Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090480
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL E. HILL THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The occasion: A kickoff press conference for American Movie Classics' presentation of "The Republic Pictures Story," a review of the legendary B-movie studio (Friday at 8 p.m., with a repeat at 1 a.m.).
And for this occasion, Dorian did not merely have to tell stories about some of his favorite stars from the studio's heyday - he got to introduce them.
Roy Rogers and Gene Autry - who, like John Wayne, found an early home at Republic - sent regrets. But those on hand included Linda Stirling, Catherine McLeod, Ruth Terry, Rex Allen, Hugh O'Brian and Frank Coghlin, better known as Captain Marvel. Ann Jeffreys looked stunning enough to go back before the cameras the next day. And Richard Webb - Captain Midnight to serial fans - looked remarkably unchanged. He may indeed be back before the camera. He noted that he owns the rights to Captain Midnight and might play Colonel Midnight in a sequel.
And Dorian, one of television's consummate movie fans, got to tell of his own affection for Republic films.
"I loved the serials," said Dorian, relishing the presence of some of their stars. "Captain Marvel, Dick Tracy, Tiger Woman with Linda Stirling."
And he loved the movies from the '30s and '40s, he said, recalling a Brooklyn boyhood when weekends were spent haunting the Gem and Embassy movie houses.
"You could stay all day if the matron didn't catch you. I don't know that I knew about Republic Pictures back then," Dorian said. "But when I saw the Eagle, Republic's logo, come on the screen, I knew I was in for a good time."
AMC hopes its viewers will be in for a good time when it unspools its two-hour Republic retrospective, featuring clips and interviews with Rogers, Dale Evans, Autry, Coghlin, Stirling, Terry, McLeod and Webb.
For the uninitiated, America Movie Classics is one of cable television's delightful misnomers. The 24-hour movie channel isn't so much a classic-movie channel as it is an old-movie channel.
Much of its fare is in black and white, often from the '30s and '40s, with a number of true classics sprinkled in, to be sure. But mostly they are movies that film buffs of a certain age might have seen two-for-a-dime when they were kids. Buffs like Bob Dorian.
When AMC went on the air in the fall of 1984 and needed to select a host, Dorian, a man with a broad show-business background, was asked to audition. The producer, Dorian recalled, remembered him from a commercial he had done assuming the identity of Dracula. (We said his background was broad.) But mostly, Dorian said, "the producer remembered me as a guy who liked movies."
Dorian's personal movie favorites run to "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca" and "King Kong," films from the period AMC often features. But his selection turned on the same quality that has distinguished Dorian's tenure as AMC host: He has a way of telling the viewer something interesting about almost any film.
Take "Zombies of the Stratosphere," for instance. Why would anyone want to see this 1952 Republic serial? Well, Dorian would tell you, it would be fun to watch, because Leonard Nimoy had a small role as a Martian.
Dorian has been watching movies that closely for a long time. He recalled that in 1954 he had a friend in New York who programmed movies for a local TV channel and had easy access to films. A group would get together at the programmer's house and watch movies all weekend, Friday through Sunday.
"When a film ended," Dorian recalled, "they would freeze the frame, and some in the group would write down the credits."
Dorian is quick to credit AMC's researchers, headed by John Cocchi, with supplying many of the stories he tells before and after AMC features. And it was Cocchi who reminded Dorian, when they met at AMC, of those weekend movie sessions he used to attend. But how did he know about that? asked Dorian. Because, Cocchi said, he was one of the people copying down the credits.
Dorian, who will turn 57 next month, started out early to make show business a part of his life. At the age of 14 he was acting and by 16 could count credits on such television productions as "Suspense," "Studio One" and "The Perry Como Show."
Since then he's done radio work, stand-up comedy, impressions, served as a circus ringmaster, and - this is his forte - he's done magic. "Women, cars - you name it and I've floated it."
But he started out as an actor, and his credits in musical theater have included characters like Harold Hill in "The Music Man," King Arthur in "Camelot," Nick Arnstein in "Funny Girl" and, his favorite, Professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" and "Pygmalion."
Early mentors included Paul Lukas and Jack Benny. "I was with Lukas on two `Suspense' shows. And Jack Benny was good to me," Dorian recalled. "If you're really interested, if they see you love the business, they can't turn you down."
One man who did not turn him down was the director of a local New York television show who took an interest in Dorian when he was just starting out.
"He gave me an early indoctrination in production techniques," recalled Dorian. And as Dorian's interest grew, the director steered him to some acting parts.
"Then one day he announced that he was going uptown to do a show and sing. I told him, I didn't know he could sing. Oh, yes, he said, he sang a bit.
"Well, what was the show? It was a musical called `The King and I.' The director," Dorian recalled with delight, "was Yul Brynner."
by CNB