Just days after appearing at a Community Council meeting and revealing his plans for a 64 condominium/townhome project on Sunset, the developer cancelled escrow on Monday. ”Palisadian David Hibbert, the project’s architect, told the Palisadian-Post that Bob Bisno, chairman and CEO of TransAction Companies Ltd., decided ‘it was too small a project for the risk involved.’ Hibbert said the Council’s concerns regarding the proposed height of the project was another concern. ”Subsequently, Bisno told the Post Wednesday that although he had cancelled escrow, he had amended and re-submitted his original proposal, requesting a reduction in the $9 million asking price. ‘I should receive word if the sellers will accept our proposal between today and Monday,’ Bisno said. ”Bisno and Hibbert came to the Community Council last Thursday evening to seek input and feedback on their plan to develop the two-acre site located at 17311-17315 Sunset and Los Liones Drive, which has been on the market since last June. The site is currently home to The Outdoor Room and Color Design Art. ”Council members were inquistive, had suggestions and raised some concerns about the project, but were hardly combative. It was clear that while the Council preferred Bisno’s concept of developing the property into residential as opposed to professional/retail, the project would require a height variance, since Pacific Palisades has a height limit of 35 feet, and the proposal called for building heights of 48 and 61 feet. ”’This community has been very strongly opposed to anything over the height limit,’ said Council member Harry Sondheim. Council Chairman Norm Kulla agreed, saying, ‘The height limit is one of the issues that people feel extremely strongly about.’ ”Council member Ted Mackie also questioned the feasibility of allotting only 175 parking spaces for the 64 units. ”’Since there is no street parking anywhere near this project, I suspect that two-and-a-half parking spaces per unit simply would not be adequate due to the affluence in this town,’ Mackie said. ”Bisno insisted the project would not cause a ‘traffic explosion. The development would generate 36 cars per hour at peak traffic times in the morning and a total of about 440 cars per day, which is plus or minus a car or two in peak time [compared to] the traffic that’s there today.’ ”The property, located just two blocks from the ocean and described as ‘a beautiful flat parcel in front with a rear slope,’ is already zoned to allow the development of 62,000 square feet of commercial and/or office space, Bisno said, acknowledging that the primary considerations of development anywhere in the Palisades are landslides, traffic and view corridors. ‘However, we think there are a lot of reasons commercial is not the way to go.’ ”’I definitely think you are heading in the right direction by going away from the commercial development,’ replied Council member David Williams, who also serves as president of the Palisades Chamber of Commerce. Council member Kurt Toppel told Bisno and Hibbert that they could become ‘instant heroes’ if they built a movie theater on the site, while Council member Gilbert Dembo drew a big laugh from the crowd when he suggested a nursery be built on the site. Bisno, who had been working on the development for six months, called for the installation of a stoplight at the intersection of Sunset and Los Liones’an idea agreed upon by an overwhelming majority of Council and audience members. ‘We spoke to the group forming the [New West] school across the street and they’re in favor of a stoplight. I suspect that the majority of the community would be in favor of the stoplight also,’ Bisno said, adding that he planned to include a now-absent sidewalk in his development. Castellammare resident and former Community Council chair Shirley Haggstrom expressed several concerns regarding the proposed development and called for wider setbacks. ‘I’m really encouraging you to be generous with your setbacks and landscaping because traffic routinely gets backed up from the signal at Sunset and PCH, beyond the Castellammare light,’ Haggstrom said. ‘We have to be able to see those vehicles as we go into that blind corner.’ Meanwhile, the property owner is looking at several back-up offers, including interest from an unknown school. Renaissance Academy board president Bill Bryan confirmed to the Post that RA has not approached landowners regarding the purchase of the property. David Eagle, chairman of New West School, which plans to convert the former Santa Ynez Inn buildings into a campus directly across Sunset, confirmed that New West has also shown no interest in buying the land. Stan Gerlach, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis, would not reveal the name of the school interested in the property; however, he too confirmed that neither RA or New West are currently involved. ‘We’re still marketing the property and have met with at least two other developers and a school,’ said Gerlach, a Palisades resident. ‘We’re continuing to field calls. If Bob [Bisno] doesn’t want to move forward, someone else will. It’s a great piece of property.’ Color Design Art, an interior design and merchandising firm for homes, has occupied part of the site since 1984. Don Anderson, president of CDA, told the Post the business has found a larger space in Culver City to accommodate its growing business and will relocate there between February 1 and March 1. The business will retain its other location in Thousand Oaks. The Outdoor Room, the Palisades’ only full-service nursery, suffered a major blow when owner Sandy Kennedy died last May. An award-winning landscape contractor, she purchased Sawyer Nurseries in 1997 and transformed it into The Outdoor Room. The nursery’s lease runs through July 2007, but could be bought out by a new owner. However, Olivia Arredondo, a senior employee at the nursery, told the Post that the nursery ‘would not want to close,’ even if the property is purchased. Calls to Linda Lack, The Outdoor Room’s owner, were not returned.
Following the Trail of Palisades Voters
By ALYSON SENA Palisadian-Post Staff Writer My wake-up call was half an hour earlier than usual on Tuesday morning. I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. to make sure I had enough time to look over my sample ballot once more and pick up my mom by 7 a.m. ”Although I live in Brentwood now, my permanent address is still my parents’ house in the Palisades, so we all vote here. But unlike my father, Mom and I are early risers, and we wanted to vote first thing in the morning to beat the crowds. ”Well, it was a nice thought at least, beating the crowds. ”By the time we reached our Toyopa polling location just after 7, about 40 to 50 people were already packed into the tight quarters of the art-filled playroom. ‘I’ve never seen this many people here,’ Mom said as we stood in a check-in line. Those who had already received their ballots waited in a second line for voting booths to become available. ”Within minutes, a woman at the head of the waiting line announced, ‘The first booth doesn’t show the president. The president didn’t come out on my ballot.’ She had already voted and was back in the line. ”Confused, people turned to watch as one of the election clerks, Dennis Jackson, tested the machine to find the problem. It turned out that the machine was functioning properly and the woman had mistakenly thought that no mark corresponding to her vote for president had registered on her ballot. (If you look at all of those tiny blank circles for too long, you do start to wonder where your vote went to.) ”Jackson assured us that everything was okay, and he told me that a voter could spoil up to three ballots, including the original. Before 8 a.m., three people had returned to the booths to re-cast their votes after their initial ballots were voided. I let one man go ahead of me because he had accidentally smeared the ink on his first ballot. ‘He was checking for chads,’ Jackson said. ”Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus was among the 7 to 8 a.m. voters, and she brought her two kids with her, as did several other parents, probably before dropping their children off at school. I voted successfully, even with a colorful life-size statue of Abraham Lincoln hovering nearby in the corner. It was the first time I had ever voted at the polls, since I’d been registered as an absentee voter since college, and it felt good to make an appearance. ”On my way out I chatted with poll monitor Kelly Brock, who had arrived at Toyopa just before 7 to review her ‘Irregularities Checklist’ to make sure everything was set up correctly and running smoothly. Brock said she had volunteered to work at the polls this year because she wanted a fair victory. ‘You don’t want to hear on Wednesday that there were problems at the polls.’ ”By 8 a.m., I was at the Recreation Center, which was also busy with about 50 people voting. Just as I arrived, the overhead gym lights went out, but that didn’t seem to faze anyone, since the booths were well lit.” ”’I think there were more people and a little bit longer of a wait [this year],’ said voter Geoff Given, who was waiting outside for his wife, Synthia, and watching their baby sleep soundly in a stroller. ”’It’s so mellow here,’ said Palisadian Bill Rosenthal, a poll captain for the Democratic Party who said he was at the Rec Center ‘to call in any problems [to the headquarters] and contact people who haven’t voted yet.’ ”Rosenthal had voted earlier at the American Legion, where he had been asked to show identification, which he thought was unusual. However, with changes in the national voting laws, more people’such as new voters and those voting for the first time at new locations’were required to show IDs. ”When I reached the Legion at 8:30, about 20 people were voting or waiting to vote at the six booths. After voters checked in, they were directed to an InkaVote demonstration line, where a clerk showed them how to use the pen to mark their ballots. ”’The ink pen has to be used a very particular way,’ said poll watcher Diane Martindale. ‘The voter practically has to grind the thing in to make sure it counts.’ ”Lead inspector Irma Delgado was busy helping people with provisional ballots, since some voters’ names were not listed on the rolls, or their address and name didn’t correspond, or they were in the wrong precinct. ‘You just try to keep a sense of humor,’ Delgado said. Voter Aaron Broder’s name wasn’t on the rolls when he showed up to vote. So even though he said he had registered to vote about a month ago, he still had to fill out a pink provisional ballot envelope before waiting in line. ”Another man coming out of a booth just wanted to make sure he got his ‘I Voted’ sticker, an important souvenir to new and old voters alike. Even kids well under the voting age wore them proudly after their parents voted. ”Wearing my sticker as I entered the Lutheran Church polling location at 9:15, I noticed two tables on opposite sides of the room, each with its own set of voting booths. These distinct stations represented two different precincts, and voters had to be careful to vote at the right one. ”That’s where Palisadian David Wells came in. A senior trial lawyer for the District Attorney’s office, Wells had volunteered to work at the polls for the first time since his college days. The DA’s office thought it would be a good idea, he said. ”In his position as neighborhood voting center director, Wells said his job was to direct voters to the correct check-in table based on which precinct they live in. ‘The ballot has to go in the right box with the right precinct,’ said Wells. ”Lead inspector Tom Shepherd, a veteran poll worker, said that ‘the tremendous volume of people and the lengthy ballot’ could add to the possibility of mistakes. ”Shepherd had previously worked at the Bel-Air Bay Club, which also had an ‘exceptional turnout’ Tuesday, according to lead inspector David Hariri. He and his wife, Mali, arrived at the serene upper-level facility at 6:15 a.m. to set up seven voting booths, which overlooked the endless stretch of crystal blue ocean. It’s hard to imagine that any voting gets done amidst the distracting beauty of the sparkling sea view. ”Only a handful of people were voting when I arrived, but Hariri told me about 270 people had already cast their ballots, ‘more than double the volume of people’ he’d seen in previous years. ”By 10:30 a.m., I was back in the village and visiting Mort’s Oak Room. Two hundred and fifty people had already voted, according to lead inspector Deirdre Sloyan, who said that about 50 people were waiting to vote when the polls opened at 7. ”’What saved our lives was how many people we had helping,’ Sloyan said, pointing out seven volunteers and adding that others were on a break. Palisadian Iris Kameny said she hadn’t worked at the polls since the 1960s, when they had to tally all the paper ballots separately, but now that she was retired she was ‘doing my civic duty because I can do it.’ Not until about 9:30 in the evening could lead inspectors like Tom Shepherd drive the ballots to the checking center at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where they would wait until the ballots were safely handed in. ” ”As it turned out, the unprecedented number of people who voted at polling locations in the Palisades reflected the record turnout nationwide. More than 114 million people had voted with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press figures on Wednesday. Absentee and provisional ballots would boost that number to an estimated 120 million, the highest percentage turnout in more than three decades.
Pavley, Kuehl Win; Prop O Passes
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Ignited by a number of crucial state issues, Sixty-eight percent of Los Angeles registered voters, went to the polls Tuesday, but couldn’t agree on much, except on the need to clean up Santa Monica Bay. Proposition O gained over 70 percent of bipartisan voter support, endorsing a $500 million bond to help reduce the flow of pollutants flushed out to sea via our storm drains and culverts. The money will be used to upgrade storm drains, install catch basin inserts and screens on drains and develop new parks to filter storm-water runoff. ‘This is a real affirmation of how Los Angeles voters really understand that clean water is equal to public health,’ said Palisadian Fran Diamond, chairwoman of the Regional Water Quality Board, whose recommendations the city acted upon and who will monitor the effective and wise use of the bond money. ‘The City Council will appoint a committee of eight or nine people, all with an expertise in water quality who will select the projects that will be built,’ Diamond told the Palisadian-Post Wednesday. Equally enthusiastic was Assemblywoman Fran Pavley. ‘Prop. O speaks volumes about the support we will now get to clean up our air and water,’ said Pavley, who won reelection to her Westside seat with 60 percent of the vote. Pavley received twice as many votes as her Republican rival Heather Peters (31 percent) and Libertarian candidate Richard Koffler, the Palisadian who garnered 6,777 votes. Entering her third and final two-year term, Pavley told the Post that she will continue her focus on the environment and education. Having won a precedent-setting victory with her bill on reducing limits on automobile emission, she will be working to extend California’s regulations elsewhere. ‘Next week I will be meeting with the Canadian Parliament to discuss our plans to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by passenger vehicles.’ On another issue involving Canada, Pavley said that she is working on attracting film production in the state. ‘While it’s difficult to compete with Canada because of the difference in exchange rate, getting production back is key to our economic growth.’ She added that she may also reintroduce her bill to lower prescription drug costs, which was vetoed by the governor this fall. Health issues will be on the docket for State Senator Sheila Kuehl, who won reelection by some 60 percent to her final, four-year term. Kuehl told the Post that she may resurrect her health care bill, which would provide universal health care for all Californians through a single-payer system. Joining Pavley in her focus on the environment, Kuehl said she will continue working on both natural resources and water issues, and in particular safeguarding the Water Resources Board, which is the only watchguard commission monitoring water quality in California. ‘The governor hasn’t really focused yet on a recent performance review of hundreds of government commissions and boards, but I am worried that the Water Resources Board’which is the only way for the public to really know what is going on’might accidentally get eliminated in an effort to cut costs.’ Kuehl, an attorney, has introduced more than 100 bills that have been signed into law, including legislation to overhaul California’s child support services and to expand the rights of crime victims. While Pavley reflected on the fact that two-thirds of the new assembly will have two years or less expertise due to term limits, veteran Representative Henry Waxman, representing the 30th Congressional District, won a 16th term. The Democrat defeated his Republican challenger Victor Elizalde with 71 percent of the vote. As ranking member on the Government Reform Committee, Waxman has been studying the delay in disability benefits for veterans, the politicization of nonpartisan inspectors general in federal departments and agencies, and the Congressional failures in investigating misconduct involving Bush Administration officials. Closer to home, Waxman will continue to monitor the work of the Federal Advisory Committee Act to develop a master plan for the 400-acre West L.A. Veterans Administration land that takes into consideration the needs of veterans and seeks input from the adjacent businesses and neighborhoods. Also on Tuesday, Los Angeles voters failed to support County Proposition A, which would have raised the sales tax to 8.75 percent to put 5,000 more police officers and sheriff’s deputies on the streets.
At the Movies
By ARNIE WISHNICK ‘KINSEY’ ”Even today, the name ‘Alfred Kinsey’ sparks controversy. First thing to ask oneself after seeing a biopic: Do I now know more about the main subject than when I walked into the theater? The answer in this case is…definitely yes! You will learn more about Dr. Kinsey than you’ll ever need to know (if you know what I mean). Writer and director Bill Condon (‘Gods and Monsters’) recreates the emotional shock in the late ’40s that people felt reading Kinsey’s report about male and female sexuality. His degree was in zoology specializing in gall wasps. Soon he was lecturing about marriage at Indiana University when he discovered how ignorant students were about human sexuality. Liam Neeson is superb in the title role. The beautiful Laura Linney (made-up to look as frumpy as possible) is Mrs. Dr. K. Others in the cast include Peter Sarsgaard as everyone’s favorite bisexual assistant. Alfred’s dad, and almost recreating his role as the same kind of father in ‘Footloose,’ except without the dancing, is John Lithgow. Chris O’Donnell, Oliver Platt, Timothy Hutton and (try to find her) Lynn Redgrave are also featured. With plenty of clinical descriptions of the human body and some nudity (photos and otherwise), the movie is like a walk through a clinic. We know that it’s important stuff we’re seeing and hearing, but it’s still kinda dull. Yet ‘Kinsey’ is a fine recreation of the world of almost 60 years ago. Today we’re more mature with less trepidation. Yes, nowadays we can talk openly about s-e-x. Out of 5 Palm Trees, ‘Kinsey’ gets 3 Palm Trees. ‘BIRTH’ The title of this movie is ‘Birth,’ but it should be called ‘Pregnant.’ As in pregnant pause. I’d love to see the script that was co-written and directed by Jonathan Glazer: Speak your line’ then wait 30-60 seconds for response’repeat. ‘Lights! Camera! No Action!’ While jogging, Anna’s husband Sean, drops dead in Central Park. Ten years later Anna (Nicole Kidman) and Joseph (Danny Huston) announce their engagement. Showing up at the engagement party is 10-year-old Sean who claims to be Anna’s reincarnated husband. No one believes him except Anna, who still grieves. There are lots of things young Sean knows but loads of things Anna never asks him. ‘Birth’ is a mess. However, there are some good things worth mentioning. First, another magnificent performance by Miss Kidman. There is a scene during a concert that just focuses on her beautiful face and you know exactly what she’s thinking. (When you see ‘Vera Drake’ there is a similar scene of Vera’s face when she is arrested.) Next, the beautiful music by Alexandre Desplat. Then, there’s the one tidbit of information that Anna does not know, but the audience knows. And, finally there’s a touching last scene of Anna trying to cast off her long-term bereavement. There are so many unanswered questions about this movie. I only wish I could have seen it seated next to Shirley MacLaine. Out of 5 Palm Trees ‘Birth’ gets 3 Palm Trees.
Then and Now in Hollywood
The bewildered faces of tourists strolling the area around Hollywood and Vine, seeking a glimpse of Hollywood’s famed golden era, tell all regarding the fate of this once glittering mecca of the film industry. With many notable exceptions’the Egyptian, Pantages and El Capitan Theaters, to name a few’most vestiges of the early, glory days of Hollywood have met the wrecking ball. Rosemary Lord’s ‘Hollywood Then and Now’ (Thunder Day Press) takes a fascinating look, both in text and photography, of the then and now, tracing Hollywood from its earliest days when in 1883 Harvey Wilcox, a Prohibitionist from Kansas, and his wife arrived in California and bought 160 acres to develop a Protestant Christian temperance community. Author Lord, an actress and writer who moved to Los Angeles from London two decades ago, will appear and sign copies of her book on Thursday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore. While the book spans ‘before the movies’ history of the area to the present day, the focus is mostly on the golden era of the 1920s and ’30s, when film studios lined the streets and restaurants and nightclubs filled its busy thoroughfares. When Lord first wrote ‘Los Angeles Then and Now’in 2002, she quickly realized Hollywood required its own tome. Her research was bolstered by a few key contacts, among them Bruce Torrence, who supplied much of the ‘then’ photography from his vast collection, the largest in the world on the subject of Hollywood. Torrence is the grandson of Charles Toberman, the legendary real estate developer who created and supervised the building of many Hollywood landmarks including Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Roosevelt Hotel. Seventy ‘then’ photos are paired with the same number of ‘now’ photos, most taken by photographer Simon Clay. Old black-and-white shots of screen legends, studios and the grand movie palaces abound, along with more obscure prints such as one of the Hollywood School for Girls, where appearing in a 1924 class picture of eighth graders is Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow. Among the school’s great legends is the story of a young French teacher named Edith Spare, who later became the famed costume designer Edith Head. Her career got its start when Head was asked to teach art as well as French. She took art classes at night and was encouraged by her students to apply for a summer job at Paramount in the costume design department. This was the humble path leading to her status as the most honored woman in Academy Award history. While gathering information, Lord was privy to many firsthand accounts of Hollywood history, including speaking to people who remember the young Norma Jean Baker (Marilyn Monroe) when she was a resident at the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society (now Hollygrove). ‘They recall her as being a very quiet little girl who loved to play the piano,’ says Lord, marveling at the contrast to her later larger-than-life celebrity. ‘Hollywood Then and Now’ is only the beginning for Lord on the subject of Tinseltown.’ She’s at work on two other books, another history and a novel. ”’There are so many rich stories out there that need to be shared before they’re forgotten,’ says the author. ‘Hollywood is not like London or Paris or even New York, where people appreciate that it has a history. They still think it’s sort of a shallow place.’
Collaborating on ‘Ray’
Director Taylor Hackford had a vision, 15 years in the making’to bring the story of Ray Charles to the big screen. ”But when it was time for his vision finally to come to fruition, he couldn’t do it himself, he needed the help of many collaborators, including three Palisadians who played key behind-the-scenes roles: casting director Nancy Klopper, music supervisor Curt Sobel and editor Paul Hirsch. ”’Ray,’ which opened on Friday, tells the story of Charles’ life through music, focusing on the years from age 17 to 35, with flashbacks to his childhood before and after he lost his sight at age 7. The movie tells about his innovation of blending gospel music with rhythm and blues, his struggles with heroin, his marriage and the affairs he had on the road, his business acumen as his career took off, and his role in the civil rights movement. ”Because the film was independently produced, and acquired by Universal only after it was completed, the creative team had an unusual degree of independence on the project. ”’The casting works and it’s so fresh because no studio was involved and no one dictated to us whom we had to cast; we got to cast whomever we wanted,’ said Klopper, who has been collaborating with Hackford since 1982’s ‘An Officer and a Gentleman.’ ”When Hackford sent an e-mail, telling her she should start thinking about a Ray Charles movie, Klopper went to see ‘Any Given Sunday.’ ‘Jamie Foxx had a supporting role and he popped off the screen. It happened again in ‘Ali.’ He pops out of the movie.’ ”Later, the producers were also interested in Foxx, and Hackford said to Klopper, ‘You’ll never guess who they’re talking about to play Ray.’ ‘It didn’t surprise me,’ said Klopper, who called the casting of Foxx a great idea that occurred to several people simultaneously. ”Fortuitously, Foxx is a classically trained pianist and talented singer. Although Ray Charles’ own piano playing is heard throughout the film, Foxx’s skill was vital for authenticity in the music scenes. ”Foxx worked closely with Curt Sobel, who was present, along with Hackford, at the first meeting between Foxx and Charles, where Charles ‘gave his blessing’ to the hiring of Foxx. ”The two sat down at the piano side by side while Sobel shot footage of them with his digital video camera. ‘Ray was testing him and playing a very difficult phrase from ‘Straight, No Chaser’ by Thelonious Monk. Jamie was struggling at first, trying to figure out the notes. They went back and forth and when Jamie got it, Ray stood up, cheering, hugging himself and saying ‘That’s my boy. He’s got it.’ It was a validation of Jamie in Ray’s eyes.’ ”’Ray approved the script [by James L. White],’ said Klopper. ‘The one thing that was most important to him was the portrayal of his mother.’ ”The casting of that actress, Sharon Warren, was a true Cinderella story, said Klopper, who calls casting ‘an instinctual craft.’ Klopper was working in Los Angeles while the location casting director she had hired, Mark Fincannon, was working in Georgia, where the movie was originally going to be filmed, before it later moved to Louisiana. ”Warren, who had worked only in local theater in Atlanta, happened upon the auditions for ‘Ray,’ and walked in without an appointment. ‘Mark Fincannon gave her scenes and told her to come back tomorrow,’ Klopper recalled. ‘She was so green, she had her back to the camera at first. He FedExed me the videotape. It was so unbelievable to see her raw power and raw intensity. ”’There’s a plethora of gifted African-American actors and not enough great parts for them. It’s exciting to let great actors do their thing,’ said Klopper, who sees every movie that comes out in her search for acting talent. ‘People just wanted to be in this movie, there’s such a reverence for Ray Charles.’ Other major parts she cast were the important women in Charles’ life, his wife Della Bea, played by Kerry Washington and his lovers; singer Mary Ann Fisher, played by Aunjanue Ellis, and Raelette Margie Hendricks, played by Regina King ”Another fun part of the casting process for Klopper was having many of the actors who would play performers sing during the audition, even if their voices wouldn’t actually be heard in the film. ‘They had to really look like they knew how to sing, they had to really be performers.’ ”Sobel, who has also been a trusted collaborator of Hackford’s since ‘An Officer and a Gentleman,’ met with Charles three times. ‘We needed music that was not available on recordings, such as a young Ray playing and singing ‘I Got a Woman’ for the first time. Ray worked with us for a week and came up with wonderful new recordings that we used primarily at the beginning of the picture.’ ”Sobel worked with Charles to find other recordings such as a live performance of ‘What’d I Say’ from Charles’ vaults. For authenticity, he asked Charles for his sheet music for some of his songs, so the musicians onscreen could play the original arrangements. At the beginning of his career, before he found his own musical voice, Charles made a living imitating Nat King Cole and other singers. For those scenes, Foxx sang the vocals along with Charles’ piano tracks, since Charles in his 70s couldn’t replicate that youthful voice. ”Lip-syncing was a particular challenge for Foxx, Sobel said, because the vocals weren’t separate from the music. ‘Jamie had to nail both the vocal and piano playing during actual shooting. Taylor and I scrutinized every take, judging the synching with the music track.” ”’There was a tremendous amount of music for Jamie to learn,’ Sobel continued. ‘It would have been overwhelming to give him all of the material to learn up front. So weekly I made a CD for him. Then, in between shots, camera and set changes, Jamie and I were at the piano, with headphones, as he practiced the hand movements for the upcoming musical scenes.’ ”Although most of the filming took place in New Orleans, Sobel found a trumpet coach in the Palisades, Larry Newman. ‘Larenz Tate, who plays Quincy Jones in the film, came over one evening. He’d never picked up a trumpet before. Larry coached him and taught him how to finger the song.’ ”Sobel even had a small part in the movie, conducting the orchestra for ‘Georgia on My Mind.’ He previously had appeared once as a conductor in ‘Cast a Deadly Spell,’ for which he won an Emmy for his song ‘Why Do I Lie?’ ”To make the film more believable, director/producer Hackford had Foxx wear prosthetics over his eyes for 12 to 14 hours during filming. ‘I asked him to go blind for the role,’ said Hackford, who wanted Foxx to not be able to anticipate things, and to bring the experience of blindness to his acting. ”’During looping [dialogue enhancement during post-production], Foxx was shocked when he saw the film, because he’d never seen his fellow actors in makeup and costume,’ recalled Paul Hirsch. ”For Hirsch, the biggest challenge in editing ‘Ray’ was to shorten the first cut from 3 hours 20 minutes down to the final 2 hours 25 minutes. ‘It wasn’t a question of throwing out scenes which didn’t work, we had to take out good material. There was no confusion or bad performances to cut around. In editing, you always have to consider the whole: imagine if the Parthenon had four more rows of columns, it would still be a beautiful building but it might look odd because the proportions wouldn’t be right’just as in a film, you try to find a form that’s suitable. ”’It’s still rather long, but it’s a very comprehensive portrait of a man’s real life, the struggles he had with drug addiction, his personal life, blindness, his artistic life, his business life, how he managed to succeed in a difficult world, where people were trying to take advantage of him. ”’Taylor gave me complete freedom on the first cut,’ said Hirsch, who won the 1978 Oscar for editing ‘Star Wars’ along with Marcia Lucas and fellow Palisadian Richard Chew ‘My approach to the first cut is to make it as close to the script as possible, which, to me, is logically the best starting place. You make choices as an editor, and the director either endorses your choices, or asks for changes to bring it closer to his sensibility. The director is the one who gets to say, ‘This is the way I’d like it to be’ and I am there to help him get what he wants.’ ”Working with Hackford for the first time, Hirsch joined the project six weeks into the filming after the original editor left due to some personal problems, and Hackford was very pleased with Hirsch’s work. ”’He told me that he could feel what I was shooting, that the footage was speaking to him, that he understood what I was trying for,’ Hackford told the Palisadian-Post. ‘I was terribly nervous before looking at his cut but when I saw it I immediately started to relax. He really did see what I had intended. Paul has intelligence, combined with a sense of music and movement.’ ”Charles was given a video of the rough cut of the movie which he listened to on a TV set in his office with poor sound quality. Although he was happy with the dramatic scenes, the filmmakers were hoping to play the movie for him on a sound stage with high-quality speakers, but he became too ill before that could happen. ”Final dubbing on the film was finished in early February and Charles passed away on June 11. ”’The timing of this film, being something Taylor wanted to do for so many years, the fact that he eventually got this going in the final years of Charles’ life is truly incredible,’ said Sobel. ‘Taylor’s brought this great story of this great performer to the screen and to the world.’ ”Hackford equally admires his Palisades collaborators. ‘They all three are really dear to my heart,’ he said. ‘You’re not a painter at an easel, or a writer at a typewriter. These three along with a lot of other people, they all go into making the film that you see. You forge bonds that turn into filial love.’
Maria Schroeter; Ties to Mayflower
Maria Richmond Schroeter passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades on October 23. She was 81. ”Maria was born on February 2, 1923 in West Medford, Massachusetts. She was a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland through her father (Samuel Waterson Eldridge) and was related to Lord Nelson through her mother (Marian Louise Rothe). She and her three brothers (Marck, Bill and Robert) and her sister (Dorothy Peck) grew up in Arlington. ”After moving to San Francisco during World War II with her mother, sister and brother, and later settling in Los Angeles, Maria began her long career with UCLA in 1945. She left in 1950 to marry Ernest Huband Schroeter. The couple had a daughter (Christina Carol ‘Tina’) and a son (Carl Christian). ”The Schroeters moved to the Palisades in 1960, fulfilling a dream Maria had held since driving through the community on Sunday afternoons with her mother and brother many years before. Coincidentally, she and her husband actually became engaged while parked on a vacant lot at Sunset and Marquez overlooking the ocean, just around the corner from their eventual home. ”When both children reached junior-high age, Maria returned to UCLA in the Institute of Government and Public Affairs. She joined the Law School staff in 1974 and worked until her initial retirement in 1988. She then worked privately for David Mellinkoff on his law dictionary and retired a second time in 1992. She remained closely associated with UCLA, spending time in the Geography Department (where her daughter has worked as an administrator since 1985), supporting the department through Friends of Geography and assisting her daughter with the department’s annual fundraiser. ”Son Carl is a successful builder and is married with two lovely daughters. ”Following Ernie’s passing (in 1991), Maria and her daughter continued to share the Palisades residence and Maria enjoyed commuting to the campus with her on an almost daily basis. The two also enjoyed purchasing, restoring and driving vintage Mercedes-Benz automobiles, particularly the 1967 600 limousine they drove to the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel for the Christmas holidays. ”Maria was a lifelong avid reader, especially enjoying works on the Civil War and the American Revolution. ”She is survived by her daughter Christina Carol, her son Carl Christian (wife Christine), daughter-in-law Sandra Rayl (partner Ian Goodwin), granddaughters Kathryn Rose and Isabel Marie, brother Robert (wife Phyllis), nephews and nieces, and very dear friends and long-time neighbors Rudolf and Jeanne Meyer. ”In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory can be directed to Thirty-seventh Church of Christ, Scientist and mailed to the church at 15201 Bestor Boulevard, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.
Kalman Phillips, 91; Advertising Executive
Kalman Phillips died on August 17 at his home in Pacific Palisades, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 91. ”Kal Phillips was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 18, 1913, the son of Samuel Phillips and Sofia Zachim, both Eastern European Jewish immigrants. He studied at Columbia University and continued to live in New York City until 1940, when he moved to California. ”Kal served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he published more than 100 short stories and wrote, produced, or directed various television shows, including the series ‘Veloz and Yolanda’ and ‘Men Into Space.’ Kal also served as editor of a series of yearbooks, annual photographic histories of the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. ”In the early ’50s, Kal joined the international advertising firm of J. Walter Thompson, where he was employed for 13 years in San Francisco and Los Angeles, serving as group head, writer/producer, copy chief, and broadcast director. He created the famous ‘Don’t Be a Litterbug’ campaign for the City of Los Angeles and wrote and produced successful television and radio campaigns for other important accounts, including Douglas Aircraft and Hawaiian Punch. ”After leaving JWT, Kal worked as creative director and broadcast director at two other advertising agencies before striking out on his own, with his friend and colleague Adrian Brown, to form Phillips/ Brown Creative Services, which later became Kalman Phillips Creative Services. Kal’s most acclaimed work in advertising was a series of award-winning theatre, television, and radio commercials that he wrote, produced, and directed for the Los Angeles Times. ”He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Betty Phillips; brother Milton, of Palm Springs; daughter Karen, of Petaluma; and sons Greg and Brad, both of Pacific Palisades; and by eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. ”Kal’s family suggests that memorial contributions can be made to the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease at UC San Francisco, P.O. Box 419100, San Francisco, CA 94141.
Arthur Kunstman; Artist, Married for 51 Years
Longtime Palisadian Arthur Kunstman passed away in his sleep on October 24 after a long illness. He was 79. He was born in Chicago on April 23, 1925 and served during World War II aboard the battleship USS Indiana. Art’s name was befitting of his love for artistic expression and his passion towards his business, Hobco Arts, a graphic design firm. He and his wife Teresa met in Chicago and in a very short time, with just pennies in their pockets and an old car, they made the two-week journey to California, where they eventually settled in Pacific Palisades to raise their family. Art loved painting, drawing and especially his sculpture work. His wonderful sense of humor and wisdom has always been admired by his family and many wonderful friends. Along with his wife of 51 years, Art is survived by his daughters, Carmen (husband Frank) of Seal Beach and Margo (husband Alan) of Santa Maria, and grandchildren Chris and Michelle of Seal Beach and Jeffrey, Brian and Alex of Santa Maria. Following Art’s wishes, his ashes will be spread at sea on October 30 in an intimate ceremony with family and friends. Art was dearly loved and will be painfully missed but his memory will live forever. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in the name of Arthur Kunstman to Saint John’s Health Center, attention Foundation Office, 1328 22nd. St., Santa Monica, CA 90404-2091.
State Assembly Race: Pavley’s Record
‘Toughest Rules in Nation. Challenge Expected From Automakers’ You know your voice is being heard when an initiative of yours ends up on the front page of The New York Times, which is exactly what happened to Fran Pavley, the incumbent in Tuesday’s District 41 Assembly race, at the end of September. The article detailed how the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had adopted AB 1493, which imposes stringent air emissions limits upon car manufacturers. The regulations will have enormous ramifications for industry and consumers as California is the country’s biggest automobile market, and could set a precedence: New York and six other Northeastern states have indicated they may pass similar restrictions. ‘I was proud to carry AB 1493 in the beginning, and very pleased to see the California Air Resources Board adopt the final regulations last month,’ Pavley said. ‘California is again leading the way in the fight for cleaner air for all of our citizens.’ While the regulations will only apply to vehicles manufactured in the 2009 model year or after, CARB’s adoption of AB 1493 is the culmination of the assemblymember’s four-year effort to get gas emissions from vehicles, which scientists have linked to global warming, drastically reduced’about 30 percent by 2016. Some of the technology needed to meet that target is already on the road in the form of gas-electric hybrid cars, which Pavley herself drives. Since she was elected to the State Legislature in 2000, 23 of the bills Pavley has authored have been passed into law. Besides her global warming bill’AB 1493, signed in 2002 by former Governor Gray Davis’Pavley had 12 bills recently signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another of her environmental bills is AB 1009, which requires trucks entering California from Mexico to meet federal emission standards. Pavley pointed out that ‘air pollution is already the number one environmental health hazard in the state, and is linked to the high rates of asthma and respiratory illnesses in both adults and children.’ Foreign trucks, because they are often older than U.S. vehicles, are generally considered to be heavier polluters. Pavley said she felt compelled to do something in response to a Supreme Court decision that allows Mexican trucks to operate in the United States even though many do not currently meet U.S. air emissions standards. She said she read about the situation ‘in the newspaper, like everyone else.’ Other Pavley bills recently passed include: ”AB 2901, which requires cellular phone makers, effective July 1, 2006, to take back their used products at no cost to the consumer for recycling, reuse or proper disposal. Most cell phones have an average life span of 18 months and currently end up in California landfills. ‘where their hazardous contents can leak out and contaminate the soil and groundwater,’ Pavley said. ”AB 2943 will prohibit, by July 2006, the injection of any pregnant woman or child under three years of age with a vaccine that contains more than trace levels of mercury. Mercury is known to cause brain damage in fetuses and young children. The bill contains an exception to allow mercury vaccines to be used in the event of a public health emergency, bio-terrorist threat, or supply shortage. ”AB 2554, which amends current law to eliminate the earnings limit ($22,000) for certain retired members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System who return to service. ‘While we need to continue to create incentives for college graduates and mid-career individuals to enter the teaching profession, we must work with school districts in the meantime to find ways to encourage highly qualified teachers to help fill the gaps,’ explained Pavley. ‘The bill will encourage more experienced teachers to step into positions such as special education, math and science, which are typically the most difficult to fill.’ While Pavley, a former teacher and former Mayor of Agoura Hills, is pleased ‘that Governor Schwarzenegger signed bills I authored that will allow hybrid vehicles to drive in diamond lanes, allow low-income seniors to postpone property tax payments, and protect consumers from identity theft,’ Pavley said, she is ‘disappointed that he did not sign other important bills of mine that would have reduced pharmaceutical costs to consumers and provided whistleblower protection to government attorneys.’ Since the current campaign began, Pavley said she has only met her Republican opponent, Heather Peters, once ‘at a community debate.’ Also running against Pavley is Libertarian Richard Koffler (see adjacent story). (Editor’s note: Palisadian-Post intern Helen Highberger contributed to this report.)
