The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 21

rv7fr. 7 rri S.F.EXAfcKKSB-Peflall Mar. 10, 1978 Toirr! Torres! Torr! them to show to my mothir" Torres says she Is still very much In awe of her profession. "Yon can't Imagine what Us like to be sitting home and have Liza MlnneOi rail, asking you to sing with her. I can't be blase about that.

When was a child, my father took me to see Sammy Davis Jr. Twenty-five years later I'm on bis show. How can I be blase about that? I did kid I watched Rita Moreno win an Oscar. You need Idols to look up to In all areas. I was born and raised in HeU'i Kitchen.

I went from that kind of background to where I am now. I've made great accomplishments. At home, I've got a whole wall full of plaques." She stops for a moment, looking a bit embarrassed. "Actually, I donl have them on the wall but In a cardboard box. I keep Mm Griffin's show and tot Kelly was a guest He asked me vbere I I got my training, and said his children would love to nwt me.

I i have a really wonderf ul carwr. am Incredibly happy, and still no one knows who I am." iUVWMwl WEEKEND SPECIALS Muck 10 Ikm Match 12 Sale! to clean fkh the right way. It was i part Rita Moreno turned down. I'm not proud." The comedian Is currently getting a divorce. When asked why, she says, "I've had enough!" Would she get married again? "In a minute.

I hate living alone. I was married for seven years, and before that, lived with my mother." Unlike many female ana, Torres doesn't make fun of her frailties to get a laugh. "I used to do that, but 1 got a nose Job and worked my way out of tt." In her nightclub act, Torres does a parody of a Latin singer who cant pronounce English lyrics. "I used to work at the Continental Baths In New York, which Is where I Invented the character. 1 based her on La Lupe, a Cuban singer In New York who's called the -Queen of Latin SouL' She Jams anyplace she plays.

She put out a satoa album and had a hit single on It called, Down On She learned the words phonetically, and had no idea what they meant." Torres puts down her wine glass, snaps her fingers and begins to sing: "Going out of my head, over Jew. Does Torres see herself as an inspiration to Puerto Ricans? "I'm out there," she said. "When I was a Prom Page If each other write material. In July of 1975, actress Barbara Colby, who had a role on the "Phyllis" show, was shot dead by a gunman. Torres was hired as her replacement, but dropped after a season.

"They kept writing scripts for Colby's character, and I couldn't adapt to who she was," Torres says. The late Judith Lowry, who played the crochety octogenarian Mother Dexter on the show, "was very spry and Independent; a terrific little old lady. Offstage, Cloris treated her like an old person, which she hated. The Phyllis' characters were much the same off-camera. I have a picture of Lowry on a motorcycle with a helmet In her hand.

It's signed. To my friend Liz. Love, Last summer, Torres starred with Tab Hunter at the Sacramento Music Fair In "Bye, Bye, Birdie," the musical parody of Elvis Presley and the 1960s. "We opened the day after Elvis died. I felt so sorry for the actor who played Conrad Birdie.

He'd come out In a gold lame jump suit to sing and there'd be dead silence. He was a real trouper. I hate theaterlnthe-round. At any given moment you know someone's looking at your ass." Did Torres get along with Hunter? "We went Aacorted 1-5 gallon outdoor planto Your choice ExammafWart Lynoll Uz Torres t) al. TV' antiquing together.

Tab loves antiques." Torres Just finished filming a cameo role in The Hungry Edge." "I play a hooker in a fish cannery. I went to the Star Kbit plant and cleaned tuna for two days. The 1 ladies there told me In Spanish how Ornamental raphiolepsis (ilimy evergreen shrub with snowy QQ, white or pink Asparagus ftrn Delicate Asparagus Fern, for hanging pots. Glossy green Philodendron. Sturdy, large leafed plant.

Bottlebrush 10-25'. Beautiful scarlet blossom. 'Blue Collar' knocks the union T-- k'T s. 1. REVIEW highlights "Dim Cellar," Umvarsal Ptctura prt ntitioni produced by Robin French! directed by Paul Schrader; screenplay by Paul and Leonard Schrader! photography by Bobby Byrne.

With Richard Pryor. Harvey Keitel, Yarjihel Kotto. Ed Beiiley Harry Believer, George Memmoli. Lucy Saroyan, Cliff De Young A droll, hard-nosed, if not always credible, comedy about three Detroit auto workers who pull oir a robbery of their union. Rated Too evening admission $3 00 At the Warfield (992 Market St.) and Serramonte (4915 Jumpero Serra Oaly City).

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Weed free natural 10 bap steer manure in 7n 40-lb. bags 'v for rich soil. Rs From Page bly tragic denouement pulls the three friends apart, and one of them is horribly murdered. The friends are Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto). Zeke and Jerry are family men who can't make ends meet.

Smokey has a prison record and is in debt to the Mafia. It's clear, then, that the three need money, and their disgust with the union leads to the robbery. But the plot is poorly motivated and much of it is incredible, like the hokey business of Zeke's trouble with the IRS, which bits him for back taxes on learning that he claims deductions for six children, but only has three. More implausibly, his weekly salary is $210, which doesn't check out for an auto worker. Meantime, Jerry can't afford to pay for bis teenage daughter to have braces put on her teeth, in spite of the fact that the auto union has a dental plan.

There are too many instances in which the film doesn't hold together. Jerry is a Polish Catholic, and it doesn't make a lot of sense for him to have black friends, or be so hip that Smokey would Invite him to a coke-and-sex party with Zeke and some prostitutes. Nor does Schrader create much sympathy for the three when they decide to break into union headquarters. Zeke's big gripe against the union is that the shop steward won't get his locker fixed. None of the friends believes that the union is really crooked, and they walk away from an FBI agent who questions them about union Irregularities.

Yet they rob the union anyway, after a sudden change of heart. I nevertheless enjoyed watching the three principals in action. Though they're not playing terribly smart men, they're quite diverting, especially Pryor, who brings a droll sense of mischief to Zeke. His nasty, volatile temper seems to be Pryor's own contribution to the role. A good deal of the dialogue sounds Improvised.

But you couldn't ask for a better, more persuasive performance then Kotto gives In his role of the welder Smokey. And Keitel conveys a nice sincerity as Jerry. Schroder's direction is assured and vigorous land has some of the dynamic energy Martin Scorsese imparted to 'Taxi The film suffers from the flimsy justification for much that happens. But if we're confused, we're never bored, for this is a work of more than unusual Interest garden usws. 1WCU.R.

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Garden, Aviary Etc Cocktails dinner nightly, lunch weekdays, brunch Sundays 398-6700 607 Front Street MacAthur fbL fit 1.1 i liGBWsISiti The Gray Lady goes down never to resurface The book was deep-sixed REGULAR 118.99 feyw Wi III FAMOUS CUSHIONED PADDED MUSHROOM SOLE INSOLE LININGS If cl mi w' i pH OLYMPIC PACER NYLON JOGGER 1 1 From Page 19 any kind of offbeat behavior, no matter what the pressure. "In fact, they were quite opposed to one scene in which Stacy Keach and David Carradine engage in a shouting match on the deck of the rescue vessel. I managed to keep it in, but they felt that good officers don't engage in public brawling." i "Gray Lady Down" is quite a change of pace for the British director who confessed to having some misgivings about doing it. His previous credits include "Godspell," and other films made outside Hollywood, and Part I of Alex Haley's 1'Roots" for which he won an like suspense and I also thought it was about time for me to make an Establishment film," Greene said. 'Roots' and "Godspell' were passions with me.

I approached 'Gray Lady Down' in a totally professional way, as a new experience, and I enjoyed it very much." Heston arrived at the interview In a state of visible agitation because his good friend Burgess Meredith had just lost his home' which dropped into the raging sea off Malibu, a casualty of the recent weather debacle in Southern California. Heston prepared himself for his role by accepting the Navy's invitation to spend a few days aboard the U.S.S. Gurnard, a nuclear submarine with a staff of more than 100 men. "I didn't feel as claustrophobic as I expected," the actor said. "It was like a hotel in terms of space compared to a conventional sub." Does Heston feel "Gray Lady Down" will be a box office success? "There are two ingredients that determine the success or failure of a film," he replied.

"One is predictable, the other isn't. The first is: Does an audience like the picture? I know the answer to that one because I've seen a number of previews of 'Gray They love it. "The second element is: Will they go to the theater to see it? No one knows until it starts to play. Perhaps part of It depends on whether old Chuck can still pull them In. "I hope so.

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