The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 16

CDe An Li jL- UJ MONTREAL, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1986 clash with Two stars on the comeback trail t. i i- a A LjzjUJ Wui--r -'-Vj'-is v' '-t5v y--- ill our members are very firm on." CBC also faces sticky negotiations with two other major unions: the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which includes clerical staff, announcers and stagehands; and the 575-member Canadian Wire Service Guild, which includes reporters and news service staff. Both unions, which have yet to take votes on a strike mandate, are concerned with matters related to budget cuts at the CBC. Wants freedom CUPE. hit hard in the layoffs, is seeking absolute job security for any member with more than two years' seniority.

The company says it needs room to manoeuvre, but the union says CBC wants total freedom. The guild, though unaffected directly by the cuts, is fighting a proposal that would see some reporters denied overtime pay no matter what hours they work. Racicot says this is "a more professional way to deal with the situation," but the guild says the idea is probably illegal. The CBC is awaiting its final 1986 budget figure from the federal government, and both the corporation and its unions are eager to learn the findings of a federal task force on the future of broadcasting in Canada. Heighten fears If the recommendations, due in March or April, are strongly supportive of the CBC, the network may have an improved funding outlook and be able to negotiate under less pressure.

But negative recommendations from the task force can only heighten fears about the future of the corporation and add to the tension for those who work in it. TORONTO (CP) The CBC and its most powerful union appear headed for a strike. Yesterday, members of the Na- Association of Broadcast Em- ployees and Technicians (NABET) I voted by a 63-per-cent majority to "give their union a strike mandate. The national broadcaster, faced with severe financial restraints, is trying to remove a contract clause that guarantees a specific number of union positions. Set the trend i The impending clash with NABET I comes after all 29 collective agree- ments with 10,000 unionized employ-! ees at CBC were up for renewal in 1985.

1 Only six minor agreements have so far been reached, and the techni-; cians traditionally militant often set the trend for other CBC I unions. Yesterday's vote came as no sur- prise from a group that has been staking out its rights to job security and work jurisdiction for decades. The clause at issue guarantees 103 positions for NABET members. NABET won the guarantee after a iour-month strike in 1981. The walk- out is best remembered for the ran-; dom interruption of National Hockey League playoff coverage that pre-ceeded it, but its effects were felt throughout the corporation.

Taping postponed Taping of future programs was postponed while the' network concentrated on news and played pre-taped shows on television. On radio, favor-' ites such as Morningside and As It Happens were cancelled and only shortened newscasts were played be-tween taped music. Another strike would also have a serious effect on programming, but the corporation feels it must reshape its labor situation as a result of last year's federal cuts. The government slashed $75 million from the CBC's 1985 budget, resulting in 391 layoffs and an overall reduction of 1,149 positions. And the CBC estimates it will have to absorb another $50 million in cuts in the fiscal year starting April 1 due to inflationary increases and other costs.

Pierre Racicot, director of corporate, industrial and talent relations for CBC, says the network needs more flexibility with freelancers and contract employees, but adds the CBC "is prepared to provide some job guarantees as long as workers are willing to take other jobs in the corporation in order to avoid a massive layoff. 'Protect individual' "We are prepared to protect the individual; this number (2,103 guaranteed NABET positions) protects the union." Bryan Lowe, chief NABET negotiator, says CBC has shown no movement since talks began last May. "There hasn't been any inclination on their part to modify their position," says Lowe. "In previous negotiations, I always found they could be flexible, but not this time." Racicot says "it's been the same issue with NABET basically for 30 years use of services outside the bargaining unit." Talks between NABET and CBC are winding their way through the conciliation process, and Lowe says it is difficult to predict when the union will be in a legal strike position. "It could be early March or sometime in late June," he said.

"All I know is this job security issue is one 4 If- 1 Margot Fonteyn (left) and Barbara Stepping back into the spotlight. Bethune film project Margot Fonteyn, 66 in Sleeping Beauty LONDON (Reuter) Dame Margot Fonteyn, the British prima ballerina, will come out of retirement at the age of 66 to appear again in a ballet, an official for the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet company said yesterday. The official said Fonteyn, who now lives in Panama, would play the Queen Mother in Sleeping Beauty. "We are absolutely delighted. It is a mime role rather than a dancing role, so the audience will not see her going up on her points." Fonteyn, whose career began 53 years ago, will return to the stage for two nights in Miami Feb.

18 and 19 during Sadler's Wells' tour of North and South America. She last appeared on stage in 1979 with Rudolph Nureyev and subsequently became something of a recluse, looking after her Invalid husband, Dr. Roberto Arias. Mandrell is stage Feb. 28 Tenn.

(AP) Entertainer Barbara whose career was put on hold Jy in a traffic accident and bye said yesterday she will return to 28 for her first concert in more tfian she will perform with fellow cotgj; Dolly Parton at the Universal. in Los Angeles. suffered a concussion and severe injuries in a two-car collision north Sept. 11, 1984. The driver of the killed.

she gave birth to her third Mandrell Dudney. with a string of hit songs to her credit, Louise and Irlene had their own show, Barbara Mandrell and the in 1980 and 1981. China OKs China has given the green light to a film project based on a script by screenwriter Ted Allan about Dr. Norman Bethune, the Canadian sur- geon revered as a hero of the Communist revolution. A Chinese film delegation, headed by Li Zhimin, head of China's Film Co-Production returned to Peking today after reaching an agreement in principle in Montreal on a $10-million movie epic and TV mini-series that could go before the cameras in China as early as Sep-tember.

Partners in the proposed Bethune Today's the day the publicists hush Oscar nominations are announced Yoko heading to Budapest fj if OSCAR STATUETTE Colorful campaign on Academy members is another matter. "I don't remember anyone ever being influenced by a campaign," said McClay, an Academy member. "They don't even vote for their own studio if they like something else." Richard Kahn, an Academy vice-president who heads the public relations co-ordinating committee, said he didn't notice any undue campaigning this year. "The Academy has always taken the position that undue advertising is undignified and not in keeping with the spirit of the awards." Says the Academy's Kahn: "We're confident that Academy members land and Czechoslovakia. Dion, artistic director of La Troupe Circus, a Quebec group, said the festival will showcase groups that have opted for "the exploration of gestures, movement and imagery." But he added the art of mimo docs not rule out the use of speech as well.

.8 'hi Mm Barbara on NASHVILLE, Mandrell, injuries suffered birth of her son, the stage Feb. a year. Mandrell said try music singer Amphitheatre Mandrell, 37, leg and ankle of Nashville on other car was Last September, child, Nathaniel Mandrell, and her sisters NBC-TV variety Mandrell Sisters, the Chinese delegation. Completed earlier this year, Allan's script, Bethune: The Making of a Hero, traces Bethune's life in Montreal as a brilliant thoracic surgeon who became so outraged by fascism that he joined the Communist party and went off to aid the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. In 1937, he went to China to join Mao Tse-Tung's guerilla fighters.

Bethune died in 1939 at 49 of blood poisoning after cutting his finger operating on a Chinese soldier. Canadian Press this month. Stern once spent three weeks in Hollywood as "ghost fiddler" for actor John Garfield, who played a violinist in the 1946 classic. Stern supplied the music and it is his hands that you see in the close-up shots. Stern received for his work.

Stern, 65, has been coming to Montreal for some 40 years. He made his professional debut more than half a century ago at age 11 when he performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Stern will perform the North American premiere of French composer Henri Dutilleux's Violin Concerto when he is the featured soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Feb. 24 and 25 at the Salle Wilfrid Pelleticr of Place des Arts. Singer Helen Reddy, who started doing live concerts in the Los Angeles area after a 10-year hiatus, is writing a book that will trace her roots to her ancestors, who were convicts.

Reddy says she is in touch with these co-operative ancestors, who are actually helping to write the book. One of the major theatres in cast-end Montreal might soon be converted into a disco-dance bar. There is talk in real-estate circles of Steve Rubell opening a version of his successful Morgan Hotel in Montreal. Rubell is the mastermind behind the Palladium disco and the celebrity-ridden Morgan Hotel in New York. Mark Breslin, who runs the Yuk Yuk comedy cabarets in Toronto, is exploring the possibilities of expanding to London and Los Angeles.

A few years ago, Breslin expanded to Montreal, opening a Yuk Yuk's on Drummond St. The place wasn't profitable, Breslin stopped laughing and closed it down. project are Montreal's Filmline International the China Film Co-Production and French producer Jacques Dorfman Quest for Fire). A broadcast agreement has been reached with the CBC, but Telefilm, the federal agency, has not yet committed itself to financing. The movie would be shot in China, Spain and Canada with the Chinese providing actors and technical and logistical services during the four-month shoot in their country.

"I just couldn't be more pleased that the Chinese approve," said Allan, 70, in his hometown to meet S3 I Si eun mat a iutravi' and 8:35 nightly, will be the Cinematheque's usual charge of $2 per film. Former CTV news anchorman1 Keith Morrison didn't head straight from Toronto to Los Angeles for his $500,000 gig at KNBC. Morrison, 38, stopped off at the Illinois offices of Frank Magid and Associates. Magid's firm of media consultants helped separate Morrison from any troublesome Canadian-isms that may have marred his booming baritone in southern California. Keith, lots of luck, eh? If you have ever seen the wonderful film Humoresque starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield, you have heard the music of legendary violinist Isaac Stern, who is coming to Montreal later 7 v' If if I 5 i I 1: 4 A ft tttwf it iiiii 1 1 YOKO ONO To perform at concert Yfi ,7 if HOLLYWOOD (AP-Special) -The showbiz trade papers have slimmed to normal size and publicists have stilled their barrages.

The colorful and sometimes bizarre campaign for the 58th Academy Award nominations has closed, as the film world awaits announcement today of the nominees for this year's Oscars. At the height of the campaign, the studios unleashed a memorable flood of trade-paper ads, including this two-pager for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure: "For your consideration: best picture; best director, Tim Burton; best actor, Paul Reubens." Hope is ever-present in the pursuit of Oscar. Ads for best acting performances have also appeared for these: Esai Morales, Rainy Day Friends; Lori Singer, Trouble in Mind; Roddy McDowall, Fright Night, Don Johnson, Cease Fire; Michael Emil, Insignificance, M. Em-mett Walsh, Blood Simple. "The Oscar campaign is a misnomer, it's really a public relations campaign for the studio," says publicist Booker McClay, who for several years has headed Universal Studios' Academy Award matters.

"The first part is to get the Academy voters to come and see your pictures. If they don't see your pictures, they can't vote for them. "The second part is to show the talent that the studio is interested in them." The 4,200 Academy members have submitted their choices of the best achievements of 1985, drawing from 222 eligible motion pictures. How effective ad campaigns are Yoko Ono, widow of slain former Beatle John Lennon, will be in Budapest next month to perform at a rock concert being organized to protest U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars defence initiative.

Ono, who will be celebrating her 53rd birthday Feb. 18, has always been involved with the peace movement, but her scheduled appearance in Hungary isn't a coincidence. A few years ago, Ono went to Hungary incognito to visit her boyfriend, Sam Habitoy, a New York interior designer of Hungarian origin. While Sam and Yoko were in Budapest, they mingled in rock music circles, visited recording studios and listened to the music of various local groups including Omega, which has been dubbed Hungary's answer to Pink Floyd. Ono, the daughter of a prominent Tokyo banking family, grew up in the lap of luxury, attending elementary school with Crown Prince Akihoto.

A year before she met John Lennon, Ono and her husband at the time, Anthony Cox, collaborated on Yoko Ono Film No. 4, which was a study of 365 bare bottoms. While Yoko's appearance in Hungary will coincide with a tribute to Lennon, there are no plans to show her films to the Hungarian public. Speaking of Hungary, Yvette Biro, who is a professor of Graduate Film Studies at New York University, introduced the films of Miklos Jancso at the Twenty Years of Hungarian Cinema retrospective, which opened last night at the Cinematheque Quebccoise on de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.

The retrospective, which continues until Feb. 16, will feature a full-day workshop on Feb. 8 with Marta Meszaros, one of Hungary's most celebrated film directors. Admission for the film simin-ar is $50 per person ($25 for students). Admission to the films, which are being screened at 6:35 will vote their nominations based on tk-: x.ava.

vauvi wvuwih? mum btui, not to take cnances, tne oui-cial Academy rule book admonishes members to disregard "crude and excessive solicitations." Today's nominations will end the suspense about whether Out of Afr'h ca or The Color Purple garners the most nominations for best picture. iJotn turns were released, at Christmas time and helped pull the movie industry out of a very bad financial year, with the help of RoCky IV a movie which, no doubt, will go totally unacknowledged in the nominations. Of the five best picture nominations, two are bound to go to Out of Africa and The Color Purple. A third is almost sure to go to Pnzzi's Honor, a black comedy that was a surprise hit last summer. Woody Allen has not been one of the Academy's favorites ever since he failed to show up to pick up his Oscar for Annie Hall in 1978.

But The Purple Rose of Cairo on its surface looks like a sentimental homage to Hotly-wood films, so it may very well be nominated for the best picture award. The academy generally pick a "little" film that did not make much money but Is inspirational or arty or friendly in some basic way? This year, it may be The Trip to Bountiful. Another possibility to fill this fifth spot in the nominations, is Twice in a Lifetime, a film with a lot of name actors pretending to be regular working folk, i is on in May The mime festival, which has financial support from the provincial and federal governments, will be; Montreal's second the first was in 1983. The artists include Dulcinca Langfelder of Montreal, the Swiss clown Dimitri and Winnipeg's 40, Below Mime. i Canadian Press Montreal mime festival Mime artists from nine countries will take part in the Montreal International Mime Festival set for May 22 to 31, festival organizer Robert Dion said yesterday.

Dion said the festival will stage at least 23 shows with performers from Canada, the United States, Australia, China, Spain, France, Italy, Switzer.