THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507300046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Saturday was a pig-out day at the movies.
Staying one hoofprint ahead of the Norfolk animal control posse, Pinky Starlight, the infamous overweight pig, showed up to root for her fellow porcine star at the premiere of ``Babe, the Gallant Pig'' at the Pembroke Regal Theater.
After all, you don't get pig movies every day.
Babe may have been the on-screen star to the sold-out audience but Pinky definitely stole the show. Holding court in the lobby, Ms. Starlight showed more liking for popcorn than for the movie - snubbing the screening to remain outside and grub down on not one, but two, birthday cakes presented to her by Mike Kennedy, the theater's manager.
Pinky is a Vietnamese potbelly. Babe, the star of the movie, is a white Yorkshire.
Pinky Starlight received national notoriety last fall as the pig who was busted for being overweight. In November, Pinky's owner, Virginia Hudgins of the 8100 block of Simons Drive in Norfolk, was charged with cruelty to animals for reportedly overfeeding the animal. Hudgins pleaded guilty to lesser counts but was ordered by the judge to put Pinky on a diet or face additional charges.
The case even sparked a debate on the role of government in people's everyday lives. Call-ins to radio talk shows asked that ``if they can arrest a pig's owner can they arrest parents for overfeeding fat children?''
The latest chapter in the Pinky Starlight saga occurred when the owner was given until noon Friday to remove Pinky from Norfolk. She was accused of biting a neighbor last week. On the lam, pig and owner made the move Thursday night to a hideout, identified only as ``somewhere near Princess Anne Courthouse'' in Virginia Beach.
``It was just a snip,'' Hudgins said of the biting incident, ``and the person didn't turn in a complaint at all. Pinky might snippety snip if you're not careful around her, but this is no killer pig. This is my baby.''
With no tummy tuck or other cosmetic aids, Pinky's public appearance Saturday for the first showing of the new Universal Pictures release was something of a comeback.
``They've run my baby out of town, but she'll be back,'' Hudgins said as she stood firmly behind her pet in the theater lobby.
When the theater manager invited Pinky to attend the preview of ``Babe,'' Hudgins said, ``It seemed appropriate. I love pigs and the movie sounded adorable.''
In preparation for the premiere, Pinky took a sun bath Friday (which, according to Hudgins, ``gives her a pretty pink look'') and was bathed in buttermilk Saturday morning. Rumors that her cousin, Pork Chop, who lives in Suffolk, also would attend proved false.
Pork Chop's absence was explained succinctly by Hudgins: ``She wouldn't get in the car to go to the theater. Pinky is a little car-shy, too, but I think she thought she was going back home. Pinky is not a happy camper away from home. I visited her yesterday and brought her a peach and she looked at me like, `Mama, what have I done wrong?' ''
``Babe'' was filmed in Australia and features no less than 48 piglets in the role of the title character. They were trained six at a time and could only be photographed in the role between the ages of 16 and 18 weeks. The movie has been in preparation and production for over two years. Based on Dick King-Smith's book ``The Sheep-Pig,'' it is the story of an orphan pig who thinks he's a sheepdog.
Raised by Fly, a sheepdog, Babe herds sheep by being nice to them rather than barking at them. Maa, a matriarch among the sheep, encourages the flock to help piglet Babe by going smoothly through the paces at the national championship when, for the first time, a pig competes with the sheepdogs.
It tops off a big year of hamming it up in Hollywood. ``Gordy,'' another pig saga, also was released this year. Pinky Starlight missed that one. So did almost everyone else. The film did not do well at the box office.
Universal, consequently, moved back its scheduled early-summer release of ``Babe'' to separate it from the other pig movie. ``Babe, the Gallant Pig'' opens nationally Friday.
Pinky marked out her own territory in the theater's lobby and got a bit feisty when a WVEC-TV cameraman got in Pinky's pen to photograph her. She spent most of her time rooting beneath the rug in search of additional popcorn until her birthday cake was produced. Made of carrots, salad greens, grapes and lowfat whipped cream, it was a yum-yum hit.
Manager Kennedy assured her that everything in the cake was low calorie.
``Thank goodness,'' Hudgins added. ``You never know when the judge might be watching.''
A group of enthusiastic young fans sang ``Happy Birthday.''
As for the movie, upon request, Pinky gave it three snorts.
Or were those oinks? ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN/Staff photos
ABOVE:
Virginia Hudgins, left, owner of Pinky Starlight, right, and Terri
Bragg, center, use cookies to coax Pinky into Regal Cinemas at
Pembroke Mall for the premier of ``Babe,'' a movie about a pig.
RIGHT:
Hudgins and Pinky Starlight enjoyed the attention of moviegoers
Saturday morning at the theater. Pinky spent the morning in a pen in
the lobby of the theater, eating popcorn and birthday cake, made of
lettuce and low-fat topping, while Bragg and another friend, Terry
Holloway, watched the movie.
by CNB