Hollywood Studio Magazine (March 1971)

Take it from the top News notes on the Hollywood scene Oscar's always on top ■ If we're going to take it from the top, we might as well start with — Oscar, which is about as top as you can get if you're in the film industry. However, if you're not a member of the venerable Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, whence Oscars flow, the mechanics of qualifying for an Award may have escaped you. So here it is, right out of the Rules Book: “Academy Awards of Merit shall be bestowed for achievements in connection with motion pictures first publicly exhibited for paid admission (previews excluded) in a commercial motion picture theatre in the Los Angeles area (defined as Los Angeles, West Los Angeles or Beverly Hills) between Jan. 1, 1970 and midnight of Dec. 31, 1970, such exhibition being for a consecutive run of not less than a week after an opening prior to midnight Dec. 31, following normal exploitation and advertising utilized by the producer for his other pictures within the dates specified." There it is, in a nutshell. Unless, of course, it's a foreign language film, which must have English titles. No dubbing allowed. Further, "Foreign Language Film Award Entries must have been first exhibited in a commercial motion picture theatre in the country of origin between Nov. 1, 1969 and Oct. 31, 1970." With all those stringent requirements for "consideration", along with the 1969-70 industry doldrums, doesn't it come as something of a shock that a whopping 374 feature films from 18 countries, including the U.S., are listed? That's 40 more titles than in 1969 — and three less than in 1958... and every blasted one of them has been booked into an L.A. movie theatre for at least a one-week showing. Forty-three years of Academy Awards and not one single movie can qualify if it doesn't get a showing in a Los Angeles theater? There's a mind-boggler for you. Censorship strikes again ■ Almost simultaneously with Elihu Winer's delicious recollections of his own six months tenure with the old Breen Office (more officially, the "Motion Picture Code Administration") in the Feb. Writers Guild Newsletter, the L.A. Times aired the saga of the Hacienda Heights housewives who brought about withdrawal of 19 films from the L.A. nothing but evil. It follows, then, that to see nothing but evil, one must know a great deal about evil . .." Fortunately, good ultimately wins out, or so it would seem. All 19 films were cleared for viewing less than a week later. Rumor has it that some inevitable expletives of frustration from a couple of dames in Hacienda Heights were not blasphemous. Anti-authoritarian, maybe, but surely not blasphemous! Horror in the Movie Museum ■ Thanks to Forrest Achermann, editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland," a magazine, and collector of horror memorabilia, there's a brontasaurus from the film "King Kong" on display at the "When the Movies Were Young" museum at Coast and Southern Federal Savings in Tarzana. A scale model, built by Marcel Delgado, who built 'em all in 16" to 18" scales for the trick photography that terrorized the viewers of the era, this new addition to the museum shares display with artifacts from Boris Karloff's "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" and a mask worn in "Creature from the Black Lagoon," a film we seem to have missed. Achermann, by the way, owns all the models used in the classic "King Kong" film except King Kong himself. What makes it all the more exasperating, is that there were two King Kongs built for the movie. One is thought to be owned by a Utah banker. The other disappeared. Dropped out. Got bombed, if you remember. Concerning CATV and Videocassettes 5