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The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 50

Publication:
The Gazettei
Location:
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Issue Date:
Page:
50
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

ii ii nn ii i 50 The GAZETTE. Montreal. Sat Nov 11. 19T8 TUNED IN By Thomas Schnurmacher to LYNN NIGHTINGALE Champion soloist WW- Ice Capades star David Kirby was taught to skate by two of the best his mother and father. Centre ice fever is a family trait RON SHAVER Second year jl'f' BY LINDE HOWE-BECK of The Gazette Like a lot of kids, David Kirby was taught to skate by his parents.

But in his case, mom and dad were professional skaters and teachers. His mother, Norah McCarthy of Pointe Claire, had been an Ice Follies star and skating teacher among her early pupils were the Dionne quintuplets. His father, Michael, had partnered Sonja Henie and Barbara Ann Scott on ice and in movies and had owned skating schools in Toronto. But although the couple taught all eight of their children how to cut a figure, only David turned in his hockey stick to enter competitive and professional skating. Now 22, he's been a star with the Ice Ca- schoolmate and was going to try figure skating.

"Of course we were delighted, but since he had practically given away $100 worth of hockey equipment, we had to admit that the news brought mixed emotions." The Kirbys continued coaching David until about seven years ago when he reached competitive levels and switched to the U.S. Olympics team coach. When he's not on the ice now, David spends time with his bride of 11 months. "I used to say I didn't want any child of mine to go through what I did eight hours a day of practice and everything. But the more I think about it, the more I think I'd be really proud if we had a child who wanted to skate.

That would make the third generation of professional skaters in our family." pades for the past three years since winning the U.S. novice and junior championships. Starting Tuesday he will perform twice nightly at the Forum alongside Canadian championship skaters Lynn Nightingale and Ron Shaver when the big show makes its annual appearance. This vear it runs through Nov. 20.

Although Kirby says he was never pushed by his parents to become a skater, "they really inspired me." "It was great when they showed such interest and attention in the area I had chosen," he says. As his father tells it: "He had been playing hockey for a while, and one day he came to us with a crisp $10 bill and announced that he had sold his hockey equipment to a Trevor Howard films a CBS special here Montreal is playing host to a different film celebrity almost every week. This week is no exception as Trevor Howard arrived yesterday to star in a TV special being shot here for broadcast in January. 1979, on the CBS network. His Canadian co-stars include Celine Lomez, Miguel Fernandes, Terry Haig and Vlasta Vrana.

A 1929 twin-engine bi-plane is being flown up from New York for the show called Nightflight. The scenes will be shot at an undisclosed location some 30 miles west of Montreal. Some interior shots will be shot on location in a Spanish hacienda-style house in Dorval. People are still talking about that astounding standing ovation given Mayor Jean Drapeau when he was honored as one of 20 "Great Montrealers" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Playwright Michel Tremblay, honored for his contribution to theatre, recalled the days when he was drifting around with friends testing out the furniture in the lobby of the hotel as he came in the side door and was thrown out the front door.

One upmanship T3lit flrnn fru rnft unminnliin 1 I V. I. titl tut vut UfHiiaiiiup auutiiu gu lu ilduui LJk Harry J. Stern who was honored in the religion category Immediately following his acceptance speech, Reg Groome, general manager of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, read a telegram from Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Getting the prime minister of Israel involved in the 20th anniversary celebrations of a local hotel must be the PR coup of the century.

My phone has not stopped ringing as people keep calling to complain about a Wonderbra commercial shown this past week in the middle of First You Cry, a TV drama about a woman who had a mastectomy starring Mary Tyler Moore Such a program is hardly the place for a brassiere commercial. Its placement there is a glaring example of bad taste. CFCF has already apologized for what they called a "human error" The Canadian Film Development Corp. is participating in productions with budgets totalling over $34 million as a result of new policies aimed at spurring feature film production in Canada. With other projects under consideration, this could grow to $40 million, compared to CFDC investments in films with total budgets of only $5.5 million during fiscal 1977-1978.

In the meantime, Maclean's magazine says it has been covering too many Canadian films lately. That is the reason they do not seem overly interested in covering David Niven and Michael York who are in Montreal shooting A Man Called Intrepid which will probably turn out to be one of the most important films to be released in 1979. Management at the Inn on the Park hotel in Toronto was upset about my last week's column in which I mentioned that Le Club had been closed. They insist reports ol the club dosing have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it has been open all this time.

They also point out that because of liquor laws in Blue Ontario, the club is not really private It is now considered a disco-club for "privileged cardholders." This phrase, it seems, is looked upon more favorably by the liquor board in Ontario They vastly prefer it to the word "members Membership fees are also frowned on Semantical!) speaking, that is Members, whoops. I mean "privileged card-holders." must pay an annual cover charge of $20 Not a bargain evening The club has undergone a dramatic and democratic about face. Anyone may now enter its hallowed portals. That is, if they pay a $6 cover charge during the week. Or $8 on the weekend These rates are higher even than Montreal's Re-gine's, which isn't exactly anyone's idea of a bargain evening.

Montreal fashion designer Gilles Gagne will open an exhibit called Kiss at the Galene Andre George on St. Paul Street in Old Montreal. The exhibition, which runs from Dec. 13 to 29. will feature 20-inch by 20-inch linear graphics on parchment paper outlining the best lipsticks in the world.

In the meanwhile, Gagne is in Palrn Beach watching lips to find the colors he likes. Montreal producer Pierre David has managed to grab Oliver Reed whose proposed film in Western Canada has been cancelled. Reed will co-star with Samantha Eggar in David Cronenberg's The Brood which starts shooting Tuesday on location in Toronto. They've got to have some films, too, you know. Singer-producer Barry Lane is the man who will be converting the unused Flick Theatre on Crescent Street into a brasserie showing 16 mm films on the upper floors.

Movie traces growth of Soviet dancers parents in over a year: They live 2,000 miles away. The drama builds as the film follows the The Children of Theatre Street Seville Theatre Ntmlt by Prtnc Oriec of Monaco, loiturina lh atudonft and faculty of lha Va-Qanova Choraographic Inatltuta of Lanin-grad, producad by Earta Mack graduating class to its first public performance in the Kirov Theatre. Lena, a young graduate who is accepted by the Kirov Company, the same that accepted Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov from the school, gets the first night jitters. She is dissatisfied with a performance but finally triumphs Perhaps. But this is not fiction.

The whole film is woven together by sweeping Tchaikovsky ballet scores and sympathetic photography. Street scenes of the ballet' students passing rows of bulbous old women are interspersed with colorful ballet scenes shot during performances by the Kirov. Maly and Bolshoi ballet companies. There are spectacular ballet sequences, including some footage of ballets never performed in North America. Children of Theatre Street is a warm and human tale about the hopes of the young ballet aspirants.

Thousands audition every year nnlv 90 Hi-on hy fh grhnn) Thrv wnr- nard like ballet students everywhere, and maybe a little harder still because they are part of the history of their famous school. They may yearn about picking oranges, eating ice cream but they realize this comes after their careers. It's the story too of their teachers, many of whom are former dancers. It is they who pass their legacy to the young. Do yourself a favor, take a child to see it.

Playing at the Seville, tomorrow through Tuesday. Ltncle Howe-Bee For anyone interested in children, history and ballet in that order The Children ol Theatre Street is a real feast It's a remarkably gentle documentary-drama about the rigors of children selected by Leningrad's famed Vaganova Choreographic Institute which used to be known simply as the Kirov School built 200 years ago by the Russian Tsars on what has come- to be known as Theatre Street in Leningrad Quietly and undramatically narrated by Monaco's Princess Grace no fanfare here, she lets the children have the glory the film traces the development of two youngsters, Angelina and Alec, for their first of six years at the renowned school. They are wnjnterrns 0f alio exhilaration as they practice on water-sprinkled floors of centuries-old rehearsal rooms where 200-years of dancers have practiced before them. They are just two of dozens of perfect, barelegged, hard-working little bodies. The children of Theatre Street are special.

Even though they take academic classes like other children, cavort on beaches and take trips to tourist sites outside Leningrad, their lives are devoted to ballet. Angelina hasn't seen her I (, 4' St." i Miif Devotion to dance is paramount at famed Soviet dance school New wave's big two: Only one is truly a king To compare him to Bob Dylan, who plays the role of poet and mystery man of modern music, is to avoid Springsteen's thrust. Dylan's gut sense comes from his head; his songs are often dreamy juxtapositions of thoughts, feelings, events. His talent is basically one of observation and improvisation and, listening to Dylan sing, we feel as if we're being led onto the edge of a precipice. It's a mystical experience.

However, Springsteen simply and athletically takes the plunge into his throbbing rock 'n' roll sound. It's religion, someone to believe in, for his fans. Springsteen has an urgent stage presence but not an urgent message, as Dylan had concerning social realities during the 1960s, and personal relationships during this decade. Springsteen transcends anything he sings about with the sheer energy of his Why not'' Drinking has always been a pleasant Crescent Street past -time. Speaking of theatres, some New York entrepreneurs are trying to find a huge downtown theatre that isn't doing so well.

They hope to convert it into a mammoth discotheque to rival New York's Studio 54. These gentlemen have been associated with many disco? in the United States and Puerto Rico. And no, they are nol connected with the Montreal businessman who says that he has $1 million to invest in a Studio 54 franchise-style operation in Montreal. A painting by Adolphe-Joseph-Thornas Monticelli (1824-1866) owned by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is to be exhibited in Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington and Amsterdam as part of a major Monticelli exhibition. Gateway to a Fort, an oil on panel measuring 15-and-a-half by 23-and-a-half inches, was left to the museum in 1945 by Adaline Van Home Ginette Reno, who has just completed a near sellout engagement at Place des Arts, has hardly cooled her microphones and she is already set to appear Nov.

15 -18 at the Theatre St. Denis Montrealer Kathy McGlynn is a smash success in Edmonton in a show called Piat: Her Songs, Her Loves. David Billington of the Edmonton Sun told his readers, "If you see nothing else during the current Edmonton theatre season, do not miss this show." Keith Ashwell of the Edmonton Journal began his review as follows: Kathy Michael MucGlynn is Edith Piaf." Congratulations Kathy How about bringing the show to Yaron Rote, the outstanding young Israeli pianist, will make his North American debut on Dec. 4 with a recital at 8 p.m. at the Saidye Bronfman Centre.

Federico Fellini't latest film is called The Practising Orchestra. It's about a group of musicians who riot against their conductor The producers are wondering if all the deep political intent will translate for an international audience. Anything Fellini does translates for an international talking for them, Springsteen is a refreshing change. His energy is downright inspiring. He has great stage presence, a throwback to the traditions of Little Richard.

Elvis Presley, James Brown and Mick Jaggcr in their prime. He works the stage tirelessly leaping about, jumping onto his speaker boxes, reaching out with his arms to the audience, seeming to almost be physically touching an arena full of people. There's no posing or put-downs in his attack it's an all-out assault for his audience's affections. Led to the edge Show a little faith, there's magic in the night," sings Springsteen. Little wonder his fans believe in him.

He carries them through a journey of emotions that come first and foremost from the gut and the body. It's the kind reality you don't get from painted-up Alice Coopers Springsteen's songs seem almost incidental to his stage act which is why listening to his records pales in comparison to "experiencing his As a lyricist, he says nothing we haven't heard before. Indeed, repetitions of melodies and themes plague his work. He sings of personal release and freedom, of rushing out to embrace the hustle of the streets and the darkness of the night. The words are mere props to his ecstatic performance He gets lost and found in the swirl ol his music.

Thus, he sets the tone lor the reaction of his audience, which craves this feeling of release tory complaints of the new generation. One can't help but wonder where Costello's music will lead. Hearing a singer relentlessly gnash his teeth on the bone of his emotion is not particularly inspiring: The music sounds chewed-up, fragmented. Costello is known as the leader of the "new wave" of rock, just as Springsteen is called "the future of Clearly, however, there's nothing new about either singer. Hardcore values Springsteen returns to basic hardcore values of showmanship his gift of giving goes hand in hand with his utter professionalism; the qualities are such a rarity in these days of mass-merchandised rock that his audience grabs hold of them as if they were sacred.

Costello represents a twisting of the old rock 'n' roll cliches to the point of degeneration. He may be the king of the "new wave" but he embodies everything that's lifeless about the punk inspired rcturn-to-basics trend. After about an hour's deadpan performance, Costello suddenly stopped and fled from the stage, without delivering an encore. The gesture was meant as dramatic teasing us to want him even more the next time round but after delivering such a minimal breadth of emotion and music, will the new Elvis be welcome the next time? It's the kind of question you don't have to ask Bruce Springsteen fans By JUAN RODRIGUEZ of The Gazette It had been an eagerly awaited week for Montreal rock music fans. The two most talked-about cull singers of the 1970s Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello appeared in town on successive evenings and generated a lot of discussion on the present state of rock n' roll.

The two singers, it has been said, represent the cream of this decade's music and now local fans had a rare chance to check out the theory. Both came in with big reputations as rock n' roll revivalists, a throwback to traditional rock values Costello, who dares to call himself Elvis, looks and plays music like a wired-up Buddy Holly. Springsteen has been dubbed "the new Bob Dylan" as if the old one wasn't good enough anymore. At last fans could assess the modern heroes against the originals, an exercise that's at the core of the argument of whether the 1970s stars can hold a candle to the now-legendary rock elite of the 1960s. Is Bruce Springsteen really the "future of rock 'n' roll" as has been suggested? Kindles flame Certainly Springsteen's amazingly energetic showmanship ignites a flame in the hearts of those who see him in performance.

In an era when rock groups stumble on stage and let the sound system and the lighting do the Desultory complaints Elvis Costello, on the other hand, sings as if he is in a trance. His words what you can hear of them through the clanking jerky din of his band are generally nihilistic, cynical, and he virtually spits them out: "I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused." If Dylan spearheaded the protest music of the 19ti0s which helped lead to social change Costello has a patent on the desul.

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About The Gazette Archive

Pages Available:
2,182,188
Years Available:
1857-2024