The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 33

THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE APRIL 26, 1992 West 17 West Weekly WEEKLY AfTQ Calendar Authors highlight Newton library event I J. Novel approach to Fanny Brice TV gardener finishes trilogy i By Elaine Senay SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE By Elaine Senay SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE rjEWTON- A visit to Roger Swain's EWTON Say the name "Fanny Brice" to most people and they are more likely to remember the portrayal of the comedian by Barbara Streisand in the films "Funny Girl" S. JV I aen urn is jusi starting oua ana I flower. This seems entirely appro-J priate, as Swain is best known as a and "Funny Lady." Some may even recall Brice's character Baby Snooks that she performed on radio from 1937 to 1951. In "Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice," author Barbara Grossman pieces together and studies the details of Brice's career on the stage between 1910 and 1936.

During this period, the comedian developed her distinctive approach performing in burlesque, vaudeville and musical revues that included nine Ziegfield Follies. Using songs and physical humor, Brice cre- -l i tuA atCU UJab IXUUUK bill; uvuuihi The following Calendar activities are taking, place in the area this week. Future events are included as space allows: TO DO TODAY Naticfc New England Folk Festival. Dance performances, international foods, crafts, exhibits and contra, square and folk dancing will be featured 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. today at Na-tick High School, West Street The festival will also feature activities for families including storytelling, singing and dancing.

Sponsored by New England Folk Festival Association. Telephone 354-1340. Natfcfc Poetry Reading. David Bud-bill will read from his latest work "Judevine: The Complete Poems" 4 p.m. today in the Walnut Hill School's Eliot Living Room, 12 Highland St Free.

Telephone 237-5420. Newton: Atrium Salutes Newton. Free performances at 2 p.m. at the Atrium Mall Courtyard, Chestnut Hill. Today: Newton Country Players in selections from "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." Telephone 332-9110.

Newton: Irish Music. Harpist Mair-ead Doherty and singer Mary Carson will perform traditional and popular Irish music at 3 p.m. today at the Newton Free Library, Druker Auditorium, 330 Homer St, Newton Centre. Free. Telephone 552-7145.

Newton: Earth Day Celebration. The day's festivities will start at noon with a tree planting at the Auburn-dale Playground. An Earth walk will leave Ware's Cove at 12:30 p.m. and proceeds to the United Parish and Williams School, where activities including music, storytelling, face painting, environmental videos and exhibits on the rain forest organic landscaping, environmental products and organic foods begin at 1 p.m. Free.

Telephone 964-7463. mi' trends and icons of her day such as Salome dancing, silent screen vamp Theda Bara, and ballet stars Nyinsky and Anna Pavlova. "In all of these songs, she came out not as that' person but as this incompetent klutzy imitator," Grossmansaid. Grossman presents Brice as a survivor with a career that spanned four decades in a variety of entertainment mediums. At the end of the book's introduction, Grossman points out that Brice was a "single parent and a working mother long before either was common, she was adept at juggling the needs of her family with the demands of a successful career.

She had a significant impact on a field comedy that had been predominantly male, proving that the term funny woman' was not an oxymoron She demonstrated that talent, not gender, can be primary, and managed to reach her own remarkable goals without compromising either her femininity or her dignity." host of WGBH-TVs "Victory Garden." But, Swain said his first love was natural history and he enjoyed collecting butterflies and turtles as a youngster. He went oh to become a biologist earning a doctorate from Harvard. His most recent book of essays, "Saving Graces: Sojourns of a Backyard Biologist," completes the trilogy that includes "Earthly Pleasures: Tales from a Biologist's Garden" and "Field Days: Journal of an Itinerant Biologist" The first two books in the series will return to print next year. "If this book seems somewhat unusual for a gardener to have written, it's because it's writr ten by somebody who happens to be a biologist first and a gardener second," he said. As did its predecessors, "Saving Graces" addresses the relationship between people and the environment.

"And I think if there's anything that characterizes this volume, it's a commitment and belief that we shouldn't have to enjoy wilderness at a distance," he said. "There's a tendency to feel that wild things and wildness is somehow something that you encounter on vacation. You go to Yellowstone to see wild animals. You go to zoos to get a glimpse of nature. In fact, you don't have to go any farther than the backyard to encounter an enormous amount of nature." For Swain, conservation of the environment should concern everyone.

This responsibility as caretakers requires people to make changes in their daily lives. "This collection of essays is intended to chronicle on the one hand the evolution of this perspective in my own life. That is: a number of these stories talk about childhood, talk about growing up, talk about where these beliefs and feelings came from, with the conviction that how our children grow up is important How our children are raised is important because that will just as it has shaped my adult feelings it will shape their adult feelings," he said. Swain admits his interest in the natural world may have been encouraged early since both his parents were organic chemists. His father was an avid hiker and his mother grew up on a farm.

Also, he shared his love of butterfly collecting with an aunt who was a biologist While the book focuses on serious issues regarding the environment it also includes humorous essays. Swain gently pokes fun at himself in "Full Pockets" and shares the pleasure of making a comb for his wife in "Hand to Tooth Work." The Friends of the Newton Free Library will be holding their 8th annual Book and Author Luncheon on Friday at the Newton Marriott Hotel. Roger Swain, above, and Barbara Grossman, right, two Newton authors with recently released books, will be featured at the event. The event begins at noon with a cash bar; lunch will be served at 12:30. Tickets are $20 by check, payable to the Friends of the Newton Free Library, and a self-adressed, stamped envelope from Susan Shepard, 125 Lexington Apt.

32, Auburndale, 02166. For more information, call 552-7145, ext. 317 (days). ,0 -X' i I MUSIC JIX UOkJlkMUAV JtUlVUOVl Ul VUUUAU uw Tufts University, said that the book originated as her doctoral dissertation topic in 1981. The suggestion of Brice as the subject was made to Grossman by her adviser, Laurence Senelick, who has since become a colleague.

"My first reaction was I was totally shocked. I said, That's ridiculous. Everybody knows Fanny Brice. Everybody knows "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady." He said, 'Everybody knows "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady," but that is not the story of Fanny Grossman's research entailed reconstructing Brice's career. Unfortunately, the comedian left little documentation behind in terms of scrapbooks and memorabilia.

"It's just too bad. Because you go into theater collections and you can find far more extensive holdings on people whose careers were much shorter, but who took the time to document them." Another obstacle to doing a comprehensive Swain says he could not have written "Saving Graces" 10 years ago. It is a combination of his personal experiences and perspective. If he had written that book at age 30 instead of 40, it would have been a completely different book. "I'm not an old man," he said.

"But I'm old enough to be looking back on 30 years and have some sense of progression, some sense of how people feel and think, and I've listened to a lot of people talk about what bothers them and what worries them." His aim is to write essays that will endure and remain relevant forever. He is pleased and flattered that his work continues to be quoted and reprinted. The 24 essays that make up "Saving Graces" were written as early as 10 years ago starting with "Horse Chestnuts." He feels that this collection fits "together very well." Franunghanc Metro Steel Orchestra. Authentic 11-member Trinidadian steel band in concert 7:30 p.m. April 30 at Framingham State College, Dwight Hall Auditorium, 100 State St Tickets $8, seniors $6.

Telephone (508) 626-4968. Hudson: Fifth Anniversary Celebration Concert The Symphony Pro Musica Youth Chorus and Chamber Players will perform 3 p.m. May 3 at Continued on next page Continued on next page On WAAF, if it's raunchy it goes on the air By Jason Kauppi SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE the Federal Communications Commission. WAAF, owned by Xen Zapis Co. of Cleveland, said it is the world's first commercial FM station since it was licensed inl939asWlXOJ.

Hill said he thinks such reaction is overblown and that more graphic and STBOROUGH Resists of this quiet suburb TO have a new neighbor that constantly plays loud music, tells lewd jokes and ui-u uu II i iiniuim.mill.1.. jm i n.u ii iw I I. .11 i Li 1 Pianist Grant Johannesen. ichael Webster teaches at the New England Conservatory and Leon Buyse is principal DO I I i 1 ute Bston Symphony Orchestra. I I I I Thev 3so happen to be husband and wife, LI and next Sunday they'll team up for the suggestive programming is airea daily.

"If you turn on the daytime soaps, there is more nudity there are four or five people in bed together," Hill said. "Beer commercials are worse than that While "Gun Love," by ZZ Top was blasting over the airwaves during one of Hill's recent morning shows, he said the station follows the Federal Communication Commission's guideline of "contemporary community standards" when deciding what to broadcast "If Jen the intern doesn't pass out," it's acceptable, quipped Hill's producer, Chris Engle. "If Tm offended, we wouldn't air it because it would have to be that horrible," Hill said. Following is a sample of what was aired that morning: Bin the Seniors Pro Golf tournament, "Losing by a stroke takes on a whole new meaning." In a parody of the popular television show "The Simpsons" renamed The Clintons," Democratic presidential candi GLOBE STAFF PHOTO BARRY CHW unabashedly uses sexual innuendo when given the chance. Not to worry though, WAAF-FM, the often controversial radio station that recently relocated to a Route 9 office park here, is unlikely to make off with your hedge clippers.

Then again, this station, that has caUed itself "untamed radio," has plopped a disc jockey into the oatmeal-filled bed of a pickup truck to celebrate actor Wilfred Brimley's birthday. Brimley is the spokesman for Quaker Oatmeal breakfast cereal, who popularized the saying "It's the right thing to do." And when Framingham officials wanted to outlaw thonged bikinis at a local swimming hole, a disc jockey broadcast live in front of the Town Hall wearing one of those narrow garments. Neither were much of a spectacle for the listeners, but for passersby Maybe the hedge clippers ought to be locked up. The station has earned a reputation for broadcasting the raunchy and the bizarre. In a Nov.

8, 1991 letter, a listener complained that material presented as humor "has a tendency to push the boundaries of good taste and proper behavior." However, station management says simply the brand of humor used appeals to the target audiende of males 18 to Morning DJ Greg Hill: "If something annoys you, turn the knob. Shut it off." Wellesley Symphony Orchestra's afternoon concert Webster will conduct the program, which includes Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in with Buyse as soloist William Shumann's "New England Triptych" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. The performance begins at 3 p.m. at Massachusetts Bay Community College, Wellelsely Hills.WCRB-FM Music Director George C.

Brown will offer a free pre-concert lecture at 2:15 p.m. Tickets $10, $8 seniors and students, $1 discount on advance purchase. Call 235-0561, 235-3584. The Newton Symphony's final concert of the season is also next Sunday. The orchestra will play a movement from Charles Fussell's "Wilde," a piece the NSO premiered last season that went on to become a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize.

The program will also feature Tchaikovsky's suite from "Swan Lake" and Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in minor with the internationally famous Grant Johannesen as soloist, 8 p.m. at Aquinas College, 15 Walnut Park, Newton. Tickets $12 and $14. Telephone 965-2555.

MILVADiDOMIZIO cial depicting a woman shedding her professional business persona for a more sultry one when listening to WAAF have brought cries of sexism. An angry Boston woman wrote in a May 15, 1991 letter. "By portraying her first as a secretary then as a Madonna whore-alike, you not only insult intelligent women, you also negatively influence young women who look to the media to shape their identity and values." All letters of complaint and praise are kept in a public file at the stiion as required by 30 years old. "We can't sell a damn commercial unless we get these people to listen for a long time," said Ron Valeri, the station's program director. "The best thing about radio, you have a knob to shut it off," said morning host Greg HilL "II something annoys you, turn the knob.

Shut it off." Most complaints about the station seem to stem from promotions in other media. A billboard showing a scantily clad woman and a recent television commer date Bill Clinton is portrayed in a voice similar to Bart Simpson's. Asked by his father, Homer: "Billy how do you expect to be president if you cant stay out of troubler Billy replies, "I didnt do it, besides I didn't inhale," a reference to Clinton's response to accusations he smoked marijuana in college. WAAF, Pag 19 A.