Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10 — The Georgia Bulletin. February 8, 1990
'Stella' Update Still
BY JUDITH TROJAN
NEW YORK (CNS) — "Stella” (Touchstone/Sam
Goldwyn), is the third film version of "Stella Dallas,” Olive
Higgins Prouty s teary novel about a mother's self-
sacrifice for her daughter.
A silent-film version was produced by Sam Goldwyn in
1925, and the well-known 1937 remake, also produced by
Goldwyn, made Barbara Stanwyck a star in the title role.
For some reason, Goldwvn’s son, Samuel Jr., decided the
time was ripe for another remake. With screenwriter
Robert Getchell. the duo updated the story to 1969 and cast
Bette Midler as the down-and-out, good-time girl and mar
tyred mom. Stella Claire.
In this incarnation, Stella is a bartender in a small,
upstate New York town. She is streetwise, independent and
proud. Against her better judgment, she briefly dates a
wealthy medical student, Stephen Dallas (Stephen Collins).
She becomes pregnant, struggles with the options she sees
/ \
Mass Televised
SUNDAY, FEB. 11
THE CATHOLIC MASS - The Mass will be tele
vised at the following times:
8:30 a m. on WOR-TV (Channel 14 on Prime Cable).
9 a.m. on WGN-TV (Channel 15 on Prime Cable).
10 a.m. on WVEU-TV (Channel 69).
The Mass for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
will be celebrated by Father Leo J. Gorman. CP. The
program is produced by Passionist Communications.
To obtain a missalette for the Mass, write Passionist
Communications. Inc., The Sunday Mass, P. O. Box
440, Pelham, N.Y. 10803.
V.
Soap Opera Fare
as a pregnant unwed woman — abortion, adoption and
single parenthood — but refuses to marry Stephen when he
extends the offer. She even refuses his emotional and finan
cial support, which many single mothers in the audience
may find hard to swallow.
Stella manages to raise Jenny on meager earnings. But
the focus of the film is on the 20-year bond that develops be
tween mother and daughter that ultimately must be loos
ened if Jenny is to reap the fruits of her father’s good life.
Trini Alvarado is an unlikely but attractive choice to play
Jenny from ages 14 to 20. She holds her own in emotional
scenes with Miss Midler and believably handles the con
flicts that arise over her obvious love for both parents.
The men don’t fare as well here, however. Stella’s good
friend Ed, played by "Roseanne” star John Goodman, is a
vulgar drunk, which keeps Stella from making a romantic
commitment to him. And Collins’ Stephen Dallas is just too
good to be true as Jenny’s understanding father.
"Stella” is saddled with one-dimensional characters and
holds fast to the original story’s weepy fairy-tale ending,
but director John Erman and his able production team
manage to update the novel’s sensibilities to its 1969-89 time
frame quite well. This is no "Kramer vs. Kramer" by any
stretch of the imagination, but Miss Midler admirably in
vests her soapy martyr mom role with more realism than
the script allows.
Although the theme of unwed motherhood may be off-
putting to parents, the subsequent portrayal of strong,
selfless parenting and an adolescent protagonist who
refuses to be coerced into a sexual relationship are positive
images for older adolescents to experience.
Due to some rough language laced with sexual
vulgarities, brief violence and its underlying theme of un
wed motherhood, the U S. Catholic Conference classifica
tion is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of
America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned that
»/ some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Programs Of Note
NEW YORK (CNS) - Sunday, Feb. 11, 9-11 p.m.
(CBS) “Miracle Landing.” The true story of a crip
pled commercial airplane and its heroic crew who
performed extraordinary acts of courage to save the
passengers after the top skin of the plane’s fuselage
ripped off during flight. Also lost were one engine and
the landing gear. Wayne Rogers, Connie Selleca,
Ana-Alicia and Nancy Kwan star in this inspiring
drama.
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 8-9 p.m. (PBS) Channel 8. "The
Bomb’s Lethal Legacy.” The “Nova” science series
explores an alarming nuclear waste problem in
eastern Washington state, where 45 years of mis
management at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
will cost billions to correct.
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 9-10 p.m. (PBS) Channel 8.
"Throwaway People.” The "Frontline” public af
fairs series explores the development of a black
underclass, looking for causes and solutions in the
history of one neighborhood in the nation’s capital.
“FLASHBACK”
A mismatched buddy road picture that pits a wily
49-year-old ’60s radical and fugitive from the feds (Dennis
Hopper) against a 26-year-old play-by-the-rules FBI rookie
(Kiefer Sutherland) assigned to escort the aging prankster
to court. Director Franco Amurri badly juggles at least five
themes and genres in one film, including a buddy action-
adventure, a generation-gap comedy, a drama about self
acceptance, and an Abbott and Costello farce. Brief
gratuitous violence, some sexual innuendoes and profanity
laced with sexual vulgarities. The U.S. Catholic Conference
classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture
Association of America rating is R — restricted.
MYSTERY STAR — TV star Tracy Nelson (second from right) and
her husband, actor Wiliam Moses (second from left), visit the convent
at Annunciation Parish in Denver, during a break in filming of “The
Father Dowling Mysteries.” With them are Father Julian Haas (left),
Sister Marie Michael Mollis (center) and Sister Lin Sayatovic. Miss
Nelson stars as Sister Steve in the ABC series, which also features ac
tor Tom Bosley as Father Dowling. (CNS photo from Annunciation
Convent).
Parent-Child Classes At High
Parish Enjoys Being Show Site
BY SISTER MARY ANN WALSH
WASHINGTON (CNS) - With TV lights
The High Museum of Art’s department
of education will offer a new nine-session
program for preschool children and their
parents beginning Feb. 20.
The classes, held each Tuesday from 10
to 11:30 a.m., will stress the creative ex
perience of making art. The goal is for
both parent and child to learn the joy of
creative expression and a new way of com
municating with each other. Designed for
three-and-four-year-olds, the classes will
continue each Tuesday through April 14
except April 3. Fee is $155 for non
members and $95 for members. This cost
includes both parent and child.
The non-verbal language of art — shape,
color, line, texture — is emphasized during
the first session attended by parents only.
During this class on communication
parents learn what to say to a child and
how to say it in a manner that encourages
creative expression and heightens self
esteem.
In other sessions parents and children
work with paint, clay and collage, per
forming the same tasks but working apart
from each other. Parents see their
children learning from a teacher and
working to create something uniquely
theirs.
Artist and art director Amy Dean will
direct the workshops. Ms. Dean is co
author of the book “Doing Art Together”
and developer of the parent/child program
at the Museum of Modern Art and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The High Museum of Art is located at
Peachtree and 16th streets in the Robert
W. Woodruff Arts Center. For more infor
mation call Christi Reynolds at 898-9286.
enhancing its Gothic church and third- and
fourth-graders enacting first Communion,
Annunciation Parish in Denver is enjoying
its role as home base for "The Father
Dowling Mysteries,” which now airs on
ABC-TV.
“It’s wonderful to watch them operate,”
said Capuchin Father Paulinus Karlin, ad
ministrator of the parish where TV stars
Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson have
become familiar sights.
"We welcome them very warmly,”
Father Karlin said in a telephone inter
view. "When they come here, we simply
open the rectory to them. They come in
and out. They use the telephone a lot.
They’re respectful... awfully nice people.”
"They do bring a lot of interest to the
area" marked by dozens of boarded-up
houses, the priest said. The parish is “the
poorest in Denver.”
Bosley, who played Howard Cun-
ingham on “Happy Days,” which aired
from 1974 to 1984 on ABC, and Miss Nelson,
daughter of the late rock star Ricky
Nelson, play detective duo Father Frank
Dowling and Sister Steve,
The program is set in Chicago at a fic
tional St. Michael’s Parish, where Father
Dowling, a compassionate older pastor, is
assisted by a more worldly younger nun,
identified in promos for the show as a
Sister of Mercy.
The series, which airs Thursdays, 8-9
p.m. EST, draws an older audience. It
premiered for a season on NBC last year.
When NBC dropped it, ABC picked it up as
a midseason replacement for this season.
To tape the series, a film crew of about
60 people descends on the parish irregular
ly and “photographs the whole day
through,” Father Karlin said.
Most filming is done at the church. The
school cafeteria gets pressed into use when
it’s time to feed the crew.
Parishioners get to play extras. Last
year the choir was filmed for one episode.
This year, some third- and fourth-graders
from the parish formed a first Communion
procession for ano’her.
The priest cited other benefits from the
use of the church. Fees from the produc
tion company are helping to build up a
fund for a centenary celebration in Oc
tober, he said. Parishioners also feel "a
sense of prestige.”
“People like to see their church being
used for something dignified,” he said,
“It’s a nice, clean family kind of show, sort
of interesting.
Sister of Charity Jean Panisko, principal
of the parish school, which has 206 students
from kindergarten to eighth grade, said
the school benefits, too.
Some students have worked as extras,
she said, and the school has gotten paid for
use of its cafeteria.
The money goes into the operating
budget, she said. “We always operate at a
deficit.”
The publicity has helped too, she said.
“In the past 20 years, the archdiocese
has closed 17 inner-city schools,” and
some former students thought their alma
mater had closed, she said, but the pro
gram has brought alumni back to the
parish. They find “we’re still here,” she
said.
Sister of Charity Marie Michael Mollis,
pastoral assistant, earned $40 as an extra
in the episode with the choir. She
developed a relationship with Miss Nelson,
who was raised Catholic.
The nun, who lives in the parish convent
with several other nuns, said Miss Nelson
and her husband, actor William Moses,
had dinner with them and attended Mass
at their convent last spring.
The nuns invited the couple to Mass to
pray with them when the actress, who is in
her early 20s, was battling cancer, which
apparently has gone into remission. Sister
Mollis said.
The show is not above criticism,
however. Sister Mollis said that occa
sionally scripts call for Miss Nelson to do
some things a nun wouldn’t be apt to do.
For example, on one show Sister Steve
played bartender to trap a criminal.
Sister Mollis said Miss Nelson, whose
character never seems connected to any
other sisters, gets mail from nuns urging
her to get something into the script show
ing that “she lives in a convent with other
nuns.”
n
*1
*7
*:■
J
*;
4
•P
<)