Citizens' Voice from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • 55

OCUS lemmon's chrcfer faced with mortal dilemma By PAUL GRANT United Press International 7T CD CD -1 CD T) CO Lemmon, now with gray hair and gray eyebrows, acknowledges his passage into more mature roles. "I'm too old to be the young leading man in comedies." And the veteran of 42 films prefers not to be characterized as a comedian or a dramatic actor. dramatic 1973 movie "Save the Tiger," remains poised to get a laugh. He said "Mary Phagan," has few funny moments, "but I always look for them." "Some of the funniest things that happen occur when they're not funny to the people involved CO 05 Academy Awards only Spencer Tracy and Sir Laurence Olivier have received more nominations Lemmon said he leaped at the chance to make a rare television appearance because of the quality of the story. "It's very topical," said Lemmon.

"It hits on something with which we should be concerned priorities ethics "It's one of the best scripts I've read in a long, long time, "he said. "You'd have to be an absolute newt or a very bad actor not to realize there's something going on here," he said. "It's exciting, even if you know the ending, as I did." Lemmon's role doesn't become high-profile until the latter part of the drama. "I didn't take it just because of the part," he said. "I wanted to be part of it." Lemmon says actors can entertain people, "but you can also make them think.

The actor, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his comical role of Ensign Pulver in the 1955 film, "Mister Roberts," and for best actor in the worked at the plant. Slaton's dilemma was whether to take the expedient route and let the execution proceed or politically self-destruct by delaying the execution to allow for a new trial. Slaton opted for the latter course, but a hysterical mob of vigilantes lynched Frank. Lemmon likens the role of Slaton to that of the nuclear plant engineer he portrayed in the 1979 drama, "China Syndrome." The engineer in that film balks at first, but eventually decides to tell a television reporter of the operational blunders at the nuclear power plant. "But both of them were not extraordinary men," said Lemmon, who at 62 remains trim and handsome.

"When principle forced them into making a decision, they didn't cop out," Lemmon said. "And we sure as hell could use a few more Slatons now." But Lemmon said he has no interest in holding public office, disdaining actors who become politicians. "I have yet to see any actor who has been able to successfully do the job." Nominated to eight RICHMOND, Va. Jack Lemmon, who's won an Academy Award for comedy and another for drama, likes sobering roles in which his characters are thrust into moral dilemmas. But he still enjoys making people laugh.

Lemmon, during the filming of NBC-TV's 4 V2-hour miniseries "The Ballad of Mary Phagan," said it's easier to make an audience laugh than cry. "Any actor will tell you that," he said between puffs of a cigar and sips of coffee from a Styromfoam cup. The miniseries, being shot on location in the Richmond area and tentatively scheduled to be aired in early 1988, is based on the true story of the lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia in 1913. Lemmon portrays Gov. JohnSlaton.

Frank, a pencil factory manager, was convicted of murdering Mary Phagan in Atlanta in a highly charged murder trial and sentenced to die. Slaton reviewed the case, deciding there was a reasonable doubt that Frank murdered Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who had On the scene Muppet master Jim Henson (center) hosts "Down at Fraggle the Scenes," an insiders's look at the creation of the ACE award-winning series "Fraggle Rock." The exclusive family presentation debuts Monday from 8 to 9 p.m. on HBO. Anchors away other local TV staff changes Geri Anne Kaikowslci Tube Talk positions, traditionally male and female, make for a more balanced newscast and take the pressure off of one person. "I'd rather settle for one great communicator anytime," Stirewalt said, citing as examples network anchors Tom Brokaw of NBC, Peter Jennings of ABC and Dan Rather of CBS, not to mention WBRE's own Vic Vetters.

Stirewalt recently hired a reporter to replace Mary Ellen Keating, who resigned last month to attend law school in Washington, D.C., this fall. Elizabeth Robinson will join the "Eyewitness News" team the week of July 20. Previously, she had been a co-anchor and reporter at KHBS, Fort Smith, Ark. Stirewalt said more than 80 persons applied for the reporting position. Earlier this week, it seemed like Church had everything settled at the station for as long as anything can be stable in the normal transience of the TV news business.

The transient nature of the TV industry is evident by looking at the resumes of some of the reporters recently hired at the local stations. The maximum amount of time a reporter has spent at any one station is about three years. It's an accepted practice to move around building experience in the quest for that network job. Three positions are filled, but now two more positions become open and must be filled. It's just another day in the life of a local TV news director.

Geri Anne Kaikowski is the TV writer for the Citizens' Voice. of then-WDAU's weekday 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts along with Debbie Dunleavy. Church is taking the repeated Wrings in stride. "With growth comes change," he replies, somewhat philosophically.

The WYOU news director said he hopes to fill the position by the end of August, either hiring a new person or promoting from within. "I wouldn't want to go on much longer than that without a co-anchor," he said. Church considers a one-anchor newscast "a backward move." "We're moving forward not backward," he said. If having only one news anchor is being "backward," then that's news to WBRE news director Larry Stirewalt. Inte'restingly, last year, competitor WBRE opted not to bring in replacements after the resignations of weekday co-anchor Kathy Bozinski and weekend co-anchor Greta Kreuz.

That left Vic Vetters and Brian Francis as solo anchors for weekdays and weekends, respectively. Then-news director Bob Young opted not to fill the positions. Stirewalt inherited the several month-long vacancies (by then not even considered as such by the station) when he assumed the news director position at WBRE this past December. The one-anchor newscasts seem to be working for WBRE, which is ranked second in the Nielsen and Arbitron ratings. Still, many people view a dual anchor newscast as more interesting and more livelier paced.

In addition, the co-anchor No sooner had WYOU news director Jim Church filled three reporting positions at the station when he found out that weekday co-anchor Gary Essex was leaving. Assistant news director Steve Hunsicker has accepted another position with a TV station owned by Diversified Communications, owners of WYOU. And, so it seems, that reading resumes, viewing tapes and conducting interviews with potential on-air and behind-the-scenes personnel has become a way of life for Church. Seeing new faces coming and going on the small screen is now commonplace for local TV viewers. Michael Gargiulo will start at WYOU on Monday.

He was an anchor and producer at WSAJ in West Virginia. He also was a production assistant at All American Programs, New York City, from 1981-84. Joan Murray first appeared on the station during the Fourth of July weekend. She has been doing the local morning news cut-ins during "The CBS Morning News" and "The Morning Program" at the station and is also a general assignment reporter. A Philadelphia native, Murray had been a weekend anchorproducer and weekday reporter at WSEE in Erie.

She also produced a weekly half-hour public affairs show "Inside Erie." Dave Weik is a sports reporter replacing Dave Moulton, who left to join WBRE. Weik, who made his WYOU debut this week, formerly worked at WFMZ in Allentown. When medical reporter Kathy McLaugh- lin left the station earlier this year, reporter Liz Linskey assumed that role in addition to the noon news duties, both on a temporary basis until replacements were found. After several months of searching for a medical reporter, Church finally named Linskey as the official noon news anchor and medical reporter for "1st News." When Church first began planning for WYOU's weekday 5:30 p.m. newcast "1st News," which debuted in January, he hired seven new people and expanded the shifts of two part-time staff members to full time.

The reporters whom he hired Keith Op-penheim, Shannon Cagle and Penny Lin-dgren have since become regulars on the newscasts. The news that Essex would be leaving the station at the end of this month took local TV viewers by surprise this week. He had been a local favorite ever since his five-year tenure as co-anchor at WNEP from 1976-1981. Essex returned to the Wyoming Valley area in September 1985 to become co-anchor.