The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 35

INSIDE: Illegal aliens the other-worldly kind attempt to assimilate Cali-fornian culture in the science fiction thriller 'Alien Nation' See Page 4B linmiirn I IriTV ENTERTAINMENT: CONCERT: Southern Pacific will be in concert at the South Alabama State Fair Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. VIDEO: "Hope and Glory," a warm and humorous movie about growing up in London during World War II, left, is available on video. t- a. SOUTHERN FLAVOR Montgomery, Alabama Friday Morning, October 7- South Alabama State Fair Kicks Off Today Auditions Seek Local Performers -7 7 3t 6, 7 and 9 p.m. Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show 6 p.m.

Live judging of food preservation, Creative Living Center 7 p.m. Official opening of 35th South Alabama State Fair in coliseum 7 p.m. Premiere performance of the Alabama Reunion's Alabama Celebration singers in coliseum 8 p.m. Olympic International Circus SATURDAY, OCT. 8 9 a.m.

Fair opens 10 a.m. Statewide cheerleader competition, Crawford Arena 11 a.m. Midway opens 11 a.m. Junior Beef Heifer Show, Ed Teague Arena 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Robinson's Racing Pigs 1, 6 and 8 p.m.

Olympic International Circus 2 p.m. Neighbors Magazine's "Great Pumpkin" and Cooking With Pumpkin Contest, Creative Living Center 3, 7 and 9 p.m. Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show 6 p.m. Junior Ewe Show, H.N. Lewis Barn 7 and 9 p.m.

Southern Pacific in coliseum SUNDAY, OCT. 9 Noon Fair opens 1 p.m. Statewide cheerleader finals, Crawford Arena 1, 2:30, 4:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Robinson's Racing Pigs I p.m. Midway opens (games not open).

Midway Price Spectacular: Pay gate admission and special $8 ticket on the midway and ride all the rides as many times as you wish until 11 p.m. 1:30, 4 and 7 p.m. Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show 2, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats 3, 6 and 8 p.m. Olympic International Circus 4 p.m.

Sweet Artists Cake Decorating Contest, Creative Living Center 6 p.m. Sweet Adelines, on stage in the coliseum MONDAY, OCT. 10 9 a.m. Kindergarten students and teachers admitted free until noon 10 a.m. Cows being milked in the Milking Parlor 10 a.m.

Farm City Day 10 a.m., 4 and 7 p.m. Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Robinson's Racing Pigs II a.m. FFA Hog Show, H.N. Lewis Swine Barn Staff Report The South Alabama State Fair kicks off for the 35th time today, and General Manager Hazel Ashmore promises that "naturally, it will be bigger and better than ever." Last year, the fair expanded from six days to nine and because of its success, this year's fair once again will last nine days.

"Having two weekends proved to be very good for us last year because we were able to add the Junior Ewe Show and the cheerleading competition," said Mrs. Ashmore, who manages the fair along with her husband, Minuard. The Junior Ewe Show, Mrs. Ashmore said, is a competition for young people not more than one year out of high school who have raised their own sheep on farms throughout the state. Prizes are awarded in various age divisions.

Among some of the new activities planned for this year, Mrs. Ashmore said, are a celebrity milking contest in which local newspaper, radio and television personalities will compete in a hand milking contest and the premiere performance of the Alabama Reunion's Alabama Celebration singing group. Entertainment planned for the fair includes the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats, the Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show, Robinson's Racing Pigs, the Olympic International Circus and the music groups Shenandoah and Southern Pacific. In addition, Mrs. Ashmore said, contests, exhibits and competitions will be held throughout the fair.

For those with a green thumb, the Montgomery Federation of Garden Clubs is sponsoring flower shows today and Oct. 10 and 13. The public can enter horticulture specimens for competition in the shows. The show will be on the second level of the coliseum and entries will be accepted until 9:45 a.m. those days.

The South Alabama State Fair is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Montgomery. Organizations that benefit from the fair's proceeds include The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind, the Central Alabama Rehabilitation Center, Goodwill Industries, Alabama 4-H Foundation and the Alabama FFA Foundation, among many others. A list of some of the events during the nine day fair follows. FRIDAY, OCT. 7 4 p.m.

Fair and midway open 4 p.m. Montgomery District 4-H Dairy Show, Ed Teague Arena 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Robinson's Racing Pigs FLOWER SHOW: Mrs. Clarence Bowman, left, and Mrs. Marvin Grunzke prepare a flower arrangement for the Montgomery Federation of Garden Clubs flower shows at the South Alabama State Fair By LEE BRIDGES Advertiser Staff Writer The young woman nervously searches for an electrical outlet in which to plug her tape recorder in the large room cluttered with furniture and stage props.

She announces the three "pieces" she intends to perform: a character from "Tartu ffe," character from "A Doll's House" and a rendition of Cole Porter's song, "Let's Do It." She takes a seat, heaves a deep breath and something changes. Gone is the nervous young woman from five seconds before, and in her place is a chattery cockney bustling about. The cockney soon is replaced by a married woman struggling to have a serious conversation with her husband, and following that, a songstress. During the day, more nervous types are ushered in to the clut tered room, and more transformations take place. The reason for all the change? Monday's auditions for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival acting company.

Once a year, ASF holds these general auditions to get an idea of what sort of talent is available in the community, said Lori Gri-fo, artistic associate of ASF, who conducts the auditions for the professional company. "I always ask (each auditioner) for the same thing: two contrasting pieces, one in verse, and I ask that they keep their total audition time under five minutes," Ms. Grifo said. She usually allows 10 minutes for each audition, she said, so she can use the latter five minutes to chat with each person about ASF, its policies and its programs. In addition to the general auditions, Ms.

Grifo says she occasionally conducts "courtesy auditions" for people passing through. Ms. Grifo said she prefers that the auditioners do their pieces from memory rather than just read. At one audition, she said, she asked the woman auditioning to do her piece a character from "The Winter's Tale" in a weaker state than what she was portraying. "Because it was a practiced piece, I was able to give her direction and see if she could take direction," Ms.

Grifo said. "If you don't see the quality you're looking for, you can ask for it another way. You can ask for a little more anger; you can see if they can do dialects." This general audition; process is different from the 1 process ASF uses to get, say, its Hamlets. First, Ms. Grifo said, ASF tries to bring back those company members who have worked with ASF in previous seasons: A chart is made up showing "casting lines" the spots in which returning company memebrs will be cast for the next season.

For the parts which are not cast in this manner, ASF works through a casting director in New York, who is paid by ASF for his services. The casting director's function, Ms. Grifo said, is to round up the types of actors and actresses ASF is looking for. For example, if ASF was searching for an actress to play Shakespeare's Juliet, the casting director would gather 20-25 women who were the correct Please See AUDITIONS, 6D Noon Fair opens. Today only: All females, any age, admitted free Noon till 5 p.m.

Senior citizens 65 and over admitted free 1, 3, 7 and 9 p.m. Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats 3 p.m. Midway opens. Today only: One person pays, his or her partner rides free 4 p.m. Dairy Cow Costume Contest, Ed Teague Arena 5 p.m.

Holstein Show, Ed Teague Arena 6 and 8 p.m. Olympic International Circus 6 p.m. Junior High School Bands Concert in coliseum 7:30 p.m. "Ladies Night" drawing for free prizes TUESDAY, OCT. 11 8 a.m.

Open Dairy Cattle Show, Ed Teague Arena 8:30 a.m. Junior Hog Show, H.N. Lewis Swine Barn 9 a.m. Fair opens. All school students will be admitted for $1 until 4 p.m.

10 a.m., 3, 7 and 9 p.m. Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats 11 a.m. Midway opens. Most rides at reduced prices for students until 4 p.m. 11:30 a.m., 4, 7 p.m.

Grandpa Cratchet Puppet Show Noon, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Robinson's Racing Pigs 1, 6 and 8 p.m. Olympic International Circus Please See FAIR, 6D 'Dead Ringers5 May Be Too Chilling For Its Own Good REVIEW "Dead Ringers" will be playing at the Twin Oaks 4 at 7 and 9:30 p.m. to become some of the top gynecologists in the field before their decomposing, emaciated bodies were discovered in a food-and-feces littered New York apartment. The deaths were drug related.

"Dead Ringers" changes some aspects of the story. Instead of Jewish New York doctors, the twins are now WASPs practicing in Canada. But what makes the film fascinating is not its factual foundation, but Mr. Cronenberg's decision to portray the identical twins as both more normal and more strange than twins have been portrayed in past films. Most suspense films involving identical twins have used the premise.

"Dead Ringers" makes both twins seem more normal, more human, but at the same time portrays them as mutations who by being identical with each other are made different from the rest of society. It is a difference that neither the Please See MOVIE, 2D By RICK HARMON Advertiser Staff Writer It sounds strange, but the film that director David Cronen-berg's "Dead Ringers" most reminds me of is Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom." In both movies the directors seem to have been too successful for their own good. After Mr. Spielberg's thrill-a-minute approach to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was lauded by both critics and audiences, he sped up the pace to a thrill-a-sec-ond in "Temple of Doom." The result was a Film so intense it was to be survived rather than enjoyed. Although the fact-based "Dead Ringers" is in many ways a departure for Mr.

Cronenberg, who previously directed such science fiction thrillers as "The Fly," "The Dead Zone" and "Video-drome," it not only uses, but magnifies, the eerie progression of a being's physical and mental mutation that proved so successful in his previous films. In movies such as "The Fly," the director created sympathetic characters whose transformations into monsters were hideously fascinating. But in "Dead Ringers," which stars Jeremy Irons in a brilliant performance as identical twins, the director does such an effective job of projecting the perverse unpleasantness of this transformation that the film often is unpleasant viewing. It is testimony to Mr. Cronen-berg's skill that he can create a film this unsettling, based, albeit loosely, on a true story.

The film is based on the puzzling deaths of Steven and Cyril Marcus, identical twins who rose DOUBLE FEATURE: Jeremy Irons plays twins in 'Dead Ringers' TV Station WKAB Gains New Opevatovs, Loses 'Cosby Show' Frey Communications South has purchased the operating general partnership of WKAB, Montgomery's ABC affiliate. Although the immediate result of the purchase is tnat WKAB will lose one of the most syndicated programs in television history, it will munications Corp. which bought the station in 1985. The new owners plan to break ground on a tower in Lowndes County in November. The tall tower, combined with a more powerful transmitter, will double the broadcast power of the station, he said.

The $2.5 million project will allow the station to reach both Montgomery and Selma through the airwaves. Currently Mr. LeBrun says WKAB can be seen in Selma only by cable viewers. But the plans of Frey Communications, named for former Florida U.S. Rep.

Lou Frey who is a principle stockholder, do not include showing "The Cosby Show," one of the most sought-after and expensive syndicated programs in television history. WKAB, which has long been No. 3 among the Montgomery network affiliates, won a bidding war between the stations in April 1987 for the right to broadcast the series in syndication. Although it meant the losing down payments, WKAB asked Viacom Enterprises, the company syndicating the show, to release it from its agreement and resell the syndication rights. WSFA, the NBC affiliate which has long dominated Montgomery's television ratings, purchased the syndication rights to "The Cosby Show" last Friday and began broadcasting it earlier this week.

WSFA station manager Carl Stephens said the the contract with Viacom called for WSFA to air "The Cosby Show" syndications for three and a half years with an extra half year of syndication for each additional year the series continues to be broadcast by the networks in prime time. Mr. LeBrun said he has no doubt "The Cosby Show" is a fantastic product and will do well on WSFA. "No one will know whether it's a good or not so good deal for WSFA until the November ratings come out," he said. "I think those are the options.

I don't think it can turn out to be a bad deal for them." Mr. LeBrun, who has worked at Turner Broadcasting and run a Meridian, Miss, television station before coming to Montgomery, said WKAB's decision to pass on the program was "one of flexability and finance." He said in looking at WKAB it was obvious "the tower was not a solution to all of the station's problems." It was decided that the funds the station would have tied up in "The Cosby Show" would be better spent providing the station the consistent programming and proper promotion of that programming it needs to become competitive in the Montgomery market, he said. The station's plans include changing its call letters, increasing its commitment to local news by adding a local late-night news program to its existing evening news and establishing a firmer identity in its programming by acquiring new syndicated shows. RICK I HARMON result in the station gaining broadcast power and viewers, according to Nory LeBrun, Frey's Chief Operating Officer. Frey Communications purchased the decisionmaking part of WKAB from The Terrapin Com-.