The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 153

'The Age' 20 November 1982 Saturday Extra It Geoff Ampt Choice The American writer as an institution TP's W. J. Weatherby jf" ''Hpjj i Bob Weis and Mac Gudgeon: not making a didactic film. Lessons from the past ART: Asher Bilu may be the archetypal image of the artist who feverishly creates for the sheer enjoyment of it all. His current walk-through production which he calls 'Amaze' is accompanied by loud droning computer-created music and theatrical lighting which shines through the back of a massive 35-metre-long painting.

It is sheer Disneyland. The only thing missing is an air hose on the floor guaranteed to make your clothes fly in the air. Probably the last "happening" in Melbourne, it shouldn't be missed for its utter maddness. United Artists Gallery, 42 Fitzroy Street, St. Kilda.

Memory Holloway ROCK: Bernard Albrecht, Steve Morrisey, Peter Hook and Gillian M. are New Order, a British band Australian audiences now have an opportunity to see. Their music could be described as As an unforgettable treat audiences will experience, on the same bill, the delights of Manchester "punk poet" and Bob Dylan look-a-like, John Cooper Clarke. His sharp social observations and wit should keep fans attentive and amused. If a concert not to be missed next Thursday at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda.

Rebecca Battles BOOKS: Clare Boothe Luce, playwright, devastating wit, congress-woman, war correspondent, author, American Ambassador to tay in the mid-50s, fashion-plate and wife of Henry Luce, the proprietor of Time' and 'Life' magazines, was remarkable. Wilfrid Sheed, in 'Clare Boothe Luce' Hodder Stoughton; $36.95) calls her both the first "Success Woman" and "a bridge between the courtesan and the career Whatever the true judgment, this biography, categorised as "a meditation on a is fascinating. Stuart Sayers CLASSICAL: The soprano Elizabeth Soederstroem may no longer be in absolutely fine voice but she is still one of the better Richard Strauss singers around. Supple of tone, intelligent of word, she brings dignity and insight to a new recording of the 'Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), a fragment of the Marschallin's Act One of 'Der Rosenkavalier and the -final scene from 'Capriccio'. Richard Armstrong and the orchestra i)f the Welsh National Opera accompany with perfectly judged feeling.

Just the record for Strauss and Soederstroem buffs. (EMI digital ASD 4103). Michael Shmith HAVING described the history of American space exploration in his latest huge novel, 'Space', James Michener has moved to Texas to write an epic study of power in the State that often boasts it has the biggest and the best of everything. The extent to which the 75-year-old bestselling novelist has become an American institution is shown by the respectful reception he has received in Austin, where he and his Japanese-American wife have settled to be near the Texan capital's great libraries, not to mention its political and business centres. "The Government and legislature invited me down and expressed a wish that I would live there for a while," Michener told me on a recent visit to New York, where he received the red-carpet treatment from publishers, bookstores and media for the launching of 'Space (350,000 hardcover copies in print two weeks before publication and a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection).

Michener's success is big enough even for Texas. "They have made the transition very easy for me," he said. Because of Michener's long years of public service, his appointment to numerous important committees and delegations, and his pleasantly authoritative manner that has frequently inspired suggestions he should put up as a Presidential candidate, some younger American writers and literary critics have typed him as too conservative and Establishment-minded, but that is to do the author of 'Hawaii', 'The Source, 'Centennial', 'Chesapeake' and 'The Covenant', an injustice. Certain members of South Africa's Establishment for example, were misled in this way, and his huge novel about their country, 'The Covenant', was received with howls of outrage, as if his realistic portrayal were in some way a betrayal. Michener treats such critics with civilised tolerance and is the first to admit to "a very strong drive towards security and stability" which he thinks may explain "my extreme patience with the And when his early life is recalled, his security drive, however strong, is understandable.

He was brought up by Mabel Michener, "a wonderful woman" who took in abandoned children in a small town in Pennsylvania. Michener has no idea who his parents were, and after a serious identity crisis at 19, he has never troubled to search for them. Referring to his security drive, he added, "I think that's why I like Scotland so much. I'm sort of Scottish in my attitudes. It's a tough world and you've only got one shot You have to conserve your resources." He said he had been researching the period of the Luddites, who broke up i cams 1 Peter Weiniger machinery in protest against the early Industrial Revolution "I think in our time, we're going to see more of that The recent actions of some religious ministers against Darwinism and evolution and experimental genetics seem to be Luddism in a new form." The public ambivalence and sometimes outright indifference towards the space programme had been much exaggerated, he said.

The Space Museum in Washington had the greatest attendance of any museum in the country. But it was probable we had seen the last man on the Moon, the last probe of Mars, in our time. "I'm very enthusiastic, loyal American, but I'm not a nut If America doesn't continue to make great investments in space exploration, then perhaps Japan, Germany, Russia, India, may take over, and that doesn't worry me too much because I think we live in a unified world." And what had he gleaned of the US's future from his Washington contacts? "Think first of what might happen to the north in Canada. There can be fragmentations in Canadian society of the most serious sort over the next 20 years. And to the south, Mexico has recently shown itself to be in a really perilous condition.

So if the northern and southern borders of the US are in jeopardy, then certainly the land in between, will be. I think America is good until about the year 2050. because we have reasonable stable borders so far, at least compared with many other countries, and we have a self-contained raw material base. Beyond that I wouldn't like to guess." And had his researches for 'Space' and his service on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Advisory Council given him the answer as to whether there was life on other planets? He referred me to the end of 'Space' where a scientist points out that even if life existed, it was extremely unlikely it would be at the same cultural level as human beings. Although the Earth had existed for about four and a half billion years, and human beings for a few million, said the scientist we have been able to send comprehensible signals into space for only about 45 years.

If another planet had wanted to communicate with us two billion years ago, there was no one here to listen. It was a typically commonsense answer, neither over-simplified nor above the head of the average reader. It was typical Michener. The Guardian The series which has already attracted the interest of a major commercial television network is due to be shot in February and has a budget of $2.5 million. The plot is based on historical facts with a mix of fictional characters and some of the public figures of the times.

It is told in terms of what Weis describes as a classical love story between an Australian male working-class archetype whose outlook on life changes when he meets a woman refif-gee from Mussolini's Italy with a somewhat more sophisticated set of social values and priorities. The series will be directed by Chris Thompson who impressed Weis with his handling of several episodes in the ABC television drama, '1915'. Weis decided to make the series after being shown the script by a young writer, Mac Gudgeon, who had been a draft re-sister, he developed the story partly from his experiences while working on the docks in the mid-1960s. "The only people at the time employing draft resisters were the wharfies and the painters and dockers," he recalls. "In the pubs, a lot of the old guys would talk about the 1928 strike, and I'd listen to them fascinated, and I guess I just filed it all away in my head." Gudgeon worked on docks all along the east coast from Port Kembla to Brisbane, "keeping one step ahead of the policeman's knock on my It taught him more about life than his interrupted spell at university.

Weis and Gudgeon are determined to avoid stereotyping either their characters or the events. "We won't be trying to make simplistic choices between good guys and bad guys," explains Weis. "What we intend to bring out is the inner conflict that confronts people trying to make the right decision in very difficult circumstances. We see the characters as complex people, each coming to terms with themselves and not as' devices through which a writer or a film maker can deliver a personal political statement. We are not making a didactic film." The waterfront strike of 1928 was a result of a court order lowering the salaries of waterfront workers.

The wharfies were locked out after rejecting the cuts, and the strike continued for some years. Non-union labor was brought on to the docks under police protection. "The image of a Labor Premier (the Hogan-led coalition Government was in power at the time) sending in armed troops to confront striking workers is a dramatic moment in our history that reflects the contradictions of an idealist in power," says Weis. "There are many such moments in the series with which we hope to enlighten people rather than preach at them. "I think the series is going to raise a whole lot of interesting questions the sort of questions many people are asking themselves today." IN THE hard-headed and often cynical world of film and television production, Bob Weis projects a refreshingly, independent and down-to-earth attitude.

Thirtyish and boyish, he looks more like an assistant grip than a producer with the habit of taking on projects that other producers have baulked at because of the high risk and contentious nature of the subject matter. But appearances often deceive. It was Weis who produced the award-winning series 'Women of the Sun', after just about.everyone in the business decided it was a great idea that couldn't be done. "When the writers brought the script to me they had virtually given up hope," he says. "I read it and liked it so much that I didn't think of the problems involved and consequently I had less trouble making the series because I didn't regard it as a problem production to start with.

"In retrospect, it turned out to be a mammoth job, but one that I enjoyed immensely." Weis has been wanting to make films as long as he can remember. Not just any films, but films that add something to an audience's understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. "I'm only interested in films that I can look back at and say that there was a real point in having made that" 'Women of the Sun' fell into that category because it dealt with the impact of white settlers on the lives of Aborigines, only it did it from the blacks' perspective. His latest project, 'Waterfront', has a similar feel about it A six-part television series, it examines a dramatic form the events surrounding the Melbourne dock strike of 1928. What excites him about the story are the many parallels he sees with today's economic, industrial and political climate.

The idea was originally conceived as a feature film, but the broad scope of the subject soon grew into a television series. "One of the aspects that interested me most when I first read the script was that it was set just before the Depression at a time when no one was willing to concede its inevitability," he says. "It was a time when social contracts were rigidly defined with the bosses on one side and the workers on the other, with very little communication between the two. There was no such thing as the parties getting together around a table and acknowledging that the international economy was in a bad way and they ought to work together for their mutual benefit "It seems to me, that very little has changed in Australia in all that time. So on this level, the series has very contemporary overtones." Contemporary EXHIBITION OPENS: 2 pm SUNDAY JOCHEN KRUSE Contemporary oil on canvas and watercolors.

Dynamic! SPACE FOR ART A serious, innovative commercial art gallery opening soon within inner city Melbourne seeks contemporary and avant-garde work for the purpose of exhibition and sale. All ideas and conceptions by the artist or student will be given total respect and consideration. PLEASE TELEPHONE (OS) 347 Mil 171 Chisholm Institute 11 vl of Technology JustXilay An exhibition of Ceramics by graduating Associate Diploma students. 20-28 November 1 982 Weekdays: Weekends: 1 p.m.-4p.m. Gallery Area, Level 2, Phillip Law Building.

(Entrance from Queens Avenue.) Caulfield Campus, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, apanese ft Prints I 2-6 Sat and Sun 4 Wed. Thur. Fri. A stunning exhibition of limited edition FIVEWAYS GALLERIES Mt Dandenong Rd. KALORAMA Exhibition of Paintings by ELIZA SZARUKAII Landscapes Seascapes Cityscapes Opens Sat 20th Nov.

daily 11 am-5 pm until 1st Dec. closed Fridays. LNG CCI13INALS G4LLCCy Vic. 3145. Phone (03) 573 2222.

14720 110 Punt Windsor. 529 2924 prints by many leading Japanese printmakers featuring TETSURO SAW ADA MORI YOSHITOSHI, KUNIH1RO AMANO, KIMURA YOSHIHARU and 13 others Japan Book Print Gallery 1206 High Street, Armadale. Telephone 509 166 7 EXHIBITION 728 5975 Melway 52J9. ombardt Hours: Sat. 10-5.

Sun. 1-5. Weekdays 9.30-5.30 MANYUNG aTrMtVTvSJ G4URU5H WINDEYER GALLERY Presenting 4th Annual Exhibition of superb water colours by ROBERT T. MILLER 20-27 NOV. 1982 AT 7.30 PM S9 GLENFERRIE JU, MALVERN.

599 9924 HRS. MON-SAT. UJ9-S PM SOFT GROUND ETCHINGS BY OLIVIERO MASI peach's gallery 201 Camberwell Road East Hawthorn 31 23 Ph. 82 7541 Sun. 2-5.

EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS CERAMIC RESTORATION Evening Course Colonial Jpouft (Mlerp 441 Bay Street, North Brighton, 3186 Telephone: 596-5321 PAINTINGS OF OUR NATIONAL HERITAGE Exhibition of Sculpture by SHIRLEY HAWTHORN Official Opening Sunday 21st November, 1982 at 3.00 pm (Exhibition closes 1st December) Gallery Hours: 10 JO pm daily 1408 Nepean Highway, Mt. Eliza. 787 2953. One day per week -h AND PRINTS BY BERIIIE PASII Current until Sun. 28th Nov.

Gallery hrs: Wed. to Sat. 11-5, Sun. 1-5 559 Main Eltham. 4391467 mii materials supuneu 509 2183.

417 4179 AH LLOYD IRIS WALLIS UntH Dec. 7th. CHRISTMAS FAIR 2 DAYS ONLY Sat. 27 Nov and Sun 28 Nov. Pottery demonstrations, special displays with potters in attendance.

Free refreshments and jazz band. r-- ROTARY CLUB OF CORIO 14th ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION MARCH 25, 26, 27, 1983. ACQUISITIVE AWARD $1000 for a realist painting. CASH PRIZES. $2000 for Paintings, Prints, Pottery, Porcelain Art, Photography, Miscellaneous Media.

MAJOR PURCHASES $2000 to include 'Blue Circle Southern Cement' and 'Pilkington Glass' acquisitions. ENTRIES CLOSE 11th MAR. 1983 Entry Forms and Inquiries Mrs Noeline Thomson Box 42 Coiio Village P.O. 3214 Phone: (852) 7 1492 3 KEN SMITH PAINTINGS DRAWINGS ETHNOGRAPHIC JEWELLERY KATE and PETER BAUMGARTEN 4 ill Potters Co thye Hours: Mon-Fri Sat and Sun 1 1-5 Jumping Creek Rd. Warrandyte.

8443078 AUSTRALIAN GALLERIES Monday to Friday 10.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Saturday 10a.m. to 1 .00 p.m. 35 Derby Collingwood, 3066 (03)417 4303 417 4382 HAT fAIII rtTiinr PRINTS QJsagt QMtiom apanese and Korean Antique and modern furniture.

Recent shipment available. Including lacquer, porcelain, wooden food moulds and a large collection of chest on chests andtansu. Exhibition Open Until 28th Nov. 1982. Mon.

to Fri. 11-6 Sat 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 41 Victoria Avie.Nbert Park. 3206. GREG DALY "The Last Collection" Featuring Platters and Bowls until 3rd Dec.

Walker Ceramics Qallery 826 Qlanfsrrie Hawthorn Phono: 819 2991 Hours: 9 Wkdtys. 9 am-12 noon Sat KitAVIXG DitlXG GOULD GALLERIES Australian Fine Art Specialists 270 Toorak Road, South Yarra 314L Tel. 241 4701. FHts Suzanne Massee and the 'Heron Hollow Spinners' welcome you to their annual open days on the Massee farm. Bittern Road, Dromana for the sale of the 1982 colecbon.

Open from 9.30 pen November 27 28. Also: Farm produce, herbs. BBQ fatalities. In. "Ross River (Central Australia) and other bush paintings" ANGELA ABBOTT Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November 182 Tooronga Glen Iris 10 am 7 pm.

Wong Tai-Chi school presents an EXHIBITION OF TAI-CHI WUSHU Traditional Chinese Sport in the Kew Civic Centre on Thursday 26th November at 7.30 p.m. Fu Tai-Chi. Shoon Tai-Chi. Leung Yei Tai-Chi. Four base Foot Kick Boxing.

Leopard Boning. Tiger Boxing. Tai-Chi Hand Swords. Shat-Di Sworda. Ying Pa-Kut Boxing.

Flying Dragon Hand Swords. Hurricane Sdi. Plum Flower Spear. Pa-Kua Sun. Enquiries ft tickets from Mr.

LI WONQ. Ph. SI 9 3225 or 380 8248 or tickets at the door. Presenting a permanent collection of paintings by prominent artists from 1900 to present day. This month featuring TOM GARRETT Hours: Monu-Sat 11-5.

Sunday 2 pm-5 pm. fi WARRANDYTE POST OFFICE PRESERVATION GROUP ART EXHIBITION AND AUCTION AT THE WARRANDYTE MECHANICS INSTITUTE HALL YARRA STREET FRIDAY. 26 NOVEMBER AT 8 PM Artists include: Neil Douglas. Margot Knox, Matcham Skipper Frank Crozier, Dale Marsh. David Taylor and others Currently Showing MAIN HALL ASSOCIATION OF SCULPTORS OF VICTORIA EO RAISING CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION AND SALE Of SCULPTURE At the Ola Cohn Studio 0 41 Gipps East Melbourne i Opening Friday 26 Nov.

1982 8 pm Open from Sat. 27 Nov. to Fri. 3 Dec jfjj Hours 10 am to 6 pm dairy Msass com and mast th artist, nam a drink. wan a $cukttur mnd nava fun.

'Finishing Touch to 28th Nov. Post impressionist land seascape oil paintings bv 184 Belmore Rd. Balwyn Phono 857 5718 spectum gafcry" a Exhibition by Woodwork and ceramics by final year tertiary students, Melbourne State College and Victoria College Prahran Campus. BLACKWOOD STREET GALLERY Julie Montgarrett Textiles to 23rd Nov. CRAFT SHOP A wide range of Australian crafts.

MEAT MARKET CRAFT CENTRE Cnr. Courtney and Blackwood Streets North Melbourne. Tel. 321 NM 1I.H ajn. 5.N pjn.

every day except Sat I On -JUDY BARNARD NAN BRETEL lAvarahan Landscapes Flower Studies InaRose' BARBARA McMANUS Life Studies Today Sat. 20th to 28th November Sat. 10-5 pro. Sun. 2-5 pm.

10.30-5 pro THE AGE ART GALLERY, 250 SPENCER MELB. 22nd to 28th Nov. WEEKDAYS 10.30 to 6. SAT. 2 to 5.

SUN. 2 to 9. R5251 ALFA.