Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Aug. 26, 1994, edition 1 / Page 5
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ilfogtlgt 26, 1994 DICK DYER: A Man For All Seasons Kitson Broadbelt Features Editor WHEN Dick Dyer was three years old his mother decided that it was time the family made their own Christmas decorations. For the task young Dick was taken aside and recruited for the task of sewing, so that he might help. "So being raised doing this stuff," Dick now says leaning far back in his desk chair, "It never seemed strange." Maybe not to Dick. It becomes quite apparent to one in the midst of their first encounter with Dick Dyer that there are very very few things that this man finds to be strange. To Dick, many situations and character traits are funny and many things are sad, many are noble and many are right, but scarcely anything is strange. This is not to say that Guilford College's Assistant to the Dean of Students is in any way crazy him self. At best he might appear ec centric at first glance. A man of average height and build with a boyish haircut now turned a bit grey, Dick looks something like an MOVIE REVIEW: C WILL THE STAR DARE EXPOSE HIS WILLIS? Kitson Broadbelt Features Editor THE SUMMER MOVIE IS A MULTI-HEADED BEAST. It feigns to its audience all sorts of devious falsehoods, putting on one face as it makes itself another. I remember vividly the summer of 1989 when advertisements began to spin through the media world for Robin Williams' new film. The commercials on television and the trailers in the theatres all showed scenes of frolicking and merriment with Mr. Williams telling jokes, doing imitations and delighting everyone on the screen with him. The movie was Dead Poets Soci ety and as you can imagine (if you don't remember), this incongruity between substance and advertise ment led to a great deal of confu sion in the theatres the first week of the film's release. This bewildering phenomenon, however, in no way hindered Dead Poets Society , which went on to become one of the summer's big gest blockbusters. Perhaps it is because of this that Hollywood the Industry continues the practice of packaging many of its summer re leases in conflicting and some times contradictory wrapping. Example: Bruce Willis' Color Back in the saddle again; Dick Dyer at home in his office old sea Captain. His expression, when you catch him unawares, often seems to be that of a weary Ahab; a man who long ago quit the juvenile chase of white whales in favor of protecting children from sharks. And though white whales can be devilishly elusive, there are always too many sharks. "The line between succeeding and failing here is a real fine line," Dick says, polishing his glasses. t* jjpfo J 11 IV2I Of Night the last of this year's high-profile Summer Movies. Most movie-goers and televi sion watchers have seen all the steamy, sultry, sexy commercial clips of Mr. Willis and his young co-star Jane March in the shower, in the pool, in the tub, in the kitchen and occasionally in the bed. The lighting is always low and warm and the movement is almost always in slow-motion. The movie poster is a still shot from those hot and heavy shower scenes depicting Ms. March's ex pression locked in the sheer bliss of her silver-screen coupling with Mr. Willis. So tell me, what is this movie about? Like Dead Poets Society, the scenes in Color of Night's adver tisements indeed come from the jfeatures "I'm conscious of that all the time." I first heard of Dick as a pro spective student the spring of my senior year in high school. My mother and I were on the Guilford campus tour when Dick passed by. He spoke briefly with our guide and she laughed at something funny he said. As Dick walked away our guide told our group proudly: "He's our school's hit- movie. But also like Poets the themes of Night are not those ex pressed by its two-minute trailer or its movie poster. The Color of Night emerges from its advance commercial no tices as a very intelligent film, the most intelligent I've ever seen Mr. Willis a part of. And while it is still very much Hollywood, the consistently conflicting soundtrack an example, it is particularly good Hollywood. Mr. Willis leads as Bill Capa, a psychologist whose last patient committed suicide in his office. Capa then travels to Los Angeles California to see an old fellow psy chologist friend and relax. When Please see COLOR page 6 man." My mother clenched my aim in fear and a look of confu sion and panic spread across her face. One brave mother swallowed her fear and asked "why is he the hit-man?" "He gets the job done." Our guide said quickly. "If there is something that needs to be done, if you have a problem with a class schedule, a rooming situation, a judicial matter, Dick knows ex actly what to do and who to talk to, always." The mothers relaxed. Dick does get the job done. In his 15 years at Guilford he has seen many classes come and go. He has helped whomever came to him. "It takes so little to make the place work." He is fond of saying. "It's a wonderful place but it's not a place that seems accessible to some people. And we tend to over state things a bit. We say things like 'everyone here is so friendly.' And, in fact, most of the people here are friendly, but then the kid finds one person here that isn't friendly and they hit this wall and they call home and they go 'God, Mom! I met this terrible so-and so..'" Daphne Lewis The Book Rack Thousands of New and Recycled Books New Books 10% OFF Recycled Books 40-50% OFF Unique cards, Cliffs Notes, comics, calendars Hours: 9-9 Mon-Sat 1-6 Sunday 5701 W. Friendly Ave. Across the street from Guilford College ppg Carolina mkM Coffee Now at the Book Rack! Hollywood Pictures %\yt (guiltorbian But being the hit man is only the beginning. Dick speaks quietly and almost sadly about the incidents that ended his ministering days back North. In Maine, when a couple of his closest friends felt called to the Ministry and announced that they had come to liberate the church, they rose abruptly and ex orcised Dyer during a moment of silence. Dick had an understand able falling out with the meeting group shortly thereafter and de cided to go South. Now, however, he finds himself ministering more than ever. But perhaps it is the quilting which distinguishes him most commonly as the resident Renais sance Man of Guilford College. Elaine Brigham, a friend of mine and education major called me very excited last year with the news. "You will not believe this. He quilts." "He quilts what?" I asked. "Quilts, he took second place in the State Competition last year. Dick Dyer quilts!" Please see DYER page 6 5
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