LOVE

with
Ormly Gumfudgin
On Labor Day Weekend, my Attachment
drove me all the way out to the little town
of Malibu for the big Malibu Kiwanis Club
Chili Cookoff & Carnival. It was their 25th
Silver Anniversary, and they tell me I’ve been
to each cookoff!
They do a tremendous job raising funds
for a list of charities as long as your arm.
Dana Karney was in charge this year, and
improved on a lot of things. Special parking
for the many musicians was one. Another
improvement was a reserved spot for my
car. A big six-foot sign read, “ORMLEY
GUMFUDGIN.” Even though they put an
“E” in Ormly, I was impressed! I hope they
save it for next year.
We always have a few celebrities who
come out to help raise funds for charities and
have fun doing it. Ali McGraw used to show
up each year. Larry Hagman lives right across
the street, so he’d show up. I’m not sure about
his health these days. I remember one year, I
had my cousin Juliette—a cute young thing
from France—living with us and working as
a “box girl” for Vons so that she could learn
English. I took her out to that year’s Malibu
cookoff, and had photographer Tom Dobyn
shoot a picture of that old Dallas devil, J.R.
Ewing, alongside Juliette. She was so thrilled!
Hagman was a favorite in France, too. She
took that picture back to France to show her
friends, but they wouldn’t believe it was true.
She could have cried. In fact, she did.
Anyway, our “Main Man” these days is
ENTERTAINMENT TODAY SEPTEMBER 15-21, 2006
Gary Busey! Each year, he comes out for
this two-day event.
I was out touring the chili cooks in my
scooter when I came upon this outstanding
chili booth. I stopped and complimented the
guy inside. He said thanks, and I drove on.
Eventually, I found out his name: It was
Jake Busey, Gary’s son. Later on, while my
Attachment judged booths and marked her
ballot, Gary came by and said to her, “Mark
him the winner. That’s my son!” By this time,
she knew of Jake Busey. Gary didn’t realize
that you don’t take this attitude with someone
like Edi Gumfudgin! She fired right back at
Gary with, “What is this? A case of rampant
nepotism?” Gary probably mumbled, “Well,
he is my son.”
The following is my own observation.
Gary doesn’t look like he did a few years ago.
I realize, according to the Media—they’ve
mentioned drug abuse, alcohol, whatever;
which may or may not be true—that he’s
been having a little trouble lately.
Let’s face it, Gary, some of your fans don’t
really give a shit, but some of us do. We plead
with you to love yourself enough to save what
you have left. Another way of saying it is: “If
you’ve gone ‘off the deep end,’ climb back on
board before it’s too late. We know you can
do it, if you want to.”
WE NEED YA. P
Q & A with Duke Collister
by Dawn Miller
Duke is the General Manager of the Shrine
Auditorium that recently hosted the primetime
Emmy Awards and has hosted many of the
entertainment industry’s grandest events such
as the Academy Awards, AMA’s, and the Latin
Grammys.
The Shrine has been associated with Hollywood’s
most important award shows. Why is your venue
preferred above all others?
The number one reason why people choose to
have their shows here is that we have the largest
stage in the country. There’s nothing they can’t
do here. We have the means to accommodate
them. Another unique benefit is the 54,000
square foot expo hall right next to the building,
which is great for hosting after-parties like the
Governor’s Ball for the Emmy’s. We also offer
extremely competitive pricing, considering the
venue. We charge less than venues like the
Greek, Universal, and Verizon. We have prime
location downtown, right in the middle of the
confluence of four freeways, which offers easy
access for everyone. The downtown area and
the Figueroa corridor have been cleaned up
over the past few years. It’s a very safe place to
visit now. We’re in the process of doing a lot
of remodeling our venue, plus the surrounding
area. And we have USC right next door to us,
of course.
The Shrine has been a Hollywood landmark for
the last 80 years. What kind of changes are you
making to continue this legacy?
We’re adding a new parking structure so we can
accommodate guests for any events. Production-wise,
we’re continuing to upgrade our
facility so that we
can host our shows
more economically
for our clients.
We’re also upgrading
air conditioning
and other things
like that. One of
the most exciting
changes underway
is, we’re converting
to solar power.
We’re planning on putting two canopies over
our parking structures with solar panels. The
system will convert power to the DWP so
that they’ll actually be paying us, and this is
hugely beneficial because the biggest expense
for any of our clients renting out our facility is
the electricity required over the course of the
event. As a result of converting to solar power,
we’ll be able to charge our clients a lot less, and
it will be environmentally-friendly.
Competition among large venues is fierce. What
are you providing your clients to keep the Shrine
viable?
Giving them the best deal we can give them,
and more than that: better service, more
cooperation.
||
W hat are the
challenges you
face in your line
of work?
This could take
three days! The
biggest thing at the moment is trying
to reeducate the people of Los Angeles that
the Shrine is a place where they can come, feel
safe, and see shows at reasonable prices. People
have a misconception that we only have awards
shows and that tickets are $400-$700. Back
in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, the Shrine was wellknown
as a cultural center, but in recent history,
we’ve been put on the map primarily for our
high-profile entertainment awards programs.
In order to restore our reputation as a center of
cultural activity, we are doing all types of events
here, not just rock and roll concerts, not just
awards shows, not just ballets—we’re going to
do everything.
What kinds of perks does your greenroom
offer?
That’s on a show-to-show basis. It depends
on the sponsors, because we never know what
they will have in mind.
How has 9/11 affected the day-to-day management
of high-prof ile venues such as the
Shrine?
That really is something that every one of us,
not just at the Shrine or in this industry but
every single person, takes into major consideration.
Security has become a priority. Here
at the Shrine, we stay very aware of terrorist
threats. We always search for explosives with
bomb-sniffing dogs, we always pat down, we
use metal detectors
on every show
for every person in
this building. We
have implemented
very sophisticated
technologies such
as x-rays and heat
sensors that scan
cars as they arrive.
We “wand” people
and bag-search.
We are being very careful as to what we let in
and how we let it in, even with celebrities.
The Shrine Auditorium, of which Collister is the General Manager.
Ratings are down for many award shows. Do
you feel that they are still relevant today?
Actually, for most of the awards shows that
have been held at the Shrine, ratings have
gone up over the past year-and-a-half. This
is partly due to the fact that production values
are increasing—people are watching not to
see who wins, but for the production value.
You can see musical acts like John Legend
perform on a stage on TV for low cost, while
you would have to pay $75-$100 a ticket to
see them at the Greek. The production value
of awards shows has increased a lot over the
past few years. P