Take One (May 1978)

Memorabilia: the first wide-screen, 70mm motion picture was produced in 1929. It was a western starring John Wayne, entitled The Big Trail. Most theatres couldn’t handle _ the ‘*Grandeur-70’’ screen format and the picture quickly faded from public view. It was 20 years ahead of its time. Memorabilia: W.C. Fields co-starred in a picture for 20th Century-Fox with Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson and Paul Robeson. His 20-minute sequence was edited out of the final release version because the picture was too long. The picture: Tales of Manhattan. Memorabilia: Clark Gable appeared in five films without his mustache. . . Susan Lennox (1931), Red Dust (1932), No Man of Her Own (1932), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Cain and Mabel (1936). Memorabilia. Frank Rodriguez lives with it every waking hour—at work (he’s head of 20th Century-Fox’s photo department), at play (he sees seven movies a week), and sometimes even in his dreams. Frank Rodriguez was born in Brooklyn, New York. He became interested in movies when he was about 10 years old. ‘‘A next door neighbor used to let me read copies of the movie trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter. And I collected theatre programs and actors photo picture cards as a hobby. Pretty soon I was the ‘movie nut’ of the neighbourhood. ’’ When he was 14, he went to work at the local theatre—changing program ‘T wanted to be in Hollywood where tt was all happening. When I arrived on the lot I thought—well, I've finally made it.”’ 30 posters and assisting the maintenance man, who changed the marquee. ‘‘I never climbed the ladder myself, because I was afraid of heights. One day though, the maintenance man went on a drunken binge and was fired. I was put in charge of the marquee. I was petrified. I finally climbed up the ladder, but I never looked down. Pretty soon I became an expert. I could change three sides of the marquee in less than an hour.”’ Later, his head still in the clouds, Rodriguez quit school and went to work in the mail department at RKO Pictures in New York. ‘‘I worked myself into a clerk’s job in the photo department and it was a thrill being surrounded by all kinds of movie photos and posters.’’ Those early years were basic training. Rodriguez absorbed every information facet of the industry—eating it up like a computer. After a stint in the navy during WWII, he worked for awhile at Walt Disney Productions in New York, then at Paramount, at Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures, and then, a ‘‘super-job’’ at 20th Century-Fox. He transferred to Fox’s west coast office. ‘‘I wanted to be in Hollywood, where it was all happening. When I arrived on the lot I thought—well, I’ve finally made it. I get the same feeling every morning I come to work.’’ It’s almost impossible to not get caught up in the ‘‘Hollywood experience.’’ Everywhere Rodriguez looks he sees a bit of history. ‘‘My office overlooks Shirley Temple’s cottage. Right across the street is Tom Mix’s old barn. Two blocks away and I feel like I’m home again—they still use the New York Hello Dolly street set. As a matter of fact, another studio used it recently Rodriguez selects the Fox still for use in press kits, newspaper and magazine publicity and advertising. MUCHO MEMORABILIA Story and photos by Robert Touchstone to film Harry and Walter Go to New York.”’ It wasn’t long before word got around that Rodriguez could not be stumped on anything to do with the movies. He has total recall of a lifetime of digested tid-bits of movie nostalgia. **T don’t live in the past, but I love it. I think the glamour that was once ‘Hollywood’ is gone forever. It’s a thing of the past. Today, it’s violence and sex—anything to get them out of their living rooms, away from TV. It’s too bad.”’ Rodriguez smiles sadly. The phone at his desk rings, and he answers the caller’s question: ‘“Yeah, I remember that song. It was called ‘Acapulco’. Betty Grable sang it in Diamond Horseshoe.”’ The caller asks Frank if he’d mind singing the words. Shyly, he swivels his chair around—cups one hand over the mouthpiece, the other hand over his ear... Raquel Welch, Mel Brooks, and a dozen other stars smile down from their posters surrounding Rodriguez’s desk. Brooks, with his finger to his lips, asks for silence, as the keeper of their dreams croons, a little off-key ... “If you’re a romantic chump, pack up your duds and come to AcapulCO. Robert Touchstone is a Los Angeles freelance writer, photographer, and screenwriter. He has written for some of Hollywood’s top situation comedies, and is presently running a photo syndication and stock photo agency. Hild ; t See 2 } = Ae ei) [ ; si vee ¢ ee | f : ie ‘ wet Hees: a. & oe Wits > Pee, Gal Rodriguez is dwarfed by the New York railway station that was part of Fox's Hello Dolly sez.