Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 65

Chicago Tribune, Sunday, June 18, 1989. Section 5 5 Tempo OVERSIGHT O'Malley i INC. Pointless antics throw up a big 'Somalia' I By Sid Smith Entertainment writer The members of Theatre Oobleck; Ue nonconformist troupe that first gotto' gether in Ann Arbor, have mpved from a back room at Cafe Voltaire -inWJ the old igLoo space at 3829 N. Brpad- way, -Z' They've made the rustic upstairs space more hospitable, while not surrendering their iconoclastic instincts. Judging front Literary Fair gala features bookish fare By Barbara Mahany Leave it to bibliophiles to research the dickens out of a dinner party.

In one of the most cerebrally nourishing fetes of the season, the minds behind the first Chicago Literary Fair Opening Night Celebration collected a trove of literary musings on the elements of a meal, nestled the gems inside a navy-and-gold book jacket and gave the 40-page volume to each of the 220 guests as they strolled into the Louis Sullivan Room of Roose- -velt University Friday night i Susan Sontag, the evening's honored guest, or.any of the book lovers could curl up on one of the drawing-room couches, listen to the music of Franz Liszt (being played on a rare solid-rosewood 1878 v. Steinway concert grand) and flip through the book for pre-gustatory inspiration. From Martial, there was an invitation to' Julius Cerialis to dine on lettuce useful digestive aid," the old Roman informs his intended guest) and pickled young tuna C(itrrtirk it? lamr than a cmoll livarvl ncK Theater 'Somalia, Etcetera' Tribune photos by John Bartley Bette Cert Hill (left), book fair chairman, with Bruce Sagan and author Susan Sohtagj who received the first Harold Washington Literary Award. An original drama, written by David Isaacson and members of the ensemble. Opened Thursday at Theatre Oobleck, 3829 N.

Broadway, and plays at 8 p.m. Tnun' day and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, through July 19: Length of performance, 3 hours. Tickets are $4. PnofM 384-3346.

Aldermania Mayor Rich Daley had to take some heat last week because instead of meeting personally with Dr. Ouett Mas ire, the president of the African nation of Botswana, he had his Special Events Director Kathy Osterman present the keys of the city to Masire. INC. hears mat the vice mayor, Aid. Terry Gabinski (32d), is the guy who actually should have felt a bit scorched from the blast of bad press about the City Hall snubbing.

Daley's office had arranged with Gabinski to do the honors, but when the time arrived, Gabinski was nowhere to be found. Duty had called him, it seems, to the golf course. The swingers Sign of the times: President Bush's "kinder, gentler" White House now sports a swing hanging from an oak tree just outside the Oval Office. School daze Who do you suppose was hailed last week in a resolution approved by Mayor Daley and 28 City Council members, including Aldermen Roman Pucinski (41st), Fred Rod (1st), Joe Kotlarz (35th) and Burt Natarus (42d)? Here's a hint He was commended for his "unswerving dedication to the betterment of all Chicago public school students, for his skill in clear defining goals of the school system, for articulating the need for increased funding and blah-blah-blah. It was none other than Schools Supt Manford Byrd the guy Daley and some of those aldermen clearly want to dump.

Maybe he gets the resolution instead of a new contract School daze, Part 2 Your tax dollars at work: Chicago public school principals recently received some interesting advice from Preston Bryant, assistant superintendent of government funded programs at the Board of Education. Bryant informed the principals that state money received by the board for the free or reduced-price i lunch program is based on "the number of approved applications" on file and urged the principals to sign up every student they can because more kids mean more money. Bryant is so enthusiastic about getting in those applications that he went on to implore principals to sign up kids "even if they are not eligible and do not intend to participate in the lunch program." That's entertainment Ringo Starr, last in the news as "Mr. Conductor" on a children's TV show, has assembled an interesting backup band for his summer tour nuts land oils; chocolate sorbet with cit- rus and raspberries; and two wines. Foley, head chef and owner of Printer's Row Restaurant, not only created the menu, he cooked it in a makeshift kitchen tucked away in the corner of the library.

"It's been fun there's limited electricity," he said, lifting a serving tray off a pot that simmered a few feet from Webster's Unabridged. After dinner, it was back down to On cocktails, there were offerings from Charles Dickens and Tom Wolfe. On soup, Herman Melville expounded about cod versus clam chowder in a passage from "Moby-Dick." Pablo Nemda's to Bread" was a side dish, as was Ogdert Nash's "My Dear, How. Ever Did-You Think Up This Delicious Salad?" would assume that whoever re-''5 searched all this had a great appetite for the stuff. One would be wrong.

"It's a subject I have absolutely no interest' in Ganz Hall, where Sontag the scholar, cultural critic and fiction writer whose most recent book is "AIDS as Meta their latest show, "Somalia, ttceteraV perhaps a little surrender wouldn't tragedy. The show is a major disappointment-, a dull, witless, three-hour marathon Like most Oobleck offerings, is a series of short scenes involving difc; ferent, eventually interconnectedstories; In the past, general inspiration has often 1 come from theater itself. Here the topic is world, events, and among the locate 1 subjects are Somalia, Pakistan and Chicago. ''?) There's also an obscure play, set in the 18th Century, that relates to the show's sprawling feminist themes.X(T&e:J Somalian episode, the central story, re? lates the revolutionary dreams and4 schemes of a small radical feminist cli que.) All the events coalesce into a kind of play-within-a-play, held in a Somalian court. The trouble isn't the subject" matter oi the politics which might be best dek scribed as self-mockingly leftist as it is with the antics.

The show is an endless; round of shameless mugging and loud' noise, almost none of it funny and most; of it pointless. "Somalia," as a comicj road map, isn't even at a first-draft, stage. The jokes are so lame or so insidej that they fall flat, and when they last for nearly three hours, you've got trouble. phor" was presented with the first Harold Washington Literary Award by John Duff of the Chicago Public Library. Son-tag was cited as "a creative writer who addresses contemporary problems." In her talk; titled "Literature and Literacy," Sontag was critical of the Art Institute officials who apologized for an art student's satirical painting of Harold Washington, which created a furor among Chicago's black aldermen when it was briefly displayed at the Art Institute.

"Of course it the painting is disrespectful," she told a reporter before delivering her address. "Of course it's in bad taste. But the other position of suppressing the painting is much too dangerous. Then, in effect, we are no better than the societies to which we feel superior." In a fitting close to a bookish evening, VnMir it on -i whatsoever," Pat Novck said saucily; She was the committee member whoo plowed through 192 sources during endless weekends in libraries and prom- ised that she'd "never look at the stuff again trust me," without indicating? whether she meant books in general! or just the ones that mentioned food. After this literary aperitif, the moveable feast took flight up the lifts to the library, where Michael Foley, chef extraordinaire, had laid out a meal inspired by 19th Century literary works.

On the menu: cucumber soup with apple mint; chicken couscous with tangerian bread; a salad of field greens, Michael Foley with his meal inspired by 19th Century literary works. port was poured for the guests after Son-tag's talk, and everyone toasted the success of the fifth annual Printers Row Book Fair, hours away from unfolding in the book stalls on Dearborn Street below. Wright fans right at home at party for the Prairie Style master Clarence demons, Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Billy Preston, Rick Danko and Levon Helm. INC.

hears they'll be at Poplar Creek July 25 Gosh, we hate to get technical, but we keep seeing seventysomething Zsa Zsa Gabor referred to as an "actress." Did we miss her body of work? 1 '1 By Johanna Steinmetz Bingo Starr Has she actually been an actress? In the last j- i you will be able to see his style -1 "He was working for Louis Sullivan JC the Auditorium Theatre when he built- the house, but he soon left Sullivan afK Adler and went into, business for himself and his own style emerged. The home, where he lived and the studio where jib worked document this uniquely." Wilcoxon said the foundation was poised to launch a $750,000 fund drive' for the home's furnishings, "That sounds? like a lot of money, but it really is; a 30 years? Run and hide: Backers auditions were 5ft held in Hollywood this weekend for "Gilligan Island: The Musical." 1 i uivfvai aiiiiruui, oik. juojaicu, puiuuilfc to a Wright-designed double table lamtr I Tl I 1 it: I I i with art glass shade, which was part of collection of furnishings from the Dana Thomas House in Springfield, the resfdr ration of which is a pet project of James Thompson. "That lamp alone re-? cently brought $750,000," she said. MJ 1 iM "'ijiiiaHWji mm i-i it mi What do you do at a gala honoring the father of Prairie Style? You graze, of course, which is just what 275 admirers of Frank Lloyd Wright were doing after work Friday night in the Wright exhibit Currently brl display in the Museum of Science and Industry.

didn't have to settle for alfalfa, either. Those who paid $50 apiece to bene- fit' the1 Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation could choose among 'f baby quiches, chicken kabobs and mini-Beef Wellingtons, then cruise by a dessert table laden with strudels, eclairs and tiny cakes. Wright, whose pithy pronouncements on building materials dotted the walls, was no longer around to comment on the menu, or he might have said something like: "Chocolate, when used organically, is the purest of poetry." As it was, the pioneering architect's presence was felt in every other facet of the party, for the guest list included architects, owners of Wright homes and those who have worked for 15 years to restore the Oak Park house and studio that Wright built for his family in 1889. "The next big push," said Terry Light, president of the foundation's board, "is furnishings. We've created the shell, put in the leaded glass windows, redefined the interior spaces.

Now we want to furnish it as much as we can in the way Wright did when he lived there." Wright family members, who want to Another Oak Parker, Mee Klinkow seemed to feel Wright at home in a dis- play of the architect's streamlined Usonian house and little wonder. Since? Tribune photo by John Bartley Guests view a model of a Wright house built in Hillsborough, Calif. iyJ, KJinkow has lived in the Mjs Thomas Gale House (Wright houses; afb-named for the person who commissioned them), built in 1909. Tales abound of the cost of living in and maintaining WngEt)st! early homes, but she was cheerful. "We bought it at an honest pricej' which helps," she said; "And we got grant from the state to restore it.

Recourse, it cost twice as much as wjo thought it would. But it's post-Praifie2 see inherited furnishings return to a museum-like setting, have been very helpful, he said, especially David Wright, 93, of Phoenix, the fourth of six children born to the architect and raised in the house. (Wright, who enjoyed a personal life as turbulent as it was long, left his family in 1909 to run off to Europe with the wife of a client. He never again lived in the suburb.) "One of the things that is especially interesting about furnishing the Wright Home and Studio," pointed out Sandra Wilcoxon, the foundation's executive director, "is that it goes back to a time when Wright wasnV designing a lot of furniture. He was collecting.

He would go to flea markets and pick up things. And he would add on to the house as his family grew. So when it's furnished, Something fishy here Some Gulls Get All the Breaks or Give Me Salmon to Love or Not Now, I Have a Haddock: Tom Arnold, the comic who became famous for becoming Roseanne Ban's boyfriend, has been on the comedy circuit for some time. There are even those folks who can remember when his act was called Tom Arnold and His Goldfish Revue, particularly its spectacular finish: Tom put one of his goldfish in a condom, attached it to the seat of a teeny-weeny miniature motorcycle and sent the stunt fish on the motorcycle through a teeny-weeny flaming hoop. And lighten up, people; the Humane Society checked it all out and cleared Tom of fish cruelty charges.

The Peter Principle Former mayoral coat holder and press secretary Monroe Anderson has a new job, director of station services at WBBM-Channel 2, where hell be responsible for governmental, legal and industrial relations. Presumably, staffers at Ch. 2 now will have a much easier time reaching Anderson than they did when he was ducking their queries (and everyone else's) at the press office. Hidings Sunday birthdays: Roger Ebert, 47; Isabella Rossellini, 37; Paul McCartney, 47; Carol Kane, 37; Jim Dvorak, 45; John D. Rockefeller IV, 52; E.G.

Marshall, 79; Andy Shaw, 41. Pass the Vitamins: At last week's benefit auction for the Organic Theatre, six women were bidding each other for an evening with "Bleacher Bums" costar Lou Milione. Finally, they decided to pool their money, Lou's date will be with all six. Dads, show a picture of you with your family i and get a free beer Sunday at Goose Island Brewery, 1800 N. Clybourn.

The Joint Civic Commmittee of Italian Americans is taking applications for the 1989 Italian-American community queen to rule over Festa Italiana (and win The American Theatre Critics Association has chosen Chicago for its 1991 annual convention. Gov. Jim Thompson is set to announce Shinae Chun as the state's new director of financial institutions. Chun, a member of the governor's staff, will be the state's first Asian-American Cabinet official. rectilinear, think they call it.

And.fc think it quite pretty. BE ABOUT IVASHiriGTCn By Michael Kilian Chicago Tribune i honorary knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth knighthood being something of a come-down for a onetime head of state in a country that has seen prime ministers make their secretaries members of the House of Lords and then headed for la Belle France to be feted ft an assortment of chic, "beautiful people" soirees. The dress code for one party is to be "Valentino" after the famous fashion designer. It's hoped that the longtime movie actor will hot arrive dressed like Rudolph Valentino in "The Sheik" Nancy Reagan, recently elected to the board of the Revlon cosmetics empire, has made it clear to friends that she'd rather not have them chatting with no-holds-barred biographer Kitty Kelley, who's feverishly at work on an embarrassing, tell-all book on the former first lady. One friend recently found himself trapped at the same dinner party table with Kelley, who turned the conversation into a long session on prospective Nancy-dirt.

Finally, the friend turned the tables by asking Kelley a.hardball question: Was it true that she's hired Mrs. Reagan's estranged daughter, Patti Davis, to help her dig up said dirt? Kelley only smiled prettily and shrugged. She'll tell all, apparently, only in the book. Davis has a book of her own coming out, a second novel, titled "Deadfall. In it a politically connected young heroine travels to Central America and discovers scoftet American death squads.

Asidi from intrigue, the heroine seems also to be into badyk-building, One reads: "One. morning she was sitting on a bencjiij; doing biceps curls and Cassie appeared' in the mirror behind her. She wJl' wearing black tights and a blacks shirt tied above her waist to reveahani: abdomen of rippling muscles." The Pan Am shuttle that flies tween Washington and New Yejk operates on an open-seating basis, first-come, first-served the deciding ftcj; tor on who gets the best seats. Thus! da-you find celebs like CBS anchor Dan: Rather seated back in steerage along' with briefcase-toting traveling sale? people. But to paraphrase George Orwell-, some shuttle animals are more than others.

A Washington society lady flying back to the capital from New York the other day got to the Pan Ant gate early so she could be first in line' for a seat in the first row. Once aboard the aircraft, however, she was told that jilt three seats in the row had been reserved' For whom? No surprise. The great Henry Kissinger, who holds no public! office or official position, and a flunky'; grandly occupied two of the keeping the one between them empty; A House bill called the Child ProtCe-'; tion Act of 1989 protects the rights -of victims of child abuse and increases penalties for kidnaping and child abused Among its cosponsors: Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens Ohio), who recently; was convicted of contributing to the do' linquencysnf a minor by havgig sex witlv a 16-ycar-pld girl. WASHINGTON Birthdays are no big deal for the Bushes.

The President cele-, brated his 65th last Monday without party or ceremony and without Barbara Bush barging into a news briefing with a many-candled birthday cake, the way Nancys Reagan was wont to do. George Bush's gift from his wife was no big thing, either a pair of tennis shorts. With even less fanfare, the First Lady had marked her birthday June 8. Again unlike Mrs. Reagan, who liked to keep people guessing about her age, Mrs.

Bush happily 'fessed up to being 64. She's a vigorous 64, though. Her husband's present to her was a tennis racket. Despite her best efforts to let the natal anniversaries pass unremarked, Mrs. Bush did end up with a birthday party of sorts last Monday morning, when she went to the capital's National Air and Space Museum to read to schoolchildren as part of the "Summer Quest: Fly Free With Books" program, which encourages kids to use their public libraries in the summer, As a dog puppet, a 6-foot toad, a 6-foot frog, a life-size Amelia Bcdclia iwho takes everything literally) and two lippopotamus-like creatures named George and Martha looked on, Mrs.

Bush read the children a story she said reminded her of herself. It was about a woman who lived 1 the sea and tried to make the world more beautiful by HZ- tf III. Agenes Franoe-Presse photo President Bush made little ado about his 65th birthday last week but It ballooned into a big deal, thanks to Budget Director Richard Darman's "gift." planting flower seeds wherever she went. The youngsters gave her birthday cards and presents for the President and herself, and she gave them a special treat: a look at the box-like radio transmitter she wore "Miami Vice" undercover style, which helped, amplify her words for all in the enormous museum to hear. The post-presidential Rcagans, meanwhile, have been carfting on like jet-setters, Ronald Reagan accepted an 1.

-l A 1 "No, there are no tiny people inside the television but there are a let of small minds behind.