By EVELYN BARGE Palisadian-Post Intern When Palisadian producer David Carr read “The Da Vinci Code” by author Dan Brown two years ago, he said he was initially taken in by some of the book’s factual claims. “The way the book reads is pretty compelling, and it seems as if it’s all true,” Carr said of the New York Times bestseller about a murder mystery wrapped in religious conspiracy theories. The meticulously researched book even includes a fact page, which states that all the documents, rituals, organizations, artwork and architecture cited in the novel exist. Since its publication in 2003, “The Da Vinci Code” has fascinated millions of readers, from those who believe the book is more than a work of fiction to those who harshly criticize the novel’s assertions about topics such as secret religious societies and the Holy Grail. “The Da Vinci Code” has also inspired dozens of documentaries that attempt to either support or debunk the legends found in Brown’s novel. When Carr and his production company, Beantown Productions, were approached by The Learning Channel to pitch their idea for a special program on “The Da Vinci Code,” he said they decided to take a fresh approach to a well-worn topic. “We gave them a little taste of what we were going to do,” Carr said. “During one portion of the pitch, we took the image of Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ painting and lifted some of the images out and zoomed around in the painting. It brought the painting to life.” Several companies pitched their proposals for the special to TLC, and Beantown was hired to produce the project. “There have been a few different specials on ‘The Da Vinci Code’ that have that A&E-Biography pace,” Carr said. “Our show isn’t like that at all.” Carr, who co-directed and co-produced the program with his Beantown partner David Comtois, said they wanted to produce an hour-long special with a younger, hipper spin than other “Da Vinci” documentaries. “It’s not your father’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ show,” Carr said. “It’s really fast, and the information still comes through. We try to make it more visually stimulating and more accessible to a wider, younger audience.” Titled “Da Vinci Declassified,” the documentary takes an oftentimes comedic look at Brown’s assertions about the Priory of Sion, a secret religious society in “The Da Vinci Code” that protects the secret of the Holy Grail. On its second page, the book states the Priory of Sion was founded in 1099 and that it is a real organization. “We wanted to see if it was true, so we went to the real locations and investigated,” Carr said. “We actually found that it is not true.” In the process of probing and debunking “Da Vinci” legends, the production team traveled around Europe in spring 2005, visiting the real locations mentioned in the book and filming segments of the documentary at each site. “Traveling Europe was the most fun part,” Carr said. “It was really fascinating, because wherever we went, there were tons and tons of other visitors touring the places in the book.” During their travels, the team visited Rosslyn Chapel in the village of Roslin, Scotland. According to the book, the chapel once contained the Holy Grail, which was supposedly buried beneath the Star of David, which is engraved on the chapel floor. Tour guides at the chapel told Carr that they have been receiving close to 25,000 visitors a year since the release of “The Da Vinci Code.” Carr said the production team’s visit to the Louvre in Paris was also a testament to the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code.” “There were 500 people there, jumping on each other’s shoulders to take pictures of the ‘Mona Lisa,'” he said of Da Vinci’s famous portrait that figures prominently in the solution to the murder mystery in Brown’s book. “This was three whole years after the book was published.” “It’s really been a tourist phenomenon,” Carr added. “People in Paris have been inundated with groups of tourists looking for ‘Da Vinci Code’ sites. We investigated that a little, too, and went with some tourist groups and interviewed some of those people.” In addition to tourist interviews, “Da Vinci Declassified” uses interviews with historians, art specialists, scientists and mathematicians in its quest to discredit some of the myths and legends surrounding “The Da Vinci Code.” Carr and his team also interviewed the authors of source books used by Brown to compile his novel, such as “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.” The 1983 bestseller popularized a legend that claims Jesus survived the crucifixion, had children with his wife Mary Magdalene and established a bloodline of holy kings. “We wanted to separate the truth from the myth,” Carr said. With so much information to convey in the hour-long program, Carr said Beantown’s style of production was well suited for the task. “There’s a lot packed into an hour, and there’s a lot of story to tell,” he said. “That’s one reason why it’s so fast-paced.” The program’s dynamic style is also the signature style of Beantown Productions, which was founded by Carr and Comtois in 1992. “Our style of documentary is faster, more graphics-driven and more music-driven,” he said. “That’s our brand of production.” The company began by producing television promos for big-name shows such as “The Simpsons” and “Cops.” They started producing documentaries seven years ago. Carr graduated in 1986 from Boston University, where he met Comtois, his Beantown partner and co-founder. A Palisades resident for 10 years with his wife Carol and their two children, Stephen and Jacqueline, Carr said he hopes Beantown’s latest documentary will inspire viewers to question their assumptions about “The Da Vinci Code.” “Just like we did, the book asks some hard questions,” he said. “It’s good for people to go out and find this stuff out for themselves.”

Golden Couples of Pacific Palisades

Theresa and John Loef were married 50 years on November 12. Their first meeting in October 1954 was far from romantic. Terry was a New York-based flight attendant for American on transfer to California for three months. The airline gave the flight attendants guest passes to the Del Mar Club beach club on Pico. Terry and her girlfriends entered the club. “I saw a sea of men approaching us and I saw two guys sitting in the corner of the bar,” Terry recalls. “We headed straight over to the two guys because it seemed safer.” John’s friend instantly got up and offered his seat, but John stayed put. “Anyone can have this seat after 7:30,” John said. Terry remembers thinking, “That isn’t too gallant.” Today, John explains that for a dollar you could drink anything you wanted for an hour and a half, which is why he made the comment in jest that he wasn’t vacating his chair until the time was up. Terry must have left an impression on him, though, because he kept calling her after that night. “But I didn’t go out with him,” she said. John grew up in Maitowoc, Wisconsin, and received a degree in mechanical engineering. He went into the Navy and was at Pearl Harbor after the bombing to help with submarine repairs. During the Korean War he was called back into service to help with regular ship repair. He’s 10 years older than Terry and was a confirmed bachelor when they met. Terry’s roommate invited John and a friend to dinner. The men originally said no because they were going skiing, but when the ski rack fell off the car they went to dinner instead. Terry already had a date for dinner and Rose Bowl tickets for the following day. By the end of the evening, it seemed that she was spending more time with John than with her date. “From that time on we just seemed to blend,” Terry says. Another problem cropped up: How do you get a confirmed bachelor to pop the question? In April, Terry’s sister from Brockton, Massachusetts, was visiting and Terry had to work. While she was flying, John entertained her sister, taking her all over the city. When she got ready to leave, Terry expressed her doubt about whether John really liked her. Her sister said, “He loves you. He wouldn’t drag a sister all over the place if he didn’t.” Her sister suggested, “Just tell him you’re transferring back to New York.” In July, Terry and John were at a party at the Malibu Colony. There was a full moon as they went for a long walk on the beach. Terry took her sister’s advice and told John she was returning to New York. “Would you come back?” he asked. “I can’t answer that,” she said. At the end of July at another party, John’s brother was visiting and asked him, “If you marry her, would I have to go to Brockton?” “I’m not getting married,” John said. Terry came out and he started talking with her. A moment later she pushed the screen doors open at the house and ran in shouting, “I’m getting married.” “In two hours I went from telling my brother I wasn’t getting married to getting engaged,” John said. They were married November 12, 1955 in St. Casimir in Los Angeles and had their reception at the old Santa Ynez Inn in Pacific Palisades. “A beautiful place, a lovely dining room,” John recalls. “Now people hop in bed right away, live together, have a big wedding and then get a divorce,” Terry says. “I don’t get it.” “We took our vows seriously, for better or worse,” John says. They eventually bought a house on Kagawa for $23,000, then sold it for $40,000. The realtor told them that houses on the Alphabet streets would never be worth more than that, so they moved to the Huntington in 1966, where they’ve lived for the past 39 years. John worked at Douglas Aircraft for 23 years and retired at 56. He then worked for Hughes for an additional 11 years before retiring for good. They had three children’Lisa, Peter and Martin’within three years, and a fourth child, Michael, came six years later. John always insisted that once a month the two of them had time alone. They would go away for the weekend. “It helps bond you and keeps you together,” Terry said. The relationship wasn’t always smooth. “It was World War III at times,” Terry admits. How did they get through those times? “She would be so angry she wouldn’t talk,” John says. “I usually talked first.” “In a relationship you sometimes have to go more than 50-50,” Terry says. “Sometimes it’s 90 percent you have to go. He’s done more 90 than I have.” “It’s because you’re so feisty,” John says. “You have to keep working and working,” Terry says. “A marriage isn’t stagnant.” The two have traveled to all six continents and 70 countries. Once while they were in the Italian Alps, they packed a lunch and went for a hike. They discovered a deserted villa and picnicked on the balcony, where they had a spectacular view. “I always wonder about that place,” Terry said. “The tiles were intact, but the beautiful lampposts had been broken by vandals.” In addition to traveling, they participate in Elderhostel programs, which take them hot air ballooning in New Mexico, painting and canoeing in the Appalachians and wine tasting in Napa. In Maine they took a week-long cooking class and then a week of learning how to use power tools. Their 50th anniversary was a four-week celebration. Their children surprised them with a party at the Casa del Mar, where they first met. “I told them I didn’t want anything,” Terry said. “And then you started complaining because it looked like they weren’t going to do anything,” John said with a smile. After that party they traveled to Massachusetts, where Terry’s relatives gave them three parties in one day and then they departed on a two-week Caribbean cruise. While on board they planned to renew their vows, like they had done for their 20th and 40th anniversaries, but the priest missed boarding the ship. The Loefs did it themselves on the ship’in the moonlight, on the balcony, overlooking the ocean. “Every morning, he clips out the ‘Love is. . .’ from the newspaper and puts it by my plate,” Terry said. “I could have searched the whole world and never found someone who would love me as he does.”

Dr. Marjorie Perloff, a Palisadian and scholar in residence at USC, will be discussing her book “The Vienna Paradox,” a memoir of her childhood in Vienna and her family’s escape to the U.S. after the rise of Nazism, on Saturday, December 10 at 10:30 a.m. at the Palisades Branch Library, 861 Alma Real. The enduring paradox concerns the two Viennas of the 1930s. One was a place of great beauty, art and sophistication, decorated with the old imperial grandeur of the Hapsburgs. The other was a fetid city, of bedbug-ridden shelters that bred a virulent type of violence and desperation that served as a laboratory for hateful ideas of a young Adolf Hitler. Social, cultural and political issues arose as a result of this paradox, many of which can still be seen today. Perloff was born into the Jewish haute bourgeoisie of that imperial city. Her world was one of strong intellectual and artistic traditions with Goethe as the literary hero and Kant as philosophical patron saint; of intelligent, educated parents; of musical gatherings and elegant parties; of celebrations of Christmas and Easter, rather than Hanukkah and Passover. A day after the Anschluss, on March 12, 1938, when Hitler marched unopposed to cheers into an Austria bedecked with flags of the Third Reich, six-year-old Perloff, her older brother, her parents and a few other close relatives left Vienna for Rome. Once in America, her family settled in a small house in Riverdale, New York, far removed from the grand apartment in Vienna. Perloff’s personal life reflects her desire to become as American as possible, even changing her name to Marjorie from her given name Gabriele, graduating from Columbia, marrying a medical student, raising a family, and pursuing a teaching and writing career. In “The Vienna Paradox,” she concentrates on a view of academics, art and literature, rather than on the details of her own life. Her enthusiasm, her refusal to take herself seriously, her wit and good humor and wide-ranging knowledge of art, literature, politics and human nature, make “The Vienna Paradox” enjoyable. After a long academic career spent at the University of Maryland, USC and Stanford, Perloff is currently a scholar in residence at USC. In her critical work, she has focused on poetics, with books on Yeats, Robert Lowell, Frank O’Hara and another half-dozen titles dedicated to avant garde poetry. Everyone is invited to the event in the Library meeting room. The program is sponsored by the Pacific Palisades Library Association, which will be serving morning refreshments. Contact: 459-2754.

The Santa Monica Museum of Art, known for its offbeat contemporary art exhibits, applies the same approach to its fundraising.

Christmas is coming early to art lovers on the Westside. The gift is courtesy of the Santa Monica Museum Art, which is staging its second annual fundraiser, “Incognito.” At the event taking place this Saturday, December 10, over 600 works of art will be for sale, and the price is the same for each piece: $250. “We really pride ourselves on being revolutionary,” says executive director Elsa Longhauser, referring to the nonprofit museum’s always-cutting-edge exhibitions of contemporary art. “We wanted to create a benefit that would reflect that same spirit.” Following last year’s model, the museum has invited hundreds of well-known and emerging artists to donate original works, all created in an 8″ by 10″ format. The fun of “Incognito”‘beyond the bargain-basement pricing’is the anonymity of the artist. It’s only after purchase that the identity of the artist is revealed. All works are signed on the back. Participating artists run the gamut from luminaries of the art world, people like Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Sol LeWitt and Yoko Ono, to major new talent, including Bari Ziperstein and Suzan Woodruff. Although this year’s invitation list grew to over 500 artists (many submit more than one work), the selection process is rigorous, according to Longhauser. The museum hopes to top the success of last year’s event, when $150,000 was raised, the largest sum ever collected from a fundraising party. The sold-out event attracted 600 people, most of whom bought at least one work; one patron scooped up 12. “Our byline for ‘Incognito’ is ‘trust your instincts,'” explains Longhauser. “In addition to being able to buy a masterpiece for $250, the great thing is the fact that you can really trust your eyes. It gives everyone the chance to be both a collector and curator.” The VIP ticket, at $75 ($100 at the door), allows first entry to the museum at 7 p.m.; $25 ($35 at the door) buys a ticket for the general reception at 8:30 p.m. The exhibition and sale continues with no admission fee from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 11. “There’s no need to think the best work is gone immediately, because there is so much,” says Longhauser. “Last year, people still got incredible work the next day, and entry was free.” The museum will host another creative benefit, The Joe Goode Fire Sale Raffle and Party, on December 15 to help the well-known L.A. artist recover from a devastating studio fire this past summer. A large group of his artist friends’among them such high-profile names as Frank Gehry, Robert Graham and Larry Bell’are all contributing art work to be raffled off to 10 winners. Tickets are $200 and each winner will receive four works of art. When Longhauser received the call about holding the benefit, she readily agreed. “Joe Goode is a major icon in L.A. and part of our community and world,” she says. “We feel a responsibility to respond to artists’ needs. It’s a way for us to get closer to the art and closer to the artists.” As the only non-collecting museum in Southern California, SMMoA, founded in 1984, is truly about the present, advancing the work of contemporary local, national and international artists and scholars, both emerging and established, through exhibitions it conceives and organizes. “We see ourselves as a kind of collector of ideas,” says Longhauser, whose calm, measured style belies the high-powered force she’s become since being appointed director in June 2000. Since that time, she has organized a number of pivotal exhibitions that introduced new bodies of work by Stephen Keene, Raymond Pettibon, Mary Kelly, Peter Doig, Chris Ofili and Laura Owens. Before coming to L.A., Longhauser was director of the Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. She studied art history at the University of Pennsylvania. Longhauser splits her time between curatorial and administrative duties, concentrating both on donor cultivation and fundraising as well as exhibition planning. As such, she enlivens the museum’s exhibition schedule with a wide array of guest curators. During the past year, two exhibitions garnering much critical acclaim were “George Herms: Hot Set,” the last exhibition curated by the late Walter Hopps, who assembled the first retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, and showcased emerging pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and “Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle,” one of the first shows ever to chronicle beatnik culture in Southern California. “I like to call it select eclecticism,” says Longhauser of the museum’s wide-ranging subject matter. “We’re a seismograph for great ideas and great artists.” The future is no less diverse, with an exhibition entitled “Dark Spaces” opening in January. Described as an exploration of the interconnections between memory and social space, the experimental show features 75 artists from around the world with a pioneering installation by the architectural collaborative SERVO. Next summer, the museum will host the first U.S. exhibition of the work of Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, the 1992 recipient of the Pritzker Prize for excellence in architecture. Also slated is a show in collaboration with the San Diego Museum of Art highlighting artists from Tijuana. Following that will be the first solo exhibition of Michael Asher, a world-renowned conceptual artist who has lived in L.A. his entire life. Reflecting on her move to L.A., Longhauser says while it was a big leap, she and her husband were ready for the change, and both find the city extremely welcoming and enriching. She describes L.A. as a city of “never-ending mysteries that you have to figure out yourself.” So, too, are the challenges posed by the museum’s ever-changing visual landscape. SMMoA, located at Bergamot Station, Building GI, 2525 Michigan Ave. in Santa Monica, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Sundays and Mondays. Contact: 586-6488 or visit www.smmoa.org.