Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 139

mu Movies 2 3 Television 7-10 Theater 34 Hobbles 16 Art 4 Calendar II Music 2 5 6 Travel 12-15 TV pullout section paget 7-10 Xirljmond eimea-Btepatcb "VW Rumors of swing in shadow of the comeback loorii big band sound By CJL Bustard Timet-Dupatch Staff Writer big band sound is coming That hopeful assertion has cropped up repeatedly ever since the big bands went away victims of shifting tastes and strained travel budgets in the 1950s The swing comeback is being heralded again this year perhaps with more supporting evidence than usual Big-band music is a growing presence on the radio Jazs dating from the siring era draws ever-larger crowds to concert halls and nightclubs nostalgia has become established as a potent durable quantity in entertainment pop performers from Barry Manilow to the Manhattan Transfer freely tap the swing idiom in crafting an sound And from Larry vantage youthful curiosity can be added to all those factors a veteran trombonist who took over leadership of the Glenn Miller Orchestra last year has observed lot of kids seeing the band and they are astounded by what they The Miller Orchestra will take over the bandstand of the main ballroom of Hotel John Marshall tonight at 8 Remaining tickets for the dance-concert will be sold at the door O'Brien in a recent telephone interview traced youthful interest in the big-band sound to a yen for musical variety especially when the new and different music also qualifies as Some of the appeal among listeners too young to remember its namesake (Glenn Millar disappeared over the English Channel at the height of World War H) can be traced to those old movies from the IQs and '40s you see on late-night and cable Then there is the disco factor The prevalent dance steps of the mid-70s disco craze were energized variants of the ballroom dances of the swing era think the kids found touch dancing a nice suggested of twirling off into in the wiannpr of rock roll choreography Not to mention the novelty of it all: lot of young people are Just astounded that a band of this size (17 pieces) has no guitar And yet we've still got some hot players on the stand who can really perform That realty appeals to The novelty extends beyond the absence of guitars noted Swing was the last music style to rise before the coming of sion in the era of the big bands people listened to performers Audiences were more attuned to aural than visual sensations people relied more on their ears today have to be more visuaL Luckily Miller always had an unusually visual band Today about as visual as you can get without Jumping off the bandstand and physically attacking The visuals begin without delay in many Miller band shows with an almost gymnastically campy rendition' of American early on in the show is the latest leader of a band with a highly distinctive sound The sonic trademark of the group he said a clarinet lead and a saxophone section and with a tenor sax doubling and two other saxes doing harmonies There is heavy use of mutes and plungers in the horns which Miller used more than other bandleaders many lead clarinet players around in Jazz be added sax is definitely more 7 Tbe old Glenn Miller arrangements such swing classics as Brown al and of course the signature tune are tbe exclusive property of the unit led by and the classics remain the heart of the show But the leader and arranger Billy May stay on the lookout for contemporary material as welL are careful to pick out new material that lends itself to the Miller style and with the idea of having something that will stay around for a while Arrangements and rehearsal time are an expensive proposition so we want to get maximum mileage out of each Tbe familiarity and novelty of an old style with selected new sounds has kept the Miller band on the road about 50 weeks of the year to the past 25 said know whether nostalgia or something new or a combination of both but something is attracting people Most of our shows are sellouts think got staying power and I sure see our popularity This time aroundi the Mg bands may be coming back to reaL 'A lot of young people are just astounded that a band of this size (17 pieces) has no guitar And yet still got some hot players on the stand who can really perform That really appeals to Larry Trombonist and Leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra Theater marks 10th with film made here WRLH-TV Viewing TV Columnist Douglas Durden Channel 35 due Feb 13 This weds weather and equipment permitting Richmond will get its first new TV station since IMS WRLH-TV whose call letters include for Richmond and and for two of its founders Gene Loving and Harvey Hudson is scheduled to begin commercial broadcasting on Saturday WRLH Channel 35 is an UHF (ultra high frequency) station which means viewers will need to turn to their UHF dial to receive the channel Just as they do Channel 21 It is also an independent station Unlike WXEX WTVR and WWBT WRLH is not affiliated with a network And that means Channel 35 which will serve Richmond Petersburg and Hopewell has to buy or produce all of its own programming Looking at the Channel 351 tentative schedule rather obvious which audience the station is aiming for during the course of a broadcast day For instance early mornings belong to the young viewers as cartoon shows predominate from 7 through 130 am Programming for the Older housebound viewer starts at 930 am with followed by Christian Broadcast Continued on Page 4 COL 1 Art show By Robert Merritt Timei-Ditpatch Staff Writer The year of 1982 is being celebrated as the tricentenial of Norfolk dating back to tbe purchase of 50 acres from Nicholas Wise to create the town in 1682 and the Chrysler Museum decided to do things up right with a major historical exhibition Tricentential Celebration: Norfolk 1682- is not so much an art exhibition as a celebration of local history Featuring some 250 objects the show includes paintings prints and craft objects portraits and costumes the bulk of tbe show consists of large photographic pan- els honoring major aspects of Peninsula history The show which will remain on view through July 18 is nonetheless a major undertaking The results of the research are being compiled to a catalog (due out later this month) that is already being described by city officials as a milestone event the first folly developed histo- 7 A 4x 4 Silver pitcher circa 1791 ry of Norfolk Portsmouth Virginia Beach and Chesapeake The curatorial team to the show was headed by Dr David Steadman director of the Chrysler Museum with Beth Rossheim as guest coordinating curator Adrians included Drs Betsy Fahlman and Peter Stewart of Old Dominion University and Mark Clark curator of decorative arts at the museum The show is divided into major aspects of city history Opening with a section on the Revolutionary period of Tidewater history the chronology moves on to feature the all-important harbor activity developing city life of the 19th century the streetcars tourist development at the beaches and activities during the two World Wars Many of the people and events are recorded from paintings and objects but most of the By Carole Kass and Charm of the Bour- Timet-Dispatch Staff Writer which won an Academy Award that The Biograph Theater is celebrating its 10th year But the festival engendered only a luke-anniversary this week with tbe local premiere warm response of Dinner With the Loris Malle In 1973 the theater played Devil in Miss film shot at the Hotel Jefferson last year The an X-rated film which was used in court producers the stare and the director have been to establish local standards of invited to attend the pre-screening party the obscenity benefit showing and the supper to Mow Thurt- As Rea remembers surrendered the day night film to the Attorney aa eri- Tbe Biograph theater opened at 814 Grace dence we never made him confiscate it to St Just off the Virginia Commonwealth Univer- a test of obscenity laws We were sity campus on Feb 12 1972 with a double anxious to find out what the limit was The feature of of and Thousand court restrained us from showing it to more David Levy and Alin Rubin who oper- than nine days That restraining order became ated tbe successful Biograph Theater in Wash- a media event Every show was sold ington thought Richmond would be receptive to The X-rated films currently shown at the an independent theater that specialized in art Biograph are as as those 10 years films foreign films and the non-commercial ago Rea says they are just as films that attracted college students and other That year also saw the first of the costume film fans 100 miles north contests associated with midnight shows that But in the same year that Poor Richards culminated in the long run Horror Pic-opened and The Richmond Mercury started fore which is still packing in oddly publishing the new theater was not a success dressed viewers who in the musical True with Mick Jagger and comedy "Monterey drew lots of young music lov- In 1974 the Biograph's second anniversary en as would later But it was the was celebrated with the premiere of midnight shows like of the Living a film shot in one month by staff and and that kept the friends of tbe theater at a cost of about 100 Tb theater afloat As manager Terry Rea said keep costs down the same people in various recently played more than 200 different hate glaaes and beards moved around the the-films that first year and lost a pile of ater playing movie goers Essentially a chase So the next year the theater tried something new: A spring festival of first-run movies Ukc Continued on Page 6 CoL 1 celebrates 300 years portraits are reproduced in photographs and some of tbe objects are reproductions The 1776 fire that destroyed nearly every building in Norfolk is represented in a contemporary (1969) painting and the famed Fuller White Norfolk Mace the original of which ft owned by the Virginia National Bank in Norfolk is shown in a reproduction There are however a great- many artistic curiosities A banner created to 1836 centennial celebration (based on the creation of tbe borough) is tbe center piece of the room depicting the official borough insignia with its Latin slogan the Another oddity is a tent-stitch picture of done by Elizabeth Booh of a prominent Norfolk family when she was 16 years old On loan from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem NC the work was created by Misa Boush while she was attending Miss Elizabeth Norfolk School to Young IjiIIw Also featured is British Benjamin Henry of tbe Norfolk a watercolor painted in 1796 on a tour of Virginia and owned by tbe Maryland Historical Society There is a colorful watercolor of painted by Thomas Hoones Williamson in tbe 19th century from memory and several paintings of historical sigificance by unknown artists most dealing with the Norfolk harbor Moving up to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition the show indudes a series of six paintings of the Merrimac and the Virginia (later renamed the Monitor) done by Benjamin Ad worth Richardson and reproduced on postal cards to the Exposition Portrait works indude the Thomas Sully painting of John Myers painted in 1808 and on loan from the Myers House a portrait of Eliza Andrews Higgins daughter of a Norfolk silversmith attributed to Cephus Thompson and a bust of Christopher Columbus executed by Alexander Galt in 1853 Photographic panels record other aspects of city history Architectural examples from the 19th century including homes built in the Georgian Federal Greek Revival Single and Romanesque Revival styles are depicted as well as early photos of the Princess Anne Hotel tbe Cavalier Hotel and the Beach Club all pioneering efforts in developing Peninsula tourist interests In a related show Brooks Johnson curator of photography at the Chrysler Museum has organized an exhibition titled 300 Years Later Three Featured are the works of 19 photographers who sought to depict the dty in their own style dining a three-day period last November The photography show will remain on view through April 4 Die Chrysler Museum is open from 10 am to 4 pm Tuesday through Saturday and from 1 to 5 pm on Sunday Mildred Dunnock Museum honors veteran actress Actress Mildred Dunnock who starred in the original Broadway production and in the CBS television production et of a will be presented the fourth annual Virginia Museum Theater Award to Outstanding Contribution to the American Profemional Theater on Frit 28 Tbe 82-year-old Miss Dunnock will accept tbe award after participation in a rehearsed reading of a new play and tbe Baby by native Richmonder Barbara Allan Hite Tbe reading will be an invitational event to members of the Virginia Museum Theater Guild and others associated with the theater and will also feature Marie Goodman Hunter Terry Burgler Washington actress Phyllis Baker and Betty Allan Collins the sister Previous recipients of the Virginia Museum Theater award created by artistic director Tom Markus have been Irene Worth John Houseman and Helen Hayes Min Dunnock was born in Baltimore She earned a BJL from Goocher College and an MA from Columbia University and studied acting with Maria Ouspens-kaya Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan After making her professional stage debut in 1932 Begiw" to New York) she toured with Katharine Cornell in and in 1938 and appeared in the New York production of Corn Is in 1940 She was also featured with George Cohan in Will You in 1941 Perhaps her most remembered role came in 1949 when she played Linda Loman in Arthur of a a role she later recreated on CBS television opposite Lee Cobb She was also highly acclaimed to her portrayal of Big Mama in Tennessee On A Hot Tin in 1955 Miss Dunnock first appeared in films with the 1945 production of Corn She has also starred in such classics as of and Bird of Biograph Theater opened on Feb 12 1972 I.