European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tim Allen is the Power behind no. 1-rated Home improvement which airs monday nights on an. Abc Tim Allen s own i prisoner to Star by Daniel Cerone. Los Angeles times Hose Days when Tim Allen cries out for More Power he s Likely to be talking about the megabytes of ram in the hard drive of his macintosh Power Book. He does t have much time to spend with the circular saws Power drills and Leaf blowers that were the heart of his stand up comedy act and that served As the inspiration for Abc s Home improvement the most popular to show in America for the past year. Allen still regards his tools As toys and As the. Bonding agent of All men but they Are of a largely different variety today. Instead of wearing a tool Belt with a Hammer dangling from it Allen putters around the Home improvement stage on the Walt Disney studios lot in Hollywood with a cellular phone strapped to his Belt. Lying on the floor of his dressing room i his Power Book and an oversized wizard pocket organizer. I love these things says Allen one of seven Brothers who grew up in Colorado and Michigan. A the gadgets Are there to help Allen 41, Man age his image As the nation s biggest to Star one who is carefully thoughtfully building his career the Way a Carpenter constructs a House. When Ajlen was released from prison in 1982, after a 28-month stint for Selling cocaine to an undercover police officer he found his salvation in humor on the comedy club circuit which eventually led to his own sitcom. Today in Between taping weekly episodes of Home improvement he s busily promoting a Book Don t stand too close to a naked Man and finishing Post production on his first motion picture the Santa clause due out nov -11. /. s the modestly budgeted Holiday movie was produced by Hollywood pictures a division of Walt Pis Ney studios. After seeing the footage however Walt Disney pictures swooped in pumped More than $1 million into added music and special effects and will now release it under the More prestigious Walt Dis Ney Banner. Home improvement meanwhile showed one and All last month that it is still the sitcom of the 90s, maintaining its no. 1 Nielsen standing despite hav ing moved to a new night to face new Competition Abc s emmy award winning Fraser starring Kelsey grammar. Allen s own Power is such that he could joke during the emmy telecast sept. 11 about having for Mer Walt Disney studios chairman Jeffrey Ratzenberg fired for hot entering Allen s name in time for the emmy Competition. Allen took a break on the set of Home improvement two weeks ago to sit on the floor of his dressing room and discuss his Book his movie his future and the intoxicating effects of his career on himself his wife Laura and their 3v-year-old daughter Kady. Is so Are you More powerful than Jeffrey Katzin Berg As right now i am. He does t work Here. Laughs no i Don t think so no. Is describe your Book. As hyperion the publishers wanted something and i wanted something else. That s Why it took me too Long to do this. I read a lot of philosophy and i always thought i could write a philosophy Book. I Haven t been Able to take any of my philosophy fur ther than speculation because i can t prove the Theo Ries i have. But i wanted to add some of that in there and they wanted All jokes. Q How did you resolve the situation ? a i pretty much decided to write what i wanted to write i said ill write two chapters. If you Don t like it Don t do q so is the Book philosophy or comedy a i took some personal risks revealing certain things so that i might have More credence by saying because of this i understand it s similar to what i do in my stage show. In the Book i was Able to give some opinions about behaviour and i m not an expert and a Little bit of philosophy. Q let s talk about your movie. What is the Santa clause about a in a nutshell it s a relationship Story about an estranged boy and his father. This Man is divorced. Does t see the kid much. Does t relate to the kid. He s kind of lost the kid in him. Through a twist of Fate he slowly has to assume the position of Santa Claus. It s a very Good emotional gift for the Guy be cause he learns to appreciate things that he s lost. He finally relates to his kid. He gets into a wonderful relationship with his kid but on the outside reality rears its ugly head because this is a Guy who s claim ing to be Santa Claus. So his kid has to go through this ugly mess with him. Q you re arguably the biggest to Star in the country. Do you want to become a movie Star a i Don t know. I certainly Don t want any More attention. I certainly Don t need any More people writing about me no offence. Q you re America s most visible dad and yet you seem to keep your Home life private. How come ? a my wife does t like it. She s trying to stay out of the Hurricane. And i m really trying to keep my daughter out of it although it s impossible. She watches me on to. Q do you have any fears that All this will end. A i think sometimes i do because it s intoxicating this attention. Everybody knows that. I mean children vie for attention. Dogs vie for attention. To get this much attention for god s Sake it s intoxicating. When it goes away there s a Little vacuum i m not sure what it is. And then i just go out to the supermarket a there i am again. Because i get so used to that Persona being recognized. But i was at this party and even the Guy who played Corner or wait who was the Guy on the love Bonf Goober no Gopher Fred Grandy he s still recognized. This is the love i3oit\ this is what 17 years ago that the show went on the air ? so it does t really end. October 16. 1994 sunday Page 11
