THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
eMoviola'-Wolper's Latest Project
By HERBERT G. LUFT
(Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.)
HOLLYWOOD — David
L. Wolper talked about a
television series based on
Garson Kanin's latest book,
"Moviola," when the Hol-
lywood foreign press corps
attended a reception at his
Bel Air home to meet cast
and directors of his two suc-
cessful TV ventures,
"Roots" and "Roots: The
Next Generations."
Wolper lifted three
episodes from Kanin's ac-
count of Hollywood's past
for the six-hour mini-series
produced by him with Stan
Margulies in association
with Warner Bros. to be
presented on the NBC net-
work.
The first segment deals
with the arrival of Greta
Garbo in 1925 and her sign-
ing by Louis B. Mayer and
Irving Thalberg as a "favor"
to Swedish film director
Mauritz Stiller. Her picture
"Flesh and the Devil" in
which she co-starred with
John Gilbert, began with
the first on-screen kiss, ig-
nited a romance that lasted
until Gilbert died in 1933.
Kristina Wayborn, another
Swedish beauty, portrays
Garbo with Barry Bostwick
as Gilbert. The screen play
is by Robert J. Shaw.
The next episode,
transposed to the screen
by William Hanley, tells
us of producer David 0.
Selznick's efforts in 1937
to find his Scarlett
O'Hara for "Gone with
the Wind." Garson Kanin,
who was just beginning
his Hollywood years, re-
members the period of
The Scarlett O'Hara
Wars" in every detail and
conjured up the real par-
ticipants, such as Joan
Crawford, Paulette God-
dard, Tallulah Ban-
khead, Bette Davis and
Carole Lombard, whose
likenesses are presented
by a group of young ac-
tresses.
Tony Curtis stars as
Selznick; Clive Revill as
Charlie Chaplin; and
Harold Gould as Louis B.
Mayer. Morgan Brittany is
Vivian Leigh, the British
actress winning the battle.
The third sequence com-
pletes the circle of 25 years
and is set in 1949 revealing
the relationship between
agent Johnny Hyde and
budding newcomer Norma
Jean Baker — a chemistry
that produced the name and
personality of Marilyn
Monroe. James Lee wrote
the scenario to "This Year's
Blonde" with Constance
Forslund as Monroe and
Lloyd Bridges as Hyde.
Wolper himself looks
back at 30 years of film
making both for television
and the theatrical screen,
documentary, educational
pictures and entertainment
features.
With his epic pictures,
"Devil's Brigade" and
"The Bridge at Rema-
gen" he delved into
World War II and the ef-
forts of the Americans to
defeat the might of the
Nazis in Europe. Filmiza-
tion of William Shirer's
"The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich" sees the
struggle in
same
documentary terms.
Turning other non-
fiction bestsellers into
movies he produced The
Making of the President"
from Theodore H. White's
Pulitzer-prize-winning
book, and "A Nation of
Immigrants," written by
John F. Kennedy.
Wolper was born in New
York City, Jan. 11, 1928. He
attended Drake University
and the University of
Southern California at Los
Angeles. As early as 1948,
he formed his first movie
distribution company and,
between studies at college,
sold films to the developing
company and, between
studies at college, sold films
to the developing TV indus-
try.
After discovering 6,000
feet of film footage of the
Russian space program in
1958, he created his first
documentary and garnered
promptly • his first Oscar
nomination. He has done
pictures about pro football,
the World Series, Hol-
lywood and D Day.
He has also produced fea-
ture 'films such as If It's
Tuesday, It Must Be Bel-
gium"; "Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory"
(Gene Wilder), and the first
star-studded drama about
Israel's rescue action in
Uganda, "Victory at
Entebbe" (starring Richard
Dreyfus, Elizabeth Taylor
and Kirk Douglas). He is
active in many charitable
organizations, is on the
board of Cedars-Sinai Hos-
pital and the L.A. Heart In-
stitute.
Wolper has shown him-
self a good Jew who will
fight for issues. When the
news came over the wire
service that Vanessa Red-
grave was signed for the
part of Fenia Fenelon in
"Playing for Time," he was
the first producer to protest
to CBS, putting the network
on notice that he wouldn't
release any of his pictures
through them if they main-
tained their capricious
choice of casting.
Friday, April 11, 1980 13
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Volume Shows
Unique Approach
to Children
In his new book, child
psychologist Jacob Azerrad
teaches parents how to deal
directly and immediately
with their child's inappro-
priate behavior without
spending time analyzing,
discussion or lecturing.
"Anyone Can Have. A
Happy Child: The Simple
Secret of Positive Parent-
ing" (Evans) is a handbook
to Dr. Azerrad's novel ap-
proach to child-psychology.
Trying to understand the
motivation for problem be-
havior is; counter-
productive, according to Dr.
Azerrad. What he teaches
parents is how to notice and
then reward the child's pos-
itive behaviors. Dr. Azerrad
feels that this gives the
child greater self-esteem
and leads to better be-
havior.
Dr. Azerrad, a clinical
psychologist in Boston, has
taught courses on child be-
havior therapy at Tufts
University School of
Medicine, the Massachu-
setts School of Professional
Psychology and the New
England Center for Be-
havior Modification.
All one's work might have
been better done; but this is
theo sort of reflection a
worker must put aside
courageously if he doesn't
mean every one of his con-
ceptions to remain forever a
private vision, an evanes-
cent reverie.
—Joseph Conrad
FOR THE FIRST TIME
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