The Daily Advocate from Greenville, Ohio • 15

The Daily entertainment entertainment Tempo Focus DCCA funding drive getting local support By DAVID GOULD Staff Writer The Darke County Center for the Arts is on its way to meeting its current fundraising needs, having attracted donations of more than $120,000 (including pledges) over the past years. According to information supplied by board president William L. Combs, donations since June, 1985, have been for the most part in the up to $50, up to $100 and up to $200 categories, but there have also been substantial contributions in the $500, $1,000 and $5,000 categories. And four corporations, groups or individuals have contributed more than $5,000 over that period. As well, the DCCA Memorial Hall Restoration Fund is attracting contributions from a variety of sources, all in excess of $50 each and in some cases more than $1,000 each.

The program has also received federal grant support through the Greenville City School System. According to Jean Louise Thieme, DCCA executive Director, "Yes, I'd say we're very happy with the support we've received. Our goal is to raise a quarter of a million dollars, and with pledges we're a little over halfway there." While noting major corporate contributors, Thieme cited individuals and groups who, though there contributions are small, donate in large numbers to DCCA. "Considering the market we're in a relatively small rural area we're delighted at the way it's going." The next DCCA production will be children's show in January. As reported in this space several months ago and at which time readers were encouraged to act, one might add a contest for amateur songwriters and singers could be the ticket from obscurity to fame and fortune, from the mundanity of everyday life to the glitz and glitter of the recording industry.

Well, at least one person in the area (okay, a little farther away than, say, Coletown) decided to give it a try, and now Kenny Day of Xenia is waiting to hear his song on the radio. That's because Day, 29, and a 46-year-old Kentucky resident beat out more than 50,000 other entrants in the Kentucky Fried Chicken contest, and as a result have had their songs recorded by country singer Eddie Rabbitt. The immediate result will be the release (for radio stations but not yet stores) of Rabbitt's versions of the men's songs, "Over and Over" by Day and "Lonely Lady" by Chuck Hill. Interestingly, both men entered their tunes at the very last minute, adding credence to the theory that it takes a little luck for talent to be recognized. "I've tried to get people to listen to my songs, but I never really got anywhere," said Day, a youth pastor at Xenia Christian Center.

"Now I've been able to meet these very same people I was trying to reach before. Though they have appeared on cable TV's "Nashville Now" show, Day is back in the Miami Valley and Hill in Hopkinsville, Ky. That doesn't mean, of course, that such success is entirely fleeting. previous contest winners now write songs for Reba McEntire, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Roy Clark and other country artists. Other winning entrants from this area and Ohio included Michael Gibbs, of Richmond, Darry McIntosh of Holgate, Ohio, hear Defiance; and two entries from Toledo Jeff Kershner and Brad and Bruce Burkhardt.

Thieme Gibbs' entry, "Steam," was cited as an honorable mention. Because this is the holiday season, there is no dearth of related arts and entertainment events in the Miami Valley, including tonight's opening of the Dayton Opera's production of "Kismet." The five-show run lasts through the weekend, and is a collabrative work of the Dayton Opera company, Michigan Opera Theater and Opera Pacific. Boasting extravagent costuming and scenery, the production is based on a $2.5 million design used for a 1986 Canadian version. Also this weekend are two holiday performances of the Dayton Bach Society, which will present its annual Christmas concerts in Dayton and Yellow Springs Sunday. In addition to the choral works, motets and holiday carols, the Encore Brass Quintet will also perform.

Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memiors," an autobiographical whose successful Broadway run was followed by an unsuccessful feature film, is being produced this weekend Richmond Civic Theatre. The show, at Richmond's Murray Theater, includes evening performances tonight and Saturday and a matinee Sunday. Thieme Gibbs' Television 'Foxfire' the season's best By KATHRYN BAKER AP Television Writer NEW YORK Viewers are about to be 40 besieged by family oriented television movies for the holidays, but the TV movie event of the month has nothing to do with Christmas and is a fine reason to gather the family together around the set. It's the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of "Foxfire," starring the esteemed stage actors, husband and wife Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and it's on Sunday on CBS. Based on the play by the same name by Susan Cooper and Cronyn they also collaborated on the play and Emmy-winning TV movie "The Dollmaker" starring Jane Fonda "Foxfire" is the story of a couple who have scratched out a living on a piece of farmland in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, now crawling with vacationers and land developers.

Cronyn plays stubborn, Bible quoting Hector Nations. He has a right to be crotchety. He's been dead for five years. His wife, Annie (Tandy), has conjured up his image to keep her company now that her children are gone. Of the five, two died and the other three Advocate Advocate the actors remaining in their current incarnation, no younger stand-ins or makeup jobs.

The movie was directed by Jud Taylor, who was nominated for an Emmy in 1977 for "Tail Gunner Joe," a TV movie based on the life of Sen. Joseph. McCarthy. His direction of "Foxfire" is sometimes reminiscent of Peter Weir's There are some delightful moments in "Foxfire," like when the real estate man, played by Gary Grubbs, comes up the hill to the farm to try to talk Annie into selling out. Oblivious to his shock, she slaps a huge hog-head onto the table, then sweetly asks him to help her gouge the eyes out of it.

Holly drives Annie to the nearby town to catch Dillard and his band, a nice bit of concert footage with Denver and a hot country combo complete with fiddler. Members of the audience even get up and clog dance in the aisles. But Holly is turned off by Dillard's corn-pone act only hours after he ridiculed her for not getting the heck out of the hills. "I guess I'm just a hillbilly boy at heart," he shouts to the whooping audience. Holly looks to the side and mutters, "Oh, 99 Today: Local arts and holiday television Film 'Emperor' tale of lost splendor powerless resident of the Forbidden City, attended by hundreds of eunuchs.

Political turmoil caused Pu Yi and his two wives to be banished in 1924, and he embarked on a playboy's life among the international party set. In 1931, he accepted the Japanese offer to become the puppet ruler of invaded Manchuria. The Russians captured I him at the end of World War II, and he was sent to Red China in 1950 for a decade of indoctrination. He ended his years as a gardener in Beijing, where he once ruled. Death came in 1967.

Bertolucci is expert in epic tales, as witness "1900." "The Last Emperor" offered a greater challenge: telling a long and varied life against the complexities of war and revolution in the Far East. Bertolucci's camera magnificently captures the scene. His script, written with Mark Peploe, is less successful. The first third of "The Last Emperor" stuns the eye. The opulence of the Forbidden City, the masses of eunuchs, the ornamented costumes are almost overwhelming.

There is added fascination with the customs of the imperial court. Bertolucci overlooks nothing. There is even a closeup of the boy emperor's stools which are examined by the court dietitian. The story is told in flashbacks as Pu Yi (John Lone) is interrogated by a stern but compassionate prison governor (Ying Ruocheng). The device helps relieve some of the historial confusion.

But nothing can offset the fact that Pu Yi's later life was depressingly sordid and useless. The young emperors (Richard Vuu, Tijger Tsou, Wu Tao) perform admin ably, and Lone is one of the most riveting actors in the trade. Joan Chen is adept in the sketchily written role of the empress. Peter 0'Toole appears briefly as the boy's tutor. Jeremy Thomas produced the mammoth undertaking, a remarkable achievement in itself.

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions: General audiences. All ages admitted. PG Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. PG-13 Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13.

Some material may be inappropriate for young children. R- Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. No one under 17 admitted. Some states may have higher age restrictions.

By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer It had to be a filmmaker's dream. After lengthy negotiations, the renowned Italian director, Bernardo Bertolucci, won permission to film inside Beijing's Forbidden City. The splendor and the majesty of that fabled place (9,999 1 rooms on 250 acres) are captured in Bertolucci's "'The Last The story traces the amazing history of Pu Yi, proclaimed emperor of China in 1908 when he was 3 years old. History soon overtook the imperial throne, and at 6 he became a drifted away. She only maintains regular contact with one of them, Dillard, a moderately successful.

country-western singer in the throes of divorce and with two young children. He is played with unusual reality by John Denver. Dillard comes home for a concert and stops off to plead again with his aged mother that she give up the farm and move to Florida with him. He bumps consciousnesses with Holly, a hometown girl who stayed to teach school instead of taking the usual route to Atlanta that most of the young 'uns have. After setting up what looks like a predictable tale, the story reaffirms the deepest of values of life and family in an unexpected way.

"Foxfire" comes from the name of a glow-in-the-dark kind of lichen that grows on dead trees in the Appalachian forests, and also the name of a magazine in which young people record the remembrances and folkways of their Appalachian elders. A story in the magazine inspired Cronyn and Cooper to write the play, which had a successful run on Broadway. The story of Annie and Hector's lives on the mountain is told in flashbacks, but with.