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The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 26

Publication:
The Tennesseani
Location:
Nashville, Tennessee
Issue Date:
Page:
26
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

JOHN BYCZKOWSKI Need a joke? Crossword 2D Horoscope 2D Television 5D 1 Page 4D MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1995 Trends LIVING iiimi ui.iiuu Where there's smoke, there's sometimes ire ROLL 'EM 7. I i Vi i 'rt WW mm I'M My i Tennessee's new film commissioner, Marsha Blackburn, shines a spotlight on growth .7 By CLARK PARSONS StaffWriter sot today, Mar sha Black- bum has been the Tennessee Film, Enter 1 By LYNDA DEXHEIMER Gannett News Service There's been a whole lot of smoking going on: In the April issue of Esquire magazine, actor Johnny Depp stares stonily from the cover with a cigarette burning between his fingers. On the cover of April's Vanity Fair, Patricia Arquette holds a cigarette as she vamps in black lingerie among nine other top actresses. In May's Details magazine, models frolicking on the beach in the latest bathing suits jauntily dangle cigarettes from their mouths. Representatives of some of today's hottest magazines say that cigarettes used as props for photos accompanying celebrity profiles and fashion shoots are a reflection of a simple reality: People smoke.

Magazines are not alone in showing smokers. In the film Reality Bites, 1993's twentysomething angst love story, the stars smoked so many cigarettes that Seventeen magazine wrote a column pointing it out "It's alarming," says Susan Swimmer, special projects editor at Seventeen magazine, a publication geared to 15-20-year-old girls that does not accept tobacco or alcohol advertising, and tries never to show smoking in its pages. "We don't believe in it," says Swimmer. "We always convey the message that smoking just isn't cool, it's not good for you." At Esquire, Details, and Vanity Fair, which target readers ages 18-34, editorial executives say their job is to reflect reality and run the best photographs available. If a celebrity or a model smokes, that is reality.

"We have no formal policy except to run the best pictures we can get," says Edward Kosner, editor in chief at Esquire. William Mullen, creative director at Details, says he tries to remove the stiff and posed feeling from his fashion shoots, and if models smoke, the cigarettes can help do that. As for the responsibility the magazine has to its readers, Mullen (who does not smoke) says smoking is a personal choice. Teen-age girls are the fastest growing segment of smokers, which worries some anti-smoking advocates. "I think the tobacco industry has sadly done an effective job of marketing toward young women and young girls," says Everett J.

Merrill, director of communications for the American Cancer Society in North Brunswick. And Merrill likens all the smoking done in films like Reality Bites to free advertising. "It's presented as a very glamorous lifestyle, and the harsh reality is that (cancer) is a debilitating disease," Merrill says. The ultimate line of defense against smoking is at home, says Merrill. "I don't think it's good for kids to look at athletes or rock stars or actors and actresses as role models.

Their parents should be their role models, and should be giving them information," Merrill says. "I think everything begins and ends at project, Last Dance, as it shot in Nashville, but she'd much rather talk about luring permanent businesses rather than temporary projects. Her schedule shows the priorities. "This is the most exciting industry in our state," Blackburn said recently in her office overlooking the state Capitol. "It's a growth industry, and it's an integral part of our future.

It's currently a $3 billion industry in Tennessee." All film commissioners concern themselves with trying to attract big-time film and TV projects to their areas, but after only two months on the job, Blackburn is obviously spending an equal amount of energy on the less glamorous pursuit of industrial development. "That's an aspect that has perhaps been served in the past," said John Fry, president of Ardent, a Memphis-based music and entertainment company. Fry served as a board member of the state film commission from 1987-91. Blackburn, he says, has "expressed a strong interest" in pursuing both outside production shoots and industrial development, and "I think over time that is going to pay some real dividends." Gov. Don Sundquist has often proclaimed a desire to foster the growth of the state's entertainment industry.

Like his predecessor Ned McWherter, Sundquist has assembled more than 40 representatives of the music, TV and film industries includ- I i. jo ll- lo fx tainment and Music Com-. missioner for 61 days. At her current rate, it appears that by the end of the year she will have relaxed for about 20 minutes. Already she's represented the state alongside the governor at the launch of new home and gardening cable channel HGTVinKnoxville; begun a new weekly fax publication that covers industry activities in Tennessee; created a focus group of businesspersons to study opportunities in interactive media; crisscrossed the state meeting with film and music professionals and small companies; endorsed the creation of a film school program at Watkins Institute; planned seminars to link producers and "visionaries" to the financial community, logged a two-month string of 12-16 hour work days and made bunches and bunches of cold calls.

Each day Blackburn sets aside time to get on the phone to producers, location scouts, studio personnel and small support businesses that may never have thought of working or moving to Tennessee. Her message is simple: "Tell us what we can do to get your business." Sure, she took the job just in time to assist a major Hollywood film attract a whole industry. "I'm always famous for saying, 'When the plate gets full, get another Blackburn said of her workload. "One thing we are doing is looking for some interdepartmental sharing with some departments such as Marketing and Economic Development" The financial and time demands of the office make high energy a ing in retail promotions and corporate image. Now the Mississippi native and mother of two teen-agers leads an office with a budget of approximately $500,000 and a staff of seven.

Given that the dollar value of entertainment in Tennessee eclipses that of agriculture and other large industries, it's a near-impossible task for one person and a staff in one corner of one office floor to represent, nurture and Marsha Blackburn hopes to attract industrial development, in addition to glitzy "This is the most exciting industry in our state, "she says. ing Fry and asked them to recommend what form a reoriented state commission should take. Sundquist appointed Blackburn to lead his task force soon after he took office, and eventually he named her his new film commissioner. Before her recent appointment, Blackburn ran unsuccessfully in 1992 for the congressional seat held by Bart Gordon and owned and operated a Brentwood company specializ 'Si 'J f. Turn to PAGE 2D, Column 1 YWCA benefit success no mystery i 1 i- '1 1 -y it.

2 A Catherine V- it Darren 2 i-. Hotel. And Heard: "It's the first year Williamson and Davidson counties have merged to put this party together," said chair Elizabeth Scokin, whose co-chairs were Owen Joyner and Shaun and Gordon Inman. "Half the party is Williamson County. Putting together four chairmen does not always work, but we're all better friends than we were before." The Charity: Domestic violence shelters in Davidson and Williamson counties.

Dress Code: Since the mys- Turn to PAGE 2D, Column 4 The best we can figure it out, here was the deal: Start with the married guy (who's getting a divorce) who has a date with one of three women he's seeing. The other two are there, one who is cool about the situation and one who is hot about it. The hot one's recent ex-boyfriend is there with a Very Blond Woman. The hot i one has a date with a guy who's either dated or fixed up nearly every single man and woman in the room (including, for the evening, one Very Young Woman with a Much Older Guy than her ex-fiance, who is there with his Current Girlfriend). His female counterpart is there with one of seven men she's dating.

This guy's ex-girlfriend is there with one of those other seven. The real mystery of the evening was how everyone pretended not to notice. The Scene: YWCA Mystery Benefit, Saturday night at Opryland HELEN COMER LaQuita Scaife-Della Penna and Charles Anted kid around at the YWCA Mystery Benefit Saturday night at Opryland Hotel. The event attracted close to 600 people and raised approximately $100,000. Does swimming and smoking mix? Details magazine features these models with dangling cigarettes.

TELEVISION A petite temptress seduces a PET OF THE WEEK Here's Gordon: Gordon is a male young builder wno she's hired to fix her mansion but he's Interested in keeping his wife on Seduced and Betrayed at 8 p.m. on WSMV-Channel 4. BY THE NUMBERS "Other Cities' new slogans" as presented on the Lafe Show with David Letterman. 4. Mayor Vera Katz of Portland, "Somewhere between California and Washington.

That's where you'll find us." 3. Mayor Sirajul Islam of Trenton, N.J.: "We've got Mujibur" (video tape of Muji-bur). 2. Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles: "Flood, fires and fun." 1. Mayor Freeman R.

Bosley Jr. of St Louis, "Kiss our arch." NO KIDDING? Five bad business decisions 1. Little Richard "no" to 50 of Beatles 2. Sam Phillips sold Elvis' contract for $40,000 3. MGM gave up rights to "The Glass Menagerie" 4.

James Ritty sold cash register patent for $1,000 5. Louis B. Mayer rejected Gone With the Wind Also rejected Mickey Mouse Source: World Features Syndicate A 1 Setter. He's 2 years old and the folks at the Nashville Humane Association say he's a very sweet dog. He has three complete vaccinations and deworm-ings.

If you'd like to adopt Gordon, call 352-4030, 9:30 am to 4:30 p.m. daily. There SECTION EDITORS Catherine Mayhew, Managing EditorFeatures, 259-8058. Patrick Connolly, Deputy Managing EditorFeatures, 259-8040. How to liit an event, call 259-8050.

To fax an event, 259-8057 E-mail: IMngtennessean.com A dead hubby turns Goldle Hawn into a sleuth in Deceived at 8 p.m. on WKRN-Channel 2. Complete TV listings on Page 5D. Is a $45 fee. GORDON.

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