The Daily Herald from Arlington Heights, Illinois • Page 36

Astronaut re-entry problems Cliff Robertson plays 'Buzz' Aldrin bv Joan Hanauer during the filming of the television movie --After you've walked on the moon, what do you do for an encore? hat was the problem Col. Edwin E. Buzz" Aldrin far ed after he followed Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface to become the second human to walk on the moon. I he flight to the moon was as easv as a stroll down Main street for Aldrin, compared to the' re-entry problems he faced in finding a place for himself bac on Earth. NASA used him as an amateur lobbyist to pry funds from a reluctant Congress so reluctant, in fact, that it cut back on the space shuttle program that Aldrin considered his future.

It's this re-entry problem that is focus of "Return to Earth," a television movie based on Melon's book, sc heduled to air Friday at 8:10 p.m. as the sec ond halt of ABC's Friday Night Movie double feature. The moon landing provides a backdrop for the credits, because this is not story of the dramatic landing, but rather what happened after a drama of the struggle within a man to find peace with himself and to fight off the crippling effects of severe depression, which drove him to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. It's a difficult role for Cliff Robertson, since the actor saw Aldrin an essentially private person and the very nature of depression involves withdrawal into the self; demanding subtlety and providing no Opportunity for chewing the scenery or splaying the boyish charm that Robertson can bring to the screen. Robertson worked with Aldrin and became friendly with the former astronaut and in an interview the actor said Working with Buzz, he seemed a very private person, that was compounded bv his academic background West Point, completely scientific and military.

By nature these private, private people, with less emotional color to their characters, more prone to depression and less able to give expression to their problems." In Aldrin case, he had been brought up by an ambitious military father (Ralph Bellamy in this version) and a mother who. tells a psyc hiatrist, one to commit and probably welcomed death when it later tame. Etis goals were his life, and his wife (played by Shirley Knight) and children were part of the picture of the very model of a modern colonel-astronaut until it all fell apart. "Would Aldrin have had psychiatric problems it he hadn gone to the moon?" Robertson mused. "Very likely not.

Everybody has his stress point and Aldrin's came when he returned and was sent out on an endless round of speechmaking. His whole orientation was going to the moon. But nobody spent any time or money anticipating what would happen to the astronauts after they came back from the moon," Robertson has been increasingly interested in mental health ever since he made the television plav, "The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon," and the movie, "Charly." But his concentration has been on helping the retarded Charly Cordon was a retardate and currently is chairman of the Community Advisory Board of the Are you a TV addict With tongue in cheek, Nicholas Johnson, chairman of the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting, savs television can be just as addictive as alcohol. The answers to these 10 questions, he says, will help determine if you a TV addict: 1. Do you turn down the set when you answer the phone so the caller won't know you're watching television? 2.

Do you stay up late watching television, but can't remember next morning what you saw 3. Do you have to watch a television program as soon as you get up in the morning? 4. Do you suddenly find you have watched several programs in a row without thinking about it? 5. hen you have visitors, do you find it impossible to turn off the set or to carry on a conversation without continuing to watch? If unexpected visitors come, do you rush to turn the channel to a "better" program? 7. Did you refuse a soc ial engagement because you didn't want to miss a program, but were ashamed to tell anyone that was the reason? 8.

If you fry to go through an evening without television, do you become nervous and irritable? Do you have trouble figuring out what to do with your eyes? 9. When other people say you're watching too touch television, do you become defensive? 10. Do vou find yourself saying, never watch TV, but I just happened to turn the set on the other night and I mted Pro International Willow (reek THEATRE w. Mwy (M) Rt 53 Coll 358 1155 SHOW ARGAlN MATlMff 'AT 4 SUN tit? 30 THy Brooks' ltlzing SADDLES Company Austin Qalleries 3500 Original Oil Paintings Graphics By leading American and European artists. Ail sizes and subjects priced $19 to S3500.

Included is America's largest selection Of original graphics by Neiman, Rockwell, Dali and Calder. Browse us soon Mam level next to Lord Taylor Woodfield Mall cocxs: 882 0030 Cliff Robertson, who plays astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin, in ABC "Return to Earth," is welcomed home after his walk on the moon ward Mental Health Center for emotionally disturbed youth in Freeport, N.Y. I did charities anybody else, but I never aligned myselt with retardation before Robertson said, speaking of the fictional character almost as though he were alive. But I got involved with retarded kids and I guess I got emotionally kind of hooked. Retardation seems to of those diseases that haven't attracted a lot ot sponsors as though it weren't a clean one like IB.

Actually, they're the last of the innocents." Rerhaps tact that he and his wife, actress Dina Merrill, have a bright daughter, Headier, enters into his feeling for less fortunate youngsters. With harly we opened a lot of closet doors, he said. Mavbe Return to Farth' will help people who suffer depression, or those lose tea them. After all, it it could happen to a hero, an astronaut, Mr Perfect well, it could tappen to anybody, in any profession, of any sex, race or religion." nited Press International on4 .20 Yd- si 70 Select from 1 1 nome brond carpets HOG' All styles colors included Select from of samples Pudding and installation available. Also measuring Jf service available Manufacturer's Price Lists A Your Carpet Invoice Are Open To Your Inspection Hi: mP js HOWARD CARPET Upholstery HOURS Open 1 Doys A Week Hon ond thou, til 9 00 Sundoy 4 2150 PLUM GROVE RD Plum Grove Shopping Center Rolling Meadows ot Euclid, Hum Grove Ktrcholf Hd 359-9500 coir si.