Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 21

AattiH. Tt Pgt tt The Atstia AawriaM-Sutesnua Saturday, January 4. 1975 poiiipo er Gains Recognition With Band mi fa A J8y LEONARD FEATHER Angeles Times name of Neal Hefti conjures up different images according to yourpersonal point of view. If you spend much time riued to the tube, he is the writer of the still-remembered for Woody Herman, to whose theme, or music for Os band he contributed "The Neil Simon's special "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root." Trouble with for the in the '50s he gave the Count test Fred Astaire special, and Basie orchestra much of its for the "Odd Couple" series. For updated character with dozens the film buff, he has a decade of of original instrumentals -scoring credits that began with "The Kid From Red Bank," essence of the screen music writer, and like the others, he felt the urge to go out again with a band.

"Tony Bennett called me a year ago to do some dates with him. We played nine concerts in auditoriums, and I found out I had a much bigger following than I realized. People knew my tunes, even though they didn't associate my face, or the name Neal Hefti, with them. So I decided to keep the band going. Soon after that I went into Disneyland.

Now I plan to spend the next couple of years to see if this will work." On some of Hefti's bookings, he will have the rare pleasure of the company of Frances Wayne, who as a first rate band vocalist was Hefti's colleague in the TV 3 "Sex and the Single Girl" and ended last year, of his own volition, with "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers." First of all, though, Hefti earned nis spurs as CUIF STATES DRIVE-IN V. -Ky. 113 A Unmm 3M5 30 SHOW STARTS 7: 00 GULF STATES OalVEIN V. 710 E. Ben Wnilea444-26' BOX-OFFICE OPEN 61 something, maybe five seconds, and then say, 'well, you go ahead and finish Maybe the sequence for which you have to finish it is seven minutes long I've talked to guys who have ghosted for some of these people, and they really dislike the whole system; but they need the money, and they have to do it." Fortunately Hefti does not have to ally himself with the hummers.

The royalty income and ASCAP credits have made him a wealthy man, at least to the point of enabling him to do what he pleases; and what pleases him at the moment will be a source of special joy to those of us who remember him as an eager, enthusiastic figure in the vanguard of the bebop movement, when he and jazz were young, i ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Patrice Rushen "Prelusion" (Prestige An album debut of exceptional promise for this prodigious composer, whom I first heard as an award-winning student at Los Angeles' Lock High School, only four years ago. Leading a group of seasoned pros, she plays keyboards and synthesizer on five tracks, producing music far more valid, and complex than anything currently being played by such commercial hotshots as, say, Herbie Hancock. And she's just 20! facilitated by the (act that both the Hefti children now have lives of their own. Paul Hefti, 21, who plays trumpet and guitar, was part of Louie Bellson's brass section at the age of 16 and has since played in Hefti new ensemble. To bring the wheel full circle, Hefti has again taken up the trumpet, after leaving it in its case for some 15 years.

Unlike most composers who' came to screenwriting with a jazz reputation, Hefti feels that in his case this was a help rather than a stigma. "The people who hired me for film work particularly Richard Quine had heard of me through my work for Basie, and through records of my own. By the time I got into movies, the people in this industry were becoming very aware of band records and orchestral music in general." Perhaps unfortunately in terms of the advancement of music, the motion picture producers more recently became aware of the hit pop-rock single, and began hiring pop artists who supposedly "wrote" entire scores for films even though some of them were known to be barely literate musically. Like most of his colleagues among the serious Hollywood composers, Hefti takes umbrage at this trend. "People are getting all kinds of credits that they have no right to receive.

First of all, I don't think they're writers. Some of these guys are referred to as hummers they'll hum you XlfiralfirtrJiXs. "Spanky," and "Lil Darlin." another pop song in the making. Those three and eight others were all written during a weekend in Philadelphia with the band. Hefti is a fast worker, well known for keeping his jazz material eminently singable, easily playable and permanently listenable.

His "Cute," introduced by Basie, was played in a movie, "Cinderfella," as a background for a mime routine by Jerry Lewis. Like others before him he came down with a case of claustrophobia brought on by the years of solitary confinement that are the lonely HOIIDER OF XT ALL "ONE OF THE BEST EVER MADE!" Lot Anff lit TimfS Ptoduca! and DKiea Buss -CoJotntTI I Parit iwaoa iitejas It Sftase STARTS WED ONE WEEK ONLY VILLAGE CINEMA 4 451-8352 RIVERSIDE TWIN 441-5682 SHOW TIMES 100 300 5 00 7 00 900 ONE DAY ONLY 2 PIUS-CO-FEATURE "LOVE OBJECT" World of Horse Show" at the Fell Forum in New York. Coldie has performed with Godfrey many times during his career. (AP Wirephoto) OLD FRIENDS Veteran performer Arthur Godfrey puts his favorite horse Coldie through the paces recently during a press preview of "The Wonderful 0 mm oo 'Member of the Wedding' Revival Misses Play's Evanescent Mood opimfnooxiiotisBEUASt LJ IRl FEATURE I 1 TOWER THEATRE I I I BASTROP 321-2177 1 1 SHOW TIMES 5 00 7 00 9 00 I CX her impossible dreams. Nevertheless.

Frankie's sadness, her desperate yearning to belong to an adult world that is scarcely aware of her, is never made palpable enough, and the third-act scene of rejection is consequently not as poignant as it should be. The performance of Marge Eliot as Berenice is commendable, but because she is somewhat young for the part she misses some of the comforting earth-mother ItsoLrniEoniooucnoN COLOR by deluxe PIUS CO BBS: ESSSI mm- Today PiVtWrWVVWAUni' FIESTA Sre Montopolis Riversidi Phont 385-1953 TOWTE' at 6:45 ffi-K- PLUS! at 8:45 "DERECHO DE ASILO" Ernilio Initio (mantle; lor Procuna Rossano Brain I Colons! Plus! it 10:15 On American Picture) "THE LOVE MACHINE" COLOR WWrVWft at Presidio Theatres NOT A STORY FOR CHILDREN UT Voice Student Wins Artist Award The Owl ALBERT 8R0CC0LJ am HARRY SALTZMAN Herman orchestra. She won the coveted Esquire award in 1946 as Best New Female Singer of the Year. After moving to California she worked as a single in night clubs, but before long devoted herself to the full-time occupation of being Mrs. Neal Hefti.

Her return to singing was 1 DOBIE 1 LAST DAY THE $1 EXORCIST I 5:30 $1.25 (R) 7:45 10:00 $1.50 I I THRU TUES. Tur 1 2 THREE MUSKLTttRS 6:00 $1.25 (PG) 8:00 10:00 $1.50 Nite Owl FUCKSV W. c. fields in 11 TILUE AND GUS (G) W. C.

FIELDS IN 12 it's A GIFT Midnight $1.25 (C Engagement PgEB FEATURES lH'Tli ALLAN ALLACH Newsday NEW YORK-Carson McCullers' 1950 play, "The Member of the Wedding," is such a fragile evocation of a lonely childhood that probably only a superb production could capture its qualities. The new Phoenix Repertory Company's revival, which opened Thursday night at the Helen Hayes Theater, is not a superb production, although there is a good deal to admire in it. But because much of the play's evanescent mood is missing, its deficencies become more apparent than they must have been 25 years ago. Miss McCullers, who adapted her own 1946 novel, wascreating an atmosphere that was almost Chekhovian; the structure, however, is awkward, making the play seem static and talky, and "The Member of the Wedding" is less effective on the stage than on the printed page. It is likely that the brilliant performances of Julie Harris and Ethel Waters were responsible for much of the admiration for the stage version, which won the Drama Critics Circle Award as best play of 1950.

The play's 12-year-old Frankie Addams is a sensitive girl growing up lost and vulnerable in a small southern town in 1945. fun, suspense and Pn-: dimensions of the character. Much of the work in this third and final New Phoenix, production of the season is creditable. But "The Member of the Wedding" demands something more, something thai makes a lonely young girl's plight not only understandable but heartbreaking, and it is this tha has eluded the company. Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service CYNTHIA KARNSTADT Wins top prize ml r.ia mm 13 and the Pussycat TP? 1 ROGER MOORE JAMES BOND OOF" JAN FLEMING'S- the mm UUITHTIIE niti fl THEY without a trc over a 1 000 people and 1 00 planes and ships in an area of ti Atlantic Ocean known as li Gurj1 Her brother.

Jams, is to be married shortly and Frankie is suddenly awareof howaloneshe is. Her mother is dead, she belongs to no club, has no best friend, and she spends her days hangingaroundher kitchen. with her 7-year-old cousin, John Henry, and black cook, Berenice. In the play's most celebrated speech, Frankie declares that unlike other people, she cannot say "we" and feel a sense of belonging to others. That is when she conceives of the plan to go off with her brother and his bride, Janice on their wedding day.

"They are the we of me," she says wistfully. Frankie 's disillusionment and her growing awareness of life's hardships are the substance of the play. There is a subplot involving Berenice's brother, Honey, fighting the frustrations suffered by a black man in the South of 1945, but it is treated too sketchily to have much impact. Director Michael Montel has worked hard to convey the oppressively confining world of Frankie (the setting designed by Douglas Higgins, showing both the kitchen and backyard, is a lovely one). As Frankie, the talented Marybeth Hurt is excellent at capturing the gawkiness of the 12-year-old girl with her close-cropped boy's hair, her blackened knees and nostalgia of 'THE STING' Kevin Thomas.

Los Angeles Tunes .0 J.r -c) carol Burnett jg fat's. A jNifit 'npliaiiaMOiliMI TODAY OPEN 1:45 Feature 2-4-6-8-10 pin Starting Monday Open 5:45 pm ma targairt Man thrw FMlurn 40 Cynthia Karnstadt of Austin, soprano in the University of Texas music department, has won the Artist Award (formerly called Singer of the Year Award) of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Miss Karnstadt. a UT graduate voice student, won the $2,000 first prize during the NATS annual convention Dec. 27-30 in Indianapolis, lnd.

Miss Karnstadt, who studies with Associate Prof. Martha Deatherage, was among eight regional finalists competing in the final judging. The 1974 WATS contest, in its beginning stages, attracted 150 contestants from throughout the nation. For her performance in the final judging. Miss Karnstadt sang selections by Scarlatti, Wagner, Debussy and others.

She recently won first place in the voice division of the San Angelo Symphony 's Hemphill-Wells-Sorantin Award competition for young artists. Barfcra Streisand Isvv. WW; 1SJ Itiutlt la IM lilt 'u vul htiiu hue il awi it la xi'ii Nttkitttlil lull IH mi li li 'itiw li LPGj at i list BILL COSBY George segai Barjain Malinet Til JiWSl 4:00 Monday-Friiay vul kllilH hue 11 I 12:002:30 5:00 ffiTraWiTJlVIIIII liOO-3: 1 hiwwiii ho THE FILM OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON The cntt rtainmcnt that loves a lot, and lives a lot, WW 4m Matin Fri. Il rf, Triangl 70 ttoucte Wffi gives a lot. PRINCE M8 9:35 ikoss THIS AD SIDNEY POtTIErtpfe 1 -wwm r.

xi mm MHdOw.1 '1? 1 3 She also is a current finalist in the annual Illinois Opera Guild Auditions of the Air, sponsored by Stateion WGN in Chicago. 7. Miss Karnstadt is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.1 Harry T. Karnstadt of Leander.

and gives and (jives and THE LITTLE Bareain Matinet til 1:20 Features 1:20 3:00 4:35 6:15 7:50 WAITER MATTIIAU i5k tti in" TIIEFROrJTPASE PRICE OF ONE nc nc nut fan tmp nn ALL DAY WITH UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT Features 1:45 3:45 5:45 7:45 TWO FOR THE in 'SlCMRIMIirt $1.25 'TIL 3 P.M. FEATURES 1:40 3:20 5:00 6:40 8:20.10:00 Open 12 noon Feature "THE ACTION EXPLODES ALL OVER THE PLACE vo en Bw UCXt f. X.1L.rjU t.ViOl MANNTHEATDfS FOX TWIN 7W ailPQIT no I bev5nd bHAnTIUNinaiiiaiOEN Open HOBO" LITTLEST Color JXSI X5P.OWIT tniiLXASZSON ZU2LL7 Iiriiii Matinee Til 3:1111 MM. fti. Feitirei IMS 2:30 1: 6:00 Storting Monday 6:30 pm S1 1, lh i Partnts Please Note: In answer to many requests Every Saturday we will present special feature tro the Children's Film Library.

No objectionable material will be shown. We will present Films both lor the Young and Teens. wair DISNEV PRPDUCTIONS HARDITATj CINEMA II ft- SD)l)ltimi CINEMA 1 HAROLD and EVERY SATURDAY JOIN'tOBO" for FUN and is an exquisite I .1 rjr TKMC8UM BjwwDSTWDiia wiiiaiw MAUIgJ movie; WANEY WINNIE the POOH and T1GCER TOO TECHNICOLOR- WDmiiMm FREE PRIZES V7S. Feature 2nd Week MINN THf iTNfS Eir Friday laturday. FOX TWIN MMN TMliTHIS awoman possesses FOXTWIN TFJCrWFJt'CrVmSrfED-Nm- 1 OT LSI.