Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 40

obituaries DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1986 9C Role of Prussian of ficer fit Preminger for life 1 w'i Mitzi Gaynor and Jean-Pierre Rampal are among the headliners 7 VCV 1 scheduled for Meadow Brook this summer. Meadow Brook goes for nostalgic summer By LAWRENCE DeVINE Fre Pres Staff Writer Autocratic film director Otto Preminger once voted the most hated man in Hollywood had a 50-year screen career in which he made some of Hollywood's best pictures and several of its worst. Preminger was 80 when he died early Wednesday at his home on New York's upper east side after a long fight with cancer. With him was his third wife, Hope Bryce Preminger, a former model 20 years his junior whom he married in 1958. Over the decades, Preminger cultivated a dictatorial personal style and a public image that fit his Germanic accent, shiny bald pate, tall stature and forbidding smile.

Preminger's gift for self-publicity helped carve into the public memory his major screen successes like "Laura," "The Moon Is Blue," "The Man with the Golden Arm," "Stalag 17," "Exodus" and "Anatomy of a Murder," which he filmed in the Upper Peninsula near Marquette. His dominant personality tended to obscure or shift the onus for major flops he directed, including the infamous 1957 "St. Joan" with Joan Seberg, "Forever Amber," "Hurry Sundown," "Such Good Friends," "Bonjour Tristesse" and "Skidoo," which film historian Leslie Halliwell called "one of the most woebegone movies ever made." He never won an Oscar. HIS WIFE Hope once described the private Preminger as "pure mush." But as a director, his style often was to threaten and rail at actors, calling them from whom he expected obedience. Preminger was born in Vienna, son of a Jewish father who was attorney general of the Austrian Empire.

Preminger, who in 1935 fled to the United States from the Nazi takeover, ironically made his first public successes as shaven-headed German villains in the 1939 Broadway play "Margin for Error" and the 1942 movie "The Pied Piper." The image of a Prussian general followed Preminger the rest of his career. His imperious style did not prevent screen assignments, which led to a career Left: Director Otto Preminger demonstrates a love scene with Eva Marie Saint during filming of "Exodus" in Israel in 1960. Above: This undated photo of Preminger was his favorite. ri liinrnfi iirfiiffiiimii itin am uttrtinii niurr i mmmmiim July 5: The Nylons, the Laredos, (Fire works) July 11: Ferrante Teicher Preminger's movies ran the Hollywood gamut July 12: Jean-Pierre Rampal, Detroit Symphony, Varujan Kojian, conductor July 14: Roger Whittaker July 18-19: Johnny Mathis July 21: Pia Zadora July 22: Summer Solid Gold II, starring Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Lou Christie, Freddie Cannon July 25: "Salute to Broadway," Detroit Symphony, Skitch Henderson, conduc' tor, Margaret Whiting, Robert Carroll July 26: "Salute to the Big Bands," Tex Beneke, Helen Forrest, Paula Kelly By the Associated Press Here is a list of films that Otto Preminger directed or acted in (the latter marked by an asterisk) Die Grosse Llebe (Austrian) 1932 Under Your Spell 1936 Danger, Love At Work 1937 The Pled Piper 1942 They Got Me Covered 1942 Margin for Error 1943 (directed and acted) In the Meantime, Darling 1944 Laura 1944 Royal Scandal 1945 Where Do We Go From Here 1945 Centennial Summer 1946 Fallen Angel 1946 Forever Amber 1947 Daisy Kenyon 1947 That Lady In Ermine 1948 The Fan 1949 Whirlpool 1950 Where the Sidewalk Ends 1950 The Thirteenth Letter 1951 Angel Face 1952 The Moon Is Blue 1953 Stalag 17 1953 River of No Return 1954 Carmen Jones 1954 The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell 1955 The Man with the Golden Arm 1956 Bonjour Tristesse 1957 Saint Joan 1957 Porgy and Bess 1959 Anatomy of a Murder 1959 Exodus 1960 Advise and Consent 1961 The Cardinal 1963 In Harm's Way 1965 Bunny Lake Is Missing 1965 Hurry Sundown 1967 Skidoo 1968 Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon 1970 Such Good Friends 1972 Rosebud 1975 The Human Factor 1979 The Modernaires Aug. 1: Peter, Paul Mary Aug.

2: Tony Bennett, Rosemary that ranged the Hollywood spectrum from "The Fan" (an adaption of an Oscar Wilde work with Nostalgia and golden oldies dominate the schedule for this summer's Meadow Brook Music Festival. Four of the 23 programs are billed as Summer Solid Gold, and feature package concerts of pop stars of the 1950s and 1960s, including Roy Orbi-son, Mary Wells the Supremes, Three Dog Night and Jerry Lee Lewis. "Salute" concerts celebrate the music of Broadway, Hollywood, the Big Band era and Vienna, while the list of stars headlining their own shows includes Liberace, Mitzi Gaynor, Johnny Mathis and Pia Zadora. All concerts are held at 8 p.m. in the Baldwin Pavilion on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester.

Information on season subscriptions and a brochure on the summer schedule are available by calling the Meadow Brook box office at 377-2010 9-6 daily starting Monday. Concerts in the Meadow Brook Music Festival include: June 18: Mitzi Gaynor June 20-21: Liberace June 27: Debbie Reynolds Donald O'Connor June 28: Engelbert Humperdinck July 2: Summer Solid Gold starring Mary Wilson the Supremes, Junior Walker the Stars, the Marvellettes, Mary Wei's, the Contours, (Fireworks) July 4: The Lettermen, Tom Paxton, (Fireworks) i Clooney Aug. 8: "The Golden Boys of Bandstand" with Frankie Avalon, Fabian, screenplay co-written by Dorothy Parker), to the cheery "Centennial Summer" with Jeanne Crain and Cornell Wilde, to the well-remembered 1950 tough-cop picture "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (written by blacklisted Ben Hecht under the pseudonym Rex Bobby Rydell Aug. 9: "An Evening in Old Vienna," Detroit Symphony, Charles Greenwell, Connor) with Preminger's "Laura" co-stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. conductor, Louise Russell, John walk' er Released in 1944, "Laura is generally regarded as Aug.

12: "Summer Solid Gold III" starring Frankie Valli The Four Preminger's masterpiece. "Everybody's favorite chic murder mystery," said the New Yorker magazine in Seasons, Three Dog Night 1977. Aug. 15-16: "Music from the Great As age began to limit his energies, Preminger Motion Pictures," Meadow Brook Fes tival Orchestra, Erich Kunzel, conduc tor, Lewis Dale von Schlanbusch welcomed the furor around his 1953 "The Moon is Blue," remembered as the first Hollywood film to use the words "virgin" and "pregnant." He depicted the world of the drug addict in "The Man With the Golden Arm" with Frank Sinatra. He was one of the first modern directors to try big-budget pictures with black casts, succeeding with "Carmen Jones" and foundering with a version of "Porgy and Bess." IN 1931, according to United Press International, worked less and less.

He made only eight films in the last 22 years, the most notable the 1965 "In Harm's Preminger married Marion Mills, who divorced him 18 years later because of his "violent temper." He married Mary Gardner in 1951, who divorced him in 1957. With third wife Hope Bryce, he had twins, the only children of any of his marriages. He had a son, Erik Kirkand, out of wedlock with stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Erik reconciled with his father in 1970 after his mother's death and took Preminger's name. Aug.

17: Summer Solid Gold IV, Way" an all-star Pearl Harbor story with John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Kirk Douglas. I never seek controversy or foresee it for my with Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis Aug. 29: Lou Rawls, Maynard Fergu son pictures," he once said in an interview. But he Craftsmanship was Best of Detroit talent will star in annual show Harpist Dorothy Ashby made her mark in jazz mark of woodwork Name Ji Becker ex-WSU teacher Described by his former boss as "the most meticulous, consummate Some of the best of Detroit will be onstage at the annual "Detroit Talent Showcase," Wednesday. This year's showcase, at 7 p.m.

in the Wallace F. Smith Performing Arts Center on the Orchard Ridge campus of Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, is an adaptation of the "Saturday show bits Gertha Coffee By W. KIM HERON Free Press Staff Writer Among jazz musicians she was a rarity, a harpist who could improvise in the foreground as well as add color to the background. Dorothy Ashby, who was born and raised in Detroit, recorded extensively craftsman that anyone could encounter," Wilfred Becker could design and build nearly anything with wood. His projects included a line of educa tional toys, two church altars and many projects for Wayne State Uni versity, where he taught art for 35 years before retiring in 1984.

Mr. Becker, 63, died Sunday in New Night Live" format. 1 Some 30 commercial and film actors will be featured, including Bethany Carpenter, Andrew Mel-len, Ellie Smith, Peggy Thorp, Rick Hudson, Port Rlchey, where he had lived. A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. May and built a solid reputation as a jazz musician before she moved to Santa Monica, in 1972 to concentrate on more lucrative studio work as an accompanist the industrial design program at Wayne State and was assistant chairman of the art and art history department for many years.

He held bachelor's and master's degrees from WSU and studied at Central Michigan and Cornell universities. He also worked as a design consultant for Ford Motor Co. Many of Mr. Becker's former students hold positions in the design departments of major corporations, including auto companies, Bilaitis said. From 1965 to 1967, Mr.

Becker was president of the Northville Board of Education and earlier served in other positions on the board. In 1977, he received the first layman of the year award from the Northville Kiwanis Club. Mr. Becker is survived by his wife, Audrey; a son, Gary; daughters Margaret Gilbert, Christie Becker and Merilee Kreutzberg, and 10 grandchildren. 17 at First United Methodist Church in Northville.

"He was always involved with cre i ating interesting things out of wood," said Richard Bilaitis, chairman of the art and art history department at Wayne State. "They were modest works of art, but very beautiful because of his craftsmanship and knowl edge of materials." Mr. Becker taught and co-ordinated years ago in Japan, her husband said. Kafi Patrice Nassoma, a Detroit jazz harpist currently in New York to record her first album, recalled falling in love with the instrument at age 1 1 after hearing Mrs. Ashby perform.

"She was so many light-years ahead of all the harpists who are not playing classical music that it would be hard to follow in her footsteps," said Nassoma. THERE HAVE BEEN only a few other harpist in jazz, including Corky Hale, a contemporary of Mrs. Ashby, and Alice Coltrane, who recorded as a harpist on a number of albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The long, mellifluous tones of the instrument work against the sharper attacks needed for jazz. At the same time, the forethought required to manipulate the instrument's seven foot pedals works against spontaneity.

Nonetheless, Mrs. Ashby strove to transfer what she learned from jazz and from her musician father to the unwieldy instrument. "A lot of people are not willing to give the time to where they can create on the harp," she said. Said her husband, "She was a pioneer in the true sense of the word." Despite her considerable reputation in jazz circles, Mrs. Ashby was hindered by the widespread decline of jazz clubs in the 1960s as rock music came to the fore.

After moving to California, she recorded with a number of pop artists, including Bill Withers and the group Earth, Wind and Fire. She was an accompanist to many jaz? aritsts, including Hubert Laws and Freddie Hubbard. In her studio work, she was able to earn in a few hours what her work on entire records as a group leader had earned. Her husband said that Mrs. Ashby 's body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over Santa Monica Bay on Sunday after a memorial service.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Ashby is survived by her mother, Julia Thompson. marketing director and subscription manager. With longtimer Peakes calling the shots, indications are that it will be business as usual at BoarsHead. BRUNCH WITH BACH: Three concerts will be offered in May on the Detroit Institute of Arts popular "Brunch with Bach" season.

Performances will be given at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in the DIA's indoor garden cafe, Kresge Court. Two menus are offered each week, at $8.50 for the complete brunch or $7.50 for a lighter brunch. A limited number of concert-only seats are available for $3.

Advance registration required. Call 832-2730 The May program includes: May 4, Vincent Lionti, viola, and Jacqueline Schmitt, piano, for a performance that includes Franck's 1886 Sonata; May 1 1 a special Mother's Day program featuring Baroque music of Frescobaldi and Coprario, performed by Thomas Clr-tin, recorder, Patricia Nordstrom, viola da gamba, and Daniel Jencka, harpsichord; and May 18, Brahms' Horn Trio, Opus 40, performed by Bryan Kennedy, French horn, Margaret Tundo, violin, and Fontaine Laing, piano. No concert is planned for the Memorial Day weekend. briefly noted: ON THE AGENDA; Spark Film Series presents "The Anvil and the Hammer," a documentary on the current turmoil in South Africa, at 7 p.m. Sunday at Pullman Hall, 4605 Cass at Forest, Detroit.

Admission is $2.50 for Kent Chadwick, 73, owned trucking company Kent Chadwick saw his trucking company grow from two station wag ons to a fleet of 11 trucks. Mr. Chad wick, 73, of West Branch, about 50 miles north of Bay City, died Monday at a hospital in West Branch. for pop stars. Mrs.

Ashby, AsnbY 55, lost a long battle with cancer and died at home on April 13, according to her husband, TV writer John Ashby. Mrs. Ashby, the daughter of a big band guitarist, fell in love with the harp while a student at Cass Technical High School. "I liked the sound, the colors and the fact that it was a real challenge to try things that were pianistic on the harp," she told a Free Press reporter three years ago when she performed at the Detroit Institute of Arts. After graduating from Cass Tech, Mrs.

Ashby continued her studies at Wayne State University. Pianist Bess Bonnier, also a student then, recalled Mrs. Ashby as "a very gentle woman, but strong." Mrs. Ashby began playing in nightclubs in about 1953. Soon afterward she was heard at a club by Count Basie's flutist and saxophonist, Frank Wess.

"He said he was going to talk to some record companies about me, and I said, 'Sure, Mrs. Ashby was quoted as saying. Her meeting with Wess led to her record debut on the Savoy label, and to a dozen other albums for various labels. She last recorded an album of her own an all-harp album about 1 He began trucking Bay City Times newspapers in 1948 and began hauling the Free Press in 1953. At one time, he also hauled lumber from the Upper Peninsula to Bay City.

Mr. Chadwick attended St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Branch. Survivors include his wife, Marion; a brother, and a sister. Services will be 1 1 a.m.

Friday at St. Joseph. Burial will be in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, West Branch. A graduate of LaSalle University near Chicago and a Michigan state trooper in the mid-1940s, Mr.

Chad wick owned Kent Chadwick a trucking company that hauls papers for the Free Press and the Detroit News. Ochs Laurie Logan, and Jim Ochs, who will be the guest host of the production. Actors Ralph Valatka, along with actor Hal Doyle and comedian Tim Allen, have written the script for this year's showcase. Tickets are $5 and available by calling Marsha at 548-2500, weekdays. PARKING PLAN: Detroit Symphony spokeswoman Elizabeth Scott reports that symphony patrons with pre-paid parking will still be able to use the Ford Auditorium underground parking garage this weekend.

However, the garage will be closed to all others, she said. SUMMER AT HILBERRY: The three plays that Hilberry Theatre hopes to take to Scotland's Edinburgh Festival this August will open here at home in three straight nights in July to kick off the theater's annual summer festival. "Wenceslaus Square" by Larry Shue will open July 15, followed immediately by Hilberry director Von H. Washington's own show "The Operation" July 16 and by new Wayne State theaters director Howard Barman's original, "4 4" July 17. The three "Edinburgh Festival plays," as Hilberry is calling them, will be in the downstairs Studio Theatre in the Hilberry building at Cass and Hancock.

The 1986 summer festival opens for children's audiences with "I Didn't Know That!" July 8 on the Hilberry mainstage. ARTISTIC MOVE: John Peakes, who with partner Richard Thomsen founded Lansing's BoarsHead Theatre 20 years ago, will take over as artistic director June 1. Peakes, a BoarsHead pillar who is widely known in Michigan for his acting and directing, replaces Nancy-Elizabeth Kammer who came in after Thomsen left for New York to run the Chelsea Theatre there. The shake-up at the BoarsHead also includes new producing director Christine Chernis, a new business manager, Robert Fleischer, 74, pharmacist for 50 years A memorial service for pharmacist Robert L. Fleischer will be at 2 p.m.

adults; 75 cents for youths under 18. Show Bits is compiled with Free Press staff and wire reports. Send information including telephone number and the exact hours the phone is answered to Show Bits, Detroit Free Press, Detroit 48231. tion. He was also a member of Kappa Psi, a pharmaceutical fraternity, and an appointed member of the Dean's Liaison Committee of the College of Pharmacy of Wayne State University.

He was a past president and board member of the WSU Pharmacy Alumni Association and a member of the Board of Trustees of Detroit Institute of Technology. Mr. Fleischer is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; a son, Richard; a daughter, Margaret Hall; a brother, and five grandchildren. Sunday at Holy Communion Lutheran Church, 11111 Whittier, Detroit. Mr.

Fleischer, 74, of St. Clair Shores, died Saturday at Cottage Rose Villa Nursing Center, Roseville. He was a pharmacist and executive for Ketchum Distributors Inc. of Detroit for 50 years. He was a member of the American, Michigan and metropolitan Detroit pharmaceutical associations and the National Wholesale Druggists Associa- deaths elsewhere CLIFF FINCH, 59, former governor in town Symphony of Mississippi, has died in Batesville, Miss.

A Democrat, he was a member of the state's House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964. He served as governor from 1975 to 1979 and mount fortheU.S. Senate in 1978. MIRCEA ELIADE, 79, a Romanian-born authority on the history of religions, has died in Chicago. Eliade taught at the University of Bucharest from 1932 to 1939.

He was a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes at the Sorbonne in Paris before joining the faculty at the University of Chicago. Eliade taught at the university's Divinity School since 1956 and founded the" Journal of the History of Religions in 1960. DETROIT SYMPHONY plays works of Antal Doratl, 8 p.m., Ford Auditorium. 567-1400 anytime. DENNIS DAY, 9 p.m., Top Hat, Windsor.

963-3742, 9 a.m.-1 a.m. daily. DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS ALL-CITY DANCE CONCERT, 7 p.m. Martin Luther King High School, 3200 E. Lafayette.

494-1165, 8-4 weekdays. COUNTRY MUSIC TALENT CONTEST, finals competition, 8 p.m.. High Kicker Saloon, 593 W. Kennett, Pontiac. 334-5550, 11 a.m.-2 a m.

dairy. "SING FOR YOUR SUPPER" opening night 8 Meadow Brook Theatre, Oakland University, Rochester. 377-3300, noon-8 p.m. EDWARD TISCH, 57 A funeral for Edward Tisch, head tailor at the Sears, Roebuck Co. store at Oakland Mall, will be at 11 a.m.

today at St. Hugo of the Hills Roman Catholic Church, Bloomfield Hills. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery, Clinton Township. Mr. Tisch, 57, of Troy, died Monday at University Hospitals, Ann Arbor.

He was a member of the German-American Marksmen Club. He is survived by his wife, Maria; a daughter, Gabriele Campoli; a brother, and a sister. Finch ed an unsuccessful primary campaign.