A Plethora of Pix, A Bunch of
Bucks
Hollywood is shacking its collective cor
porate lips these days; 1978 was its best year
ever, thanks to Grease, Jaws 11, Heaven Can
Wait, Foul Play, Hooper, Revenge of the Pink
Panther and Animal House, among others. The
industry is already poised for its annual
year-end gold rush of3o-35 films, including
two animated features, Lord of the Rings by
Ralph Bakshi and Watership Down, after the
rabbit book; a few big stars will appear, Clint
Eastwood in Every Which Way hut Loose ; Syl
vester Stallone in Paradise Alley; John
Travolta and Lily Tomlin in Moment by Mo
ment; Jane Fonda and James Caan in Comes a
Horseman, Brando in Superman, Gregory Peck
and Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil ,
Dreyfuss in The Big Fix ... we won’t tire you
with all the tides. It’s interesting, though, in
this fattest of all years, to note the absence of
certain big stars who did not contribute to the
tall stacks of coin: Pacino, de Niro,
McQueen, Redford, Newman, Bronson,
Streisand all stayed home. We didn’t need
them afier all.
Fresh Clay
A chat with Michael Nesmith, who pre
fers to be identified (and aptly so) as one of
the founding fathers of country-rock, rather
than (equally aptly) one of the Monkees, re
veals that he’s busy creating his own empire
based in picturesque Carmel, California.
Mike’s purchased the masters to all of his
highly-regarded, though slow-selling solo al
bums from RCA Records, as well as his in
strumental jazz-country-rock Wichita Train
Whistle long-player from ABC, and reissued
them on his own Pacific Arts label. He’s re
leasing new material, too, some of it under a
unique arrangement whereby master tapes
are merely leased from independent produc
ers or artists, sans advance, and “royalties
are paid from the first disc sold.” There’s a
new “live” Nesmith album just released (see
“On Disc,” this issue), and Mike letting
no grass grow beneath his boots has just
produced an album for Motown’s Fresh,
characterized by him as “heavy metal r&b.”
When the label approached him, Mike tells
us, he wondered how he’d been selected.
“You’ve only seen me work in acrylics,” he'
challenged them, “how do you know that I
can work in clay?” Their reply: “Michael, an
artist is an artist.”
Brace Yourself
Hot ON THE HEELS of Animat House and Al
most Summer come three more youth-student
flicks in the making, according to Variety’s
casting column. The Ones We’ve Been Wait
ing For: Disco High, from New World Pictures
(the folks who brought you Deathsport and
Grand Theft Auto), has parts for a pretty
disco-mad femme, a school brain (also
femme), football captain and a Sgt. Bilko
type. Chasing Rainbows is about college
graduates today and what they face in society
(snore); producers want a s’B" femme with
out shoes, and don’t ask why. D. Minus, a
“satire on public education a la Dr.
Strangelove,”. needs “a cross between Steve
McQueen and Dustin Hoffman (who
doesn’t?) a Barbra Streisand prototype
(sic) and a Richard Dreyfuss prototype (sic
again). Don’t call us.
THEBlGFlX.isn’t even out yet, but Richard
Dreyfuss is so in love with the character of
Moses Wine (see our interview, page 8) he’s
already agreed to replay Wine in Roger Si
mon’s next installment, Peking Duck which
takes place in China, no surprise, Simon
wrote one other Wine book, Wild Turkey,.
which was optioned but never made by War
ren Beatty. Beatty is the kiss of death for
many projects... he was eager to make films
on the lives of Howard Hughes and writer
John Reed. That was two years ago.
The Distant Clattering of
Typewriters
Reporter Pete Hamill has written the
first of three detective books but instead of
a detective the hero is a reporter named Sam
Briscoe. The first is titled Dirty Laundry; all
three have been purchased by Universal for
more than $1 million. So far no word on
whether a rich and famous widow appears in
any of the books.
Columbia Pictures recently an
nounced formation of a Writer’s Workshop
program designed to dis'eover and develop
screenwriting talent from the farflung hinter
lands that is, universities and colleges.
Students (or recent graduates) selected by
the writing departments must submit an
original work —short story, play,
screenplay—and a written recommendation
from one or more faculty members. Those
chosen will attend a 16-week workshop at
Columbia Studios in Burbank, afier which
they’ll hand in their screenplays. David Z.
Goodman, director of the Workshop (and
author of Straw Dogs, Farewell, My Lovely and
the wretched Eyes of Laura Mars) will read
R. I. P.
Keith Moon
1947-1978
each and choose those deemed worthy of
further development—to be purchased by
Columbia Pictures for real money. So says
the press release. Remember, when you’re
bewildered in Burbank, Ampersand is just a
phone call away.
If instead OF SCREENPLAYS you write
songs, take note: BMI has announced its 27th
annual Student Composers competition for
people under 26 in accredited schools. Dead
line is December 31, prize money is $15,000.
Wax Fax
David Bowie is recording in Switzer
land, with Brian Eno co-producing; Warren
Zevon still isn’t in the studio, but his record
company devoutly hopes he’s at home writ
ing songs, as he says he is . . . Captain
Beefheart returns to Warner Bros. Records
with an album called Shirty Beast (Bat Chain
Puller), produced by WB exec Pete Johnson,
who is merely one of the best people in the
world; on the album the Captain introduces
his newest dance craze, the-Floppy Boot
Stomp . . . Alice Cooper is still working on
that album inspired by his drying-out experi
ence in an East Coast sanitarium for alco
holics; his co-writer is Bemie Taupin, the
no-talent turkey who churned out sappy
lyrics for Elton John. Alice has written a few'
good songs in his day; Taupin hasn’t... Rod
Stewart’s next is Blondes Have More Fun,
available as a regular record and, in limited
quantities, as a picture disc. As one disgrun
tled Scene Observer muttered, “Who wants
to buy his mug on a poorer quality record?
But never overestimate the moronity of the
American public.’.’
Drummer Mick Waller has sued Rod Ste
wart in London court, claiming $12,000 due
for session work on Smiler, several years back.
Big Sellers: Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell has
qualified for Triple platinum” in Australia
that’s 150,000 copies sold. Saturday Night
Fever has sold 20,000 copies in Greece.
Flickers
James William Guercio, once pro
ducer of rock group Chicago, is now produc
ing movies—one movie, anyway, called The
Hamster of Happiness, directed by Hal Ashby
(Bound for Glory, Last Detail ) and starring
Robert “Baretta” Blake—who also starred
in Elektra Glide in Blue a few years ago, which
was directed by Guercio. Hamster is an off-beat
love story, a script that’s been kicking around
Hollywood for several years.
Neil Simon’s next Broadway. play(wUl
he never stop? After The Cheap Detective people
are still giving him money?) is called They’re
Playing Our Song, about a composer and lyri
cist who fall in love. It’s being scored by
Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager,
who happen to be composer and lyricist in
love. Ain’t.that sweet? Fortunately, homely
Hamlisch will not appear in the play; Robert
Klein and Lucie Amaz will star.
Dustin and Anne Hoffman arc still sepa
rated on their way to divorce, but they’re liv
ing under the same New York roof. Dustin is
filming Kramer vs. Kramer (ironically, about a
divorce) while Anne appears in Woody Al
len’s new venture, Manhattan; it stars Diane
Keaton and is not, repeat not, a drama.
Bye-Bye
ASLEEP at the Wheel has lost three mem
bers: singer Leroy Preston has wandered off
to pursue his songwriting career; pianist
(Continued on page 15)
Record Producer Tom Wilson 47, died of
arterial sclerosis at his home in Los Angeles on
September 9. Not generally icluded on any list
of superstar producers, Wilson was involved
in many of the most important record projects
of the Sixties. As a member of CBS’s A&R
staiT, Wilson produced Simon and Garfun
kel’s first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Later, with Paul Simon in England and Art
Garfunkel out of the music business entirely,
Wilson took it upon himself to everdub elec
tric guitars and drums on one track from the
acoustic, folk-style LP, “The Sounds of Si
lence.” Two careers were born, though at the
time neither singer professed to be pleased
with Wilson’s initiative. He also-produced
Bob Dylan’s first “electric” album, Bringing It
All Back Home, and the single, “Like a Rolling
Stone.” Moving to MGM/Vcrve Records,
Wilson produced the first albums by The
Blues Project (with AI Kooper and Steve
Katz, who went on to form Blood, Sweat &
Tears), and The Mothers of Invention. Later,
Wilson produced the album debut of the En-
glish band, The Soft Machine. Thus Wilson, a
black, was almost exclusively identified with
' progressive white artists. As thcSixties ended,
Wilson produced bands for Motown’s
Natural Resources subsidiary, plus, more re
cently, acts including soul singer Vernon
Burch and pianist Professor Longhair.
October, 1978