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INDEX/SECTION B lOBto 15B .2B A.'-:. Section B PEOPLE TALK Chin up, Kirk Kirk Douglas says there once was a time when Hollywood executives tried to hide his chin cleft, which seems like having the Statue of Liberty lay down her torch. "I mean, I think the amount of putty they'd need to fill it up was enough to deter them," he said on an interview on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." "It annoyed me and I said, 'Look, this is what I am and if you don't want me I'm going back to Broadway and work on the stage.'" Douglas has made 72 movies but says he's a failure because his career goal was to be a stage star. Still he thinks movies are more important than stage performances. "If you make a film and that piece of celluloid travels all over the world and, if it's kept up well, will last forever and people all over the world have a chance to see it." Opera fights famine Luciano Pavarotti is heading an operatic version of the Live Aid African famine benefit. Opera stars Agnes Baltsa and Jose Carreras will be joining him in the concert Sunday in Verona, Italy. "I think a number of... (opera singers) got together and said, 'Look, if they can put on a Live Aid concert, why can't we?'" publicist Don Verona said. Organizers also are hoping to recruit tenor Placido Domingo, soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and Leonard Bernstein. The proceeds will go to UNICEF in Ethiopia and Sudan. Come clean on look-alikes With his shaved head, single earring and bulging muscles, Jim Wortman is the walking, talking incarnation of Mr. Clean. Wortman, 38, a print shop foreman in Springfield, Va., won the Washington area's Mr. Clean Look-alike Contest and will advance to the national competition. "I've looked this way for years," the former Marine said. "I figured I might as well make a little money from it." To finish off his Mr. Clean look, Wortman said he had to clip the blonde hair from a doll and paste it on his face to achieve the white eyebrows of the liquid soap's symbol. The judges included look-alikes for Groucho Marx, Jimmy Carter, Tina Turner and Billy Dee Williams. The winner of the national competition gets a $30,000 personal appearance contract and will tour the nation as Mr. Clean's "Keep American Beautiful" campaign. Mayor says at ease Things were casual in Portland, Ore., Wednesday and nowhere more casual than in the mayor's office. Mayor Bud Clark, who proclaimed Wednesday "Dress as You Please Day," wore shorts, striped suspend­ ers and thongs. "I don't like ties or belts," he said. "They constrict the flow of blood. I think people work better and think better if they have no constrictions around their body. "We've freed women from the home. Now its time to free men from the tie." Audiences will love (or What do you get when you take Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, and the Stooges' Curly, run them through a blender, then reshape them into a human form? Pee Wee Herman, of course. This comic-book comedian has developed a sizeable cult following his zany periodic appearances on the David Letterman Show. Now, follow­ ing a successful nightclub lour, this wired and wacky grownup adoles­ cent has jumped to the silver screen with "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure." If you've grpwn to love Pee Wee's bizarre brand of humor over the years, you already know you're going to enjoy this movie. If by chance you're not familiar with him, there's a 50/50 chance he'll either win you over -- or have you walking (or running) out of the theater. Whatever the case, it's safe to say this movie is in a class of its own. On the surface, it's a frolicking, demented comedy. Yet is has a subtle underlying tone that seems to say it's taking Pee Wee's world very seriously. At a recent showing of the film, Pee Wee's ridiculous on-screen antics had several patrons howling with laughter every few seconds: another older cou­ ple silently stood up and informed their daughter they'd be waiting for her in the car; the rest of the audience was either dumbfounded or confused. "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure" can be best described as a cartoon come-to-life. This colorful film's crisp camera work and rapid-fire editing al­ lows the audience members to view the various goings on from several angles. while keeping them involved through its 90-minute length. And in the great tradition of those classic shorts by W.C. Fields and Lau­ rel and Hardy, it forsakes the elements of plot and theme to simply serve as a vehicle for this endearing little mad­ cap twit. Pee Wee's "adventure" stems from the theft of his beloved balloon- tired bicycle, which happens while he's shopping in the local magic store. Although his chief suspect is the fat, rich kid down the block, a trip to a fortune teller soon has him headed in the direction of the Texas Alamo hate) Herman's antics Pee Wee's travels have him hooking up with, helping and eventually freaking out an escaped convict. In one of the film's best scenes, he hops into women's clothes and helps the convict get through a police barricade. He also wins the respect of a tough desert bike gang, and -- while earning the ire of her boyfriend -- inspires a truck stop waitress to fulfill her lifelong dream of living in Paris. But these characters and situations are merely props which Pee Wee uses to display his zany reactions to the world around him. He gains an almost perverse pleasure in taking everyday things and helping us look at them in a new way. For instance, when was the last time you took your meal of fried eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and arranged them into a happy face? This is exactly what Pee Wee does at breakfast, only he takes this idea a step further by dousing the face with a box of cornflakes. As mentioned earlier, this film is most notable for recalling the days of "shorts," those 60 to 70 minute features that studios cranked out in the old days of Hollywood. Modern day performers like Herman and Rodney Dangerfield seem perfectly suited for the revival of this film form. Their fans are more interested in seeing them perform, than story or plot. The only thing missing in Pee Wee's movie is a silly musical interlude a la Harpo Marx. He makes up for it, however, by donning white platform shoes and dancing across a bar. Another noteworthy element of "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure" is that it uses no profanity or nudity in order to get its laughs. There's also a good bet that young kids will have an easier time relating to Pee Wee's cartoon/comic book world than most adults. They'd probably be more entertained by it than a movie like Disney's "The Black Cauldron." . Again, you'll either like, hate or be totally dumbfounded by this well- made film. It is now playing at the Spring Hill Theater in West Dundee, and at the Showcase Theaters in Crystal Lake. ENTERTAINMENT Friday, August 16,198S VCRs revive film By Mark Smith llerald staff writer Video cassette recorders, or VCRs as they are commonly called, have become one of the hottest selling entertainment items in recent years. Initially, buyers were attracted by the ability to tape television shows that they might otherwise miss; and the chance to rent copies of recent movie releases to view at home. For some VCR buyers, however, the novelty of these two features soon wore off, and they sought other diversions. The advent of cheaper video cameras brought the opportunity for people to make their own programs, similar to home movies but with increased convenience. But even this did not provide enough program­ ming to fill what some felt was a void left by the declining quality of network television. It still did not allow them to escape the ever- increasing onslaught of commercials. Until recently, one source of video tape programming had been left relatively untapped: the stockpile of old movies that have accumulated since the birth of film making. The number of old movie titles available on video tape has dramatically increased in the last couple of years, as independent sellers and the major movie studios alike have gotten in on the act. What started as a select few of the "old classics" being released, has grown into a big business, with thousands of titles already available and hundreds of new ones coming on the market each month. Through these offerings, people all over the country are rediscovering their childhood heroes, while others are discovering them for the first time. Everything from silents to classics, from the Golden Age of Hollywood to "B" movies, are once again being enjoyed by fans of all ages. Famous names like Bogart, Davis, Lombard, Olivier, and too many others to mention, along with the names of the unsung heroes of the countless serials and B movies, are once again blazing across the silver screen, or rather the green screen. The one problem in all this is that the purchaser of an old movie on video tape can not always be guaranteed of the quality. In an effort to combat this problem, a Crystal Lake man started his own non-profit organization that functions both as a source of information and watch­ dog for the industry. Fridaynight Independent Movie Goer's Association (FIMGA) was the brainchild of Frank Dolven, who remains its driving force today. According to Dolven, FIMGA has approximately 4,000 members on a nationwide basis, 800 of which he describes as active members. The main goal of the association, he said, is to get people "in touch with companies or organizations with a decent product to sell." The group also helps its members get in touch with each other, to swap and share their own libraries of tapes. FIMGA does not charge iriembership dues, but does charge a small fee for its "Advisory Journal" to cover costs. The Advisory Journal lists video tape suppliers and titles they offer, that FIMGA has found to be of acceptable quality. Dolven said the ratings of the various companies are based on two tests: feedback from members; and from "screenings" of actual tapes, done by Dolven and other members. Another way the FIMGA helps people, Dolven said, is by contacting a company to try to rectify the situation, if someone has gotten a bad tape. He stressed that feedback is the key, because the association must be aware of a problem before it can do anything about it. "II someone gets a bad recording, then they should let us know and write them (the company) and then see what happens," he recommend­ ed. Most companies will either send a new tap^ or refund the purchase price if there is a problem, Dolven said. If the company does not respond to the consumer, FIMGA will see what action they can get. If nothing else, it will warn other members about possible problems with that supplier. According to Dolven, the biggest problem with quality comes from what he terms "basement operators." He explained that these are / CLASSIC MOVIES-- Page 3B Frankie, Fabian will bop at Rialto Square Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte and Bobby Rydell, three native Philadelphians who became some of the most popular teen idols of the 50's and 60's, will perform together for the first time ever in Dick Fox's "Golden Boys of Band­ stand" tour this summer. The 12- week, 50-city tour comes to the Rialto Square Theatre, 102 N. Chicago St., Joliet on Saturday, Aug. 17 for two performances at 6 and 9 p.m. The three will perform their greatest hits such as "De De Dinah," "Gingerbread," "Bobby Sox to Stockings" and "Venus" (Avalon); "Turn Me Loose," "I'm A Man" and "Tiger" (Fabian); and "Kissin' Time," "We Got Love " and "Wild One" (Rydell). They will also combine their talents on tunes including the "American Bandstand" theme, "We Go Together" from the hit musical "Grease," and a medley of oldies made popular by Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin and Bill Haley. Other highlights of the "Golden Boys of Bandstand" concert will include glimpses of rare film footage of the three stars in their earlier days, and a dance contest which will bring three lucky couples on stage with Avalon, Fa­ bian and Rydell. Avalon recalls, "It seems like every young kid in Philadelphia wanted to be a singer. I started as a musician ... a trumpet player in the beginning." Fabian Forte, an overnight sen­ sation as a "teen idol" in the late 50's, was discovered sitting on his front steps at the age of 14! By the time he was 15, he had been nam­ ed "Most Promising Vocalist of 1958"-and by his 18th birthday, he had recorded dozens of hit singles, eight albums and earned three gold records. Bobby Rydell has also enjoyed phenomenal success in the movies, television and nightclubs. He has appeared in "Bye Bye Bir­ die" and "Girl from Peking" and on "The Red Skelton Show," "Ed Sullivan Show," "Tonight Show," and "Perry Como." Tickets for the "Golden Boys of Bandstand" concert at the Rialto ire $14.50 and $16.50, on sale at Ticketron or the Rialto Box Office, 102 N. Chicago St., Joliet; 815/726- 6600 or 312/242-7171. Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon­ day through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Generous group discounts are available. For group ticket information, please call 815/726-7171. Joe Agnew Herald staff writer