Helping Sammy Run

Legend tells us it is nearly impossible to make it in Hollywood too many dreamers after one dream. "The only way to put yourelf in a position," said screenwriter Bill Phillips '71, "is to knock on every door and hope that somebody on the other side has dropped dead." The outlook darkens as major studios go bankrupt, as the Motion Picture Association of America reports 200 fewer films rated for distribution in 1981 than in 1971, and as the Screen Actors Guild announces, "very conservatively," an unemployment rate of 85 per cent for actors. For college graduates the situation is little improved: In a town where good ideas get more attention than good grades, a diploma guarantees you a place in line behind the person ahead of you. "It's very much who you know," said Tim Craig '81. "Nobody lines you up and grades you from zero to a hundred, and you try to get a ninety or above."

Craig arrived in Hollywood almost two years ago. He became interested in film making while a junior at Dartmouth, ultimately serving five terms as coordinator of the Dartmouth Film Society and researching the role of Native Americans in film with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In Los Angeles, Craig found "a whole system of introduction" to other Dartmouth alumni working in the entertainment industry. Four out of the past five film society coordinators were there. Tom Ruegger '76 had arrived a couple of years before and through Harry Ackerman '35 had landed a job writing scripts at Filmation. Tom Ropelewski '77, the film society coordinator from 1977—1978, came out and stayed with Ruegger. Buck Henry '52 and James Goldstone '53 pointed Ropelewski toward his first job as a producer's assistant. When another coordinator, Van Spurgeon '81, showed up, Ropelewski, who was by then director of current programming for Universal Studios, helped Spurgeon find a job as a production develpment assistant with Comworld, a network and cable television production company. Tim Craig, the new kid in town, found himself in the midst of an alumni network. "You keep discovering them," he said. Bill Phillips has one long entry 'of entertainment industry names in his Rolodex file under "D," which stands, he said, for "Dartmouth Mafia."

It's a tongue-in-cheek name for an old, informal College tradition. William Nutt '31 remembers that during his tenure at RKO-Radio Pictures at least six Dartmouth men roamed the backlot: pioneering producer Walter Wanger '15, film editors Don Moore '25 and Collier Young '30, writer Charles O'Neill '31, and actor Robert Ryan '32. At the Disney studios, Louis Pelletier '28, Charles "Cap" Palmer '23, and. Maury Rapf '35 wrote, while John Rose '28 produced and Ed Plumb '29 directed the music for such movies as Fantasia. Hanover West is today complemented by Hanover East, where Wayne Wadhams '68, Bill Aydelott '72, Austin de Besche '68, and David Arndt '70 have joined to work on two John Sayles films, Return of the Secaucus Seven and Lianna. The growth of independent producers, cable television, and video technology has made the trek to Hollywood unnecessary for many aspiring film makers. "Hollywood isn't in L.A. anymore," said screenwriter Stephen Geller '62, who lives in Rome.

Among the many younger alumni and alumnae who do make the pilgrimage west, there is appreciation of the network tradition but uncertainty about its strength and usefulness. "The network is a solid foundation of people to talk with and bounce ideas off of. It gave me a home base and was a great way to establish myself not only socially but professionally," said Spurgeon. Spurgeon, who has worked on such television programs as "The Ordeal of Bill Carney" and "The Second Family Tree," doesn't think the network is crucial to finding a job and downplays its ultimate importance. "It's good for getting your foot in the door, but once it's there, it's up to you." Most of Spurgeon's contemporaries agree that the network is no guarantor of employment or success, but an informal welcome wagon which, in tight times, is more than most Hollywood hopefuls have. "Whoever you know out there," said Ruegger, "it can't hurt."

When he first got into town, Tim Craig knew Bill Phillips. They had met when Craig took a course at Dartmouth teamtaught by Phillips and Blair Watson, director emeritus of Dartmouth College Films. Phillips had come to Hollywood long before, getting most of his early camera and editing jobs through people Cap Palmer knew or recommended. After winning a screenwriting contest, Phillips was picked to write two television movies and two feature films. "I have the shortest track record anybody can have and still have a track record." For Craig, who wants to be a screenwriter, Phillips was "a good role model." Providing role models of achievement is to Craig's mind one of the network's most important functions. Therese O'Jibway '78, a copy writer for Walt Disney Productions, agreed, "Very seldom do alumni have a job lined up for you. It's mostly advice, but they're very friendly and helpful. These are people who've made it." O'Jibway left her job at the Tucker Foundation to produce educational films and documentaries in Los Angeles, where she "went through a list of Dartmouth contacts," finding "warm encouragement" from Palmer and Harry Ackerman, among others. "They kept telling me, 'Don't quit!' " In a couple of weeks, she had her first job.

The stories of Hanover emigres to Hollywood suggest that there is something more to any "network" than providing role models and advice. A good old-grad network helps break down the barriers to making it in a town like Hollywood. John Lugar '70 said that in the film industry, 'the idea of the meritocracy breaks down. Personal connections are more important than in any other business." Lugar came to Los Angeles five years ago after receiving a degree in ophthalmology from Cornell and practicing eye surgery for two and a half years. Producer David Picker '53 helped launch his career, and Lugar is now producing two feature films, Congo and TheCase of Ezra Bloom. Chuck Thegze '70 came to films from journalism and public relations in New York City, having been helped by Dartmouth networks in those professions as well. "In Hollywood," he said, "friendships and connections mean as much as ability." Buck Henry, whom Thegze met while still a senior, helped Thegze get started. Now director of development for Hill Mendeleker Production Company, he is in charge of acquiring all new projects, such as the 1980 television mini-series "The Immigrants," featuring Stephen Macht '63. Thegze helped Therese O'Jibway get her initial job as a receptionist for Hill Mendeleker. She found Thegze through Phillips. Such connections, said Chris Meledandri '81, a general assistant to producer Dan Melnick, work as "an automatic bond in a cut-throat world."

That bond derives not only from shared dreams of Hollywood success, but also from the strong appreciation for film nurtured at Dartmouth. "I never liked films before Arthur Mayer," said Philips. "It's all the fault of the Hopkins Center," said John Lugar in explaining his defection from eye surgery. The others blame film studies professors Blair Watson, Maury Rapf, and David Thomson, as well as Mayer, for developing their early interest and potential in film making. "And Dartmouth itself," said Ropelewski, "instilled the belief that we're worth someone's attention, and we'll stay until we get it." Ropelewski evidently drew on this faith often: he spent his first six months in Hollywood xeroxing scripts. Still, he claims that the motion picture industry is "only mythically impossible" to break into. "Many people give up before they start. You need a combination of personal persistance and luck."

And when luck is in short supply, a connection or two doesn't hurt. Tim Craig attended a party at Trader Vic's Restaurant thrown primarily for Dartmouth alumni involved in film and television. It was one of several such parties organized by Russell Mack '73, an independent television producer based in New York City, to bring entertainment industry people together. "At that party a lot of cards were passed around," recalled Craig. At another such party, John Lugar joked about forming "Eleazar Studios" to utilize the talents and experience of those around him. "The bottom line would be to amass enough money. It would be terrific...." But for all the touted organization of a "Dartmouth-Hollywood Mafia," Lugar concluded that the way to make it in pictures will always be "talent-and aggressiveness."

Craig, for his part, agrees. After long weeks of job-hunting and many cordial talks with the"D" people in Philips' Rolodex, Craig finally landed his first film industry job, as an assistant publicist for Landmark Theatre Corporation. He got it by answering an ad in the classifieds.

R.E.

Gold diggers of 1982: Phillips, Craig, and O'Jibway at Santa Monica Beach

A part of the "system of introduction": left to right. Tom Ruegger '76, Adrienne (Alexander) Ruegger '76,Van Spurgeon '81, John Lugar '70, Tom Ropelewski '77, Chuck Thegze '70, and Chris Meledandri '81outside the gates of 20th Century Fox Studios.