The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 47

INSroE Television F5 Comics F6 THE FRESNO BEE Thursday March 30 1989 No drought in Hollywood as Hoffman leads the way Oscar fashion F4 By MICHAEL CIEPLY Los Angeles Times Kathy Barberich The family tree All that slithers has to go IF ONE thing lowlier than a snake in the grass it's a snake in the house My house I much like snakes unless I am watching them in a televised National Geographic program or through a plate glass window at a zoo I am into safe snakes or rather admiring snakes at a safe dis- tance which is a long distance Wliat I am not into is watching snakes slither in my flower beds sun And I seven nominations received statuettes for art direction costumes and best screenplay derived from another medium "Mississippi which also had seven nominations received only one Oscar for cinematography The star Gene Hackman was among the best actor nominees Other nominees in the category were Tom Hanks for Max von Sydow for "Pelle the and Edward James Olmos for "Stand and Davis won her supporting actress Oscar for portraying a wacky sweetly aggressive dog trainer in "The Accidental Tourist a film that won no other Oscars despite four nominations including best picture The 29-year-old actress a firsttime nominee is a one-time model who made her acting debut in the 1982 hit which starred Hoffman Mine 41 another first-time nominee received his supporting actor statuette for his portrayal of a quirky bandit in Fish Called HOLLYWOOD "Rain Man" the hugely popular saga of an autistic genius and his hustler brother captured Oscars Wednesday night for best picture actor director and original screenplay during the 61st annual Academy Awards presentation But no movie dominated the evening Jodie Foster won the best actress award for playing a rape victim in "The Accused and supporting role awards went to Geena Davis for "The Accidental and Kevin Kline for "A Fish Called Wanda" Dustin Hoffman heavily favored in the pre-Oscar handicapping received his second best-actor Oscar for playing "Rain numbers-crunching Raymond an autistic savant who comes to terms with his younger brother played by Tom Cruise 1 Tm supposed to be jaded by this point But very the sparsely bearded 51 -year-old actor said after being greeted with a standing ovation Hoffman has been nominated as best actor six times He won his previous Oscar in 1980 for his portrayal of a father fighting for custody of his child in "Kramer vs Kramer" "Rain had a tumultuous production history It evolved from a much rewritten screenplay originally conceived by Barry Morrow ricocheted from one director to another before landing with Barry Levinson and mew from a small arty film into a big-budget star vehicle backed by the powerful Creative Artists Agency which represents Hoffman and Cruise Morrow and Ron Bass a lawyer-tumed-screenwriter shared the screenplay award "Dangerous which had The film directed by John Geese of the Monty Python troupe was a surprise hit for MGM-UA even though it drew some fire for its comic portrayal of a character who stuttered Hoffman's award "Rain first Oscar of the evening came more than 2V4 hours into the ABC un which lasted three hours 15 minutes The telecast was beamed live throughout the world including to the Soviet Union for the first time Walt "Who Framed Roger a startling combination of animation and live action won awards for editing sound editing and visual effects as well as a special award for its animation director Richard Williams "Roger was a mqjor hit but receive nominations in any major category Best actress Jodie Foster (for "The and best actor Dustin Hoffman The evening featured presentations by cleverly matched celebrity duos including father-son team Kiefer and Donald Sutherland Sean Connery and Roger Moore both former James Bonds and Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith who joked about their much-publicized Only Cher who presented the best picture Oscar supped back into the old formula nominated in several categories including best picture received only one statuette for best original song written by Carty Simon love affair and her pregnancy Celebrity presenters were instructed to say "And the Oscar goes to rather than the customary the winner is The new formula was supposed to lessen the sense of competition among the stars VT Kicrrr wr-- r-rr a i fu SMt i-! s- -r i if -r --i js V-n 4 1-A -iWyai frj-iJtefrtff watch them trying to make themselves at home in my home while still in it Every year at this time as sure as the sun shines the flowers blossom the trees leaf and the farmers irrigate the fields surrounding our Klace the gophers mice and snakes ead for dry ground My ground It appears they cannot read the trespassing8 signs posted on foe property They Ve been arriving in groups every day bag and baggage obvious they plan to stay bad enough having to put i them up in my trees wood pile gar-den and lawn but when they toy to take over the garage and attic time to go into action 1 have ways of dealing with gophers and mice and they with me But snakes? Tn HIS YEAR MARKS the thin! time one has been an uninvited guest in my home Several years ago one tucked himself away in a kitchen drawer He tried to make himself look like the handle of a spatula I was almost convinced when he suddenly moved his head and I almost lost mine My grandmother came from next door and removed the snake to the wide open spaces A few years later I opened die dishwasher early one morning to find snake eyes peering above the cereal bowls ana the bottles I quickly closed the dishwasher and sent for reinforcements from next door This time my husband came to the rescue mine and the snakes's and removed the snake from the dishwasher Just when I thought it was safe to open drawers and dishwashers the middle child yelled the other day from the family room a snake in the he said His younger brother ran to -see for himself but I I tried to remain calm as I tried to get the boy to relay pertinent information to me such as the location and size of the snake just a littie tiny the boy said "and wrapped around an I asked from afar outlet that has no cover on it on the brick wall by the fireplace where I plug in the Nintendo video game he said "Crane and lode at "Too busy right I said "Just get it out Quick I'll give you $5 dollars?" he said suiprised 1 "Make it The boy called for his younger See Barberich Page F3 Tf t-' i- f' producer Mark Johnson Actor Dustin Hoffman Actress Jodie Foster The Supporting actor Kevin Nine Fish Called Supporting actress Geena Davis "The Accidental Director Bany Levinson Original screenplay Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow Adapted Christopher Hampton x- Film editing Arthur Schmidt Framed Roger Makeup Ve Neill Steve LaPorte Robert Short Original score Dave Gaisin Milagro Beanfield Original song "Let the River Carty Simon Animated short film John Lasseter Tin Uve action short film Dean Parisot Steven Wright Appointment of Dennis Sound Les Frescholtz Dick Alexander Vem Poors Willie Burton Sound effects editing Charles Campbell Louis Edemarm Framed Roger Rabbit Visual effects Ken Ralston Richard Williams Edward Jones George Gibbs "Who Framed Roger Special Animation director Richard Williams Framed Roger Award of merit Sound engineers Ray Dolby and loan Alien Gordon Sawyer Lens designer Gordon Henry Cook Honorary National Rim Board of Canada and Eastman Kodak few foreign film eror" Denmark Ml I Conqueror Art direction Art director Stuart Craig set decorator Gerard James Peter Biziou 'Mississippi Costume design James Acheson Documentary feature Marcel Ophuls Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Documentary short subject William Guttentag Malcolm Clarke Don't Have to jtr i I it i I 1 Associated supporting actress Geena Davis Best supporting actor Kevin Kline SnakejstoriesfJ at equipment from the eyes of a kid Assume they can do some of these impossible Swing sets can pose lethal danger to children By SHELBY G1LJE Seattle Times Assume they can do some of these impossible Una said death was one (tf three California tragedies investigated recently by Joan Bergy regional representative for die US Consumer Product Safety Commission office in Seattle Berey is studying playground fatalities as a special commission project There are no standards established for spring again and that means snakes are out and about Maybe never experienced the adrenalin high that comes with reaching into a flower bed and nearly grabbing the head of a 3-foot gopher snake Then again perhaps had a close enounter that was far more frightening If you hive a good snake story either about yourself or someone you know The Bee would like to hear about it We'd steel our nerves read everything you send us and publish the Best Snake in an upcoming issue Send your contributions to: Guy Keeler Fresno Bee Feature Department 1626 St Fresno 93786 when she noticed Patrick inside watching television Matthew was nowhere in sight Matthew was an adventurer a tease He liked to play hide-and-seek So Tina began a room-by-room search through the house When Tina found him in 5-10 minutes she went outside She found Matthew in the bade yard hanging from the upper cross bar on the swing set He was wearing a loose-knit pullover sweater that had become caught on a bolt protruding from the crossbar and the open hook that held the chain Tina screamed for her husband Bill ran outside took his son down from the swing and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation She phoned paramedics who arrived and quickly took over But it was too late Matthew died of strangulation It is not clear how the child became It is believed that he dimbed die slide then scrambled up on the crossbar slipped and strangled Matthew had tremendous upper body and arm strength for his age his mother said He was good at chinning himself on almost anything "A million children could play on a swing set and never get in that position But one in a million is more than Tina said There was nothing unusual about the swing set A lot of sets like it can be found in rack yards and on playgrounds everywhere The Shubins could not bear to look at it after death so it was dismantled and has been in storage Una urged parents to check out any playground equipment their youngsters use at equipment from the eyes of a kid lines SEATTLE Death can come on the set in your own bade yard Una Shubin Fullerton knows that only too welL Last April Una and her husband Bill and their sons Matthew and Patrick 7 had had a pleasant Sunday Una was in her seventh month of pregnancy with the daughter While Bill reassembled the crib they had used for the boys Tina got clothes ready for the new baby Periodically their sons zipped in and out of the house in the high spirits shared by brothers They played on the swing set in the back yard Tina was loading laundiy into the washer sumer-product-safety act if it finds hazardous equipment At a Whittier day care center a 216-year-old girl was found hanging on the crossbar of a swing about 3 feet off the ground her head See Swing sets 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