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Griffin Daily News
Rock Groups
In Search
Os Fame
Play
Name Game
By ROGER DOUGHTY
NEA News Editor
NEW YORK—(NEA)—
Way back in the pre-rock ’n’
roll era, around 1585 or so,
Shakespeare, who was to the
England of his day what the
Beatles are now, wondered,
“What’s in a name?” If the
Bard had had the opportu
nity to hear Cat Mother and
the All Night Newsboys, he
wouldn’t have asked.
Fame, fortune and all the
goodies of life await those
clever souls who can make
with the music and dream
up the right names for their
groups.
Take, for example, the
Friends of Distinction, one of
the more friendly and dis
tinguished quartets around.
“A clever name won’t re
place talent,” says Harry
Elston, the friendly, dis
tinguished and talented lead
singer with the group, “but
it can’t do you any harm.”
The Friends, very hot
these days with a single and
an LP—both titled “Grazin’”
—started out about a year
ago with nothing but talent,
money (former footballer
Jim Brown bankrolled the
group), good connections and
a lot of bookings, but where
will those things get you in
these days of Blind Faith,
the Apple Pie Motherhood
Band, Spooky Tooth and
Lothar and the Hand People?
“We were puzzled,” Elston
remembered the other day,
smiling the kind of smile one
is likely to display after be
coming unpuzzled.
“We kicked it around and
tried to come up with a
name that would reflect the
kind of image we were try
ing to project. We wanted
a friendly name, but sorr
thing distinctive—a 1s o dis
tinguished—which is why we
considered the Distinctive
Friends. We threw that one
out, then went through a few
dozen more before we hit on
the Friends of Distinction.
It’s friendly, but it’s also
distinctive.”
Even the Mothers of In
vention couldn’t argue with
that.
But, as Harry is quick to
point out, “A lot of groups
grab names out of a bag. As
long as it’s controversial
and/or topical, they’ll go for
it.”
To check Harry’s theory
all you have to do is eyeball
the pages of Variety (once
the Establishment tool of Tin
Pan Alley, but no more)
where the rock charts are
6
faithfully unfurled in all
their glory. Or, if you’re
really with it, check out
Rolling Stone, the Bible of
the under-30 set.
So who has the No. 1 rec
ord these days? Who else?
Three Dog Night.
Mop-topped Michael Douglas
admits he "cultivated" an
existing back ailment to keep
out of the Army. He says
he selected "Hail, Hero!" for
his movie debut because he
empathizes with the antiwar
character he plays in it.
Kirk Douglas' Boy Michael
Feels First film Fits Him
By DICK KLEINER
Hollywood Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD — (NEA)—
Nobody talks about it very
much, but there are days in
this town when you just can’t
shoot outside.
The cast and crew of
“Hail, Hero!” had assem
bled on the back lot at Studio
Center. They were supposed
to shoot a scene in which
Michael Douglas goes swim
ming. But the skies were
gray, there was mog (that’s
mist and fog, or muck and
smog) in the air and it was
chilly.
So they waited, getting
optimistic reports from an
assistant director who was
in touch with the weather
bureau—“ They say it will
burn off in an hour.” But it
didn’t burn off, so they all
just hung around, took an
early lunch break and hoped
that the afternoon would be
better.
Michael Douglas is Kirk’s
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son. He said he was very
happy that the weather was
lousy.
“This is a heavy part for
me,” he said. “I’m in almost
every scene. I have only one
day off through the whole
shooting schedule. Pamela is
coming out and we’ll take off
that day.”
Pamela is his girl friend,
a top New York model
named Pamela Barkentin.
They go together pretty
steady, but Mike says he’s
not thinking of marriage at
the moment.
“I want to ride with this
for awhile,” he says, “with
out any responsibilities.”
By “this,” he means his
new-found success. It really
began last February, when
he starred in a CBS Play
house production called “The
Experiment.” He was billed
as M. J. Douglas then, be
cause there already was a
Michael Douglas in the
union. But that’s been
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straightened out, and he’s
Michael now.
That television show was
a success, and so was he. He
was suddenly a hot property.
He could have had several
movies for his debut, but
chose “Hail, Hero!,” pri
marily because he empa
thizes with the young anti
war hero of the script.
“It’s basically my own sit
uation,” he says. “Except
that I have back troubles,
which I have cultivated, that
keep me out of the Army.”
Mike says his father is,
naturally, proud of his
emerging career. They hope
some day to do a film to
gether—but not yet. For
Douglas, film acting was
something his father neither
pushed nor sought to pre
vent.
Because of a divorce in
the family, Mike was raised
in New York—or Westport,
Conn., to be precise. He says
“Thank God” he didn’t have
a Hollywood childhood. He
still makes New York his
home and will continue to do
so. He says New York has a
“focal point” to his life that
he does not find in California.
Playing his leading lady in
“Hail, Hero!” is 15-year-old
Deborah (don’t call her Deb
bie) Winters. She has a
movie heritage, too; her
mother was a starlet named
Penny Edwards.
The gossip around the
company is that Deborah is
now dating a 27-year-old
man. And she is reported to
have said that she wants to
wait awhile before getting
married—“until I finish the
11th grade.”
She has also been quoted
as saying, “I like to drink—
it’s fun, like going to the
movies.”
The gray, damp weather
continued. The company was
just hanging around, wait
ing. Everyboy gets paid, of
course, and that’s one reason
why movies cost so much
money.
(Newspaper Enterprise Assn.)