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MICH-ELLANY
Sometimes not-so-nice is better
FILM
Say a 'Prayer' for the viewer
Photo by ANDI SCHREIBER
Dominick DeVarti
INTERVIEW
Local restaurant owner contributed to the
formation of Domino's Pizza, served four
decades of students.
Dominick DeVarti, owner of Dominick's restaurant, came to the
University after leaving the Air Force in 1945. After running a
landromat while in the College of Engineering, DeVarti found he was
more suited to entreprenaurial than engineering work. He operated a
travel agency and contracting company before opening his Monroe St.
restaurant, which became a favorite hangout of students from the nearby
Art, Business, and Law Schools. He has seen four decades of students
come and go through his cafe. DeVarti's youngest son Dave is currently
a member of the Ann Arbor City Council. Dominick recently spoke
with Week'end Editors Rebecca Blumenstein and Alan Paul.
Daily: Over the years you have become a sort of Ann Arbor
institution. How did you start out?
Dominick: Well, I never thought that I would reach that point,
because when I first started here in 1959, I just thought I'd clean up the
place. Since this whole area was looking kind of deteriorated, I decided
to pick this place up, work on it, get (it) going, put a business in, and
move on to something else.
D: Did you go to school at the University?
Dominick: Yes, and after I got an Engineering degree I started
work in the industry. It seems like with a big corporation, you come
out with fresh ideas, "I can save you $100,000, why don't we do it this
way?". But you always get the answer - "Don't rock the boat." So if
things don't want to happen from the bottom, things have got to come
from the top down. If someone can see that something should be done,
they should do it. I was always independent anyway.
D: Were you primarily a pizza parlor or a bar when you started out?
Dominick: Just strictly pizza. I put four units in - one in
Ypsilanti, and two in Brighton, and the one here. The one in Ypsi is
the one where Domino's started. I turned that over to him and he sold
that. I was going along with the pizza places, but... I had to make a
choice, and with the family and kids I decided to unload the other two,
and turn the other over to Jim Monaghan for about $500. Jim worked
for me and was a hell of a nice kid, and... he went along and did it.
D: Is Tom Monaghan Jim's brother?
Dominick: Yeah, Tom kicked Jim out. Tom. . . had some rough
things happen to him. He was a little bit hard-nosed about getting in,
and since Jim didn't want to have a family feud, he stepped out and
Tom went in. Tom supposedly says that he has given Jim this and this,
but all he gave him is a beat-up Volkswagon that couldn't even get
him to the junkyard. In Tom's mind he thinks he has done a lot,,but he
really hasn't given Jim a thing. That might not be what you read in the'
book, though.r
D: When was it that you turned the business over to Jim, then?
Dominick: That must have been 1960 or 61 - something like
that.
D: How did it go from Dominicks to Dominos?
As a typically tacky family
birthday party in her honor drew to a
close, my grandmother described the.
event in words which have, in a
sense, become my credo: "You
know, I don't think I would have
enjoyed myself any more if it had
been nicer."
"Nice" gets boring. This is
probably because nice is fairly
common in America. And most of
the things in America which aren't
nice, are trying to be, or if they
aren't trying, pretending that they
are.
This is not to say that nice
doesn't have its place, but the
combined innocuous cheerfulness of
USA Today, PM Magazine,
McDonald's, Miss America, Ziggy,
Hallmark Cards, the Osmonds,
Casey Kasem, and Tally Hall
becomes numbing, and oneneeds the
faint hint of mildew, clutter, and
flirtation with health c o d e
violations.
Newcomers to Ann Arbor have
been inundated with guides, many of
which are attempting to be nice to
potential advertisers, and therefore
talk about how nice the included
establishments are. But there are
many establishments in Ann Arbor
which would't be any more fun if
they were nicer, and deserve to be
OFF THE WALL
Finally a place where they have
not scrubbed all the graffiti from the
walls.
cherished because they aren't.
One such establishment is
Bell's Pizza. The "dining area"
is not at all nice. Customers fetch
their own ice from a large machine
which contains ice cubes that have
been touched by everyone who
purchased a drink earlier that day.
The pizza is terrific, and extremely
inexpensiveb(buck a slice, two
items!), probably because Bell's
doesn't waste money on interior
decorators and waiters.
David's Used B o o k s
wouldn't be any better if it were
nicer. The store always seems neatly
poised on the brink of chaos. Books
line the stairs. A roped-off section
features nasty magazines.
Alphebetization has b e e n
compromised. The best part is the
table of bargain books on the
sidewalk in front of the store.
David's doesn't seem to really care
whether you trudge up the stairs and
hand them a dollar for their copy of
Howard Cosell's "Telling It Like It
Is."
Drake's decor, featuring the
startling color combination of black
and spore-green, is probaly the main
thing keeping it from being nice
visually. The wood is nifty, and the
clutter has a certain appeal. But the
real thing that keeps Drake's from
niceness is the presence of two
consumables--the lime phosphate
and halvah. The lime phosphate is
the precise hue of anti-freeze, and
halvah...well, it's...halvah, and that
scares me for some reason.
Nonetheless I pray that every future
University of Michigan first-year
students is given the opportunity to
see Drake's either just as it is, or
perhaps as it was, with dancing in
the Martian Room, and "M-Burgers"
in the far right corner.
The Ypsilanti Flea Market
isn't in Ann Arbor, but since it is
nowhere near as nice as Treasure
Mart, The Salvation Army,
St. Vincent's, or V a l u e
Village, it is chosen as the
representative thrift-o-rama. Never-
ending linoleum floors that I would
challenge Divine to eat off of harbor
a staggering series of non-sequiturs.
Harley-Davidson banners give way
to counterfeit walkmen. A palm-
By Daniel Rosenberg
A Prayer for the Dying could be
euthanasia.
Dying is the story of an IRA
terrorist (Mickey Rourke) who
decides to quit after accidentally
killing a schoolbus of innocent
children. He soon finds out that
"retiring" is not as easy as he
imagined: the police are out
looking for him; the IRA wants
him dead because he knows too
much; even the mob wants him
dead due to atbotched assasination.
Through all of this, Rourke's only
friend is a priest (Bob Hoskins),
who protects him from the police
only after Rourke confesses to his
sins and promises not to kill again.
It all sounds like a pretty good
idea for a movie. However, with
just one solid character in the film
trying to support 11 flimsy ones,
one quickly loses interest inPrayer.
The film is guilty of seven deadly
cinematic sins: a miscast lead, no
motive, non-threatening villains,
gratuitous violence, unexplained
characters, poor writing, and poor
direction.
No film can succeed with a
miscast lead, and this one proves to
be no exception. Despite a good
bottle of red hair dye and a crash
course in Irish Accents 10 1,
Mickey Rourke could not leave
behind the "American Cool" which
has brought him success in earlier
films.
The hand gestures and facial
expressions which made Rourke a
star in9 1/2 Weeks and Angel
Heart work against him here. The
character calls for paranoia and
Rourke just doesn't deliever.
However, Rourke is n o t
completely to blame for the failure
of his character, as the writers never
gave him any motive for being part
of the IRA. The writers never once
even attempt to justify why these
men are willing to sacrifice their
lives in this modern day Holy War.
Director Mike Hodges tries to
compensate for lack of a substantial
story by using the shock value of
excessive violence in order to
maintain the attention of the
audience, but he can't even do that.
It's bad enough to have to witness a
stake being driven into a man's left
hand, but there is absolutely no
reason to have to sit through such
treatment of his right hand as well.
All that is left is to hope that the
scene will end and the film will
improve.
Unfortuantely, it never does.
Bob Hoskins is the picture's lone
bright light, proving that he
deserved an Academy Award
Nomination last year with a stellar
performance as the priest torn
between the British Police and his
theological duty to uphold a
confession.
In today's torn Church, it's easy
to overlook some of the
fundamental virtues the religion is
based on. But unlike Catholicism,
where a dying man may be forgiven
of his sins by a prayer of
confession, a dead film cannot be
saved by a prayer in the form of
Bob Hoskins.
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Let Them Kn
How You Fe(
DAILY PERSONALS
Was it
revisited?
the summer of love
This form of education is as
obselete as the Reagan
administration.
(in reply)
AND YOU'RE PAYING FOR
BOTH OF THEM.
Bo is God.
This state of unconscious
awareness is appaling.
(in reply)
I'VE THOUGHT THAT MANY
TIMES.
The next person to tell me that
"this summer I made a lot of friends,
had a lot of fun, and learned a lot
about myself' ... DIES.
All the above graffiti was found
on the walls of the Graduate Library.
K
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LET CHPAD
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ABC
ALPHABET CITY
FEATURING WHEN SMOKEY SINGS
THE NIGHT YOU MURDERED LOVE
KING WITHOUT A CROWN
MEN.
JOHN~ UC
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PAGE 8 WEEKEND/SEPTEMBER 18, 1987
WEEKN D1 OtEMBER 18, A981