Another Magic Act for the Variety Arts; New York Playwright Likes the L.A. Scene

Milt Larsen, president of the Society for the Preservation of Variety Arts, has pulled one more rabbit out of a hat.

The announced sale last week of the Society’s Variety Arts Center at 940 S. Figueroa St. to a “sympathetic” buyer for $3.2 million became a fact Sunday when the group’s membership unanimously voted to approve it.

Purchased from the Friday Morning Club in 1977 for $675,000, the property was appraised at $8 million in 1984. That figure included a parking lot and an air-rights provision that aren’t part of the current deal: they have both been ceded to the Community Redevelopment Agency. (The society filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last November when the CRA foreclosed on its $1.1-million mortgage.)

Still, the sale constitutes a very good buy for the new owner, who insists on remaining anonymous. Larsen identifies him as “a businessman from the world of banking and finance, who loves magic and is very taken with the idea that kings and queens used to support their jesters. He wants to do his share to restore dignity to the art of variety.”

And no doubt may. The buyer, Larsen says, “is committed to improving the building and letting us do our thing. He’s also very interested in the history of show biz and the theater. My feeling is that there will be more emphasis in the future on the library/museum aspects of the operation.”

Larsen would not be specific about the society’s arrangement with the new buyer. He couldn’t even spell out the terms of the society’s future tenancy. “We have yet to sit down and work it all out,” he said. “There’s a good chance he’ll want to restructure the restaurant. What we’ll be looking for is an arrangement that works to our benefit and to his. Meanwhile, we’ll be operating the building full force to the end of the year.”

That will include variety, rock concerts, weddings and private parties--hot items, says Larsen, in raising a buck. His next big fund-raiser will be a star-studded “Celebration of Legends” on Sept. 12, a benefit/tribute to performers Larsen believes have achieved that stature. Escrow on the building is expected to close Jan. 4.

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN: A few years ago no self-respecting New York writer came to Los Angeles to try out a new play. Now they flock--mostly to Waiver theaters.

The latest defector to show up at our back door is John Patrick Shanley, whose “Italian American Reconciliation” opens next Thursday at the Gnu.

“I’m truly a New York writer,” Shanley said over the phone from the Big Apple. “I’ve lived here all my life. I got interested in Los Angeles theater a few years ago, but I don’t drive and I had a hard time figuring out how to do it right.

“Then I met these two guys, Alan Vint and Tom Bowers, who had a real commitment to L.A. theater. I gave it to them for 90 bucks. It felt right. I said, ‘I don’t know the actors or the directors out there, so take it and do a good job.’ That was eight months ago. After that I met (director) Roxanne Rogers in New York. I found her an interesting and intelligent human being and I gave her the rights to ‘Savage in Limbo’--for nothing.

“I came out for the opening (of “Savage”) at the Cast and the next day went to the first read-through of ‘Italian American Reconciliation.’ Now I’m coming back out to see it. I feel I’ve finally got a foothold of the right sort.

“Los Angeles theater strikes me as healthier than New York. The Waiver seems very alive. Many of the smaller theaters in New York are resorting to doing straight commercial work, because they’re so hungry--cash hungry.”

What is “Italian American Reconciliation” about?

“About a guy trying to get over his divorce--and he can’t do it,” said the 36-year-old playwright who acknowledged going through a divorce of his own four years ago.

“Yes, the play is informed by that experience. And yes, it is very heartfelt and very close to me. But with these big calamities you do get a relaxation of perspective at a certain point. There’s an Oriental poem that says: ‘Now that my house is burned down, I have a much better view of the moon.’ ”

Shanley has also been writing screenplays, and that career has been something of a phenomenon. He insists on writing on spec, because he believes the development process, with money up front, hurts writers. Two of his scripts have been made into films: “Five Corners,” directed by Tony Bill and with Jodie Foster, will come out in September; “Moonstruck,” with Cher, directed by Norman Jewison, is set for a Christmas release.

“I don’t work for anybody and I never have. It’s a good feeling and I’d like to hang on to it.”

Shanley has also just directed a 21-minute film at Vassar called “I Am Angry,” which he describes as “a nonlinear expression of anger and the avoidance of anger. It’s certainly not a feature.”

Shanley’s plays have been done at Manhattan Theatre Club, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Circle Rep and Circle-in-the-Square. Aside from “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” (seen last year at the Back Alley) and “Savage in Limbo,” still running at the Cast, “The Dreamer Examines His Pillow” and “Women of Manhattan” were recently done in New York.

“And, of course,” he added, “I’ve had a number of enormous failures.” Care to discuss them?

“No!,” he shouted. “Leave the bodies where they fall.”

DEATH OF AN IMMIGRANT: Haskell Harelik, real-life model for the leading character in his grandson Mark Harelik’s play, “The Immigrant, a Hamilton County Album,” which played the Taper last summer, died Sunday in Hamilton at the age of 100.

Haskell Harelik was a Russian Jew who came to the small Texas town as a young man to seek his fortune, if not fame. Fortune beckoned in the form of Harelik’s General Store in Hamilton, which he owned and operated most of his life.

Fame came in the form of this play--a little too late. “The Immigrant” is a valentine from the younger man to the older, but the grandfather’s memory had faded substantially by the time it was written and he was never fully aware of the gesture or its success.

“The Immigrant” began at the Denver Center Theatre Company in 1985, with the author playing his grandfather. It is currently selling out at Washington’s Arena Stage.

The play has a momentum Haskell Harelik would have relished: To date, the show has been booked by no fewer than eight theaters for 1988 (including such major leaguers as San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre), Ballantine Books is publishing it and the playwright has just been hired to write the screenplay for Daniel Melnick’s and Sterling Waggoner’s Indie Prod.