Hollywood Studio Magazine (November 1971)

Take it from the top News notes on the Hollywood scene by Zelda Cini Here’s the topper Obviously, Nothing tops the satisfaction of recognition, especially if it comes as complete surprise. Genuine film buffs are familiar with a publication called Nostalgia Collector, which is published in Dolton, Illinois. And they may also be familiar with Howard & Gail Rogofsky, in Flushing, N.Y. Be that as it may. Studio Magazine is now listed by both as a collector’s item, especially the March, 1971 issue, which contained an illustrated story on Captain Midnight. Going price: $5. Thought you’d like to know. Don’t call us. We’re out of ’em!*** Nothing’s all bad As 1971 nears its end (and good riddance), at least some of the solid production companies are announcing schedules for 1972. Disney has set five features for the year, with two of them due to start rolling in January. “Chateau Bon Vivant,” a contemporary comedy written for the screen by Don Tait, involves a Manhattan accountant in a broken down hotel in Colorado which he tries to turn into a ski lodge. The “Island” opus is science fiction dealing with three explorers who discover a lost civilization of Vikings on a volcanic island in the arctic. Winston Hibler is producing this John Whedon screenplay. Roberts Stevenson will direct. Meanwhile, in keeping with the company’s seven-year cycle of reissuing Disney cartoon classics, prepare the way for return of “Lady and the Tramp,” as a Christmas offering. Academy “Intercut” For several years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been a party to “retrospective” screenings of one kind or another. Last month, however, a different kind of collection was released in regular weekly screenings for members and a special list of guests, including students and faculty of Cinema Arts and Drama Departments of local colleges and universities, along with Fellows of the American Film Institute. The films themselves adhere to no particular theme. According to Academy President Daniel Taradash, this series is “a free wheeling potpourri of some rare and important movies, most of which have for years been unavailable for showings either in theatres or on TV.” Just to give you some idea of the variety of fare made available to this selected “public,” the screenings began with Buster Keaton’s 1929 MGM silent classic “Spite Marriage,” with organ accompaniment by Chauncey Haines, and proceeded through the month of October with such offbeat examples of film-making as “The Scar of Shame,” circa 1927, a product of the Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia, triple-billed with “St. Louis Blues,” a short 1928 film featuring Bessie Smith in her only screen appearance, and the 1933 then-daring experiment “Emperor Jones,” starring Paul Robeson. The November schedule includes the English-language version of “The Blue Angel,” starring Marlene Dietrich (Paramount 1930), which hasn’t been shown for 40 years, although the German version with subtitles is screened occasionally. Another classic slated for November is “The Front Page” (UA 1931), which Howard Hughes produced and Lewis Milestone directed. Credits for putting this unusual collection together are shared by Bob Epstein, of UCLA’s Department of Theater Arts, who served as consultant to the Academy’s Cultural Projects Committee, which was composed of Gregory Peck, chairman, Michael Blankfort and George Cukor. *** Compulsive letter-writer All-time title for ‘‘Film Fan Extraordinaire” has to go to Chaw Mank, of Staunton, Ill., who is a member of more than 250 movie fan clubs, including 30 in foreign countries. Last year, he confessed to answering more than 15,000 letters from and about movie stars, and his collection of memorabilia is memory-boggling. He owns the personal scrapbook of Rudolph Valentino, for instance. He also owns a vase ornamented with miniature boxing gloves, a gift from Kirk Douglas, JACK WARNER, in 20th century production at Columbia, for Columbia release, surrounded by cast members in costume on the first day of shooting “1776”, the Broadway musical being transferred to the screen by Warner. Ken Howard, Howard Da Silva, and William Daniels, in costume. As were all the members of the cast. You know who Warner is because he’s in civvies. *** 4