Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page 21

Dear Abby Erma Bombeck Calendar IKMPHA Havo a tip for a feature story? Give us a call at 337-31 81 and ask for Belinda Stewart, the features editor THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1988 Iowa City Press-Citizen Iowa City Press-Citizen Page 1C ABOUT PEOPLE By The Associated Press rv i 11 i i 4 muereiia Becomes Hollywood fairy tale COSTA MESA, Calif. -Rudolph Nureyev said he chose to rework Cinderella into a Hollywood fable because he was jarred by all other ballet productions he saw of the fairy tale. The Soviet-born dancer is the artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet, which is He'll take your wooden nickels Press-Citizen John Schultz A creative participant in the Wooden Nickel Art Project turned six nickels into a die. Iowa City man invites people to turn them into works of art Nureyev Cinderella at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Nureyev's version of Cinderella is set in the dream factories of 1930s Hollywood, and is filled with props and allusions to King Kong, Fred Betty Grable and the Keystone Cops.

"Somehow each time I saw any other production, I found it jarring," Nureyev said. "I thought it worked out nicely to have Cinderella dream about becoming an actress. Every other production looked like Sleeping Beauty." 600-pound man plans to go outside After shedding more than a quarter ton, Walter Hudson says he's gained confidence. He is about to take his first step outside his Hempstead, N.Y., home in 17 years. Hudson weighed about 1,200 pounds last September, when he got stuck in a doorway to his bathroom.

He has lost about 600 pounds. The weight is estimated because Hudson does not fit on conventional scales, Barbara Rosen, a psychologist who is treating him, said. "I'm ready for the outside world," the 42-year-old Long Island man said Wednesday, leaning out a back window of his home. "I hope the world is ready for me." Hudson wasn't as willing in February, when he turned down an offer from comedian-nutritionist Dick Gregory to attend Gregory's clinic in the Bahamas. Hudson already had lost several hundred pounds under Gregory's regimen, but balked at leaving the house.

Hudson said Wednesday he would step outside in August onto a patio being built flush to his bedroom by volunteers. "I feel good," he said. "I feel like I've been paroled from jail." Actress will produce own movie 'I'm proud to be a coal miner's Written by Loretta Lynn on a wooden nickel for Wooden Nickel Art Project By Carol McConeghey The Press-Citizen Wooden nickels have been around since the early 19th century and started as souvenirs for celebrations, but Dave Morice of Iowa City is making an art collection out of them. The Wooden Nickel Art Project has more than 400 wooden nickels decorated by people from all over the world and is on display at the Iowa City Public Library through June. Morice got the idea for the project when he was watching television and carved a woman's face into a wooden He then decided he wouldn't make any more wooden nickel creations: He would give wooden nickels to other people to draw or write on.

"It is a study of what people do with a round, wooden canvas," Morice said. He started with 1,000 nickels in late September and is on his second batch of 1,000. The wooden nickels say Iowa City Wooden Nickel Art Project on one side. Morice intended for people to write or draw on the wooden nickels, but he has received nickels made into dice, eyeglasses and city landscapes. Some nickels are painted; others have inscriptions.

"Wooden nickels are a little bit of Americana," Morice said. Morice gives wooden nickels to friends and strangers. He went to Venezuela in December and has 90 nickels from people there and has mailed wooden nickels to famous people around the world. Pieter Botha, South African prime minister, wrote "Forward with courage and faith" on the nickel he received. Corazon Aquino, Philippine president, wrote "Peace" on her wooden nickel.

Vice President George Bush and his wife, Barbara, signed and returned their wooden nickel. Lee Iacocco drew the face of the Statue of Liberty. Steve Martin drew a caricature. Ringo Starr, of the Beatles, drew a self-portrait. Frank Sinatra drew musical notes.

Fran Tarkenton, retired Minnesota Vikings quarterback, drew a viking. Bob Hope wrote "thanks for the memories." Loretta Lynn wrote "I'm proud to be a coal miner's daughter." Some people turned down the chance to be in the Wooden Nickel Art Project. Morice received a letter from Robin A. Byrne, Lady Bird Johnson's assistant, that said "Mrs. Lyndon B.

Johnson does not 'doodle' or She may write lists, notes to herself, and names of people she wants to write or speak with when her hands are idle. But, she does not draw not even so much as a line." Morice also sent a wooden nickel to convicted murderer Charles Manson. He got back two drawings back instead. Manson sent back the letter Morice sent him and said the wooden nickel had been removed from the letter. Morice could tell where the nickel had been taped.

One of the drawings from Manson had "Air, trees, water, wildlife or no life on earth now" written on it. Morice, 41, is working on a doctorate in children's literature at the University of Iowa and teaches children's literature. He was in the Iowa Writers' Workshop from 1969 to 1972 and enjoys drawing. "I like it when I can find projects that combine writing and drawing." Wooden nickels are available at the reference desk at the Iowa City Public Library for anyone who wants to be a part of the collection. "This collection makes everyone equal," Morice said.

Patty Duke spent a good part of her tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild inveighing against movie management. Now she's joined the club. Duke resigned Wednesday in the middle of her second term as Guild president to produce a movie based on her aiitnhirtornnhv Call Ma Anna Pres-CitiznJohn Schultz Dave Morice's Wooden Nickel Art Project is on display through June at the Iowa City Public 'Dirty Dancing' beat goes on with concert tour Duke the guiid said. Guild by-laws state no officer or board member may hold a production interest while in office. Duke's final speech as union president was Sunday at a midyear Guild membership meeting.

She attacked management for refusing to share with unions "record profits for a record number of companies, and record salaries for studio executives." Barry Gordon, Guild first vice president, will be acting president until the board of directors has its annual meeting in December. Stewart fights movie colorization WASHINGTON Mr. Stewart went to Washington to fight for right and truth in this case, to preserve the creative vision of the directors of classic films by preventing their work from being colorized. Actor Jimmy Stewart, who battled corruption in the 1930 's movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, spoke Wednesday on the eve of a congressional committee's vote on the National Film Preservation Act of 1988.

The measure seeks to settle the dispute over the artistic rights of directors who object to color being added to black and white films, or to editing or other changes made to their films by distributors or exhibitors. "I have been in the motion picture business quite a while now, almost 60 years, and I have great respect for the motion picture," Stewart, 80, said. "I think it's something of tremendous value and I want to do everything I can to preserve it." 'The response to the dancers has been incredible. People absolutely scream for the David Fishof creator of 'Dirty Dancing: The Concert Tour' Dr. Hook, Rare Earth and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad.

Fishof said it wasn't easy to put together the Dirty Dancing tour. He had to cut a deal with Vestron Pictures, who made the movie, and then negotiate with the individual artists, many of whom prefer to tour on their own and not under the aegis of a movie, no matter how popular. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry is making sure the Dirty Dancing beat goes on. There are plans for a Dirty Dancing television series on CBS, and for a sequel to the movie that started all the fuss in the first place. Are folks just going to get tired of all this Dirty Dancing? "I don't think so," Fishof said.

"People are asking for it, people want more and more. And as long you're giving people a quality product, I think it will work." By Gannett News Service In the beginning, there was the movie, Dirty Dancing. The movie begat the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which did so well that yet another soundtrack, More Dirty Dancing, was released. Lo and behold, More Dirty Dancing was another huge success. So now there's "Dirty Dancing: The Concert Tour," complete with some of the movie's original dancers and several of the musicians who sang on the soundtracks: former Righteous Brother Bill Medley, Eric Carmen, Merry Clayton and the Contours.

"As far as I know, this is the first time a concert tour has ever been based on a movie," David Fishof, who created the concert, said. The Dirty Dancing concert will recreate some of the dance scenes from the film using a narrator, the singers, an 11-piece orchestra and the Dirty Fishof said. "I think it was the biggest thing they've ever done there." Fishof, 31, started his career as a sports agent. Since then, he's had plenty of experience putting tour packages together. Fishof was the man behind the Monkees reunion tour in 1986.

Last year he assembled the "Classic Su-perfest" tour (The Turtles, the Byrds, Mark Lindsay), and this summer he's producing a "Super Seventies Fest," featuring some of the lesser lights from the Me Decade: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Guess Who, Dancers themselves. Even audiences will get into the act, encouraged to stand up and learn The Grind, The Pony, the Swim, the Jerk and other steps from the Dirty Dancing era, the early '60s. "The response to the dancers has been incredible," Fishof said. "People absolutely scream for the dancers." The tour opened May 29 at the Concord Hotel in the Catskills, where the film's story is set. "They sold out every room; they stuffed the place like a mushroom," THE FAR SIDE b.gary LARSON NEIGHBORS FAST TRACKS FROM THE MAGAZINE RACK: "They were in the hotels, in the hallways, you name it.

I'm sure they even tapped out telephones." Scorpians guitarist Matthias Jabs, on the KGB during a Soviet tour, in People. 2nd Lt. Randy A. George, son of Robert and Lorraine George of Alden, was awarded the outstanding company commander of the first regiment award at ceremonies at West Point. He graduated from the West Point with an emphasis in engineering management.

Four local teachers have been selected to participate in the University of Iowa summer workshop on high school geometry instruction. Sandra Althen of Iowa City, James Maltas of West Liberty, Judith Slezak of Swisher and Simon Ug-wuoke of Iowa City will take the six-hour a day course intended to train a group of key mathematics teachers to become leaders in improving the curriculum across the state. The teachers receive tuition, travel, room and board and a $200 a week stipend as part of a grant from the National Science Foundation. See NEIGHBORS2C TOPS ON TV: The following are the week's top rated prime time television shows, according to A.C. Nielsen Co.

1. Cheers, NBC 2. A Different World, NBC 3. Bill Cosby Show, NBC 4. Night Court, NBC 5.

CBS Sunday Movie, CBS 6. Golden Girls, NBC 7. L.A. Law, NBC 8. NBA Finals Game 2, CBS 8.

60 Minutes, CBS 10. Hogan Family, NBC 10. NBC Monday Night Movie, NBC BORN TODAY: If your child is born today, he or she will have every ability at knowing what to do to relieve tensions and to bring more harmony and comfort into the home. To insure success, give a tough course of education so that later life can be comfortable and relaxed. This hard worker will do well! NEW AT THE THEATERS: The following new movies begin playing today in Iowa City movie theaters.

Red Heat, at Cinema II Bull Durham, at Campus Theaters MAIN EVENT: Folk Fest continues through June 24 in the University Hospital's Garden Courtyard, sponsored by Project Art. John Jacobs and Laura Hudson, a popfolk duet, will perform at 7 p.m. today. INDEX Bombeck 2C Classified Calendar 3C Dear Abby 2C "Dang! That cowhawk'i back.".