The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 33, Ed. 1, Friday, January 28, 1983 Page: 3 of 19
nineteen pages : illus. ; page 11 x 8 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
-J.' I
mmf0ti.'im
V.r
"
A-3
iVliiiwijyiVw)lJMMMMwWW'WflW
(iffSjpciQGaciS
0
W
Q
' i
ACU actors find Hoffman credible as 'Tootsie1
In "Tootsie" Dustin Hoffman portrays an
actor who must fool those around him into
thinking that he is female while making the
audience believe he can pull off that feat.
His performance convinces his cohorts as
well as a majority of the audience even
winning respect from some ACU actors.
In the comedy rated PG for profanity
Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey an actor's
actor. Dorsey struggles witlf directors
because of his principles for example
refusing to sit as a tomato in a commercial
because he asserts tomatoes don't sit.
His reputation as a "difficult" actor one
that Hoffman himself maintains grows to the
point that no director will cast him. In
desperation he dresses as a woman fools a
director and a producer wins a female role on
a soap opera and becomes a star.
But Dorsey 's success brings him constant
struggles. He must hide Dorothy from
neurotic actress and sometimes-girlfriend
Sandy (Teri Garr). And he must keep Michael
under heavy makeup to conceal him from the
soap opera cast that includes Julie (Jessica
Lange) a woman Dorothy befriends and
Michcal comes to love.
Two ACU actors found "Tootsie" en-
tertaining at times credible and sometimes
incredible. Curtis Tate a veteran of eight ACU
Theatre productions said the first scenes in
which Dorsey fails at finding jobs were
realistic and necessary.
"They showed the desperation he had in
getting a job and made the fact that he would
dress up like a woman believable" said Tate
a senior history major from Hermleigh who
once portrayed a woman in a high school play.
One of the movie's incredible aspects was
the meticulous makeup and costume job that
turned Dorsey into Dorothy. Key Payton a
student actor who will appear in the ACU
Dinner Theatre production "To Kill a
Mockingbird" said "It would be very hard
for an out-of-work actor on his own and in
private to do all that. He would have had to do
a lot of cosmetic work to put himself over as a
woman. . . . That was sort of an escape from
intermission
Rachel O'Rear
reality."
Sally Gary senior education major from
Wichita Falls is going through an ordeal
similar to Hoffman's in that through the
wizardry of makeup techniques she changes
from white to black for a role in "To Kill a
Mockingbird."
"The neatest part of having a role like that
is trying to make people think you're black"
she said. "If I can do that with just one person
I will have succeeded in my role. Tootsie tried
to do the same thing."
Besides being skeptical about Dorsey's
makeup Payton who has appeared in three
college productions said Dorsey would have
had more difficulty than the movie indicated
in hiding his sexual identity while at Julie's
country home and in his daily use of the
television studio's dressing rooms.
The character Dorothy was not all that
different from Dorsey on the inside said
Payton graduate student in religious com-
munication from Hobbs N.M. The character
had the same values and forcefulness as the
actor himself.
"What was changed" the student actor
said "were the exterior behaviors. The way a
woman walks and moves her hands are the
result of many years of practice. It would be
hard to keep masculine habits from breaking
out."
Though in reality Dorsey and Dorothy were
one the same people who shunned Dorsey
embraced Dorothy. Tate said "The character
that Dorsey was playing was more popular
than the actor himself. It was something I felt
I would identify with as an actor."
Tate said portraying a woman is a
"valuable challenge" for an actor.
IT Looks. 1 1 kFTMiS. XMMIA
9RBIC CAMHt6 is G0W6 TO
nrz n tr tar iiltp- iiauinir- .
dangerous
OH Ao.
you new.:.
' 1 !
!lfli.
"i' "'fv'. 'if 'l
...(jJefa G0V6 BHIW
THe NVLOfil CVRTAtAi ?
1mm iuw. ruts
V.-v If ' micnf vmr' .
(8 fCSariAaBi
"Acting gives a person the opportunity to
see different points of view. Because those
points of view may be different from his own
it can broaden the actor's . perspective and
hopefully the audience's. A broadening of
perspectives is the greatest benefit of acting
and drama" he said.
Payton said that actors often don't see the
potential in some parts that fall outside the
range of their stereotypes.
"We all like to see ourselves as handsome
debonair. As actors we tend to seek only the
characters we feel build our self-image.
American actors tend to want to be the leads
heroes or heroines" he said.
But Payton would not want to be a real-life
Dorsey.
"To really do that every day - play a woman
and keep that all to myself in front of millions
of viewers - that's a little too kinky" he said;
"As a movie that was OK but it just showed a
small slice of life. Playing a woman would
cause role confusion and it would mess me up
psychologically.
"If I knew it was a play that would be over in
two months and everybody in the play knew I
was a guy it might be different."
Tate and Payton said they found "Tootsie"
humorous.
The humor in the movie rather than relying
on cheap one-liners flowed naturally from
Dorsey's predicaments in trying to maintain
his disguise. The audience was tickled to share
Dorsey's secret. .
Though it was humorous the movie was like
the character Dorothy in that it was rough
around the edges. Dorsey's bedroom scene
with Sandy was hardly relevant and should
have been left on the floor of the editing room.
And the dressing room scene and foul
language were used primarily for shock value
rather than as plot essentials.
But Hoffman's performance had no rough
spots. He worked well on all fronts as an actor
playing an actor playing an actress. The story
was believable the audience was amused and
Hoffman's toughest critics actors them-
selves were entertained.
Men want free show
To the editor:
If we remember correctly it seems that in
the not too distant past Sass and The Cole
Younger Band played a massive gig at the
Civic Center We'd like to remind everyone
that ACU is entitled to a free concert since we
spent more of our hard-earned righteous
bucks to buy tickets (and we all know that
Mom and Dads' money is hard to come by).
However you'll notice that we'll be forced to
shell out yet another dollar in order to jam
along. Now in our book this is just about one
hundred cents more than free.
Whether this is Sass's idea or the school's
we believe this is just beaucoup amounts of
uncool. And we think this bogus situation
sliould be rectified like pronto.
The ZOO East
cotheZookeeper
JimWhitwell
Sophomore Abilene
-1
t
ti
3
E
M
M
3
(
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 33, Ed. 1, Friday, January 28, 1983, newspaper, January 28, 1983; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth96041/m1/3/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.