DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997              TAG: 9703110143

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: ON THE TOWN 

SOURCE: Sam Martinette 

                                            LENGTH:  157 lines

BLACK-TIE GALA IS SET TO ECHO HOLLYWOOD'S ACADEMY AWARDS

Even though I'm not nominated for an Academy Award again this year, I understand the pressure Best Director nominees feel. As writer, director and cameraman of the epic 1959 back-lot war movie ``Against All Odds,'' in which my 13-year-old friends had choice parts, I commiserate with the pressure to get the shot while the sun is right.

In my case, we were re-creating the Western Front in plumbing trenches on a construction site and had to wrap before the contractors arrived.

If you can't make it to the big show in Hollywood, you might consider attending a Hollywood-style gala right here in Norfolk. The folks at the Hampton Roads Area office of the Arthritis Foundation are hosting ``Hooray For Hollywood: Your Night with the Stars'' on March 24 at Phantoms, in Ghent. The awards show will be broadcast on a 7-by-10-foot screen.

``It's the only Academy Awards Party in Hampton Roads where you'll pull up in your car for valet parking, walk along a red carpet with stanchions blocking off the crowd, and enter like a movie star,'' explained Libby O'Malley of the Arthritis Foundation. The paparazzi - those pests with flash bulbs and notebooks - will be played by high school drama students.

Last year's event was held at the Commodore Theater in Portsmouth. O'Malley says it's being done in a dozen cities to raise funds for the Arthritis Foundation, with permission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

``In D.C. they're having it at Planet Hollywood, and elsewhere parties will range in scope from a local bar in Peoria to black tie at a race track in Houston.

``I spent six years in San Diego, where the Academy Awards are bigger than the Superbowl,'' she explained. ``On the West Coast it starts at 6 p.m., so people get off work and rush home to watch.''

Tickets are $50 per person, and include valet parking, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, such as Acadian (or Cajun) sausage roll puffs, sate (meat or chicken in Indian spices) served on a skewer, iced Gulf shrimp, Cajun deviled eggs spiced with crawfish and smoked salmon mousse. Canapes, a spread of domestic and imported cheeses, and fresh fruit plus an open bar from 8 p.m. till midnight, cordials and free-flowing champagne also are included.

``At 10:30 we'll have a gourmet coffee and dessert bar,'' O'Malley promised.

What, no popcorn?

There will be a ``Cellular Auction,'' during which people bid on items, such as framed movie posters donated by AMC theaters, vacation packages matching movie themes, and other movie-related prizes.

``Each table will have a cell phone and they can call and check where the bidding stands on a particular item,'' O'Malley explained. ``And we'll have a Hollywood trivia question during each (TV) commercial break, and the person with the best score will win a prize.''

I wonder if our local movie actors will be on hand, folks like I. Michael Hunter of Colonial Place, whose screen credits include ``Marie'' with Sissy Spacek, David Lynch's ``Blue Velvet'' with Dennis Hopper and many other films, or Larchmont's Richard Rhodes, who fought the English in the miniseries ``George Washington'' and tracked a sunken submarine in the film ``Gray Lady Down.''

There may also be some celebrity look-alikes on hand.

``Last year we had a Marilyn Monroe impersonator,'' O'Malley said, ``and people who came were all decked out. Eighty-percent were in black tie. We expected to draw a socialite crowd, but they were hard-core movie people.''

And serious about the award show, she said.

``They announced who won Best Picture at five to one (a.m.) last year, and we still had 40 percent of the people there. Because the tables were close together, we had a lot of interaction between complete strangers,'' O'Malley said.

Ticket sales for Hooray for Hollywood will be limited to 160, so advanced reservations are required. Call the Arthritis Foundation (420-4638) for information.

. . . And please, no autographs.

Speaking of show business, a sign spotted recently in the window of the Way Off Broadway Cafe, on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk, announced that restaurant and theater venue has closed.

Even though I'm not nominated for an Academy Award again this year, I understand the pressure Best Director nominees feel. As writer, director and cameraman of the epic 1959 back-lot war movie ``Against All Odds,'' in which my 13-year-old friends had choice parts, I commiserate with the pressure to get the shot while the sun is right.

In my case, we were re-creating the Western Front in plumbing trenches on a construction site and had to wrap before the contractors arrived.

If you can't make it to the big show in Hollywood, you might consider attending a Hollywood-style gala right here in Norfolk. The folks at the Hampton Roads Area office of the Arthritis Foundation are hosting ``Hooray For Hollywood: Your Night with the Stars'' on March 24 at Phantoms, in Ghent. The awards show will be broadcast on a 7-by-10-foot screen.

``It's the only Academy Awards Party in Hampton Roads where you'll pull up in your car for valet parking, walk along a red carpet with stanchions blocking off the crowd, and enter like a movie star,'' explained Libby O'Malley of the Arthritis Foundation. The paparazzi - those pests with flash bulbs and notebooks - will be played by high school drama students.

Last year's event was held at the Commodore Theater in Portsmouth. O'Malley says it's being done in a dozen cities to raise funds for the Arthritis Foundation, with permission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

``In D.C. they're having it at Planet Hollywood, and elsewhere parties will range in scope from a local bar in Peoria to black tie at a race track in Houston.

``I spent six years in San Diego, where the Academy Awards are bigger than the Superbowl,'' she explained. ``On the West Coast it starts at 6 p.m., so people get off work and rush home to watch.''

Tickets are $50 per person, and include valet parking, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, such as Acadian (or Cajun) sausage roll puffs, sate (meat or chicken in Indian spices) served on a skewer, iced Gulf shrimp, Cajun deviled eggs spiced with crawfish and smoked salmon mousse. Canapes, a spread of domestic and imported cheeses, and fresh fruit plus an open bar from 8 p.m. till midnight, cordials and free-flowing champagne also are included.

``At 10:30 we'll have a gourmet coffee and dessert bar,'' O'Malley promised.

What, no popcorn?

There will be a ``Cellular Auction,'' during which people bid on items, such as framed movie posters donated by AMC theaters, vacation packages matching movie themes, and other movie-related prizes.

``Each table will have a cell phone and they can call and check where the bidding stands on a particular item,'' O'Malley explained. ``And we'll have a Hollywood trivia question during each (TV) commercial break, and the person with the best score will win a prize.''

I wonder if our local movie actors will be on hand, folks like I. Michael Hunter of Colonial Place, whose screen credits include ``Marie'' with Sissy Spacek, David Lynch's ``Blue Velvet'' with Dennis Hopper and many other films, or Larchmont's Richard Rhodes, who fought the English in the miniseries ``George Washington'' and tracked a sunken submarine in the film ``Gray Lady Down.''

There may also be some celebrity look-alikes on hand.

``Last year we had a Marilyn Monroe impersonator,'' O'Malley said, ``and people who came were all decked out. Eighty-percent were in black tie. We expected to draw a socialite crowd, but they were hard-core movie people.''

And serious about the award show, she said.

``They announced who won Best Picture at five to one (a.m.) last year, and we still had 40 percent of the people there. Because the tables were close together, we had a lot of interaction between complete strangers,'' O'Malley said.

Ticket sales for Hooray for Hollywood will be limited to 160, so advanced reservations are required. Call the Arthritis Foundation (420-4638) for information.

. . . And please, no autographs.

Speaking of show business, a sign spotted recently in the window of the Way Off Broadway Cafe, on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk, announced that restaurant and theater venue has closed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE

Katherine Byrd of AMC theaters is beside one of the posters that

will be auctioned on the Arthritis Foundation's award benefit night.

Graphic

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: ``Hooray For Hollywood: Your Night with the Stars!'' an

Arthritis Foundation fund-raiser, to be held during the Academy

Awards ceremony, Monday, March 24. Call early, maximum seating: 160

persons.

TICKETS: $50 per person, all-inclusive, valet parking, hors

d'oeuvres, open bar, desserts and coffees.

WHERE: Phantoms in Ghent, 700 W. 21st Street.

INFORMATION: Call the Arthritis Foundation,

420-4638.

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