The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 165

sections SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1999 1 BOOKS DUELING OVER TROY Which of two archaeologists should get credit for excavating the ancient city of Troy? The dispute has rocked the academic world. PAGE 6J The Palm Beach Post II I IHIII WOP i 1 Funny Face. Singin' in the Rain. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Stanley Donen has directed some of film's most magical moments.

And even though he's getting 7 A- a lifetime honor from the Palm Beach International Film Festival, he's not done yet. BRUCE BENNETTStaff Photographer iCharles Kelman, who invented cataract procedures that have helped millions, really wanted to be an entertainer. Here he and son Evan fill their Boca home with music. BOCA EYE DOC SEES HIS LIFE FOOTLIGHTS Renowned ophthalmologist always wanted to be in show 1 business. His play's the thing.

VMRMHHWMt 'VKbHMlMd 5(SillM( v-" JL1 MMiiMwwMMI' WtoiiMwMAP iiil0tiiiiMiKiSt 4 Hap Erstein Palm Beach Post Theater Writer While he was still in high school in Forest Hills, N.Y., Charles Kelman tried to sneak out of the house to play tsaxophone with Louis Prima's band. But he got caught by "his father. "And he said to me, 'Look, it's your life. You can do whatever you want. If you want to be a saxophone player, a songwriter, a singer, I don't Kelman recalls.

Then father hauled off and slapped him on the side of the head, padding, "But first, you'll be a doctor." Kelman obeyed his father. He became an ophthalmologist. In fact, he has invented three separate processes that 3iave revolutionized outpatient cataract surgery. In 1962, at the age of 32, he developed the cryo-probe, Nyhich freezes and extracts cataracts. Five years later, he ame up with a procedure that uses ultrasound to break up She cataract and suction it out through a small needle.

This operation, performed a million times annually in this country, has brought the Boca Raton doctor wealth and respect wtthin the profession. In fact, the International Congress on 3Cataract and Refractive Surgery named Kelman "Ophthalmologist of the Century." As proud as he is, the 68-year-old Kelman still harbors an unrelated dream. He leans forward in his chair, amid the comforts of his palatial, multimillion-dollar Intracoastal Jiome, and concedes softly, "All I ever wanted to be was in how business." And he has been. Kelman has blown sax in concert alongside Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie. He has taken stories of his practice and turned them into a stand-up ojnedy act in Atlantic City.

He appeared on The Tonight 0pw, The Metro Griffin Show and The David Letterman "Slww. "My whole act was medical. I talked about funny jthings that happened in the office," Kelman says. Hike to be thought of as gifted. I just don't want to be thought of as limited STANLEY DONEN By Hap Erstein Palm Beach Post Arts Writer Fred Astaire joyously dancing on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding.

Gene Kelly deliriously splashing in the street puddles in Singin' in the Rain. Audrey Hepburn gracefully spreading her wings and descending the stairs of the Louvre in Funny Face. Cary Grant playfully soaping up his wash-and-wear suit in Charade. Dudley Moore uncomfortably jumping on a trampoline as a nun in Bedazzled. What these indelible movie images have in common, besides the ability to conjure vivid memories, is their creator Stanley Donen.

The chorus boy turned choreographer turned master movie director will be honored next Saturday, three days before he turns 75, for his lifetime achievements at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Collecting career citations has been Donen's prime activity lately, typified by his special award at last year's Oscars. Upstaging King-of-the-World James Cameron, Donen expressed his gratitude by nuzzling the gold statuette, crooning Cheek to Please see DONEN2 it fT A hi Please see KELMAN4 -mm If On the Town hi. hi 1 Why I rhyme Ibut don't make a dime mm slt's National Poetry Month, so we asked a local poet to explain his passion for a literary form that will never pay the rent. '1 V.

4L A iff i ij, 1 I Reece Charade Singin' in the Rain Vhat are these actors' and actresses' roles at the festival? PAGE 21 :4 SI 1-1 By Spencer Reece Special to the Palm Beach Post "You must continue. Poets are the ones who change the world. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in letter to Marcantonio Crispi Why would Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis encourage a young Italian poet? Why would the woman in the pillbox hat declare poetry necessary? Tycoons, generals, bankers, lawyers, doctors, astronauts or scientists change the world. Not poets. Right? But flippancy was not the former first lady's style.

So let us believe her. Having said that, poetry remains a funny business. There's no money in it. Never has been. Never will be.

You can't live on a sonnet sequence. Nor can you depend on the serendipity of grants. In todayrs world, poets have been thrown in the bin along with eight-track tapes, manual typewriters and flashbulbs. Wouldn't you encourage a career in investment banking over counting syllables? But here I am. It's 1999.

I'm 35. 1 have a day job in retail. At night, I hammer and tong poems. By day I measure necks, guess jacket sizes, talk up Please see POET5 7 Jpencer Reece's oems have been published nationally Jnd internationally in uch journals as Voulevard, Birmingham poetry Review and the Alew Welsh Poetry 'Review. His Jinpublished book of fioems, Distant 4fouses, has been a Jnajist five times for rftional poetry prizes, jijves in Lantana.

'ft ill 7 I 1 i i- i 11 Kate Winslet Emily Watson Salma Hayek Rod Steiger Samuel L. Jackson Jacqueline Bisset 1.