The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 27

0 The Sun Family: How to make grandkids happyD3 Health: Noise pollution can really hurt the earsD4 TV: TV version of 'Robin Hood' airs tonight on FOXD6 mm MONDAY May 13, 1991 Rosemary McClur, Features Editor (714) 889-9666, Ext. 231 Actor Jimmy Smits lays down the 'Law' ByANNTREBBE Gannett News Service ri can 't make a promise that I'm going to play upstanding moral characters all the time like Victor Sifuentes is. 1 Jimmy Smits deal to leave "Law" has been structured "so the door's open." It means, he says, that if the show wants him and he's free, he'll come back for an episode or two. Smits first thought about leaving "Law" two years ago. "I gotta think about the long haul that's what I'm in this for." A planner.

An ambitious, but shy. actor. A guy who's excited about his son's upcoming first communion, but who's nervously picking his nails during an interview that's Jimmy Smits, by most accounts. How is he different from Sifuentes? "Victor has the gift of gab," he says, trying to get comfortable in an overstuffed hotel chair. "The stories 1 have working with him will bore you," says David Kelley, "Law's" executive producer.

"He's a thorough professional who is always prepared. Whatever pages we give him, he gives back even more. He's a shy and private person, but he's very loved on the set." Ricardo Campbell, 34, a New York Times clerk, has known Smits since fifth grade in Brooklyn's S. 213. "We would sit at the end of the day on my stoop I See SMITSD3 "Let me put it like this," Jimmy Smits is saying.

"Six years ago, I was here in New York doing theater and television work, and I felt like, you know, it's time to spread your wings. Put your money where your mouth is. Test the waters. Give it a shot. Go out to L.

A. and see what's up." Sounds like a bad-cliche rap song, doesn't it? It's just Smits' way of making a point. And now, "L.A. Law's" cool Latino litigator is making the same point again. Testing the waters.

Feeling that itch. Leaving the show. This Thursday's episode, the season finale at 10 p.m. on NBC, will mark Smits' last regular appearance as Victor Sifuentes on the show that has made him a Hispanic role model in the world of acting, as well as a household face so much so that he can't pose for photos outside for this interview because fans will mob him. Smits, 35, will say goodbye to the show that, for him, has opened the doors to movies such as "Switch," his first venture into comedy, now playing.

"He has that fearsome leading man quality but also has a great sense of humor and can be very funny at the same time," says comedian Billy Crystal, a co-star five years ago in "Running Scared." "A big thing for me is the Not Knowing Quotient," Smits says, trying to explain, "about having 10 years pass by and saying, 'You know, I should have What would have happened if. Smits a heartthrob who downplays his sexy image almost to the point of discounting it says the Bizarre book is full of fun tips By MITCH BRODER Gannett News Service paces at the Looking Glass Studio in San Bernardino. into the act gettaiig of young tap dancers through their are i Jimmy Smits There's lite after the 'Law' i Ron Cocking, at left, leads a group Kids Studio trains performers of tomorrow By OWEN SHEERAN Sun Staff Writer on Cocking and Gloria McMillan, who run Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts in San Bernardino, are us ing a successful formula of yesteryear to train the young performers of today. In Hollywood's "Golden Age" of films, the 1930s and '40s, young studio actors were trained in all aspects of performance, including acting, dancing and singing. These days, such well-rounded training is hard to find.

But it's this type of training that is stressed at Looking Glass, say the husband and wife performing arts teachers. It's one of the few studios of its kind in the Southland. And the training is paying off. Since the studio opened in 1974, graduates have landed TV commercials and have been hired as performers in professional theater groups. One graduate now performs with a major ballet company, and another co-stars in a TV series.

"One of our main goals is to instill a love for the arts, so when they reach that certain age and realize what hard work is and what they're looking for. then they will have that love and respect for the arts, and can take their gift out to the world," McMillan said. Dramatic skills are stressed. About one-third of the studio's 500 students nearly 150 take acting classes that use theater games, improvisation and 6 mm Aw It is a good bet you haven't been getting full lueout of your fruit. Not unless you've bctn applying your banana peol.s to your shoes.

Fortunately, the instructions for this arc on page 288: "Kubyour leather sliocs with the inside ol tlic peel: then clean and bull' with a paper towel or napkin." The subheading is "Emergency Shoe Shine" (the heading, of course, is "Banana The chapter is "Common Things With Uncommon And the book is "Practical Problem Solver." which, beyond its innocuous title, is probably the most bizarre work ever published by Reader's Digest. The book sells for $27 and is. on paper, simply the third Digest volume of handy household hints. It is subtitled "Substitutes, Shortcuts and Ingenious Solutions for Making Life Easier." It's a world where eggshells turn into pot scrubbers, paint brushes turn into puppets, zucchini turn into rolling pins and Fris-bees turn into cookie trays. It's where you bolt your boots to buckets as stilts.

It's here you sew together old neckties and wear them as a skirt. "Practical Problem Solver" suggests all these, and always keeps a straight face. But a Reader's Digest spokesman says you don't have to do the same. "I don't really expect anybody to make a home blacksmithing forge out of an old brake drum," says spokesman Fred DuBose. "But it's fun to read.

And it gets across the idea that anything can be used. It may be kitschy, but it may also be useful." Dubose says none ofthe suggestions is a joke. Each idea, he says, was thoroughly tested by the Digest research staff. If you choose to actually try one, you can expect it to work. So.

you confidently can let your mayonnaise moonlight as furniture cleaner. Out ofthe hundreds of "Common Things" listed, the ones for hich the editors found the most "Uncommon Uses" were newspapers. Plastic lids have 1 1 uses, tires and petroleum jelly have 12. milk cartons have 13. tape has 17 but newspapers have 18.

They can be everything from Luggage Freshener to Raccoon Deterrent. They can be Oven Cleaner. Penny Rolls. Boot Dryers, Dusters. Plastic Container Sweeteners, Carpet Padding and Mulch.

'J Photo by GINA FERAZZITha Sun Allison Campbell is student actor. son of Jonathan Winters) in the ABC-TV sitcom Davis Rules." Former student Paul Murphy is on tour with the Houston Ballet. Sheri Baehr, ho teaches jazz at the studio, is appearing in the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera's "Chess." Other noteworthy students include Matthew Smith of San Bernardino, who has done Burger King and Nissan TV commer-icals; Allison Campbell of Red-lands, who appeared in a Hitachi commercial ith Quincy Jones and six members ofthe New York City Ballet, and Christopher Allen. McMillan's son. ho is a member of the national tour of "Meet Me in St.

Louis." hich will open soon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Tplllh: M7 Gloria McMillan, left, watches a rehearsal as students Holly Larsen and 1 i feelings." Working with older children, 7-year-olds to teenagers, however, is a little more difficult. "You have to start unwrapping a lot of things, because with 13-and 14-year-olds, a self-consciousness comes about. There's an uncomfortableness with themselves." she said. "What I try and teach is the feeling they're the instrument.

They have to learn how to risk in front of a group." Ti studio's otherclasses. which include instruction in singing, classical ballet, jaz and tap dance, are also broken down into specific age uroups. savs McMillan. Brandon Lootens wait their turn. More than half of the students study more than one discipline.

Actors aren't only actors, dancers aren't only dancers, and singers aren't only singers. "We don't want them to be badly trained." McMillan said. "We don't want them, when they're 25 years old and they have this wonderful opportunity, to say. 'Why didn't Gloria and Ron tell me I was going to need We don't ant anybody that we've worked with to be unprepared." The studio has an impressive list of success stories. Last summer.

16-year-old Trevor Bullock of Riverside landed the role ofthe teenage son of Randy Quaid (and grand scenes from classical to contemporary plays as their focus. McMillan, a professional actress who was under contract for nine years with CBS in the "Our Miss Brooks" TV series and most recently appeared in the ABC sitcom "Perfect Strangers," teaches acting classes, as well as tap dancing and the Kinder-Theatre class for children ages 3 to 5. "With the very little ones." she said, "there are no layers to take off. There's no inhibition, no sel f-consciousness. hey learn the technical things, like how to block a scene, how to interact and react to another actor on stage.

It's basically just to have fun and to be aw are of our.