Hollywood Studio Magazine (June 1970)

Companions in Elegance ATMOS, the perpetual motion clock powered by the unfailing variations in air temperature, is the one fine clock to grace every home or office. Atmos runs silently, accurately, indefinitely—with¬ out ever winding. In solid brass case protected by lacquer finish. Atmos measures 914 " high, 814" wide, 6 3 /s" deep. $150. Illustrated: Atmos "Heritage" Memovox HPG Model 902 in stainless steel case, calendar date, self-winding, sweep-second hand, blue dial. $155 strapped, $165 with matching bracelet. JEWELRY APPRAISING and ESTATE PURCHASES Appraisals made at your home by appointment. BANKAMERICARD & MASTER CHARGE CREDIT Ecr n ren JEWELERS THE VALLEY'S LEADING JEWELER FOR OVER 36 YEARS Telephone STate 8-4014 No. 25 Bullock’s Fashion Square Sherman Oaks CREATIVE CUSTOM DESIGNING m our own shops • certified gemologists F an clubs are nothing new in show business. Ancient Greek actors used to receive scrolls from admirers as did the performers at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. Perhaps the greatest American film star to receive letters of adulation was silent screen star Francis X. Bushman after “Ben Hur” in 1927 — 500,000 letters a week from adoring females. And then his mail dwindled down to a few hundred a week with the awful disclosure that not only was he married he had children. Movie idols just didn’t betray their fans that was in those less sophisticated times. The most unusual fan club in movies and television these days belongs to character actor Strother Martin — it’s electronic. Disc jockey, Jim Lange of KMPC is the “voice” of Strother’s fan club. On his afternoon show -.noon to three — Jim usually says hello to a number of people. A few weeks ago, he said, “Hello Strother Martin and the Strother Martin Fan Club.” Jim continued the saluation every day and it caught on in popularity and requests for membership cards trickled into the station as Jim made it a daily feature. Strother, a hi-fi buff, had never heard Jim’s show, but friends told him about it and now, of course, he is a regular listener. Now it might be a good time to ask: “Who is Strother Martin?” A good question. The short, stout, gray-haired actor like to say of himself that he has made a living in recent years playing prairie scum. He was the chain gang warden who abused Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”. He left Jason Roberts to die in the desert in the “Ballad of Cable Hogue.” And he was the tough, feisty mine foreman who got bushwacked by bandits in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Aside from being an actor of extraordinary skill, Strother is not, a bit like the characters he portrays on the screen in 30 feature movies and 500 television shows. He has a keen sense of humor, although he admits its the “barnyard variety” and he talks knowingly on a great many subjects that have nothing to do with show business. He is delighted about the KMPC Fan Club. “People used to stare at me before in restaurants because they knew I was that SOB,” he smiles. “But one doesn’t always know the names of character actors. I like to think that now they do and it’s all due to Jim Lange. I’ve never met Jim yet, but in my deck he’s aces.” Strother can be seen in the current release “The Ballad Of Cable Hogue.” In the forthcoming production “Come In, Children,” a film about witchcraft, which is scheduled for a mid-summer release, Strother stars with his raffish pal, L.Q. Jones from “The Wild Bunch.” 8A