European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Romance videos a sign of things to come 8y Lisa belk1n new York times the videotapes Black plastic cassette with Prelly pictures on the cover hardly look like a revolution in the making. Bui the shades o Lovo series Lour Romance Stone that were released last Juno by Karl Lorimar Home video Are breaking some fundamental rules of the video cassette business. The productions were no released in Heaters first or previously shown on television but were made expressly Lor the Home video consumer. Industry insiders Are watching carefully to see in the tapes Are a sign of things to Como. The to minute productions which Are taped rather irian filmed and use less costly production techniques than theatrical movies Star actors who will be familiar to to audiences and include Dack rambo of All my children and Dallas Parker Stevenson of the Hardy Hoys and the mini series North and South Jean Leclerc of a my children and Simon Maccorkindal of Falcon Crest. The Lemaxie leads however Are not quite As Zemillar because marketing tests found thai women viewers the target audience for these productions prefer to identity with an unknown lace each of the Cai ettes based on original stories by writers of Romance novels has a color in the tide. There is Lilac dream about a woman who runs off to a secluded Island to forget a failed Tove affair Only to have a Man Wash up on the Beach nearly drowned and suffering from amnesia. There s also tha Rose cafe about a woman whose marriage plans Are thrown into turmoil when a former schoolmate re enters her life. The tales Are romantic rather than sexual Lull of Long gazes blazing tires and horse drawn Carriage rides. In the Short but frenetic history of the video cassette Market feature length films have rarely been produced directly Tor Vars but Are distributed to movie Heaters Erma Bombeck this decade has brought an amendment to the list of beatitudes that reads thusly blessed Are those who go away to College Lor they shall not fall heir to a Mother who believes unmade Beds give you bad skin and a father who believes he can use tits own car whenever he there Are some who would weep for the College students who Are stuck living at Home. I m not one of them. These kids Are in the Twilight zone of their existence. Good Bye or. Denton. Hello or. Ruth Good Bye. Allowances. Hello student Aid so Long tricycle in the driveway. I Here to a car in the garage with no motor in it the old rules that applied to them As children Are now obsolete and no one seems to know Why. When i was a cortege student Irving at Home my education never got the respect in gets nowadays. The Standard cry was you re not working you re going to Schoot nowadays hands our unscrew a ballpoint pen videotapes of Romance Sterlet m me especially Tor tha torn wow Jar fat first. The reason such films Cost millions to make and. Ideally that Money is eventually recouped through healer receipts pay to rights and video rentals. Tapes made directly for Home video a development known As video publishing would have Lewer sources of Revenue but lower production budgets the logic goes. Industry executives have Long believed that Consumers would never choose a cheaper looking evening s entertainment when they could rent a More elaborately produced film for the same Price. But video producers who have had Success in recent years with the direct marketing at tapes featuring cooking lessons exercise classes and stand up comics Are now eager to broaden the Range of video publishing. Lorimar. For instance is one of the largest suppliers of video cassettes in the United states and was the company thai surprised the Industry when it proved that women would spend �70 to exercise with Jane Fonda. Paramount Home video in turn recently introduced its five tape Paramount comedy theater series tha first comedy presentation developed directly for Home video. The current series Wilh of. Elsewhere s Howie mandelas Host features stand up comics performing in comedy clubs. And Frank Zappa whose Avant Garde and often risque films Are routinely banned by broadcast end Cable channels announced that he has created his own production company Honker Home video which will produce projects directly Lor Home viewing. The first four releases Are scheduled for next fall and will include baby snakes tha Complete version Zappa s 1979 film that combines concert footage Wilh Ribald Clay animation to which he will add extra material and Uncle meat a recently completed performance Art feature thai Zappa has been working of for 20 years. Lorimar s project is unusual too. But in quite different ways than Zappa s. To compete with the More elaborate Competition the shades of love films which Cost about $1 million each to produce Are being sold for $ 14.95 a piece. They Are being offered not Only in video stores but in All Ekhard drug. Walden books and Sears department stores As Well end Are being introduced with an extensive advertising Campaign. 11 i fitting perhaps that shades of love began with a Man who did not know the. Rules and thus did not know that he was breaking them. Kenneth j. Atchity could be termed a scholar of love and Romance. The los Angeles based entrepreneur has a . In comparative literature from Yale University and is the author of several books including two on Homer and one about italian literature. Over the years however Rte became fascinated by Romance novels a genre to which readers often become quickly addicted some buy an average of one such Book every two Days. He was struck by the books. Atchity said in a recent interview not because they were so Good but because they were for the most part so bad. They Are not very Well written and that intrigued me even further he said. If people were buying them in such quantities and they Ware so awful then there really must be something spellbinding in 1980, after 10 years As a professor at Occidental College in los Angeles he founded la House inc., with the intention of bringing these romances to video cassette. He Inori de that the women who read these novels would be bored by filmed versions of books already in print. So he commissioned original stories from such Romance writers As Serita Stevens Cassie Morgan Judy Boyington and Annette Santord. A decided to produce the films directly for Home video hoping that Consumers would choose his it million creations Over a Multi million Dollar creation on the neighbouring shelf. Have never touched a dish Towel. Ups that conjugate Spanish verbs have never answered the phone. Students who carry extra credit hours Are incapable of carrying a few groceries from the Carlo the Kitchen. Corege students living at Home learn Early which buttons to push to create an on Campus atmosphere. When they sleep we the crack of noon. It s because i was up late studying Lor an when they party halt the night it s to relieve some of the stress that builds Whan they disappear with your car for a week it s because i had logo to the their destiny always depends on How Many chores and pressures of everyday life parents can protect them from. Home campuses Are never easy for either parents or the student. I remember arriving Home one Winter afternoon to find the front door open 15 rights burning a gallon Container of a turning warm butter melting into a Bataraga and lunch meal Curling around the edges. Down the Hall books and various pieces of wearing apparel were strewn at random. The to was playing to an empty room and the Washer was pulsating with two pairs of socks and the dial sat on Large Load when i banged on the door of my College sort s room and registered my complaint he yelled Back. Why Don t you just pretend i m not Here the real question Here is whether of not going to College is a full time profession thai exempts the scholar from doing laundry emptying garbage making Beds bringing in supplies putting Gas n die car Clearing the table and keeping living Standard up to code. Those who have attended cof Leoe at Home and away from Home say of you live on Campus ii take four years to graduate and re you live at Home attn a Mother. It la take twice As Long maybe it Only seems twice As Long. It in i. Attoh Oyne Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday september 19,1987
