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ARTS SiENTERTANUENr/nieChalcidePost
Thursday, May 15, 1997
Winfrey, Glover star in ‘Beloved’
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA - Oprah
Winfrey and Danny Glover
will film Toni Morrison’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
“Beloved” in Philadelphia,
bringing millions in revenue to
the city, state officials said.
The novel details the life of
an escaped slave haunted by
the child she murdered.
The Philadelphia Civic
Center is being converted into
a sound stage for the film.
which reunites Winfrey and
Glover, who starred together
in Steven Spielberg’s “The
Color Purple.” Winfrey was
nominated for an Oscar for her
role in that film.
Gov. Tom Ridge pledged part
of the money for the conven
tion hall’s conversion, saying
“Pennsylvania is a very rich
back lot.”
Director Jonathan Demme
said he was excited to direct
the movie in the city where he
directed Tom Hanks in
“Philadelphia.”
“When we left Philadelphia
we had such a great time we
left saying once more in this
lifetime we get a chance to film
in Philadelphia,” Demme said
at a press conference
Wednesday. “I’m delighted
that it’s come back to us so
quickly.’
About a thousand extras and
several hundred crew mem
bers will be hired locally.
‘Star Search’ comic charged
By Robynn lysver
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAHA, Neb. - Vinson
Horace Champ was a former
“Star Search” comedian who
worked the college circuit,
delivering what some said was
a rarmchy act that played to
mixed reviews.
He also appeared in four
Midwestern states where
women were raped on campus.
On Monday, the FBI named
Champ as a suspect in those
attacks and two attempted
rapes. In each case, the attack
er spit on his victims, quizzed
them about their sex lives or
asked them to pray for him.
A student in a piano room at
Pasadena City College in
California was the victim of
the latest attack on May 6.
Champ, 35, of Los Angeles,
was charged with attempted
rape and released on $75,000
bail on Friday.
He did not return calls for
comment.
The attack sparked the inter
est of police in Iowa,
Nebraska, Illinois and
Wisconsin, where they believe
a serial rapist raped four
women and attacked two oth
ers on college campuses in
February and March, said FBI
agent Tom Richardson in
Omaha.
Three of the six attacks were
in music rooms and two in
computer labs.
Champ has performed at col
leges in nine states this year -
including all four states where
the attacks took place - and
was performing at or near the
colleges at the time of at least
three attacks, investigators
said.
Police were trying to deter
mine if he was performing in
the area at the time of the
other three attacks.
“We definitely have him in
our area on the day of our rape
here at Knox College,” said
Detective Bob Horton
Galesburg, Ill.
According to police:
• A woman playing the piano
in a basement at Union
College in Lincoln was raped
Feb. 6 by a man wearing a ski
mask.
• Three days later, another
woman was attacked in a
music room at Knox College.
Champ was performing there
and in nearby Carl Sandburg
Community College. He stayed
at a motel in the area.
• On Feb. 10, a woman play
ing the piano and singing in a
music room at Carthage
College in Kenosha, Wis., was
raped. Champ did a show that
night at Milwaukee Area
Technical College, 25 minutes
away.
• A teacher was attacked
Feb. 16 in her office at
Augustana College in Rock
Island, Ill. Another teacher
came to her rescue, pulling off
the assailant’s mask. Champ
had played at the college pre
viously, but police were not
sure if he was there that day.
• About four hours after that
attack, a woman was raped in
a computer lab at St. Ambrose
University in Davenport,
Iowa, just across the
Mississippi River from Illinois.
• March 5, a business
teacher was raped at the
University of Nebraska in
Omaha. Champ did a show
earlier that day at the Mid-
Plains Community College in
Platte,
four-hour
North
drive.
Champ, who drove a BMW,
was arrested last Wednesday,
the day after the latest attack
in California.
The victim’s screams brought
other students who got
Champ’s license plate number
as he fled, police said.
Gil Rocha, an art instructor
at Mid-Plains Community
College, said Champ’s comedy
act got mixed reviews.
“Some of the kids said it was
kind of raunchy,” he said.
Jamie Masada, owner of The
Laugh Factory in Hollywood,
was quoted in today’s editions
of the Chicago Tribune that
Champ auditioned several
times at the club.
“He was a guy trying to get
beyond the struggling-comedi-
an stage,” Masada said. “He
was trying to get on the club
circuit here in Hollywood, but
it was hard for him, so he was
mostly a road comic.”
Hampton University, the City of Hampton and George Wein present
CtORqE Benson
RobERT Cray
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ART
For complete Festival information, call 757-838-4203.
Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations.
Performers are listed alphabetically. All shows are subject to change without notice.
Packed With Humor, —
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