This is the news roundup from Nan Dibble and Helpers' Network. Call the Central Hotline at 513-961-3317 or the East Hotline at 201-779-6040.

Hard copies of the Gazette are $1.50 each to Helpers' Network, 379 Amazon Ave., Cincinnati OH 45220-1148. Ad rates are 1/2 page $5, 1 page $10, 2 full sides, $15. Classified FREE (and included in the online version, as well).

Hard copy of the February Gazette has a picture from TV guide featuring Swoosie Kurtz, Jo Anderson, Sela Ward, and Patricia Kalember of "Sisters" and (from Barb Alterman) a blurb for "When the Bough Breaks", new to video with Ally Walker, Martin Sheen, and Ron Perlman.

"THE ELDER": A FATHER CLONE
Roy Dotrice appeared in March (and stole the entire episode with his liveliness and vitality) in an episode of Earth 2, playing "the Elder" of a community that lives in eerily familiar TUNNELS, with a wise twinkle though long hair and a Scots accent. Given Roy's vivid "presence" in this small supporting role, we very much hope "the Elder" will become a recurring character on this series.

See note on an earlier Roy Dotrice performance in the "Sightings."

A MOW WITH RON P
Ron Perlman's agent's office reports that Ron has been involved in an upcoming CBS Movie of the Week entitled Acts of Contrition which will probably air this spring (our conjecture). No word on the size of Ron's role, and there may be little or no advance notice on the airdate, so keep your eyes peeled for it. (NOTE - THIS WAS APPARENTLY RENAMED "ORIGINAL SINS" AND WILL AIR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12 ON CBS.)

CINEMAKER:
Three months and counting
Ed Gross of Cinemaker recently contacted both cover artist Kevin Barnes and Jana Ondrechen (author of the B&B Annotated Guidebook) [Ed: though not yet us] to tell them that he intends to put out and premiere, at A Distant Shore, Nan Dibble's Bright Spirit Descending, Jana's Official Annotated Beauty and the Beast Guidebook, and Rhonda Collins' Legacy of Love...and possibly Perlman and the Beast, as well.

If this happens (and we all know that Ed's intentions are much better than his delivery, to date), those who'd ordered "the first four novels" will finally get them; those who'd ordered the Guidebook, some as long as 3 years ago, will finally get it; and (though this is even more uncertain than the rest) the hundreds who pre-ordered Perlman and the Beast may also find their wait at an end. We don't doubt that Perlman and the Beast WILL eventually be published, but Ed's getting all these books ready for the convention sounds rather iffy, to us. But cross your fingers: this may come out all right in the end, after all the frustration and delays. We're all certainly experts on both waiting and hoping....

1995 FAN Q AWARDS
Mike Maloney, one of the organizers of A Distant Shore, alerts us to something with a tight deadline. As arranged this year, the voting on the Fan-Q awards (for such things as zines, art, and other productions of this fandom) will be done solely by those attending A Distant Shore.

However, the fandom at large can take part in the nominating process...if you move FAST!!

Nomination will be by signed, numbered ballots only. If you want such a nominating ballot, send an SASE (a stamped, self-addressed business-sized [#10] envelope) immediately to:

Cecelia Pitts
Box 628
Culver City CA 90232-0628

Deadline for receiving such SASEs was given to us as April 3rd; we're trying to talk them into extending that deadline to April 15th to give the word time to spread, but this is at Cecelia's discretion. So take the earlier deadline as the one that applies. (NOTE - THIS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO APRIL 23) Therefore, if you want to take part in the nomination process, get your SASE in the mail at once.

BEFRIENDING BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
by Paula Vitaris
from March 1995 Starlog

In a world below, producer David Schwartz came to know the wonder of Catherine & Vincent

Beauty & the Beast was a tale of two worlds--one above the streets of Manhattan, another below, in the dark corridors and passages. And just as its tunnel dwellers depended on friendly "helpers" for news of the world above, so did the show's cast and crew depend on their own real-life "helper," coordinating producer David Schwartz.

"I was the topsider tunnel person," Schwartz says of the two-and-a-half years he spent with Beauty & the Beast. A fast-talking man with a stand-up comedian's wacky sense of humor and repertoire of jokes and funny voices, he adds, "I had my own language to speak to each person because there were so many different personalities involved. It really was quite a challenging experience." He credits the "significant skills I have as a human being" with earning him his job, but then laughingly observes that those "significant skills" combine the talents of "Henry Kissinger, Erma Bombeck, Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Jerry Lewis."

Schwartz came to Beauty & the Beast after 10 years of film and TV editing and production experience in New York City. Born and raised in Philadelphia, and movie buff from early childhood, he took film courses at New York University and completed a year-long course at the New York Institute for Television. He went to work for various companies in New York, handling film and coordinating shoots. After serving as location manager and coordinator for such films as Rocky II, Ragtime, The World According to Garp and Trading Places, Schwartz decided to put his California film contacts to good use and in 1987 moved to Los Angeles.

"I went to LA to see if I could create something from these relationships," he recalls. "I got two free tickets to Universal Studios, I got dinner for two, a ride on the Goodyear Blimp, tickets to The Tonight Show--it wasn't going as I expected." Then a chance meeting with the brother-in-law of a TV production manager resulted in his being hired--despite his impressive resume, Schwartz notes with amusement--"to schlep sodas and carry notebooks" for Richard Franklin, director of a pilot.

The pilot was Beauty & the Beast, an updating of the classic story to modern-day New York, with the beauty an assistant district attorney named Catherine Chandler (Linda Hamilton), and the beast a tunnel-dwelling lion-man named Vincent (Ron Perlman). Schwartz was instantly captivated by the story's romance and the meticulously constructed sets. "It wasn't a set to any of us when we first came on it. It was the most amazing environment to take refuge in. As time went on, those tunnels, those chambers were our home. Each was an intimate and special place and created a certain and significant feeling that would set the tone for the day or sometimes the week. Although many of the sound FX were added in post-production, we could hear Pascal and we could feel the vibration of kids playing or we could smell the bread being baked. Those places were not just two-dimensional cutaways. Being in the tunnels--and they were dark and green and slimy and wet-- knowing that Paracelsus was only a couple of pages away in the script, was scary. It was real. It was a very tactile experience for most of us. And certainly for me, it was as significant as my world at home."

A friendship soon grew between Schwartz and Franklin, and Schwartz quickly became more than a mere go-fer. "I brought everything to it that I would have brought to producing spots or as a location manager," he says. Franklin (who discussed the pilot in STARLOG #126) "was incredible about allowing me to have input and feedback. Richard's an incredibly gifted director. He had storyboarded the whole script. It was a wonderful opportunity to get really close to the director and live inside his mind while he put something like this together."

Father's Assistant
With the pilot in the can, Schwartz "made it real clear" to series creator Ron Koslow and executive producers Tony Thomas and Paul Witt "that if the show were ever picked up, I had a significant background and would like to make a contribution." They had already noted his ability to get along with a wide range of personalities. During the pilot's shoot, Schwartz had served as link between Franklin and the producers, smoothing out misunderstandings and differences over the show's artistic look. Schwartz jokes that they "got a kick out of me," but his versatility did impress Koslow. When CBS picked up Beauty & the Beast for its fall 1987 schedule, "Koslow called me and said, 'We would love for you to work for the show. We don't know what we're going to do with you, or where we're going to put you. What do you do?'"

Schwartz was delighted to work for Koslow, whom he calls "a visionary" and "a brilliant writer." He adds that Koslow has "a tremendous sense of passion and depth as well as humor. It was quite an opportunity and education to work with such a talented person and to assist in bringing his dream to life."

When Schwartz returned to Beauty & the Beast, his extensive hands-on background was put to use as post-production supervisor under associate producer Christopher Toyne. "I was his post-production supervisor for the first nine to 11 episodes. I ran the looping sessions with Christopher, the sound FX sessions, and all the music spotting. Just ran around frantically, while editing and all the things in post-production were happening: sound, light, special FX, matte shots, digital FX. We were cutting on a very new electronic system at the time, called the Montage System. We were one of the early pioneers of this system." Schwartz also coordinated timings and commercial spots with CBS.

The first season's Christmas hiatus brought personnel changes. Koslow and co-supervising producer Stephen Kurzfeld asked Schwartz to take over as set producer. "I said, 'Sure. What am I supposed to do?' They said, 'Just make it great. You just need to be our eyes and earls and keep us abreast of the situation. Make sure everything is wonderful and don't let anything go down the tubes.' I thought, 'Well, that's kind of an interesting job description. I don't know what it's going to look like or entail every day, but I'm up for it.' And we came back from Christmas break and that's exactly what I did.

"I moved onto the set. It was a new ball game, and I was very happy to be there. Ron and Linda were pleased to have someone there who understood. It was different every day. Some days it was ironing out problems with the cinematographer and his staff, and other days it was answering frantic phone calls from the writers' office and Koslow's office. It was extraordinary to have the opportunity to stand by the camera every day and watch every inch of film go through the gate, to listen and watch some of the premier performances in TV history."

Mouse's Mentor
Schwartz soon formed close bonds with stars Perlman and Hamilton. Perlman, he says, is "funny, intelligent, committed, passionate and loving. He's a very open man. Everyone should have an opportunity to work with Ron, because he's a major giver." He describes Hamilton as "very gentle and soulful, and extremely passionate and rich," with her dressing room the place "where I wasn't asked about anything. It really was a place of sanctuary for me."

Outside Hamilton's dressing room, though, Schwartz hustled back and forth, straightening out the day's problems, doing whatever was necessary to ensure a trouble-free shoot. David Greenlee, who played tunnel person Mouse, says Schwartz made in possible for him to get through Beauty & the Beast's three seasons. "Without David, I would have crumbled on many occasions," Greenlee notes. "David is one of the most generous, straightforward, honest-spoken, thoughtful people I've met in show business. David's more than decent, he has actual integrity--and beside that, he's really funny."

Some of the greatest difficulties came from physical hardships created by the methods used to achieve Beauty & the Beast's unique look, as well as from the design of the tunnel sets. "Smoke and dirt," Schwartz sighs. The smoke was used to create the soft, diffused look, but it was a major irritant, especially to the actors who couldn't use facial masks. (Eventually, smoke was phased out and special lenses substituted.)

The dirt on the tunnel floors had to be continually swept and groomed. The continuity of the length of the tunnel world's hundreds of candles was another consideration. Even Vincent's cape posed problems. "I can't tell you how many outtakes we have of Vincent storming out, and getting hooked with this leather thing around the neck of his cape," Schwartz laughs.

Schwartz did his best to keep the overworked cast and crew in good humor. "I was one of the zanier people on the set," he notes, even teasing Perlman with oversized scratching posts. "We would be shooting footage of Perlman running, and we would put up these 12-foot tubes that carpet comes rolled in. We had them nailed to a wooden post with a big felt mouse on it. And here's Vincent coming down the tunnel, and Ron would blow by it, and suddenly, he would hit the brakes and skid through the dirt, stop and break out in laughter."

Beauty & the Beast struck a nerve with its audience, particularly women. Mail flooded in to the studio, the press called, fans begged for tours of the set. Schwartz describes it as "this massive front marching in," and the reaction was "overwhelming. Every so often we would open up this letter, and it would be this incredible communique from somebody in Nebraska or Sydney, Australia, something about how their daughter had been bound to a wheelchair and Vincent turned her world around. I get goosebumps thinking about it now. The amount of responsibility that we realized at that stage had become a very wonderful and terrifying tether. We were all kids of television. We all grew up together watching it. But when you start doing it, you realize the impact TV had on you as a child and the impact you have on the universe through this medium. It was very scary sometimes."

Beauty's Friend
Although renewed for a second season, it was a problematic time for Beauty & the Beast. The Writers Guild went on strike during summer 1988, delaying the start of scriptwriting and filming, and once the strike ended, another, by the Teamsters, began. "That was a really nasty summer," Schwartz comments.

A major relocation compounded the difficulties. The entire cast and crew moved out of the Renmar Studios used by Witt-Thomas to an enormous abandoned paper manufacturing mill located in the far-off Vernon district of South Central Los Angeles. "There wasn't enough space for us," Schwartz says about the Renmar location. "We were like the Beverly Hillbillies forced to leave the Beverly Hills area and head back to the boonies. We were two or three blocks away from Farmer John's, which is a meat-packing, hot dog and sausage manufacturer in California. Imagine heat, smog and boiling pig flesh as the first thing you smell when heading to work in the morning. It really added to the aroma and the essence of what we were doing! It was quite the environment in which to film Beauty & the Beast."

Further stress arrived with tighter budgets, forcing the shooting schedule to be cut from eight to seven days. "We were running around Griffith Park, Los Angeles streets, up and down, car chases, cold, wet, dirt, smoke, in seven days. It always felt like, 'What are we doing? What episode are we on?' We were doing 16, 18 and 20-hour days." Schwartz made every effort to keep everyone going, but he says that at times he felt like the plate-spinning man on The Ed Sullivan Show, and he couldn't prevent some of the plates from falling.

Adding to the frenzied pace was the uncertainty about the storyline, which became progressively darker, especially during the season's latter half. And then Linda Hamilton decided to leave the series to start a family. Schwartz doesn't have much to say bout that decision, except that he understood her wishes. "I could go into Linda's space and be with her, even if she was upset about something, and just be nurtured by her. That's something not many of the fans have an experience of, or know about. And that's why my understanding of Linda wanting to have a child is so different from many, because I know who this woman was, how she desperately wanted to be a mother. Beauty & the Beast facilitated, I think, the doorway for her to find her true nature of motherhood. Sad for all of us that the show didn't have more of Catherine, but I think the blessing that Linda gave us was pretty significant."

Despite the problems, the second season included some of Beauty & the Beast's finest moments, and Schwartz, as one of the producers, was nominated for an Emmy award in 1989. A second season episode he particularly likes is "Orphans," where Catherine's father dies; he describes it as "enormous piece of work, one of the shining pieces of Linda's acting." Other favorite episodes are the first season's "Fever" and "To Reign in Hell."

Beast's Pal
When the second season wrapped, everyone, Schwartz included, was completely exhausted, and in a quandary over the show's fate. Ratings had dropped and the Beauty had announced her departure. CBS picked up Beauty & the Beast for a third season, scheduling its return for December. Koslow left to concentrate on other projects, although he retained the title of executive consultant. Schwartz now reported directly to Stephen Kurzfeld. CBS demanded script approval and told the producers to kill off Catherine, closing the door to any return by Hamilton, and to punch up the action in an effort to attract male viewers. Hamilton's last work on the series was to film the third season opener, a two-hour movie ("Though Lovers Be Lost") that depicted the birth of Vincent and Catherine's child and Catherine's subsequent murder. "That script was one of the more devastating pieces of literature that I had ever read," says Schwartz. "It was passionate, powerful, and sad. But, at that point, I didn't have any idea what it really meant."

What it meant was an emotional end for Schwartz to his working relationship with Hamilton. "Everyone made it through that final episode with tears in their eyes. It was a real sad time. That night on the set, the last close-up, the three of us--Ron looking at Linda, looking at me--we realized this wasn't just the final scene with Catherine and Vincent. It was the end of something that we had too. It was very emotional. It's not something I would ever want to go through again on a project, to see something end like this. It was amazing to feel that way over a job. But the truth of it was that it had nothing to do with what we do. It was about who we all were."

The rest of the third season went downhill from there. Schwartz describes the relationships among the writer/producers as "segmented," and the scripts, he feels, weren't up to the level of the first two seasons. "The actors were getting scripts later and later. Where we would get a script maybe seven or six days before, we were not getting them two days or a day before." He adds, "They were becoming so pat, so episodic for us."

Eventually, the series went on Christmas hiatus, its fate once again hanging. Audience reaction to the retooled storyline had been extremely negative and ratings had plunged. Schwartz flew to Rome, where, with his gift of gab, he talked himself onto the set of and into a job on Godfather III, then filming at Cinecitta Studios. "One morning the phone rang and it was Ron Perlman," Schwartz remembers. "He said, 'Hey, I've got some news for you.' I got goosebumps. I knew what he was going to say. He said the show was canceled. And I said, 'That's it, huh?'" Although Schwartz feels the story had gone about as far as it could, he still regretted not being able to return one last time and "have another opportunity to hug and kiss and say goodbye. I felt shortchanged."

In 1993, Schwartz moved to Las Vegas but returns occasionally to Los Angeles, to work on various projects. One is a movie with Richard Franklin called Breakwater, which Schwartz describes as "a reality film that crosses the line into other universes and other dimensions."

Schwartz considers a film version of Beauty & the Beast a possibility, and hopes that Hamilton might reprise Catherine. "I think the movie is a real viable idea," he says, attributing whatever interest Hollywood may have in the project to the dedication of the show's fans.

Meanwhile, Beauty & the Beast continues to touch his life in many ways. He has remained close to Hamilton and Perlman, often sees or talks with other cast and crew members and has been a popular guest at fan-run conventions. "That experience, realizing again how significant Beauty & the Beast was to so many people, made it very easy for me to say I can leave this industry at this stage, knowing that there's something stored in a vault somewhere, and every so often might come out and make people go, 'Wow, that was great.'"

David Schwartz concludes, "For those who have never seen Beauty & the Beast or haven't experienced it, I think that's all it would take for anybody out there to understand what a blessed and rewarding experience it was. In that small portion of time, I was one of the chosen ones."

Ed: Paula Vitaris is a B&B fan and freelance writer based in Atlanta.

SIGHTINGS
Spotter Karen Morgia in Omaha has noticed that in the original 1972 movie version of Tales from the Crypt, you have a chance to spot a very young Roy Dotrice. The rest of the cast is very good, too. That movie airs quite often on HBO and may be available through video rental outlets, as well.

NOTICES & FACTOIDS
Betty Nieswender, principal organizer of TunnelCon III, tells us that those who purchased items there to be autographed by Ron Perlman or Linda Hamilton, through the help of special fanfriend David Schwartz, will get them but they'll have to be patient a little longer. Linda has kindly signed the items involved, but David hasn't been able to corner the much-traveling Ron Perlman yet to get him to sign. Betty assures us that David hasn't forgotten us, but his running back and forth to LA, combined with Ron's schedule, just hasn't let the autographing be complete yet.

According to a letter from a high-ranking official of Blockbuster to Sandy P. Shelton (read to us on the phone), Linda Hamilton continues to be resistant to involvement in any B&B movie, despite the advice and encouragement to the contrary of both her agent and her manager, according to this official. This confirms Linda's public comments since leaving the series, but rumors have been various lately and any semi-credible word on how things stand in that quarter is always interesting.

CORRECTIONS: OOPS!
The Kathy Cox zine mentioned in the January Gazette, donated by Kathy to benefit Helpers' Network, is Destiny 4, not Destiny 3, as stated. Copies of that zine and Love and Light: The Fable, are available to members of Helpers' Network for $2.00 each or both for $2.50 (just the cost of the postage); non-members can have either for $3 or both for $5; all European orders add $5, please.

The fax number for Robin Schindler, official travel agent for A Distant Shore, is (310) 322-9900 [bad proofing on the hard copy]. Her regular phone is 1-800-624-6679; her address is c/o Ladera Travel, 2041 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 103, El Segundo CA 90245. You may not realize, as we did not, that airfare arranged through Robin is not only cheap but adds up toward free airfares for star guests like Roy Dotrice, whose flight from Britain would otherwise be prohibitively expensive for the convention committee. So DO contact Robin and at least see if the fare she can arrange for you beats the price of whatever you'd be able to organize for yourself. By buying your fare through Robin, you'll also be contributing toward Roy's being able to attend A Distant Shore. And what would a B&B convention be without him?

ZINES...ONLINE!
Helper Lisa Howard tells us how you can have your B&B fiction, poetry, essays, etc. posted in the America On Line electronic library:

The material must be on either a 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 IBM floppy diskette and be translated from whatever word processing system you wrote it in to ASCII format (also called DOS Text; you'll probably find it in the Save As choices in Word or WordPerfect for Windows, or Control+F5, "Save as DOS Text" in WordPerfect for DOS; for other WP systems, check your manual or helpfiles); all codes need to be removed (nothing left but words, spaces, tabs, and hard returns at the ends of paragraphs: no fonts, no centers, no underlines, no strange styles); and no more than 80 characters wide on the screen (to determine margins, be sure your type is defaulted to pica or make a sample row of 80 dots, then set your margins accordingly before the file is translated to ASCII/DOS text).

Get the material to Lisa either by e-mail at her address, beastfan@aol.com, or mail it to her [Lisa Howard, 200 Marguerite Dr., Texarkana AR 75502]. If you have a Macintosh, even if it claims to make IBM-compatible files, don't make a disk: e-mail it if you're online. If you're not, beg the kindness of an IBM-equipped friend in keyboarding it for you. Some of Nan Dibble's stories are already posted, and more fiction/poetry/essays are being contributed by other fans to this growing online library.

The TV Guide for March 18-24 had a substantial and very favorable article about Sisters. It only mentions Jo Anderson briefly, but there's a nice picture of her and the other principal cast members (included in the hard copy of the Gazette). The wig is gone: her own long hair is back. Sisters is now on hiatus and Jo is shopping for new roles to keep busy with until series filming resumes, presumably in late summer.

Reports relayed by patrons of two video chains in different parts of the country claim that the new set of 4 B&B videos, released only 2 months ago, has completely sold out. Stores are back-ordering it, pending a further printing. We don't know the size of the original print run, but it still seems encouraging.

Actor Scott Jaeck, Kanin in "A Gentle Rain," is now a supporting character in the series ER. In a letter to a fan, relayed to us, Scott asks the fandom's support for him in his new role. Scott asks that you write to:

ER
c/o Warner Brothers Television
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank CA 91522

mentioning that you'd like to see more of his character, Radiologist Steve Flint. Scott's letter comments, "Playing Kanin on the show was one of the best experiences I've had in this business. Thank you for all your kinds words and support. It means a lot."

Classified
Classified ads printed FREE for anything that can be written on a 3 x 5 card. Ads run once unless renewed.

After 20 years of blissful marriage, Vincent and Catherine find something happening that will threaten the very fabric of their Happy Life...a devastating event that needs very careful and sensitive handling by Catherine.

In Straight from the Heart, a new Adult novella by Avril Bowles, find out more, with a guaranteed wonderfully happy ending with Vincent and Catherine alive, well, and in love. (Pounds sign)6.75 UK, (pounds sign)8 EUR, $15 US (cash only, please) to:

Avril Bowles
15 The Spinney
Hook
Hants RG27 9DE
England

Seeking short fiction, poetry and art for a new all-season zine, Heartscapes. The overall focus will be romantic but you need put no limits on your imagination. Contact Gloria Jones, 13404 Grover St., Omaha NE 68144--soon!

ONLINE ADS - E-mail beastfan@aol.com to place an online ad.

'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST UK CHAMBER' - the first UK based fan club for the TV series. Club magazine (The Chronicle) 40+ pages of member input - stories, articles, reviews, letters, poetry, art, quizzes & information - March, June, Sept & Dec. Also produce 'The Journal', 16 pages, April, July, Oct, Jan between Chronicles to keep members up to date. Voted best club magazine for 2 years since inception of the British Annual Awards. US Membership $22 (US dollars, cash please). Send to: Sheila Waters, 14 Judith Road, Kettering, Northants NN16 0NX, UK.

MASK: TALES FROM THE UNDERGROUND is a zine exploring the worlds of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Phantom of the Opera". We alternate issues between each universe. There are also zines in this series featuring all "Beauty and the Beast". Our emphasis is on well-plotted stories emphasizing Catherine and Vincent's relationship against the backdrops of the worlds Above and Below. For detailed flyers send email Kathleener@aol.com or send SASE to Kathleen Resch, PO Box 1766, Temple City, CA, 91780.

JO ANDERSON FAN CLUB - You are invited to join the Jo Anderson Fan Club, celebrating the career and accomplishments of Miss Jo Anderson. Your $15 ($20 overseas) membership includes an 8 X 10 photo of Miss Anderson, a membership card and a one year subscription to the quarterly newsletter, Jo's Journal. Jo's Journal includes reviews of Miss Anderson's work, both past and present, artwork by well known fan artists, news items, poetry, letters of comment, etc. (submissions accepted). Updates of Miss Anderson's current projects will be sent via postcard as warranted. Jo Anderson Fan Club, c/o Gloria Handley, 4195 Rolling Hills, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722. (Checks payable to Gloria Handley).

FLAME AND SHADOW - Flame and Shadow Press Presents: Flame and Shadows Volumes I - VIII. A collection of all season and alternative Beauty and the Beast stories and poems featuring artists and authors from America as well as Scotland, England and Austria. Submissions are welcome. Send legal size SASE for flyers and info to: Flame and Shadow Press, c/o Gloria Handley, 4195 Rolling Hills, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722.

BRUCE ABBOTT INTERNATIONAL FAN ASSOCIATION (BAIFA) was founded in 1994 to honor the actor best known for his roles as Judge Nicholas Marshall in "Dark Justice", Devin in TV's "Beauty and the Beast", and the hapless Dr. Dan Cain in the "Re-Animator" series of movies. The club, fully sanctioned by Bruce Abbott, keeps members up-to-date on his career through its quarterly newsletter, "Dark Prince", which features news, interviews, answers to members' questions, as well as reviews and rare archival photos. Annual membership--which also includes an autographed headshot, current biography, filmography, and more--is only $15 in the US ($18 Canada, $ 22 overseas.) Write: Bruce Abbott International Fan Association, P.O. Box 1892, Manhattan Beach, CA 90267-1892. (Checks payable to Robin Ann Schindler).

End.