The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 37

3f Annette Funicello visits 'Growing Pains', 3D Delia Reese added to 'Charlie 3D Comics, 2D Horoscope, 4D, TV log, 3D SECTION The TENNESSEAN TUESDAY, January 28, 1986 LIVING Hummingbird soaring on a wing and a prayer DIANE A I It ill tan ii 4w i ROBERT K. OERMANN Staff Writer Hummingbird Productions, the biggest ad jingle business in Nashville, is celebrating its 10th anniversary by becoming bigger. The company has a remarkable tale to tell, for it was founded on $30 that Bob Farnsworth borrowed from his wife Merrill a decade ago. Now it's a nationally-known agency that produces commercial spots for Dodge, Pepsi, Delta Airlines, Burger Chef, Pillsbury, Dairy Queen, Exxon, McDonald's, Kellogg's, 7-Eleven, Wrangler Jeans, Quaker Oats and dozens of other famous firms. This month, Hummingbird is in charge of 16 new national Cabbage Patch toy TV commercials and the Farnsworths will sing on all of them.

"He borrowed the money to start the company from my college fund," says Merrill, a slim blonde whose fresh-faced beauty masks a keen business mind. "You should have seen their faces at the bank when we walked in and told them we wanted to open a business account with $30," says Bob, laughing. At that point, Hummingbird was little more than a wing and a prayer. Bob had come to Nashville from Greenville, S.C, in 1975 as part of a singing duo. Very shortly afterward he developed an interest in jingle writing.

His first effort went like this: "You can brush that tooth, but what a wasteTo brush away that Granny Loomis Sausage tasteBut if you insist on having sex appealYou'U. have to brush your tooth before that Granny Loomis meal." Need it be added that he did not get the account? He learned quickly, however. His second jingle, for Marshall Farms Chicken, was a first prize winner in the South Carolina advertising competition. Merrill is quick to ascribe Hummingbird's success to her husband's musical talent "I mainly write lyrics and he writes melodies," she says. "He's also the extrovert of the company." Merrill means she thinks that Bob is the company's best salesman as well as its creative core.

"But at one point I was the vice president, secretary, and treasurer, so I had Bob outvoted!" Oooo Bob Farnsworth has taken Hummingbird Productions from an op- eration founded on $30 of borrowed money to a position as the top I J-' ad jingle company in Music City, Armour Star, Union Carbide, Oster, General Mills, NutraSweet, Dr. Seuss, and Pennzoil have all lined up for Hummingbird's services. The dramatic rock synthesizer instrumental track that backs the current Army National Guard TV spot is theirs. That's Nashville's Terry McMillan singing Keepin' An Eye On You in Hummingbird's new Jeep ad. "For lead vocals, we use whatever singer fits the job," says Merrill.

"We're always looking for a strong, versatile lead voice. "I've done almost all the writing," says Bob. "Dick Feller is the only freelancer we've used successfully." Feller is the man behind the Hummingbird "music video styled" Dodge Trucks ads Do You Like Trucks? and Little Boy's Dream, the Beware! Shingles may cause blindness TV Column Ch. 30 declares war on its competitors After nearly two years on the air, WCAY-Channel 30 is finally ready to go to war. Tim McDonald president of the Virginia-based TVX Corp, which owns Channel 30 said his company has built up its arsenal and is now preparing for battle.

Admittedly, the battle may rage for several years, he said. "These are marathon matches," he said. "We're here to slug it but" Chief competition for McDonald is WZTV-Channel 17, a Nashville independent that was already firmly entrenched when Channel 30 signed on the air. A second UHF station, WHTNOannel 39 in Murfreesboro, is dismissed by McDonald as being out of the running. "They're not an independent television station," he said of Channel 39.

"They have no entertainment product on the air. All they show is freebies no one else wants." BUT THE outspoken McDonald admits that his own station also has a ratings problem in Nashville. Although TVXs other stations reportedly "went through the roof in the last ratings books, Nashville Channel 30 failed to move up appreciably. In the most recent November reports, Channel 30 was still in fourth place, trailing behind Channel 17 and sometimes tying with WDCN-Channel 8. To help speed up the station's growth, McDonald said he has created a new corporate position and has hired Jerry Birdwell, "a 31-year pro at the independent wars," as the' company's first corporate director of programming.

Birdwell's first project, he said, will be an in-depth study of the Nashville situation. Birdwell will also be in charge of scheduling programs for all TVX stations, a job which McDonald had been doing himself. "Hell do things I haven't had time to do," he said. "Oke find the other guys' vulnerable points." cDONALD SAID Channel 30 I VI also will do more promotion in the future, emphasizing newly acquired children's shows and movies. He said he and Channel 30 employees realize that part of the problem has been the public's confusion between his station and the floundering Channel 39.

"But the worm has turned," McDonald said. Former Nashvillian Oprah Winfrey, still reeling from her success in The Color Purple, has won herself another major film role. Winfrey, a former Channel 5" pews anchor, has reportedly been named as one of the leads in Native Son, a film adaptation of Richard Wright's classic work. The story revolves around a young black man from the south side of Chicago who accidentally kills the 19-year-old daughter of his rich white employers. Winfrey has been signed to appear as the young man's mother, and casting is under way for the other roles.

Shooting is slated to begin Feb. 24 in Chicago and LA Last week's TV program convention in New Orleans found a few former Nashvillians on and off the convention floor. Spotted outside the exhibits was Mendes Napoll. former general manager of Channel 2 and the man responsible for a rash of changes at that station a few years back. Napoli says he's still with Scripps Howard Broadcasting in Cleveland, and is now in charge of programming and development for all the chain's TV stations.

Scripps Howard's newest and largest acquisition, Detroit's WXYZ-Channel 7, is taking up a lot of time, Napoli reports. Also located in New Orleans was another ex-Channel 2 employee. Although former Nashville news anchor George Jones wasn't actually at the convention, he managed to show up in a lot of hotel rooms. On hotel room TV sets, that is. Convention-goers tuning to WVUE-Channel 8 saw Jones in his new job as a New Orleans newscaster.

And to be honest. Jones looked a lot better in New Orleans than he did in Nashville. He goes solo on the station's late news, and the Jones seen last week was straightforward and newly self- Turn lo PAGE 4U, Coturm I Xr about Hummingbird and about the 'put-God-firsf mentality we operate with here. He wanted to be involved in a company with that direction. "I don't think it would have mattered what business we were in.

He decided to take a leap of faith for Hummingbird." Glover is now the company's sales director and the man who handles administration and budgets. Merrill is vice president to her husband's presidency. They all operate Hummingbird with a purity of ethics. The Farnsworths have turned down working with big corporations that they feel didn't have Christian values or were selling immoral products. They've piled up an impressive list of clients even so.

Oscar Meyer, present to join her on stage for a special anniversary rendition of the song. They included Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte, Kim Carnes, Stevie Wonder and others who created the song on Jaa 28, 1985. Elizabeth Taylor also joined the group. Meanwhile, the hundreds of members of the celebrity audience stood up and clapped in unison. "Art is not only supposed to show life as it is, it's also supposed to show life as it should be," Belafonte said before the song.

Special awards of appreciation were given to Belafonte, Irish rocker Bob Geldorf and Nelson, who organized USA for Africa. Live Aid-Band Aid and Farm Aid, respectively. Jackson. Quiney Jones, show business promoter Ken Kragan and to PAGE 4U Column I Robert Johnson Staff latter of which was filmed in Tennessee at Cades Cove. Bob Farnsworth is especially pleased with the fact that Hummingbird has gotten New York and Chicago ad agencies to stop thinking of Nashville as "just country." "We're probably the nationaLad-vertising industry's major link to Nashville," he says proudly.

"The jingle business tends to be rather clandestine: There are a lot of people trying to do a very limited amount of work. "There's no survey. But by the number of clients we do, by the volume of business we do, by the fact that we have a New York office, we rank ourselves as the 1 jingle company in town by a longshoL" Health Message people over 65, and may be quite severe. This pain is known as postherpetic neuralgia. Some scaring and discoloration of the skin in the area where the blisters were are also common.

The blister fluid of shingles is contagious to people who have not had the chicken pox. A person is not infectious after the crusts have fallen off. Complications may occur, particularly if the blisters are on the face around the eye. The eye may become infected by the virus, which is potentially serious. Since this may lead to blindness, people with herpes zoster of the eye should see an eye doctor for treatment People who have cancers such as Hodgkin's disease, leukemia, lymphoma, or who take cancer drugs may develop widespread blistering if they get shingles.

The old adage that if the shingles went completely around the person they were going to die is false. This probably referred to the fact that people who got widespread blisters usually were sick with diseases such as the cancers mentioned above. Disseminated herpes zoster (widespread blistering) is rarely fatal, however, it can be quite disabling and disfiguring. Treatment for uncomplicated herpes zoster consists of soothing soaks to dry up the blisters, then use of a cream during the healing phase. In complicated cases, a new drug, acyclovir may be used.

This drug is activated by a viral enzyme, and selectively inhibits viral reproduction. It has been shown to be effective in herpes zoster, particularly the disseminated form. People with shingles should consult their physician about how it should be treated, as treatment varies depending on the individual case. Post herpetic neuralgia is difficult to treat Some doctors use cortisone during the blistering phase to try to prevent this complication in people over 60, although it is not always successful. Now Hummingbird employs 15 people; has a New York branch office, a Music Row building, and its own recording studio in the United Artists Tower; and is in touch with 2800 agencies across America.

"We went from doing local ads to regional ones to national ones," Bob says. "When we got the McDonald's account three years after we started, it was a major step. "For the first five years or so, the company was very heavy on the creative end of things. Besides me, there was Allen Robertson and Mike Hudson." The latter was Bob's duet partner in the old days. "Gary Glover came to us about five years ago.

He was sales director of Nashville! magazine. He'd heard bama, funk group Kool and the Gang and Stevie Wonder. Springsteen won favorite male vocalist, album and male video artist, all in the pop-rock category. The awards capped Springsteen's yearlong success with a world tour that helped boost sales of bis Born in the USA album past 12 million. Neither Nelson nor Springsteen attended the televised 13th annual American Music Awards show at the Shrine Auditorium.

The awards honored nominees in 27 categories of pop-rock, country and soul-rhythm-and-blues. A special ceremony honored the creators of We Are the World, the pop charity anthem which has raised $44 million to feed the hungry in the United States and Africa. Host Diana Ross asked as many of the 45 original performers as were 5: i i in i r.m, 1 'yy Health Message is a weekly column on health education provided as a community service by your county medical society, the Nashville Academy of Medicine. This week's column is submitted by Darrell L. Ellis, M.D., a Nashville area physician specializing in Dermatology.

Herpes zoster is the medical term for the common skin disease known as shingles. Herpes is a Greek word meaning "to creep" and zoster refers to a belt Shingles is also derived from words meaning a belt or girdle. This describes the girdle-like band of blisters seen when the skin lesions occur on the trunk. About 300,000 cases of shingles occur each year in the United States. Most people affected are healthy adults, in their 50s to 80s, although it may even occur in children.

Herpes zoster is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. This is a virus in the herpes virus family. The initial infection with this virus causes -chicken pox. Herpes zoster is not caused by the same type of herpes virus (herpes simplex type II), that is causing so much concern as a sexually transmitted disease. After having chicken pox.

the virus remains dormant in the nerves, until it reactivates at a later date, producing shingles. Herpes zoster usually starts with headaches, fever and nausea. This is followed by 1-2 days of burning, itching and tingling in the area that will break out This area then may become red and swollen for 2-3 days before the distinctive rash appears. The characteristic rash is groups of clear small painful blisters that are usually on one side of the body. They follow the path of a particular nerve to the skin, creating a band or "belt" of blisters.

Usually this occurs on the trunk, or face, in areas where people usually have the most blisters when they have chicken pox. The blusters crust in 10-12 days, and the crusts fall off in 2-4 weeks When the crust falls off, the pain generally goes away, although some pain may persist in up to 50 of BIWijon "LOVER" LEADER Loverboy lead vocalist Mike Reno exhorts a sold-out Municipal Auditorium audience to be Lorin' Every Minute of It as bis multiple million-selling Canadian "arena rock" band rings the rafters. Loverboy headlined a bill last night that also included melodic popsters The Hooters. Bruce top Music Awards winner RICHARD DE ATT EV AiXKtaled Press Unlet LOS ANGELES (AP) Blue-collar rocker Bruce Springsteen won three American Music Awards on Monday for his lS-montb-old Bom in the USA album, while nine other artists or groups won two awards each at ceremonies that ended with a stirring first anniversary salute to We Are the World. Country singer Willie Nelson won two awards as a solo artist and another two as a member of the country supergroup.

Highwayman, which includes Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. Also winning two awards each were sexy-voiced newcomer Whitney Houston, hard-rocking Huey Lewis and the News, soul queen Aretha Franklin, country singer Crystal Gayle, veteran country group Ala.