Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 22

man ST. PETERSBURG TIMES APRIL 11. 1981 5b imntES GEiinOUJ That rich IFisher voice is back -and still good St. Pataraburg Tlmaa JACKIE GREENE Fisher raises a glass of wine to toast his audience during the show. things that have been written aren't even in the ballpark.

"It's as honest a book as can be written, and that means that Eddie Fisher doesn't get away, either," he says. SCOTT ON MUSIC ddi Flahar appaarlng in La Club of tha Tlarra Varda RmotI. Parform-tnoaa tonight, Sunday aftarnoon and Sunday night. Can M7-801 1 for lima and pricaa. I By KELLY SCOTT it.

Patarabur fl Tlmaa 8taff Wrrtar Three songs into his nightclub act, Eddie Fisher introduces himself. "For those of you who don't remember the name," he ay8, "it's Sergio Franchi." The line drew a healthy laugh from the Friday night opening night for Fisher audience at Tierra Verde's Le Club. But judging from the flurries of applause that net the first few notes of Fisher's hit songs, no one heeded their memories jogged. Fisher, who it is fair to say has at least as illustrious a list of former wives as hit songs, is back on the nightclub circuit with a classic up-town, cabaret-style show. Looking fit and moving spryly, Fisher still is able to Jtvrap himself around his song lyrics with a marvelously ich tone and plenty of power.

Other maturing singers haunting nightclubs should sound as good as Fisher does. FISHER NOTED at the close of his act that when tie first saw the royal blue Le Club, room, he thought What a cold room." But the crowd's affectionate reception and comfortable banter created such a warm, loose atmosphere in the jupper club as to banish Fisher's first impression. He entered the room from the back, beaming, carrying microphone and belting out Anytime. Strolling slowly through the room, Fisher wore a creamy blazer, white shirt and peach tie with navy blue slacks. 5 Most of the songs in Fisher's act are older ones, including a run-through of Fisher's hit records that he introduces with Sang The Songs, a revision of the Barry jManilow hit, Write the Songs.

Included in that segment are songs like (You Gotta Have) Heart, I'm Yours, Lady 'fif Spain, Games That Lovers Play and a crowd-pleasing Oh, My Poppa. But he also does a medley of Al Jolson songs including: 'Mammy; Baby Face; Toot, Toot, Tootsie; and April fihowers. In between, Fisher jokes with his 21-year-old conductor, Keith Levinson, and talks with people in the crowd. The joking interludes based around wine-drinking seemed to stretch a little too long, but the people seemed to enjoy them. FISHER SAYS he would like to revamp his act to in- opinion University of Tampa adds to the laurels of William Pachner William Pachner, 65, will receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Tampa (UT) May 2.

He is apparently the first visual artist in UT's history to be thus honored. The artist's past honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Ford Foundation grants, an American Academy of Arts and Letters grant and a one-man exhibition organized and circulated nation-wide by the American Federation of Art His works are in many institutions, among them Whitney Museum, Butler Institute, Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum, Walter P. Chrysler collections and, locally, the Ringling, Tampa and St. Petersburg art museums. Pachner resides in Woodstock, N.Y., and in Tampa, where he accepted the UT's invitation to use its Lee Scarfone Gallery for his 1981 annual exhibition.

That show made news when most of its contents were purchased by Tampa architect Lee Scarfone before it opened. PACHNER HAS been an important influence in art in west central Florida. Many of the Suncoast's now mature and finer artists studied in his quite selective classes during his years of winter residence in Clearwater. Again and again over the years, these students have said Pa-chner's humanity, an insistence upon art's affirmation of life, was more important to them than any technical instruction. Here are some examples of typical Pachnerian remarks made in conversations this winter: "Art should be a metaphor for a human 'presence' for life.

In an artist, the unarticulated experience of Man an unquenchable force comes to flower." "All profound art is religious in nature. A work is not religious because its subject is religious. Someone said quite correctly, referring to Van Gogh's painting, that old shoes may be religious providing they are painted for the love and glory of God." Addressing the world's travail and woe: "The joyous work (of art) says 'You have not trampled About sensitivity to psychological and physical states: "I have trained myself all my life to be obedient to the interior processes which are not subject to my will." Who decides who is to get the State of Florida's funds for culture? Ten arts grants review panels, comprising 62 citizens, select candidates from applicants. Those selected then are recommended to Secretary of State George Firestone. From 800-plus requests last year, 274 grants were awarded totaling 1.8-million state and federal dollars.

The 1981 review panels were named recently and include these Suncoast citizens: Visual Arts Organizations panel Michael Auping, Ringling Museum curator, Sarasota; Joanne Rodriguez, Tampa art critic; Visual Arts Individuals Don Saff, art professor, University of South Florida (USF); Theater Judith Kase and Bill Lorensen, both of USF; Public Media (film, broadcast and photography) J. Altschul, Florida Tourist News managing editor, Dunedin; Greer Grant, Tampa independent film-maker; Multi-Disciplinary Sallie Parks, elude more contemporary songs, and it would be nice to see him propelled back into public consciousness with a new song along the lines of, say, New York, New York, the Kander and Ebb song that became a hit last year for Frank Sinatra, Fisher's only 52, and he's still in good voice. If there is a shortcoming in his show at Tierra Verde, it's that the newest song included is And I Love Her So. Fisher, who says he is partial to Broadway show tunes, closes with a powerful Somewhere, the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim song from West Side Story, There must be a place in popular singing for Fisher. Friday night, there was a place for him in practically every heart in the room.

The problem is not bo much being known merely as the ex-husband of Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Connie Stevens. The problem is being known at all, Eddie Fisher says. "As the years go by, people Bay 'weren't you married to, uh, uh and 'didn't you sing um and 'I thought you Fisher says. Fisher will remind them all just who he was and who he is with an upcoming autobiography he hopes to finish for publication late this year. He wants the truth of his enormously written-of and gossipped-about life set down for his children's sake.

"I read Ingrid Bergman's book, and in her preface she says she wrote it to set the record straight for her children," Fisher says. That's one of his reasons. "So many of the FISHER WAS relaxing Friday afternoon as his orchestra rehearsed, comfortably dressed in corduroy jeans and an open-necked rose-colored shirt. He arrived from Miami the night before with his current woman friend, 32-year-old Lindsey Davis, a psychologist who is writing her doctoral thesis as she travels with Fisher. They have known each other for about six months.

She is, Fisher says, "The brightest person not just the brightest woman I've ever known." Ms. Davis, he said, has influenced the book in that "I came down pretty hard on some people, and she said 'why do you want to do so I changed some things." FISHER, who undeniably generates a great deal of charm, laughs at himself. "My trouble is, whenever I get interviewed, I always wind up getting into the most interesting part. The book is 65 per cent about women," he says. i Fisher's book is still in search of a title, but Fisher has a joking suggestion with a nod to his daughter Carrie Fisher, alias Princess Leia Star Wars.

'Excalibur' recalls the gore that was Camelot logy, roughly along the lines of Thomas Malory's 15th-century Morte d' Arthur. The teen-aged Arthur rises nobly to authority. He presides over a glorious peaceful era, and then helplessly watches the battle against Evil erupt anew as it always will "where you least expect it," as Merlin mumbles in one of his frequent moments of crotchety wisdom. Arthur's beloved wife Guenevere, his mentor Merlin and his famous cohorts (Lancelot, Perceval, Gawaine and the rest) share their adventures and stay fairly faithful to the original stories. With inexpensive but intelligently done special effects, Excalibur offers diversion for the action crowd and semi-spoofs for the literary.

Boorman's cast and scenery have distinct English accents. Lush landscapes provide wry contrast to the frequent fights bloody, head-smashing affairs that resemble nothing so much as the parallel scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Python effort was supposed to be funny; Boorman's battlers grunt, howl and hack off limbs in laughable exaggerations. Boorman's actors seem to share his tongue-in-cheek approach. Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) practically glows with Virginal purity.

Merlin (Nicol Williamson) sputters absent-mindedly but always comes through in emergen cies. The rest of the cast fades into the messy background as if they found it difficult to communicate through chain-mail. YOUTHFUL FANTASY fans, who may be new to King Arthur, might notice a strong resemblance between Arthur and Luke Skywalker, or between Merlin the Magician and Obi-Wan Kenobi. One speaks of the Holy Grail and the other pushes The Force, but the never-ending-struggle-against-Evil remains the heroes' purpose. While Boorman's wide-ranging selection of stories makes sense, his switches in mood and style do not.

Mockery and gore seem too closely interspliced for either to be effective, Excalibur (named for Arthur's magically mighty sword, in case you haven't even read the Classics Illustrated edition) serves as an efficient summary of an important set of stories. The last half hour drags, unfortunately, as Boorman tries to interpolate his personal tribute to psychology, the collective unconscious and the magic powers we lost with our innocence. Most members of this movie's audience will be far more stimulated by the movie's ample doses of jousting and throat-cutting. 'cxoaJVour (ratad HI atara ftngal Tarry. Niooi WINiamaon.

Halan Mkran and Paul Oaoffray: aontaina nudity, aaa and vtolanea; eonaufi tima alook (8-BI for thaatara and ahowttmaa. By ROBERT ALAN R0S3 St. Pataraburg Tlmaa Crttte Filming the complete King Arthur is like filming The Bible: There's an awful lot of ground to cover, and most viewers are going to know the stories before they enter the theater. But director John Boorman, whose films with man-and-nature themes include the futuristic Zardoz and the brutal Deliverance, has taken the Arthurian challenge to heart The English director has packed most of the famous round-table episodes into this 2 to -hour recap of Arthur's biggest hits the sword in the stone, the lady in the lake and the knights in shining armor. HE LIVED only in legends, but King Arthur still reigns in Britain's imagination.

His adventures as boy-king, warrior, ruler and cuckold are familiar in most English-speaking cultures. Boorman rolls the chapters into one narrative chrono 'Going Ape' embarrassing even to the orangutans opinion former director Pinellas County Arts Council, Clearwater; Earl Schreiber, director Tampa-Hills borough County Arts Council; Music David Levenson, general manager Asolo State Theater, Sarasota; Dance Betty Sue Moe-hlenkamp, USF Dance Department; Folk Art Theodore Grame, ethnomusicologist, Tarpon Springs; Artists-In-Education Linda Elkin, arts leader and educator, Port Richey. Last week, Mr. and Mrs. George Bangert Jr.

of St. Petersburg showed a portfolio of photographs of paintings by St. Petersburg artist David Anderson to Carol Hogbean, deputy keeper of Modern Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The Bangerts report the curator so impressed that he requested additional color photographs and offered Anderson an exhibition "within five years." The fact (little known on the Suncoast) that Anderson was elected to membership in the Royal Academy, London, several years ago was probably a factor in this favorable reception. Anderson exhibitions have been mounted this season in Houston and New York City.

His latest canvases go on view May 1 in Anderson-Marsh Gallery here. "We want 'Art Market Festival '81 to attract people who don't normally go to art shows," says Jeanne Khoyi Nelson. She and Clearwater artist James McDonie have incorporated Art Market Festival Inc. "to provide a noncompetitive exhibition for the many fine artists, professional and non-professional, who aren't allowed into the other festivals." ART MARKET FESTIVAL '81 will be held 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

each Saturday and Sunday, May 23 through June 14, at the County Fairgrounds on East Bay Drive, Largo. Tickets for viewers are to be $1. Exhibitors' fees are $20 per weekend or $75 for four weekends. "We will use the main fair buildings plus outdoor spaces," says Nelson. Only original art and craft work is permitted.

For information, contact Art Market, P.O. Box 1165, Clearwater 33517, phone 442-3781. In the meantime, McDonie also is conducting a personal crusade to take art to the public that doesn't go to art shows. "I want to communicate with the people who don't wear cashmere coats," McDonie says. He will begin by showing 30 of his paintings in the Cork and Bottle, Sunshine Mall on Missouri Avenue, Clearwater, 11 a.m.

to 5 p.m., April 18. How will he judge the success of the idea? "If the customers look and respond," he answers. "I'm not interested in sales but in exposure." On the other hand, he says: "Culture is a product and artists have to learn how to merchandise their product If you want to sell, you've got to get out into the marketplace, like the good musicians who play on the street corners of big cities." they're doing. Tastelessness is tolerable only if it'B funny. POTENTIALLY amusing lines are smothered by Jeremy Joe Kronsberg, writerdirector of this banana-brained boredom.

He constantly stifles potential laughs with amateurish angles and cuts. Even the three primates rubber-faced hambones named Popi, Tiga and Rusty turn into lip-smacking bores once they've established their lovable, "almost-human" personalities. The critters are expressive, affectionate and natural comedians and are wasted here. Going Ape seems to be a textbook case of the formulaic "market-survey" style. The process is not called "making movies" as much as "developing properties." The "property," in this case, stars Tony Danza and Danny De Vito of the TV series Taxi as the hero and sidekick re spectively.

Danza plays a sneaky ne'er-do-well who inherits $5-million but only if he keeps the three orangutans safe for a few years. De Vito is the animals' trainer. There's a cute girlfriend (Stacey Nelkin) and a gang of villains, who intend to disinherit the hero by bumping off an ape or two. APPARENTLY to win a PG rating instead of a Going Ape is sprinkled with obscenities. But each of the cuss-words is cleverly positioned in the dialogue, so that it could easily be edited out for, say, network television.

One also notices a regular rhythm of fadeouts every 10 minutes or so like built-in station breaks. Going Ape resembles a cheap, made-for-TV flick or a pilot for a "Bit-corn." At least on network TV it would be worth the admission price. Doing Apt (ratad PO) atara Tony Oarua. Danny Da Vrto and Jaaatoa Wattar: aontaina profanity; oonautt tima clock (B-B) for thaatara and ahowtlmaa. By ROBERT ALAN ROSS St.

Pataraburg Tlmaa Critic Going Ape stars two minor-league TV actors and three blue-faced orangutans. All five make funny faces and jump around a lot. But the humans have it rougher They must hide their embarrassment while straining through dialogue that's even duller than the fluff they spout on television. For about 10 minutes, the man-and-monkey quintet amuses with collective cuteness, which can be excused as a condescending nod to the very young. But the other 80 minutes of this clunky comedy offer more of the same a tedious, tacky runaround devoid of wit, originality or rudimentary technical competence.

The pacing is poor enough to ruin otherwise surefire gags: A Biz-story pratfall sputters from woeful editing and continuity. A "wild" chase becomes an amateurish huddle of stunt-people in cop and nun costumes. A climactic car-crash is deadened into a tinny fraud. An attempted morgue joke, with a female corpse flopping spread-eagled atop a thrashing Danza, proves that the movie's corporate backers neither know nor care what British star confronts love of film ON TELEVISION ft nODEHT COUJDEn Vj stage and the BBC, signed a contract for Dracula. "1 had no choice.

You've got to get in that kind of flying time in feature films. That experience was invaluable to me." It was also frustrating. "I can't say I look at it with any degree of pride because none of the choices that were being made had anything to do with me. I was used to a world where (an actor's) opinion was listened to and meant something. In films, you are a functionary.

It's disheartening." She said she had no creative input to Dracula. "It was 'Honey, turn to your left' Nobody ever said 'Honey, turn to your left' to me before. Maybe they should have and it was was kinds' fun, except when you want to turn to your right" NELLIGAN. 11 -B Thtr Amquin. a Mttttrpleem Thtr aariaa Warring Kata NaHigan, part ana p.m.

Sunday, WEDU-Channal B. Parti twa and thraa en auo-aaaalva Bundaya. WUBF-Cnannaf 1B. p.m. Tuaadaya, atoning naat an ait.

No one had ever ever told Kate Nelligan "Honey, turn to your left" But it happened when the accomplished actress of the British stage stepped in front of movie cameras to portray Frank Langella's victim in Dracula. And if movie work wasn't bo im- Krtant to her, the 31-year-old Miss elligan says, she might have bowed out of the film, returned to the theater and become a grand dame. "For a long time, I put off confronting my love of film," Miss Nelligan said by phone from her home in Canada. "It's very hard to make that I v-r a love understood in London, because it's not a film city. There is an expectation (in London) that you should want to go on playing the classics and go on dobg this wonderful work and become a dame and retire.

But I never really Wanted that I always loved the movies the way I was 'supposed' to love the theater. And finally I had the guts to confront that" SO THE Canadian-borf! Bctreee, famed for clastic roles on the London Singer Pat Boone visits the Suncoast for 'Jesus USA', See Crossroads PBS Kate Nelligan stars in the title role of Therese Raquin. i.