The
Last Picture Show
Portland filmgoer inertia has claimed another
victim. On July 8, the Clinton Street Theatre will close
the curtains on its movie screen for good. The revival
house theater, located in Southeast Portland, began showing
movies two years ago and has earned a reputation for showing
cheaply priced double bills. But come July the projector
will stop, and the Clinton Street Theatre will be rented
out as a concert venue.
Though chain-owned cineplexes often get blamed for the
demise of independent theaters, CST owner Anne Marie DiStefano
says film fans share some of the responsibility. "Films
aren't making enough money because people aren't coming,"
she says.
The theater's closure leaves Cinema 21, the Northwest
Film Center and Portland State University's Fifth Avenue
Cinemas (which is closing down for the summer) as the
city's only revival houses.
CST fans still have one month to catch such features
as the Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing and Raising
Arizona and Orson Welles' classic The Lady From
Shanghai. The final double bill, Jim Jarmusch's Down
by Law and Dead Man, runs July 2-8. That will
also be the last weekend to catch the ongoing midnight
run of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
--Dave McCoy
Life
In Heck
Matt Groening is, like, having a cow, man.
His hometown newspaper censored his Life in Hell
strip last week. (WW has reprinted the cartoon
with permission.)
In a note to readers, A&E Editor Karen G. Brooks
explained that the paper was "uncomfortable" with the
June 4 strip because it "pokes fun at violence in schools"
and, "coming less than two months after the horrifying
school shooting in Colorado," might seem "in poor taste."
That explanation puzzles Groening. "Do they really think
someone's going to go out and barbecue their teacher's
head?" asks the graduate of Ainsworth Elementary and Lincoln
High. "Anyone who went to school knows where these came
from. I learned many of these songs at Ainsworth."
According to Groening, The Oregonian was the only
paper in the country he knew of to cancel last week's
offering.
Brooks did not return WW's phone calls.
It's not the first time that Life in Hell has
been yanked because of the shooting. In May, Groening
penned the original "Playground Hit Parade," inspired
by his kids' updates of classic schoolyard tunes, just
before gunfire ripped through Columbine High. About five
newspapers, including The Oregonian, chose not
to run the first installment of playground humor.
--John
Schrag
Charter
Territory
The Portland School Board will have
a busy summer if Sen. Tom Hartung has his way.
The Southwest Portland Republican heads the Jefferson
High School Alumni Committee, which hopes to convert Jefferson
to a charter school. The driving force behind the recently
enacted charter-school legislation, Hartung graduated
from Jefferson in 1945. He and others--including Tony
Hopson of Self Enhancement Inc.; Carl Talton, a PGE executive;
and Ken Hume, a retired banker and school board chairman
Ron Saxton's father-in-law--formed the alumni group to
increase opportunities for Jefferson students.
Hartung believes that charter status will give Jefferson
administrators and faculty greater freedom to address
the school's chronic academic shortcomings. "The principal,
Lela Roberts, is doing a wonderful job," Hartung says,
"but to some extent her hands are tied by regulation."
Although Jefferson currently enjoys the lowest student-teacher
ratio and highest per-pupil funding of any high school
in the city, Hartung believes even more resources would
be available under a charter format.
School board member Marc Abrams hasn't talked to the
Jefferson committee, but he's leery of the idea of chartering
Jefferson. "I'm personally not crazy about converting
existing PPS programs unless there's compelling evidence
that someone can do the job better."
Schools General Counsel Bruce Samson says the district
has had no discussions with Hartung about his group's
plan.
--Nigel Jaquiss
