The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, September 19, 1979-Page 5

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ERIC ZORN'S3 W'/3 fU fl* q
SCANDAL HITS:
Elvis's death tainted

, HEN ELVIS PRESLEY washed out two years ago
August 16, the official report was that the King of
,ock-n-Roll died from a heart attack. Reports surfaced
:last week in Memphis that Elvis' personal physician in-
discriminately prescribed painkillers and other drugs to
him and 15 other persons.
ABC's teevee newsmagazine 20-20 featured an expose
that maintained that Elvis was a "medical drug addict"
who died as a result of abusing drugs prescribed by Dr.
George Nichopoulous.
Several days before the show was aired, the Tennessee
Board of Medical Review filed a seven page complaint
against Nichopoulous. According to that document, the
drugs prescribed for Elvis between Jan. 20, 1977, and.
August 16 of that year included Biphetamine and
,Dexedrine, both amphetamines; Quaalade, a sedative,
and cocaine hydrochloride. A routine audit of Memphis
dirug stores showed Nichopoulous indiscriminately
prescribed, stimulants, depressants, and painkillers for
Elvis before he died.
JUMPING ONTO THE BANDWAGON just one hour

before 20-20 aired was Memphis District Attorney Hugh
Stanton who announced he was opening a criminal in-
vestigation 'into Nichopoulous' shenanigans. ABC said
Baptist Hospital's chief pathologist, Dr. Eric Muirhead,
and his assistant, Dr. Noel Florendo,, concluded that the
interaction of stimulants, depressants and painkillers
killed Elvis.
Conviction on criminal "charges of indiscriminate
dispensing of drugs could result in a couple of years in the
hoosegow for our indiscreet doctor, but a negligent
homicide rap generally carries a penatly of less than one
year.
In an interview with ABC hipster Geraldo Rivera,
Nichopoulous said, he did not believe that he had
prescribed more than 5,000 Schedule II narcotics or am-
phetamines in the months before Elvis' death as the
records show. Before the interview ended abruptly,
Rivera pointed out this was equal to 25 prescriptions a
day.
That's a lot of drugs. Even for the King.


HEY FANS!
Mork s
irked
T HE'RE SPILLING a lot of ink over
little Robin Williams this week in
some of America's more widely read
publications, because, well, :his every
thought is naturally of interest. Here in
Us Magazine we find a feature story on
the 5'8" funnyman in which it 'says: he's
had enough of being known only for
playing Mork on teevee's Mork and
Mindy program, and he'd like you all to
recognize him as an all-around star.
How would it be if every time you
took a step out of doors, a handful of
fans harassed you until you said "Na-
no na-no?"
WELL, WHEN all the fame and
money get to be too much, little Robin
climbs into his salt water sensory
deprivation tank. "Sometimes you
hallucinate," he says of his experiences
in the 90 degree wash of salt water.
But that's not the half of it. In a move
of dazzling journalistic brilliance, the
full-color National Enquirer tabloid
hired a body langauge specialist to
watch Robin play Mork on the show.
Her conclusions, splashed in this
week's issue, are that the way he purses
his lips, rolls his thumbs, and grasps his
wrists indicates that he feels straight-
jacketed into the role of Mork, and he
needs a medium that will allow him to
express himself more fully. His body,
motions tell us all this.
That's impressive, isn't it? ,

AP Photo
NEXT MONTH'S BIG VISIT from John Paul II, the pope, has touched off a severe case of peoplemania The wire'
services are flooding us with stories about eye-popping things like the two lawsuits filed by Madalyn Murray'
O'Hair. O'Hair (right) is that self-styled leader of atheists who is always making a fuss whenever someone wants',
to pray in public schools or something, and now she's gone to federal court in Washington to stop his holiness from.
conducting mass on the mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Meanwhile, John Paul-he's the
one in the hat-is going to be available on vinyl for the first time ever: Recordings of his masses in three different,
languages will go on sale during his upcoming visit to the United States. Bryn Mawr Productions Ltd., the Chicago'
based company with exclusive rights to the records in North America, says that they are working with the Vatican
to do a "tasteful, creditable job," and they hope the Vatican will later approve more records of papal speeches
and special masses, such as those to be delivered in this country. The recordings will be sold for $10, mostly through
parish churches and direst mail. Of course, we are planning to wait for the Greatest Hits album.

Who need.
T HE VERY BIGGEST news on
Earth this week concerns the
defection of Dan Aykroyd and John
Belushi from Saturday Night Live to
their more lucrative pursuits in the
world of movies. The lively duo will not
be with the Not Ready For Prime Time
players when the SNL opens for its fifth
season on October 13, and they are
currently hard at work on The Blues
Brothers movie, a concept they.
developed that-some consider-amusing.
Belushi and Aykroyd just finished
Steven Spielberg's film 1941, due to be
released around the winter holidays.
This compares favorably to the success
of Chevy Chase, the man who
popularized defection from Saturday
Night, who is just now starting to work
on Oh Heavenly Dog in which he must
For a review ±fMohday
night's remark able
asconcert in
Detroit, see tomorrow's
Arts page.

them, anyway?

share top billing with Benji, that mangy
animal.
SO THEY'RE gone. Don't complain
to us. You didn't want them to grow old
with the show, did you? "There's no
question that SNL was a great
showcase for me and that it afforded

me great opportunities to develop and
hone my skills, but it's time to rove
on," said Belushi in a tatement issued
in New York.
"There comes a time for old war
heroes to haul water," said Aykroyd, a
master of the vivid phrase.

"Cognition Crisis and the Abyss
in
GOETHE'S FAUST
Lecture by PROF. WILLIAM SCHERER
DEPT. OF EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, U. OF HAWAII
September 20, 1979-8 pem.
at the Rudolf Steiner House
1923 Geddes
THE PUBLC IS INVITED'

a
./.
_,

A REGULAR hippie is Elton John, singer of songs, seen here at London's
Heathrow airport on the way to Phoenix, Arizona. He used to be a balding
little sprite until a series of hair transplant operations turned his life around and made
him the attractive fellow he is today. Elton and his hair will be appearing in con-
cert in Ann Arbor this fall, though te British rock-n-roller iquipped, "I have
another two operatioans to go before (the transplant) is completely finished."
Oh, and yes, the chest hair is all real.
Notes from all over
OLD FASHIONED GIRLS DEPT. Crazy old Patti Smith, celebrated
punk rocker, hoisted an American flag during last week's concert in Florence,
Italy, sponsored by the Italian Communist party. Leftists in the audience,
wouldn't you know, began fighting and throwing bottles and three hundred
policemen were called to calm things down, reports the Detroit Free Press.
Ten youths were treated for injuries, and Patti was soupset that she can-
celled her post-conference press conference in which she might have explained
the gag that backfired. Such things never happened at Second Chance, Pat.

ARTHUR PENN'S 1975
NIGHT MOVIES
Not as publicized as "The Missouri Breaks" but Penn's best recent film. A
private-eye (Gene Hackman), himself beset with mental problems, tackles
a missing-person's case-the nymphomaniac daughter of 9 decaying
Hollywood actress who has no reason to welcome her back-because of a
trust fund and competition bedwise. With SUSAN CLARK and JENNIFER
WARREN.
Short: DREAM 733 (Paul Glabicki) an animated tableaux
of stark surreal images.
Thurs: CITIZEN KANE-Free at 7 and 9:05
CINEMA GU ILD TONIGHT AT OLD ARCH. AUD.
7:00 & 9:05 $1.50
WEDNESDAY is
7 pm to Closing
LIVE MUSIC by
611 Church
One Block South of South U.

MORE BLASPHEMY. Not yet
come to Ann Arbor, The Life of
Brian is whipping up quite a con-
trovery in New York City. The new
Monty Python movie tells the story
of Brian of Nazareth, a young man
mistaken for Jesus and eventually
crucified. Jewish, Protestant and
Catholic leaders are plenty honked,
and stepping forth to answer critics
last week was comedy troupe mem-
ber Graham Chapman.
Actually, he said, the charges of
blasphemy were proving to be ex-
cellent for business, which is the sort
of remark one might expect from a
man who'd make such a film. He ad-
ded that the Python group is distur-
bed by "everybody thinking that
whatever God they believe in doesn't
have a sense of humor.

AP Photo
WE TRIED, but we couldn't keep Muhammed Ali out of the news this
week. For a man out of a job, he certainly manages to keep busy, and
Sunday found him visiting Bible totin' Billy Graham in an effort to "learn
more about other people." This is what the beefy three-time world heavy-
weight champion was doing last week that was so important that he couldn't
come to the Ann Arbor area as scheduled. When a man feels the call to go
compare fists with Billy Graham, he must go compare fists with Billy
Graham; so it is no doubt written in the Muslim texts. "He comes before
me," said Ali of the famous evangelist. "I'm just a boxer- famous and all
that-but he leads people to God ... I always said if I were a Christian,
I'd want to be a Christian like him."
PEOPLEMANIA is digested
from. news stories on the
Associated Press and United
Press International wire
services.

RECOGNIZE THIS chubby kid? It's
none other than Marie Osmond when
--she was ten years old and not nearly so
awful as she is today. This photo ran
side-by-side with a snap of Marie at
19 (which' we didn't bother to -include
because you know how she looks, you
watch her show) in the Ladies' Home
Journal this month. It just goes to show
that time ineluctably marches on, and
the sweet-faced child down the block
of today may be the beautiful-person-
who-makes-your-skin-crawl of tomor-
row.
" ANNOUNCING."

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