Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 144

Sunday, July 25, 1982 Austin American-Statesman POTTERY PLANTS A Sex of baby 07 Too Cose' S7V7 undecided New Hems Arriving Daily itir liiiiilr? "GREETING CANS" A Plant in a Can "MISTICKS" The Romantic Air Freshener Perfect lor Birthdays and Special Friends BUY ONE GET 1 FREE 9 m. mm 2105 W. North Loop 452-7547 ri mm si -ry- i jHSL A AA Aha jit V' i Chicago Tribune Service Do you really care if Ted Knight and Nancy Dessault end up with a baby boy or girl on "Too Close For Comfort" this fall? If we're to believe those involved with promoting the show, so many, many people do care, that two different versions of baby's arrival will be shot one announcing the birth of a boy, the other a girl. And the decision as to the poor child's sex won't be decided until a few days before the newest member of the Henry Rush video family makes her or his TV debut in a special one-hour segment of the sitcom Sept. 30.

Auditions to select the Rush young 'un (or young 'uns) they're thinking of signing one infant as the newborn and twins to play the baby on a regular basis have been going on all this week in Hollywood. And next week the babe (or babes) is (are) set for a publicity photo session at ABC. jf jvfi Sculptured Nails Nail Transplants 1050A S. Lamar 444-9577 Quality animation lives again in The Secret of Above, Justin, center, tries to fend off Jenner as Mrs. Brisby, a super-intelligent rat, watches.

At left, Jeremy the crow and AArs. Brisby, a super-intelligent rat, above, soar through the skies. Don Bluth left Disney Studios, disgruntled by the company's lowered standards for animation. Keeping quality in mind, he formed his own company and turned out 'The Secret of the company's first feature, complete with superb animation reminiscent of earlier Disney works. i lil? ss AEROBIC EXERCISE CLASSES NOW FORMING FOR AUGUST! 9 rhe rood to beautiful you "Benson" governor James Noble reports there will be some changes on his series this fall, though he's still not sure exactly what form they'll take.

"We're going to have a new director and I hear he's a very energetic sort of person, and that's going to change things in ways we can't predict," says the veteran character actor. "I think we'd like to tackle some more serious issues," he says, adding that "Benson" won't get all that heavy. "We're not particularly well suited to solving problems like how to prevent wars. Our show is more about people getting along." Noble's been getting along just dandy during this "Benson" hiatus portraying passenger Father O'Flanagan in Paramount's big-screen "Airplane II: The Sequel." MIT MM 71 17 Chimney Comeri or For West Blvd. 3464150 Oh, woe is Disney Bluth draws on quality animation I JUMP 1A r5T Patrick Taggart GLASS The last thing Walt Disney Studios needed was "The Secret of NIMH." Disney spirits have been dampened by disappointing reviews and attendance at "Tron," and now the once-dominant force in so-called family entertainment is seeing stiff competition from several fronts for the first time ever.

With "E.T.," for example, Steven Spielberg created what could have been the definitive Disney movie SHOWER DOORS-TUB ENCLOSURES PATIO DOORS-PLATE GLASS-WINDOW GLASS AUTO GLASS-STORE FRONTS -FURNITURE TOPS PLEXIGLASS-MIRRORED WALLS-DOOR MIRRORS PLUS a showroom of beautiful framed mirrors for every decor. jack lebo 4cme Class Co IM1 "A ii inn 512-472-1641 jMOCongrtwAw. 1 WATCH REPAIR RING SIZING STONE SETTING CHAIN REPAIRS SOLDERING CUSTOM WORK Find the lowed him and Don Bluth productions was born. "The Secret of NIMH" is the company's first feature, and it is does indeed boast spectacular animation "Raiders of the Lost Cartoon" or "Mouse Wars." This is animation clearly influenced by the technical razzle-dazzle of the adventure films of the late 1970s and '80s. The baroque story, which concerns a tribe of rats accidentally made intelligent by painful tests at the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), is a framework for a show of color and spectacle, adventure and ciassic confrontations between good and evil.

As a story, "Secret of NIMH" manages to be at once innovative and old hat. The idea of super-intelligent rat protagonists is novel, as is their uneasy relationship with humans, but characters and development of the plot recall too many other animated features, from Disney classics to "Watership Down." In the end, Bluth's film will be what we call in the critic business, "an auspicious debut" What will make his career even more interesting and more of a threat to Disney and other filmmakers is a second film that combines his meticulous animation with apartment 2T ICAn TDC HC Al ICTIM OF AUSTIN JEWELERS a child's film that parents could enjoy, too. Not only did Disney not distribute the film, but the studio turned the director-producer down on a multi-picture deal because he wanted what they thought was too much authority over his projects. With "NIMH" comes a challenge to the heart of the Disney legend animation. The cruel irony for Disney is that "The Secret of NIMH," which is an adaptation of Robert C.

O'Brien's 1971 children's book, "Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of NIMH," is the work of a Disney Don Bluth was working with several other animators on Disney's "Fox and the Hound" three years ago when he had a falling out with Disney authorities over quality control. Bluth was disturbed with what he perceived to be a marked slippage in the standards applied to the expensive and time-consuming process of filmed animation. Bluth's press material says he had "an assured future as head of Disney's animation department," but the disgruntled animator forsook that assured future and set out to build a better mouse on his own. Sixteen of his Disney colleagues fol- community that is best suited to you with the Greater Austin 6401 BURNET RD.

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