ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.
TELEVISION
Back in the Hot Seat: ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” will bring back all contestants who have won $500,000 or more--including its three $1-million winners--for a four-night “champions” tournament beginning May 21. The format of the game will be the same as usual, except half the prize money will be donated to charities chosen by the players.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 12, 2000 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday May 12, 2000 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 2 Entertainment Desk 1 inches; 29 words Type of Material: Correction
Marketing costs-- New Latin Pictures spent $500,000 on advertising and publicity in California for the film “Luminarias.” The figure cited in a Morning Report item in Wednesday’s Calendar was incorrect.
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Supporting Gun Control: Paxson Communications Corporations announced Tuesday the launch of an extensive public service campaign on Pax TV in support of handgun control. The campaign includes airing public-service announcements Pax has created in cooperation with organizers of the Million Mom March. The march, set to take place at the Washington Mall and in 20 major markets across the United States on Sunday, is dedicated to educating children and the nation about the danger of guns. Jeff Sagansky, president of Paxson, said that the company’s effort “underscores a basic belief here at Pax that family is all-important and that our first order of business is to protect our children.”
MOVIES
Nice Opening: The film “Luminarias” opened relatively strongly at the box office last weekend, grossing more than $143,000 in 55 theaters. The per-screen averages ranged from a high of $7,000 in Norwalk and Alhambra to $3,000 in Westwood to $700 in Orange County. The box office was impressive considering that the distributor, New Latin Pictures, spent $250,000 on advertising and publicity for both Southern and Northern California. Most of the publicity garnered for the film was through months of grass-roots work. “It’s tough because we didn’t spend millions of dollars on advertising,” said Evelina Fernandez, the writer and lead actress of the film. “But we are happy with the results.”
PEOPLE
‘Use Your Voice’: Receiving an honorary degree from Fisk University in Nashville on Monday, Harry Belafonte urged the 165 graduates at the predominantly black college to become involved in social causes, and said his own involvement was one reason he became a singer and actor. “Use your voice to articulate on behalf of those who cannot articulate on behalf of themselves,” he said. Belafonte, 73, was honored for his work as a fund-raiser for Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights era and as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. “I understand that the generation before--my generation--has not delivered the world that we fantasized about,” he said. He advised the graduates to help those who are suffering, including children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in Africa and the civil war in Sudan.
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The Best Things Are Free: Now come some life tips from Drew Carey: Set goals, drink beer with friends, and value what’s in your heart and mind. Carey, who dropped out of Kent State University, told 2,800 Cleveland State graduates Sunday that he got drunk and overslept on the last day students could drop courses without a penalty. He got Ds and Fs. “But look at me now,” Carey said. “I’m a millionaire.” Still, material goods aren’t the most important things in life, according to Carey, a Cleveland native and star of his own ABC sitcom, “The Drew Carey Show.” “Things don’t make me nearly as happy as talking and having a beer with my friends. And that’s something everyone can do.”
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Fairbanks’ Resting Place: Actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who died Sunday in New York at age 90, will be entombed alongside his late father, Douglas Fairbanks, the swashbuckling star of silent films, at Hollywood Forever cemetery. Fairbanks Jr., who starred in such films as “Sinbad the Sailor,” “Catherine the Great,” “The Prisoner of Zenda” and “Little Caesar,” will be entombed in an imposing marble monument that sits at the top of a large reflecting pool. It was designed for two people. The funeral in Los Angeles will be private, with next week’s placement in the tomb possibly open to the public, cemetery spokesman Tyler Cassity said Tuesday. The elder Fairbanks, whose movies included “Son of Zorro,” “Robin Hood” and “The Thief of Baghdad,” died in 1939. American Movie Classics will pay tribute to Fairbanks Jr. by showing two of his movies today: “Having Wonderful Time” (1938) at 1:45 p.m. and “Sinbad the Sailor” (1947) at 3 p.m.
QUICK TAKES
Emmy Award winner Holland Taylor (best supporting actress, “The Practice”) will replace Donna Hanover, wife of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in the off-Broadway play “The Vagina Monologues.” . . . Playwright Tom Stoppard and sculptor Sir Anthony Caro were among four recipients named Tuesday to join the Order of Merit, the highest personal honor bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II. . . . Actress Tippi Hedren (“The Birds,” “Pacific Heights”) promotes National Osteoporosis Prevention Month at 1 p.m. today at Orthopaedic Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. . . . News/talk station KPCC-FM (89.3) ended its 10-day spring pledge drive Monday with $313,893 coming from 3,314 listeners, surpassing the station’s goal of $300,000. . . . The theatrical trailer for Universal Pictures’ holiday film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” starring Jim Carrey, will be previewed on the GE2 satellite today and also can be downloaded at https://www.meanone.com. . . . CalArts will present composer Steve Reich and video artist Bill Viola with honorary degrees at its graduation ceremonies on May 19. . . . On May 28, Gladys Knight, minus the Pips, will be the commencement speaker and will receive an honorary doctoral degree at the University of San Diego, which her three children attended.
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