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University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, February 25, 1992
LIFE
The making of a monster
By Michelle Betts Kansan staff writer
Spalding Gray showed a sellout crowd at Liberty Hall last night exactly why his latest autobiography is called Monster In a Mail.
On the stage, on a small desk, a cardboard box contained Gray's monster, a 1,900-page manuscript of his first novel, "Impossible Vacation."
"It's due to come out... two years ago." Gray said.
"Monster In A Box," Gray's 13th monologue, deals with the interruptions he faced during the three months he has been trying to write the book.
Spalding Grav performs "Monster In A Box."
Brewster, an autobiographical character Gray invented for "Impossible Vacation," travels from Rhode Island to Bali with his
dead mother's money and struggles to cope with his mother's suicide along the way.
"It's about a man who can't write
a book about a man who can't take a vacation." Grays said
Gray always managed to complicate things when he went with someone else. He could never manage to take one successfully, he said.
"I like to create my own hells before the real one can get to me," he said.
One hot. still morn
Gray said moving to Los Angeles from New York City was "very difficult." He added more ways than one.
ing as Gray sat down at his writing table to work on his man, an earthquake interrupted his work, he said. As the house shook, he ran
screaming out to the yard in his underwear, only to see the rest of the neighbors in their yards, also wearing their underwear.
His film, "Swimming to Cambodia," also interrupted the work on his book, even though the film was finished.
Gray said he gained weight from all the "idea lunches" that Hollywood film agents treated him to in the 1970s, and he could produce another film.
Gray said being part of a 36-member fact-finding mission to Nicaragua to document the effects of labels' actions was also distractive.
Sadness and grief surrounded the mothers of the Nicaraguan heroes, some the mothers of children who had been cut up in so many pieces the mothers could not find them all, Gray said.
AIDS hysteria diverted Gray from his work when his girlfriend thought she had an AIDS-related infection, which turned out to be a spider bite.
Christmas gave Gray another reason to abandon his work - he decided he wanted to answer calls on a suicide hot line.
"All the world's a hospital, and you are either a patient or a nurse," he said.
Other distractions included Gray's interviews in California with people who said they had visited space ships, including a woman who sais she had been picked up by a flying saucer and a man who said he had an extraterrestrial creature in his stomach.
*How therapeutic it is to surround yourself with people weirder than yourselves.* he said.
A festival of American films in
Moscow included "Swimming to Cambodia" and Gray went and enjoyed Russia, although the writer came home he got lost after the first showing.
As his monologue came to a close, Gray said he had considered condensing "Impossible Vacation" into a short story about how all the events of his life made him feel.
But he looked at the thick manuscript and softly laughed as the stage lights went down.
Chris Stong, Wichita sophomore, said he had been interested in Gray's work for four or five years, and that his own role had seen Gray's live performance.
"I love his work," Stong said. "like the films better. It is a controlled aspect, like being up on stage with him."
Hard to Swallow
Baseball players adjust to tobacco ban
By Jerry Schmidt Kansas staff writer
David Soult had to give up a traditional baseball pastime in order to play for the Kansas baseball team.
Soul, an infielder and pitcher who uses tobacco, has mixed feelings about a rule in the Big Eight Conference that bans the use of tobacco during conference baseball games.
"I think it is a good rule for the long run." Sault said. "They are looking after the players, but personally I don't like it because I dip. I guess it is more from the fans' point of view because it's gross."
The NCAA passed a rule that prohibits use of tobacco during championship play for players, coaches and umpies, although there is no rule banning it during the regular season.
Uryasz said the rule was designed to break the connection between tobacco and baseball.
"We got the ban but it wasn't easy," Frank Uryasz, director of sports sciences for the NCAA. "There was a feeling that tobacco is a social drug and the NCAA shouldn't get involved."
"Our head and neck experts said we must break the tie between chewing tobacco and baseball." Urysz said. "Nicotine may be the most addictive drug. It is legal but it has negative health consequences."
Kansas coach Dave Bingham said before the health hazards of tobacco were exposed, tobacco companies used to give their products to teams to
distribute to their players. Bingham said he had never distributed the products to his players while at Kansas.
The possibility of mouth cancer and the increased awareness of health hazards have helped deter people from using tobacco, Bingham said. He especially sees this in his current players and recruits.
"We have one tobacco user on our team," said Bingham, a tobacco user. "It's a change of times."
Since the rule has been in effect for NCAA championship play, Uryasz said feedback had been on the positive side.
"Now we need to work on compliance," he said. "We hate to have a player kicked out of the College World Series, but they've had enough warnings to comply."
Uryass said that with the increased popularity of college baseball, many people felt a change was needed.
"We started to see more letters from parents who thought that the idea of collegiate baseball players being role models didn't fit in with spitting tobacco."
Kansas player Soult said he used to have a difficult time with the rule but said it had been easier lately to curb his desires. He said the rule may curb tobacco use during the season, but he feels players will return to the habit after college baseball.
"If a guy is going to dip, he'll dip," he said. "After he gets out of school and goes on he'd dip in the pros."
Students are tickets to theaters' success
Sales at local theaters are increasing despite a national downward trend.
By Jenny Martin
Kansan staff writer
Movie ticket sales may have dropped at theaters nationwide, but ticket sales in Lawrence are the exception to that rule.
Like other college towns, Lawrence has not felt the impact of the recession in the ways that other U.S. cities have.
Rance Blann, city manager for Cinema Twin Theatres, Hillcrest Theatres and the Varsity Theatre, said that based on figures from November 1991 until now, business was up 30 percent from the same time period the year before.
He said that the movie industry in Lawrence was far from hurting because of the steady enrollment of KU students, the theaters' life line.
"Lawrence is one of the best show towns in the country," he said. "We're a college town in our own little pocket."
The national box office gross for ticket sales in 1991 fell 4.4 percent last year to $4.8 billion, the Motion Picture Association of America said.
But the MP AA reported a rise in the average national ticket price from $ 7.45 in 1990 to $ 8.49 in 1991, which helped offset the financial damage that low ticket sales caused box offices.
Blann said that although six months ago ticket prices for Crown Cinema Theatres rose 25 cents to $4.75, they had remained at $4.50 for
five years.
"Lawrence ticket prices are still among the cheapest in the country," he said.
Wally Kneef, national representative for Blockbuster Video, said the home entertainment industry influenced theater attendance, especially during difficult economic times.
"The video and movie industries create a demand for each other." Kneef said. "If you have a family, it's easier to bring a movie home than to spend $20 to $25 at a theater."
Theater manager Blann said that although many complained that videos hurt movie ticket sales, he thinks the video business enhances his business.
"Because people are renting, they are talking about and discussing movies and movie quality more than they used to," Blann said. "It makes people realize that there are a lot of interesting movies out there."
"If anything, interest and conversation about movies is up. This isn't going to hurt my business."
Jeff Johnston, manager of the Liberty Hall Theatre, said that business had been steady during the last year with no lag in ticket sales.
He attributed the drop in national ticket sales to a lack of high-quality films in commercial theaters.
People are tired of seeing bad sequels and the same type of film over and over again, he said.
"I think people are tired of getting a crappy product. They want high-quality films," Johnston said.
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1601 West 23rd
M-W 9:5-30; Sat. 9:30-2
It can't do laundry or find you a date, but it can help you find more time for both.
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Introducing the Macintosh Classic II
KU Bookstore Burge Union·Level2 864-5697