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ART SCENE [[image - photograph]] By GLENN TUCKER Mel Casas may be our most difficult artist to write about. Extremely lucid, articulate and fluent in his work and in the classroom, he makes the written word almost superfluous, because of his visual eloquence. Mr. Casas paints Humanscapes. Because he is an urban dweller, his point of view, as reflected in his big, beaming acrylics and "portable art boxes," is always focused on man in relation to his culture. Describing himself as a "cultural adjuster," he turns out visual social commentaries and evaluations covering virtually every phase of life, sometimes praising, sometimes attacking, established beliefs and institutions. He is concerned with art-as-idea rather than arranging and shaping pleasing color combinations and images. A professor of art at San Antonio College, where he has taught 18 years and has chaired the combined departments of art and advertising art for three years, he is having a rare and important one-man show in SAC's Koehler Cultural Center. This exhibition of 6x8-foot acrylic paints and the the striking portable boxes is open free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. (A reception honoring the artist will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at the center.) ★ ★ ★ Although Mel Casas is a restless, concerned artist with an ever-expanding curiousity about himself and his world, he has never allowed himself to drift from the present. Probably, his classroom life has something to do with that, but more than likely, it can be traced to his psyche. He sees the role of the artist to be that of an awakened human, observing and commenting on the world as it is, and its power to control personal vision. His concern is reflected in his many non-painting activities. One of his most noteworthy contributions to American art consciousness was his founding of the original Con-safo, a group of artists committed to the actualization and identification of Chicano art. He has ardently promoted the introduction of contemporary art into the campus environment and was awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Committee of Citizens Dedicated to Excellence in College Education. I have always admired this "cultural adjuster's" work (he thinks the word artist is too ambiguous), especially the marvelous (another ambiguous word) portable boxes. Obviously, he enjoys doing them, if for no other reason than to challenge the imagination of his viewers. They are iconography in a heightened sense, both fun and serious, frivolous and fascinating, trenchant and terse. They are wrought from elements of reality, locking our vision into frames of sentimental attachments (such as the whimsical/serious Hero Fabric Box, in which pulp heroes Superman and Batman rush toward the viewer from their well-known skylines of Metropolis and Gotham City) to pure art/language images, two examples of which are the startlingly simple yet profound. Sculpture Is Light (one, one-fashioned lightbulb centered, upside down, in the uniform wooden frame) and Artistic License, which offers us a 1974 Texas automobile license plate, upside down, with the piquant identification letters "GYP." ★ ★ ★ By his confident, unintimidated approach to culture and urban reality, Mel Casas logically emerges as a natural teacher in the real sense: a communicator of thought. Through his works, which he does not display all that often, he demonstrates the profound possibilities of witnessing both the opacity and transparency of contemporary culture simultaneously. This means that ideas and reality are refined paradoxically; he reflect the necessity for the intellectual and spiritual survival Everyman. He sees the vast cultural matrix as a tool, and the artist's vision as a human tool: a way to see beyond imposed limits. This show is one of the most significant of the year, because it is one to be talked about and not written about. Fawcett, Hemingway Found Perils of Instant Stardom [[image - photograph]] MARGAUX HEMINGWAY By VERNON SCOTT HOLLYWOOD (UPI) — The perils of going too far to fast are apparent in the curious cases of Farrah Fawcett and Margaux Hemingway, a pair of stunning beauties tossed into movies before they were ready. Farrah, the toast of the tube as one of "Charlie's Angels," and Margaux, the breathtaking covergirl-model, were called upon to fill movie theaters with top billing in "Somebody Killed Her Husband" and "Lipstick" respectively. The gorgeous young women proved once more the Hollywood cliche that beauty is not enough. It also takes a good script, talent and guidance. In the old days of contract players Farrah and Margaux would have appeared in modest roles in scenes with major stars fashioned to display their beauty and providing them the opportunity to learn the acting craft. Such glamor girls as Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor and Rita Hayworth were groomed and trained for stardom with immaculate care for the long run. Today quick buck producers with a single picture contract and a saleable beauty are in the exploitation business. Their promises of big money and instant stardom are difficult to refuse. For that reason, among others, plucking an actress from TV or a pretty girl from the cover of a magazine and heaping on her the responsibility of carrying a movie is like leading a lamb to slaughter. Rarely, if ever, does the neophyte movie actress come off a winner. No one is more aware of the perils involved in making the transition than Valerie Harper whose career is in the hands of personal manager Rudy Altobelli. Since leaving "Rhoda" less than a year ago, Valerie — who cannot be compared in terms of glamor with Farrah or Margaux — has been featured in two major unreleased films — "The Last Married Couple in America" and "Chapter Two." Valerie was cast with George Segal and Natalie Wood in "The Last Married Couple" and, naturally, takes second billing to them. In Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" she backs up James Caan and Marsha Mason. If the movies fail, the onus does not fall on Valerie. If they succeed, she will be part and parcel of their success. In any case, Valerie is not encumbered by the pressures of "carrying" the movies. Neither film is a make-or-break proposition in her career. Altobelli, a quiet, unprepossessing man, has guided her with the same care Louis B. Mayer accorded his contract players. Valerie unfailingly takes his advice. "We had no basic plan when 'Rhoda' ended except to take our time and look for the right opportunities," Valerie said. "I had offers to star in pictures that weren't right for me. They just didn't look good. We turned them down. "There's no formula for moving from a TV series to movies. Some actresses take the logical next step by doing TV movies before they try feature fims. "I was prepared to lie low for a while because I'd played 'Rhoda' for five years on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and four years on my own. Rhoda had become so much a part of the American scene I thought it would be good to take a breather in a play or something. "Rudy and I talked to an agent we were considering when 'Rhoda' was canceled. He said I would be hard to sell to movies unless I could kill the Rhoda image. He was creating a negative atmosphere and we decided against him. "But almost immediately I was offered the part in 'The Last Married Couple' and Rudy advised me to take it. The role is so different from Rhoda that I don't think many people will be distracted by the fact I played her so long. "Also, I had my hair bleached platinum. The woman I play, Barbara, has none of Rhoda's traits. Barbara hangs out in singles bars and asks guys to go to bed with her. Rhoda was a straight-laced, middle class New York Jewish girl. "And in 'Chapter II' I play Fay, a rich, elegantly coiffed and bejeweled sophisticate, another blonde who is looking for an affair. "Sure, there may be some people in theaters who say, 'Oh, look! There's Rhoda.' But neither picture will be out until next year and the characters I play are strong enough to minimize the Rhoda connection. "Not that I want people to forget Rhoda. She's in reruns now and making me a lot of money in residuals. Nor am I putting down TV. The medium was very good to me. It's responsible for my new movie career. "I was so closely associated with Rhoda that I enjoyed the Emmys this year for the first time. I didn't spend the whole time worrying about the outcome. In the previous eight years I was nominated eight times — and won four awards." "You can't allow a close association with a TV characterization to end your career. TV has a short memory anyhow. Take Jim Garner for instance. He was closely identified with 'Maverick.' Now he's Jim Rockford in 'The Rockford Files.' "A performer doesn't have to be stuck with a single image if he or she is determined to succeed. And that's how it's worked out for me so far." From now on Valerie will be pointing toward top billing in a first-rate movie — when she's ready for it — and, maybe someday, an Oscar. Stars Will Appear AUSTIN — Musicians of international repute will appear in the 1979-80 Great Musicians Series at the University of Texas. All performances will be at 8 p.m. in the Hogg Auditorium on the UT Austin campus. Those scheduled to appear include: • Nov. 26, Jessye Norman, a soprano from Augusta, Ga., who has been compared to Kirsten Flagstad and who has gained an international following in recent years. • Dec. 5, 6 and 8, and April 7, 9 and 10, Concord String Quartet, winner of the Naumberg Chamber Music Aware and quartet-in-residence at Dartmouth College. The group will perform all 16 of the Beethoven quartets during its two appearances. • Feb. 9, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, composed of Joseph Kalichstein, piano; Jaime Laredo, violin, and Sharon Robinson, cello, all celebrated solo artists. • March 19, Henryk Szeryng, the noted Polish-born violinist. • March 27, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble from London, which will play chamber music spanning five centuries. Individual tickets will be sold to the public the night of the concert. Individual tickets are $3 each for Cultural Entertainment Committee season ticket holders and $4 for the general public. Theater Bell Tolls Intermission time in the theater is the period when playgoers are allowed a brief rest to absorb what they have seen on stage, and allows performers a few moments to relax from the rigors of performing. Every theater in the world has a method of calling their audience back . . . some employ a pleasant chime, some blink lobby lights and some often have a tuxedoed usher walk through the lobby calling the familiar "curtain going up." In keeping with its total uniqueness, San Antonio's Church House Dinner Theater has employed a new, and perhaps totally original, method of ending intermission. The theater is housed in the old Alamo Methodist Church in the historic King William District which it acquired in 1976 and modified to accomodate [[accommodate]] professional performances of plays by a resident company and gourmet dining in the lower level dining rooms. The building has recently been entered in the National Registry of Historic Places, making it another of San Antonio's proud historic attractions. Management has added the use of the church's original bell to call the audiences after intermissions. The cast bronze bell, of classic design, gives forth a deep, resonant sound guaranteed to catch attention. Sunday, Nov. 4, 1979 THE SAN ANTONIO LIGHT Today—3
