Banner Graphic, Volume 13, Number 44, Greencastle, Putnam County, 27 October 1982 — Page 9

People in the news

Odd casting for new 'Odd Couple' NEW YORK “The Odd Couple” is coming back to life this time with Nancy Walker and Joan Rivers. Yes. with -two women in the roles of those mismatched roommates ! created on Broadway in 1965 by Walter Matthau * -and Art Carney. - “Over the years, a number of actresses have called me . -and said they wanted to do ‘The Odd Couple,’ ” Neil Simon ;says. “I thought it would require a great deal of rewriting, and the concept didn't seem funny to me, so I just let it >go.” •; But then Miss Walker and Miss Rivers entered the scene. *;“One day David Craig, Nancy Walker’s husband, called said he wanted to have lunch with me,” Simon continues. “Over lunch, he said Nancy and Joan wanted to do * the play. I still didn’t think it would work.” % But Miss Walker and Miss Rivers persisted, and Simon 'finally agreed to hear them read his comedy. The two •women proved their point. “I thought it was hilarious,” ;Simon says. ! “Actually, Neil said it was the funniest thing he ever heard,” adds Emanuel Azenberg, who will produce the female version of “The Odd Couple.” Azenberg did this sort of thing once before, when he put Mary Tyler Moore in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” In the role originated by Tom Conti. “The Odd Couple” will open in San Francisco in October 1983 and then play Los Angeles before coming to New York. Simon has done a good deal of rewriting. “It’s basically still ‘The Odd Couple,’ but it will seem like a new play,” he says. “I had to update it to make it more relevant to women’s needs today.” • SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) Rep. Philip Crane admits drinking several beers before being arrested on a charge of drunken driving, but denies he was intoxicated and has pleaded innocent. The congressman’s lawyer entered the plea Tuesday on behalf of the Illinois Republican before Municipal Judge Gary Thomas. Crane, who sought the GOP’s presidential nomination in 1980, did not appear in court. He is running for re-election. Crane, 51, was arrested before dawn Oct. 18 on U.S. 101 north of San Francisco after an officer saw his car weaving, authorities said. In a statement from Washington, Crane admitted he had “at least three beers, maybe four” before leaving San Francisco. But he added. “I do emphatically deny that I was intoxicated or impaired in terms of my driving ability.” • RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Calling singer Kate Smith “one of the great singers of this or any other century,” President Reagan awarded the 73-year-old entertainer the Medal of Freedom. In making the award, the highest award that America can bestow on a civilian, Reagan said Tuesday that Miss Smith “always sang from the heart so we always listened with out hearts.” Miss Smith became synonymous with the song “God Bless America” during World War II and in the years following the war. She was a common sight in helping sell war bonds during the war and was honored with the medal for her activities. Miss Smith, who lives in Raleigh with her sister, was in a wheelchair during Tuesday’s ceremony and did not speak. She suffers from diabetes and related diseases. But Miss Smith’ sister, Helena Steene, responded for the entertainer, telling the president, “thank you very much.” There are 208 previous recipients of the Medal of * Freedom.

Broadway Beat

Raquel happy sex symbol image now past

By JOEY SASSO Raquel Welch is on the verge of middle age and hasn’t I • made a hit movie in years - yet the stunning actress is on I *top of the world. Raquel, basking in the glory of her hit Broadway musical “Woman Of The Year,” speaks can>didly about her new-found happiness and inner peace. I * “I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time,” she says. I * “This is a new beginning, a new phase in my career and I; my life. It’s taken me many years to be accepted for who I ' -am and to be seen as more than just a body. I’m delighted >that I’m 41 years old because you don’t use the sex symbol ' -label at that age.” Raquel credits her husband, Andre Weinfeld, for much of her joy and contentment. “We’re both glad we got married,” she says. “We are very compatible and having a lot of fun. There is no clash of wills between us because Andre is not possessive and doesn’t feel he has to know what I’m doing every minute of the day.” Weinfeld interjects: “Raquel is everything to me - wife, girlfriend, lover, mistress, daughter and mother. And I’m everything to her, too.” “A few years ago, I had sworn off marriage,” Raquel admits. “I had decided it wasn’t an institution for me. I felt I could not combine being an actress, sex symbol, housewife and mother. But then I met Andre. He was polite and charming and didn’t force himself on me. Many people I meet think that because of my screen image I’m a pushover offscreen. But Andre was not like that at all. He may not be the handsomest man in the world, but I am in love with him and he makes me laugh -- what could be more important than that?” *** IN THE WINGS: Frank Sinatra on how he hopes he’s viewed by God: “If He ever thinks enough about me to have an opinion. I hope He thinks. ‘Here’s a decent human being who’s used the talent I gave him to bring some enjoyment into the lives of people, and who helped others less fortunate than he.’” What does 01’ Blue Eyes think the Lord’s favorite Sinatra song might be? “Maybe I Did It His Way.” Former Beatle and drummer Pete Best tells all in an exclusive interview featured in October’s issue of Oui Magazine. A member of what was then termed “The Silver Beatles,” the Liverpool lad talks about his experiences with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, and his expulsion from the band in exchange for Ringo Starr shortly before their phenomenal success. Best is featured with John, Paul

JOAN RIVERS (L), NANCY WALKER In Broadway 'Odd Couple' roles

WASHINGTON (AP) Despite his substantial earnings, G. Gordon Liddy says he has not paid his entire Watergate fine yet because his children need a college education more than the government needs its money. “They'll just give it away for food stamps in Zimbabwe,” Liddy said Tuesday after a judge ordered that $23,812 of his earnings be used to pay off the $40,000 criminal fine levied in 1973. Liddy, who served 52‘ 2 months in jail for his role in Watergate, said he did know whether he will appeal the order issued by U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. at the request of U.S. Attorney Royce C. Lamberth. To satisfy the fine, Robinson ordered that $23,812 of Liddy’s recent book, movie and lecture tour earnings be turned over to the government. Three New York firms that represent Liddy in those ventures have been holding about $38,000 of his recent earnings frozen by previous court orders. Liddy, speaking in a telephone interview from his home in the Maryland suburbs, said he pays $41,000 a year to send four children to college. He said he owes his chief Watergate lawyer, Peter Maroulis. $7,000 of a $250,000 fee, and has outstanding legal debts of greater than $7,000 to other attorneys. “My children need to go to college far more than the government needs $23,800," he said. • NEW YORK (AP) President Reagan's son is off the unemployment line. The Joffrey Ballet is back in rehearsal, so its dancers, including Ronald Prescott Reagan, are back on salary The company ended a four-week, scheduled layoff on Monday to begin preparing for a Dec. 22-26 presentation of “The Taming of the Shrew” at the New York City Center, spokeswoman Rima Corbett said Tuesday. The company will continue performing at least through the middle of January Young Reagan's visits to an unemployment center to draw sl‘2s-a-week jobless benefits drew notice at a time when the White House was under fire for high unemployment nationally. NEW YORK (AP) Actress Myrna Loy is expected to be released soon from Lenox Hill Hospital after being admitted for a "series of tests." say hospital officials. The 77-vear-old actress was admitted Oct. 17. said Henry Shook, the hospital’s night administrator, who declined to describe Miss Loy’s illness. Miss Loy, a Manhattan resident, is best known for her performances with William Powell in “The Thin Man” movie series and the postwar film, “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

and George on a heretofore unreleased audition record free in October’s issue of Oui. in honor of the magazine’s 10th anniversary Sylvester Stallone has made millions with his new Rocky 3 movie, so why is he selling his luxurious Beverly Hills home for more than $2 million? Possibly to buy an even larger one with a whopping $5 million price tag... *** BEHIND THE HEADLINES: Marilyn Monroe’s secret love diary is a sensational and explicit goldmine of information about the star’s extraordinary sex life, insiders reveal. Still very much alive today are confidantes of the late movie queen who share tantalizing glimpses from the controversial Little Red Book which was removed from Marilyn’s Los Angeles home and subsequently vanished from the medical examiner’s office after her mysterious death in 1962. “Sex? - yes. Intrigue? - very little. Muckrakers interested in complex political conspiracies will not find much in Marilyn s diary,” revealed a former 20th Century Fox publicity department assistant and one-time confidante of the blonde bombshell. “Marilyn was heavily into men. She didn’t give a hoot about their political opinions. She was an earthy, guileless beauty. She was no dumb blonde, but she was too much of a romantic to sit down and record details of political intrigues for posterity.” *** SWING SET CONFIDENTIAL: The White Flu is raging through Hollywood - as performers strung out on cocaine cripple the film industry by constantly calling in sick the night after binges, says an expert. “The situation is worse than I can ever remember,” declared Richard Watkins, a top insurance executive who specializes in covering motion picture productions. “Performers and production people stay up until 3 or 5 a m. using cocaine, can’t fall asleep, then phone the set in the morning and say they can t report for work because they’ve got the flu. “It’s causing hell on movie and TV sets all over town," noted Watkins. “For instance, an actor will report for work one day acting fine. That night he uses coke, the next day his nose is running, his voice is heavy - and the sound mixer has to try to make the tones match. There’s just a handful of insurance underwriters who will cover the motion picture business these days, with the situation so bad.”

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October 27,1982, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

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