Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 23

WEDNESDAY APRIL 11. 1984 SECTIOII 2C TELEVISION 3C COLUMNISTS 4C CLASSIFIEDS 11C COMICS 6B MOVIES 0 (Democrat anft (Chronicle ROCHESTER NEW YORK 3 I ii Ci5 i Play about Lincoln's assassin canceled Performances of a play about John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, have been canceled at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. where the 16th president was mortally wounded almost 1 19 years ago, officials said yesterday. The director of the Ford's Theater Society called the play "sick" and said it "appeals to the macabre." The play's author accused the National Park Service, which scrapped the play, of wanting to "rewrite" history. The park service said the script for Chris Dick-rrson's Booth was approved last fall, but performances scheduled this week were canceled because "we felt there was too much emphasis on Booth the assassin and not enough on Lincoln the president," spokesman Sandra Alley said.

Auctioning off 'Auntie Mame' Rosalind Russell's fans paid as little as $3 to "get a piece of Auntie Mame" at i- L-A- I NrW I lor Joan Crawford when it comes to glamour. raaoini torn o)8 girt Ah, for those bygone days when Academy served up some glamour with its awards TEXT OF SHIRLEY MACLAINE'S SPEECH 4C; LIST OF OSCAR WINNFRS 6B Joan Collins is no match By Jack Garner Oemocrat and Chronicle An Academy Awards show featuring the likes of Christie Brinkley, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cheech and Chong, Joan Collins, Dyan Cannon, Neil Diamond, Herb Alpert and Anthony Franciosa seems almost a joke in a tradition that comes down from the Barrymores, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Coleman and Joan Crawford. On the night when Hollywood supposedly presents the best it has to offer to the world, Monday night's Oscar ceremony resembled more a reunion of People magazine cover hopefuls than a collection of film-dom's most talented performers. As a nearly endless parade of unimpressive stars handed Academy Awards to a bevy of faceless technicians and inarticulate performers, filmgoers probably felt a deep sense of loss. They lxked for but could not find the glamour and greatness of Hollywood.

MORE THAN in any other year, the 56th annual Academy Awards overflowed with the sort of people who talk about the movie industry and who look only at the bottom line on box office ledgers. It was populated more than ever with shallow people who think dress designers and publicists are enough to create glamour. Producer Jack Haley Jr. presented a most unimpressive collection of folks. Why didn't he at least employ some of the classier people in the audience Shirley MacLaine, Glenn Close, Jack Nicholson and Robert Duvall to handle a few segments? As for the awards themselves, the Oscar Awards also demonstrate a serious, growing problem the inability of many supposedly bright people to make a meaningful speech.

Only best actress Shirley MacLaine and best supporting actress Linda Hunt gave the audience insights into the way they felt about their profession and the Academy Award. Supporting actor Jack Nicholson and best actor Robert Duvall were both surprisingly nervous and unprepared, and Terms of Endearment producer-director James L. Brooks was cool, calculating and not especially gracious. Beyond the "biggies," the technical-award winners were more obnoxious and selfish than ever in the way they rambled olt list-s of "thank yous" to everybody they ever met. In addition, did you ever hear more supposedly professional people use a forum of a half-billion people to say hello to their winners at sweeps, Indicated an auction of the late actress' Hollywood trappings.

A copy of the actress' autobiography, Life is a Banquet, brought $3 and a pair of three-quarter-length suede gloves fetched $45 at a public auction of 800 items from Russell's estate in Pontiac, Mich. Knmp UL'Vin aitonAnA Russell in 1973 Saturday's auction at the C.B. Charles Gallery expressed disappointment that more exotic items including several Steinway pianos were sold the night before at a private showing. Russell died in 1976 at age 68. Proof of Monroe's popularity Iowa officials hope Marilyn Monroe will have the same impart on sales of liquor decanters that Elvis Presley did six years ago.

Liquor decanter sales are at an all-time low, Iowa Beer and Liquor Control Department director Holland Gallagher said in Des Moines Monday, so he has announced the sale of a Marilyn Monroe liquor decanter. Decanters bearing Presley's likeness, which sold in 1978 at $60.05 each, drew so much public interest that buyers had to be selected by a computer. Because of the $87.40 price tag for the Monroe decanter, Gallagher said he does not expect sales to be as brisk. The decanters contain 750 milliliters of 4-year-old, 80-proof bourbon. The ceramic bottle shows Monroe in her pose from The Seven Year Itch where she is standing on a New York sidewalk and a strong updraft lifts her skirt.

Oscar TV numbers down The Academy Awards captured the largest share of the television audience Monday night but drew a smaller audience than the previous year's show, according to Arbi-tron Ratings Co. in New York City. 'Dallas' tops 'Dynasty' again Meanwhile, those dueling soaps, CBS' Dallas and ABC's Dynasty, were at it again this past week and, once more, the Texans came out on top of the Nielsen television heap. Dallas was first and Dynasty was second for the week ending April 8. CBS won the network battle, ABC claimed second and NBC was third.

Here are the week's 20 top programs: 1. Dallas, CBS; 2. Dynasty, ABC; 3. The A-Team, NBC; 4. (tie) The Red Light Sting and George Washington, Part CBS; 6.

Falcon Crest, CBS; 7. Magnum, PL, CBS; 8. Sins of the Past, ABC; 9. 60 Minutes, CBS; 10. The Fall Guv, ABC; 11.

TV Bloopers Practical Jokes, NBC; 12. NCAA Basketball Championship, Georgetown vs. Houston, CBS; 13. People Do the Craziest Things, ABC; 14. Riptide, NBC; 15.

The Calendar Girl Murders, ABC; 16. The Magic of David Copperfield, VI, CBS; 17. Three's Company, ABC; 18. Remington Steele, NBC; 19. Bob Hope's Who Makes the World Laugh, Part II, NBC; 20.

Foulups, Bleeps Blunders, ABC. Compiled from reports by United Press International and Associated Press correction Evening hours for passport applications are 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Greece office of the Monroe County Automobile License Bureau on Tuesdays only. The bureau is located in Ridgemont Plaza at 2833 W.

Ridge Road. For more information, call the passport office at 428-5155. The day and hours were incorrect in the Sunday Democrat and Chronicle. THE BIG EVEfJT New Orleans touch On a swing north of the Mason- Dixon line, the New Orleans-based group, the Radiators, is dropping in here to brew a special mix of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll for local listeners. The sextet will perform tonight at the Red Creek Inn at 300 Jefferson Road.

The group's six members have been in the music business since their teens and have played individually or as a group with David Bromberg, Catfish Hodge, members of the Nighthawks and with such New Orleans luminaries as Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Earl King. They've also opened shows for the Allman Brothers, Taj Mahal, BB King and Chuck Berry. Rochester's John Mooney, who moved to New Orleans a few years ago, will open tonight's show at 9:30. Show tickets are $3.

Today's What's Doing events column is on page 2C. sMuscs and tell their kids to go to Who cares? At least one guy an Oscar-winning editor for The Right Stuff made practical use of his time in the spotlight. He concluded his speech with a pitch for employment. "If I can ever do anything for anyone here, let me know" IT'S TIME for the Academy to get tough and employ the following rules for the 57th annual show: Beyond the big six awards for best film, acting and direction, all nominees should lie firmly told that multiple winners (four editors, for example) must select a single spokesman to offer thanks. A recipient can only thank by name a maximum of two people.

More difficult to standardize but even more important is the judgment and taste of producers who corral aged directors and stars for special segments. Cary Grant looks and sounds great, and he was the perfect choice for a little segment about David Niven. But the appearance by veteran director Frank Capra was embarrassing. If Capra was in such bad shape that most of his remarks had to be pre-recorded, then he should not have been asked to be there It was embarrassing to see the director of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life have to be prompted by a loud off-stage whisper "The Dresser T) and to hear the snafu that snagged his prerecorded tape in mid-sentence.

It was one of Oscar's all-time worst moments. Fortunately, another legend, Fred Astaire, stayed at home for his brief moment of recognition. It's infinitely better to remember him gliding across a dance floor. Little 'Danton' an eloquent epic about revolution By Jack Garner Diimut.r.it ini) Cl'iruniUt; liim ntir. Once you start a revolt, how do you stop it? Once you remove the old order, what do you put in its place? Those are the dilemmas of revolution as examined in Dimtim, Andrzej Wajda's intriguing movie about France's Heign of Terror.

Because Wajda, Poland's leading director, is tackling a study of revolution and its aftermath, Danton challenges viewers to seek parallels to Poland's post-revolutionary communist state and the struggle by Solidarity. But such parallels are of the most general and basic nature. Beyond the political ramifications, Wajda views the the French Revolution as classic tragedy. Danton focuses on the rivalry between the two most prominent revolutionary leaders the austere theoretician Max-imillien Robespierre and the earthy pragmatist Georges Danton. What begins as a debate about philosophical outlook and lifestyle turns into a lile-and-death struggle for power in the aftermath of revolution.

BOTH WANT to stop the bloodshed of the guillotine but can find only one solution more bloodshed. Neither Robespierre nor Danton can avoid the fact that Danton must die. The inevitability of the blade is a key to Wajda's tragic vision. Danton is a tilky film, but the conversation is fascinating because of the intense power struggle that motivates every word and gesture. The best scene in the film is the only time Danton and Robespierre are on screen together.

They try to converse over dinner, futilely trying to fend off their onrushing split. To make the division between camps more obvious. Robespierre and his followers are Polish actors, and Danton and his associates are Frenc h. Wojciech Psoniak is Robespierre; Gerard Depardieu is Danton. Depardieu is much better known in the west.

Many of his previous films have found substantial U.S. audiences, including liKKI, Get (kit Your Handkerchiefs, The Last Metro and The Return of Martin Guerre. He portrays Danton with a rugged sensuality laced with fatalism. BUT PSZOMAK is just as good as the less-sympathetic Robespierre, a role he played in a stage version of Danton directed by Wajda in In the film. Wajda has successfully embraced a difficult subject, underscored the issues with distinctive characters and given the film rich detail and epic scope.

Danton eloquently demonstrates that the fight for human rights, the res)onsibilities such rights require and the dilemma of creating a new order remain a legacy today of the French Revolution. ceremony was a predictable as feared. (I accurately predicted the best picture, all four acting awards, best director and best, song.) Surprise was not an element-Only 15 minutes short of an incredibly numbing four hours, the Academy Awards also wasted more time than anyone could have imagined. If the idea is to sell movies to 500 million TV watchers, why throw your best pitches an hour or two after the entire Eastern seaboard goes to lied? As for special entertainment, only aged clips from the Little Rascals and Donald Duck brought much joy. In fact, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences should take a hint from the joy those clips brought.

The Oscar show is a celebration of motion pictures so, please, show more clips. BEYOND THE SHORTAGE of glamor-ous and talented stars, the Academy The Little Theater art-film house, 210 East is tripling its offerings starting today. Two new screens are opening in a neighboring building. Little 2 and 3 are in the rear portions of the former Lewis General Tire building at East Avenue and Pitkin Street, The theaters are entered from a new parking lot off Winthrop Street, behind the Little 1. The two new theaters have 200 seats each, compared with in the Little 1.

The seats have conventional leg room and feature a more-than-adequate downward thrust toward the screen, assuring visibility even on crowded nights. The screens are moderate-size and projection is clear and bright. Neither screen is equipped for Dolby stereo. Little co-owner Bill Coppard says he hopes to install Dolby in the original Little soon. The Little is debuting three films tonight 7 Norte in the original Little 1, Experience Preferred But Not Essential in Little 2 and Dunton in Little 3.

OH FILM David Villalpando in 'El Norte. Gerard Depardieu in 7 IPB Jl 1 Ml i -V 'El Norte' borders on manipulation, but works By Jack Garner Democrat diid Chronitlu film critic El Norte (The North) is an engrossing drama about the flight of two impoverished and persecuted Guatemalan Indians into Southern California. It is also an eloquent plea for a humane solution to the plight of the hundreds of illegal aliens who cross U.S. borders every day. El Norte is also a rare creature as a movie: It's an American-made film that requires subtitles for English-speaking viewers.

Directed by Mexican-American filmmaker Gregory Nava, the two-hour, 20-minute movie is largely in Spanish. IT FOLLOWS a young brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa Xuncax, who barely escape death at the hands of right-wing soldiers. Their parents have been killed because of the father's efforts to align coffee-plantation workers with leftist rebels. "El Norte" has always been held up to the teen-agers as a land of dreams, where even the poorest people have flush toilets, electricity and cars. They have a view of American life as conveyed by a decade's worth of Good Housekeeping magazines, religiously studied by the family.

Enrique and Rosa hike out of the mountains of Guatemala into Mexico and use what little money they have for a dusty, three-day bus ride to Tijuana. There they find a "coyote," a "guide" who, for a fee, helps refugees sneak into the United States. The youths eventually get their opportunity in the film's most intense sequence. They crawl for miles inside a rat-infested sewage tunnel. When they emerge, they not only have crossed a border, but they've traversed a century of lifestyle.

Their sometimes funny, sometimes tragic efforts to adapt occupy the film's final chapter. THEY ENCOUNTER on-the-job machinery that confuses them, native-born coworkers who are jealous of any success they may have, and greedy employers who hunger for cheap labor. Surrounding all this is the spectre of U.S. immigration officers who will send them home. El Norte is an emotional film that focuses exclusively on the human side of illegal immigration.

No attempt is made to explain the ramifications for the economy or employment in the American Southwest. Sections of the plot are overly manipulative and difficult to believe; sometimes the film's heart gets in the way of logic. Nonetheless, El Norte is a considerable achievement and a moving experience. With undeniable sincerity and endearing simplicity, El Norte brings a much-needed human dimension to this country's ever-growing problem of illegal immigration. Little Parking Entrance to Little 2 3 Fast Avp Entrance! El Norte This is a long and engrossing drama about the efforts of two Guatemalan Indians to reach the United States and the difficulties they encounter here.

It starts tonight at the Little Theater. Directed by Gregory Nava. it stars Zide Silvia Gutierrez. David Villalpando and Trinidad Silva. Running time: Two hours.

19 minutes. Rating: R. with violence and profanity. Mostly in Spanish, with English subtitles. Note: The 7:45 p.m.

showing of El Norte tomorrow night is a benefit performance sponsored by the Rochester Sanctuary Committee, an organization formed to aid Central American families in the United States. Danton A detailed study of the struggle between Danton and Robespierre in the first years after the French Revo'ution, Danton opens tonight at the Little Theater. Directed by Andrzej Wada, it stars Gerard Depardieu, Wojciech Pszomak. Boguslaw Linda and Patrice Chereau. Running time: Two hours, 16 minutes.

Rating: PG. In French with English subtitles. Experience Preferred Experience Preferred But Not Essential is an English comedy about a young woman coming of age during a summer of employment at a seacoast hotel It opens tonight at the Little Theater. Directed by Peter Duffell. it stars Elizabeth Edmonds, Sue Wallace.

Geraldine Griffith. Karen Meagher and Ron Bam. Running time: One hour, 20 minutes Rating PG. with implied sexual situations. Excellent Good Average Fair Poor TXPfRlFNCr PRtTFRPfTD' REVIEW 2C Little Little 1.