Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 63

caa esmninn May 23 1986 ivtio 1Ort worm btar-lelegram 1-rlday Evening May 23 1986 A tdel Lrge rtLi 119 EntertainmentTV 1: inve00 00003EN 4 IN 1' 40 -'1 i Jr' 1 i 1 :44 ::::1::: 1 fl t' :4: i rii: 5 54 a ok- AoPe''''' At- :1 i 4' ::1 -i i 1: 1 i e'''''' i I 't 1 1 I 1 I wx i '14 4 1965 1955 1936 1968 1980 1972 StiV LL3 Ckelltr 3 Queen of America's kitchens updated as working woman 1 i ''''e' 4 4 1 4 5' 1 i 41p 4 A' 4 I f' li '4 4' 1 1 1 4 iz a I W' i By JO ANN VACHULE Star-Telegram Food Editor She's not just getting older She's getting better more savvy and younger looking Betty Crocker cardboard queen of America's kitchens is old enough to draw Social Security If she visited Fort Worth she could ride Citran buses on a senior citizens' discount Yesterday despite her birthday being in 1921 she looked 40-ish and well pleasantly prim at best Today she looks at most 35 and like she might have added an MBA to her home ec degree And for the first time in her corporate life her hair probably would blow in the wind Still she looks like she would never never wear an apron General Mills today unveiled Crocker's 1986 portrait (They still haven't revealed whether she is Miss or Mrs Crocker but her picture looks like she'd prefer Ms) Like Phyllis Diller she admits to having numerous facelifts during the 65 years she has helped General Mills sell flour and cake mix and cookbooks For Betty this was re-do No 6 And when the plastic surgeon finished taking little tucks Betty stopped off at the beauty shop for re-styling of her locks and advice on makeup that would make her look contemporary Actually of course Betty Crocker has always been a paper doll just pen and ink and paints that became a symbol of service for one of America's giant food firms The latest Betty Crocker is the creation of Harriet Pertchik portrait painter who lives in Roslyn Long Island NY The new acrylic Crocker was completed in three weeks Because the sixth edition of Betty Crocker's cookbook read by millions since 1925 is to be published Sept 1 General Mills decided it was time to give its corporate trade character a new look They'd done it before the first picture was drawn in 1936 and new ones appeared in 1955 1965 1968 1972 and 1980 Always she's been the lady in red Over the years the pursed lips of the first portrait done 15 years after Crocker was created as the symbol of the company's service department have relaxed into a smile Her hair has grown a little with each re-do the middle part has disappeared This time her brown hair looks as though she washed it and blew it dry just before she left for a meeting with the company's board of directors Marcia Copeland director of the Betty Crocker Food and Publications Center said she couldn't estimate what Betty's facelift will cost the company About 50 percent of consumers who participated in a marketing research program recognized the 1980 picture as Betty Crocker The new picture before it was even released was identified as Betty Crocker by 26 percent of those who viewed it "We wanted her to be friendly capable fashionable and contemporary and a leader and working woman" Copeland said Their research indicates that Pertchik succeeded in painting those qualities into the new image Over the years many would-be suitors have wooed her by mail some even proposing marriage only to be informed politely that she wasn't a real person "She still gets letters from people who think she is a single live person" Copeland said "but there aren't so many any more Consumers today are a lot more savvy" In the 1920s she starred on radio shows with three different actresses chosen for their accents doing shows in the East Midwest and West Television gave her a live image in the 1950s with actress Adelaine Hawley playing her role in several shows Since then she has returned to her role as a friendly face on cookbooks coupons information booklets sales brochures and stockholders' reports How long does a paper facelift last? Copeland's sigh was audible "We hope she's good for at least eight or 10 years" she said "But that depends on how much make-up and hairstyles change" Latest Betty Crocker was unveiled today At the movies Good timing and luck keep 'Today' buoyant Sequel respectable needless I I 7 I A 0--': i i Al 1 ap A i ll 1 i ''s4 '''l i i i 41 0 'Zvi 7 Poltergeist lh The Other Side (M-G-M) WITH: Jo Beth Williams Craig Nelson Oliver Robins Heather O'Rourke Julian Beck Zelda Rubenstein Will Sampson Geral- dine Fitzgerald OPENING DATE: Today AT THESE Vegas Trail UA Hu len 10 Seminary South Fort Worth Green Oaks Lincoln Square Forum Boren Arlington Central Park Bedford North Hills North Richland Hills RATED: PG-13 not for the usual sexviolence reasons There's some mildly vulgar language cautionary depiction of alcohol abuse many scary apparitions ON A 1-10 SCALE: 13 By MICHAEL II PRICE Star-Telegram Film Writer Emotionally drained and financially devastated by the ordeal of Poltergeist (1982) the Free ling family wants only to be left alone to pick up the pieces "I'm into downward mobility" grumbles papa Steve Free ling (Craig Nelson) who can't even collect on his real estate insurance: There's no allowance for the destruction of property by ghosts But neither the spooks nor the movie makers will let the Freelings revert to normalcy Thus we have Poltergeist II: The Other Side a respectable sequel to a fine picture that really needs none Since Poltergeist the clan has settled in with Diane Freeling's mother (Geraldine Fitzgerald) Meanwhile back at the site of the haunting the ghosts still hunger for the life force of young daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) whose abduction and rescue lent the original film such suspenseful warmth Sylvester Stallone Now the spirits have sent an agent (Julian Beck) to capture the child Where the original Tobe Hooper-Steven Spielberg Poltergeist declined to specify the nature of the ghosts the sequel gives them a tragic history laden with reasons to be angry (Their fatal Please see Poltergeist on Page 3 New Stallone movie opens By ART CHAPMAN Star-Telegram TV Writer ON THE SS NORWAY For the better part of a week passengers on this giant cruise ship have been almost oblivious to the outside world On board the crew has attended to their every whim And in every port the welcome mat has been rolled out whether by a local flotilla with banners and horns or by dockside bands and high school cheerleaders Until late this week the Norway was the big attraction and having the Today show on board made it even bigger But late in the evening Wednesday there was a juxtapositioning As the big ship rounded the Jacksonville jetties and came within sight of the naval yard it was the Norway passengers who rushed to the railings and became gawkers The USS Saratoga still scarred by ongoing renovation sat at anchor in the base alongside another Forrestal-class carrier All around the cruise ship a Navy hydrofoil circled its big jet engine leaving only a small foamy wake We on the Norway were no longer the attraction There were bigger ships and faster ships The Norw(lc4lan officers weren't the only officers any Characters enliven excellent 'Room' SS NORWAY A shipboard report longer And we quickly identified with the new crew members in their denim shirts and white caps After being paramount in almost everyone's mind on board the Norway and the Today show were no longer all that significant Jane Pauley had warned a day or so before that it might happen that way She said then that lending too much importance to the show and to the cruise would be a mistake "I think there is a sense of interest for this trip among the viewers but I do not think for a minute that America is abuzz over what the Today show is doing "I think people for lack of any compelling reason to choose another program are going to probably choose to see what we're into next But I hasten to plt that in perspective I am unPl ea se see Timing on Page 3 A Room With a View (Cinecom) WITH: Maggie Smith Helena Bonham Carter Denholm Elliott Julian Sands OPENING DATE: Today AT: The Hulen 10's Bijou auditorium RATED: PG male nudity ON A 1-10 SCALE: El Cobra opening today on metro screens stars Sylvester Stallone as a tough detective who must protect a fashion model while investigating a serial-murder case Stallone also wrote the screenplay for Cobra which is his first film since the late-1985 hit Rocky IV The cast includes Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen (the Red Sonja star who married Stallone last winter) Reni Santont and Andrew Robinson A review of Cobra will app9r in Sedrday's Arts and Biller tainment section in Saturday's Arts and En-ler- tainment section By BOB THOMAS Associated Press A Room With a View James Ivory's immaculate rendition of the Forster romantic novel may well belong on the year-end 10-best lists In collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ivory has made a series of films Shakespeare Wallah The Europeans and The that have appealed to an elite few The team specializes in repolishing near-forgotten literary gems a task accomplished splendidly in A Room With a View This comedy of manners begins in the early part of the century in Florence There a spirited English heiress (Helena Bonham Carl er) is being chaperoned by hrr old-maid cousin (Maggie Smith) They are staying at a pension with other English Toneu oy Tr um- th other English tourists including an outgoing writer (Denholm Elliott) and his handsome dreamy son (Julian Sands) Despite her cousin's vigilance the heiress has a brief romantic inter- lude simply a kiss with the young man The women shocked by the incident swear each other to secrecy They return to England where the young woman becomes engaged tri an incorrigibly priggish young man of idle wealth (Daniel Day Lewis) Iler plans Please see Characters on Page 3 woman oecomes engageu II an incorrigmly priggisn young man of idle wealth (Daniel Day Lewis)11er plans Please see Characters on Page 3.