The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 41

The Sacramento Bee Wednesday July 15 1998 E7 shows mentally disabled man 70 still feels like a teen ON TV Best Man: Best Boy and All of Us Twenty Years Later 6 30 tonight Wf By Manuel Mendoza Dallas Morning News Philly Wohl is having his bar mitz-vah Nothing unusual for a nice Jewish boy right? Except Philly is almost 70 Ira 20-years-later sequel to his Oscar-winning documentary about his mentally disabled cousin Philly ends with the rite of passage usually reserved for 13-year-olds Two decades ago also culminated with a monumental event: Philly moving out of his house at age 50 and into a group home where he could be more independent This kind of close-up look at the struggles and victories of a slow learner and his loving family has long been ripe for film treatment just consider or When the subject is Philly Wohl absolutely riveting Philly is a natural screen presence While completely aware that being filmed and that this is somehow a special activity he seems to be affected by it in only the most innocent way He gets excited every time Ira shows up apparently seeing the attention as an act of love Ira has made Philly important and Philly seems to know it is he says to the camera pointing at his chest At the same time the viewer really know what Philly thinks His mental limitations however stretched by all the things his family does to involve him make him a sort of enigma Ironically that mystery of character lends him a charisma that makes Philly and the films about his life all the more compelling Or as cinematographer Tom McDonough put it at last DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival in Durham NC where was screened knew we could film Philly reading the phone In the late Ira Wohl concerned with what would happen to Philly after his parents died went on a quiet four-year crusade to prepare his cousin for a new phase of life He also filmed the whole thing Philly was put in an education program for the mentally challenged and later sent away to sleep-away camp for two weeks Eventually he moved out of his house in Queens NY and into a group home A year later his mother died picks up story two decades later (with a lovely segue from Philly shaving then to Philly shaving now) Ira has moved to California and has become a psychotherapist but returns to filmmaking for this project With sister and guardian Frances now about as old as mother was when was shot Ira is again concerned about future Philly is still in school taking classes at a training center you drink a teacher asks him pointing at the skull-and-crossbones symbol Philly answers The rest of dogs Philly during his daily activities He takes joy in almost everything particularly eating and dancing His meals including an almost obsessive love of coffee are the kinds of rituals that will make the audience reevaluate how they view the most mun- dane human activities Ira takes Philly to Coney Island to visit their cousin Phyllis and flies him to California for Passover The toughest moments such as a first visit to his grave appear to be important steps for Philly even if we know exactly how they affect him miss my he says at one point out of the blue films about his cousin and the adventures they lead to are not only tools for expanding notions of the physical world but also his emotional life has come a long Frances says after Philly successfully repeats the readings from the Torah during a rehearsal for the bar mitzvah has some minor flaws Though Philly has a girlfriend at the group home whom we see their relationship including the possibility of a sex life never gets fleshed out And at times we are made to wonder where the line is between Ira Wohl the filmmaker and Ira Wohl the concerned relative a particularly uncomfortable voyeuristic moment when camera and microphone spy on Frances having what been a private moment at her grave At the same time Frances is second on Philly Wohl left is the subject of two documentaries by his cousin Ira Wohl right One of the films garnered an Academy Award ly to Philly as key character Her well-articulated regrets as well as her trooping on are key counterpoints to innocence opens with the very sweet very social Philly going to the doctor with a sore leg When the doctor asks him how old he is he says 18 The filmmaker uses this to segue to a excerpt intended to give us the background on Philly and the earlier film Philly is having a psychological evaluation and neurological exam to determine his potential for independence Though 50 he tells the doctor 16 By the time is over it be lost on the viewer that Philly has indeed done some growing up Too much of a good thing? hear sounds good enough at speeches Continued from page El so flimsy it makes the see-through costumes of the showgirls look substantial Inspired by the this 1992 revival has its share of stereotypical female figures (think in heels) To wit Bobby Child (the winning Walton) is a Manhattan son sent to foreclose on a playhouse in the sticks of Nevada However Child falls for the theater spunky daughter Polly (Stephanie Block) They go about trying to save the theater thus providing an excuse to sing a treasure trove of Gershwin memorables such as To Watch Over and Got Tunes like these remind you why some songs deserve to be called classics Led by Walton (a boyish showboat of a leading man) this crack cast makes the most out of witty lyrics and breezy choreography Walton and Block sparkle in their duet when Polly puts the moves on Bobby (but dressed as Bela so he let her get too close) Rachel de Benedet (as predatory fiancee Irene) chews up the scenery singing to a cowpoke barkeep named Lank (John Schiappa) And Trina imbues Patsy the ultimate dumb blonde with some genuine warmth -If a fault to be found with this show that it may be too much of a good thing The surfeit of song dance and schtick is notable in the Causes number which includes a tedious Bela balletic dance and the superfluous Real American Folk Song (Is a interlude There is something to be said for leaving them wanting more However director Greg Ganakas artfully shows off this nostalgic gem to its best advantage sprinkling eye-catching bits of business in the aisle to cover for scenery changes on stage Be forewarned: nearly impossible to decide which of the show-stopping tunes to hum on the way home Then again nice work if you can get it MISS MANNERS Arrow 108 gives way to Top 40 Bee Staff The end arrived Tuesday for radio station Arrow 108 (KXOA 1079 FM) At noon Arrow 108 became The End (KDND 1079 FM) a Top 40 format station Arrow 108 which mostly played hits of the 1970s lasted four years General manager John Geary said Arrow image was too close to sister station The Eagle (KSEG FM 969) a classic rock station also owned by Philadelphia-based Entercom Inc change will really help The said Geary was an easy decision to make and something we should have done a year with me I wish to interrupt but perhaps you could watch Technically the member of the audience being unable to hear anything cannot be charged with knowingly causing an interruption Depending on a neighbor strikes Miss Manners as risky to the point of foolhardiness It assumes that the neighbor is able to hear is listening and is able to produce an accurate summary Ask any professor how often this is likely to happen JUDITH MARTIN'S Miss Manners column appears Wednesday Friday and Sunday in Scene Write to her co The Bee P0 Box 15779 Sacramento CA 95852 Free Gift With Purchase Valued at over OEAR MISS MANNERS: At times when one is attending a lecture or a concert someone will come to the front of the stage and proceed to deliver his or her peroration without the benefit of mechanical amplification When this person is not accustomed to public speaking (for example the manager of a concert hall explaining the delay in the start of the performance) it is often very hard to hear the person I think in this case some sort of awareness of this fact often helps But the form in which this awareness is often supplied is a booming peremptory mid-sentence HEAR from the farthest reaches of the balcony which shorn of personal pronouns or subtlety seems to me a rude way of attempting to resolve a situation in need of resolution It makes me wince What is the proper way of asking the speaker to speak more loudly in such a way that he or she will understand in not too long a time? Or does this situation really require correction at all? It may (and in my opinion it does) behoove people who hear to ask their neighbors what was said after all is done GENTLE READER: Miss Manners recalls some lectures at which it might have been kind to allow the speakers to remain unheard The favor would be allowing audiences to believe they have missed something Nevertheless she cannot recommend this course However much some reputations might have benefited trouble would break out during the question period Therefore timely notification falls under the spinach-in-the-teeth rule the rule that requires rescuing people from an easily fixable problem that will otherwise cause retrospective agony But how can one discreetly command the attention of someone who is at some distance and legitimately wrapped up in what he or she is saying with no expectation of immediate feedback? 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