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Show TjWI 6E The Salt Lake Tribune Judy Blume wins young peoples trust by recalling ups and downs of youth 7, 1985 Sunday, April - EDITOR'S NOTE Reading a book by Judy Blum "I Ilk reading your own lit on tory," say tvntti grader. Indeed, Blum and kids hav hod o special affinifor ever since she started each other ty telling them stories os a young mother 20 years ogo. Occasional censorship battles notwithstanding, she's still winning new adult as well as children. fans By Nancy Shulins Associated Press Writer NEW YORK Dont ask Judy Blume where she left her glasses, or for the name of that Mexican restaurant she likes so well on the Santa Fe strip. Ask her about the burning scrape of sidewalk on bare knees, or about stuffing cotton balls into Gro-bra- s. Ask her about being a kid and youll get a glimpse of the recall, humor and empathy that have made her America's doyenne of fiction for young readers. I have a good memory, says Blume. I couldnt tell you where 1 left my keys. But I remember how things felt, how they smelled. A lot of people put their childhoods away. I never did. Instead, she puts hers into books like Blubber, a story of mob cruelty in a fifth grade classroom; Deenie, about a girl who suffers from scoliosis (curvature of the spine); and Star- - ring Sally J. Freedman As Her- self, about fears and nightmares e triggered by a girls in large part, imagination the story of Blumes own anxiety-riddechildhood. Impassioned Answer Ask a kid whats so special about Judy Blume and youre likely to get over-activ- n childrens books. She gets 2,000 letters a month from readers. an impassioned answer. "She has interesting stones, says New Yorker Kumra Vukel, a seventh grader who owns the complete line of Blume books. Theyre true. Theyre what really happens. She tells the life of everybody, like a regular kid. Its like reading your own life story. Indeed, even if you are no longer 12, an afternoon with a Blume book can be a ride over territory so familiar you almost taste the grape jelly and choke on the chalk dust. Blumes fictional children have all the faults, quirks and complexities of the real thing. Little kids are biters and criers, older ones teasers and tormentors. From time to time, you may well want to spank them. Less Than Perfect parents also reside here. Mothers arent above having one too many, or putting on phony displays to impress the neighbors. Fathers hide girlie magazines under their socks and perform embarrassg when the ing feats of boss comes to dinner. Some conflicts are resolved in endBlumes fiction, but fairy-tal- e ings arent her trademark. The endings tend to be as grounded in reality as the subjects! divorce, the sudden death of a parent, the shifting loyalties of grade school children. This same brand of realism that strikes strong chords in children sometimes proves too much for parents. Censorship disputes have flared in several towns across the country, including Loveland, Colo., Casper, Wyo., and Peoria, 111., where a battle over several Blume books was recently resolved. ct apple-polishin- Big hit or $5 million flop Stubby Kaye returns to rock 46th Street By Michael Kuchwara Associated Press Writer BALTIMORE Its been nearly 35 years since Stubby Kaye first rocked New Yorks 46th Street Theater with his rendition of that certified show stopper Sit Down Youre Rocking The Boat. The show it stopped was Frank Loessers Guys and Dolls. Now the little man with the portly build and the happy face has returned e to musical comedy in "Grind, a $5 million effort directed by Harold Prince. "How can you object to coming back to Broadway? asks the Kaye between bites of an omelet. Hes eating in a deserted hotel restaurant in Baltimore, where "Grind, set in a 1930s Chicago burlesque house, underwent a three-wee- k shakedown run before heading to New York. When youre away from something for a long time, its nice to come back." Enticed to Return been away from Broadhas Kaye way since 1975 when he replaced Jack Weston in Terrence McNallys comedy "The Ritz." What enticed him to return was the role of Gus, a burlesque comedian, in Grind, which also stars Ben Vereen, Leilani Jones and Timothy Nolen. .It's not an comedy big-tim- part. It has serious undertones, says Kaye, who was offered the part after Prince saw him on the television miniseries Ellis Island earlier this season. In vaudeville, Kaye may have played every tank town between Altoona and Schenectady, but his only burlesque experience consisted of two weeks in Brooklyn. I was the 38th banana, down at the bottom of the bunch, he says. He started performing in high school, appearing in variety shows at DeWitt Clinton High School. His father was a traveling salesman, his mother a housewife. First Break Kayes first break was in a Bronx bar and grill called the American Tavern. It had a Liberty Bell outside and every Thursday was amateur night. One night I got up and just clowned around," remembers Kaye. "I won $5. Wow! That was a lot of money. A waiter at the bar knew a theatrical agent and pointed Kaye in the direction of the Strand Building on Broadway. The agent booked him for stands at taverns around New York, Brooklyn, the Bronx, New Jersey and Long Island. "I got an act up. I'd sing songs like one-nig- Dr. Clinton F. Larson BYU retires poet-in-reside- nce Special to The Tribune PROVO Dr. Clinton F. Larson, for 38 years a professor of English at Brigham Young University and BYUs will retire this month. Dr. Larson's legacy to the university and his admirers is a prolific output of thousands of poems, 30 books of poetry and as many books on other subjects. Dr. Larson He is the editor of an illustrated childrens version of the Book of Mormon, and the anthology Modem Poetry of Western America, which he with William Stafford of Lewis & Clark College, is used as a text in many colleges throughout the country. Dr. Larson was the first recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Creative Arts Award in 1966 and wrote plays which were produced in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, New York, the Intermountain Region and in Finland. Among them are "Saul of Tarsus, a religious play, named one of three outstanding works in the Rochester, N.Y., Religious Arts Festival drama competition; The Mantle of the Prophet, which was staged in several cities; Button, Button, which premiered in the Finnish National Theater in Helsinki. The professor also contributed much in establishing BYU Studies at the school and to the organization of the Rocky Mountain Writers Convention. He joined the BYU English Department in 1947, received his B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Utah and took his doctorate at the University of Denver. He also has served as charter president of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies and was a president of the Utah Poetry Society. tr at 'on or any Other device These ratings apply to films released after March 1. i7$ SEAL fyt ads indicates the film was submitted and approved under the Motion Picture Code of Seif Regulation RUN!! CHANNEL" NIGHT HUNGER" a PG t lOOS. TIntS Of HARVEY H II ':QU,9:0U Gill Armitronn's 5:'o THE K Acadeny Awards - V Suguf-t'-i- u. pareni 13 admitted in it o a Ju u t ves, . cumud'nd After I sang a few bars of the song, Loesser went upstairs and said to the piano player, Now raise the key a little bit. He told me, Let me hear you sing good and loud. So I did, says Kaye. Loesser kept going higher and higher in the theater and had me sing louder and louder. t rl ' atd Dv - in mind. Another Kaye played in Guys and Dolls for two years in New York. London and Las Vegas followed. In 1956, he went into Lil Abner as Marryin in Sam and had another the song Jubilation T. Compone. Since then, Kaye has never stopped in television series like working Love and Marriage and My Sister Eileen, in the 1974 revival of Good News with Alice Faye and lately in England where he now lives with his British-bor- n wife who was a dancer at the Palladium. Hell return to his country home in Sussex, 63 miles from London, when his stint in Grind is up. Hes philosophical about the chances of Grind being a big hit or a $5 million flop. Show-Stopp- show-stopp- .HI, jre P- O j 3 TUES. - SUN. APRIL 9 MISTY DAWN TIFFANY WILLIS 2ND FUIUU 'AFTERNOON DELIGHT' VERONICA HART , prcc pun pa per Person for Two Breakfast Discount Coupon US)! person Cinema CANDIDA R0YALLE I 45 532-211- nor cash. t classified ad to find a cash buyer for the furniture which is stashed away in storage at your house. low-cos- 0 rood do$ifod Utah advertuera ouliidc the IocaJ are Dial TOLL FREE 9186 i'. u Ji MOVIES! JANEY ROBBINS ST. JAMES 2nd ffloiun "WORKING IT OUT" DANIELLE JOANNA STORM BRIDGETS MONET Sell it for popl . ' JESSIE 364-364- 7 3 tut, 3 "HOI WICKED WAYS" rtll LINDA SHAW 368 So. Stale 363-174- jOgenJUaUjnj4VMijtShoiatoupleJHVice 237-20C- red non inn non-prof- it West Broadwi) For Reservations, Call: (801) Still, it seems these young writers have come to the right place. The letters, accompanied by autobiographical sketches, are being edited into a book, a resource for parents and children that will be divided into sections dealing with specific growing pains. Royalties will be donated to the Kids Fund, established in 1981 with royalties from a childrens diary. The fund, created in response to the letters, provides start-u- p grants of between $1,000 and $5,000 for organizations to develop programs catering to kids problems: sex education, parenting skills for mothers, support services for children of divorce. Love of Southwest The Kids Fund is based in Santa Fe, where Blume spends about half her time. When the book of letters is finished, Blume plans to take on another project aimed at helping kids: prjaring packet of testimonial letters from readers o accompany each of her books, ai munition for waging censorship wars. A lot of publications tell people what to do to get the books removed, she says. There needs to be some help available for people who want to get them put back. 'SOMMTY SWIETtKAftTS MERLE MICHAELS Other Special totes Tool WESTERN LEISURE view. 3rd Faohjrt want&ds Casino Gaming Full d trimm 21 Sun-Ved- . tempts. I sent out such junk, she says, blushing. I put picture books together with brass fasteners and sent them off to publishers. Then I sat around having all these wonderful fantasies. The first book to sell, The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo, brought her a $350 advance and theres never been a day to equal that one. But the day the reviews appeared for Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret came close. I had a tennis racket in my hand I was still being the dutiful suburban wife. My publisher called to tell me what The New York Times had said. I put that tennis racket down and sank to my knees. Critical Acclaim Margaret, her third published book, was her first critically acclaimed work. It launched her career. It prompted her to hire an agent And it brought the first smattering of letor appreciative ters from troubled readers. Kids like to know that a parent an adult can remember, she says. So ftfttn ma Tk A ka v twipf yi uat gvbO iaC. J iiv I C' uuoi u nrkot sponsibility. It never occurred to me thered be feedback. Feedback, nowadays, means 2,000 letters a month. Double that in February, when Blume celebrates her birthday. On reams of notebook and yellow-linepaper, her readers pour out their troubles with school, parents, siblings and friends, stuff them into envelopes and mail them off to the author. Child s Point of View Kids think, If only Judy Blume were my mother! Well, it would just be regular, she says with a grin. They would have plenty of problems. There were times when I was a less effective parent because I saw everything from the childs point of SERENA RIDE THE BEST BUS GOING! Round Trip Bus Tare ing the dishes. I was reading Dr. Seuss books to my. kids at the time. Shes not proud of those early at- MOVIES! "MTTIIW LUCKY" 6 : ( ou'V First Writing Efforts Her first efforts were in verse. I made up rhyming stories while wash Use a Adults Only no Motion 8 I didnt know that all the time he had Sit Down Youre Rocking The Boat o ur i Un-rate- d rsui (wither a t. gjd'd'd' (X) R W.TuKf. .iwdip'ice A ij,i iu' sugoi Vd uvo" admitted Pa ens are s,ung autoned u giv 'lu'dino- to- jttrnoa nr o n a hi'dren and' ;l l UC be I'TdPPuPMdK for LR tdr$ .idy DdvlsC Australian Do. o Deluxe Guest Room aiJniheO Ah dgc FpcI NLRAc C.f jtKeVi-.- -- 200 good-hearte- ILMM MBBSOCffi THIS In Open Daily 10:15 amCouples Discount- tion down-to-eart- I FREEITOPJSHOW, ENTERTAINMENT!! at SONS OF THE PIONEERS" ...... MOVIE AUDIENCE GUIDE Midnight phu Major Bowes Amateur Hour In 1939, Kaye ended up on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. He started by singing an oldie called "Please Be Kind but after four or five lines went into his impressions, including one of Mae West. He won and, within a week, Kaye was tduring the country with a Major Bowes unit, a collection of Amateur Hour winners. On a second tour, he worked as a stooge for Tod Mack, who later would take over the Amateur Hour. At that time, Mack was a band leader. I sat out in the audience and heckled Mack. Then he got me up on stage and I finished my act by singing a song with his orchestra, Kaye says. In the early 40s, Kaye polished his material and timing in vaudeville, doing three shows a day during countless three-da- y stands. Good Old Days Youd hear a joke and then switch it around to make it fit you. I wasn't proud. If you bad a few extra bucks, you would get hold of one of the hundreds of writers around Broadway who hung out at Kelloggs Cafeteria. All the comedians used to meet in Kellogg's to swap jokes or help each other, Kaye remembers. And if you found a writer who needed $25 or $35, you could get a parody out of him. It was great in those days. In World War II, Kaye entertained troops from North Africa to Iceland, managing and emceeing USO tours. By the late 1940s, with vaudeville distributed The Sat lake Tribune does not accept advir tisemont, ot fi'rm legally adiudued pornographic or legally Cited as pornographic in formal complaint Consistent with this pohev The Tbune accepts no adver-t.s'nmatter m Ahah the exhibitor himseif o o' aim-- a him pornographic by spec tic r ipiion. double entendre suggestive Friday and Saturday MUST kept doing audition after audiand nothing ever happened, Kaye says. In 1950, he sang for composer Frank Loesser who had just finished a new show called Guys and Dolls and was looking for someone to play Nicely-Nicel- y Johnson, a d gambler. Kaye did an old Lena Home standard, Deed I I flag-wave- r. Tribune Advertising Policy CTDJTO Show EXCLUSIVE gone, he moved into television, which was just beginning in New York. But he never gave up on being in a Broadway show. The SiU Lake Tribune's basic advertising do'ic v is to accept the non dec eutive. tastetu advertising ot all lawful services, and o ah oroducK that are legally manufactured and lu "THE PLEASURE Pistol Packin Mama and do imitations of people like Cary Grant and Peter Lorre, he says. Id finish with President Roosevelt to make it a real Theyve been returned to the library, but theyre restricted. However, any child can take out any book with a note from a parent, says Blume. The turning point came, she reports, when a young girl with scoliosis addressed the school board. Helped to Accept Affliction She said Deenie helped her friends accept her scoliosis. Then an older girl talked about what it would have meant to her if Deenie had been available when she was growing up with the disease. Her eyes fill with tears for an instant, then she angrily brushes them away. Censorship is all fear. Its the attitude that if kids dont read about something, they'll never have to deal with it. Then we as parents will never have to deal with it. While she hates the publicity generated by disputes over her books, she says, At least its made parents aware that its up to the readers. Its very important for young readers to get involved and adults should support them. Blume has stepped out of her role as an author for young readers to write two adult novels: wifey, a saga ot a bored suburban housewife, in which the kids were conspicuously absent; and Smart Women, about two divorcees and their teen-ag- e daughters starting over in Boulder, Colo. Return to Adolt Fiction In Wifey, I did what you do when I you dont want the kids around sent them off to camp, Blume says. While she may try her hand at adult fiction again, she promises never again to do away with the kids. In writing childrens books, Blume often has drawn on the experiences of her own children, now 22 and 24, but she knows many of her subjects firsthand, as an adult if not as a child. She went through two divorces of her own before meeting the man she now lives with. Now, at a youthful 47, she strikes you as the woman next door, outgoing h with an almost and childlike friendliness. She is rail-thi- n and energetic, with medium-lengt- h wavy auburn hair, brown eyes, a wide mouth that easily stretches into a smile. Like millions of children across America, she takes daily tap dance lessons; like millions more, she still measures time by the school calendar. Free of Pain Her own childhood, spent in suburban New Jersey, was relatively free of pain but cloaked in fear, and she describes herself as "a worried kid. My father was the youngest of seven siblings, all of whom died young, she says. "I grew up making all kinds of bargains with God. Her bargains held up through childhood. Her father died when she was 21, right before her wedding. Five or six years later, with two small children of her own, Blume discovered writing. She didnt write childrens books because she had children, she says. I wrote childrens books because I was a child. A baby! I didnt really connect I had no experito that other world ence a8 an adult. |