.

He represents CBS on that board. which makes advertising policy.

"That's a major part of my work," says Swafford. "Commercials are not seasonal, they come up all the time.

You may find this hard to believe, but we see, in story-board or film form, from 2500 to 3000 commercials a month. This most recent trip to Washington was to hear the head of our Washington office give us a backgrounder on the issues current in Washington. At board meetings we debate, we call in interested parties for one side or another, and then we vote. As an example of the sort of things we deal with, some people had recently petitioned the board to accept advertising for contraceptives. They made a very interesting presentation. During the debate, sentiment shifted back and forth, but in · the end it was felt it was a category we didn't want · to take, though a number of us continued to feel ambivalent about it."

DAY FOUR. With a sigh, Swafford hands me a copy of The New York Times. An article reports that the network's situation comedy Bridget Loves Bernie has come under attack from some Jewish groups charging that it presents intermarriage ·between Jews and Christians as a desirable end. ''This is ·something that is very much in our department," Swafford says. "When the show was scheduled, we realized that we would probably be getting into areas of theology and ritual that -+

home, and the plane is hijacked to Cuba. "We cut that in its entirety," Swafford says. "We were offered 'Woodstock,' but turned it down.

There'd be three screens. two perfectly innocent, and in the third there'd be a couple of naked people. If we were trail-blazing nudity, we wouldn't do it on a thing like that. tn 'The Professionals.' we left a number of things in that people said had to come out. The film we're watching today is 'The Wild Bunch.' I've already seen one test edit of it, and wasn't happy with it."

The film, however, is late arriving.

In the meantime. Swafford goes over the phone calls that have accumulated for him. "We've got an awful lot of people wanting to know about 'Virginia Woolf'," says his secretary. "Boston Globe. Boston Herald. Somebody from Congressman Ford's office wanting to know about 'Woodstock.' Somebody from Parkson Advertising wants to know about Bridget Loves Bernie. Leo Burnett Agency calling about the new Allstate airbag commercials."

Swafford answers his calls, then makes one of his own. He is checking with the network's counsel on the question of "Virginia Woolf." "We left some tough things in, Harry. Uh huh . . .

We'll be guided by you . .."

"The film has arrived," says Swaf·ford's secretary. Once again, Swafford and Cunneff head for the screening room. As the lights go down, he reminisces about a recent trip: " I found myself going out to the air.port in · Miami when I was last there, and couldn't help noticing. as i so often DAY FIVE. The Program Practices Department has 11 editors on the East do, that every house. every apartment building you pass, you see that teleCoast and eight more on the West vision antenna. And you think, my God, Coast. In a typical year, they screen the decisions we make--the decisions more than 400 films (plus the thousands I make--influence what goes in that of commercials). Cuts will be' made aerial 'and down to that set. I don't ever for obscenity, for sex, for violence or expect to take that lightly. The Los other appropriate reasons. In "The Angeles Coliseum holds nearly 100,000.

Qut-of-Towners," for example, after a Our audience--how many coliseums disastrous New York trip in which would that be? If I ever saw all their everything goes wrong, Jack Lemmon faces, I suppose I'd choke up."@ and Sandy Dennis board a plane to go

we wouldn't be sufficiently conversant with, so we engaged a rabbi and an ordained priest as consultants. Even with that expert guidance, however, many people in the Orthodox Jewish community have been upset about the show for the simple reason that it depicts a mixed marriage. We've had two or three meetings with the Synagogue Council of America. We've urged them to urge those people not to watch the show.

"Another verj sensitive area is the matter of stereotyped minority portrayals."

According to Swafford, any shoeshine boy you see on CBS will very likely not be black. The same for Pullman porters-if there still are any. And fruit peddlers will definitely not be Italian. tn order to guarantee the elimination of any such potentially offensive stereotypes, the Program Practices Department gets into the picture as early as possible, at the script level, or in outline form. Somebody in Swaffqrd's department reads every script for every entertainment show that appears on our screens. In some cases. they may read two, three_ or four successive treatments. Recently Swafford had to deal with a manuscript that came in with several things wrong with it: "For one thing, there was a stoolie with a Jewish name. We changed it. I think we would have had the same reaction if it was any recognizable ethnic name. It just isn't necessary. Call him Smith, I suggested. Call him Swafford.

Call him Stanton for that matter."

10

8

TV GUIOE MAY

S. 1973

TV GUIDE MAY 5, 1973

By Judith Crist Saturday, PBS Saturday, NBC Sunday, ABC Monday, ABC Monday, NBC Tuesday, NBC

Ivan the Terrible, Part I The Alamo (Part I) The Ten Commandments Riot The Alamo (Part II) Fools' Parade

If Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? comes to prime-time network television, can "I Am Curious (Yellow)" be far behind? The question is indeed one to ponder, because Ernest Lehman's 1966 film of the Edward Albee awardwinning 1962 four-character stageplay is on hand, with, we are told, "minimal" cuts.

A Broadway and movie milestone at very least in language In its time, Albee's study of a night in the life of a sadomasochistic . marriage may well have lost its initial sensation over the years. The movie itself, with Mike Nichols making his directorial debut in film, was undoubtedly overpraised simply because it was not a Doris-Day-domestic-f racas bowdlerization of the text; it retained many of Albee's expletives and was even more explicit than the play in that it visualized adultery, albeit in silhouette. The actors-Richard Burton as the sensitive professor; Elizabeth Taylor as his shrike-wife; George Segal as the sycophantic young faculty man, and Sandy Dennis as his drowned-rabbit wife--are exceltent. Miss Taylor, gross of body and coarse of tongue in her first character role (one she clung to in several films since), and Miss Dennis, in her film debut, won Oscars. Even despite that "minimal" cutting, however, today's audience might wonder what the fuss was about. But while the opening-up of the play and blue-penciling may have vitiated tbe play's intellectual power and emotional purgation, one can at least hear Albee plain and ponder the precision of his scalpel.

A-6 TV GUIDE

Tuesday, ABC

A Brand New Life

Wednesday, ABC And No One Could Save Her Wednesday, NBC The Norlin Tapes Thursday, CBS

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Friday, CBS

Wait Until Dark

Those for whom Albee is heady stuff may prefer Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 remake of his own 1923 The Ten Commandments, which was considered pretty racy back then. This superspectacular $13,000,000, 25,000-extras (including genuine Egyptians) star-laden story of man's discovery of divine law has everything a Hollywood Biblical should, from moments of grandeur and glory right down to a romantic triangle 'twixt Anne Baxter, as a gauze-draped princess named Nefretiri; Charlston Heston, as Moses, and Yul Brynner as Rameses. For those who prefer art and intellect in the spectacular, there is, of course, the repeat of Serge: Eisenstein's 1943 classic Ivan the Terrible, Part I. The week's third prime-time theatrical premiere is of Riot, a 1969 exploitation film that dresses up the prison-break cliches of the '30s with sex, sadism and blood lust and panders to its audience with Jim Brown nonacting his way along as superhero.

The late-movie premieres are worthwhile. Tuesday's, 10 Rilllngton Place, is an absorbing crime film, a factual recounting of the Christie-Evans case (Evans was posthumously pardoned 12 years after his hanging for murders Christie had committed) that was a major factor in the abolition of capital punishment in England. The story is prosaic, the characters dull, stupid wretches and the banality of evil is thereby epitomized. Richard Attenborough's Christie is a masterwork of introverted evil under the mask of midContinued on page A-8

MOVIE~

close· up

a:oo m ED

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? · Edward Albee's scathing drama about marital warfare.

The battleground is a New England college campus, where a bitter, middle-aged professor and his coarse wife play host to a young faculty couple. What starts as a nightcap turns into a harrowing marathon of drunken and sell-destructive clashes.

Director Mike Nichols made his movie debut with this 1966 production, which earned Oscars for Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis and photographer Haskell Wexler. Ernest Lehman adapted Albee's 1962 Broadway hit.

At press time, a network official said that TV editing on the film-which included much strong language-would be minimal.

In New York, it had a 39 1hare ...__ __ __ _ _ __ of audieace, but nine CBS-TV af-

Cul Martha ••••••••••••••••••••. Elizabeth Taylor George •••••••••••••••••••••• Richard Burton Nick ......................... George Segal Honey ••••••••••••••••••••••. Sandy Dennis

STEWART GRANGER finds that DEBORAH KERR has more to offer than "KING SOLOMON'S MINES".

A-60 TV GUIDE

This Week's Movies Continued from page A-7

1:00 (2) Cl) COUNTRY CANADA A debate on federal agriculture policies with Minister of Agriculture Eugene Whalen and MPs A.P. Gleave (NOP), Jacob Froese (SC) and Fred McCain (PC). (60 min.)

0 DIRECTIONS It has been estimated that the average child watches 1000 hours of TV and 22,000 commercials annually. The quality of children's programming and ways it can be improved are analyzed by panelists, including ABC vice president Squire Rushnell.

Q DESERT INN CLASSIC Special: Closing play in the $100,000 Desert Inn Classic, offering the second richest purse on the LPGA tour.

The dry Las Vegas air gives away distance off the tees, but birdies are still hard to come by on the par-73, 6255yard layout. The biggest headaches often occur on the greens, which are hard to read and surrounded by deep traps. First prize is $20,000. Coverage begins on the 15th hole. Press-time favorites included defending champion Kathy Cornelius, Colgate-Dinah Shore winner JoAnn Prentice, all-time earnings leader Kathy Whitworth. (Live) Cl) OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN 1:30 0 ISSUES AND ANSWERS Cl) STAR TREK-Adventure A time portal leads Kirk (William Shatner), Spock and Dr. McCoy to the New York City of the 1930s, where their actions could affect the course of history. (60 min.)

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES 2:00 CIJ WORLD WE LIVE IN "How Old Is Old?" demonstrates how archaeologists measure the age of past civilizations. Scientists are shown determining the age of fossils by measuring their carbon content; analyzing the timber used in an early American Indian village.

0 MOVIE-Comedy "Tamahine." (English; 1963) A pert Polynesian (Nancy Kwag) turns heads at a boys' school. Richard: John Fraser. Poole: Dennis Price.

Oliver: James Fox. Cartwright: Michael Gough. Diana: Justine Lord.

Clove: Derek Nimmo. (90 min.)

Cl) YOU REALLY CAN Painting exteriors, installing doors.

m

CBS-TV Discovers Who's Afraid Of 'Virginia Woolf - Some 17 Affiliates

Two of the three prime-time repeats are winners. On its second go-round, 1966's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? still carries the cutting truths of Edward Albee's acerbic and scathing study of a sado-masochistic marriage whose partners cannot bear the selfawareness that plagues them. That the intellectual power and emotional purgation of the stageplay have been vitiated by the "openi-ng up" of the work on film is in part compensated for by the fine performances of Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis.

On quite another level, Lamont Johnson's 1972 The Groundslar Conspiracy is a fine espionage melodrama-tight, slam-bang and suspenseful. George Peppard is the most tenacious and ruthless of government investigators, Michael Sarrazin the most put-upon of suspects and Christine Belford one of the most luscious post-Rita Hayworth ladies to get involved. Caine reappears in the repeat of a sinner, Play Dlrly, a 1969 British rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen." In it, six criminals prove that war is a criminal affair, and do so with enough sadism and cruelty to make sheer rottenness look good. Another World War II tale, The Fifth Day ol Peace, a 1969 ltaloYugoslav co-production about German POWs in a Canadian prison camp, will have its premiere as Wednesday's late movie.

The week is rounded out with repeats of two relatively interesting television films. Can Ellen Be Saved? avoids giving a definitive answer but is fair in its consideration of a girl involved with Jesus freaks facing de-programming. And Pioneer Woman's author (Suzanne Glauser), director (Buzz Kulik) and star (Joanna Pettet) create a memorable and inspiring portrait of a homesteading housewife.

In some areas network movies may not be seen on the days indicated.

TV GUIDE A-23

fils decided the Richard Burton-Liz Taylor .ft!ature "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," was too much for them. Eight other stations delayed !broadcast until a later time period and some of them for later in the week, it bas been learned.

The stations which refused clear~ ance were WTOK-TV Meridian, Miss.; KFDM-TV Beaumont; KFVS-TV Cape Giradeau, Mo.; KCTV San Angelo, Texas; WKYTTV Lexington, Ky.; WCPO-TV Cincbmati; KOSA-TV Odessa, Texas; KOLN-TV Lincoln; W.RBL-TV Columbus, Ga. Those delaying the broadcast, so.me until 10:30 .p.m., others until 11:30 .p.m., were WJRK-TV Detroit; WJTV Jackson, Miss.; WM.AR-TV Baltimore; WAGA-TV A t l a n ta : WJW-TV Cleveland; KZTV Coiipus Christi, Texas; WJXT- TV Jacksonville; aod WTVD-TV Durham, N.C. In Corpus Christi, the show was telecast on Saturday, 10:30 ip.m.; in Jacksonville on Friday at 11:30 p.m. and in Dumam at 11:30 !P.m., Sunday.

The last show .which encountered that kind of difficulty over content was CBS' .beaming CYf "In Cold Blood" in the fall. That time seven stations refused to run it, and six dela)ted the showing until later at night.

In both cases, CBS flashed a warning on the screen saying that the •Picture might not :be suitable for young or "sensitive" audiences.

But ·the first fil~ was relatively light on impolite language and the latest one was fairly heavy with U, and little was edited out.

One of the reasons affils were unhllil'PY with "Virginia Woolf," it was learned, was that if followed ''The Waltons," a .paeao to family life in rural Ametjca and one which has scored mih:ly brownie points for the network in clean living ranka. · ~n fact, rumblings from affils oo that score alone, made it surprising 'that so many ai:cepted iit in its scheduled time.

While the film beat all rivals in New York, it came in second in Los Angeles to ABC-TV's "Kung Fu" and "Streets ol. San Francisco" in the overnight. There CBS had a 19.8 rating and a 30 share, while ABC had 22.5 and a 34 .share. NBC was a lame last in .both markets.

On the. basis CYf thoae overnight Nielsen returns in the two cities, OBS researchers are predicting about a 35 share of. audience across the country. Hardly a blockbUtPter, one web aide admitted, but somewhat better than the Thursday movie skein had been getting Ulla season.

Elizabeth Taylor stars in

Albee's

"Who~s

~ik~ ~i'cwhols:JL,1:r:itoi :~~~1.

Afraid of V1rgmia

oo.,,, .

World Film Sales Of ·Britam Having ·Expansive Period Berlin, July 13.

Folloowing two consecutive film fests, Cannes and Berlin, in which his company had officially competing entries ·("Bloomfield" here and the Grand Prize-winning "GoBebween" in Cannes), John Heyman's World FHm Sa•les is anticipating even busier times ahead.

London-based company, per its exec v.p. Ian Jessel, has jU5t taken over foreign sales of the. stillshooting "David and · Catriona," which Rank will release in the U.K. Yank sale is nearly set, and Jessel has been screening a 45min. sampling to buyers here in Berlin during fest.

1 Upcoming on the World Film Sa'les slate· are "The Creeping I Ftlesh" with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, to start in August at London's Shepperton Studi"os; "Brave Neiw World," which a Yank major will probaibly take for Western · Hemisphere, leaving rest to WFS (pie is slated for a fall start with unflrmed cast proba'bly including Joanna Shimkus and Donald Sutherland, and Peter Hall ·directing); "The Man From Nowhere " a1'so a faM starter with n an · no an:y teamed; "Tomor-...n.....iaP"" (already pre-sold starting Sept. 29 in Rome with Peter Collinson helming cast to include Lee J. Cot;b, Ell WaUach, Telly Savalas, Terence Hi~;,. Christopher Lee and with one lead still to be cast. · ~rther in future ant W more ~urt:On starrers: "Act of Treason," based on a :Nicholas M"onsarrat . book;._ and "Di~ .His,. .Diwrce Hers~ ~ed .by John orne a tar Burton a E

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NHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA NOOLF P owARD ALBEE'S PLAY was par excellence a

play, an experience in a theatre. You E Nent to it to be screamed at by the actors

rather as you were screamed at by Jimmy Porter: it was as much a dialogue between :ictors and audience as between actor and ictor. The thing was an emotional roller-

coaster which ba5hed you about for two 01 three hours and finally delivered you cowel and passion-spent at the point you started from: the film does the same, b1;1t th< experience in the cinema is not what 1t wa> in the theatre, because the audienc.einvolvement of the play is necessaril) lacking. .

Cinema has its own ways of involvmg the audience of course, and the success of Mike Ni~hols' adaptation ought largely to lie in the degree to which he substitutes cinematic for theatrical reality. Ought, but not is: in fact, attention is deflected by .th:e casting. How would we have looked ~t 1t 1f instead of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton the film had starred Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill? Rather differently, I expe.ct.

The past outpourings of the Burton and Taylor publicity machines cut right .across Albee's intentions (insofar as those mtentions can be made out from seeing the play or reading the text) by undermining the audience's willingness to be persuaded that what they are seeing on the screen could be happening to real people in a real place.

There was nothing in the least real about the conventional set which was the background for the play on ~he stage, bu~ a theatre audience deals m psychological realities and such things don't matter. In the cinema, on the other hand, they matter very much indeed: a book must be a book, a wall must be a wall, a campus must be a campus. The book and the wall and the campus are all right in Mike Nichols' film, but the audience is bound to wonder what in hell's name Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are doing there. The play of Who's Afraid was a literary and theatrical phenomenon. The film is still ~oth t~~ things, but something else 1?es1d~: 1t IS that something else-the mtrus1on of personality of the wrong kind on such a scal<r-t:hat's regrettable. From another tack ii isn't that Miss Taylor and Mr. Bu~n are not adequate for their roles; it is that they are more than adequate, with that excess of acting talent which finally becomes exhibitionism. .

It is possibly the increased voltage m the characterisations of George and Marth~ which makes the film seem almost sentimental by comparison with the play. In the play the scope somehow contracts when we learn the.truth about George and Martha's son· what we have been watching suddenly see~s ~on"lrived, even shallow. In the film this impression is even stronger, partly because the images of truce and reco.nciliation at the end seem too heavily stressed and also because the business <?f Martha1s "big sloppy kiss" in the first a~ is more effective than on the stage: there 1s a real warmth in Elizabeth Taylor's performance at this point which nothing that happens subsequently quite destroys. The \'fond between the characters, in the play. is apparent enough, but in the fil~ it be<:<>n'c' a bond of affection: a crucial shift '!' emphilsis which takes the edge off the pla) harshness.

Otherwise, this is a pretty faithful fi!m-• the-play. It moves away from the set 1n /I Two, for a sequence in ~ roadh<:>u~e, ~ without in my opinion senously d1ss1pat energy. It introduces ~he. ~d, . tea~ visual idea such as the wmking md1cato.

Martha's 'abandoned car (a signal . distress?). Because film d«?llls in phys: realities its attempt to nail down Gee and M~rtha by their possessions-not: by their books- is understandable, ne sary and finally irrelevant. Its Nick (9ec Segal) and Honey (Sandy Denms)

sclf.effacingly and. stunningly well rilay".d· particularly t~e "llrl. It has a magisterial lllusical contribution by Alex North. The camera style is fluid, without clamouring for attention. The lighting avoids the temptations of being over.-dramalic or .too harshly contrasty, and m the extenors achieves a richness of tone-gradation which c:ffectively suggests both emotional depth and the underlying human stability and resource. In the end, though, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Warner-Pathe) is for its principal actors, and the camera is there to record their performances. There is a certain reassuring roughness at the seams, which is liable to show itself at the beginning or end of a shot, when you can sometimes catch a glimpse of one of them opening up or shutting down. I don't think one can object to this. In a way it's a kind of guarantee to the audience that, whoever this George and Martha may be, they really care.

JAMES PRICE

TAYLOR AND BURTON IN "WHO 'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF I"

play's single living-room set. While some audiences fa. miliar with both play and movie may object to this mov. ing around because it cuts down on the claustrophobic effect of being confined with these tortured Laocoons for three hours, those objectors must remember that this is a movie, not a play-and a very good movie thahks to everyone connected with it, especially to Mike Nichols who has done exceedingly well with his first motion pie.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - ture assignment.

In spite of its talkiness, Nichols makes his film movenot only because it wanders out of the living-room but also because of Nichols' skillful use of camera. Of course Haskell Wexler deserves much credit for his stunning No one would be particularly surprised if that fine and black-and-white photography. The outdoor scenes wer~ sensitive English novelist Virginia Woolf were turning shot at Smith College; and I supposj;: if Smith could over in her grave at every mention of the most talkedstand all this excitement, so could the college in the ston about movie these days: "Who's Afraid of Virginia ·-although most neighbors would object to loud-mouthed Woolf?" Not because the title takes her name in vain George and Martha and their stream of obscenities.

(Mrs. Woolf enjoyed a go~d joke when she saw one), It is particularly with the lead roles of George and nor because the picture has some startling concepts about Martha that director Nichols has been so successful. illusion and reality (Mrs. Woolf covered these subjects Richard Burton may not exactly look like the henpecke<1 herself in novels and essays), but because of the foul husband of a shrew who taunts him for being a flop, for language and profanity (even in her realistic scenes, Virstill being an associate professor and not coming up to ginia Woolf would never have used expletives like these). her father's expectations; but Burton is first-rate as Some of the phrases are rather shocking as they spurt George, a tired man in his forties, tired of his wife's spitefrom enormous mouths in the close-ups on the large ful taunts, her regard for her father, the college president, screen. Although I too cringed at the profanity, I must whom she confuses with God, and tired of his wife's admit people talk like this, and the dialogue (in Ernest nymph-like interest in younger men. Even as he suffers, Lehman's script which omits only a few of the coarser and irreverent expressions from the Edward Albee play) George strikes back with bitter and better taunts and, biting his own caustic tongue, probably suffers all the is on the whole brilliant. .

Albee's play, a very long one, is divided into three more.

As Martha, six years George's senior and he never acts, each of which has a name. The first, "Fun and Games," sets the stage at a small New England college lets her forget it, Elizabeth Taylor gives the performance of her career-not because she looks right in her makeand int,roduces the characters: a bickering, middle-aged up as the coarse, blowzy prof's wife with an eye for the couple whose love-hate marriage and frustrations keep them slinging verbal vitriol at each other continµously; boys, but because she follows ~ichols' direction so well, and the young couple, newcomers in faculty row who are hurls her invectives in a new ldw-pitched voice, does a by no means the sweet things they first seem, and who hilarious take-off on Bette Davis in one scene, and suffers soon become targets for the barbs of the world-weary the tortures of the damned when George announces the older couple. Some of this maneuvering is quite amusing. death of their imaginary son.

But by the second act, "Walpurgisnacht," the spite-laden But with the young couple, Nichols is less successful.

As Nick and Honey, George Segal and Sandy Dennis arc dialogue swings into virulence and so does the action as rather colorless--eonsidering their own unpleasant story the older woman seduces the willing younger man. The fun and games are no longer quite so funny as the hardthat George digs out of them so effectively and then um drinking foursome, now with a snootful, become louder against them so viciously when playing another of his and even more frank, cruel, and revealing. All of which games: Embarrass the Guests. Strangely enough, and difleads to the third act, "The Exorcism," which manages to ferent from the play, the movie belongs more to George give some point to the rough games and strong language than to any of the other three characters, and what sym· pathy we can muster for any of these thoroughly unlik· that went before, and ends at dawn after the older couple bury their biggest illusion, their mythical son, and seem able people goes to George. ready to accept reality, mutual understanding, and real No doubt Eugene O'Neill, with his insistence on the love. need and value of illusion in "The Iceman Cometh."

Without the act-titles, the movie follows the play rather would have hated "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'" cl~sely. Producer-scriptwriter Lehman, wisely omitting with its know-thyself plea for confronting reality. Perhaps some of the play's reiterations, cut the running time to I liked the movie of "Virginia Woolf" better than the play 131 minutes and allowed the action to move out of the because it's tighter and got its theme across more effcc·

THE SCREEN

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Liz appears in cameo role as a masked lady in "Anne Of The Thousand Days" in which her hubby co-stars.

ywou awom.an give up a multl·mllllonalre .lor a down·and·out piano player?

Ask all)' woman.

20lh CUITIJY.fOX PROOTS

E1lbabe1tllnTayllor ~~0!!\W Time On1ly Gamme Jim·To~ Cllll'YliWXE•

THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN

20th-Fox (001) 113 l\U,J:i;utes Rel. Fe This George Stevensi:-Frec;l K ohl!llB:r. production ~as ~1' pertly produced by KQ~mar .a nd ~lf.?fiY . d:l.reeted D'I

IGPI...:;.~

} Starts W~DNESDAY at the NEW PENTHOUSE on· Broadway

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and Specially Selected Theatres Near You!

Vegas chorine who is wa1tmg for her rich married lover to come through with his divorce but is leery of love and marriage because her father left home when she was ten. Hopeless in the part, with' her pouter-pigeon plumpness not quite concealed by a wardrobe of corrective minidresses, Liz resembles a well-heeled suburban matron having a fling at community theatricals. Co-star Warren Beatty (a last-minute replacement for Frank Sinatra) is better, as the cocktail pianist and compulsive gambler who moves into the chorine's apartment to supply temporary relief; but he, too, seems uncomfortable with the banal dialog. Considering its blinding mediocrity, the talents brought into play for The Only Game in Town are formidable: France's ace cinematographer Henri Decae, whose views of the tinselly Las Vegas scene are exemplary; veteran director George Stevens (who directed Liz in A Place in the Sun a long, long time ago), -working with the professionalism of an automaton; and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. (The Subject Was Roses) Gilroy, whose screen version of his own work cunningly preserves the look and' feel of a play that flopped.

(M]Cotne

"Beatty Is SUPERB!"

.,. U MERALD-EXAMINER

'1Qteris1 plaasare te

watcll!''

-L.A. TIMES

Stevens. While c01:x1.me1'taal prospects binge on Warren Beatt~··s post-"Bonnie and Clyde" charisma, . artistl(.c..11~ the comedy-drama is still another winner 11+..th!S direc:.tc.1·'S seemingly endless success storY. As in most of his {;tn.s, Stevens has gotten his performe~s to deliver their ~~ best. Elizabeth Tayl!:>r's dellnea,t1on of ;Fran, an QA'11 , showgirl stranded in Las Vega:s •. is one ·of the a ct'fcs · more sympathetic ancr .iess sho~· perfortQ.ll,nces, bu the. film's big surprise is 'Beatty•s outstanqmg acting as ~.4. compulsive gambler and piano player. Frank D. Gilro~S fragile screenpl.tt.y, based on his Broadway play, has th'advaritage of having two well-conceived characterizations Stevens' careful, leisurely development of the love af~\r ~tween two "looers" and the responsive playing by h;s two stars makes for a genuine' emotional involvement- audiences should care a.bout what happens to Fran AnP Joe. The film is probably too old-fashioned and sen tim<n• tal to register with the "now" crowd, but that much-he<1_lected moviegoer, the over-30 set, may find it an appu.l • ing film. Henri Decae's De Luxe Color photography '4.JJ S to the intimate mood.

Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, ChJ-rles Brasw• Hank Heury, Olga Valenn,

Burtons' British Films

There are things that Elizabeth Taylor can do well, no doubt, but she cannot play. a role made to order for the late Manlyn Monroe. The Only Game in Town reckless! c~ts _Liz as a vulnerable Las - =:..!

London, Sept; 1.

Even when Liz Taylor and Dick Burton aren't working the same pie they still mana·g e "toge1ihernecs." Both will be in England this fall filming separate- projects for the Winest Independent.

Burton will be doing .t gangster yam, "Burden ol Proof," while hi1 wife is set . for an item called "Zee & Co." from an Edna O'Brien story whkh Brian Hutton is to direct. It's described as in the 111me 1enre as the Burtons' earlier "Who's Afral<l of Virlinia Woolf?" Winkast, which doesn't have a distrlb deal "up front," is financing pie from its own bank sources, albeit at least one majorMetro-la reported very interested in a pickup. Film rolls in Oct®er or thereabouts.

The Burton 1tarrer, on the other band, is bankrolled by Nat Cohen's EMI - owned Anglo -Amalgamated Almeey.

The Only Game In Town (COLOR>·

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paraphrase Groucho's "Either I this man is dead or my watch has stopped," either Frank D. Gilroy (of "The Subject Was Roses") has a barely visible talent or I have a blind spot.

His script (based on his own play) for George Stevens' "The Only Game in Town" has the wrong kind of simplicity, and his attempts at sprightly badinage have that leaden jocularity which makes you know you should respond, though you can't for the life of

Elizabeth T a T Io r. Warren Beatty under Georce Stevens' direction. Script alurcisb, bat dialoc better: Spotty b.o.

Hollywood, Jan 21.

Twentieth • Century • Foll release, produced by Fred Kohtmar. Stars Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty.

Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay, Frank o.

Gilroy, based on his play; camera (De· Lu11e Color), Henri Oecae; editors, John w. Holmes, William Sands, Pat Shade; music, Maurice Jarre; art direction, Herman Blumenth1I, Au1u•t• Capelier; set direction, W1lttr M. Scott, Jerry Wunder· lich; sound, Jo De Bretagne, David Dock· endorf; asst. director, Robert Doudell; second unit director, Robert Swink. Re· viewed at loew's Beverly Theatre, BevHills, Jan. 20, '70. (MPAA Reting: M.): R"unnina: Time, 11' MINS. ' " " .... ... :-. ;, ........ Ellzatleth Taylor Joe .. ................ , • . warren Beatty LockwOOd • , ••••.•... , • Charles Breswell Tony·· , ....... , • • • • • . • . .. . . Hank Henry

"The Only u ......ie in Town" is a rather mixed blessing. Elizabeth 'faylor and Warren Bea·tty star as two Vegas drifters who find love wh11 ea....1 ot...:.·; tlleir performances are generally very good, Miss Taylor in particular delivering one of. her best characterizations. Perhaps idirector George Stevens, who helmed her in "A Place In The Sun" and "Giant," H the guiding hand under which she flowers best. Frank D. Gilroy's adaptation of his unsuccessful play contained some excellent dialog, while the late producer Fred Kohlmar contributed some strong production.

But, in the overall, the story is I sluggishly developed, snappin2 in· to the groove only in final half hour or so. Stan' marquee lure may p:• l ., ''.! • ;; :.1- !'ox 1elease into some strong b.o. spurts, but general outlook may be spotty. For best results, film · ought to get a slow launch in smaller, sophisticated situatiot)s.

Film was shot at Studios de Boulogne in Paris, with second unit work. under director Robert Swinli, in Las Vegas for some key exteriors. Interiors are typically American contemporary - Miss Taylor's apartment being a beau• · tifully designed....and. dressed set At times, her perisonal wardrobe belies her chorus-girl profession, emphasized when she denies that I 1ongtlme boyfriend Oharles Braswell, a married Frisco square who visits her on occasion, is paying any· of the freight. However, Mi$S Taylor looks in great shape, and the cloth.~s will provide some femme appeal though it erase.> some plot credibility.

Beatty, in hls first plc since 0 Bonn.ie And Cylde" and also a replacement for Frank Sinatra, who 'bowed out when sked had to. be pushed back a month, delivers engaging perfonnan~ as a gambling addict, working off his debts as a saloon pianist for Hank Henry.

In a sense, this story is not unlike 20th's "John And Mary," in that two cautious people eventually find each other; the difference ls that Miss Taylor and Beatty are far ffi(JI'e burned by life than the principals of the other film. Sometime down the playoff road, a dual bill might make an Interest· .

Ing combination.

Gilroy's script permits both stars to shine in solo and ensemble moments of hol,le, despair, reerimination, and sardonic humor. But the drama develops too sluggishly.

Montage sequences of Vegas niter· les, all well shot and cut, break up the pacing, but also emphasize the dramatic vamping even more &0, an inl'vitable result.

Henri Decae'a DeLuxe Color lensln~ is incisive, though apparent I at limes is some aw!<Ward filterswifcfilng In -cuts or a ~ene, and In one case a spotted lens. Maurice t Jarre's score, often so noisy that lt offendB the mood In an attempt to be "~azzy,.. Includes a refrain that, after s e v e r,a I repetitions sounds 11 lot }Ile~ ~·P.,rsonall+·v." a 1945 Johnny Burke-James Van Heusen novelty. · · stevens• direct.Ion Is. sure,. even when It l!I lethargic. It Is straightforward, direct and rather a pleasure to obse~e fo an era· of contrived l'inematlcs. Other credit.a are pro. Edltlnc team <3> trimmed to a longish 113 minutes. llurf.

an

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you figure out how. You can feel your facial muscles trying to settle on something-like those people on TV talk shows trying to laugh politely at bad jokes without making fools of themselves. George Stevens' attentiveness to the actors might have shown to some advantage if the script weren't so I transparent; there's nothing behind the dialogue, no sense of the texture of people's lives. It's a movie that should never have been made, because everyone will see through it. After the initial pleasure of finding Elizabeth Taylor looking prettier than she has looked in years, and watching Warren Beatty's attractively relaxed style, it turns into a sluggish star vehicle of the old, bad days. This love story of a gambling musician and a chorus girl is set in Las Vegas, but it was shot mainly in Paris, and there are long sequences of such blinding banality that you begin to wonder if the credit to Henri Decae, one of the world's great cinematographers, could be some kind of joke. Miss Taylor has a sweetness and, despite her rather shapeless look, a touching quality of frailty (like some of the women stars of an earlier era, as she gets older she begins to have a defenseless air about her), but the plot makes her ridiculous.

Beatty is obviously younger than she is, and he's in fine shape, so when she prolongs this pokey, drowsy movie by stalling on his honorable marriage proposal, the audience gets so impatient you half expect to hear that old mov1ehouse cry "Say yes so we can all go home!"

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Lucy aug s ac At Laugh-In Taunt HQllywood (AP)-For a couple of seasons now, the near· sighted-German soldier on "Laugh-In" has been bidding a somelllhat tDPcking goodnight to Lucy. Now it's Lucy's turn to laugh.

The running gag, delivered by "Laugh-In's" Arte Johnson, bore obvious meaning inside the television trade The Rowan and Martin show had been the first to challenge successfully the loilgtime rating supremacy o • L11Cille Ball on Monc!ay night. words, let's give me incentive to But in its third season "Laugh- keep doing the show.

Ia" started to display signs of "Not that I feel the show has to w~ar;, In recent wee~ ":1Jere'~ change. I don't think it does. The Lucy has been showmg its old- trouble with most series is that time strength, placing ~mong they get tired of doing the same ttre top 10 shows m the ratings. thing, and they try for someOnly One Way thing new that is unsuitable. ll'he slide by "Laugh-In" was "I've never been dissatisfie o(ily natural , observes Uicille with my show, never. But I real• :e.11-"When you're the No. 1 ize it has to keep trying for new sl;tbw, there's only one way you things within its own framework." oan go: Down." ]Vhile she didn't wish the oppo. Among the new things for the sition any ill, she admitted she 1970·71 season will be guest ap-: ....nis not amused by Arte John- pearances by Richard Burton son's sign-off messages. "As and Elizabeth Taylor. How LU· l<!,llg as he just said goodnight to cille landed the famed pair is mt. it was 0. K.," she said. worth a Lucy show in itseU: "When he started includin~ "I saw him at a crow<led party ~y, I didn't think that was and qe pointed a finger at me ri«ht. I didn't like having my and said, 'I am crazy about your ltUsband brought into it." show; you must have me on it.' I Gary Morton acts as executive couldn't believe he was serious. pt,bducer of "Here's Lucy." 1When we went to the Burton's LUCy's sister, Cleo Smith, func- hotel bungalow later, I told G~ tions as producer of the series, ~e was absolutely not to mention which also stars Miss Ball's chll- it. ~n, Lucie Arnaz and Desi ArReady to Go np, jr. Cozy? Lucille admits it "The next day I told him un· i&. der no circumstances was he to "But my nepotism has paid call Burton or his agent. But oil," she adds. "I'm proud of the then his publicity man, John jobs that Gary, Cleo and the kids Springer, called us and said ha\.e done. We've got a smooth- Richard was eager to do the ranoing organization, one that show·" r~lly gets the job done."

A script was concocted In Lucille Ball Productions is in- which Lucy mistakes Burton for died a model operation for a tel. a plumber. It will be filmed next e~ion series. Her competitors wee:". . . ia&nire the professional gloss With ch.ara~ter1sttc thoro~gh. and ease of performan<'e The ness, Lucille 1s already well mto seafknlug, of course, is L~cil\e ne~t sea~~·s supply of shows. h~elf, who is ever alert for ~hie~ will m~lude ~- on lo~a'!l)'s to maintain quality. ~ion m Hawan. She will have fm.

IShed the season before the first Search for Incentive show goes on the air in the fall I al:-vays spring for the thing Reason for the hurry: Young that will ~eep ~e interest~," Desi enters college in Septem. sli& £XPlamed. I keep telling her, and his mother doesn't wan my a.c>Ple, let's go some place the show to interfere with ldi or something new; in other Ieducation.

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Dick, Liz Sparkle In First Lucy Show

By Joyce Wagner Th• Star's TV Editor

Lucille Ball kicked off her umpteenth season on television Monday night with impressive help from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

In a rare television appearance Burton and Miss Taylor ppeared as themselves and were thrown into a hilarious situa· · n by Lucy's usual abundance of misadventures.

The story began with Burton, wearing a plumber's uniform, µ;ring to sneak out of a hotel to take Liz's famous 1.5-million-

ollar diamond ring to a jeweler. He goes unnoticed until Lucy

grab& him and insists he go tO her office to fix the plumbing.

In an hysterical sequence of events Lucy tries on the Burton ·amond, it gets stuck on her finger, and the three-Burton, aylor and Ball-end up in what has to be one of the most emorable press conferences in the history of The Interview.

BroadW&y

Miss Ball was her usual funny self. Burton's voice alone was enough to carry the program and Miss Taylor displayed a flair for comedy that has gone unnoticed until her Monday evening debut.

There la no doubt this premiere oUering oC Here'• Lucy so down .in the TV annals· as a classic offering of slaps

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ita lineat.

close up

Elizabeth

Taylor explained in London her plan to go on Broadway in Jean Paul Sartre's "Le Diable et le Bon Dieu" with Richard Burton and John Glelgad: "Wouldn't it be a pvy way of finishing my career? Of course, it might finish me in other _ways!"

HERE'S LUCY lU<T ams THl IUUOHS- ') 8:00 e m ONE MORE TIME

Liz wants her ring back

•

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star In this hilarious re· run episode.

The Burtons · and their 69· carat diamond ring helped the program rack up the secondhighest rating in Lucy's 21 years on TV-a whopping 34.3.

The plot has complications galore; to make a long story short • . . Lucy. winds up with the ring stuck on her fingerjust before Liz is supposed to show it oll to the Hollywood press.

The show, which marks the beginning ol "Here's Lucy" re· runs, was written by "I Love Lucy" veterans Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis. Directed by Jerry Paris. Lucy: Lucllle Ball.

Harry : Gale Gordon. Hotel Manager: Brook Wiiiiams.

Luc:1lll' Ball who bas been in television almost as long as Skelton, launched her new CBS season with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as guest stars -a coup almost as big as Eliza. beth's 70-carat diamond ring which also was starred. ' It was a funny -show witb both Burton and his 'll';fe demonstrating unsuspected talent for broad comedy. The story, a typical Lucy plol, had Burton sneaking out of his hotel disguised as a plumber and being nailed liy Lucy to fix a leaky. faucet. Then of ~urse she tried on that ring, which Burton conveniently had in his p<X:k~t and lt got stuck on her finger.

Miss Ball c,mce again demonstrated her ability to do something interesting in a predictable situation.

On the TV Scene

Dick, Liz Sparkle In First Lucy Show

close up

HERE'S LUCY

8:00

e m

Liz wants her ring back

By Joyce Wagner The Star's TV Editor

Lucille Ball kicked off her umpteenth season on television Monday night with impressive help from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

In a rare television appearance Burton and Miss Taylor appeared as themselves and were thrown into a hilarious situation by Lucy's usual abundance of misadventures.

The story began with Burton, wearing a plumber's uniform, to take Liz's famous 1.5-milliondollar diamond ring to a jeweler. He goes unnoticed until Lucy grabs him and insists he go to her office to fix the plumbing. trying to sneak out of a hotel

· In an hysterical ·sequence of events Lucy tries on the Burton diamond, it gets stuck on her finger, and the thr~Burton, Taylor and Ball-end up in what has to be one of the most memorable press conferences in the history of The Interview.

Miss Ball was her usual funny self. Burton's voice alone was enough to carry the program and Miss Taylor displayed a flair for comedy that has gone unnoticed until her Monday evening debuL There is no doubt this premiere offering of Here's Lucy will go down in the TV annals as a classic Offering of slaps · at its finest.

•

LUCY MEETS THE BURTONS- \ ONE MORE TIME Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star in this hilarious re· run episode.

The Burtons and their 69· carat diamond ring helped the program rack up the secondhighest rating in Lucy's 21 years on TV-a whopping 34.3.

The plot has complications galore; to make a long story short . . . Lucy winds up with the ring stuck on her fingerjust before Liz is supposed to show it off to the Hollywood press.

The show, which marks the beginning of "Here's Lucy" reruns, was written by "I Love Lucy" veterans Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis. Directed by Jerry Paris. Lucy: Lucille Ball.

Harry: Gale Gordon. Hotel Manager: Brook Williams.

iz Taylor Picks 'Twigs' BJ A. H. WEILER ADA THOMPSON may have won a Tony for her tour de force in "Twigs,"- but somebody else Is going to try for a "Twigs" Oscar. That somebody else ls two-time Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor, who ha agreed to star in the mm of George Furth'• epitodlc comedy about three slit.en and their mother for producer Frederick Brisson.

Production ls expected to bealn nm sprln1 in Hollywood --rt.er MIA Taylor bu finished playing the Joan Hackett role In the screen version ot Broadway's · "Nigltt Watch."

Brisson has very definite Ideas about the manner in whic&i '-:l'wigs"-wherein Miss Taylor will play all four of the female leads-5hould be adapted for the screen, and he has been discussing those ideas with the man most likely to do the adap-

S

tation: George Furth.

How had Brisson singled out Miss Taylor to play mama and daughters? Rosalind Rus· sell, his perceptive wife, bad a little something to do with It. "She feels that Elizabeth is a great artist and so she 1uuested her to me. I sent Elizabeth the play, intlmat· Ing that she could win folll' ~wlthlt."

Mias Taylor wW no doubt be wUUn1 to settle for one Oscar at a time.

i ·_, . - . . -~ ··, _!L

Freudian Geometry X Y & ZEE

Direded by BRIAN G. HUTTON Screenplay by EDNA O'BRIEN

Talk about your bad marriages.

Robert (Michael Caine) is a successful London architect wedded-or perhaps welded-to an aging spitfire named Zee (Elizabeth Taylor). Zee has a shape like a brioche and an ·armor-piercing tongue she uses to lash Robert into line. Robert loves it. He flaunts his casual affairs so that she can drown him in venom. Hatred, in fact, is the single sign of life in their relationship.

Robert's extramarital indulgences

CINEMA

Monaco On Donatellos; At Taonnina; Schlesinger, Topol Win; Italian Prizes

York mopes about trying to look stoic, Caine carries on with a variety of bleats, sneers and snivels. X Y &: Zee, ·however, is mostly a vehicle for Miss Taylor, who gets still another chance to do the bitch-Earth Mother act seen previously in Boom and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She can be a good actress and is still a beautiful woman; it is a sorrowful thing to watch her camp it up. O'Brien and Director Brian G. Hutton (Where Eagles Dare) toss dialogue and bits of business her way like zookeepers throwing fish to a performing seal.

• Jay Cocks

Rome, June 13.

'Eitel Monaco made bis reappearance on the Italian motion picture .scene as president of the David DI Donatello Awards Jo disclose reconciliation tis year· of. Taormina'• Festini of Nations witb the film industry's Golden David Awards ceremonies. .Last year the Donatello comr:oittee pulled awa1 to stage its annual ceremonies in Rome's Caracalla ·B aths witlnJut the traditional glitter and mus enthueiasm of Sicilian audieneea who normally fill Taormina'• Greek Amphitheatre in nunibers approximating 30,000 to salute foreign and domestic atara on hand to receive their solid gold trophies. · •Monaco revealed the foreign and Italian winners for the 197•1-72 season as •lected . by a voting auclienee and the Di Donatello film industry jury. Particular 1enero1"7 wu shown to local product and talent with dree of the four main awanls plolred in duplbte probably ID keeping with film progrea thia •HOD and abo to assemble in Taormina for award ceremonies on July 22 cme of the biggest roster of names in David Di Donatello

XYAZee antlTJSB-COLoa>

P0werta1 d-;;;-a alto1d a

ltorm7 trlana'le. 'l'bla ""Loft S&or7" for •alt. .._ oat-

standlnc Bllalletlt

pert......_ bJ' TQ-lor, s......

York and Mlolaael Caine. Potent lt.e. ..............

Columbia Pict~ of • KntnerUdd-t<anter Picture. Encutiw P"lducer Elliott Kastneri llnlducecl by Jay Kanter'

A..n Udcl Jr. St.rs Ellabetl1 T•ytor' MlcflMI c.Jne, Suunnmll Yorti1 •tu..S :·rr.~Lel8"tan. Directed by Brl•n Scraenplll)'1__ Edu O'Brten cmm.,. (c:olor'), Biiiy wllll•m1; editor1 • J 1m Cf•rk; •rt director, P9t9r Mulllnsi Mt decoratorf Arlllur T•kMn1 IOUftd recordists, Cyrl S..m, Bob Jone11 music

· u........

hi9tory.

St.nley Ml191'9; IOnp, Teel Mll919 •nd J•l•Mnda, Rick Wakemmn 6 Dtlve Lllmbert, JohRn-~ ant. director, Colin

•Davida for the best Italian films go to Euro International Films for Elio Petri'• "'Working Class Goes to Beaven" and to Fair Film for Alberto Bevilaequa's "Thia Kind of Love." There were two beet clirecton-JFnmco zemrew for '"Bromer Sun, Slater Moon" and Ser&lo Leone for "Duell: You Sucker.• Claudia Cardinale was the onb' eolo winner for best actress for. her role In tile Documento production "The Girl in Australla." T.wo male thes~rto Sordi fq_r "In Prieon Awaltln" Trial" and Gl.ancarlo Qannlni for ''Mlml, The Meotalworker'' shared best tbeap honors.

Votlnl aucliencea and industry jul'J viewed only 1"7 foreign pix durinl tile past •aaon and from them qualifled Philip D'AntODl as a Golden David winntr for Fox'• ·~ Comiection" and John Schleelnler as best director for United Artists '°Sunday, Bloody Sunday." (AllO Glenda Jactaon, but non..-peeifle to latter releHe.> David8 for performances Weft won by Ellzlllbeth Taylor for her role in "X. Y and Zee" and Chaim Topol tor "Fiddler on the Roof."

Special D a • i d Di Donat.ello plaques are being nuck for Folco Qulllct .. d1reetor of..'Ocean ()dys8-" <a pie entered and prbled at Taormina lut year> and Marianlel• Melato as the reftlation aetree& of the

rawer.

........ •t Columbia Plctul'8S 11.o., N.Y"t Jlln, a, '72. (MPAA R•tlnc.

•R.) Runnm1 TIIMI ' " MfllL lee . . . • . . . . . . . .. . . .. . Ellab9at T8flor

Robert • . .. • • . • Stell8 . . . . . • . .. •

TAYlOR & CAINE IN "X Y & ZEE"

Drowning in venom.

remain cursory until he spots Stella (Susannah York) across a crowded room. A friend (Margaret Leighton, in a see-through dress you'd rather not) makes the introductions, and Robert makes the pass. Stella, intetested but uncertain, takes a rain check. Zee watches the whole thing blooming bµt dismisses Stella as "a soulful slob."

Imagine her surprise when Robert not only takes Stella as his mistress but also starts to take Stella seriously.

He totes Stella off on one of those lyric holidays by a deserted strand that have been a staple of English films since Room at the Top. This obviously calls for serious measures from Zee. Not even a ritual slitting of her wrists in the bathtub has any appreciable effect. With a gut instinct for elementary Freudian geometry (so thoughtfully supplied by Scenarist Edna O'Brien) Zee sets out to bed Stella herself and play out the triangle of X Y &: Zee to its conclusion.

Talk about your bad movies. Miss TIME, F!llUARY 14, tm

.. . .. Mlctleel Clilne • . . . Suunnmll York

......... IAllfltlDn GordOll · • • .. • . - -.. .. • • • Jolin . .ndfn1 Rltll ..............._,... r=•rlcln c:.vln . . . . . . • • • .. .. . • lllcleal . Heed - - • . .. . • ..... Qfho Gl811Ys • • • • • • • • •• •

o.c.r . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . ..

Juleri . . .

Sllaun .. • . • • • . . • . . . . .. • • . . Hll..,. West

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Columbia baa a winner in thl._ British-made at or m 7 romantic dt'ama about two women and· the male they both love . . • and bow one ol them raolftl the problem - • • she tbinb. , Not in 7ean have filree peo.. pie more deserved the star bllllng they get in tbfa ''Love Stol'J" for adults. Elizabeth T117lor and Sulallnab Yort are stftn their beat roles in a long time and both ol that fully capture the excellently- conceived charaeten ol Edna O'Brl.: ~~-original screenplay, Michael -..ue,· In a part that .. light years away from "Alie," 1aeepa up beautiful17 with the pace set b7 hia femme costan.

The llCript. one of most articulate in recent film hJator)r ha..

I Mias Taylor the "Zt!e" ol. title I and Caine u a lons·married couple, whose relationahfp baa turned Into a love-hate affair that lead8 into Caine's affair with Mia Yort, a cool, calm lJ'lle and the complete dPPOsfte of the rutbleaa ~-demaacliq and deatruc-'. tive wJfe of Mia Ta7lor.

The animal attraction that his ~ 8tlll bu for him la the only thing t h a t keeps li1e marriage teetering along. She recolbif,ea no rivals until the serene Stella makes the scene. After a halt-hearted suicide attempt Zee reeopJzes the. possibility of an actual break but, by accident ffncllq tJlat her rival baa her own privafe ~Illes heel, makes a final, de.perate move which, aa the film ends may have answered one problem but presents another. What the final relationship will he ls left, u all good films abould, up to the Individual viewer.

Producers Elliott Kutner, Jay Kanter and · Alan Ladd Jr., provided ynth a completeb' ori8inal wort, not only came up with Inspired casting <with the aeepUon of Margaret '~ in a key supporting role~ · entire film la devoted to the three prlncipala> but had the courage to permit Brian G. Hutton, whOle forte has been action films .("WheT'e Eagles Dare," etc.>, to helm a domestic story. He never lets hls trio of stars get out of hand. AU tecianlcal aspects are also above average. Billy WllUains lush color photogra,phy captures all the rtchlytoned decadence of the London Jet set - straight i,ut of Suzy's

...... .... Ill ,..llM'ftl•ll'"

the

COIUJDD.

The R rating, while deserved because of some strong laniuage won't hurt the film which will have its major appeal to women And there's award-worthy work ~ the acting, scriptlng and directing.

Columbia screened it for the NATO convention last fall and has made no changes In it since with the possible chopping or a few words.

Robe.

•UOD.

terS)· A~ of Inter·

"X1" AWD ZJDll" . (Selected thea · )2iabet~ Teylor·e woven relatlonshlp• sets \h~~e ~i:af;!t of the triad. With

dominating perfonnam:e as Michael Caine, Susannah York. CR)-~--~-----'

Sllleeled theaters): za ff JI\ a caulltlc, g.~ J..-.,nah York f'~f.: aotour de force In cbael ~--ft 11, &8alltroull trians!.-.~~ Taylor. vert adult. fuftRJ' a•... d ~ "I>e-ris · manner for ,.._

...X 'IC

tbe gran ...

(I\)

'R Goes to the Movies

Hollis Alpert

Adultery for Fun and Profit Several months ago I came across a small book by Edna O'Brien, published in England, titled Zee & Co. It was labeled a novel, but an author's note explained that it had been written as a screenplay, which it turned out to be.

When one reads a screenplay far in advance of its eml!rgence as a film, there is the opportunity to do one's own cast· ing. The story had to do with a long. married couple, ever on the verge of breaking up. The husband, a philanderer as well as an architect, finds a new field for conquest in the person of a young widow called Stella. The wife, whose name is Zee (maybe for Zeena or Zelda), is determined to keep him no matter what-and the no matter what eventually turns out to be her arranging of a nice, cozy, sexual threesome.

Thus, the screenplay ends as follows: "The last we see are their three bodies -arms, heads, torsos, all meeting for a consummation."

Well, there's many a slip between screenplay and finished film, as practically every screenwriter who has dreamed a movie knows. For one thing, when reading the book, I failed to see Elizabeth Taylor as the monstrously determined Zee. I saw Glenda Jackson, who is well known for getting herself into. perverse filmic situations. Nor did I see Michael Caine as the architecthusband; I had his role played by Peter Finch, though I would have settled for Dirk Bogarde. I came closer with the third party of the triumvirate, for I had Susannah York as second choice for Stella, after Claire Bloom. Well, the film has come along, retitled as X Y & Zee, and, if you're wondering, as I was, whether or not Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, and Susannah York would end up "all meeting for a consummation," your fears or hopes (as the case may be) won't be realized.

Since it's not fair to give away an ending, see for yourself what happens, should you care. Not that there's compelling reason to, for the acid comedy of contemporary manners written by Miss O'Brien has come out a screechy, flamboyant vehicle for plumpish Elizabeth Taylor, whose machinations to hang on to her wayward husband do not include dieting and exercise. Yet, her performance does curiously fascinate, overdone and blatant as it is. If Miss Taylor lacks the kind of style suitable for the piece, her display of temperament is occasionally quite funny.

By contrast, Michael Caine seems a cold fish, so remote and emotionless a fellow, so weary of sex and love and all

that rot, that it's hard to accept the fierce devotion to him of Zee, Stella, and an ever-willing secretary to boot.

The art director has seen to it that Zee and company move about in set· tings that are as overstated as everything else in the film, which is so much larger than life that it hardly resembles life at all. I still think my production would have been classier, that is, if I could have induced Bryan Forbes, instead of Brian G. Hutton, to direct it.

On the other hand, I wouldn't have known how to handle that last scene either. In fact, assuming I'd had the opportunity, I probably wouldn't have made the ieture.

In the end ••• there was always Zee1 COLUMBIA PICTURES Presents

l:Llli13ETtf

TA~LV~ Mleti.~l:L

CAl~I:

"LIZ TAYLOR IS SPECTACULAR!

She is giving a performan~e that will be discussed all winterr

SUSANN4t1

·~v~I\ In

A l<ASTNER-WX>-KANTER PRODUCTION

[~Y.~~~:~] Original Screenplay by EDNA O'BRIEN • Execut!Ye Producer aUOTT KASTNER Produced by.JAY KANTER ancfAlAN LADD, JR.• Directed by BRIAN G. HUTION IBfl='-"':iir'•I

-BERNAltD DltlW, Gannett NIWI ltMcl

I

in A KASTNEn VIDD·KA_NifR l'flOOUCT!o-1

.X'Y~Zee

Wlrei>hoto (AP)

SR/FEBRUARY 19, 1972

Original Screenplay by EDNA O'BRIEN · Execuilve Producer ELUOTI KASTNER Produced by JAY KANTER and ALAN LADD, JR.· 011ected by BRIAN G. HUTJON

~---1

OH THE WEST $/OE

LOEWS STATE' 2 lllo.\DWAV AT 45TM STREET SIMO'!!

12:15. 2:15. 4:15. 6:30, 8:30, 10:30

~ ON THE EAST SIQE

LOEWS ·oRPHEUM EAST •TH STllHT AT 3110 Al/t. -

12:00. 2:00, 4:00, 6:06, 8:00, 19:00

LIZ HONORED

::i.:.::i

u::

Actress Elizabeth Taylor and .~:~i:-dof are all smiles after LizBwurtoas aw~:r her role in the movie tell" Sunday held by n, i Si il "X, Y and ~e," during ceremonies in Taorm na, c y.

0

y, April n, 1972

Unive1

Bawdy Taylor Swings in 'Zee' 8y BARBARA SCHMIDT Kaasan Reviews Editor Elizabeth Taylor is clearly the iuue iD "X Y & Zee" (Granada Theatre). She leads the movie on a wild, bawdy ride without ever letting go of the reins, and the result is a boisterous performance that's pure joy to watch.

"X Y & ZEE" itself, however, doesn't rise to Taylor's stan~ dards. Edna O'Brien's script takes place in swinging upper class London, where Taylor's philandering architect-husband (Michael Caine) falls in love with a serene young widow who runs a boutique(Susannah York). For some unexplained reason, Taylor becomes more upset than usual with her husband's latest affair

Dance Society To Perform This Weekend Tau SiSaa, honorary dance frateraiq, wDl present its annual dance coaeert at 8 p.m. Friday and at 2: JO p.m. Saturday in the UniverUtJ Theatre.

Tbe JN'OCr•m will consist of 14 dances with a variety of ballet, modern and jazz dance styles. All but tn of the dances were choreesraphed b)' ·Tau Sigma members. Those two were composed by Tau Sigma faculty advisers, Elisabeth Sherbon, auociate professor of physical edueaU., and Anne Ludwig, inltrudDr in dance.

Traetlonally, students decide wbat will be presented and cllontcraph much of the program themselves. This creative aspect is the most important part of the fraternity, aflllft'T 8erborn. ne anees are usually performed to records and tapes, but this year one number will be performed to live guitar and harmonica accompaniment with 1inging b)' the student composer of the muaic. Another piece was eompc>Md for Tau Sigma by a professional musician whose niece choreographed the dance to accompa07 it. A third piece will uae a new &eebnique for Tau Sigma; it will be performed witheut llUic. n~ lw tile concert are on sale in alll Jlo1dnlon or at the door. m.tents will be admitted free.

and gathers up her weapons to wage war against both Caine and York. She launches a verbal assault loaded with sarcasm and vicious honesty; she engages in hand-to-hand combat with Caine; and she even slashes her wrists in an overflowing bathtub. But such games only irritate hubby. In desperation she finally lands on the ultimate weapon: her body.

The target? Placid little Susannah York, who was once expelled from school for falling in love with a nun. Needless to say,_ Taylor demolishes York and retains her marriage as the battered fruits of victory.

O'BRIEN'S DIALOGUE is witty and wry throughout.

Michael Caine and Susannah · York make admirable efforts to do something with roles that are doomed to be flaccid. And Margaret Leighton, as a freakychic party hostess hidden beneath an effusion of silver. blonde curls, steals the too few scenes she's in.

But none of these brownie points can hide the central Daw in "X Y & Zee." Why does it all happen? ·Why are Taylor and Caine dependent on each other? Why, after years of putting up with her husband's exuacurrlcular activities, does Ta)lor suddenly balk? And ho•, for.goodness' sake, has such a sliiteful, brawling marriage lasted this long anyway? fr REQUIRES more than the usual suspension of disbelief to accept all the premises O'Brien and director Brian G. Hutton offer. But it's worth the extra effort just to see Elizabeth Taylor in top form.

I readily confess to never 'having particularly enjoyed Taylor's adult performances.

Her acting in "Cat on a Hot 'fin Roof," "Suddenly Last Summer" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" cannot be slighted, but in these and other less memorable roles there was always something missing.

Maybe it was the depressing seriousness of the scripts. Maybe Taylor was working too hard at being . a Great Actress. I don't know. But in "X Y & Zee" I found myself not only respecting her acting, but also having to restrain myself from bellowing "Go, Liz!" She puts in a fivedimensional performance and, for the first time in my memory looks like she's actually having a ball doing it.

_.....,...1y

[iz Taylor Scores

I

"X Y & Zee" with Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine a n d Susannah York. A Lastner - Ladd - Kanter production released by Columbia. At the Times theater.

in "X Y & Zee"

like to have his cake and eat it too. · The third side of the triangle is Susannah York, sweetly blonde and a sharp contrast to Holl~wood rating:· R-Re- voluptuous 1.ee. Miss York, as stricted. Under 17 requires Stella, plays her part well if not accompanying parent or a bit too endearingly.

The story is based on Edna adult guardian.

O'Brien's original screenplay.

By Margaret Yankey The plot has Blakely meeting "X y & 1.ee" the story of a Stella at a cocktail party. 1.ee, triangl love aff:iu. offers Eliza- the ~dly jealous type, c~tches e . ' . on nght away to what's m the beth Taylor m one of. 1ic:r fm- wind, and from there on it's a est - if not most shrieking - battle between who gets Blakeroles. ly.

It also offers a biting dialog, Stella offers a calmer exlsa wildly mod setting and an un- tence for Robert; 1.ee offers the usual understanding, if you can unexpected. call 'it that, between the two 1.ee whines, she bites, she female sides of the triangle. screeches. When that dnesn't Miss Taylor portrays 1.ee, the work, she cooes and murmurs. passionate, volatile, exotically- Finally she cuts her wrists. dressed wife of a British ardli- Husband Robert, however, tect, Robert Blakely. The acid- saves her and 1.ee rallies to like role was Taylor-made, and carry on the fight. Always a Miss Taylor executes it with passionate person, she thrives sharp perfection. on being center stage. Still, she One moment she is warmly does love Robert and is det.19?kitten-llke, the shtmned, loving mined to win him back even wife of a sneering husband. The though it is destroying what Utnext she erupts into a screaming witch, evil throughout and viciou$y cruel.

Caine Scores caine <k>es superbly as Architect BISkely, a smoothie who'd

tie true love there is between them.

The ending is for you to find out.

Miss Taylor The movie is basically the non-action type, with most of the scenes taking place in either Zee and Robert's home or in Stella's.

Its biggest asset is Miss Taylor's well-perfonned role. She plays the part of the wife - who knows - about - the - other woman in such a way that you readily accept her most unlikely attitude toward the affair.

I

PlttlJRB GROSSES

'Hot Rock' Steamy $86,000 In 3, N.Y.; LizTaylor'sB.O. Comeback In 'Zee'; 'Abductors' Looks Headed For 30G Return of seaaonable <Le cold) weather bas brought declining Broadway ftrstrun grosses, though a couple of potent newcomers and the usually sturdy holdovers are helping to keep most heads above water. In short, it could be worse.

20th-Fox's "The Ho! Rock" ls hot indeed In first week &t TransLux East, Weat and 85th St., with a record-breaking $16,200 or near.

Actioner lensed here got a big publicity boost Jn being the onenight event last week at Radio Cioty Music Hall with proceeds going far Mayor John V. Lindsay's presidential bid. Strange bedfellows make for fine biz.

Elizabeth Taylor, absent from the Manha.ttan b.o. scene for some time, came back at the gallop with Col's "X Y & Zee," helping that catty meller to a hefty $6'7,000 opening week at Loews State II and Orpheum.

"The Abductors," which might have been subtitled "Son of 'Ginger.' " was the third firstrun newcomer, and it looks like great $30,000 probable for first frame at the DeMil1.e.

"Elizabeth Taylor, has discovered in herself a gutsy, unrestrained spirit. I don't think she's ever before been as strong a star personality.

Her all-out, let-it-bleed performance is a phenomenon."

-Pauline Kael, -New Yorker Mag.

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Presents

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TA.,,L()l?

MICli4t:L

CAl~I: SUS4~~4t-f

.,,()[?I\ in A KASTNER-LADD-KANTER PRODUCTIClll ·

STARTS

Eve. 7:30, 9:30 Mat. 3:00 Sat., Su11.

TONITE!

Bargain Mat. 5:00 Sat. & Su11.

Adults $1.50

Zee and her friends ... they're an absolute ball.

X Y I: ZEE, directed by Brian G. Hutton, got 2 favorable reviews (Winsten, Drew), 6 mixed (Kathleen Carroll, News; Rock, Harris, Alpert, Kael, Haskell) and 11 negative reviews (Vincent Canby Times; Charles . • Mic~~er. New$w~· :ShaHt, Crist, Wolf, Kauffmann,

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TA.,,L()l?

MICti4t:L

CAl~I: SUS4~~4t-f

"1()[?1\ In

AKASTNER-LADD-KANTER PROOUCT1CN

[~Y~~~:~] Original Screenplay by EDNA O'BRIEN • Executllle Producer ELLIOTI KASTNER Produced by JAY KANTER and ALAN LADD, JR.· Directed by BRIAN G. HUTTON

IRf~:.~".6-oJ

1

ON THE WEST

SIDE ~ ~ON THE EAST SIDE

BROAOW~~T~~~r!!r~l~50~ ~ h~~~~m~E~~~~~~ .•.,7 12:is, 2:1s, 4:1!5.. 6:30. B:30, 10:30 12:00, i:oo• ..r:oo, 6:00, 8:00. i0:00

Cocles, Reed, Taylor, Gelmis, Lyons).

Vincent Canby: "Although I've seen 'X Y It Zee' only once (and have no intention of sitting through it a second time), I'in reasonably convinced that the orlginal screenplay by Edna O'Brien ('Three Into.Two Won't Go') is a much more interesting study of an absolutely dreadful marriage, and of the sweet though not especially innocent girl who is brought into it, than anything in the movie that Brian G. Hutton made from it. The film is coarse, noisy and, finally, stupid, like people at a nearby table who won't shut up.

As directed by Mr. Hutton, "X Y It Zee" never misses an opportunity to overstate a line, a point or a mood, or simply to confuse the few things that, from the deli-

cacy of the original veniOr. Two Won't Go,' I take to be Miss O'Brien's sensibilities. Behind the posh, but essentially junky production values (lovely sets, good character actors, including superb Mar· garet Leighton), one can gather hints of what •x Y a: Zee' means to be about. It is - if I read Miss O'Brien correctly - a kind of case history ot a series of individual conspiracies, each designed to overthrow a heart.

Michael Caine and Susannah York do, I think, effect connections that are occasionally complex and moving.

Elizabeth Taylor is not a very interesting actress, but she need not seem as bad as she does here. It is an unfortunately ridiculous performance." At the Loew's State 2 and Lne • Orpheum.

ot 'Three Into

Movies/Judith Crist

BLUES II TBB lllBTMIBB "... The distinction of X Y and Zee is that its characters are uniformly repulsive, its style vulgar, its dialogue moronic ... " Halloween is a long nine months away but a quartet of horror shows is already on hand, two replete with vampires and mad murderers in polished low-brow professional style and two involving talents ranging from Elizabeth Taylor up to Elia Kazan in shoddy highbrow muddleheadedness. All four films are perfectly offal, making it All Wallows Eve indeed.

It is almost traditional for no-longerW ampus stars to take a fling at horror (a route Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Olivia De Havilland and the late Tallulah Bankhead traveled in their time).

But Miss Taylor, tradition-smashing artiste that she is, has not opted for ghosties and ghoulies and night-bumping things; instead she has chosen X, Y and Zee, a slice-of-jet-set-life nightmare far beyond die dreams of the piggiest male chauvinist. Oddly, it was contrived

by Edna O'Brien, the prolific Irish novelist who, in the present context amazingly.; providt:d the screenplay for the exqui_site Gitl with the Green Eyes in 1964 and, .. tn i969, the less successful Three Into Two Won~t Go. Miss O'Brien's original screenplay seems to be trying to prove that three into three will. It offers us Miss Taylor, named Zee, and Michael Caine, named Robert but presumably X, as a married couple whose domesticity consists of screaming, screeching, physical assault, fornication, eating in a variety of restaurants ¡ and going to posh parties hosted by Margaret Leighton, who, in her wisdom, is barely recognizable in a fright wig and sunglasses throughout.

Not so lucky is Susannah York, labeled Stella and presumably Y, who stands undisguised in all her loveliness as the young widow Caine meets at Miss Leighton's. It's instant and true love and Miss Taylor is not pleased. She flounces around in a series of grotesque garments (costume designer Beatrice Dawson has modestly described her own work as "way-out and witty") that do little to flatter the remains of her luscious and lavish figure. No bitchiness here: in the film Miss T. herself refers frequently to Miss York as a "bag of bones" who might look good in clothes but loses out to better developed ladies like herself "in the sack." Miss T. 54

NEW YORK

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FcftJ.7, '71-

admits, in fact, "Yes, I am a .b.itchopen and straight."

She proves it endlessly, accosting and trailing the lovers, shouting obscenities, seducing Caine time and again, throwing things and finally, when she learns the pair plan to wed, cutting her wrists in the bathtub. Caine, who's been sleeping at home and abroad, rescues her ("I think-she must love me quite a bit," he confides to the Job-like Miss York) and even has Miss York visit her in hospital. There the fair mistress makes the mistake of confiding to Miss T. that she was expelled from school for kissing a nun; Miss T. confides that she was expelled only for eating the host before Mass but adds, as if to compensate, that her ~tepfather rejected her.

After Miss T. once again seduces Caine (the wrist-slashing has redirected her irritation into quieter anti-York activities), he and Miss York, insisting still on their true love, decide to call it quits. They part. Caine goes off to bed with his secretary and Miss T. appears on Miss York's doorstep and winds up in bed with her in a heads-on-shoulders languishing-Lesbian interlude the likes of which haven't been imagined since The Well of Loneliness titillated us all.

Nor do things end here. Caine leaves his secretary to her boyfriend and returns to Miss York to find her undone and Miss T. hungry. Caine, looking from one female to the other, is about to say something-but is freeze-framed

before he gets it said, screamed or shouted. It's cop-out time-although admittedly there quite obviously wasn't another idiocy of speech or situation around that Miss O'Brien hadn't already stuffed into her script. And Brian G. Button, whose previous banalities were Wnere Eagles Dare and Kelly's Heroes, has provided direction to match them.

The distinction of this film is that its characters are uniformly repulsive, its style completely vulgar, its situations beyond belief and its dialogue moronic.

Miss Taylor has described her character as "diabolical"; Mr. Caine his as "a Ping-Pong ball between two bats" and Miss York has simply reported that for Stella she "had to dig and dig to find her motivations." Devils, bats, graves ~..better.~ .sh.o.uldha.ÂĽ.e. climbed into a simple wooden coffin, asked the nearest bystander to drive a stake through the heart of the matter-and let their little horror crumble to dust.

What demons inspired The Visitors, described as "a film by Elia Kazan" purely, we suspect, for cachet rather than auteurisme, we cannot guess. Too long absent from the screen-his last film was the embarrassing The Arrangement, derived from his own novelKazan has chosen to return with a screenplay provided by his 32-year-old son, Chris. The movie seems tq have been a family affair in many ways: the co-producers are Chris Kazan and Nick Proferes, who was cinematographer for Wanda, a film by Kazan's wife, Barbara Loden; Proferes photographed and edited, and the film was made in seven weeks at the Kazans' homes and property in Newton, Conn. It looks it.

What Kazan hath wrought-and our comment is sorrowful rather than irate -is a cheapjack Straw Dogs, right down to the final sequence of rape and bloody violence. But where Sam Peckinpah is all too obviously wallowing in an exposition of the vileness within the heart of meekest man (and relishing every squirm in the wallow), The Vis- . itors' creators are pretentiously trying to make a portentous comment about Vietnam veterans, while dragging in a bit of women's lib here, a dash of illustrated by chas b slackman

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love do things that they never J\leans. It deals, thnt is, with a willfully thought they'd do and that spoiled woman's living on her rapacious :v've always despised other people impulses-and this is only a few steps J f< ~ l 1ing. They violate not only their up from the old Jonn Crawford-Rosal <1 ·n scruples but their own stylr. The ]ind Russell bitches. The gloss and cor'ng messiness of love, wh.ich is the rnption of this kii1d of "women's pic1 .cli'.t of so much great literature, ture" is that love, knowing no honor, is 1 1 • l the surface in Edna treated not as a sloppy fact I,) , 'n's writing, nnd in her !mt as a triuinphal statei ·_ tl screenplay for "X Y :::::.:. ~·..:·:::~:: ment-a battle cry in the war it has become the •l\~• "•H• of the sexes. 1 . . he prize del tc , "X Y & Zee" resembles fines the genre: the prize is 1 ''\Vho's Afraid of Virginia not losing your man. It's Voolf?" but the revelations a specialized, limited view, •,, • commercial and rubbishy, hut and emotional convulsions arc not so dramatically structhe contestants here arc en' tu red, or so decisive; "X Y & Zee" is tertainingly polarized-Zee the sun ,i more like a long short story. A holler- lover, the overdressed wife in her mil,, ing, brawling marriage, based on the lionaire gypsy couture, versus the cool, , same sort of cast-iron dependencies, is restful mistress. And the dialogue has a 1 • picked up at a time of crisis, when the sardonic tickle to it. There's some wild1 -t husband considers leaving the wife- ness in Edna O'Brien's playfulness and Zee-for another woman, and it ends love of words; her writing isn't merely when the crisis is more or less resolved. clever-it's delicate in odd, indelicate The crisis is never explained. We never ways. Indelicacy in women artists can quite discover what brought this couple be like the stripping off of corsets.

(Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Caine) Edna O'Brien likes to reveal, and even together or' how the marriage works or though her revelations don't go deep, why it stops working the night the film they'·re loose and free; she's so full of begins, when .they go to a party and the the wicked zest of being unfettered husband_.:.a veteran philanderer-sees that there's something almost rapturous Stella (Susannah York) in a silvery about her naughtiness. For her, writing gown. In the past, his affairs didn't dis- seems another ,way of sowing her wild rupt the marriage; inexplicably, this oats. Her dialogue, which is one tresone becomes more than an affair. The pass after another, is so good because way nothing makes sense in love and there's no sense of strain: it flows. The everything gets loused up is part of performers in this movie-they must Edna O'Brien's subject, and of her be greedy for lines like this-know method. Characters aren't "worked what to do with it. The dialogue isn't out" to behave a certain way; the evap- hollow, like Broadway wisecracks. It oration of love isn't necessarily explain- sounds likely, because the wit belongs :ihlc, or its renewal, either. Things to the subject; rich, smart women who ~ ch;111ge unpredictably. What is less sat- have never needed to develop their in;.;1!) 'sfoc tory in the movie-and this may te1ligence, who use their brains only to ~.~ · the failure of the director, Brian G. climb and to hang on to money and '.~I httton-is that we must take the de- men, do become high-pitched and clever . oen !ency of Zee and her husband for in this combative way. This honed edge ·; b"'nted, though we don't really feel the of glitzy bi~chery isn't an accomplish! bondage. ment, it's a dysfunctional weapon-the Reading Edna O'Brien's fiction, tic of wasted minds.

I've been surprised by perceptions of At the beginning of "X Y & Zee," what I thought no one else knew-and Elizabeth Taylor, peering out of blue I wasn't telling. Probably other readers lame eyeshadow like a raccoon, seemed react exactly the same way: she makes ridiculous and-well, monstrous. But as private shames public. But I've also been the picture went on, I found m}iself disappointed that, knowing so much, missing her whenever she wasn't onshe didn't know more-that she didn't screen (when Michael Caine and Sumove outside the magic circle of worn- sannah York were acting immaculateen's emotional problems. Maybe that's ly ), and I'm forced to conclude that, why this movie seems like M-G-M monstrous though she is, her jangling forties heightened-because, essentially, performance is what gives this movie its

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demanding-woman role she faked in . . W noIf." ·"WIlo ' s Afrai'd of v·1rgm1a r \Vhen she .goes too far, she's like. the blowziest scarlet woman in a Mexican movie, but she's still funny. She wears her hair like upholstery, to balance the upholstery of flesh. The weight she has put on in thc&e last years has not ~ade her gracefully voluptuous; she's too hardboiled to he Ruhcnscsque. The weight seems to have brought out this coarseness, and now she basks in vulgarity~ She uses it as a form of assault in "X Y & Zee," and l clon't think she's ever before been as strong a star pc rsonality.

Elizabeth Taylor has chang<.:d bdon· our t·yes from the fragile chil<l with a woman's face to the fabled beauty to this great bawd. Mayhc child actresses don't quite grow up if they stay in the movies; maybe that's why, from ingenue-goddes.<;, she went right over the , hill. (The _c hange in her is not unlike the change in Judy Garland.) Her Z1;c is a gross sensualist beyond shame or fear; possibly Zee is not re all}' written to be as down-to-earth hon<.:st as Taylor plays her, hut Taylor's all-out, let-it-bleed performance is a phenomenon-a world-famous woman changing status and, I think, maybe getting iii touch with the audience in a new, egalitarian way. Her range has b.::come even smaller. She's worst in some subdued scenes that take place in a hospital, when she droops :.ind tries to call up that early dem11re beauty; she becomes flaccid-a fallen-angel-face.

And she's not enough of an actress to get by with the bruised-and-hurting bit.

She's got to be active and brassy and bold; she's bo:st when she lets her gift for mimicn· and for movie-col~nY sluttiness roil out. \\'hat she does m:i~· not be acting, exactly-I can't think ~f anr tradition or school it fits into'--but this isn't like her moldy performance-.: in "Boom!" and "Secret Ceremom·· or the anachronistic girlishness of he sweet young thing in "The Onl~· Gam in Town." She responds to the zest ; Edna O'Brien's material; rou can fee her willingness .to go all tl;e wa~· wit it, and her delight at letting it :ill spi 1 out. Though her voice is stronger no\\ she still gets shrill, and she starts su whooping]~· high that the performanc,' can't build and the viewer needs w n·cover. .But Taylor has a talent for comic toughness; what she nee<ls is :i director to rein hi:r in a little, to keep her from toppling over into the ridirulous and turning into :i heavyw,·ight Susan Hayward.

Brian ·Hutton plunges us straight

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suggested; everything belts you. Hutton isn't incompetent-he keeps things going by staying with the performers© 1971 but he can't 'redeem the hokey scenes Box 239-1, tvnchburg, Tenn. 37352 toward the end, and he doesn't havt· Jack Daniel's Old Wood Clock much skill at modulation or atmosThese clocks are made out of old barn wood the phere. \Ve need to feel the contagi<;n Jack Daniel's people bought up when some old mule barns were torn down around here , of Zee's messiness, feel how it works to make room for the Tims Ford Dam. There's even an old-time Jack Daniel's design painted • ' ,>n her husband, driving him berserk, onto the wood. It'll run for a whole year on one"C" size flashlight battery. This clock is$20. 'd how ~t i{lfects Stella, but t,he ipicPlease add $LOO for postage and handling. ture doesn t develop. It has nowhere to 1, anyway, because its cmotiopal logic been jiggled. Had Edna O'Eri't!p's . cenplay (published in E1~gbn<l as .cc & Co") been followed, the movie . ht have got at the insanity of pasn and might have broken through Hobo Mark fancy "women's-picture" format Wall Plaques 1 sheer sensuous force. The autho r The marks on these plaques were used by hobos and drifters in : 111shed what's implicit in the triangle to the early lBOO's as they traipsed around the I ;t classic climax: the couple jointly poscountry looking tor food and lodging. A man would chalk these marks on curbs, door ~.:ss Stella. The movie substitutes a facings or mailboxes to guide the next man who knew the code toward a tree meal and • makeshift ending (Zee seducing Stella bed. The meaning of each sign is explained 40 on the back of the plaque. A set of tour lor and thus winning out and keeping her your wall is $6. Please add $1.00 for postage k Ci husband ) that has no strength. Photoand handling. · • •D'> graphed in Billy \Villiams' ripest palSend Bank Amerk:ard or M•ster Charge, ·72 ette, the production is mod-harem-a lncludlng !!! numbers and •lgnature. cushiony London version of old studio <Tennessee residents add 3% sales ta•). for a catalo1 full of ofd Tennessee Items. style. I don't suppose anyone in his send 25t to above address.

Cal. right mind would call "X Y & Zee" a • good movie; it's more like a plush cir-~ cus, and it's even got slurpy theme music. But one may remember hits of old "women's pictures"-or even a relaPrices 81$ tor the 50.pc set.

At fine sliver departments everywhere. tively recent one, like "The Chapman Write lor The look ol 70'a afaln/ess.

Report"-for a surprisingly long time; Supreme Cutlery, 1214 Broadway, NY. in their gaudy way, they deal with a Theone $60 Isla $60 familiar inferno.

This one has a script that enabled Elizabeth Taylor to come out. The aging beauty has discovered in herself a gutsy, unrestrained spirit that knocks two very fine performers right off the screen-and, for the first time that I can recall, she appears to be having a roaring good time on camera. Susannah York, with her corn-silk hair and .1 h~r ro~nd blue eyes, seems lovely, if a , bit p~lhd. She has a harlequin voice1 ' >he nngs wonderful low notes on it~ and she carries her own quiet, vulnerble atmosphere, but the character she i lays is slightly withdrawn, and that is ii faylor's opportunity. After Zee, in a · nasty sni,t, describes her as soulful and always a little out of breath, Stella looks like a narcissistic moonbeam. Even Susannah York's subtle, lapidary acting LIKE TO GET AWAY FROM IT ALL? begins to seem overrefined when this _Spend a golden winter in Provence in American's modernized centrally heated Proven,al farmhouse with t.led rowdy broad is working up one of her swimming pool and 4 double bedrooms on 16 idyllic acre.sol olives, fig• , peaches. lavend•r. erapes, oleander. rages. The corn-silk Stella is no match 7 mrnutes walk lrom enchanting •illage, 25 miles inland Cannes and the Mediterranean, Available now. for Zee, and York, the polished actress, from Washing-machine, complete furnishinys domest.c help aardener is unfairly matched against Taylor, an ~:S u~~~t!:~~I~:~ t~ /!:~:'ber~nth from SeptembW to April, M. CUNLIFFE, Le Vieux Moulin, Route de Mons, uncontrolled actress but a cunning 1 83 SEILLANS (VAR) FRANCE force of nature. One can take pleasure or phone London 01-235-7747 6

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(Michael Caine does all he can with a role that requires him to be mostly exasperated, infuriated, and exhausted.) Perhaps a loud, uncontrolled performer can always dominate a controlled performer,' because the element of accident and risk, the possibility that something grotesque may be revealed, adds danger and excitement-and there is something of this in Taylor' performance here. But there is also th< excitement of seeing a woman who ha vast reserves of personality 'and whr wantS to come forward, who wants tr make contact. There's a documentan going on inside this movie-part of it may be parallel to Edna O'Brien\ 1 theme, but part of it isn't. It's of a/ woman declaring herself to be what she_ has become. Like everyone else, I adored the child Elizabeth Taylor, but I have never liked her as much since as in this bizarre exhibition. She's Beverly Hills Chaucerian, and that's as high and low as you can get.

-PAULINE KAEL

• Ryman's art is Nothing; therefore (since Ryman is his art and not his bodily presence) Ryman himself is Nothing.

But it is impossible to define Ryman by saying what he is because common sense tells us that 1\othing (Ryman) precisely is-oot. So we will have to define Ryman's art by sa}'ing what it isn't. Accordingly Ryman's art isn't "art" that is that sort of cultural activit}' which claims to be something and not ~ othing.... Ph}·sical differences between the various canvases ~ym a n manufactures are merely deceptions: that is, /Qr opproxirnote/y ten seors lie has ban pointing ond re-pointing the some pittuu, rocli time ollowing ort to Br.-Arts J/ogozine.

And you say Rym:in is :Kothing.

Ht!'s S,imething!

• PARTLY CLOUDY DAYS ON THE TEXAS POLITICAL SCENE [Stwm R ud in tlie Drnton ( T exas Ruord-Cl1ronic/t'] Housm~ ( GPI )-In a speech to th Texas House of Representatins on th first day ut April, 1971, Speaker Gu' M u.tsche! s.aid he did nothing wrong i• buying l\at10nal Bankers Life Insurance Co. stock at a time when the legislature was considering banking bills farnrable to Frank W. Sharp, who owned the insurance firm. "~ want to assure you that at no time dunng my six terms in this House have I ever a.ided. or ab:tted in the passage of any legislat1on, directly or indirectly " Mutscher said. '

I

â&#x20AC;˘ Elizabeth Taylor, as the whole world knows by now, is more than happily married to Richard Burton. In her latest film, Liz plays a woman who is less than lucky with her husband.

Zee Blakely, a gorgeous brunette, stunningly portrayed by a new slim Liz, finds that her husband, Robert, a handsome architect, is falling in love with a cool blonde designer, Stella. Zee, with the ardent determination of a woman who wants to keep her man, decides she will fight with all that is in her for Robert. This match of wits and beauty is sometimes hilarious and often quite sad. It is colorfully played out . against the background of Blakelys' elegant London house, complete with a full length portrait

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Robert and ZH are ÂŽle to reCHOGken tMir .J)CIUion, and th. wife triumf)M at laat over th. miatreu.

Zee lo11in11l11 adjtuts a curl of Stella's (S. York) hair as Robert (M. Ca.ine) looks gluml11 on.

of Liz hanging over the fireplace. Liz is making a ~g splash already with 'the shooting of the film. Her , -Serisational new good looks are shown to their best advantage. She even sports a pair of hot pants in one scene. Liz is philosophical as ever though about her sexiness. She says she is looking better not just because of her weight, explaining, "In a few months I'll be a grandmother. Yes, I know many women do not like to become a grandmother at a young age because that seems to make them look older. But thafs not my case. I feel terribly happy." Liz' son Michael and wife Beth are expecting a child. And the beautiful Zee, as she sweeps around the set, is affectionately called by those who are with her ... "Grandma." e 36

~ Robert~

6ÂĽ ci ~ Zu. Her~ lcwe for II.is fi'IU11111 driwa Mt- to nieide tty.

THEY'RE BACK! ''E-SCAPE FROM PLANET OF THE APES"

THE ONLY MAGAZINE FEATURING FULL-LENGTH MOVIES! JULY 50c

Though this cackle may be jarring to the ears of a layman, it ii music to the ears of the producer, director, cameramen and make-up characters who are with her op 1be lll!t here where "zee and Co." ia being filmed.

The unfortunate thing fl, I

enjoy acting, bat I know I ahould quit. I would like to raise pussycats. I can see my-

self doing that."

But almost in the same breath she sap she would like to play ROlie in a film of MISS TAYLOR Mlls Taylot • relaxed and "Under Milt Wood," about to happy. Thus, all around her be made with Barton as Dyare relaxed and happy too. her say, "She Js a true profes- lan Thom as and Peter "Maybe we'll be crying later sional and if lesbian play O'Toole as the captain and •he admita this seems a more but IO far everything II is the only way to perfect that likely set-up than playing with scene, undoubtedly she will do great," lbe saya. pussyoata. il" For three bom'a ane mCll'DShe ii a lot slimmer now lng she lay in a bolpita1 bed than last year when she OD the eet laying to her "llJ&. weighed 135 pounds, which for band," Michael Caine: a 5-foot, 4-inch 1au is cm the "fll be out of bent in a few chunky side. Now she weighs days. When I come home 110 pounds and those pounds could we have a party? rn are all In the right places. pay for IL I'll aeD my emerThere are also a few gray ald." And Caine looki at the hairs but even these seem to whopping diamcmd Elizabetli add to the Taylor attractions.

Is weartnc and rolll off the It is two years since she bas lide of the bed doubled over made a film and she says: "I with mirth. .

• was 11 c a r e d about coming back, particUlarly the second So it ail ltarts 1Jll48in. and day. I bad a huge scene and they never seem to be able to hit the panic button. My memget put thole linM without an ory has gone, I said. I went home and turned on TV. Richhysterical outburst. ard <Burton) b>ld me not to On one occaalon, Caine who look at the script again that Is a Cockney, replied to her in night b e c a u 11 e that would that lingo. No sooner bad she make me worse, BO I turned come up witlfthe "selllng sug- on the box and there was this gestion" than he said, "Garn marvelous old British actress (go CID with you), yer doing a soliloquy. 'How's she wouldn't, would yer?" and there was another COOapee.

Another line dlfficalt to get put without a fit of the lilglel Is EUubeth with thoee eno~. beautiful violet eyes pleadfng with Caine:

"What do you want of me?" she sighs, and Caine, trying hard not to aplode, lncHcatea be d o e 11 n • t want anything thank you very much. (Truth ia he wants enotber

womu.>

The incongruity hits everybody OD the set. Then the director, a witty, lharp-ton&ued YOUDI man named Brian Hutton, pulla fl'lflrf one together with the reminder of the cost of each "break up."

Ellza'beth Is not IJetling paid for tbe film but will lhare In the proms IO the tee1 in this and away they go

re._

again.

At the end of three hours of

doinC this one ICelMt over and

over again, l!lizabetb Is still good humored. She bas not shown one tlgn of Impatience at Hutton's almost fanatlcal desire for perfection.

But now ft Is mr. "R ta good," says Hutton and Elizabeth draped in a coral pink opaque nlgbtie with genUe decollete hope out of bed and dons a fabulOUI black and ~te woolen maxi coat lined with silver sealskin and edged with long white shaggy fur.

She brushes her hair and gently dabs at her makeup

and makes a few whispered remarb to various people standing around, all of whom laugh and C111e of whom goes off and comes back with what looks aaspiclously like a co1J.o. ea1 Bloody Mary, but could be tomato juice.

"Zee and Co.," written originally as a book by Mary O'Brien, IOUDda like an unlikely veblcle for the Taylor talents. In tbia mo9ie she loses her buaband to another girl played by Suaannah York, with whom she later tries for lesbian affair. And tbia la the one pert of the film to nich EliJabetb bas objected.

But as all who wort with

girlish divorcee who was hounded, imprisoned and finally driven to suicide as a result of her romance with a 16-yearold schoolboy. Though remarkably mature for his years, Gabrielle's young lover was thought by his enraged parents to be either mentally ill or bewitched.

Only after the death of Gabrielle did the public's morbid curiosity give way to recognition that family pride and French justice had collaborated to destroy a woman for an indiscretion that is met with a Gallic shrug whe.n the roles are reversed and a nubile girl is seduced by a middle-aged male. Cayatte may claim the dubious credit of having made an intelligent exploitation movie from material that just misses the bathos of true-oonfession pulp stories. Annie Girardot's poignant" perfor:mance as Gabrielle is well matched by that of 22year-old movie newcomer Bruno Prada!, an overnight star who evokes memories of the late Gerard Phi'lipe.

Like her New Yorker colleague Penelope Gilliatt, who wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday, Irish novelist Edna O'Brien composes a love triangle with an A. C./ D. C. slant in X Y and Zee. Michael Caine as a habitual philanderer and winsome Susannah York as his mistress play X and Y . to Elizabeth Taylor's shock-troop tactics as a tempestuous married woman named Zee, who, when all else fails, spoils her husband's game by seducing his loved one herself. Having established the Other Woman's Lesbianism to everyone's satisfaction, Zee is triumphant, a born survivor ready to take back her weak-willed mate and resume the nonstop mutual destruction that keeps their marriage alive. Some lines of these posh London folk recall the yesteryear of women's romantic fiction: "I wish we had met in a different place . . . on a quiet road in the country, or on a rainy afternoon in a tearoom." But the surest antidote to that tearoom talk turns out to be Mrs. Burton, doing her Virginia Woolf queen-bitch bit to a fare-thee-well, with corrosive humor and unfailing showmanship. This may not be good acting in the strict sense, but it certainly reeks of stardom, and Liz dominates X Y and Zee from A to Z.

JI~~~~~ e~¡t'j~ ~ KEMT~IGHT ~~, BOURBON WHISKEY

Harold and Maude, bearing out its advance ballyhoo, co-stars Bud Cort (who played Brewster McCloud) and Broadway veteran Ruth Gordon in a truly May-December love story about a 20ish lad's passion for a woman of 80. The movie is a total cop-out, but it offers a couple of droll moments as it establishes Harold as a terribly eccentric poor little rich boy who keeps faking gory suicides to unnerve his mother (deftly played by Britain's Vivian Pickles). Harold's nuttiness, of course, explains his fixation about Maude-an

Auntie Mame-ish old widow who absolutely oozes saccharine speeches about living life to the fullest every day, every moment. She also steals cars, and drives without a license, which presumably certifies her as one of the young at heart.

To ensure that she wins audience sympathy before tumbling into bed with Harold (the coupling is represented symbolically by a fireworks display-a creaky device rescued from forced retirement for this special occasion). Maude lets us see that she has a Nazi serial number tattooed on her arm. After balling the boy, on the eve of her 80th birthday, Maude kills herself, presumably because writer Colin Higgins and director¡ Hal Ashby feel that anything she might do after that would be, in every sense, anticlimactic. It's not the life but the dea.th in the old girl Harold loves, after all, which may tell us why he drives a custom-built Jaguar minihearse. Harolcl and Maude is a miscalculated insult to old and young, male and female, rich and poor, none of whom is likely to identify with such cynically contrived pap.

Though he stood at the top of his profession a few short years ago, director Elia Kazan appears to be supporting the trend toward film making as a family hobby.

Last year's Wanda was an earnestly amateurish effort by Mrs. Kazan, otherwise known as Barbara Loden. This year, Kazan hlmself directs The Visitors from a screenplay by his son Chris, who also coproduced. Shot on location at Kazan Senior's country home in Connecticut, the film has much in oommon with Straw Dogs, a more brilliant movie about another peace-loving young man and his woman vs. a couple of bristling rap,ists. As the Kazans tell it, the hero Qames Woods) is a Vietnam veteran living out of wedlock with a girl (Patricia Joyce), a baby and the girl's crusty father (Patrick McVey), an ornery old bastard who writes Western thrillers and evidently dreams of a world ruled by Green Berets. Into this imperfect paradise oome two of the boy's former Service buddies (Steve Railsback and Chico Martinez), fresh out of Leavenworth, where they've done time for raping and murdering a teenaged Vietnamese girl and now itching to settle scores with the bastard whose testimony convicted them. They are strangely cool and effectively menacing-particularly Railsback. Kazan knows the mechanics of melodrama, all right, yet tends to overemphasize the seamier side of hls son's scenario. A viewer grasps the idea that The Visitors is intended to be a serious statement about war as a brutalizing experience for otherwise fine American boys.

A rather stale message. And director Kazan's handling of it suggests an aesthetic generation gap-even the music sounds wrong, with a stereo in the background whining out jukebox airs reminiscent of

43

16

FILM REVIEWS

an honest enough study of a young girl who leaves home, moves in with a youngish school teacher, but finds freedom isn't Gripping whodunit with Mia what it's cracked up to be.

Farrow as a blind &'irl foiling Using non pro actors, Mackey a psycho kill~r. Extremely · us~s his cameras brightly and has well made, with sleeper potenedited carefully. But the imtial if nursed. proved dialog is obvious and the key character played ' by .Ann Hollywood, Aug. 2.

Columbia Pictures release of Filmways Knox is not given sufficient depth.

Her parents played by Hugh (Martin Ransohoff-Leslie Linder) production. Stars Mia Farrow. Directed by and Eileen Mcintyre spout hip Richard Fleischer.

Screenplay, Brian words, and appear liberals but Clemens; camera (Eastman1,;olor), Gerry Fisher; editor, Thelma Connell; music, no clear reason is given why the Elmer Bernstein; art direction, John girl would leave home. Onl~ he1 Hoesli; set decoration, Hugh Scaife; girlfriend played by ·Linda Huft'sound, Robert Allen, Ken Scrivener; asst. man is provided with clear director, Terry Marcel. Reviewed at Di· rectors Guild of America, L.A., Aug. 1, delineation as a militant feminist.

•11. (MPAA Rating:) GP.) Runnine Time, The film is suited for the uni· 87 MINS. . versity circuit. Mackey has made Sarah . • .................... Mia Farrow interesting first somewhat Betty .. .. • • • • • • • .. • • • • • Dorothy Alison a George .. • .. • . .. . . . . . .. . . . Robin Bailey effort, but his scriptwriting needs Sandy ............ _.• _. Diane Grayson more care. The affair ends when Barker . • • • • • . . • • • • • • • Brian Rawlinson Steve . . • . . . . • • • .. .. • .. . Norman Eshley the girl leaves her boy.friend anc!

Adil.

Jacko ...... __ • . • . • • • . • .. Paul Nicholas returns home.

See No Edi

<BRITISH-COLOR)

"See No Evil" is a perfect modBeen Do•·n So Long It ern speciment of the old-style A· Looks Like 1Jp To Me plus suspense programmer which (COLOR) often broke through to the big time .

Mia Farrow stars .a.s a blind girl in· Dismal youth - oriented potnocently involved in .a series of psy-· boiler. Dim b.o. chopathic murders. Superbly writ · ten by Brian Clemens, brilliantly Hollywood, Se.p t. 2. photographed by Gerry Fisher, am: Paramount release of Robert M. Rosen· handsomely produced in Berkshin thal production.

by Jeffrey England, by Martin Rans 0 hoff an<' Young. Screenplay, Directed Robert Schlitt, from Leslie Linder, the Columbia releas novel by Richard Farina; camera (Movie· was directed in very good fashior lab Color), Urs Furrer: editors, Nicholas i.1eyers, Bruce Wittkin; music, Garry

by Richard Fleischer. Film opened Sherman; lyrics, Gene Pistilli; art direc,_ last Thurs. (21 at Radio City Musk tion, William Molyneux; set decoration, Hall, N.Y., and was shown to trad" Charles Tice; sound, Charles Federmack, press critics· on tile eve of th< Al Gramaglia; asst. director, Stanley Reviewed at Directors Guild preem, resulting in an unfortunati· Panesoff.

America, L.A.. Sept. 2,' 71. (MPAA delay to the careful word of mou ;. of Ratin•: R.) Running Time, IO MINS. which a pie like t61s needs in order Gnossos . . • . . . . . • . . . .. • . Barry Primus to maximize public awareness and Kristin • .. . .. .. • • .. . . • • • . . Linda OeCoff • • • . • .. . . . • . • • • • .. • • David Downin& media penetration. Commercial Heft Jack . • • . . .. . .. • • .. . . . .. • • Susan Tyrrell prospects therefore depend on post· Calvin .. • . . • .. • • . .. . . . . . Philip Shafer preem support of the early runs.

Fitzgore . . • . . . • • • .. • • • • • Bruce Davison Clemens' script has Miss Farrov Mojo . • • . . • . . . • • • .. . . . . . Zack Normna recuperating from a blinding hors!' Juan ....................... Raul Julia riding accident at the home or Robin Bailey, his wife Dorothy Ali- Like Up To Me" is the sort of inson and daughter Diane Grayson. ''rticulate sophiistry and flashy, An innocently-offended young punk superficial experimental audition slays the household, including gar- mm which from 1967-70 was being dener Brian Rawlinson, while Mi~: oalmed off as modern screen art.

Farrow is riding with fiance No1- That fad is gone, •but unfortunately man Eshley. Extremely good sm~ •ome of the inventory remains. pense is built and maintained a,, narry Primus heads the cast a Miss Farrow discovers the senseles_ an uninteresting loser of the semi· murders, then outwits the murdere r15•-t be tt D b t• who has returned to.recover a wri. = 11 at genera on. e u mg tcreenplay writer Robert Schlitt's bracelet. 'trung-0ut adaptation, debuting Paul Nicholas, the murderer, i~ IJroducer Robert M. Rosenthal's not seen facially until the climax <·xpensive-looking ·physical values, though Fisher's lensing puts the "nd debuting feature director Jef· mysterious character in an emphatic: ·rey Young's preoccupation with dramatic posture throughout via pretty pictures, all serve to make shooting his boots and arrogan! 1.he Paramount release a bad trip, bodily mannerisms. Clemens' script ;md likely a short one, too, in seeds the plot with a thousand sod: terms of b.o. response. red herrings, but Miss Farrow·s The late Richard Fa11ina's first lengthy travails in time becomt· ·.ind only novel comes out via rather heavy on the meller side; all Schlitt as a sort c.f childish tanthat's missing is for her to bt· trapped on an ice floe. Fleischer trum against the assorted collegicould have weeded out some of this :-ite mores which just preceded flab, but in general the 87 minutes .JFK, Castro and Vietnam. Primus (edited by Thelma Connelll mov(• is discovered walking_.: he walks along smarUy, and all perform· for a good part of the film-back ances are solidly credible. to school after hitting the Kerouac Miss Farrow's performances as a Turnpike for a spell. As might be blind girl is very convincing, grab- expected, everything bores him bing and maintaining audience sym- ::nd the ennui literally suffocates pathy for her character from th·~ the audience.

No point in trying to evaluate outset. Maximum dramatic impact is, however, marred by that samf' 1>erformanees, since the cast does compounded incident noted above. · not appear to have received much Film's sociological hook, thankfully direction. Prominently featured discarded in time but over-sold a · are Linda DeCoff as a non-virgin the start, is that the killer was in- tease; David Downing as a latent fluenced by naughty books, sexy ·illack a<:tivist; Bruce Davison as a pix, and newspaper and tv storie~ ,~ollege chum; Zac!t Norman as a of violence. Such a point of view [>Usher; Raul Julia as a Latin revopanders to •those who believe that lutionary; Susan Tyrrell as Downbad news is invented by those who ing's girl; and James No!>le as a report it; rather unusual is that i>riest; and Philip Shafer as a cam. filmmakers of some repute dignify pus guru. The players wander that cheap cop-out. through their meandering vi· Elmer Bernstein wrote and con- .~nettes; entire reels could be inducted the score finally used; it L~. terchanged without notice. an awkward stew of disjointed bornThough often neatly faithful to bast. sounding more like the feeble its period, the film just as often efforts of a radio transcription 11• 'apses into last season's hip jargon. brarian trying to ba~kstop a high- Several songs are dropped In for school play than a fully-developed the usual obtrusive effect. Urs screen score. But, praise be, at least Furrer's flexible Movielab Color there's no "love theme." Other lensing encores all the modish technical credits are tops. M urf · tricks. Technical aspects of a bad drug trip montage are excellent, The Only Thing You however. As usual in pix like this, the individual ·technical aecomKnow · plishments are emphasized to the <CANADIAN-COLOR) point where form has smothered Clarke Mackey production. Directed by substance.

Murf. and screenplay by Mackey; cameraman, Paul Lang; music, Paul Craven and lain Ewing. Cast: Ann Knox, John Denos, Alan Royal, ·lain Ewing, Linda Huffman, Hugh and Eileen Mcintyre. Reviewed at Rochdale College, Toronto, Aug. 24, '71.

Runnina; Time: 80 MINS.

Elmes Adapts '7 Gables' British screenwriter Guy Elmes signed by American International Productions to adapt Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the "The Only Thing You Know," . Seven Gables" for screening.

He wrote 20th's Spanish-made a first feature for Tot:onto document.ary maker Clarke Mackey, is "El Greco."

Wetlnesday, September 8, 1971

nRIETY Rf"vtmte•

(BRmSH--COLORl Well6a~d suspense thriller with excessive violence and sexual undertones.

London, Aug. 25.

I

Venice Film Fest Reviews Tl1f1'

l~HC

.:'tlodta

<U.S.-COLOR) Peter Rogers production for the Rank Organization. Produced by George H. Brown; director, Sidney Hayers; screen.

Dennis Hopper, after hit play, John Kruse; camera (Eastman· "Easy Rider," comes 'UP with color/Rank), Ken Hodges; editor, Tony too-ambitious tale that tries Palk. Reviewed at Rank Private Theatre.

Aug. 24, '71. Running Time, II MINS. to tackle too many themes.

Carol Radford . . ........ Joan Collins Mainly specialized chances Jim Radford James Booth loom for this frenzied look at HMry . . .. . . . .. .. .. .. . .

Ray Barrett Rose . . • . • • . . . Sinead Cusack lost innocence.

Lee Radford . • . . . . . . . . . Tom Marshall 5eely . . .. .. .. • .. . .. Kenneth Griffith Venice, Sept. 7.

Jill Radford . . . . . . . Zuleika Robson CIC release of Universal production.

Priest . . . . • • . . . . . . . . • Angus Mackay Directed by Dennis Hopper. Screenplay, Brewery Driver's Mate . • . Ronald Clarke George . . • . . . . . . . . Patrick McAlinney Stewart, Stern from story by Hopper, Stern; camera (Technicolor), Lazzlo Jacko . . . . . . . • . . • • . • . • . . . Artro Morris Inspector . . . . . . • • . . • . . Donald Morley Kovacs; editor, David Berlatsky; art di· Undertaker . . . . . . . • • . . . Martin Carroll rector, Leon Erickson; producer, Paul Pub Customer . . . • • . . Richard Holden Lewis; music, Kris Kristoffersonh John Brewery Driver .... ..•• Geoffrey Hughes Buck Wilken, Leonard Cohen, C abUCa Sales representative . . . . . • . . Basil Lord Granda. Reviewed at Venice Film Fest, Sergeant . . . . . . • . . . . . • . Barry Andrews Aug. 29, '71. Running Time: 110 MINS. Kansas . . • . . . . . . . . • . . . Dennis Hopper . .. . . . • . .. .. . . . • • . . Stella Garcia While there are good shock Maria o;rector . . . • . . . . . . . . • • • • • • . Sam Fuller moments in George H. Brown's ·Native .................... Daniel Ades Priest • • • • • • . .. .. .. .. • • Tomas Milian suspense thriller, "Revenge," the Neville . . . . .. • • • • .. .. .. • • .. Don Gordon 9cript suffers from a surfeit of in- Wife . . • • .. . . .. • . .. .. .. • . . . Julie Adams cidents. Much mi!lfires under Sid- Daughter • • . . . . . . • • . . . Donna 81ccala ney Hayers' uninspired direction and the picture neover rises above programmer status.

Credibility is given to the whole through the performances. Even the smallest bit is admirably cast.

James Booth plays a pub owner whose daughter is murdered. When the police wlll not charge the suspect, he and the father of another young victim kidnap him with the Idea of forcing a confession. Things go wrong during the roughing up a1.1d they fear that not only do they face a murder rap but have the wrong man.

The whole ill punctuated with considerable brutality and sexual undertones. One heayy-handed sequence in which the son, played

by Tom Marshall, distraught by his involvement, is challenged about his manhood by his girl friend neither contributes to the picture's dev,elopment nor b.o. potential.

Emerging best from the proceedings is Joan Collins. as the ubkeep;,. ;teCODd wife.

Production values are of high standard. Ken Hodges' lensing ad· mirably sets the mood for the subject and emphasizes the intended ordinariness of the interior and exterior settings.

Jock.

I

"Rider." A miss, but 'one tha-t cannot be dismissed although its commercial chances call for careful sell.

Mosk.

Under Milk \'\'ood <BRITISH - TECHNICOLOR) Beautifully fashioned pie version of Dylan Thomas Classic, however needing special selL B u rt on-TaylorO'Toole names will help.

Venice, Aug. 27.

Keep Films release of Jules BuckHugh French presentation of a Timon Film -produced by Buck and French.

Written and directed by Andrew Sin· clair; based on the play by Dylan Thomas; camera (Technicolor) Bob Huke; music! Brian Gascoiene; editor, Willy Kemp en; assistant director, Dominic Pulford. Reviewed at Venice Film Festi· val, Aug. 26, '71. Running Time: IO MINS. 1st Voice . .. . . . . . . . • • . . Richard Burton Rosie Probert . . • • . • • • . Elizabeth Taylor Captain Cat . . • . • . . . . • . . Peter O'Toole Mytanwy Price . • . . • • . . . . . . Glynis Johns Mrs. Pugh . . . . . . . . . • Vivien Merchant Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard ... Sian Phillips Mog Edwards • • . . • • . . . . . Victor Soinetti 2nd Voice . . . • • . . . . • . Ryan bavies Gossamer Beynon . • . . . . Angharad Rees Mr. Waldo . • . . . . • • • . . • • . . . Ray Smith Sinbad Sailors • • . . • • . . Michael Forrest Polly Garter . • • .. . . . . .. .. . Ann Beach Mrs. Cherry OW•n . . • • . Brideet Turner Mr. Cherry OWen • • • • . . . Glyn Edwards \'Ir. Pugh . . . .•• ...... Talfryn Thomn Mr. Willy Nilly . . . . • . . . . . Wim Wylton Mrs. Willy Nilly . . • . . Bronwen Williams

The second film is always thf hardest, especially for Denni• Hopper who made the low•budge• b:manza, "Easy Rider,'' that upset Hollywood outlooks for a while.

But the narrative fluidity, usini of myths for .a statement on today's youth, so •effective tr "Rider" are here overdone an<' film suffers from a multlpliclt~ Screen adaptations of hard-toof themes, ideas and its frafi! mented style with flash-forward• '!lot items such as Dylan Thomas' ~nd intertwined and only SUl(- "Under Milk Wood," completed gested plot structure, • just before poet's death in 1953, There is no deny·ing Hopper'F have long been trying and tricky >eriousness and -his attempt to affairs, so it's a tribute to the delve into the oater film myth~ makers of this pie that it's come and the effects on both its practi . off his well. At the boxofflce, pie tioners and, in this case, Perurla11 is basically special fare requiring Indians where the ·film and thr personalized handling, but should film within the film were shot find legs in the Richard BurtonThere could be a youth audien« Elizabeth Taylor-Peter O'Toole who went for "Rider" that migh1 names as well as lasting values be tapped by this film with righ• in other niches (college, educationhandling if playoff may be spotty al, cassettes, etc.I and more But fest, specialized and school obviously, as video fodder.

In addition to some stunning opportunities are indicated.

Film begins with Hopper wan· all-location photography to dress derlng all ~ aMDng ln<\lllllf the scene,writer-dire<.tor Andrew playing at filmmaking with camer- inclair has a wonderful feel for as, booms, etc., made of rattan his material, and a happy hand A local priest complains of the in matching it to Its setting. violence the film people have lefl Normal screen conventions are behind among his people whose broken as Sinclair chooses to folplaying at it leads to a kind o! low Thomas instead In his dispassion play and the hunted abd section of a Welsh seaside village Reli..ve In Me finally crucified figure becomef and Its inhabitants, done wltb caustically keen and boisterously, (COLOR) Hopper. earthlly humorous pen. As a reThen a scene from the film sho' sult, actors <with the exception of Realistic drag e11try; aimed there, a gun battle with horse!' O'Toole) impersonate more than partlcularlJ' at you11ger auda. falling and men bloodied. Sam perform, and a more colorful lot Fuller plays a no-nonsense di· you've rarely seen.

Hollywood, Aug. 31. rector with aplomb in these scenes.

O'Toole plays the blind but Metro release of Robert Chartoff-lrwin Hopper ·has the canteen, play: still all-seeing Captain Cat, with Winkler production. Stars Michael Sarrazin, Jacqueline Bisset. Directed by Stu· stuntman and stays on with e a (sometimes distracting> ·assist art Hagmann. Screenplay, Israel Hore>- native girl, dreaming of building from makeup on the surface and vitz; camera (Metrocolorl, Dick Kratina, a resort and using the set for a fine and oft-moving limn unRichard C. Brooks; art direction, Robert other productions. derneath. Burton is fully at ease Gun(llach; music, Frt!d Karlin; editor, This does not pan out and he in a physical walk-through of a John C. Howard; asst. director, Terence Donnelly: sound, Jack Jacobsen, Hal Wat- and a friend take up with rich village day, and he speaks the kins. Reviewed at Metro studios, Aug. tourists who want to see the. seamy 30, '71. (Mf>AA Rating: R.) Running Time, side of things. The wife is at- bulk of Thomas• voice-over lines II MINS. with feeling and obvious love.

Remy . . • • . . . . . .. . .. . . Michael Sarrazin tracted-' to Hopp~r, but their bid Through him prinicpally, the purr Pamela . . • .. . . . • • • . Jacqueline Bisset for a grubstake 1s refused. and the occasional soar of the Alan . . . . . .. . . .. .. . • • • • • • • .. . Jon Cypher He gets up after a continuouF poets' phrase flows and satisfies.

Stutter . .. . • . .. .. • • • • . • . Allen Garfield series of shots of his supposed Mattl'I- . . . . . . . . . . . • • Kurt Dodenhoff Miss Taylor, glimpsed all too Emergency Room Nurse ~rucifixion by the natives and it rarely been more Marcia Jean Kurtz ends with he and his partner dis- briefly, has beautiful. A very distinguished Clancy .. • .. • . . • • . • .. .. • • t<evin Conway cussing the hunt and the other Angel .. . • • . • • • .. • • .. • Roser Robi'nson roster of featured players, most Boy .... - • • . . . . . . . . . . . . Antonio Fargas admitting he knows nothing about playing telling cameos, completes Attending PhY5iclan . . . . . • Milt Kamen it but what he had seen in "Th<' Ward Nurse • . . . • . • . . • • • • • Susan Doukas Treasure of the Sierra Madre." the vast cast.

Sylvia . . . • . . . . . . Suzannah Norstrand There are those who'll claim There are inserted · titles of "scene '.1.urts are long and repetitious Emergency Room Patient Ultra Violet missing" and reel ends to make inevitably, some Thomas Lecturer . . • . . • . .. .. Dr. William Abruzzi sure It is seen as a film on all and aficionados will have their own David Kieser . . . • • . . . . . . • Matthew Anton Saleslady . • . . . . • • • . • . . Elizabeth Brown levels. carps, but all factors considered.

Max Trencher ...•..... Tony Capodilupo Stella Garcia is effective as the it's difficiult job well done as Michael . . . . • . . • . . . . . . . . • . . Tom Fora I Saleslady . . • . . . . . . . Katherine Helmond native girl who is not moved by well as an obvious labor of love Store Manager • • . • • . . . . . . . Tom Lacy the dead she does not know while involving physical and financial Margaret • . . . . . . . . . • Barbara Thurston Hopper has an American inno- sacrifices on the part of most Dr. Markham ....• .. , . . . . . Larry Weber cence ·tempered with violent rage · participants.

Morgue Attendant . . • . • • . . . • . . Jan Saint when things go .beyond his ken.

Technically, as noted, pie's an If there is a growing tide of drug Their lovemaking scenes are lucid. outstanding achievement in all Hawk. pix, "Believe in Me" should qualify and sexual but the tourist char- departments. as a satisfactory entry. Subject has acters could .have been gone into been handled realistically as story for more depth.

Llberxlna DO dwells on a hospital Intern who Laszlo Kovac's lensing is first-· (SPANISH-COLOR> takes to drugs and entices his girl rate, especially in blending the friend to follow suit. Irwin Wink- so-called real aspect of the film Venice, Aug. 31. ler-Robert Chartoff production is and the mythical reality in the Produced by Film Di Formentera, S.A. almost clinical in style as it traces western being made. F.dltor David and Nova Cinematografica. Directed by the development and consequences Berlatsky does as well as possible Carlos Duran. Screenplay by Joaquin Jorda and Duran; camera (Eastmancolor). of habit as it affects its two vie· in weaving all the strands and Juan art director, Juan Alberto tims. In this age of pot and other jumps in time as coherently aF Soler; Amoros; editor. Marice!; music, Luis de manifestations of mental release, possible, but it calls for more Pablo. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival, pie has a lot going for it among the pruning and tightening and get.I' Aug. 30, '71. Running Time, IO MINS•. . . • . . • . . . • • • . . . Serena Verga no younger audiences especially. a bit pretentious in trying to say Sandra Lui!!,_ . • . . • . . . . • . . . . .. .

William Pirie Winkler and Chartoff, who prevl- too many things.

Doc • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . . . . . Edward Meeks Hooper appuently had complete Romy .....•........•••.•.••... Romy ously had the successful "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" to their freedom, but with more discipline credit, hit upon a topic which has a)ld less ambition ·he should be Science fiction in an unidentibecome a destructive life-style with able to get back on the robust and fied country is a ploy for ml.'Jll· <Continued on .page 27) l incisive · rightness shown in £Continued on page 261

AMERICAN PREMIERE TODAY! Inaugurating United Artists Theatres newest Manhattan Theatre.

"'Under Milk Wood' wili enrapture you ... engulfing, refreshing ... a great work translated with inspiration to the screen ... '' -Judith Crist; New York Magazintt

JULES BUCK & HUGH FRENCH present AN ANDREW SINCLAIR FILM

RICHARD BURTON ELIZABETH TAYLOR PETER O'TOOLE IN

DYLAN THOMAS'

Mon·Thurs 2:~. 7:30, 9:30 Fri & Sat 2:30, 7:00, 9:00. 11:00

·''UNDER

MILK WOOD is all our dreams,

engulfing and refreshing ... a great and lovely w2!~1:.:ewYorkMegazine

"UNDER MIL1'WOOD is a glowingly beautiful film!

Be sure-be absolutely sure-to see it!"

-GENE SHALIT, Ladies Home Journal

''UNDER MILK WOOD seems like a miracle and a lovely one at that. .. perfect and unique!"

-BERNARD DREW, Gannett News Service

''UNDER MILK WOOD is exceptional and unusual movie-going pleasure, a joint celebration of literature and film."

-CHARLES CHAMPLIN, Los Ange/es Times

"UNDER MILK WOOD is a beautiful, heady mixture of poetry and visual art. A concert fOr the eyes!'' -LOUISE SWEENEY, Christian t;cience Monitor .

''UNDER MILK WOOD has an·incandescent poetic intelligence that gleams through every 1ine. -BRUCE WILLIAMSON, Playboy II

"UNDER MILK WOOD is a literate

movie-an epi~ of language! The entire cast is incredibly. impressive!"

-LIZ SMITH, Cosmopolitan JULES BUCK & HUGH FRENCH present AN ANDREW SINCLAIR FILM

RICHARD BURTON ELIZABETH TAYLOR PETER O'TOOLE 111

DYLAN THOMAS'

UNDER MILK WOOD !XECUTIV! 'liQDUCUS

smF.HPLAY AHD 01AEWON llUSIC COMlllOSEO IY

ANDREW SINCLAIR

GuEsT STARS GLYNIS JOHNS• VIVIEN

MERCHANT• SIAN PHILLIPS• JULES BUCK• HUGH FRENCH

A.SSOCIATE ftlllDDUCH

llllAN &ASCOl&N£ • JOHii COli!FOllt·A TIMON FILMS PRODUCTION· COLOR 1Y

SCHEDULfD PERFORMANCES Sunday 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 9:30 Mon-Thurs - •2:30, 7:3,0, 9:30 Fri & Sat-2:30, 7i00, 9:00, 11:00

Movies/Judith Crist

ALL OUR DREAMS " ... Under Milk Wood will enrapture you ... engulfing, refreshing, a g{eat work .tr.anslated with inspiration to the screen ... " We're getting back .to nofmal after holiday euphoria, with a 'wiri•one losetwo quality ratio emergfog in movies and a win-several lose-a-couple voting record in the seasonal awards.

The winning film of the moment is Under Milk Wood, Andrew Sinclair's beautiful screen adaptation of the Dylan Thomas play, a triumph of visualization of the verbal visions· and vignettes the poet created. The film, incidentally, was made almost two years ago and opened the 1971 Venice Film Festival.

And it is with us at last thanks once again to the non-venal standards of distributor Clem Perry. Surely the venal would have been initially interested by any film that co-stars Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Elizabeth Taylor and features a host of Britain's finer actors (Vivien Merchant, Sian Phillips, Victor Spinetti, Glynis Johns and Wales's Ryan Davies). But then they would have realized that what these performers and Sinclair have created is pure poetry, a translation of a classic concerned with the living and the dying and the continuum, with laughter and heartbreak and compassion for the human community. And that, as Variety would note, requires a "special sell."

Who needs to be sold Dylan Thomas's only play, written over ten years and completed a month before his death at 39 in 1953? It has been performed in nearly every country in the world, off and on Broadway in this country (most memorably in our experience by the National Theater of the Deaf, whose ballet of sign language added further dimension to the lyrical prose) where it is now a campus standard for performance and for reading. Yet over the years none had the courage to attempt a film thereof: "Seventy little stories to tell in ninety minutes in the life of a small fishing port. The connecting link Two Voices, their character and connection with the town unexplained . . . It was daunting," Sinclair admits. And the story of his accomplishment is, in a way, as fascinating as the result. (The details are in Sinclair's foreword to the soft-cover edition of the screenplay, published by Simon & Schuster last fall at $2.95.)

For it was only in the completion of

Nl9'TAUUIHf4CISllMllTIO -

TECHllOX.DR-•DISTRllUTED IY

~LTURA FILllS INTERUATIOllAL PG ~u·-•-••"•'"''""-54

IEASTSIDE t-

each matter explored, with a voice-over duet provided by him and Davies, as the two-one stolid, craggy-faced, the other fey and puckish-wander the town in silence. It is a dream that will enrapture you. The creatures of the dream are brilliantly fleshed and blooded in their actualities and their fancies-O'Toole, remarkably made up as the aged blind Captain Cat, conjuring up his crew from the dead and reliving the ecstasies of his truelove, Rosie Probert; Miss Johns and Spinetti as the sweetshop-keeper and the draper mad with love; Miss Merchant the demanding wife and Talfryn Thomas the milquetoast mate who plans her various ~~ deaths-by-torture; Miss Phillips the :;, twice-widowed house-mad housewife ~ who summons her husbands to their ~· ~$ chores with the warning that "before ~ you let the sun in, mind that it wipes ~ ~ its shoes"; Aubrey Richards the foolish the film that he understood Burton's parson with poetry for God; Ann telling him that the play "was all about Beach the effulgent Polly Garter who religion, sex and death," and in the sings .of her Tom, Dick and Harry. making in the Welsh sea town of Fish- They all spring to life-Organ Morgan, guard "we were all the servants of the Willy Nilly, Mr. Waldo, Nogood Boyo, Lord Cut Glass. The only outsider dead Dylan Thomas .... " Thomas had written Milk Wood seems to be Miss Taylor, all movie-star with himself and Burton in mind for with the blue eye-shadow and surplus the First and Second Voices; Sinclair hair-but in the arms of the young found their embodiment in several Captain Cat and perhaps in his dreams Thomas short stories, with Burton and she becomes possible.

Under Milk Wood is all our dreams, Ryan Davies as two Army-coated strangers who wander into the town engulfing and refreshing. I don't know before dawn, roam the streets and cliffs what "special sell" a great and lovely and share a girl of wartime memory work, translated with inspiration to the and seemingly drift into the sea with screen, needs. I have seen the film three the next night's tide. Through their times; I shall see it at least as many comment, the town and the people times more, for with each viewing come to interwoven life, the rhythm of there has been a new detail of sight their days and the pulses of their ways and sound, a fresh nuance and an unthrobbing through the melodies. Sel- derplayed wordplay to bring a further dom has a world been so encompassed enrichment to a work whose richness -the daydreams and nightmares and can be reveled in again and again. memories, the sunlit fantasies echoed To leap down to the losers, prime in children's chants, the ghosts as fantastical as the seals that swell with the among them is Little Mother (advertised sea, the lush lovely girls as fleeting as as Mother, apparently more of a comethe skeletons, the graveyard only foot- on) , produced and directed by Radley Metzger, whose four previous films, for steps away.

No question but that Burton was reasons I cannot even speculate on, born to recite Thomas's luxuriant and have earned him a retrospective at the flowing poetic realities and lusciously Museum of Modem Art, let alone an lilting prose; his voice washes over the appearance on the Merv Griffin show. screen, penetrates to the very heart of The four were Therese and Isabelle;

CINEMA

A UNITED ARTISTS THEA}RE

9193rd Ave. (B'twn 55th & 56th) Tel:,755-3020

NEW YORK

Illustrated by chas b slackman

·.. THE NEW fORJ( T!J!E.S. JIONDAY;JAlf

·'Under Milk Wood' Arrives on Screen lltlDEI MILK WOOD, dire"ted bv An· drew Sincla 1r; screenplay by Mr. Sin-. · clalr, based on the play by Dvlan Thomas; diredor of llhoto9raphy, Bob Hulce; -111usic, lrlan Cascolgne; editor, Wiiiy Kemolen; executive Pmducers, Jolts tudt and Hugh FrMch; • Timon Films, Ltd., production; distributed by Atlllr• Films lnterniltton>I. Running time: 'lO minut•s. At the East Side Cinem1, Third Avenue near 56th Street.

This fflm has been classified PG. First Yoke .............. Richard Burton Rosie Probert .... . .. .. . Elizabeth T•Ylor Caol&in Cat . . ... ......... . Peter O'Toole Mvfanwy Price .... ... .. ..... Glynis Johns

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strangers breat.lnng all over her chairs; Polly Garter (Ann Jkach), ._the town's gentle1plrited whore who can't help having babies because she loves them.

Less successful, perhaps because he has to handle so many words, Is Peter O'Toole, ordinarily a fine actor, as the old, · blind · Captain Cat. O'Toole's readings are so per• fectly rhythmical, his wind so magnificently controlled for long eruptions of words without pause, that he almost put me to sleep.

Wheneover ~Jeep threatens, however, there is the spectacle .of Elizabeth Taylor, a wonder to behold though she _doesn't seem directly con· nected to Wales. She does a 'short, sort of lie-in, as opposed to walk-:Oll, as ROSie .Probert, the whore out of Captain Cat's youth who now ·is buried in the Llareggib graveyard. "I've forgotten that I was ever born," she tells us toward the end in a . lovely Thomas line that recalls the greater simplici!;yand economy of Thomtan Wilder's "Our Town." ·

Mrs. Poth ..... . . .. -· . .. Vivien Merchant

· Mrs. ()gmore-Pritchard .... . . Sian Phlllios ~

Edwards ..... .. ..... . Victor Solnettl S.Cond Voice..... ... .. .. .. . Ryan Davies Gossamer BeYnon . . • . Angharad Rees Mr. W>ldo ... . . ....... . . . . . . Ray Smith f'llfly Garter ......... . .. . .... Ann Beach Mr. Pugh . .. . • . • . .. . ... Talfrvn Thomas l;lly Smalls ....... . . .. Mts Wynn Owen

BY VINCENT CANBY "Under MHk Wood" is the kind of film project that earlies failure within it almost Jll'OUdly, as if to be overwhelmed by literacy were a .mark of distinction, even lhough a fatal one.

Dylan Thomas, the Welsh p t who died in 1953, origiMlly ~nceived "Under Milk Wood" as a radio play; a ]IOetiC, plotless memory of life in a tiny Welsh seaport that is evoked through narra'·tto1vand abort, occasionally · briltiant gusts of comedy, ~ and dreams.

Richard Burton in "Under Mille Wood"

originally Although thought of it as something to in Thomas's text can be, at be listened ro, or read, best, redundant. At worst, 'Jbomas went on to adapt the bana), mjslea~ing or ~Pol: ·IDY for the stage -Where~ "To 'begin at the beginnitig;'" hoWever, it's never quite as says the First Voice (Richard · ' satisfactory a5 many people Burton) a sort . of composite ., think it should be, apparently narrator, guide and angel of reuoning that the stage death w'ho conducts our tour needs words and these of Llareggu&, ·"it is spring, Thomas provides - by the moonless night in the small town . • • •" What we· see, bushel basket.

Too many words, perhaps, however, is night so awash for the stage. Too many in moonlight that we could, · words, I'm convinced, for the If we wanted, read the small screen. It's not simply the type that guarantees a quantity of wordl, though. vacuum cleaner for a year. h's also their ornateness.

A little latf!I". h.e. ,continues: : They overflow the ears and . "It ·is night, dumbly, royally set into the eyes. Great winding through the Coronaclouds of them everywhere, tion Street oherry trees, going Hke swarms of big soft gnats. through the graveyard of Bethesda with winds glovM Th~ won't stop, and they make the job of the film and folded, and dew adapter almost impossible. doffed . . • ." Can any ordi· This business of finding nary screen images equal screen images to match those those? Not easily.

When Burton urges us, the membel'S of the ·audience, to look into "the blinded. bedrooms" to see "the ~~ of teeth, Thou Shalt Not on the wall, and the yellowing dickeybird-watching pictures of tlhe dead," ·there's not much for. the camera to do but to try desperately to keep up with the language-but the language wins.

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Some of the dozens of characters we me-et do come fitfully alive: Mrs. Pugh (Vivien Merchant), a dainty, purse - lipped, dry - fingered bitch whose husband (Talfryn Thomas) meekly fetches her breakfast and dreams of putting ground glass into her omelette; Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard (Sian Phillips), who sleeps with the ghosts of her two husbands and fears

A Belated .Tribute to John Cage at 60 aged extremely well after. a somewhat shaky start.

The reaction to this kind of music depends upon a sympathy for its ritualistic, meditative aims, and to these ears the modal tunes and the evocations of Oriental temple • music, Gregorian chant and other hieratic idioms proved psychically soothing, if musically undemanding.

The other John Cage came to the fore in a gigglemaking performance of his Concert for Piano and Orchestra (195'1-58), which stands aside and kids just about every Western concerl convention.

By DONAL HENAHAN

There are two John Cages, at very least, and both were well represented at a retrospective concert of his music yesterday afternoon at Alice Tully Jfall. In a welcome though belated observance of the composer's birthday (he was 60 last September), : Dennis Rus:sell Davies con. ducted The Ensemble in four works ranging from 1938 . to 1972, as part of Lincoln · Center's New and Newer Music aeries.

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J.i( CRITEAIOll

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John Cage (played by 24 tlhis time), pays homage . to Satie's choral work "Socrat.e." Like "Socrat.e," it disdained to excite in any way, dealing at lenjtih in a ¥&tic, pasaionlela unrolliq of a eound

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Max the pianist, parodied everybody from Rachmaninoff. to Webern, while the orchestra accompanied him solemnly on aR assortment of instruments that Included eggbeater, spray can, umbrella, paper bags, hammer and saw. There were hilarious moments bl this noee-thwiabing experiment In chance and choice. tivt it dld _p - , ftdM!n_.

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Theater

Mo11f<'I The Nrw Phoenix Rel'ertl'rY ComPftnY Sidr~how 13. At the Bf1ou Theettr. 351> W.st 0th Street, at I.

Operas METROPOLITAN Ol'ERA, Donirtlti 's "1.9 Flllt du Rtvh-t.• I .

Concerts

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Burton's readinp are fine, especially when you cloee your · eyes. Nothing . that Andrew Sinclair, the director, chooses to show us does more than complement text, which often meatM1 ltteralizitt~aking it seem !fmaller, less mysterious, more postcard - picturesque than need be. When Burtoa tells us that we CIUl hear the dew fatting, I had a small panic ·that Sinclair would show us even that, though he doesn't ..

Gone is any sense at discovery of language, Which, when Thomas was working well, could make one feel very young again, almost drunk with surprise and pleasure. The problem is all those pictures. In a way, Thomas did to words what booze did to him. He shook them up, liberated - them. twisted them around so that they took on, if only momentarily, a higher order of meaning. The camera has the presence of a sober-sided friend. It interrupts most of the poet's flights of fancy.

"Under Milk Wood" opened yesterday at the new East Side Cine-ma, on Third Avenue near 56th Street

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One John Cage stands ·well within the classical music tradition, though always with a certain air of humorous detachment from its dogmas.

1:hat John Cage appeared f1r1t in a woodwind quintet Music for Wind Instrumen~ (l~), &!,Id last in "Cheap tm1tation (1172), which rec:eivM it.a fU'st American , 1*formance. The earlier ~ tho111h based on the , .12-tbne tedlnil(ues el Cage's _.......____ an _et ~ im ~e~ teacher. SchoenhN::'.

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West !21st Street, 1:30.

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~ ~' ~ew 'c}er {~ M"1 :2. .,, 1'f7"2-Beyond these films, the week's fictions become trivial-but the sadness is that they undoubtedly will get far more support, behind the scenes in the "selling" and out front at the box office in the "buying" of trivia.

If you have not read Tom Tryon's The Other, don't before you see the film made from this best-seller of a year ago. And if you have read it, prepare to find yourself quite uninvolved in the course of the movie-albeit better able to understand several of its convolutions and evolutions. This, alas, is the inevitable result when a suspense novel (and a very good one it is) that depends upon a gimmick (and a stunner it is) comes to the screen, a result intensified by the author's adapting his own novel for the screen, as Tryon has, in addition to serving as executive producer. Certainly in the latter capacity this erstwhile actor (we forgave him his Tom-Swift-in-Skirts cleric in The Cardinal as soon as we got swept into his excellently written thriller) has done very well indeed by his book; as screenwriter, however, he has omitted (or been forced to cut) the outer framework, the detailing of time, the richness of atmosphere and incident, and the amazing challenge to the imagination that provided the superior qualities to the novel.

This story of identical twins, one good, one evil, who learn the "game" 9f iden_tity-change from their Russian -grandmother and play it to a horrifying and htllrowing and deadly degree, comes to the screen as a better-than-most film, thanks to an excellent cast and Robert Mulligan's high professionalism as producer-director. Uta Hagen, as the grandmother who discovers a game gone wrong; Diana Muldaur, as the mother lf,ware of the evil beneath the boyish grins, creates a heartbreaking figure, and, above all, Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, as the chunky, attractive twelveyear-olds who are "accident" prone, bring the reality to the terror-tale. And all the trappings of the large household facing destruction in the sunlit Connecticut countryside of the early thirties bring the essential everydayness to that terror that is the basic of such stories. There is a consistency of character, time and place that properly compliments the plotting and is admirable enough to almost-but not quite-make us forgive the loose ends and missing links.

proving himself a very good character actor indeed, and Peter Ustinov doubling, with his usual suavity and worldly wit, as actor and director. The fault is with the predictable and plodding screenplay provided by Stanford Whit¡ more, whose previous credits range from the slightly-above-average Your Cheatin' Heart down to the abysmal Glory Boy, also known as The Old Man's Place.

And none of the four very good performances on screen can save the film which, one supposes, the producer, J. Cornelius Crean Films, Inc., intends to sell on big names alone-since the high-powered ptess agent firm hired thereby didn't even have the last reel on hand at its critics' screening. But no last eighteen minutes could (or actually did, since our guesses about the ending proved accurate) save the preceding sluggishness.

Burton, consciously controlled and cool (in contrast to the ossification exuded by his recent screen appearances), plays Hammersmith, a mad murderer in an insane asylum who lures a moronic guard into releasing him with the promise of untold wealth.

"Gee-we could even have things we don't want-wow!" drools the guard's equally moronic truelove, a waitress with heart of gold. And Beau Bridges, as the redneck nose-picking guard, Miss Taylor, as the lusciously effulgent (but pleasingly non-bulgy) lady, are pure delight as Burton guides them up the ladder, from syndicate-topping in the rackets to patent-medicines to Texas royalty to international super-royalty to the lady's realization that motherhood is all and Hammersmith's that the redneck, inseparable his finger and nostril, has got to go. And through it all, Ustinov, as the side-commentary asylum doctor, is in hot pursuit, to get Hammersmith in-before he gets out again. But alas, the four actors creating truly dimensional characters, are¡ indeed in search of an author, let alone a screenplay.

The second in the New Yorker Theater's series of eight foreign-film premieres is I Love You, I Kill You, a 1970 German first film by Uwe Brandner that has been through four film festivals garnering only "best first feature" at Chicago-and heaven only knows what the competition was. We can't imagine. This is a strictly-from-closeups near-dialogueless near-motionless motion picture, an allegory of a ritualHammersmith Is Out is another of ized society, involving a pretty little those heavy-handed "the criminally in- village inhabited by several bad actors sane are running the world" parables and a lot of self-conscious extras. It is that almost comes off-but not quite, for those with an overwhelming curiin spite of Elizabeth Taylor and Rich- osity about either German first films ard Burton giving their best perfor- or what they give prizes for in Chimances of recent years; Beau Bridges cago.

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Excep~

for New York, nobodys got acrowd that jumps like ours.

Join our crowd for cocktails and continental dining and dancing and laughing.

(When you're looking for a place to howl.)

31st at M Street in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. (202) 338-6600

The day we opened, our Capital had a new attraction.

llDH~e's

rv S~lar ~ seafood

Restaurant We overlook the Potomac at 9th and Maine, S.W. Washington, D.C. (202) 484-6300

A salty little club inside Hogate's Spectacular Seafood Restaurant.

Live entertainment, spiffy dancing, swell suppers.

(And cocktails till 2 am.)

Overlooking the Potomac at 9th and Maine, S.W., Washington, D.C. (202) 484-6300

NEWYORK

71

J, Comellua Crun Fiims ,.,.... ft/I Alu: Lucas production. Directed bY Peter Ustinov. SU.rs Elizabeth T•ylor, Richard Burton, Ustinov, Buu Brldaea. · Screenpl•y, Sunford Whltmol'9; c:emera (color)1 Richard H. Kline: film editor, Davia Bl-ltt; Mill Tay1or's costumes, Edith Head; music, Dominic Frontlere, lyrics, Sally Stevens; sound, Nell Brunnenbnt.

Jim Bullock, Norrnen Suffern. Revl-ed at Trans-Lux Wut Thelltre, N.Y., April 1!i. '72. (MPAA Retina: R). Runnln1 Time: 1.. MINS.

Jlmmla J•n Jackson . . Elizabeth Teytor Hemmersmlth .... , , . . . . Richard Burton Doctor .. , ... .......... , .. . Peter Ustinov Billy Breedlove . . . . . . . . . . BMU Brld8" Gen. Sam Pembroke , • . . • • Leon Ames Dr. Krodt . . .. • • . . . . . . . . . . . . Leon Akin Henry Joa .. .. . .. .. . • .. .. . John Schuck Guido scartuccl . . . . . . . . . . Georp Reft Princess .. . .. .. .. . .. .. Marjorie EktOn Kiddo ..... .. , .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. Uu Jak Miii Qulm •• .. ••...... Unde Gaye Scott Fet Men ......... ". .. .. . . M•I ~ 'Oldham · ... . ..... : . . • • Anthony Holl•nd Pete Rutter • • . . . . • • . . • • Brook Wllll•ms Cleopatra . . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. .. . Carl Donn Duke ••.. ..... ·-"· .. . . • • Jose EsplnOZ9

The audience that aaw and liked the Burtom In "Boom" mQ appreciate what 1oe1 on In "Bammenmitb Ia OUt" but it im't llte1Y that they'll underatancl tbla one e it h e r . What 11, apparentl7, an exerclae In apoofeey on the part of Elizabeth Taylor, Jlichard Burton and the even more enersetlc Peter Uatlnov, atarll aa a variation ·OD the Faust lesend but almost J.m.. mediately turn• Into a belabored antic that eventually breaks down into a dependence on qht 181• and abocb appeaL The somewhat aketcb)' acreen· play of Stanford Whitmore la no more than a line on which the three prlnclpa:la, joined by a younger and equally irreverent ta-lent, Beau BriQee, han1 their rarely inspired improviiatlona.

Only Miu Taylor ls given plenty of opportunity for expoaure-movinl from a waltreu In a huhhouae tbroUlh the various stages of ·Brid1e1' aucceu u the tool of the Mepblatophellan llammenmith (Richard Burton> until she and the devil complre aplmt the UDfortunate youth. She looks terriftc tbrou1hout and alllloat makes aenae of the ridlculoua tlgure.

Burton, aa the lunatic Hammeramith who flee• the asylum with the connivance of male nune Brid1e1 by· promlalng him un· world1Y ricbea goes tbroulh the ftlm with a i\niie <Ustinov told him to "never cloae bla eyes'') bored expreulon. Bridles LI aleaz7 and repulsive and well duervinl of bis fate. Ustinov, as the uylum keeper, committed to -recapturinl Bammenmlth, would be funnier If bis llnu, spoken with an un· tellllfoble "mad acientltt" accent, could be underMood.

One of the better performances in the ftlm i• glven by John Schuck as He.~I')' Joe, a Te:ua oil millionaire ha tJaere any other klndT>, but moat of the supporting roles are veritable walk-ems, aucb as George Raft, aeen briefly u nltel')' owner.

The entire ftlm WU financed by Califomia mobile home manufacturer J. Comellus Crean with all the prlnclpala worklnl for a percenta1e. ·P erhaps he'd be beat ad· viled to stick to trallen and forget about features.

Robe.

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ol the lour very :o~dt ;!~~~~~~:~a_off, but none R. Burton p Ustinov d

by E. Taylor, save. this hea~·handed .~~ B~eau) Br~dges-can running the world" e c minally insane are and plodding screen~:'::b~ lrolm Its Predictable · ran- ux East, 3rd Ave nr 58th (Pl 9 226 (BU 8-3180); Trans~J~u;r~:';tluBxd85th, at Madison 1355).

• way at 49th (265Hannle C8Ulder-R ·-· aquel Welch stars In this film

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'·-CllAlllUS,•.-

Bllabeth Taylor. Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov. Beau Bridges in

~==--llAM~MERSMllH 11/fH I

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NOW THRU TUES.

Eve. 7:2t aud 9:20/Adult I.SI Mat. Th~n•• Sun. 2:00 and 3:55 Twilight Price Good ·1or I: 55 Show Only

¡uGet me out CJf here.

I can make you rich and strong.

Strong and rich}'

Wednesday, May 24, 1972

17

Not since National Velvet?

J. CORNELIUS CREAN presents "HAMMERSMITH IS OUT" starring Liz Taylor,.Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov, Beau Bridges

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Wedneeday, May 24; 1972

· J. CORNELIUS CREAN presents "HAMMERSMITH IS OUT" starring Liz TB:ylor, Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov, Beau Bridges

tf qjtlt 1ttl1mt11 ]ournal and t:UNSTITU'l'ION . rOSTMARK: HOLLYWOOD '

Liz's Film Is Loaded

With News

By SCOTT CAIN Is Out" is :}oaded with statistics.

- It is tile tenth movie ~r for Elizabeth Tayloi: n tl Richard Burton, t h e ~s · be i 11 g "Cleopatra," 'The VIP1s," '"Virginia Woolf." "Sandpiper." "Tam~· of the Shrew," "Come118ns." "Faustus." "Boom" anc1 "Under Milk Wood."

- Burton Is not Miss Tay.Jar's love interest in "Hamwsmith Is Out." Beau Bridles' has the romantic lead ~ Burton is cast as a master criminal who shows 'them 2low to get rich quick.

- Miss Taylor, in the role of an ambitious waitress, bas . . .dy won a prize for this :pew movie. She was nam~ :best actress at t h e Berlin 'Tllm Festival. _.'fhe honor is ,,..more importaQt to me than 1l e biijgt!st .. iiwel I could ~y," she says.

- Peter Ustinov got the best director award from the Berlin festival for "Hammersmith."

- Beau Bridges has been in movies almost as long as Miss Taylor. He was in "The Red Poay" in 1948 and she had gotten her start in 1943-44 with "N$ional V e I v e t ' ' a n d ~ie Come Home."

- Edith Head, who designed Miss Taylor's costumes for · ~mersmith," h a s been "lJDlninated fot an Academy IAWard 32 times a n d won ~ammersmith

~ven.

ANNE BANCROFT, w h o

appears as Churclilll's mother in "Young Winston," is as communicative as e v e r . '."ftlere it is on the screen. I do my job. If I have succeed61 in making the character liw, that is what I am there for. No amount of talking about it or telling about my 'Personal life makes one bit of

difference."

"PAT GARRE'IT and Billy the Kid," the new Sam Peck·

will .atar. James ii "'1llllreU .and Krts 91triltofferson as Billy the Kid. ~ ~

;warn

HERE IS a choice assignment: Robert Preston will be

Beauregard Jackson Pickett BurMide, Auntie Ma m e's cavalier, in "Mame." This is Preston's first musical movie since "The Music Man." HERE IS a quote from Pat Ast, who played the rotund and amorous ~otel landlady in "Heat:" "Fat is beautiful."

''THE MECHANIC" reJX"esents a reunion in several respects. Charles Bronson, the star, and Michael Winner, the director, have worked together previously, notably on "Chato's Land." Bronson's wife, Jill Ireland, is the film's leading lady. They have appeared together several times, most recently in "The Valachi P,apers,"

COLlJMBIA Pictures announced that "The Valachi Papers" had grossed $1,052,000 ln one week. 'This is a record for the company. The figure was reached at 35 theaters in 21 Cities.

BEAU BWDGES, EUZABETH TAYWK ~ ·n&\1.\fhKS.'Wll'l'H IS OllT' .

Peter Ustinov DJrected Ftlm That Won Berlin Festival Awards

ing house matron who sets her

e y e on J o la n Wayne in "Wednesday Morning," which is being ~ilmed in Mexico.

Gary Grimes, George Kennedy and Neville Brand are also in the movie.

THE WORLD premiere of "Snowball E:a:press" will be held in Denver on Dec. 21.

This is the ne..v Disney comedy starring Dean Jones and Nancy Olson.

A

RELIABLE

American

actor, Henry Silva, who was especially g o o d in "G~ Mansions," seems to be the latest to enjoy ~ great ~ pean .vogue. He's malting "L' THE DRACULA series has Insolent," a gangster movie, not run its course. Ever be- in Paris. fore "Dracula A. D. 1972" THE LA TEST addition to reaches Atlanta, word comes that "Dracula Is Dead and Well and Living in London" is going into production. Christopher Lee is the star, naturally. Peter Cushing is also in the movie.

RICHARD Jaeckel, who is 45, seems to have been in movies forever but, in iact, has been an actor a mere 29 years. "1 was working for 35 bucks a week in the mailroom at 20th Century-Fox, waiting to be called into seriice," he reminisces. "They grabbed me for the role in that first picture ('Guadalcanal Diary') because I was the only guy around. All the others were alre!!df in the service." Jaeckel subsequently served t h r e e years in th.! Merchant Marine.

H i s secret of staying fit? "~ou out ul.ir' watch n lay off the

Ce.

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A V E T E R A N actress, Marie Windsor, plays a board-

"The Love Bug Rides Again" is Stefanie Powers, whose first Disney movie was "1be Boatniks."

. THE CANADIAN premiere of "The Great Waltz" the

n e w movie about Johann StraullS, was held in Toronto in the same Uteater where "2001" had a world record run of . mwe than t w o years.

MGM, needless to say, hopes "The Great Waltz" will do equally as well.

Every love dnr. has t\\O sides_ ~....IL tf;"oks that dorit ~~~KWY J

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ElizabethTaylor Richard Burton star in ~

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Divorce; His Divorce; Hers" blight Part I

bnorrow Part II

A\\brld Ptemiere

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1Uesday/Wed~ Movie of the Week

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epen s on Gimmick Thrills (surprise') nothing I8 1·t ful' w Later Ellen sees ·the body of a Suspeftlle · ell, .com· which should h~ve all kinda of woman' also with a •lit thro t, pared to most modern thrillers, possibilities, im't used to full in the' same chair. Again, the last 20 minutes L-n't bad in advantage and gives a jJerformpolice fmd nothing. that department. If you're a .fan ance Clllly more animatDoubts ...._.. 0 8 of the real classic thrlllen of ed than Harvey s.

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And it goes on.....this way, with the ~st• though, you•ll be dis••..-- ViolHce Hollywood rating: PG-Par- Ellen doubting her •anity and 80 appomted. The film makes no A note to parents: There is forth, f<ir much too~long. To say attempt to I!~, but only tries very liWe profanity In the ijlm, ental guidciiace suggested. . more would give away the end· to s~ock, the viewer. no sex and no nudity except for

By Mike Deupree ing.

Director Brian G. Hutton a totally unnecessary shot of The advertisement for "Night Lang, as Appleby, and White- ("Where Eagles Dare", "1:Celly's somebody's backside. There Watch" says positively no one law, as the friend, give convinc· H~roes") depends for thrills on isn't much Niolence, either but will ~ admitted during the last ing performances, which in this tJ'!ck c~era shots, ~ly what there is is quite ll'aphlc.

20 mmutes. · film is enough to distinguish 1D1Sleading plot convolutions, m- If fOU are among those who That's a shame, because the them. truslve theme mu~c and a few belieVe such things have a detri· last 20 minutes is pa2sable. Harvey, wearing his pained quarts of tomato Juice. mental effect on younpters, What they should do is keep expl'etll!ion throughout, plays the Even the abandoned house, better leave Junior at home. ~pie . out for the first hour, same role he always plays which isn't. whether cm as Genghis Khan' Briefly, the plot revolves or Jesus Christ. around Ellen Wheeler (Elizabeth Neither ls it a showcase for Taylor), her husband, John Taylor, whose comiderable tat· (Laurence Harvey), and her ents are throttled by lines like best friend, Sarah (Billie White- "Living isn't important-life ~ law). important," and "A lie is such a Sarah is visiting with John small b e t r a y a I , • ' and and Ellen in a an old IA>ndon "EEEEAUGHHH!!" home, next door to an abanMiss Taylor portrays an emotionally undoned house. The three are livstable woman who insists she has seen a ing in the house that was the bloody corpse in the eerie old house next NIGHr WATCH, directed by boyhood home of Mt. Appleby door to her own. However, no one else, Brian G. Hutton from a · (Robert Lang), who has fallen including her husband (Laurence Harvey), screenplay .·by · Tony Wil· on hard times and now tend! has seen it, and the police can't find any uamson and starring Eliz· the garden plot by the abanabeth "Taylor, Laurence trace of it. The plot thickens - yes, it does doned house next door.

- when she insists she has seen a second Harvey and Billie White· "Night Watch". with Eliza· beth Taylor, Laurence Harvey and Billie Whitelaw. A Joseph ~· Levine and Brut Productions presentation, releaaed

by Avco Embassy. At the World theater.

Nf&tlt Visions Ellen, an insomniac, bas recurrent visioos of her dead husband, Carl, who died in an accident while cheating on Ellen Pacing the floor one night (is it necessary to note that this o c c u r s during a thunder· 21!>rm?), Ellen !lees, through a window in the abandoned house, the body of a man sitting in a chair, his throat slit.

Naturally upset, she calls the cops, who investigate and find

:ie

law, got 3 favorable re~ews (Howard Thompson, T1.111es; Ann Guarino, News; Tay\ lor);·~ mixed °(Alpert) and .11 negative (Molly Haskell, . · Vllfage . Voice; W_insten, Kissel, R"eed G~lmis, Drew, Zimmerman: -Simon, Gilli· att, Chase, Wolf). · Howard Thompson: ·~Uza· beth Taylor~ and about time, has got herselt a good pie· ture and a whQdunit at that.

More than one Mus_ic Hall patron seemed to be st~­ bling from the first .sbowmg of 'Night Watch' in stunned delight at the windup, a gbr· geously brazen, logical swin· dle. Seldom, at least recently, has a mystery carpet-yank· ing been so effective, espedal· ly after a familiar suspense . · setup. that seems to be care· lessly shedding red herring.

This is the one about the rich jittery wife who howls murder about the empty old house next door. She saysor thinks-She has seen two bloodied · corpses, at. intervals. through the . w_indow.

The deliciously cunning post· script may make you feel like a perfect fool. Once in a while It's ,fun." At Radio City Music tdall. . .

'JiP!b'

body. The end is convoluted, but logical; to reveal it would be a gross injustice.

You'll have to find out for yourself.

fi\rnJ

a series of emby Betty Wise • Aft~r barrassing failures, Elizabeth Taylor has finally regained her dramatic stature.

Aided by an excellent supporting _cast, s~e . her finest performance since Vrrturns 1n . , N" ht ginia Woolf in Joseph E. Levine s rg

Watclr. d. . th A thriller in the classic tra itton, e film was directed by Brian Hutton, who draws the viewer inexorably into the st~ry as clues are revealed at the most appropriate dramatic moments. You"ll second-guess all the way - and still be surprised.

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Avco Embauy rel•se ot • Brut ductlon1 presenbltlon. Stars Elizabeth T•Ylor, Uiuni.- Harvey; BUiie Whitelaw. ~laced by Martin Poll, Georae w. ...._._ Bllrnard StNus. Directed by Brian G. Hutton. Screenplay, Tony Wllllam10n, baaed on Lucille Fletcher's pl•YJ llCklltlonlll di•loa by Evan Jonell cadl~ (Technicolor), amy wmi.1111; art ·--r. Pwter Murton; editor, John .IYmoloni IOUnd editor, Jonathan B11t91; muslc, JOlln C."*'Ol'I; 90llS. "Tiie Nllht Hu Many E,..," mulic by Geor. . Barrie; IYrlC:S. Sammy Cllhn. Revlew9d et N.Y. ICl'Mnl"I _ room, Aulo 7, '73. (M""" :ftlnl-f'GJ. Runnlna Time: 1• MINI. len Wh..... • . . . • .. • EllDbetll TQIOr John Wh...., . . • • • • . . Ui-.ce Hlliwy S8,.h Cooke • • . . • • . . . . Biiiie WhiWlaw App19br • • • • • • . . . • .. • . • . .. Robert Llnl Tony .. · . • • . . • • • . • .. . • . • • • • Tony Britton W.lkw •• .. .....••• 8111 Deen

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DolONI • . • • • • • • • • • • . . • • ROl8rlo Sernno

secretalrtrr . . . . . . .. . .. . Pauline , , . _ G 1n car • . . • .. • . • • • • • • Und1 Hayden

Cllrl . . . . .. • . . . .. • • .. • • • • . . Kevin Ccil10n Ftorllt • • .. • • .. • • • • . . . . LAon Mayblnke

ILudlle Fletcher's "Nilht Wlltcb" isn't the Int average ata1e pl117 to be turned into a better bn averase ftlm. CfnemaUc vel'lion, while not of award calibre, is an improvement on the Broadway vehicle. Kore astute direction and an improved cut more than help.

Eliabeth T117lor, whoae forte BeeDll to be more and more that of the htlhly neurotic female, dominates the dOlDll in thl• TOD)' WilUalDIOn ada,,tatlon of tlhe .Fletcher pMJ <with additional dialOI by Evan Jones, whatever that means>.

Brian G. Hutton, who helmeci the femme star ID "X Y and Zee" and Richard Burton in "Where Eaglet Dare," makes the mollt of the 11111eatec1 violence in the llm Hmd that Is where It remains. aq1ested, until a brouhaha amon1 the ftlm'• three principal• at the end).

The switch ending ls, actually, teleanphed by a dlselosure made by the police inspector and the scripter1 .are 1ullty of draulnl one or two small red herrlnc1 acrou the trail but moat viewers won't pea the outcome until well alont ID the plot. The bluest demand on the audience•• credlbWt7 is bellevin1 that anyone in hla rilht mind would want to leave the -beautiful T117lor for the liket of Blllle Whlteln, an excellent actreu but no prime aample of feminine pulchritude. It suggests madnea on the part of. hUl'balld Laurence Harvey (flnt..nte In the role).

Purely commercial fare, "Nl1ht Watch" <which hows this week at Radio Cit)' Mualc Hall> llhould do well .by producers Martin Poll, George W. Geol'le and Barnard Straus. All technical alJ)ecll are excellent, particularly the lush decor PQ>Yided by art directJor Peter Murton and captured -by the camera of Billy Wi1Uam1.

IBeaides the etar.-blllecl threesome, the most lmprealve pe~ formance la that of RoJ>ert Loe u the more-than-lnqulaltlve bachelor neighbor. Tony Britton, seen brlefiy as T117lor's doctor; Bill Dean, as bhe police lnapeetot and Rosario Serrano as the Spanish <why Spanish?> housekeeper are lood within the Umltatlon1 of thelr roles.

John Cameron•s score iii adequate but the addition al a IODI, "The Nllbt Baa Many '&7•" ClllUllc b)' ·Brat cblef Georle Barrie and lyrics by Sammy Cahn> could pro"ficle another exploitation Robe. leg to .,_......_._......

Wedne8day, June l~ 1972

65

&EOR&E W. &EOR&E & BARNARD S. STRAUS . ·

present .

,,,,-

A Play of Suspense by •

LUCILLE FLETCHER

· .

THANKS TO JOAN HACKETT FOR HER APPEARANCE IN THE BROADWAY STAGE VERSION, . MOROSCO THEATRL NEW YORK.

·THANKS TO ELIZABETH TAYLOR FOR HER APPEARANCE IN THE POLL/GEORGE/STRAUS , MOTION PICTURE VERSION, NOW SHOOTING, LONDON.-ELSTREE STUDIOS.

THANKS TO HONOR BLACKMAN FOR HER FORTH- .

COMING APPEARANCE IN THE COONEY I GEORGE/STRAUS LONDON STAGE VERSION, OPENING SEPTEMBER, 1972.

And for Broadway, 1972-13, George W. George and Barnard S. Straus present (in Association with Nat Shapiro), "UP!" the first musical of the future at the new URIS Theatre, music by Galt McDermott, lyrics by Christopher Gore, musical · book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, entire production conceived and directed by Peter Hall.

.

She Ages Daily for New Film

By Joyce Haber © 1973 Los Angeles Times

There are intriguing goings-or in Cortina, Italy, where producer Dominick Dunne and di· rector Larry Peerce arelftlming "Ash Wednesday" for Paramount. Elizabeth 'Paylor, who plays a 55-year-old dowager, undergoes a rugged three-hour-aday makeup s~ssion.

In the original screenplay by Jean.Claude Tramont, Elizabeth .has ~sically gone to ashes. To save her marriage to her husband, played by Henry Fonda,

Elizabeth Taylor From bags to beauty

she travels to· Italy for cosmetic surgery: Complete-a lift of the eyes, face, breasts, hips, etc.

Cosmetician Alberto De Rossi, who touched up the bags under Anna Magnani's eyes, will put them on for the beautiful Elizabeth.

Miss Taylor, by the by, winds up "Wednesday" next month and heads for Rome with her very real live husband, Richard Burton. They'll probably star in separate movies, though Richard's is undecided.

Elizabeth's is called "The Driver's Seat." It's a creepy story about a woman with an uncontrollable compulsion to have herself murdered. Taken from a novella 1• by super-taleteller Murial Spark, the film is I directed ~y Petroni Griffi, and produed by Franco Rossellini.

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To Radiant Liz Taylor IXON'S still iii the White House, aubways and buses at'e going up to 60 cents a ride, the energy crisis predicts there won't be any oil or gasoline for the next five years, the theater is dead, we're all going to freeze to

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death this winter, taxes are skyrocketing while income remains fixed, the crime wave is zooming, there won't be any Christmas ligh~s this year, and the war is still a threat in the Middle East. I guess it's not the proper time to talk about Elizabeth Taylor's face-lift.

Still, that's what I get paid for. Tbe world 'ts falling apart, the light bulb in my desk lamp flickers unhealthily- while I type, and everybody in my apartment building will have to move unless we can find some way to repair the roof without paying an already-estimated $1,000,000 none of us can afford.

And here I sit, in. the middle of world crisis and local catastrophe, trying to think of some way to break the news about Elizabeth Taylor's face-lift.

It happens in a new movie called Ash Wednesday.

It's playing at Loew's State 2 and Loew's Cine, where I'm told Con Ed is providing enough electricity to keep the "exit" siP'nl'I glowing in the dark in case anyone faints dlll'ing the operating table sequences. I didn't. I watched the fascinating closeups of skin being hacked and peeled away, stitches tightening up the eyalids, and Elizabeth Taylor being overhauled like the Bride of Frankenstein, and all I could do was think "The lady has courage." She first appears, a mass of wrinkles and chins and liver spots, ready to under!JO cosmetic surgery to save her failing marriage to Henry Fonda.

The lift procedUl'e is eloquently explain.ed, the aging makeup magnificently accurate without being exaggerated, the cell therapy administered to retard her aging process after the operation-you might call it a textbook for audienci: candidates. I saw the film at a screening filled" with iocialites and celebrities. Several of ~hem booked !light& to Switzerland before the end titles. ' The courage continues. The star re-appears, her mummy bandages masking the ruin of 'bruise& and sores. And then, voila! The surgeon unveils his masterpiece with the pride and pageantry the royal pastry cook must hav-e felt after spending eight weeks on Princess Anne's wedding cake. The triumphant result is an Eli£1abeth Taylor who hasn't looked so radiant or so youthful since .i\ Place in the Sun.

Gasps, then applause. Then more gasps throughout the movie, as she re-enters scene after seen~, like the Heavenly creation she used to be before she discovered the Transvaal diamond. It's more about the metamorphosis of Elizabeth Taylor than anything else, and as one of her most active detractors in recent years, I can only say it's a genuine pleasul'e to welcome her back like a lost Rembrandt. She's gone through so many bad directors and so many rotten scripts in the ,ast few years, looking like one of the Cockettes, that it's a thrill to watch her come to her senses. Gone is the screeching voice and the truckdriver's &lump. Gone are the costumes that looked like Halloween pumpkins. It's the first time she's given anything approximating a real pet'formance in years. It's the first tim ' en com e her hair in s e a n een a Beyond The Forest.

Ash Wednesday gives her a new career as well as a new face. It took a · strong director to do it instead of the usual hacks she oveJTUles with her flair for bad taste, and Larry Peerce fills the shoes with powerful persuasion. The first thing he did was fire that miserable hairdresser whose designa for Taylor's head ha,•e for years made her hair look Hke a rat's nest glued in place with ceiling wax. Next, he washed off all the purple makeup

and threw out the trashy clothea that made hef rook like a Miami Beach rummage sale in Hammer& smith Is Out and X,-Y and Zee. And he even get a performance. In Aah Wednesd!IY1 &he's subtle, sensi• ' tive, glowing with freshness :and .~auty, 00 pound.a lighter in weight; her hair iii coiffed simpl7" her clothes ravishing, her makeup a symphony of perfection. For those who grew up in love ·with Elizabeth Taylor (I assume we are legion) this movie is pure magic. She is once again the kind of star marquees light up for. : What? You ask rbout what? The plot. Well, ' there is one, sort of. After going through hell tlli get Henry Fonda back, her daughter arrives to hel1il her through this difficult adjustment period, see, I and when she sees that her mother has turned into!

Elizabeth Taylor-well, it's enough to make a girl go home and burn all of her old copies of Ms. Next to Elizabeth Taylor, the daughter looks ; like : :aria Ouspen~kaya. Helmut Berger, a richl hustler cruising the ski slopes, takes her to bed and shows hl!I' there's a new life out there waitinlf· to he lived; Henry Fonda doesn't want her even with the face-lift, and it ends with every man for himself. It's the kind of movie Ross Hunter would give up his mink bathroom to produce-elegant, tasteful, brainless soap opera made with supernatural class. It's not so much what the movie is about, or what anybody says or does. that matters. It's the way the whole thing is shaped and designed, the way it jells, that makes such a fabulously entertaining _movie: It embodies the fashion and drama and delicious escapism that we . u&ed to go to the movies to see. It's romantiea1ly updatelf BarbllC'a Stanwyck with hollandaise sauce, and I hope it makes a zillion dollar•.

The Women's Lib gang is furious, claiming the film imples that SeX appeal and be'auty are only skin deep, and is therefore insulting to women. An old cliche, and that's not what the movie is about anyway. Besides, who are the kidding? An one who J!refers Bett Friedan i t · m ur e nes ay is e m o slic entertainment that rises above its clichf!s and defies ordinary nit-picking.

What amuse& me is the hostility with which it has been greeted by the female critics. It's such harmless schmaltz that doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is-jolly escapism, sumptuously mounted and entertainingly gift-wrapped. Why attack it so violently? Have you ever seen the distaff portion of the New York critics? OK. Then you know why ·they're uptight. Most of them know that even if they could blow $5,000 on a face-lift, after they were teconstituted, refurbished and simonized, there still ain't no way they're gonna look like Elizabeth Taylor. The defense rests.

~~__;___~~~~~~~~~~,,..--~----~~--~~~~-

-'Ash Wednesday'Poor Attempt "Ash Wednesday," the new. Elizabeth Taylor movie, is like one of those National Enquirer headlines come to life: "Uz Has Facelift, Hubby Doesn't Know, Then Doesn't Care."

Poor old Uz playi • a fiftyish hag (presumably in makeup, this is the level of the inovie) who undergoes one of those "body sculpture" operations in Switzerland. <Not only a facelift, but a lift all over). The purpose is to save her cooling marri..ge with her equally aging Detroit executive spouse (Henry Fonda). She invites him over to a plush Alpine resort <Cortina) and hits him with the new Liz all at once. Would you believe it doesn't work? So much for the wonders of plastic surgery.

Plenty of Talent

This flick has considerable talent behind the eamera' Director Larry Peerce, of "Goodbye Columbus" and "Separate Peace." Composer Maurice Jarre ("Dr. Zhivago"), who supplies a moody and catchy soft piano background. Clever editors who provide a fascinating· montage of stills, to begin the film, showing Taylor and Fonda in their youths, apparently getting married, and slowly growing middleaged before your eyes.

But nobody seemed to know where the movie was going or why. Possibly a women's lib angle could have saved· it.

The humiliation of the aging woman, the double standard, that sort of thing.

But if it's there, the audience baa to

supply it. Just as· ~ey have to supply the obvious, It Takes More Than a New Body To Save a Marriage moral. If that's your view, though, you'll be fed up with "Ash" in the first half-hour.

Long and Tedious The movie gives us a pitiful heroine who really hopes restored youth will do it. The film seems to root for her. We watch the whole operation in excruciating clinical detail, with all· the science-knows-best aura of "Marcus Welby." We wait (for nearly an hour) while Liz slowly gets gorgeous, and all the young guys begin to do double takes. It is pure matronish fantasy, right out of the Ladies Home Journal.

Fonda keeps being delayed (he is attending somewhere to a new young thin&>, and just as Uz and all of us are about to .die of boredom, her divorced daughter (Margaret Blye) jets in to ooh-and-ah. She .advises Uz to dump Daddy and go male-hunting back at the lodge.

(She overflows with perceptive lines, like this one about the "other woman": "She's younger than you are, maybe that. helps him forget he's older."> So soon Mom is in the boudoir being happy with a shifty-eyed blond gigolo (another decadent role for Helmut Berger, who has mastered the art of being rotten). · When Fonda finally arrives - it's like waiting for the train to come at the end of "High Noon" - be is colder than an on-tipped waiter. On the operation: "I thought of doing it mylelf."

On his moral responsibilities: "I juat want to live. Haven't I eamed it?" On her infidelity, after she has shown him her scars and la weeping on the bed: "I'm happy for you. I knew you could handle it." His final words, as the train leaves: "Be happy."

'ft!e problem, obviously, la that none of the characters are worthy of the 'Situation. With people like that, you need a soul lift. (The actors work hard.

Mila Taylor is very 1ood and very beautiful. Fonda seems to have the attitude of take-the-money-and-nm.> The creepiq ennui is worse than in the recent Burton-Taylor TV film, "Divorce His, Divorce Hers," where at least there was some verbal fireworks.

The fountain of youth disease is clearly relevant to our hedonist culture, and at times director Peerce does aeem to play for satire. There is a male photographer (Keith Baxter), multiface-lifted, who goes about malr:inl witticisms on all the young-looking zombies in the hotel. <"They accept each other for what they pretend to be"). At one point he spies Uz coming out of Mass. "You muat need help if ~t's your idea of a good time," he says. "Trust in me. I can do a lot more for you than He can."

Unhappily, the movie seems to agree in the end: if only Liz had rotten her operation sooner. Or, what dol!a she need Fonda· for now that she's sexy again?

One fear of 'Ben-Hur' Recalls That AlGM's Thanksgiving Was Nov.18, '59 r

Ben-Hur ___.. Continued from pace 1 -:--

it appears th11t Metro has recovered or is near reaching Its negative cost.

Simultaneous with the instantaneous click of "Ben-Hur," Metro's fortunes took a turn for the better.

With "Ben-Hur" serving as the Impetus and greatest coin collector, M-G losses trend was quickly reversed and the studio, which was showing a loss of $5,000,000 annually, began to register an annual profit. Dividend payments, withheld for several years, were resumed and Increased. And, perhaps most important, Metro regained It's status as the Tiffany of the business.

Other Grosses During its first year at Loew's State, the picture will have grossed more than $2,300,000. It has passed the $1,000,000 in five engagements -Boyd, PhiladelP,hia; Egyptian, Los Angeles: Michael Todd, Chicago; Coronet. San Francisco; Empire, London. It has exceeded $500,000 at the Saxon, Boston; Alouette, Montreal; University, Toronto; ~ coin, Miami; United Artists, ~ I troit; Warner, Washington; and Warner, Pittsburgh.

In addition to the New. York engagement, year runs will shortlJ be chalked up in Boston, L. A,.

Philly, Dallas, Montreal. London, San Francisco, Toronto, Chlcap, and Miami.

Moreover, the p~ture made a remarkable impact. It copped 11 Academy Awards, including the "best picture of the year," .the greatest number ever received bf any picture. The picture is al credited with starting a renovation boom, with Loew's State setting the pattern with $1,000,000 ftu:J!lifting prior to the picture's.. premiere. This set the pattern ftYr similar renovations by many ot.bcitheatres in key cities. · .

In addition to the critical acclaim the picture received, unique for a spectacle film, wBen-Hur" lauded in editorials, widely herald· ed from the pulpit, and the subject of tributes from commentators and opinion makers.

"Ben-Hur" ls probably the moat honored picture 1n history. In ad· dltion to the Academy Award, it was named the "best picture of the year!' by the N. Y; Film Critics..

Among its other awards are the ' Golden Globe as "best picture of the year" by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.; "best produced.i picture" by the Screen Producers t Guild; "best directed picture" by 1' ' the Screen Directors Guild· "best picture'.' ·by the American Foreign ' Language Press; ·"best drama Uf the year" by the Federation 1'f Motion Picture Councils. Moreover, "Ben-Hur" was presented .with a special certificate by the Natiot.al Conference of Christians and Jews for "outstanding leadership In promoting the cause of good will and understancJlng among all the people of the nation." The pieture, u well as individual11 con.uected with it, received numerous Other awards, includliig many from 1

i.o rw

c~uotdea.

A year ago on Nov. 18, 1959 "Ben-Hur" was unveiled for its first paid public showing at the Loew'a State Theatre, N. Y. The event marked a culmination of a trying period In Metro's history.

The c o m p a n y had aucessfully weathered two costly proxy fights.

In addlt.ion, the company's Income record had declined to ll dangerous level; In the midst of these mlsfortunM, prexy Joseph R. Vogel turned on the greenUght for the $15,000,000 production, rated at that time a "go for broke" gesture on the part of M-G. With "Ben-Hur" ready to mark its first annl next week, the wisdom of Vogel'• decision has become .1!1-ore than evident. By Nov. 18 Ben-Hur" wlll have had 325 worldwide openings, 55 overseas and 270 lo the United States and Canada.

The estimated total boxoffice grou 1a expected to reach $40,000,000 ·o n that date, with $30,000,000 cominl from domestic sources and $10,000,000 from abrGad. At this pace,

JANUARY 1961 TAB NEWS

BEN-HUR

-Lew Wallace

.

(adapted by Willis Lindquist) . .

Doomed to living death as a galley-ship slave, young Ben-Hur breaks away from ·his Roman captors during the confusion of a v'icious sea battle. Vengeance in his heart, he seeks out his one-time friend Messala-the arrogant Roman soldier who betrayed him and sent his mother and sister to prison! Here's the soul-stirring drama that has forged movie history-complete with its shattering climax . . . a chariot race that made thousands gasp!

-------

it. all, and at least as well: "That bird

w~th f~thers of blue/ Is waiting for you/

Right m your own/ Backyard."

The m_ovie ~ves evidence of having ~n heavily edited, probably in a Cuismart. A lot of indi;vidual shots do not ~atch. Once in a while, someone breaks mto song, suggesting that The Blue Bird may once have been a musical. Director Qeorge Cukor is one of the most urbane American film makers (Adams Rib, Holiday), but here both his good taste and characteristic sophistication have lapsed. Elizabeth Taylor. (who plays four roles, including Maternal Love), Ava Gardner (Luxury) and Jane Fonda (who, as Night, is decked out in a costume_ that makes her look like Ming the Merciless) camp it up like movie queens on an overseas promo junket. · Very little of the Soviet Union is.on

director Mike Gowans, make-up artist John O'Gorman, soundmixer Gordon Everett and special effects chief Roy Field.

Hi1h Praise For Liz This is the basic unit rounded up - ------when "Blue Bird" looked like a Union. Clara Reece has been a dead pigeon, to vary the metaphor, regular visitor to the USSR since and to turn the project around the 1950s and is familiar with this (after a 10-day suspension), and country's sights and sounds as·well give director George Cukor a better as with "The huge changes that than even change to come up with a have taken place in the past two strong boxoffice entry for all decades." As of May 18, she noted, tnarkets.

Tower has set up Tower Film Corp.

Berger went out of his way to - a motion picture subsid for a counter treatment of Elizabeth long-range program of Soviet Taylor in the expose columns. "A coproductions. One big project the Hollywood star," he said, "equates new film subsid has its eye on is witli talent, dollars and irreSi>onSergei Bondarchuk's forthcoming si_bility to most columnists. But "John Reed" - to roll as a Soviet- Taylor has been the backbone of the American-Mexican coproduction. project. 1-Jer three-month contraet Bondarchuk wants Warren Beatty becarne a six-month sojourn . She for the title role and talks to sign has been an incredible mainstay on him are under way, though Tower the film. A lot of negative publicity is not yet involved. has gotten into print, but throughout Miss Reece is not new in cinema. filming, she has been a pro in every She was a prime mover for Tower of the word."

Int'I on John Frankenheimer's "The Fixer" and gave MGM at that time a guarantee of Hungary's performance under a coproduction agreement. Her association with "The Blue Bird" goes back to 1968 when she saw a chance to copro- · duce with Russia under the British Cultural Exchange Agreement with the USSR. And Tower Int'I joined the act when Edward Lewis acquired screen rights to "Blue Bird." Over the years, she ~ted up to final agreement for currentjO'lllt~

TAYLOR IN THE BLUE BIRD

Cultural casualty.

view, save for a few actors badly dubbed a couple of dancers from the Kirov Bal~ let ai:id. several forests. The most charactensuc Russian moment comes in a duet between Will Geer and Mbna Washbourne. They portray the deceased grandparents of Tyltyl (Todd Lookin!and) and Mytyl (Patsy Kensit), the two intolerable cuties who have been dispatched _by Light (one of Miss Taylor's n~carnations) to search out the Blue Bi~d. On their mission, the kids visit the Veil of Memory, where they find Grandma and_ Grand pa snoozing. Soon after awakerung and greeting the kids, these two devout peasants sing a little tune about the melancholy restrictions of heaven. It seems that in paradise, Grandma and Grandpa are not permitted to work, and. they are chafing under such u~mly leisure. The kids are sympathetic, but continue their search for the Blue B~rd. G~ndma and Grandpa then lapse mto an impromptu imitation of all_prospective audiences for this film by gomg on the nod again.

J.C:

Her position on the 'Ru8llians is firm. "Once they sign an agree= ment they really keep to it. You can find problems on any mm and they had pleu1y .on 'Blue Bird' but try to understand what happens when you bring Hollywood and Hollywood life styles together with Soviet disciplines. It's day and night."

Ruuia's Stake

Miss Reece was unable to estimate what the Soviet end of the "Blue Bird" would come to. She believes Lenfilm and Sovfilm are putting up millions. "Add the ~t of the Kirov Ballet Company, The Moscow Circus, The Leningrad Symphony and composer Andre Petrov and you are into big numbers. In addition, the Russians are footing all below the line costs, the natural interiors and the locations and the big numbers get a lot bigger."

One of the key Americans men, tioned almost as often as that fateful May 18 is Yank producer Paul Maslansky. He took over on the date to restore active harmony while Ed Lewis stayed on as execuTIME. JUNE 14, 1976 tive producer. Maslansky speaks the language, knows Leningrad from the days of the Soviet-Italian "Red Tent" film, (one of the toughest physical productiOP.1 in the .b88ks) and has managed to whip up a new ·~rit de corps" on both sides.

"The project needed someone _ _ _ _ _ _ _.,...;o;;;;;;;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii;;;;;;~ who knew local mentality," Masrlansky remarked. "We also needed someone to supply technical inspiration and Freddie Young and his camera crew came in for that (Continued from pap 4) guess leaned toward an almost purpose." Only change in cast was even financial investment. It substitution of George Cole for ailremained for Clara Reece, exec ing James Coco. Otherwise, he with CyruS Eaton's Tower Inter- said, Eli7.abeth Taylor plays four national of Cleveland, to clarify the roles in a cast with Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Cieely Tyson, Robert unosual·arrangements. ·"W~ decided that each of the Morley, moppets Todd Lookinland partners will provide its share of (San Diego) and Patsy Kensit production," she said. "No money (British), Will Geer, Mona Washis exchanged. How can you put bourne and Richard Pearson.

On the Soviet thesp side are values on rubles and dollars? Each partner pays his own way in his ballerina Nadia Pavlova, Georgy own currency and no one looks into Vitzin, Margarita Terekhova, Olge the other's books. Tower is involved Popov (one of the world's top only to guarantee 20th Century-Fox clowns), Leonid Nevedomsky and . the Russian contract and the Rus- Eugene Tscherbakov.

The western conting_ent also insian performance under it."

CYnis Eaton and Cyrus Eaton Jr. cludes lyricist Tony Harrison, are long traders with the Soviet ~itor Ernest Walter, assis~aot

'Bluebird'

Liz Taylor And 'Blue Bird' Tuner

hlaiBP An American-Russian coproduction feature film is readying under

Edward Lewis as producer and with Hollywood oldtimer George Cukor set to direct. The chosen work is . ~~e early centurY.. metaphysical idyll, "The Blue Bird," written by · Mauric·e Maeterlinck of Belgium.

For the twin roles of "The Fairy" and "Light" in the symbolism Lewis has contracted Elizabeth· Taylor. Feature will classify as a musical.

Alfred Hayes and Colin Higgins joined in writing the screenplay.

Expectation is to start rolling in Leningrad by late autumn.

No details as to budget are. available, though Lewis speaks of "the most expensive musical ever made." The participation of the Russians may be in both cast and crew.

ll.S.-llSSR 'B·fue Bif.d' Now Alive, Oft Schedule ~-

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Lernngr41d, July22. pro.grams. Richard B.~·igtff .. ex- unit:" In Leningrad: on the .Baltic, plained: ···on· May 18, I ~rune in · ThedistributiondealremainsunGeorge Cukor has "The Blue"llli'd" with. Paul Maslansky forea hard changed. "We distribute the .film in again gaily flappmg its ·wings on look ~at the situation~ · Before .tQa.t; all non-Communist countries.- We course and chirping. tow.ard com- 2otb·"Fox.. .was only too distribUtor. havel00%-in the English-speaking i>letion in.no more than siX wee~ w:tmformed our studio thatthe countries. In the non:..EngJ!Sh time. The key date that !_laved the fihn would not be finished Unless we s~aking -countr_ies, we split witfi "Bird" irom a .fate"worse than· became nforeinvolv.ed.~' _the .Russians' 50-50. The Russians hashed s<}uab was May.18--a-Oate .:...1n a "$eriefs of swift moves~ 2oth~ .re~in two major markets~ Japan erigr.aved on the priilcipal Yank- -Eox became a partner -tn the ~ndJmliq," SoViet ·management teaui,.all pre- eopr.oductioiL..'._'We have' ~?.Dcial ... ·Orig.Wal estimates of 20th~Fox sent over the past.~e$~d ..at Ute cuntjol an~t· artistic '. ~c;introl,'_' finanCial ·participation will .have to Lenfilm Studios undertook to fil! c~_er.gei::: r-efated. Btit ·- w.e ·.Jmve 'b~, ...scrapped- though Berger this. Varietif rePQrter-in uii:ltow the r partners 'witfi.:futerests in- ..the -Pie-. hesitated to- nail down America's multi-_million doll_ar Il1usi~al fan..~jture a~ we1t·As·2! May 18, \Vetook new · oottom-line figure. From tasywasrescue<fandreact1vat¢. -·the _-~fma! _"dec~s1on - . for. · the _another management source, the · As 20th Century-_Fox veepee for -Russians, for the: actors and for-the - (Contiliuedonpage28) _

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YA14tl't director Mike Gowans, make-up artist John O'Gorman, soundmixer Gordon Everett and special effects chief Roy Field.

High Praise For Liz This is the basic unit rounded up ------------~when "Blue Bird" looked like a Union. Clara Reece has been a dead pigeon, to vary the metaphor, regular visitor to the USSR since and to turn the project around the 1950s and is familiar with this (after a 10-day suspension) , and country's sights and sounds as well give director George Cukor a better as with "The huge changes that than even cha~ to come up with a have taken place in the past two strong boxoffice entry for all decades." As of May 18, she noted, markets.

Berger went out of his way to Tower has set up Tower Film Corp.

- a motion picture subsid for a counter treatment of Elizabeth long-range program of Soviet Taylor in the expose columns. "A coproductions. One big project the Hollywood star," he said, "equates new film subsid has its eye on is witti talent, dollars and irresponSergei · Bondarchuk's forthcoming si_bility to most columnists. But "John Reed" ~ to roll as a sOviet- Taylor has been the backbone of the American-Mexican coproduction. project. ijer three-month contract Bondarchuk wants Warren Beatty became a six-month sojourn. She for the title role and talks to sign has been an incredible mainstay on him are under way, though Tower the film. A lot of negative publicity is not yet involved. has gotten into print, but throughout Miss Reece is not new in cinema. filming, she has been a pro in every She was a prime mover for Tower sense of the word.·· lnt'l on John Frankenheimer's "The Fixer" and gave MGM at that time a guarantee of Hungary's performance under a coproduction agreement. Her association with "The Blue Bird" goes back to 1968 when she saw a chance to cciproduce with Russia under the British Cultural Exchange Agreement with the USSR. And Tower Int'l joined the act when Edward Lewis acquired screen rights to "Blue Bird." Ov~r the years, she negotiated up to final agreement for I currentjo1nrproject Her position on the ~ is firm. "Once they sign an agree:: ment they really keep to it. You can find problems on any film and they had plenty on 'Blue Bird' but tr)' to understand what happens when you bring Hollywood and Hollywood life styles together with Soviet disciplines. lt'sday and night."

Russia's Stake

Miss Reece was unable to estimate what the Soviet end of the "Blue Bird" would come to. She believes Lenfilm and Sovfilm are putting up millions. "Add theco~tof the Kirov Ballet Company, The Moscow Circus, The Leningrad Symphony and composer Andre Petrov and you are into big numbers. In addition, the Russians are footing all below the line costs, the natural interiors and the locations and the big numbers get a lot bigger."

One o( the key Americans mentioned almost as often as that fateful May 18 is Yank producer Paul Maslansky. He took over on the date to restore active harmony while Ed Lewis stayed on as executive producer. Maslansky speaks the language, knows Leningrad · from the days of the Soviet-Italian "Red Tent" film, (one of the toughest physical productipP,f in the .books} and has managed to whip up a new ·~rit de corps" on both sides. ''The project needed someone who knew local mentality," Mas-------"""'"""";;;;;;;;-.;;;;,;;o_.iiiiiil .. lansky remarked. "We also needed someone to supply technical inspiration and Freddie Young and his camera crew came in for that (Continued from page 4) guess leaned toward an almost purpose." Only change in cast was , even financial investment. It substitution of George Cole for ailremained for Clara Reece, exec ing James Coco. Otherwise. he with Cyrus Eaton's Tower Inter- said, Elizabeth Taylor plays four national of Cleveland, to clarify the roles in a cast with Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Cieely Tyson, Robert unnsualarrangements.

"We decided that each of the Morley, moppets Todd Lookinland partners will provide its share of (San Diego) and Patsy Kensit production," she said. "No money (British) , Will Geer, Mona Washis exchanged. How can you put bourne and Richard Pearson. values on rubles and dollars? Each On the Soviet thesp side are partner pays his own way in his ballerina Nadia Pavlova, Georgy own currency and no one looks into Vitzin, Margarita Terekhova, Olge the other's books. Tower is involved Popov (one of the world's top only to guarantee 20th Century-Fox clowns) , Leonid Nevedomsky and _ the Russian contract and the Rus- Eugene Tscherbakov. sian performance under it."

The western contin~ent also inCYrus Eaton and Cyrus Eaton Jr. cludes lyricist Tony Harrison, Ernest Walter, assiStant are long traders with the Soviet editor . ' .

I

'Bluebird'

3 films that vary from· fine to lousy Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda. Poll the man in the street and he'll tell you they're both superstars.

Yet both have made recent films which have resisted commercial distribution until recently, wher. they both opened in New York on the same day, through some mystifying quirk of inexplicable timing. Both films have admirers and detractors; neither work is without fascination.

"A LlTl1.E NIGHT Music" was filmed in September 1976 by Harold Prince in Vienna. The movie version of the Stephen Sondheim musical, based on Ingmar Bergman's ..Smiles of a Summer Night," was changed from Sweden to Vienna in 1905 when it was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On stage, it was a Chekhovian piece.· The movie is more of a cream puff. It's more buoyant and ebullient than the stage musical and the emotions are more accessible for an audience. After a cynical unsettling period in American films, it was Harold Prince's hope that audiences would be ready for something more elegant, glamorous. Maybe they are. But not, apparently, the distributors. Made with independent financing, "A Little Night Music" has had an uphill climb in snowshoes. I know people who openly loathe it, and I·am at a loss to understand why.

I find it quite the most consistently stylish, intelligent and enchanting movje musical since "Gi&i.''

PRINCE HAS. DITCHED the lieder singers who Stephen Sondheim opened the play and moved him introductory passages into the old Vienna Opera House, where the or&hestra is tuning up, the taffeta rustles, the ur- House" seems universally modem. It is sumptuously chins in the peanut gallery settle down to the magic beautiful. Filmed in Norway, it has a Breughel where the white lie of Nora's life is reflect· that is about to unfold. The waltzers in the cardboard snowscape back at her in every wintry Scandinavian vista. setting out of their tableau, and the film com- edDavid Mercer's screenplay adds an eight-minute mences. ~- is orchestrated, like movements in a symphony, the actors waft in and out of their choreo- prologue showing Nora and her friend Kristine iceskating on a crystal lake and sipping hot cocoa while graphed couplings wrtb effortless poise and grace.

Filmed amid the shimmering woods and whipped contemplating marriage. Then it follows through the death of Nora's .father, her husband's illness. You see ~ream castles of Austria, the movie is a quadrille of JOY. The sets dazzle, the dances bewitch, the songs w"by she had to borrow money. You witness tb,i. her husband believed. You move into the enthrall. At the end, the cast is back oostage, taking deception bank where Torvald has become the boss. curtain calls. And in between, the audience e"periYou get the entire picture of the woman struggling ences wit, style, literacy and good taste. to subdue the child within her, intrigued by the quarterly payments and interests on her loan beMANY .OF TIIE Broadway creators have been _retained to ripen the peach: Patricia Birch, the c~use it makes her feel more like a man. You get the choreographer, F1orence Klotz, the costumer, and history of these characters, the confusion in their souls, plus an entire town coming to life in a sterile Hugh Wheeler, the librettist. blast of winter. The play is opened up to reveal Len Cariou recreates his role of Egerman with a rare combination of talent and presence. Laurence toboggan runs, sleigh rides, snowfalls and sunsets.

It's a real movie instead of a photographed stage Guittard plays the count vying for Egennan's mis- play. . tress' favors as a dragon with the vanity of a peacock and the brain of a pea. Hermione Gingold - powdTHE PROBLEMUES in the fact that Jane Fonda's ered and wigged beycmd recognition as the elderly tongue is so untutored for role:; that call for a period grandmother who dispenses sage advice with a wave awareness and not just the projection of a star of her sachet - has magic to do and does it with the personali . One doe:; not become an Ibsen heroine regal aplomb of a dowager empress stoned on Oval- overnight. tine. Lesley-Anne Down is wonderful as the dopey Roles Nora's complexity are not mastered on the virgin wife and Diana Rigg summons the necessary battlefields of Vietnam. And' the fact that her vitriol for the countess but also manages to show the Women's Ub activities left her too little time for vulnerabili(y beneath the mask. adequate rehearsal shows up in a painfully stock performance that had the exit doors banging shut in DIRECTOR PRINCE, FOR all of his evident flair, Cannes long before that final door in the Doll's bas made two mistakes: he has cut Glngold's great House. number "Liaisons," which shaped and defined her Trevor Howard, Edward Fox and David Warner role, and he has cast Elizabeth Taylor in the central are excellent, but Women's Lib has taken its toll on role of the temptress Desiree.

Delphine Seyrig, turning her from a lovely light into Taylor does not hog the movie. She moves through a hoin.ely grouse devoid of makeup or personal style. the ensemble with respect and humility, sings counterpoint with a lovely countenance, and manages "THE BIG SLEEP" is an unjustifiably sleazy re"Send in the Clowns" as well as the next non-singer. make of the Bogart classic by Raymond Chancller But she has none of the breathless, exhilarating with Robert Mitchum as private eye Philip Marlowe' glamour of Jean Simmons, Who electrified the stage this time pictured as an American expatriate i~ in London, and it is impossible to see why so many London living on scraps. One of the scraps leads to brigands drew so many swords and fought so many the country manor of an ancient, dying millionaire duels for her affections. She is also awkwardly, em- (Jimmy Stewart) who drawls: "You're looking at a barrassingly fat in a w~y that makes beaded gowns dull survivor of a rather gaudy life." (Not to mention bulge and matching shots a nightmare. a career that has seen better days.)

Still, "A little Night Music" is a movie musical that entertains and elevates. It is one of the few stage SEWOM HAVE! seen such terrible acting, such a musicals to make a successful crossing to the more literai·shores of film, keeping its reputation intact bad composition of scenes, or such a colossal waste of talent. Miles looks like she needs a new hairdresser and picking up additional charm en route. and a deodorant spray. Joan Collins, as "the only .JANE FONDA'S version of Ibsen's "A Doll's bookseller with enough sex appeal to stampede a House," directed by Joseph Losey was first unveiled businessman's lunch," hangs around to decorate the at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. The timing was scene,ry. Mitchum is craggy, intelligent and undercatastrophic. Fonda's political turbulence made her stated. It's all he can do to stay awake. . I can't help feeling the whole thing is unhealthy, box-0ffice poison, and to further complicate matters, Claire Bloom appeared in another film version of the smce we already have the old black-and-white version same play one week after the Fonda version prem- of ''The Big Sleep," running quite nicely for new generations to discover in cinematheques, revival iered in Cannes. · .

Under ~~!i ciPel!lfltiC ~nee, "A Doll's bQuse$ and film festivals.

A~Q~.\ .WASl\lll/'IGJPN1 ~ARCH 31, 1978

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Not the student Li lls for in her new TV-movie

Professor Taylor? That's a new one.

Everybody has heard of Taylor the equestrienne and Taylor the Queen of the Nile. There's Taylor the tamed shrew and Taylor on a hot tin roof. There was even Taylor the professor's wife. But Elizabeth Taylor a professor?

The producers of Hallmark Hall of Fame's TV drama, "Return Engagement"

But everyone knew that Elizabeth Taylor had never made an American TV drama, and no one expected her to make an exception to play a 46-yeor¡old schoolmarm who falls for a student. They sent her the script anyway.

To their surprise, she liked it, and agreed to star in it-on one condition.

She wonted approval over her costar.

(NBC, Nov.17), were just as incredulous at first. They had acquired the script about a middle-oged history professor with fading memories of her earlier song-and-dance career. The story was a touching one, they felt, but it needed someone special in the lead-someone whose glamorous past would seem eminently believable.

"Liz Taylor?" director Joseph Hardy hazarded half-seriously.

"Why not?" seconded executive producer Ron Hobin.

Like a duchess choosing diamonds, she spurned offering after offering.

Finally she cast the role herself. After seeing Holocaust and admiring Joseph Bottoms' performance as Rudi, she picked him.

Her instincts proved unerring. The two enjoyed working together in real life almost as much as their characters do in the movie. Bottoms ploys a student ' who rents a room from Profes5or Taylor.

Awkward and withdrawn, he spends his time alone fantasizing about show-+

TV GUIDE NOVEMBER 11, 1978

11

continued

business. While scrounging around a closet one day, he is astonished to come across her scrapbook -full of press clippings from her earlier days as a dancer. Why. she'd even been on The Ed Sullivan Show twice!

He confronts her-and she ends up performing with him in the school musical, the climax of which is a floaty pas de deux (previous page).

It was Liz's favorite scene.

Both characters learn from the experience. The businesslike prof (on campus, above left) feels charged with new enthusiasm (rehearsing for ploy. above right).

Her student gets o heady taste of the glamorous life he's dreamed about.

Liz herself found o lesson in the TV drama. Accustomed to working before only one camera, she found TV's three-camera system a bit disconcerting. "With those three cameras going all the time-well, it's like being in love with three men at the same time;¡ she said. "You just 12

don't know which one to relate to!"

The learning process was mutual:

the crew gained a new definition for .the word " professional'.' Schooled by years of MGM studio training, Liz never came to the set unprepared. Because she hod all her lines and moves down pat, she perfected her scenes in only two or three tokes. And on those rare occasions when the pace slowed down, Liz charmed everyone with her playful good humor.

Once, to the cheers of the crew, she snatched Bottoms' top hot, swung a chair around and launched into on expert imitation of N\orlene Dietrich (left).

At the party (right) celebrating the show's completion, the producers showed Liz their appreciation with a special present. Knowing she was taking up riding once again, they hod ordered o fine, customized saddle for her. The horse was not included. She'll have to choose her own costar for that role, too. @) TV GUIDE NOVEMBER 11, 1978

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;forward tilt of Hudson's toupee, and the push-em-up .. charms of Novak's corset. · ·• · But that's riot a criticJ,sm of the film; on the con.made years ago for :matinees. · ~· : · ' : '}t · )" • "'·· • • ·. ., , trary, it's one of ,the plesaures. For after all, here . ..; And while tbe,1film can .certainly ~ ·~njoyed at . ·. "''~ ' , are a bunch of actors who ·obviously .have. ll lot of , that leyel - .yoµ probabJy. wiU find yourself caught , ·." •' good movies 'in them if they would only find the . up in guessing w.hociunit ~ thei:e'.s anothci\ way to ' ' · .· right parts, or have the right parts written for them. look -~t~::.'!'.~. fd:ifr~~;.(;/:'ack:d'.t, t~a~. is. :j~~ as i.x•ti .. ·" ' , ·· As for the mystery in the film; it's a routine .· pl·e.asmg. ::i ;$''.{.:,. '.:J.. ,l'':"\ i}l'1 ...,.~.\:. (IS ~ . 1.. . ~·, 1~, , Movie crit~c • . whodunit ?bout the poisoning mu;der of a young vil· " , · .1 1 ' · ,. r lage wc,man at a·.eocktail party thrown by the visit- · . . . · . >. , , , . ... . . i;~l ~~· . •t spent. m~t of !DY.: : . . . . .. " . , . " . ., ing film, crew. It appears as though the poisoned 14 • . TRIBUNE ' ' ·/time loo~m~ at Elizabeth ' - I• "'And it probably' was,'' sa)'s Taylor. . .;·· . ; ' cocktail was intended to be s~allowed by- Taylor, . . . M!N!R,EVl~W: . .. ·~ Tayl~r, w~ ~.~ her .best ,. Regarding her career~:Taylor, in characte~; .simply _,. and t~ the primary sus~ts mclude R~dson, he~ .

A good look at T_aylor, ; ~~1 ~, 111 Y~ . · and h pleads that she is trying desperately, to pull hel'. life husb~nd and the film's director; Gerladme Chaplin, . ~1 .v• . . ~·u. • .l a ~o say:"~J'':f011 • together. It's a speech full of tears and screams, un- Hudson's s~e~ry, who has the hots for h.er boss; •· "THE ·MIRROR : !, aymg. a ~ tr . Y t~ we .realize that .she 'ics simply delivering another Novak, playing a· n~talf)nt sex queen who is jealous 1 '11 CRACKED''-. " ' ~ ~ovi~ , 8 r b ~~ " performance, in this . case to a detective from Scot:. 1 of Taylor; and Curtis, Novak's husband and the., ·.

0 rr' '. . . ' . ~t ' . ma. e a come ac ~ • land Yard ,inyestigating murder. What we get out ! .film's produ~er. . . ' I • ; ;; ...

Olnct•d by Guy · Hammon: an,;Ebzabethan drama... · of that scene is that Taylor is acknowledging 'vhere '" ·' · sarrv :.:re~npl•y by Jonathan, Hatea· •nd shot on loca•:on m' " t >' " · · sendl•r; p11010!fn1phe<1 11y .: E ..1 " ... , her' body and "career have gone, .and she seems .to be •· T.HE BE.ST LINES' In· th e fil m ·are the b arb 5 th at· <: hrlatop her Chama; edited by •· ng1an~. · d · b ;'t' h · · · · Taylor and Novak 1 throw at each other; and it comes Rlchu.:1 Merdtn; mu• 1c by John • ' ' · : • · · ·: · ' · · · · · • .'l as qu1·tc· a ".,,leasant shock that Taylor allows ·Novak ' \ c.muon; produc~d by John What. ' '.l'aylor does with .. more con~erne . ' a ou . · er .~areer, .. . . .• t!:tt::,'F]?.,,A~~;,;t=~~n: ! the .ro1tHs very interest- ~.,' ALL.T.~US~l~ an Agatha Christie "~o~i~? Yes:.be;. '. to call.her "a COVft Apparently Taylor can ha~dle L .t w111er rower and r>elghborhood ->:· mg She attempts to deal cause m add1t1on to Taylor, ."The Mirror Crack'd" . her weight; why ca.n't we? · t.">oa11ra. ll«l~E~Astrfl(· , ~>?.with ' ~ei 'oW?l plight as. a· ' feat~ts such .veteriui ·s~ar~ as ~ock HudsOn, Tony · Out .to solve the crime are. detective Edward Fox : 1 ,,.,.. Marp!e---AngGta t.ansbu,Y. · faded movie ·star ·by .,,. , .. ~u~_is, and Kim. Noyctlt. Its a co~tract pl~yers 1-e~n· .. ~nd his aunt, ai;n~teur sleuth Ar!gela Lam:bury, play- .· ~ ~=W"u%8~~""Efi;A~~~~. .:r:.~ talking about; iri. chara~ • ion; ·and the ~nhre mood .of the film, .s~ m 19~3, is, . 1 mg A~ath.a Chnst1e's .~amous :Miss Marple.. Lansbury Elizabeth Tayler in "The ;~aZ1~1~f.':rn==:!.~+:,c~~~l~ : te~., the P.roblems c_ne of reminiscence. Fo~ example, this IS the fri:st . .~urns m her usual sohd . ~rformance, ~ut her work Mirror Crack'd'':, Deal·· J•~ ll•1tJd R~k kudson 1. fans, fat, and fame. · Her . ti~e Tay_l~r and· J;ludson h~ve worke? together ,sm~ . 1s clearly overshado:-ved ~Y . . t~ nostalgia smd hope .... 1 n • , 'th fat fans a·)d' 1 1 Lor.s111w1t•t----K1mHovak cotrimentS o'n thcie sub"Giant" m 1956. · ··'. • ~ .. · •• for the future contained in the character played by . n:-:o NI · • .,. • " • · Vk:ar Cllerlu Lloyd-Pack ., • ' ' ' .are,. .- . if· you:.,re.•vver ..

30·, yo~ '11 s1•t. 'in ',t'he.. El'izabeth . "'~ay . Ior~ . . •. .. . 1am e~ Heather B1bcoerc.....MaurP.n Bennett jecbr might be more. ' • So . ch~nc~ • < ,. .

• • ~' ;, ' .. •di'ainatic if •she delivered l ' ... tbcm . in a Mike' Wallace interview on "So Minute$," but they probably wouldn't be any"diffei'cti than. 'If,. vihat we see on the screen here. · · · '" · , Taylor, d~livers.' .a· gentle putdowri -Or .fans by repeat, ing ~ha' o.n~ of · the~ . told .her. that meeting Taylor < · years ago .~~W'~ · ~l:>c. gr~_atest 1 J,noment. in ,my:lile,!~ ~ ,, • '.t " . .

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'Elizabeth Taylor: London's Big News

~Pn9

.EUr.lbetla 1'aJlor after perfonauceln "UUie Fozes"tn i...... . " . .. , .. ~

'

gave MJss Taylor only four hurried curtain calla, and the reviews tlds

.. ,;,:

--~~~~~~~~~

~

..

Liz Makes Her Stage Debut FORT LAUDERl)ALE, Fla. (lJPJ> - Eli7.abetb Taylor, celebnting ber 49tb birtbday, made ber stage debut Friday Jdght in tbe "The Little Foxes," winning acclaim from the audience but reproof from at least one critic.

Taylor's Regina in the ·revival of Lillian H~lman's play at the Parker Playboule drew a sell-out crowd, but Mmni News reviewer BID Maurer said sbe "failed to bring any spirit or a sense of· smoldering rage and frustration tbat tbe role calls for." 'lbe play, also starring Maureen Stapleton and produced by 1.ev Buffman, runs tbrougb Marcb 14 witb all performances sold out Opening nigbt resembled the premiere of a Taylor Hollywood production with scores of non-Ocketbolders crowding tbe street outside in bopes of catcbing a glimpae of celebrities they bad beard might attend. None appeared.

Radie announcer Jack Elgen, doing a live broadcast from a platform outside tbe theater lobby, searched in vain for celebrities. 'lbe elo8e8t be got was the son of

comedian Jackie Gleason.

Taylof's husband, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and· tbe couple's four daughten watched ber initial U.S. stage role from eight rows back.

At tbe end of tbe dnma about tbe avaricious woman in tbe post-CivH War South, tbe audience gave Taylor a standing ovation and Warner bounded onto tbe stage to give bis wife a bouquet of lavender roses and a kiss as costar Anthony 1.erbe applauded.

But critic Maurer wrote sorrowfully, "Not even the lovely Taylor . . . can conquer tbe theater overnight on the basis of her beauty and a sincere desire to succeed.

"Sbe was in perfect command of herself and of Hellman's lines all evening, but she could not make tbe sparks fly..."

After the performance, tbe play cast beaded over to tbe Turnberry Isle Yacbt & Racquet Club in Miami where hundreds ff Sterling Roses - Taylor's favorite flower were flown in for decorations and a buffet table featured ice carvings of little foxes.

Architecture '1:l Art'J:l

Dances Film 1,15 Musicl7 Recordings 19 Television 33 TV Listings Sect. 2A Theat!!r 1, 5, 6

Camera36 Chess36 Gardens35 â&#x20AC;˘ Leisure Front 35 Numismatics 38 Stamps38

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ARTS AND LEISURE

CopyrichtC> 1981 The New York Timet

c/s

S~day, May 3~ 1

She Has Coriquered Everything

But Broadway,.and Now ...

By LESLIE GA.JllS FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. FEBRUARY

E

lizabeth Taylor stands center stage, one hand on her hip.

Her eyes are heavily made up, neo-Cleopatra style, her lips . are the same blood-red as the toenails that peek saucily from her gold sandals. She is thin now - thinner than she's been since her 20's - having lost 40 pounds at a Florida spa before she began rehearsing Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" one month ago.

She has just finished a scene that calls for much angry screaming. "How did I do?" she asks Austin Pendleton, the director, in a voice of such absolute innocence that one wonders if her bawdy appearance is a mirage.

"Well, Elizabeth," Mr. Pendleton answers in affectionate, relaxed tones, "by now the audience will have completely given up hope that this is going to be 'National Velvet,' so you will have lost them!"

"Hal" Miss Taylor screeches and throws back her head in merriment.

She loves being surprised with a laugh.

It's not that she doesn't work. She works hard, like a little girl who knows .she can please the teacher.

Of course, this is not a school play.

This is a $500,000 revival of Miss Hellman's 1939 drama, and with one of the biggest advance sales in history (due to the drawing power of its star) It will open Thursday at Broadway's Martin Beck after having played four weeks in Fort Lauderdale and six weeks at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Elizabeth Taylor has never been in a play before. The stakes are high. .

The play is grim. In a small Southern town at the tum of the century, Regina Giddons murders her ailing husband and outwits her two avaricious brothers for control of a fortune. Tallulah Bankhead, in the original production; and Bette Davis, in the movie, pllJ.yed Regina with fierce viciousness In the grand style. Miss Taylor, however, Is a picture of misused Southern femininity, who seizes her long-deserved power when finally given the opportunity.

"When you enter the dining room, Elizabeth,'' Mr. Pendleton says kindly, "I want you to come from stage right."

"Stage right?" she looks around In some confusion. "Which is stage right?"

1be rest of the cast stares at her in disbelief.

"You can't be a star if you don't know stage right," booms Anthony Zerbe, who plays her brother, Ben. Elizabeth shrugs and giggles.

Gray-haired, sad-eyed Maureen

Stapleton, who recently was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame, paces the set tensely. She plays Birdie, Regina's oppressed sister-in-law. She's not sure she has a grasp of her character. She's not even sure she'll remember her lines. When she speaks, her deep, melodious voice is merely a whisper, because the fear takes her breath away.

While she rehearses a scene with Joe Pon,a zecld (who plays Oscar, Birdie's husband and Regina's brother) Miss Taylor clowns around in the wings, waving her arms and grinning. Mr. Zerbe teases her and she sticks out her chin in a pout.

Since rehearsals began, the .cast has been amazed by this jolly, raucous woman, who comes and goes in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce. "A nice lady," . says Dennis Christopher, the young star of the movie "Breaking Away," who plays Regina's scheming nephew.

They all expected she'd temperamental. She isn't. They expected she'd lord it over them. She doesn't. But rdost of all, they expected she'd be intimidated by her first theatrical venture. So far, she's not. Everyone is waiting for the panic to hit her. opening night still lies ahead.

A few days later the big night arrives. Backstage, the company is exhibiting classic behavior. Miss StapleContinued on Page 6

*

"I've always wanted to do a play, but the timing never seemed ri~ht."

1

IlZ 8t Coe: IDlpressive

Liz Taylor gets Tony nomination

By JAMES LARDNER

e nae Wcuhincitora Poat

W

ASlllNGTON,D.C A play opaed at tbe ElHllbower Theater tbe otber·Digbt.

By Glenne Currie NEW YORK R.JPD - Elizabeth Taylor was nominated Monday for a Tony Award for her first stage ap. pearaaee, ID the Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's "1he Little Foxes." tbougb critics were cool on

Of all tbe amastn1 tblap tbat happened, that was the moat

..........maoand•np

Tiie a.ned more appropriate to a ~ act, or a treaty........, or a ate,_...,

her perfonuance.

than to a 1ub1taatlal, even memorable, work of theater. But tbe theater worb la woadreaa waJI. Amen. T•foar. of ......... lld .. wbat mlpt be called ..&llaabetb Taylar la 'Tiie Uttle Poa1' " was ._., wltb its own iroDJ. Comlder tbat tbe cu.a nUve Ude tbat made Raaald Reqaa presldeDt aJaO made tbe wife of S..tor Jolm Warner (Rep., Va.) a court fllare la tbe . . Repablleaa ICbeme of tldap, tllm CGDtrlbutiDs to ber Broldny debut la a play bJ a WGIDU wbo lau lplllt a lifetime laaacldq mlllll• from aaatber llde of tile poUUeal

llicbard Burton, Taylor's former husband, failed to get a nomination for the revival of "Camelot."

Laaren BacaU and Linda Ronltadt were nomlaated ID the musical category, for "Woman of the Year" and '1'be Pintea of Penzance" respective-

Tiie......,.

ly.

'lbe mlllicalll "42Dd Street" and "Sopbiltlcated Ladles" won the IDOlt nomlaationa, 12 each, clolely followed by the play "Amadeus" and tbe musical "The Pintea of Penzance fll each), and "Woman of the Year" (10).

Settet balloting NomlDltiona for Tony Awards ID

feaee.

Colllider tbat all tile aotablel of ID ldmlnlltratlan oat to •ve tbe aatlan bJ UDIUekllal tbe power of tbe profit motive turned oat tbe Digbt of Mardl 19 for a play tllat ii, amciq otber tlliD&I. a frtpteaial portrait of tbe profit motive la its.anahadded ate.

And if JOU are a tbeateqoer 11 well 11 a student of tile tlmel, eomidel' tbil: At tbe KamedJ Center latelJ, tbe star Q1tem llill llem l'llpllllllble for a - - of pile and llllJ eveaiDp la tbe theater.

Now alaDI ..._a cue lbMlJ of tbe 1t.ar .,._. at HI tl1111.._. want - a production enatM lolelJ became a Mid-retired morie am-. wbo Md almOlt Deni' appeued ..

DUTEi IEYIEW ...... llld lllle'd ... to - tbe ii ... of tile lllGlt lltilfJlal pndaetiw ill tbe KeanedJ Center's

............,. ,_it

Well, 10 ..-la for

iroDJ.

a...t 11''.Hp"etll Taylar.

A word

Tiie wwd ii: lmpawln.

T11en .... toaet. - a eoqaettllla, pabla1 quality creeps into ber v-.and clemeaDor at times .... tbe ebuaeter lbould be lauder, or at leut blDt more at ber laardDem - but Taylor .... a nbaat and lawlviDI perfGrmaace 11·a.p.a.of tbe peat aebemla1 women la AmerieaD drama, pumplDI life and ........ lDto IDlllJ of tbe erltieal of LUllaD Belbma'1 play.

mconcraoaa

P••Or.... . man .._..telJ, Tarlor pve

IUdl a performance opealDs aipt at the Eisenhower, with President RelpD, tile Pint Lady and tbe ...... husband all watchlDI from a prGIDimlt bos, and wltlt a ....... sample of Wa1bla1toa aotablllty fllllq oat tbe Nit of tbe Cll1lDI ID botll directlom at ODCe. Bow IDJOM eoald aet at all ....

IUCh eln:mcill&aacel ii beJC111C1 me.

Maybe Taylor'• uperleaee la tbe fllbbowl ii more impartaDt for DOW tllaD her relative illaperlaaee ID ·tbe

-u.

theater.

T

AYLOR JS at ber belt ID tbe

backbltlal cllmaz of tbe llCCIDd ad, wben tbe air ii thick with the 1reedy plottlq of tbe Hibbard family.

She II at ber ...-t wbeD .... 11Denu1-bearted h81baad .... a art atlaek la tbe tldn:I aet, Md she )mt 1lt1 immobile, wltbboldla1 tile medldDe tbat eoald !1" bll life. A

bolt of

u..-.. llboulcl fly &.a ber

caleulatbtl

llrow to bll VlilDerable brelllt. 8.t if tbere Wll DO llPtnlfll llere, tbere were pleatJ of lpU'b

wlDe-eolored nll,.per, the crpta 1l111ware),

desl1ner

Andr

Jaekaem baa provlded tbe profiles of two Roman columns oatslde tbe Rabbard boue, vlrtaally offstag . where perba.. a teatb of the a1ldleft f'

ellewbere.

Taylor doesn't dominate "The Little Pozea" 11, say, Tallulah eaa see them.

Director AustlD Pendleton C.Wh• "-'h•d mmt have la tbe oriPll1 .... prodaetloa, and .. Bette Davia played Leo ID tbe lut Broa(Way did lD tile movie. Bat it ii bard to revival of "Tile Little Fozea") bas CGmplMt about tbat with a lllppOl"t- ecJDtrlblded a lbrewd pee, and be iDI cut like tile ...... one. Dam- ..,..,.. . . . . . . . . . with pardculnatln1 llaareea Stapleton and lar orlllDalltJ and force ezample, the entrance of 'Jj;m A11tbc1nJ 1.erbe would be a feat.

StapletGa and 1.erbe are tile pillan Aldred1e u Rqlna's banker- 11 of tile prodactioa. As tile frqile, band.

Pendleton bu this frail figure stepped-on, arlstoeratlc Blrdle, Sta.. .... a V!IY WnadalDI back from treatment for a perfonnaace. ''Nobody ever loit their · coaclltlan, ltaDd oa tile mp •lft'OD temper at Lloanet,'' she llJI, wltll bll back to tile a1ldlence u 4ds recaJUDI tbe feudal Dicltlea of life on avlrleioas kin bunt from tlle dilling tile ueestral plantation. ... Nobody room upatqe and nlllb forward to ever woald." And abe eoald break overwhelm him with lnsin~re J0Ur art. (Sile ii ID eompelllal, ID snetlnp. Tbe effect is to make us fac:t, that Ille makes Joe PoaallCkl, fearful tbat Aldndce c:ould fall right wbo ,..,. Iler .............. lm- offtbeltaleplamlMJ·,...... fer lie role, ..._ It ~ LlUle Pow'' Js anfalbio¥1tle 1 would be just as reasonable, albeit u- and/or old-fubloned OD any o tlllmble, to npn1 Stapleton 11 too . of coanta - from its fact-filled :r old.) position to lts aoc:lally purposw ul l~ Al Ben, tile baebelor brother of tile subject matte'. "There are .

1.erbe delivers a 9ly and no eat tile earth and people who -.Plilll portrait of a SoatberD man ltaDd arouad and wateb them eat \ ," on tbe make, bla forward-looklq •11 tile maid, 'Addie, ln a CODSpicudream of "brlnliDI tile madtiw to oaalJ weiPtJ CClllUlleDWJ on tile tbe cotton, DOt tbe cotton to tbe aetlon.

Bat u tbis performance fmacblDel" banldJ jutapoeed aplmt Birdie's wlstfal Villon of a return to ftrmed, tile play baa enormous bUJD tile plantatloa. And 1.erbe's aeeent ii and ellarm 11 well u raw eneru a stady unto itself ("ariltoerat" and it bas people who live and U er ID tbe memol'J. eomlal oat "AAABB·riltoerat") . ..._ performaac:e1 mo are liven .., Demil a.ristopber' .. Leo and Ann

wr

&........,

19 categories, for Bl'Oldway producUom ID the year endiDI llay 10. were lllDOllilCed by tbe American Theater Wing and tbe Lelpe of New York Tbeaten. 'lbe Leque adminWen the Tonya OD beblJ:f fl tbe 'l'belter WIJll, 'lbe nomlDatiom are made by a committee of 18 theatrical journaURI and profealioDaJL 'lbe wbmen. to be decided by secret blUotiq by G) memben of the theatrical profaiom and journal- wm not be known until the Tony Awaad ceremony June 7, to be televiled. Uve from the Martin Beck n. ater la New Yort. 'lbe awards are named for Antoinette Perry, former laeld of tile Amerlcu Theater Wing.

Allo DCllDlnated for outstancUna ICtrm la a play belides Taylor were Glenda . . . _ for "lme," Jane La..... for "Piaf" and Eva Le Galltecme ·for "To Grandmotber's Rouse

We Go."

'Le8son' nom.inated · Other nominlttom for outltlnd-

IDg aetr. ID a musical: Meg Bumert in "Brlladoon" and Cb1ta Rivera ID "Bring Back BJrd1e."

Nominated for best play: Atllol Fuprd'a "A .Lellon From Aloes," Hugh Leonard's "A Life," Peter Shaffer's ..Amadeus" and Lanford "P'lftb of JWy." Belt mUlical DOIDIDIUODI: "Gad Street,.. "SoplUatlrated Ladiea,.. "Tintypes'' and "Womail of tlle Ye1r."

OUtltaJldinl actor ID a play: 'nm CUrry ("Amadeus"), Rob DoUlce ("A Life"), Ian llcKellen ("Amadeus"), IDd Jack Weston M'be Floating Ugbt Bulb").

OU18tandbig actor in a maaical: Gregory lllDea ·("Sopbiltceated Ladies"), Kevla KllDe and Geeqe lkile fbotb for "The Pirates al Pemance"), and Martin Vldnoric f'Bripdoon. ") The late Gower Cbamploa WIB.

wu.on·.

People

From the Associated Press

nominated both • cboreognet-' and director for "42Dd Street.

Top D111M1 la tbe theater who failed to be ilOllUDated for tbetr contributlons tbil ye1r IDd1lded W~ Allen for "The Ploltlq J4bt Bulb.

11

F.dwaad Albee for "Lolita," Artllar llUler felt ...,.. Amlncaa Clack... Diet Van Dyb. t"ltie :JIUlic 11aa"), Dlrek Jacobi M'be Suicide'\ and Gilda Radner lad Sam Watenon M.uach Hour").

It was not a good year for new plays or m1lltcals, and IOiDe llCDIDa-

tiona ID tbe teclmical categories were strictly there to fill out tbe required four names.

Sentimental votes Neither Taylor nor Jacbon tot good reviews, IDd Eva Le GaDieane got her ilOllUDation more for old times' lllte than anytblDg else, but

Bbe could run away with tbe award.

Lauren BacaU could tate the outstanding J181'formaace in a muslcll, becaUle aftbougb bs performance Is not a cJaaie., tbere11 be a lot of aentlmental votes for ller.

Front-nmaers ID other categCJrlea: beat plaJ "Amldeul," belt maslcal "Gad Street," OUlltaDdiq actor ill a

play Ian llcKellen, outlUD«llDI actor

in a lllUlbl ·Geoqe Rme, and Gower Champion for director and choreographer.

•

Tallman 11 AleUDdra - J011111 roles of tbe IOl't often treated u aftertlloaibts iii revivals of tllis vblta&e· But tbll ls a produetlcin wltboat aft-

ertlloalllta. a polDt demomtratecl bJ • 1iD11e sceDle detail: ID addltloa to all tJle. otMr items. of ...... finer)' (tile and •adeller, tile pudfatm clock, tile pa lampl, tbe

eatany celliDI

AP Leserphoto

Elizabeth Taylor, star of The Little FoxBS on Broadway, dined with her children during a party she gave at Sardi's in New York for the losers 0f Broadway's Tony Awards.

From the left are daughter Maria Burton, Eileen Getty accompanied by son Christopher Wilding, Michael Wilding Jr. and Taylor.

Little Foies 'm;.so excited I can hardly stand it~" ~ 'Hellman's play, first done in maid, ~~die! It~) bullied ~ said the woman behind me.. Jhe.: 1939, i.S·about a wealthy Southern fin- cratic-sistcr-in-law, BiJclie, is played·by lights had ~ed. the curtain.was de-s~le(amilywho .wa1;1tsto.~weal~ Maurce.n Staplcton,i who suggests .a abOufto rise on The Little Foxes with ier~tbe· J.lubbards; :eohsiSting~( risen kitchen maid.more than a fallen . Eliza~ ,J:ay,lor. I liked the woman'$ R,e~ H~l?bard Qiddens,per. ~rci~nen; blucblQQd. Stapleto~ ha$ lQng.~ I :remar~ her excitem~nt~)Vhic~ th~ Ben.and~. Oscar'sson~Differ- trying_ to ad; 'she has. becom~ a beggar 1 audiencesham:l--a tbe ~.:of 3:~~~-'. iilg·'from:them ai;e ~gina.'51.h.usband for pa,~oS, like a dQg: sitting :up ~ 'i .That sense Qf trembly; antletpattq~ IS )loGiciC~- their. dau,ghte'- AJexandl'a, be~for biscuits,a.¢.'shedoesrtwi.th . , rare in our theater these da~, and. eyen ()sciU:,:s_\\'.ife~. Bifdie. All'1~ latter are increasing .cl~ Anthony ~rbe if. it has to come from -~~~. well.,' G9<>4;.U,,~e ,Hµb~ 8.J:CiBad, rapa~ as Be~Joe. Ponazeckias Oscar.- Dennis~ glamo.ut is an ancient and.~ne~.,,b~~:. ;.ci~u:s;~ol' . ~edi._by~.- ~ll' greed b_ut ~topher;as Leo are~ slovenly.:and 'inadequate;. and they illusir.te the factot in the theaiet, not a~~~~tj~ ;scheinlng~~o~-a~~~er ~USC: 'decline in Alnerican:act{Ds. IfyouUUnk to bc~iled. · , 1 ~ •• •• of i~A~~: comrqentators .~ve 'WOil:", An(f With lier.first appea1ancet,~th. ;amd.wlly;j~ylor cb~~~for.~.: the word ..dccline~•P.t:tbemaWl(ie~ tier. appeai:ancea throughou~ ,l'i.yl~ :tha\teC'pe~~t,uqleWlthO\lli.JOJD&ntlc . ing of~ old playgoer.seethe 1941 film lulfllk~,e'. .Jlamow·. e~pectatio~/l:I.~r,: o(ap_~ ~~a woman ~e..o,~·~ of ·The Utt/~ Fq.xam"Which those~\ !1 ..;...; ill " ~l"'., she"! well wigged¥Ari4 a~~~~, soJJ;1CtUJle$ gloved* some"' roles~ pla~ b)'Qw:letl;>i.nglc,Cad Benton Rei<4~tnd .Dan ~1,~ · ~~:.. ttiough her :~~~.ia . .

B.irdie ilt plalycd bY ~4JCja.Collinge.~ now~ mo~_ pf an ;intemati~~ :--p~~ of. wbom were in the origi.lull,Bl'Qad.war:.

Glamo&ir is not t0 be nomo11.on .tfian a peti(>nal attrib~; s~c'·pn,;>d~o~ .The~ invalid)lo~ ini_this · . ~m;ys it~ tho rest of~rselfar~~ :desPiled~bUt·gtamour; =.revival is.TomAJdrcdgez;A&is oftentbe thd.'Qge 'with ~ poltc. some gQ.W-;case.-Aldredge's acting isS<>thi,naS,tQ be: · al~. is noi. n .us~~ • of~r~6m; . . "1• ~iy in~ble: I'm never qwt,e sure " Bu(ilie·glamour ja not enough;Ta~ whether. be's.oil stage or.oft: Alexaridrv; ~1QJ'i$: .~t ,pe#'or,ma,nce .on the stage seems ,to have ~n judged by the.fact times naked. 'TheYforgetibat~i:aI.0£ .is done bf, Ann ·.T~ a .colorleai. ·that it's .:her first ~rformance .on :.the- J,'~y\Q,i'-\ most cffectivef~ro~such young woman ·who;.says the program. . ~ge,.~ ~ha.t ~tic c.rlterioit, she does .as iri Suddenly Lost SW1U1U!r~ &flec- is a 'student of Austin PendletQn:.the some #.i~· passably. She moves wit,h tions in 'a Golden eye,·Who 's~frald of director.

TaJman. and ~topher arc .th~ an a~~~pt at line. She knows how,to Virginia Woolf?~epended on h,(:r t~n ;(aidy well, Alt'1ough her hands (and her ~or's)ai:,il~ty to work up a second and tbird Pendleton students·to J,oo.k. ~.n&JY. large~ she uses them ~w~ng hysteria,.; ,Taylor.'s careec iw.· make their,Brpad~y deb1,1ts in a Peni;wlth some d.dtne:ss.~nd restraint. But an relied less .on a~nce seduction than dleton prodpctioo this season •• (1)1e ·~~s. po\ver.tO sustain a ,long sc:cne. a.Q.y other,!film-stal( ~uty;l can~}Wtk . f~t was Patricia Cray Uoyd who was ~ n;iore:;sA&n our wonder.thiat4fih1;1 of., (Bette Davis W8,$ never a .bca~m ~uany- ,unim~v.e in ·JQ/:ut Gabriel . :_~t:! .used: tp: short takes; is ~.\lil¥Y tb&t ~:)..'J:he contrast .~ween Tay.:.. /JQrkJnan at CircleiUl.:the Sqpre.J,l)e :,, playing a .~AAS sccAQ. · -0- use a~ra: ~lw;, . ~p!et;e~.t!2t:~- .~; ~3~ idc-. Of;f.eod)eton ~~;~-; ~ term aylo r ~tedlY, to go~ii ~~~p;~~t .~iderable~: ;lvueen a lot-Of h_is..~tingM wellaa:hJJ. aQd out qf f0cus d,uringsce.nes. w4~: she:Ms ~y:_cli~n .~:~tage J;Qle~t: .(ii~ng~,)$;d~and h.is~': ., Jn~~ ~ex: fQr~ comes:f.tl>m ~- ~~o.nt.~astJ~~ ~spe~~ tion o( .1/he l.ittl~ .P~J iloes Ii~ .to . ,.~1.IJtoat,. not J'lc,r ~pitjt.;- the: result is ~rtWQ.UI¥,il~co\JP:U'Y, on toUrF- ~.iHJSwqrk~p~ntly·~~ 1 ~ o,ijly noise;;A~n.igµC?ranto(Jay.~ pPssi~ly}~i to ~-~ Plans.~ si,s,ted o(' giving trayl91: some confr. <1'.-.m....., de~;dcvising stagy .Pitttcms of.stage _,~r.'S.~-~·-~g ·her for. the fusti ~~~ ....~ . lfy, lµck'or dCSJlll,. the actors around movement for the wholeCa$t,and'inter;~gbtw.onderbo~anactr;es~; . ·t,r~~~.COuld b,av~~vel.opect.S().little. tfayJO~vc been cl\osen so ,as not to rupting ~those movements. with stilted ~-ll~que'and c:ou1d ~ve~ea,st&f sl:low..hen1p. The one competent pcr- groupings as for an old-time phOto,lhe J~~.is :by .Novella Nelson as the overall jmprcssion of his method is of ~with so little abijify to take.~-~

l

actors obeying orders to move and occasionally obeying orders to stop, to have their pictures taken. lf Pendleton's ineptness needed confirmation, it comes with the final curtain. llegina has connived a ·her invalid husband's death, has bested her broth. ers in business skullduggery, is well on her way to riches and poWer:-She starts. · upstairs to her bedroom, then says (quite incredibly, by the way) to her daughter: "'Would you-would you like to sleep in my room tonight?~ The daughter replies, "Arc you afraid, Mama?" The stage directions aay:

for Birdie in Act Three that virtually flashes its own "Applause" sign at her exit. But the play as a whole is monochromatic. Onceitspremiseisset,it'sjust financial ploy and counterploy among the Hubbards and against Horace. Fun· damenU!lly, nothing grows or changes; it's just a continual barrage of tricks on more or less the same plane until it's over. And even then, it's over only because the fi.nal cUrta.in comes down: Ben has suspicions about Horace's death, which means that, if the curtain were to rise again, the play might still be going on. {Seven years

try. All their namesarenl Hubbard, but they are all Hubbards and they will own this country some day.

And just before the end, the 17-year-old Alexandra tells her mother that shei1 be fighting her uncle "as hard as heil be fighting ... someplace where people don't just stand around and watch."

Don't question where the girl got that impulse or what tbe 'liqe means; just observe Hellman's considerateness.

She includes with her play hints for college-senior essays on its themes.

These final fake pronouncements

I

w

SR JWy1981

The actors (clockwise from FJizabeth Taylor) who seem to have n chosen so as not to show Taylor up: Humbert Allen Astredo, MaUl'ffll Stapleton, Ann Talman, Joe Seneca, Novella Nelson, Dennis Christopher, Anthony Zerbe, and Joe Pona:r.eck.i.

Regina does not answer, but moves slowly out of sight. Addie then comes to Alexandra, squeezes her ann with affection and pride, then starts for the other lamp, as the curtain falls. [Italics added.]

Pendleton makes Addie move before Regina is out of sight: Thus he obscures the sting of the daughter's line in Regina, and he muddies Taylor's star ex.it up the stairs.

Hellman....,...regardless of the fact that Regina'$ last-second qualm is unbelievable-has enough stage wile to have ordered it otherwise.just as she was·wily enough .to construct a pathos number SR July 1981

later Hellman wrote a three-act prologue, Another Part of the Forest, which showed that, in effect, The 1.i11Je Foxe3 had i;)een. going on 20 years before.its fil'$t curtain rose.)

Because of .the tw,o-dimensional characters and the assorted .contrivances, the drama never really entails more than the snarlings of a dog fight.

But Hellman wants .her play to have resonance, .so she pastes on her own aggrandizemen.ts. Says Ben, in his last. scene: ' There are hundreds ofHubbards sitting in rooms like this throughout the coun-

don't deepen the gimcrack phty. don't make it any more than reverse sentimentality, a bath in theatrical vice instead of theatrical virtue. Not long agoarevivalofHellman's Wotchonthe Rhine revealed it-still more clearly-as a tawdry insult, through melodrama, to its theme.of anti-fascisim. The little Foxes, though less clankily constructed, is equally superficial in the treatment of its theme, American materialism throttling the American dream. The quotation marks plead to be printed in acid when one refers to these plays as native ..classics."

• 87

D

THB NBW YORK TIMBS, SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 1981

__,.

ZevBufman with

Donald C. Carter and Jon Cutler praenm

. ,,

•

ELIZABETH TAYLOR .

THE LITTLE in

FOXES by

• 1-----:1.____._ ----~~---~-~~ I

LILL~

.

HELLMAN

· Also Starring ~.A ~T. 'n~~"L1

A Y. J n '.'I':'--- Y

_._

•

lVlftUI\££;1~ ~ILll;,L.CIOl~

ANTHONY ZERBE TOM ALDREDGE with

Joe

Novella Ponazecki Nelson Humbert Allen · ·.

Ann Joe Astredo Talman Seneca and

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER Settings by

Lighting by

Costumes by

Andrew Jackness

Paul Gallo

Florence Klotz Caating by

General Management

Theatre Now, Inc.

Production Stage Manager

Patrick' Horrigan

Julie Hughes/Barry Moss Music Adapted by

Hair Designed by

Patrik D. Moreton

Stanley Silverman

Directed by

AUSTIN PENDLETON

BOX OFFICE OPENS TOM'W at 101'M LIMITED ENGAGEMENT! 10 WEEKS ONLY! PREVIEWS BEGIN WED. EVG., APRIL 29th OPENS TIIURS. EVG., MAY 7th at 6: 15 CHARGIT (212) 9AA 9300 :

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~ MAIL ORDERS NOW! Monday thru Saturday Evenings at 8 and Saturday Matinees at 2: Orchestra $30.00; Mezzanine $30.00, 27.So, 25.00. Wednesday Matinees at 2: Orchestra $28.50; Mezzanine $28.50, 25.00, 22.50. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with your check or money order made payable to: Martin Beck Th~tre. List se:veral alternate dates.

MARTIN BECK THEATRE 302 West45thStreet, New York, N.Y. 10036 (212) 246-6363

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''It may have taken a long time for her to get to Broadway, but she has arrived in high style. In Lillian Hellman's ¡. 'The Little Foxes,' Elizabeth Taylor has found just the right vehicle to launch her career as a stage actress.

And she rewards the role of Regina Giddens, that malig , . . nant SOuthem bitch-goddess, with a performance that begins. gingerly, soon gathers steam and then explodes into a black and thunderous storm that may just kriock you out of your seat. Throw in a snappy supporting cast , . led by Maureen Stapleton in a rending portrait of a fading, dipsomaniacal plantation belle , . and you can begin to , picture the crackling entertainment that opened at the Martin Beck last ni t. Entertainment -that's what ( 'The Little Foxes' most abundantly is.'' -FrankRich, .

.

I

"Elizabeth Taylor is something to watch. In air and bearing, she possesses regal command. Her arrant good looks, particularly those thrushstartled eyes, fix all other eyes upon her. on glimpsing her, Poe might have written his poem 'To Helen,' apostrophizing the most beguiling beauty of the ancient world. QE3 (as someone recently nicknamed Taylor) conjures up that grace and grandeur.''

''Elizabeth Taylor is just wonderful! She is stunning, yes and more. In her first play she has the timing of a veteran. ~ere are dozens of adjef" rives I cotild dig up to describe her but orie .·.. noun does it best -she's an actress! Miss Taylor · has surrounded herself with an excellent cast.

Maureen Stapleton in fact, gives one of the great performances of the Broadway season!" .

-Joel Siegel, ABCTV

-T.E. Kalem, Tiine Magazine

"Elizabeth Taylor brought more voltage to the Great White Way than it has seen in an entire season. Broadway is aglow again. And we can thank Miss Taylor for that!"

-Jacques le Sourd, Westchester Gannett.Group

III I I

I I I

''Elizabeth Taylor moved with assurance, acted with ability and played with emotion. She came, she saw, she conquered! It's a fine moment of theater!''

-Casper Citron, WOR·TV "A once in a lifetime ad\>'enture!"

-Joan Hamburg, WOR Radio ''Ellzabeth Taylor making her Broadway debut looks terrific! Miss Taylor grabs the wheel, steers a straight course to the finish line and never misses a light. Hats off Liz, you did it!"

-Katie Kelly, NBCTV

"Elizabeth Taylor in 'The Little Foxes' is marvelous. She is a great presence, a great lady and a great pro. Welcome to the theatre!"

-Liz Smith, Daily News Syndication

"In her theatrical debut, one of Hollywood's legendary glamour ladies bestows her considerable presence, power and acumen upon one of contemporary American drama's prize villainesses~ With Elizabeth Taylor starring as the vixenish Regitia Giddens, 'The Little · Foxes' .luxuriates in a kind of timeless grandeur well suited to Lillian Hellman's play.''

-John Beaufort, Christian Science Monitor

"Elizabeth Taylor has brought glamor back to Broadway! Looking confident and stunning, she has chosen a real play to come to Broadway in!"

-LeidaSnow, WINS Radio

"As Taylor makes her entrance, what we see is beauty .. the mortal beauty of gallantry in action.

The 49-year-old Taylor carries the geology of her life .. the lush body of the mature sybarite. and the baby face of the stardusted child. Faced with such a dramatically physicalired fate, who wouldn't be moved? You can almost feel the· ultraviolet rays from the legendary eyes.''

-Jack Kroll, Newsweek

''Elizabeth Taylor can command a large stage with her eyes and her presence. Regina Giddens, that whirlwind of a schemer, is a role· .well suited to her talents. Miss Taylor rises to the occasion and has the necessary forcefullness and magnetism.''

-Mel Gussow, WQXRRadio

''Elizabeth Taylor triumphs! This is an unforgettable experience, a triumph for everyone, theatre at its very best! Looking trim and incredibly radiant, Miss Taylor commands the stage from the moment she enters in her Broadway debut. A night like this at the theater on Broadway in New York comes along very, very rarely!'' -Jeffrey Lyons, WPIX-TV "Elizabeth Taylor in 'The Li~e Foxes' will never be forgotten! She's truly a spectacular actress -Earl Wilson, N. Y. Post Syndication and star.''

D

THB NEW YORK TIMBS, SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1981

3

;

''Elizabeth Taylor triumphs! She's gl~rious in a thoroughly first class production. Elizabeth 路 Taylor breezed in as a Queen of Broadway. God Bless Her I say, and long may she reign! 'The Little Foxes' is a marvel and beyond that a shimmering entertainment! A shimmering event in fact!'' .

-Dennis Cunningham, CBS-TV

''Elizabeth Taylor, looking stunning in her Broadway debut, has presence, poise, voice and 路b eauty.'''

-Stewart Klein, WNEW-TV 路 ''There is a tnagnificent presence here by Elizabeth Taylor. The sheer punch路 aura of stardom that is totally undeniable and unmistakable. When she walks on stage it lights up, and the audience basks in its reflection.''

''ELIZABEtH TAYLOR IS ON ST GE TO S ~Y!" -Frank Rich, The New York Times ..

.

5 TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS .

including .

OUTSTANDING REPRODUCTION OF A PLAY ZEV BUFMAN, Producer/LILLIAN HELLMAN, Author

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Play ·

Outstanding Perfonnance by a Featured Actress in a .Play

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

MAUREEN STAPLETON

Outstanding Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Outstandina Direction of a Play

TOM ALDREDGE

AUSTIN PENDLETON

CHOICE SEATS NOW ON AL AT THE BOX OFFICE, BY MAIL OR BY.CffMtGIT .

THRU SEPTE ER 5th. ~HARQIT: (212) 944-9300 Ticketron: (212) 977-9020 • u Sales: (212) 398-8383 Monday thru Saturday Evenings at 8 &. Saturday Matinees at 2: Orclwtra $30.00; Meuanine $30.00, 27.50, 25.00. Wednesday Matinees at 2: Orchestra $28.50; Meuanine 5 , 25.00, 22.50. Effective July 13th Sunday Matinees at 3 rC17lace Monday Evening Performances. ~V Mats. at 3: Orchestra $30.00; Mezzanine $30.00, 27.50, 25.00. Please enclose a self-addreaeed, atampe!!hivelope along with your check or money order made payable to: Martin Beck Theatre. List several alternate dates.

MAR.T IN BECK THEATRE; 302 W.45thSt., N.Y., N.Y. 10036 ·,

~

.

..

-t~~ ~ ~o~~~~

142

/Vlaj

THE THEA TR.E ~ Earned

I

N New York last week, there appeared to be but a single question worth asking: What would Elizabeth Taylor make of the role of Regina Giddens in "The Little Foxes"?

Happily, the answer is that she makes an excellent .thing of it. In what amounts to her debut as a legitimate actress (she once played a small role in a play starring her then husband Richard Burton), she seems perfectly at ease on the st.ilge of the Martin Beck and readily holds her own in the presence of such seasoned troupers and scene stealers as Maureen Stapleton and Tom Aldredge. The fact that she is what is commonly called a superstar, famous throughout the world as much for her personal life as for her professional career, casts no taint upon the nature of her performance, which is well thought out and skillfully modulated. Many screen actors and actresses, accustomed to accumulating a movie by means of a series of disconnected short takes, tend in a play to lose energy as scene relentlessly follows ss:ene. Not Miss Taylor, who maintains a continuous flow of energy from start to finish. Tallulah Bankhead, who first played Regina (it was . the fii;iest role of her career), cannot have ~poken the tremendous last lines ¡ of the-second act any more effectively than Miss Taylor does. They are like repeated blows in the face, and the audience gasps at them, in mingled astonishment and pain. In the third act, the intensity of her concentration remains undiminished; even as she stands taking her well-deserved curtain calls (the celebrated violet eyes flashing with the pleasure of accomplishment), she is a dynamo that shows not the least sign of running down.

Lillian Hellman wrote "The Little Foxes" in 1938, and a number of critics complained at the time that it was an overly contrived melodrama, lacking spontaneity, but I found myself welcoming the old-fashioned complexity of its plot, as well as the variety of family relationships that it risks examining. How reassuring, in these . parched days of plotless, tongue-tied, two- and three-character- plays, to observe six or eight people onstage at the same time, all going at one another hammer and tongs! And Andrew Jackness has given them an ideal set in which to carry out their multiple fam-

t 8 1 ''ta 1

tions, is by Austin Pendleton, who once played young Leo. Obviously, he has thought hard about every word of Applause ~ the play, and he and his colleagues ily lacerations-the panelled stair-hall- have earned our applause. cum-parlor of a grand turn-of-thecentury mansion, \\'.ith a glimpse at NE is always being warned stage rear of an ample dining room against too ready a use of superthat looks out upon a latticed porch latives, but I feel fairly safe in assert:.. and spring garden. The broad mahog- ing that "lnacent lUack," at the Biltany staircase against which the dying more, and "I Won't Dance,'' which Horace Giddens hurls himself in his gave a single performance at the Helen wheelchair is so well mad'e that it Hayes, are among the three or four looks as if it would last a thousand worst plays ever to have reached years, which is approximately as long Broadway, at least within living memas Regina and her brothers hope that ory. The author of "lnacent Black,'' the envenomed Hubbard blood will A. Marcus Hemphill, has written last. what he archly subtitles "a heavenMaureen Stapleton as the bibulous, sent comedy," which turns out to much put-upon Aunt Birdie and Torn mean that it has to do with an angel Aldredge as Horace are at the very top dispatched to earth to deal with of their form; I will certainly never members of the wealthy Rydell family, forget the emanations of imminent in Old Westbury. This family consists death that Mr. Aldredge conveys by of a widowed mother and some excepthe seeming frailty of a body already tionally unattractive offspring, upon too small for its clothes. The most whom lnacent Black (for such is the complicated personage onstage is Ben angel's name) lavishes her supernatHubbard, who is shrewd, resilient, and ural powers. The set, by Felix E. without a shred of self-deception; Cochren, is the vast drawing room of Anthony Zerbe embodies him admira- the Rydell homestead, in Old Westbly, letting us see, for example, that bury; the missing fourth wall, which when Ben talks in tiresome cliches it occupies the apron of the stage, is is because there are times when that is where we are invited to imagine a bathe cleverest thing to do. The doltish ronial fireplace, above whose invisible and corrupt Leo Hubbard is well mantelpiece hangs an invisible portrait played by Dennis Christopher, and of the dead father. The play opens Novella Nelson and Joe Seneca are with the widowed mother talking at charming as house servants obedient to length to the invisible portrait and their ancient code: take in everything from that low point proceeds deter~ and pretend to know nothing. Ann minedly downhill. The star of the Talman as Alexandra Giddens strikes show is Melba Moore, playing lnacent me as miscast; she is too robust Black; she looks very thin and sings a both physically and in her attack upon couple of wan little songs that are her role to appear in as great emo- partly of her own composition. The tional jeopardy as the text implies. direction, which is in every respect The delightful costumes are by Flor- worthy of the writing, is by Mikell ence Klotz, the lighting is by Paul Pinkney.

Gallo, and the . direction, faithful at As for "I Won't Dance," it was every turn to Miss Hellman's inten- heartless, tasteless, and talentless. The author, Oliver Hailey, may have supposed he was writing a comedy; if so, he was very much mistaken. The hero, Dorn, was a young man confined to a wheelchair as a result of a polio epidemic in his home state of Texas. He had been living in Los Angeles on the bounty of a wealthy, ne'er-do-well brother and a sister-in-law with whom he was in love. The brother and sisterin-law had been beaten to death a few hours before the time of the opening scene; Dom fantasized that he had committed the murders and went so far as to confess his guilt to the police, who didn't believe him. They had other, more likely candidates, includ-

O

141

THE NEW YOl\KEI\

.•

open on what he could cadge from people in passing cars. (Never, never, he said, from the walkers, since that wasn't fair . to the neighborhood.)

When Mark began to lecture him on scriptural inerrancy, Jack interrupted to give a long, rambling discourse on early church history, the Greek philosophical tradition versus the Hebrew, and the problems often faced by Protestant theologians. He had flashes of great coherence, and he quoted~if I understood him correctly-Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Karl Barth.

"Jack is very arrogant about his education," Mark said.

"These are nice kids," Jack said.

"But they don't know anything. They don't know church history, and they have no philosophical grounding. I could become a Catholic, but not this." Waving his beer can, Jack went off into another ramble about the early church. Mark and Lester listened patiently, and when he had finished Mark recommenced his own mon~­ logue, about the Bible and the path it showed to salvation. Jack was clearly glad to have someone to talk to, but whether Mark and Lester stayed there out of interest or out of sheer doggedness I could not tell. And I could not ask them, for the word "interest" does not figure in their vocabulary.

After more than half an hour of this inconsequerice, I said that I had to go.

We walked back to Manhattan Bible Church through the sweltering streets of a Hispanic neighborho6d-now, in the evening, coming alive with people and the din of radios and the smell of garlic and hot chilies. "I didn't think there could be so many people who don't speak English," Mark said. No one on the streets paid any attention to us or to Lester's leaflets, yet Mark and Lester did not seem to be discouraged.

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THE NEW YORK TIMBS, FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1981

· ~c.

Stage: The Misses Taylor Ancf. Stapleton in 'Foxes'

By FRANK RICH

T may have taken a long time for her to get to Broadway, but she bas arrived in high style. In Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," Elizabeth Taylor bas found just the right vehicle to launch her career as a stage actress. And she rewards the role of Regina.Giddens, that malignant Southern bitch-goddess, with a performance that begins gingerly, soon gathers steam and then explodes Into a black and thunderous storm that may just knock you out of your seat. Throw in a snappy supporting cast- led by Maureen Stapleton in a rending portrait of a fading, dipsomaniacal plantation belle - and you can begin to picture the crackling entertainment that opened at the Martin Beck last night.

Entertainment - that's what "The Little Foxes" most abundantly is. The story of an avaricious family of tum-ofthe-century Southern entrepreneurs, Miss Hellman's 1939 play is not long on emotional and intellectual niceties. The good characters are saintly, the bad ones dastardly, and they fight a battle to the literal death. Indeed, at its cold heart, "The Little Fo~" is esseatially a plain old-fashioned thriller with a less-than-staggering moral tacked on.

(Money, power and moral cowardice are the roots of illl evtt.) -But what a thriller! If there are fe'lf 'SUbtleties in this l>lay, neither are There any dud scenes. Miss Hellman knows bow to tell a story at a breathtaking clip and bow to stack her theatrlcal deck with wellplaced narrative bombshells (from a rifled safe-deposit box to an out-of. reach medicine bottle). Most of all, she knows bow to throw her actors the prime fed meat OT bristling language.

If "The Llttle Foxes" is Broadway melodrama, it's as good as the genre

I

gets.

•

Or so it is in the hands of people who know bow to milk it for every last gasp, thrill and laugh that it's worth. Count Miss Taylor in that company. Maybe Regina, like all the play's other roles; doesn't require great acting or trenchant sou1-8elJI'Ching; it's all at the surface. But it does require the tidal force of pure penanality. This is a woman who would kill her husband, barter her' daughter and _double-cross her brothers to get her hands on the ruling interest in a cotton mill - even as she maintains the facade of a charming, sexy grande dame. No doubt it's superfluous to point out that Miss Taylor has charm, grandeur and sex appeal. The news here is that she bas the killer instinct, too - and the skill to project it from a stage. When she lets loose in Acts II and III, crashing about to knock down every human obstacle in her omnivorous path, we never question that this is one woman who gets what she wants, when she wants it, at any price.

Oat ot the Old South THE LITTLE FOXES, by Lllllan Hellman; directed by Austin Ptndleton; .ttlngs by Andrew J1ckness; costumes bv Florence Klotz; lighting by Paul Gallo; production siege manager, Patrick Horrigan. Presented by Zev Butman. with Donald C. Carter and Jon Cutter. At the Mllrtln Beck ThHter. 302 West "5th Street.

Addle .................................................Novella Nelson C.I ..........................................................Joe Stl1eCI Birdie Hubbard ............................ Mllureen Stepleton Oscar Hubbard ....................................Joe Panazeckl Leo Hubblrd ............................... Dennis Christopher RevlneGlddtns ............................... Ell1ebet11T1ylor Wlfllam Manhefl ...................Humbert Allen Astredo BenlamlnHubbard .............................Anthony Zeme Alexandra Giddens .................................Ann Talman Horac::e Giddens ................................... Tom Alm"adge

Miss Taylor makes us hate her guts God bless her.

The star is not so effective in ,Act I, when Regina is still trying to keep her iron fist bidden in a velvet glove. As she prattles flirtatiously with the visiting Chicago moneybags (a properly smug Humbert Allen Astredo); her true, calculating intentions flicker too blatantly in those gleaming yiolet eyes. Yet once Regina's principal antagonist - her dying, estranged husband, Horace (Tom Aldredge) - returns home from the hospital, Miss Taylor rises to the bait. When Horace resists her brief, coquettish efforts to enlist him in her businesS scheme, her giggly, girlish demeanor hardens in a llasb to a mean, narrow-eyed barracucfa•s glare. And then we see just how wonderful the casting is, for Miss Taylor is no cardboard harridan. Regin& perfectly taps this actress's special gift - first fully revealed in the film version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" - for making nastiness stinging and tunny at the ~etime.

His weak Southern accent aside, Mr. Aldredge is the star's perfect foil. A frail man with red-rimmed eyes, be looks like a goner, and be conveys all of the heroic Horace's rueful intelligence.

Heart ailment or no, be can also match Miss Taylor blow for blow in those blistering battles where they dredge up the putrid ruins of their long-dead marriage. His quiet moments are better still. When Mr. Aldredge sits forlornly ape.rt from the others to sift through some worthless old mementos that ~ . main in bis looted safe-deposit box, be shows us the serene, almost senile face of a man who's taking a private, final tally of an entire lifetime.

•

There are other strong perform-

ances, too. Anthony Zer'be's Uncle Ben,

with bis boozily slitted eyes and phony good-ole-boy manners, is a fiendish, pickled specimen 9f wbite-trashturned-tycoon. As nephew Leo, the littlest of the foxes, Dennis Christopher (best tmown as the bicyclist hero of the film "Breaking Away") is so weak and amoral that be seems to lack a skeleton as well as a soul or mind. Novella Nelson and Joe Seneca, as Ult bameholcl's blaet . retainers, pack C«grilt"Y md buulor ''1to their a.Qef, otten portentol.il'

111am1i1s.,.

Maureen Stapleton and Elhabetb Taylor In a scene from "1be Uttle Foxes"' appearances. Only- Joe Ponazecki, as the sweaty, sniveling Uncle Oscar, and Ann Talman, as Regina's mcreasingly bold daughter Alexandra, could be sharper. Mr. Ponazecki's voice lacks shading and Miss Talman, after her strong last speech, rel~es into ambiguity at the final curtain.

As Mr. Ponazecli's battered wife, Miss Stapleton is a wonder. True, playing the role of Aunt Birdie is a little like stealing: a kind, gentle drunk who hasn't had "one whole day of happiness in 22 years," Birdie exists mainly to be abused by the others and earn our sympathy. But this actress digs beneath the surface to give "The Uttle Foxes" a. tragic, Chekhovian dimension. As she reminisces about her idyllic plantation childhood or confesses her hatred for her own son, Miss Stapleton's light voice trills in and out of coherence, finally to bit bottom in sudden, guttural sobs. Her lonely eyes float in and out of focus as well, often disappearing entirely into impenetrable shadows. And when, at one point, Miss Stapleton raises her hand violently in unexpected recollection of a painful, buried mem~ ry, it doesn't matter that there's no line to announce precisely what that mmnory ls. Such is this actress's talent that sh~ can conjure abject terror out of tlilence and thin air.

~ustin Pendleton, who played Leo in Mike Nichols's 1967 Lincoln <;:enter revival of this play, was clearly born to direct it. Using overlapping conversations and vibrant blocking, he gives Miss Hellman's artifice the relentless flow of real life. His old-style theatrical flair- abetted by Andrew Jackness's gothic set, Florence Klotz's matching costumes and Paul Gallo's grim lighting- is often delicious. The three male villains usually move together, hovering like buzzards above their prey. In Horace's heart-attack scene, the director sends Mr. Aldredge and wheelchair c~bing into the Giddens' grand staircase - an effect that catapults the stricken man halfway up the stairs and sends the audience's nerves ftying with bim. .

I also loved a moment in Act I when Miss Taylor suddenly marches downstage center to face her quarreling family from a lofty distance, then shuts them all up in mid-sentence by placing her bands on berJlips and yelling "Why , don't you all go home!" When this star commands her guests to go home, you bad better believe they go.

Elizabeth Taylor, meanwhile, looks very much like someone who's on the stage to stay.

For an account of the opening-nighl

parties, see 84

Elizabeth Taylor effective in Lillian Hellman's 'Little.Foxes' The Little Foxes Starring Elilabe1h Taylor.

Drama by Liiian Henmari.

Directed bY Austin Pendleton.

in

By Jelul Beaufort New York

her theatrical debut,

one of Hollywood's JRgemt;. part with her partlcufar ary glamour ladlea lltstaws . aura. 1'lls Regina Is a wk!ther considerable inseruie-. edly handsome predator. ' power, and acting ammen Miss Hellman's widely upon c;>ne of con~ praised period play cen~ American drama's pdM: vft, on the efforts of Regina ~d lalnesses. With Eli.r&etti her two equally grasping Taylor starring as the~ brothers to bring a textile isb Regina Glddem,. "Tbe. mill to the small Southern Llttle 1uxur1a1ts. kind of timeless gr.m1eur THEATER ,~'*1B~!I well suited to Lilllu ~ town where they already man·s 1939plaf. wield consklerable economic It IS not a performau ill power. Unfortunately f.or any great depth. JM Dmi aeu plans, Regina bas uot neither is the cbarader Clf 1et been able to produce her Regina herself. What :Mhs prom.lsed share of the capTaylor does is to endow Im ftaUzaUon. When her serl-

Foxea"

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A New YOflt Sllakespeont Festi>al Production

URIS THEATRE, lroedloay at 5111 SI., 516-6518

MONITOR THEATERGOERS . Since Monitor entertainment adver1islng IS meant lo be lnlonnative. its appearance does rot ~ imply Monitor endorsement. Far lnfolT!lalion on production. :"~~orlnrev~MonilOr watch the daily

~ric ~rfir\

11 x 15 in.

"Serenity"

$20.00

Signed & numbered

ERIC PARFIT P.O. Box 4695, Santa Barbera, Callfomla 93103

..._~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~........,

ously ill husband, Horace, returns from being IiospJtaIlzed in Baltimore, he mates It clear that the rnoney will not be forthcoming.

"The Llttle Foxes" thereafter moves deliberately through Miss Hellman's carefully crafted plot as the

The staging appears unnecessarily heavy-banded. As represented at the Martin Beck ~ter, the brothers Oscar and Ben and the miserable Leo - Joe Ponv.ecld, Anthony Zerbe, and Dennis Cbrlstopber - ·behave more like

loutish

locals

than

small-town slickers with some of the veneer that money can buy.

The · reliable Tom AlBirdie Hubbard (Maureen dredge creates an effective Stapleton), the audience portrait of the dying Horace learns how Oscar married Giddens, who nevertheless her to lay his bands on the seizes the opportunity to plantation o' her happy glrl- urge the Glddenses' young bood memories. Miss Staple- daughter (Ann Talman) to ton ts poignant and quietly make her escape from the tribe of grasphig relatives. · touching in this crucial role.

Because of Miss Taylor's Novella Nelson and Joe Senpresence "The Llttle Foxes" eca are deferential but selfts already a financial suc- assured as a pair of housecess, being virtually sold out hold servants whose loyalty for its initial 11>-week run. can be counted on In a crisis.

The production's artistic Andrew Jactness has demerits are more question- signed an expansive, red-paable. Judging by the preview pered, turn-of-the-century I attended, director Austin living room - rather grand Pendleton bas treated what In an oppressive sort of way now seems Uke an old-fa- - equipped with one of those shioned melodrama on its theatrically useful stairown rather obvious terms. Mlss Hellman's stage dtrec-

greedy Hubbards scheme and use blackmail against one another. Through the abused and pitifully tippling

Taylor In 'Uttfe foxes' cases and upper l1andlngs. lions spectty: "Tb~furniture is expensive, but t renects no particular taste " In some escriptton respects, the might apply to e present revival. Besides Mr. Jackness, the designers weft Florence Klotz (costumes), Paul Gallo (lighting), and Patrick D. Moreton (hairdos) .

----Theater---~

Plunderers in Magnolia Land THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman resence sometimes takes precedence over performance. That is the case P beth Taylor displays more conhere.

lust for wealth, power and position.

The big chance for the big bucks comes when a wily Chicago entrepreneur (Humbert Allen Astredo) offers the trio a deal to build a cotton mill if the Hubbards will share the costs. The hitch is that Regina's share lies in the bank vault of her husband Horace (Tom Aldredge), who is precariously ill in a Baltimore hospital. He loathes the Hubbards for their vulpine avarice and has long been estranged from Regina. She sends the daughter (Ann Talman), whom Horace loves, to haul him back, and proceeds to cajole and curse him, but Horace is adamant.

An insipid but reptilian nephew, Oscar's son Leo (Dennis Christopher), raids the bank vault and thwarts his uncle.

As Horace cradles the all but empty bank box., Regina goads him into a heart spasm and icily denies him the lifesaving pills that are just beyond his reach.

After a few more calculated turns of Lillian Hellman's plot screws, Regina proves to be more fearsome than any litUefox.

Without dimming Taylor's starsbine, Stapleton pilfers top acting honors. As she portrays "22 years without a day ofhappiness,'' she is not tearjerking but heartrending. Aldredge comes in a close second. As Horace, he raises his feeble but valiant arm in a salute to the values of the Old South that is being displaced by the New. The throngs who jam the box office may not care. They have booked passage on the QE3, and on its maiden New York voyage that redoubtable vessel will be in full sail till Labor Day. -By T.E. Kaltlm

Eliz.a fidence than craft in her Broadway aciing debut at the Martin Beck Theater, Fawning Voltaire letter to Benedict XIV not that her acting is less than competent. But the audience is not intent on scores, even hundreds of documents. watching her act; it is absorbed in watchOne apparently insoluble problem: ing her.

At 49, she is something to watch. In Vatican experts have only an approximate knowledge of where anything is. The air and bearing, she possesses regal comeffort to catalogue the papal treasures has mand. Her arrant good looks, particularly been going on for more than 300 years those thrush-startled violet eyes, fix all now, and archivists still speak with awe other eyes upon her. On glimpsing her, of Cardinal Josephus Garampi. who man- Poe might have written his poem "To Helaged, before his death in 1772, to inscribe en" apostrophizing the most beguiling more than 1.5 million catalogue entries, beauty of the ancient world. QE3 (as in strictly alphabetical order, in 124 large someone recently nickDamed Taylor) folio volumes. But since the millions of conjures up that grace and grandeur.

Regina is a role that permits her to documents were all arranged by their places of origin rather than by subject be both sex- and bitch-goddess, to range matter, the problems of cross-indexing¡ from coquetry to carnage. Since The litstretch toward infinity. And the staff tle Foxes is an out-and-out melodrama, it numbers only 30. "U this were Germa- relies on manipulated emotions and Tayny,'' sighs one archivist, "we would have lor need not probe authentic feelings. Like all melodramas, Foxes provides playgoers at least 300." with the grand fun of mentally hissing vilerhaps the most poignant of the doc- lains, crying over victims and cheering uments is a letter from Galileo to the on heroes.

Holy Office. It was written after the Inqui,T he joint villain is the Hubbard clan, sition had convicted Galileo of heresy in a trio of plunderers in magnolia land. The 1633, forcing him to sigri. a declaration family trade is cotton; its god is greed, The younger brother, Oscar (Joe Ponaz.ecki), is tha~ he "abjured, cursed and detested" the Coi>ernicail.theory that the earth rotates a man with a sycophantic spirit and an around th~'"Sun. Under house arrest out- ugly habit of slapping his genteel, alcoholside Florence, as he was to remain for the ic wife Birdie (Maureen Stapleton). The last eight years of his life, Galileo almost older brother, Ben (Anthony z.erbe), is a pathetically pleaded his innocence: ''I am cigar-chomping Machiavelli. As their not of this opinion, and have not been of sister Regina, Taylor salivates in her the opinion of Copernicus, since I was ordered to abandon it. Besides I am in your hands. You may do as you please."

The main purpose of the Tower of the Winds, built just before Galileo's time, was to house the Vatican's own astronomy laOOra.tory, known as the Meridian Room. Here the progress of the light of the sun, on its eternal course around the earth, was measured as it entered through a slit in the wall. By the mid-1500s, the Julian calendar worked out by astronomers in Alexandria in 45 B.C. had fallen grievously into error. The spring solstices, for example, kept occurring two weeks early. So the same Vatican that denied Copernican theory used data compiled by a Jesuit in the Tower of the Winds to draw up the Gregorian calendar that was issued in 1582 and named for Pope Gregory XIII. Though the calendar makers devoutly believed that the sun moves around the earth, their computations proved remarkably accurate. The calendar errs by only one day in every 3,323 years.

-By O"o Friedrich. RsporltK/by Poe might have written "T.o Helen "for her, apostrophizing the an#ent world's beauty.

Wdhlr Galling/Ronw

P

TIME, MAY 18, 1981

81

THB NBW YORK TIMBS, SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1981 voked baa aot to have an undenide, a bitter chill embedded in it.

But there's no such thing here. In fact, if we're going to make any dramatic sense of the open. hearty, untainted laugh that Miss Taylor does pt at this point, we have to be on Rqina •a aide of the argument, we have to believe her the riaht and we have to wlah her well. Which, in tum, Implies that we share her contempt for Horace - which Is certainly not the case. The laugh at the Martin Beck Is a laugh of sharing, of qreement, of pleasure in present triumph, and - however subliminally - it upends the altua· tion, contradicts our actual sympathies, reverses the relatlonahip of the two figures on atap. A laugh that stands the play•a meaning on Its head Is obviously a laup that needs to be tempered, reshaped. Why hun't the actress sensed that, WALTER KERR why does she so often settle for qUick small victories while she is losing the big battle?

I think because, In spite of her virtues and perhaps because of her tralninl, she is one of thoee performers who can make bold and striking use of their own personalities but who have no lmack at all for slipping lnaide an imagined character's akin and staying there long enouah to see and feel the world as that character mlabt. Am I saying that possibly as a result of a lifetime of short-takes on film - she hasn't the power to sustain a point of view that's not hers?

Yes, something like that, and rather agalnat my general conviction. Baitllll screen actors Is easy, trivial work; it also quickly gets boged down in untruth. My own theatergoing has taught me that an effective screen actor la lllcely to prove effective on a atqe as well; if not always, often enough. But I think we're tanaJlng with an exception here, one that leaves the evenlq'a central performance in shards.

You see, Miu Taylor was born with, or has conscienwrong with Elizabeth Taylor's performtiously acquired, a good bit of technical equipment to go ance In the revival of "The Little Foxes" is with her still lovely face. She has a variety of voices, for one that she can't hear what's wrong with it. I'm thing: light and aldpplng, flahwlfe-stlnging, impulsively not engallnl In a bit of perversely fancy • wordplay he~. I'm trying to catch the moat · soothing, cumulus-cloud lowering. She trots them out in turn, and each Is plausible. But she does trot them out as peculiar quality of certain thlnp ahe does in the role that though they were parade horses or ahow dogs; having given may seem effective - here and there, and for a moment or them some exercise, she tucks them back in qain. But so - but are steadily undermJnJng her penuuiveness and and here's the faltering heart of the matter - both the trotour confidence. We need a sample. ting and the tucking tend to be random, arbitrary, often enRegina Glddens's husband, Horace, baa been brouaht tirely Inappropriate. ·The lady hasn't measured her effect in terms of what home from his stay In a sanatorium after a heart attack, Regina has made a brief show of tender concern while good It will do the play. WUI that thwnplna great laugh make a pitiful fool of Horace, even though llorace is die trying to lure Horace into a business investment, Regina bas been bluntly Informed that she Is not going to get what ahe play's balance-wheel and no fool at all? Will a sudden show of tenderness toward her lncreulngly wary daughter seem wants. With the chips unmistakably down, the conversation a gesture dictated by the clock, as though somewhere there becomes more candid, not to say more caustic. Stung, Regina is willing to telt her husband that she has never felt were a private notebook containing the message "9:45, get · anything but contempt for him. "From the very flnt?" he sympathy, be nice to Alexandra"? The bits and piecei don't • asks, tentatively. Pause. "I think so," she replies. Mias Tay. attach themselves to a single intelligble person, growing in complexity and power before our eyes. It'~ a performance of lor, as Regina, gets a very big laugh with that answer. scattered loose change, when of course what we want la a But, to paraphrase a lyric from a recently departed nice crisp dollar bill, even in Confederate money. musical, It's the wrong laugh in the wrong place. It comes only in part from the Southern accent draped over it in such Director Austin Pendleton has certainly been of no help a way that "think" becomes "thank" and "thank" becomes or, for that matter, to the unevenly talented people to her, "two syUables." Miss Taylor's in-and.out use of regional keeping her company. Mr. Pendleton seems to have an odd rhythms, sometimes applied with a blacksmith's energy, is notion that tension and excitement are created solely by lot at the core of the problem. Neither does it matter so unexpected spurts of pure noise. He proceeds accordingly, . much that the actress makes use of a ooy little-girl hesitamining the text for each and every moment that can be tion - the hesitation of the born tease moving in for the kill turned into a prolonged dither - whether the moment has - before land.Ing that last line. After all, Regina does mean any special substance or not. Horace's homecoming from to be mean. the sanitoriwn, for Instance, la made a wildly exuberant But Regina - In the play Lillian Hellman wrote - inwhoop and holler that Is more likely to suggest the Little tends to be productively mean. She Isn't playfully pretenclLost Boys pouring out of the forest to welcome Peter Pan lng to put a precise date on her first loathing for Horace as a back from a duel with Hook than a cqtly mercenary family way of idly amusing herself, or of entertaining us. She's circling Its victim. If Horace had never before been suspitrying, with the cutting edge of those few words, to produce cious of this crowd, he'd surely be on his guard after all this an effect on Horace: to shock him, to freshly dismay him, to patently fraudulent yahootng. humble him and bring him to heel. If the words do have a Horace himself, in Tom Aldredge'a performance, has certain residual black humor In them, If they are almost Contln~ on Page 10 ... bound to provoke laughter of some kind, the laughter pro-

1

D

m..

STAGE VIEW

The Trouble With Miss Taylor-

•

..

•

•

MuthaSwote

Maureen Stapleton and Elizabeth Taylor in "The Little Foxes"-"Why does Miss Taylor settle for . quick, small victories while she is losing the big battle?"

·STAGE VIEW

The TrOuble With· Elizabeth Taylor Continued from Page 7 ·been turned into a ranter and a stomp.

er. Though Horace ls the play•s sanest and gentlest white man, and though he is ill besides, he ls here seen plunging wildly up and down wine.dark staircases whUe roaring anathemas at his untrustworthy wife. Watching him, you're afraid he's going to bring on a fatal coronary that will require absolutely no help from Regina. Nor ls Mr. Pendleton content with the onstage husband-wife brouhahas. When Miss Taylor and Mr. Aldredge retire to an upstairs bedroom for a showdown about missing bonds and other commercial matters, their heated exchanges aren't simply an overheard obllgato to the conversation continuing below. Miked to a fare-thee-well, the bellowing In the bedroom drowns out all else, though we aren't supposed to be following It as closely as we now try to. And when Mr. Pendleton's excitable Southerners aren't shouting, they're apt to be running. Miss Taylor should not be asked to bounce. clear across stage on a line parallel to the footlights.

Though she's done some sllmmfng down, she remains a woman of Imposing proportions and there's simply no sense in having her ~·as though sqe were making the journey by pogo.stick.

The producticm'e ~r90US, edgy styling - If styling it can be called -

creates Its most astoniSbing effect In temporarily obliterating Maureen Stapleton, an accomplishment to be deplored but not sneezed at. Miss Stapleton is playing Birdie Hubbard, onetime aristocrat and latterly devoted to elderberry wine, and the fact is that the text calls for her to be interrupted and shushed by the menagerie about her whenever she makes an effort to speak.

The staging here, however, cuts her down so, quickly and s~ querulously that Miss Stapleton can'.t be Interrupted; she's never allowed to start. Her retreat is ~ total that she seems to become wallpaper.

This splendid actress gets even, however, come Birdie's celebrated outburst In Act Three. Though the speech is broken up with enough physical movement to accommodate a relay race, the meanings and emotions are plaJn enough and piercing enough to override the fussiness. Miss Stapleton's sorrowing .lurch as she explains that she likes people to be kind, stunningly followed by her command to Alexandra never to make the mistake she has made, become counterpointed moods that do come from a single, Identifiable psyche. Both her performance and her patience earn Miss Stapleton the ovation she now gets.

Novella Nelson, Joe Seneca and Humbert Allen Astredo are fine In small roles, but the rapatious Hubbard men who aren't Quite a match for

Peta' Cllm!nibmn

"CLOUD 9"-Jcffrey Jones and Nicolas Surovy are in Caryl Churchilrs comedy, directed by Tommy TWle, which opens · tomorrow at the Theater De Lys. Regina suffer from the lightweight, hit"play-acting" that artlficlalevening throughout. Anthony Zert>e's tough-minded Benjamin Hubbard becomes little more than an imtldy drunk, scarcely a top contender in this prize ring. And Joe PonazeQ1 ·and Dennis Christoper, as father Oscar Hubbard and son Leo, not only look very much alike but twitter so similarly and so Incessantly that you have to keep reminding yourself which is pere, which ft.ls. Almost everywhere the production is unripe; though the Giddens living room, with its myriad glass globes twinkling like firefiies overhead, makes a handsomely lush background, the people darting about in it seem little more than fi~flies themselves.

None of which is to imply that Miss ~run i.zes ~

Hellman's forcefully Imagined and meticulously built play has suffered any loss of·vigor. 'I1le play proper is simply not in question; It's only 14 years since we last saw how well it can work on a stage, and the film version hasn't grown a gray hair_ In this Instance, however, it bas been put together as a vehicle; Miss Taylor ls the reason for the revival. And that is what ·you will get: the attractive Miss Tay. lor, the energetic Miss Taylor, the game Miss Taylor, the somewhat Irrelevant Miss Taylor. Don't bother looking for Hubbards, or Glddenses, or, heaven bless us, "The Little Foxes." •

GIVE A CHILD A IREAK: GIVE TO THI FRESH AIR FUND

~L'z 's sic~ _leave: __ !lkl 1 OC. loss

WliAT'S In a name'? U It's Ellsabetb ~ - try per sold-out performance. 'Dtat's what the producers of 71&e Uttle Fozes have been

'-''1.lJ.

losing at the box offtee slnee Taylor collapsed Friday nla1lt. Starting last evening, however, the sum was reduced to about sur,ooo per. perfonnanee. A $2 million "star" lnsuranee policy with IJoyd's of- London covers Foxes ''for about $27,000 a night" after three canceled shows, explains producer Zev Butman. But he doesn't expect IJoyd's to have to dole out very much dough. "[Taylor) should be should. be back at the end of the week," Bulman told our Susan Mulcahy. "She's still coughing, but she had two good nights' sleep and ls getting stronger."

Bufman's.lnsurance precaution ls standard behavior on Broadway, where the absence of a "name" on a given night can mean major box·office losses. The Taylor poUcy ls blgb, as these things go. Burman says bis Uoyd's premium ls $100,000 for the six-month run. For .Jolyon stern, who handles "star" bi&urance on some of Broadway's most bankable names, Including Ian McKeUen In Amadeus, Rose's Glenda .Jackson and Mark Hamill, about to open In Elephant Man, top concern ls that "the producer ls covered, regardless of what happens.

Whether the show ls canceled. or the star doesn't go on - If people exchange tickets, those are all losses." Robert.Boyar, another theater Insurance specialist, says "a lot of shows Just don't require It [special Insurance]. Some actors are replaceable, perhaps with regret, but they are." Not Taylor. The critics were divided In reviewing her perfonnance. The crowds outside the Martin Beck couldn't care less.

lfl·f ·~ ~~I~

lfg/ ----~

I

,Little FoXes

actors obeying orders to move and ; occasionally obeying orders to stop, to have their pictures taken. lf Pendleton's ineptness needed confirmation, it comes with the final curtain. ltegina has connived at·herinvalid husband's death, has bested her brothers in business skullduggery, is well on her way to riches and po\Ver~·She starts. ' upstairs to her bedroom, then says (quite incredibly, by the way) to her daughter: "Would you-would you like to sleep in my room tonight?" The daughter replies, ..Arc you. afraid, Mama?" The stage directions say:

for Birdie in Act Three that virtually flashes its own ..Applause" sign at her exit. But the play as a whole is monochromatic. Once its premise is set, it'sjust financial ploy and counterploy among the Hubbards and against Horace. Fun· damentaily, nothing grows or changes; it's just a continual barrage of tricks on more or less the same plane until it's over. And even the!\ it's over only because the fi,nal curtain comes down: Ben has s~picions about Horace's death, which means that, if the curtain were to rise again, the play might still be going on. (Seven years

try. All their namesaren'l Hubbard. bu~ they are all Hubbards and they will own this country some day.

And just before the end, the 17-year-old Alexandra tells hermotherthatsheil be fighting her uncle ..as hard as heil be fighting ... someplace where people don't just stand around and watch."

Don't question where the girl got that impulse or what tile 'liqe means; just observe Hellman's considerateness.

She includes with her play hints for college-senior essays on its themes.

These final fake pronouncements

I

The actors (clockwise from FJlzabeth Taylor) who seem to have b n chosen so as not to show Taylor up: Humbert Allen Astredo, Maureen Stapleton, Ann Tabnan, Joe Seneca, Novella Nelson, Dennis Christopher, Anthony Zerbe, and Joe Ponaucki.

Regina does not answer, but moves slowly out of sight. Addie 1hencomes to Alexandra, squeezes her arm with affec· tion and pride, then starts for the other lamp, as the curtain falls. [Italics added.)

Pendleton makes Addie move before Regina is out of sight: Thus he obscures the sting of the daughter's line in Reg· ina, and he muddies Taylor's star ex.it up the stairs, Hellman..._..regardless of the fact that Regina's last-second qualm is unbelievable-has enough stage wile to have ordered it otherwise,justasshewaswily enough .to construct a pathos number SR July1981

later Hellman wrote a three-act prologue, Another Part -of the Forest, which showed that, in effect, The I.Jule Foµs had l;>een. going on 20 years before.its fil'$t curtain rose.)

Because of .the two-dimensional characters and the assorted .contrivances, the drama never really entails more than the snarlings of a dog fight.

But Hellman wants .her play to have resonance, so she pastes on her own aggrandizeme~ts. Says Ben, in hi~ last . scene: There are hundreds of Hubbards sitting in rooms like this throughout the coun-

don't deepen the gimcrack play. don't make it any more than reverse senti· mentality, a bath in theatrical vice instead of theatrical virtue. Not long ago a revival of Hellman's Wat<"honthe Rhine revealed it-still more clearlyas a tawdry insult, through melodrama. to its theme.of anti-fascisim. The little Foxes, though less clankily constructed, is equally superficial in the treatment of its theme, American materialism throttling the American dream. The quotation marks plead to be printed in acid when one refers to these plays as native ..classics."

•

87

Ilz & Co.: impressive

. By JAMFS LARDNER © The Washington Post

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _A,...., P l'lff)"rQ

W

ASHINGTON, D. C. A play opened at the Ei· senhower Theater the other·night.

Of all the amazing things that happened, that was the most amazing.

The surroundings seemed more a1>propriate to a lion·and-Cbdltian act, or a treaty-signing. or a state funeral, than to a substantial, even memorable, work of theater. But the theater works in wondrous ways.

Amen. Ten-four.

The sequence of events that led to what might be called "Elizabeth Taylor in 'The Little Foxes' " was heavy with its own irony.

Consider that the conservative tide that made Ronald Reagan president also made the Wife of Senator John Warner (Rep., Va.) a court figure in the new Republican scheme of things, thus contributing to her Broadway debut in a play by a woman who has spent a lifetime launching missiles from another side of the political fence.

Consider that all the notables of an administration out to save the nation by unshackling the power of the profit motive turned out the night of March 19 for a play that is, among other things, a frightening portrait of the profit motive in its unshackled state.

And if you are· a theatergoer as well as a student of the times, consider this: At the Kennedy Center lately, the star system has been responsible for a series Of pale and silly evenings in the theater.

Now along comes a case study Of the star system at its theoretical worst - a production created solely because a semi-retired movie actress, who bad almost never appeared on

THUTER REVIEW stage, said she'd like to - and the result is one of the most satisfying productiODS in the Kennedy Center's recent history.

Well, so much for irony. A word about Elizabeth Taylor.

The word la: impre.aive.

There are incongruous touches - a coquettish, gushing quality creeps into her voie4' and demeanor at times when the eharacter should be harder, or at least hint more at her hardness - but Taylor gives a robust and involving performance as·Regina, one of the great scheming women in ·American drama, pumping life and suspense into many of the critical passages of Lillian Hellman's play.

Or•.~ ~Y~ Tqlor gave ,such a performance opening night at the Eisenhower, with President Reagan, the First Lady and the star's husband all watching from a prominent box, and with a generous sample of Washington notability .filling out the rest of the seats, ogling ·in both directions at once.

Row anyone could act at all under ·such circumstances is beyond me.

Maybe Taylor's experience in the fishbowl is more important for now than her relative inexperience in ·the theater.

T

AYLOR IS at her best in the backbiting climax of the second act, when the air is thick with the greedy plotting of the Hubbard family.

She is at her weakest when her generous-hearted husband has a heart attack in the third act, and she just sits immobile, withholding the medicine that could save h.ia life. A

Maureea Stapletoa and Ellzabedl Taylor I

bolt of lightning should fly from her calculating brow to his vulnerable breast. But if there was no lightning· here, there were plenty of sparks elsewhere.

Taylor doesn't dominate "The Little Foxes" as, say, Tallulah Bankhead must have in the original stage production, and as Bette Davis did in the movie. But it is hard to complain about that with a supporting cast like the present one. Domina ting Maureen Stapleton and 4otbony 1.erbe would be a feat.

Stapleton and 1.erbe are the pillars of the production. As the fragile, stepped-on, aristocratic Birdie, Stapleton gives a ~Y wrenching performance. "Nobody ever lo5t their temper at Lionnet," she says, recalling the feudal niceties of life on the ancestral plantation . ."Nobody ever would." And she could break your heart. (She is so compelling, in fact, that she makes Joe Ponazecki, who plays her husband, seem im· plausibly· young for the t'Ole, when it would be just as reasonable, albeit llDtbinkable, to regard Stapleton as too old.)

As Ben, the bachelor brother of the Hubbardll, 1.erbe delivers a sly and engaging portrait Of a Southern man on the make, his forward-looking dream Of ''bringing the machines to the cotton, not the cotton to the machines" harshly juxtaposed against Birdie's wistful vision of a return to the plantation. And 1.erbe's accent is a study unto itself ("ar~tocrat" coming out "AAAIUl-ristocrat").

Fine performances also are given

by Dennis Christopher as Leo and Ann Tallman as Alexandra - young roles of the sort often treated as after· thoughts iii revivals of this vintage.

But this is a productic>n without afterthoughts, a point demonstrated by a single scenic detail: In addition to all the -other items. of visual finery (the cutaway ceiling and chandelier, the grandfather clock. the gas lamps, the

wine-colored wallpaper, the crtstal glassware), designer Andrew Jackness has provided the profiles of two Roman columns outside tbe Hubbard house, virtually offstagP., where perhaps a tenth of the audil!llee can see them.

Director Austin Pendleton :Who played Leo in the last Broa(Way revival of "The Little Foxes") bas contributed a shrewd pace, and he las arrayed several scenes with particular originality and force - :Sor example, the entrance of ~m Aldredge as ~egina's banker:J!.usband.

Pendleton has this frail figure back from treatment for a wrt · condition, stand on the stage aeron with his back to the audience as. bis avaricious kin burst from the diaing room upstage and rush forwarn to overwhelm him with insi'nc~t"e greetinp. The effect' is to inaJte us fearful that Aldredge could fall f'.lght off the stage.

"The Little Foxes" is unf~o~le and/or old-fashioned on any n~r of counts - from its fact-filled""x. position to its socially purposetul subject matter. "There are peQple who eat the earth and people who stand around and watch them eat it," says the maid, 'Addie, in a conspicuously weighty commentary on the action.

But as this performance ~f­ firmed, the play has enormous hliill:>r and charm as well as raw ener~­ and it has people who live and liGer in the memory. ·

Architecture rT Art27

Dances Filml, 15 Musicl7 Recordings 19 Television 33

Camera38 Chess36 Gardens35 • Leisure Front 35 Numismatics 38 Stamps38

~bt Ne,w

1V Listings Sect. 2A

lork ~imts

ARTS AND LEISURE

Theater 1, 5, 6 Copyript C 1Mt The New Yorlc Times

,_

Section2 c/s

Sunday, ~fay 3~ 1981

[L ET TAYLOR She Has Conquered Evei-ything But Broadway,.and Now ...

Th1s is a $500,000 revival of Miss HellBy LESLIE GARIS · FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. FEBRUARY

lizabeth Taylor stands center stage, one hand on her hip.

Here~ are heavily made up, neo-Cleopatra style, her Ups are the same blood-red as the toenails that peek saucily from her gold sandals. She is thin now - thinner than she's been since he~ 20's - having lost 40 pounds at a Flotida spa before she began rehearsing Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" one month ago.

She has just finished a scene that calls for much angry screaming. "How did I do?" she asks Austin Pendleton, the director, in a voice of such absolute innocence that one wonders if her bawdy appearance is a mirage.

"Well, Elizabeth," Mr. Pendleton auwers in affectionate, relaxed tones, "by now the audience will have comJ>letely given up hope that this is going '-be 'National Velvet,' so you will have loltthem!" ~•Hal" Miss Taylor screeches and ~s back her head in merriment.

Sblt loves being surprised with a laugh.

It'• not that she doesn't work. She works hard, like a little girl who knows .flbe can please the teacher.

Of course, this is not a school play.

E

man's 1939 drama, and with one of the biggest advance sales in history (due to the drawing power of its star) it will open Thursday at Broadway's Martin Beck after having played four weeks in Fort Lauderdale and six weeks at pie KeDDedy Center in Washington. Eltzai!eth Taylor has never been in a play before. The stakes are high. .

The play ls grim. In a small Southern town at the tum of the century, Regina Giddons ~urders her ailing hus~d and outwits her two avaricious br'Qthers for control of a fortune. Talhdah Bankhead, in the original production; and Bette Davis, in the movie, ph~yed Regina with fierce viciousness ln the grand style. Miss Taylor, however, is a picture of misused Southern femlnini.ty, who seizes her long-deserved power when finally given the opportunity.

"When you enter t})e dining ,l'oom, Elizabeth," Mr. Pendleton says kindly, "I want you to come from stage right."

"Stage right?" she looks around in some confusion. "Which is stage right?" lbe rest of the cast stares at her in disbelief.

"You can't be a star if you don't know stage right," booms Anthony Zerbe, who plays her brother, Ben. Elirabeth shrugs and giggles.

Gray-haired, sad-eyed Maureen

Stapleton, who rec:iently was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame, paces the set tensely. She plays Birdie, Regina's oppressed sister-in-law. She's not sure she has a grasp of her character. She's not even sure she'll remember her lines. When she speaks, her deep, melodious voice is merely a whisper, because the fear takes her breath away, While she rehearses a scene with Joe Pon,azecld (who plays Oscar, Birdie's husband and Regina's brother) Miss Taylor clowns around in the wings, waving her arms and grinning. Mr. Zerbe teases her and she sticks out her chin ln a pout.

Since rehearsals began, the cast has been am~ by this jolly, raucous woman, who comes and goes in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce. "A nice lady," . says Dennis Christopher, the young star of the movie "Breaking Away,'" who plays Regina's scheming nephew.

They all expected she'd • temperamental. She isn't. They expected she'd lord lt over them. She doesn't. But rdost of all, they expected she'd be intimi- . dated by her first theatrical venture. So far, she's not. Everyone is waiting for the panicto hit her. OJiening night still lies ahead.

A few days later the big night arrives. Backstage, the company is exhibiting classic behavior. Miss StapleContinued on Pages ·

"I've always wanted to do a play, but the timing never seemed ria-ht."

.._

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I

I .

LIZ TAYLOR LARKS ON 'GENERAL HOSPITAL' AS LUKE AND LAURA FINALLY TIE THE KNOT

Some 14 mHllon fans wlll sigh with relief when LllUI'• (Genie Francis) ltlld Luke (Tony Qemry), so11Ps' hottest couple, wed next week on Genera/ Ho•pltal.

It

seemed, at long last, that ABC's daytime phenomenon, General Hospital, had found a miracle cure for the soap opera blues-that nagging feeling, epidemic among soap stars, that they just don't get no respect from their pricey prime-time peers. GH, after all, reaps the highest daytime ratings In TV hlstory(14 million addicts). It earns more than $50 million a year in profits (double that of nlghttlme's costlier-to-produce Dallas). And in next week's wedding of erstwhile rapist Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) and smitten victim Laura Baldwin (Genie Francis), It boasts the most ballyhooed TV event since J.R. ate lead.

Yet something, that ineffable something, was missing. Like a king without a crown or a rock star without Britt Ekland, the show lacked that final fillip that signaled true arrival. That is no longer the case, for beginning this week Elizabeth Taylor, dripping with her diamonds and Invaluable Hollywood glitter, stops by to appear in five episodes of her favorite soap. "People still see daytime television as the bastard of the Industry, but the fact that Elizabeth Taylor chose to come here because she's a fan must mean we're doing something right," says Geary.

34

"It validated General Hospital for me."

"I'm wild about that show," explains Taylor, who donated her $2,000 paycheck to two Virginia hospitals that once treated her. "Someone from General Hospital came to see me when I was doing The Little Foxes in New York, and I agreed to do the soap when I got to L.A."

Not surprisingly, her visit (reminiscent of Joan Crawford's 1968 Secret Storm fling recounted in Mammie Dearest) called for some Taylor-made perks. Producer Gloria Monty (interestingly, she directed Crawford's Storm episodes) vacated her own office-the largest In the off-Sunset Blvd. complex where GH Is taped-and evicted a Photographs by Erik Hein/ ABC

consultant to make room for Liz. Contrary to reports, Monty denies repainting Liz's dressing room to match her violet eyes, but the producer did irritate some actors' union members by making $109.25-per-day extras of Taylor's son and daughter-in-law, Christopher and Aileen Wilding, and her publicist, makeup man and hairdresser.

Liz T•ylor's scenes were edited Into the wedding sequence. Uz wore her 33-carat diamond ring {worth $1 mllllon-plus) and brought lnesUmable status to the

show.

CONTINUED

35

Daya that shook the daytime workl:I When producer Monty talks, a cameraman and a safety-pinned Qemy Oaten; Liz takes a meeting, and

Uz laughs between takes, and beflowera the bridegroom-before proving a thorny guest; Ge-r chugs to the charch In a tin llzzle; howevâ&#x20AC;˘

But Monty also made stipulations.

Most notably, she insisted that Liz could not play herself, but only a specially created character-Helena Cassadine, the rich widow of a mad scientist who had schemed In a typically implausible recent plot to freeze GH's Port Charles hometown. Taylor's character comes on sweet--she donates millions to General Hospital to atone for her husband's evildoing-but she winds up sinister, casting a curse on Laura and Luke, whose wedding is further blemished when a mystery guest

(tune in next week!) tries to punch out Luke during the reception. Says Liz of her two-day spree on the soap opera set: "I had a ball."

By the cast's accounts, she behaved like an angel during the shooting. When Chris (Dr. Rick Webber) Robinson jokingly insisted on a special camera angle, she good-naturedly spun his back to the lens and gibed, "If you want your best side showing, try this." She apologetically dubbed herself "Madame Flub" after repeatedly mispronouncing her character's name and, except for

noting that things were different at MGM, accommodated herself to GH's daunting shooting pace.

"She worked hard and with humor.

She wasn't tap-dancing," says Geary.

"She hugged each member of the cast, she knew people's names. She treated me like a total peer-not like a clown or a freak."

Quite obviously the genre's leading man is sensitive about his standing. "In the last three years," Geary says, "I have given my life to this show-physically, emotionally, spiritually. The work

er, Tristan (Scorpio) Rogers, being toasted by Taylor, may be Gira fastest-moving star. is harder than on prime-time TV. Genie and I have carried as much as 60 pages of dialogue a day, four or five days a week. No nighttime show, no film makes those demands." As a result, Geary notes, he has no personal llfe"There is really nothing going onnothing." Compensations Include an estimated salary of $200,000 and an almost jaunty self-assurance. "One critic recently said I had thin lips, a weak chin, a sallow complexion and a receding hairline," laughs Geary. "Hey, if someone thinks that's sexy, don't take

It out on me. I didn't try to be a sex symbol, folks-it came with the dinner." He anticipates that Luke and Laura's long-delayed nuptials will lead to more subtle-and plausible-character development. "After the sweatiest honeymoon on record," says Geary, "maybe other sides of our relationship can emerge."

So, he hopes, will other sides of Tony Geary, who, ominously for General Hospital, plans to depart when his contract expires at the end of 1982.

"This is not going to be my career," he

says. "But I will never again work without trying to achieve the dedication I feel here. It's ruined me." But not his self-confidence. "I'm a fine actor, I have abilities to communicate that are gifts," assesses Geary. " There is no other reason for me to walk this earth."

Luke's Laura, however, may be walking for other reasons. Genie Francis will quit when her contract expires next month unless a way can be found to allow her time off for college and a social life. "It isn't that I don't love the CONTINUED

36

37

Genie Francis, the star-who-woulcl-be-acoed, wants to bust out of celebrity serf¡ dom to enter college next year.

With 300 fan letters dally, Trtstan Rogers Is Oii's heartthrob-In-waiting. Meanwhlle, he's Just ldllnv (In his 1970 Mustang).

-r

show," she says, "but I'm 19, I've been on since I was 14, and I'm absolutely exhausted." Francis repeats Geary's workaholic tale, with a twist. "You come in early in the morning, straight out of the shower, work on the script, get your hair done at lunch, cram lines, then tape," says Genie. "I've never had time for boyfriends. I hardly have time for girlfriends. There's my roommate, and another girl from junior high I've stayed in touch with, and that's it.

My closest friends are here." And even they weren't always friendly. "I spent some very lonely years on the show," says Genie, who for a long time was a decade younger than any of her costars. "If they were going to talk about sex in the makeup room, I was told to leave. It wasn't until I was 18 that I was accepted." The result, she says, is that "I'm unsure of how old I am; the last school I attended was Millikan Junior High In Sherman Oaks. [She was tutored on the set until she won a high 38

school diploma at 16.) I picture myself carrying books around school, but then here I am handling finances [a salary reportedly more than $100,000), publicity and a career." Genie, who wants to attend Cal State Northridge next spring, says, "I know all about Genie the actress; maybe it's time to find out about Genie the human being."

If Francis' future is up in the air, so may be General Hospital's. Stuart (Dr. Alan Quartermaine) Damon and other cast members are quick to assert that the show "Isn't just two people-other elements, other characters make it a success. There's Rick [Dr. Noah Drake] Springfield for the teenagers, Tony for slightly older girls, Chris Robinson for the more staid types and John [Dr. Steve Hardy] Beradlno for the older ladies," says Damon. "I get fan mail from girls in their 20s and 30s-and that's Photographs by Jim McHugh/Sygma

how I like 'em." Not surprisingly, Beradino, 64, suggests Luke's and Laura's demise might even be welcomed by "some of the cast members who feel neglected." Not least among them may be Bera di no, who has been with GH all Its 18 years and who only half jokingly grumbles that the show has been turned over to young "freaks, creeps, pimps and hookers."

In the end, General Hospital's future rests with Gloria Monty, 50ish, the di¡ minutive (5'2") producer who inherited a stale soap five years ago and singlehandedly reconstructed the face of daytime TV. "A wonderfully bossy little lady," opines Denise (Dr. Lesley Webber) Alexander. Geary offers: "It's no accident that everyone calls her 'Mother,' but you wouldn't call her 'Mom.' " Ex-head writer Patricia Falken Smith and her team of six other

Yes, Geary's new kitten Is named Taylor (after Uz). Tony Is a sertous singer who wants to add vinyl to his video success.

scribes angrily quit the show in August after repeated battles with Monty and jumped to NBC's Days of Our Lives.

"Gloria's a genius-who runs a gestapo operation," snipes Falken Smith, who sees alienation developing among cast and crew. "What has gone up has got to come down."

Monty admits that her actors don't "sit around and drink coffee" and that she scrutinizes GH "to the last detail," but she concedes nothing. Skeptics predicted her series had peaked In 1979, she points out-before Luke and Laura. "They said we couldn't top ourselves then, and we did," says Monty.

"Anythlng's possible."

DAVID GRITIEN 39