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Long, Hot Summer
The Lord of the Rings movie premiere isn't until December, but Forrest DeLanger already got his name in the paper by being first in line for tickets at the Rancho Santa Fe, CA theaters. The 46-year-old bachelor with no life declared, "Only one person can be first in line, and it should be me."
Alan White clipped this article for File 770, and added a note warning, "This is a hoax." I guess, after Alan read what I had to say about Frohvet last issue, he wasn't sure I could tell the difference.
Brush Up Your Tolkien
While the world lines up to see the movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Britain's Tolkien Society is keeping its eye on the place where it all started - Tolkien's books. Decades after publication, copies of early editions in the circulating collections of public libraries require conservation to stay in service.
Tolkien Society Trustee Trevor Reynolds said, "I saw a newspaper article about the British Library's Adopt-A-Book scheme which explained how much of our literary heritage was at risk, so I contacted them to see whether any books by Tolkien were in need of conservation. They told us that three books needed work and that this would cost them £1300."
The Society has paid to conserve all three books: a rare UK first edition of The Hobbit, an early Puffin paperback edition of The Hobbit, and a USA first edition paperback of Tolkien's elegiac fairy tale Smith of Wootton Major. A spontaneous collection among members during the Society's annual mini-conference Oxonmoot last September raised about one-third of the money. The rest came from the Society's publications budget.
The British Library invited the Tolkien Society to send four members to visit the Library's conservation department and "meet" the adopted books. The places were allocated by a draw among members who had contributed to original collection.
Conservation, not restoration, is the objective. "All our books are intended for reading," says the department's Mike Western. A large part of the work involves books and manuscripts from the 20th century - modern wood-based paper degrades faster than the rag paper used in older, more expensive publishing. Cheap acid paper turns yellow in a few years. Reversing or stabilizing the effect of the acid is the main treatment needed by modern books and prints. "We have a 300 year backlog," a doleful conservator told Reynolds.
And the conservators appeal to book lovers - don't use sticky tape to fix loose pages! Treatment can remove the plastic strip and adhesive, but the staining is permanent.
The Tolkien Society's idea has inspired Adopt-A-Book to appeal to other literary groups for funds to conserve "their" author's early editions.
Adopt-A-Book's website, www.bl.uk/adoptabook, has been named as "most loved" in the UK by one publication. The Tolkien Society also draws visitors to its website at www.tolkiensociety.org
UK Census Undercounts
Jedi Faithful
The British government nearly had a Jedi jihad on their hands. According to online news sources, Star Wars fans were taken in by an e-mail hoax suggesting that the forthcoming U.K. Census would recognize "Jedi" as a religion if enough people wrote it on the form. The Office of National Statistics denies that they will count the write-ins. Their representative told reporters, "There won't be any coding for Jedi. So it won't be called a religion even if 10,000 people do it." If the official had nothing further to say, I'm sure that was only because he felt the grip of an invisible hand closing on his throat. [[Source: Chronicles of the Dawn Patrol]]
Coming This Summer
Area (19)51 SF Film Festival
Forrest J Ackerman will host the Area (19)51 SF Film Festival, part of Kansas City's "Halfway to Hollywood" cinema celebration in June. Area (19)51 is sponsored by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, Inc. and Photoplay Inc., in association with the Fine Arts Theatre Group.
Seven classic SF films from 1950-1951 will be shown: Destination Moon, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing From Another World, When Worlds Collide, The Man From Planet X , Lost Continent, Flight to Mars. Five rare 35 mm episodes of the early TV series Space Patrol will also be screened.
The Area (19)51 festival boasts high-quality 35 mm prints from the collection of a noted Kansas City area theater owner. In the case of The Thing From Another World, the print is a pristine original vault find from Australia with deleted scenes not available since the film's original release in 1951. During the festival, there will also be the theatrical premiere of a new documentary on the making of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Original props, posters, and stills from these films, not seen for half a century, will be on display at the Englewood.
These films launched the beginning of the modern science fiction film era and contain wonderfully entertaining insights into the Atomic Age. They represent the hopeful, innocent qualities of the era but also draw attention to the fears of atomic warfare, racial unrest, communism and possible life on other worlds.
Visit the festival website (still under construction) for more information and schedules:
www.halfway2hollywood.com
Spock Groks Observatory
Leonard Nimoy is doing his part to ensure that Griffith Observatory lives long and prospers. The actor and his wife, Susan, have donated $1 million to refurbish the 66-year-old Los Angeles landmark. "I think it's of cosmic consequence," said Griffith Observatory Director Edwin C. Krupp. "There's something really appealing about Leonard Nimoy's professional career and being able to bring it into this space."
The donation is the first contribution by an individual to the renovation effort, which has acquired about two-thirds of the $63 million it needs from corporations, foundations and public money. The face lift is scheduled to begin next year and be completed by late 2004.
"By observing the sky and pondering our place in the universe, people gain a new perspective on their daily lives," Nimoy said in a statement. "Griffith Observatory gives its visitors that opportunity. It is a Los Angeles icon, one which we need to ensure will be here for generations to come."
About 2 million people visit the observatory a year to view the universe through its 12-inch Zeiss refractor telescope and planetarium. Millions more have seen its bronze Art Deco dome in films, including the switchblade scene in James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause. [[Source: AP]]
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