by RON HOLLOWAY
Last August, when Norma Nannini passed on to her reward, I got the news a bit late to pen a fitting eulogy.
All I could say in any case was to repeat what every other mugg had already said about her work-strewn office on the fourth floor of the Variety enclave. Plus her nimble ability to produce two tickets to a hot Broadway show for Dorothea and myself whenever I stopped by on 46th Street.
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Another of the oldtime Variety staffers has joined the ranks of the Hollywood Reporter, which seems to be beefing up its international staff. The latest defection is Deborah Young, long-time Rome-based scribe, who’ll be attending the forthcoming Berlin film festival and reviewing pics there as the “chief international film critic” of the trade sheet.
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by MORRIE GELMAN
The new year, 2008, marks a 60th anniversary for a couple of books I own. Both are closely associated with Variety.
One is Variety’s “Radio Directory” 1937-1938. It was acquired as a slightly used book from a store on New York’s Cortland Street. The other was bought new from a fancy book store in Rockefeller Center. The title of the book, “This Fascinating Radio Business,” was in keeping with my sentiments at the time. It was written by Variety’s own Robert J. Landry, then Director of the Division of Progressive Writing of the Columbia Broadcasting System.
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by Mort Bryer and Frank Segers
The 46th Street office in Manhattan was for years the magnet to a broad assortment of eccentrics, out of work performers, press agents and other dubious urban species. Among the most memorable of these was Izzy Grove, who operated a poster-placement business in New York, and occasionally booked small ads in the Weekly on its behalf.
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Former Berlin-based Variety mugg and longtime film critic for the paper, Ron Holloway,will be honored at this year’s Berlin Film Festival with a Golden Camera award. Sharing in the kudos will be Ron’s wife, actress Dorothea Moritz, who has served on the Berlinale selection committee for 19 years.
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