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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1984)
Monday, October 29, 1984 Daily Nebraskan Pago 13 Producers goofed by conceiving 'First - W v J Daily Nebrtekan Staff Reporter i Just when movies were start ing to get good again, Teri Garr's jnovie "First Born" hit the theat- Movie Review ers. It starts slow, and never quite gets on track. This movie has many problems, one of them fatal. I Maybe it is just me, but I have 'World's only 60-second novelist' finds success peddling stories The neuter News Report NEW YORK - It took 27-year-old Dan Hurley just a week to make it as a writer in New York City, center of the US. publishingTndustry and home of many successful authors and even more hungry ones. Not that the likes of Norman Mailer or Joseph Heller are likely to be worried by the competition. Hurley isn't into novels or screenplays, he bills himself as "The World's only 60-second Novelist." On the streets of Manhattan among the usual pimps, pushers and pedlars Hurley sits on a director-style folding chair with a typewriter on his lap and for $5 writes an original, imaginative one-page story after asking the subject a few probing questions. Since he gave up a job as a journalist and moved to New York from Chicago in June, business has been good. He makes up to $50 an hour. .... The thin, energetic,, some-, what eccentric entrepreneur has also had inevitable brushes with the seamier denizens of the streets. He has been slapped in the face "by a woman not totally Photo Ccurtity of AIM Records These four strasa-locklng gen tlemen &ie tli Hsodso Gisnis, an Australian baaid wlisa iscsic has been called a Mmixtare of rockabilly, Merseybest, psych edelia, glitter rock, punk and straig!it-ct catchy pop. The Gurus tue scheduled ta ply the Dmnstick tcnist. Tickets mre $5 sX tle doer. an image of Teri Garr in light- hearted, sometimes silly movies such as "Mr. Mom" and "Tootsle." For a PG-1 3 movie, "First Born" suffers severely for it. In this movie she plays the mother is violent. The scenes are not gra- Technically, the movie is made ofa very bright teen-ager (Peter phic, but some of the intensity fairly well. It tries to show an i , U?" The vUIian is introduced may be too much for the average average household, and passes and the conflict begins. The son movie goer. Maybe the producers with flying colors. It's easy to pic does not like his mom's new boy- could put a little more graphic ture this sort of environment, friend, for good reason. Her boy- detail in the movie and release it This was a predictable movie, friend has used violent tactics to as an R-rated picture. Maybe the where you expected right from keep him out of the way. But the graphic detail would bring more the beginning what would even mother doesn't realize this, and excitement to the movie. tually happen. There is no spon keeps her relationship with the The movie's pace is so slow that taneity to it. man going. Does this sound like when the action scenes come, Garr tries to make a horrible, Teri Garr's type of movie? She they are forgotten because it just part into at least a bearable part, made a mistake when she decided seems to drag. The movie isn't too She needs to go back to the to be in this picture. Her career long, and there is enough plot to comedies, but she has the ability on the planet," had his pocket picked, been sprayed with beer and had a man, seemingly under the influence of chemi cal substances, stand by him for an hour insisting that Hur ley glowed. His customers have ranged from prostitutes of both sexes to a cop and the Mayor of Chicago. Hurley who once worked as an editor-at-large for the American Bar Associaton, said, "I was a good journalist .but there are a lot of good journal ists. There is ony one 60-second novelist. "I am a very imaginative per son. I love to write." On a recent evening on Man hattan's upper west side their was considerable interest from the restaurant and theater crowd in Hurley who wore a bow tie and straw hat, having used a shopping cart to carry his typewriter and "60-Second Novelist" sign from the subway. , , Hurley who can actually take up to five minutes to complete a "novel", has had customers thank him for his "therapeu tic" questions while others are just plain flattered by the attention. As the 60-second CASH -A " i i IPMNGSTEEN 300 CASH FOR PAIR OF TICKETS MUST BE FIRST 20 ROWS CENTER CALL COLLECT 5S3-8053 (WILL BE THERE IN ONE HOUR) will always be remembered as the straight character in comedies. novelist puts it: "Wow, do peo ple like to be written about." Few other writers have been among Hurley's customers. He explains, "I suspect it is be cause most of them are too poor." With winter approaching Hurley is seeking indoor work, writing his "Novels" in stores and at private parties, conven tions and trade shows. One of his best-received works was for a Russian-born woman, who was reduced to tears, and her American hus band. It read, in part: "Vincent was building a construction project in Russia. Just another Ameri can working hard at building buildings. Then he saw the most beautiful construction job he had ever seen in any country. Her name was Maria She had blond hair; brown eyes and a lovely figure, and she spoke with the most enchanting accent" Hurley, who studied English composition and philosophy at Beloit College in Wisconsin, said of his business, "I am a person of many silly ideas, but this is the craziest thing I ever thought of." FOE 3 . put much into the overall pace, Hut it wasn't done, and the movie JOE TESS' PLACE FRESH! CARP CATFISH SHRIMP CHICKEN QYSTERS Mon-Thurj 11 AM-1:30 PM 4:30 PM-11 PM Fri-Sat 11 AM-11 PM Sun NOON 9 PM NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER COUPON Lincoln Sertoma Club Presents TOE DIIC I I IE. k4SE- Jt I E.l.i4vfl Beginning Thursday , October 25 thru Halloween night. The THE RIDE OF TERROR thru the haunted forest begins at 7:00 p.m. daily. Chelsea's Park is located at 26th I Highway 2 on 14th, 27th or 56th. For Reservations call 464-5909. Ask for the Head Witch. . .groups welcome. Spook Food Available ? QreaSe Y Own I Aft TiiSmssvoile 1 r i MAKE-UP ifr GLITTER (LIPSTICK STAGE BLOOD GREEN DRAGO! JN BLOOD FINGERNAILS TIES HAIRS PRAY tV BURN-IN SCAR COSTUMES MA JSKS it CAPES it FISH NOSES WARTS it j GIANT BOW TIES I II ANT SUNGLASSES I it MOHAWKS WIGS it FANGS NOSE CLASSES it WHISKEl R; r.APHPPQ tr UITrU HATC Rl IMMV T r j utikiw v MM Sht I H tf ( I )NF HFAris t 1 CPinFP apr Rpnnuc rroKirr d ds I jr i "-'tlx it PES HAND CUFFS pRKS it SKULLS WHIPS TATOOS 0 lOWN NOSES it GLITTER STARS WIN- ) !GS it HALOS WANDS it MUSTACHES t! I much, Ml GATEWAY Born' to play the average mother, wha tever that is. But her good per formance is not enough to save this movie. Weller does an aver age job as the mistreated teen ager. The part could have been played by anyone. "First Born" has some problems. If the producers used a little more action, possibly made it an R-rated movie, replaced Teri Garr with someone who has a few more problems, such as a Joan Crawford-type mother, maybe this movie would succeed. Or could it be that "First Born" should never have been conceived. 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