Kingsport News from Kingsport, Tennessee • Page 26

Snafus Kill Oscar Shot For 'Freddie's Dead 9 By ROGER EBERT Ckkafeta-Times A comedy of errors has resulted in the year's top- selling and most-honored movie score being completely overlooked in balloting for the Academy Awards. And the resulting controversy just now seeping into public view-may result in a picket line around the Oscar ceremonies on March 27. The score is by Curtis Mayfield tor "Superfly," 1972's top-grossing black movie. The various recordings of Mayfield's music, including the second track album and the top single "Freddie's Dead," have passed the $20 million mark in retail sales or more than the final Oscar nominees combined. And yet Mayfield can't win an Oscar this year because of a series of snafus.

"Sure we're angry," says Marv Stuart, who Is Mayfield's personal manager and business partner. "There are a lot of people who are angry. Several black organizations want to make an issue out of this and picket the Academy Awards. Right now, we don't want to do that; what we do want is to make sure this never What happened? Stuart tells a story of labyrinthine goof-ups. To begin with, "Freddie's Dead" was submitted by Warner Bros.

distributor) as an entry in the "Best Song" category. Only problem is, as Warner Bros, apparently didn't know, "Freddie's Dead" is not sung in the movie. It's an instrumental. Only the single version IMS a vocal. Academy rules say the "best song" has to have words.

If Warner Bros, didn't know, why didn't the Academy members notice the error? "This is hard to believe," Stuart says, "but out of those 131 members, only four saw The average age of the Academy's members in this category Is 53. Of the 131 members, two are black. Here was one of the year's most successful films, and they ignored it." "Freddie's Dead" was nevertheless voted in as one of the 10 finalists in the category apparently because Academy members had heard it on the radio before the error was discovered. Warner Bros, asked permission to substitute "Theme from Superfly," but were turned down. In reballoting, the theme from "Silent Running" edged out Mayfield.

"In all the years of the Academy Awards," Stuart points out, "this is the first time they've ever had to have reballoting. We're angry at Warner Bros, for the original error, and angry at the Academy for not pointing it out until it was too late." In the meantime, however, Mayfield was also deprived of a chance to win in the "best score" category, because the Academy regulations say at least five songs from the same film must be submitted: Warner's inexplicably submitted three. "We were thinking of suing Warner we were thinking of suing the Academy, we were offered 10,000 pickets on March 27," Stuart told the Chicago Sun-Times, "but what we're tending toward right now is an appeal to the Academy to make sure this sort of thing can't happen again. "We want them to reconstruct the makeup of the Academy membership in the music section, to reflect more contemporary tastes. The old guard monopolizes the and passes the Oscars around to each other.

"Even when they make an exception, it's not an exception. To give you an example, last year's winner was a black musician, Isaac Hayes. But Isaac still wasn't made a member of the Academy, and he couldn't vote i this year. "We couldn't help wondering deep down, did they want to ignore 'Superfly'? Were they against the idea of black composers winning Oscars two years in a row? "The most Insulting thing of all happened just the other day, when the Academy contacted MOW PLAYING i At THE OLDE WEST DINNER THEATRE "LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS" far 323-4151 us wife otto to Quito perform 'Fraddie'i Dead' tn "Special" wgment of the Qwar telecast, and then they'd give him an 'Honorary Honorary for what? Curtis deservns a nomination, and that's a mere token." Meanwhile, the score for has won awards as THE EMBERS NOW OPEN with Jim the Cimmaron Band Ju5t off STONE DRIVE near Kpt. Speedwm 1 Restaurant 1459 E.

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