People in the news: Students write play about Ryder's trial
SAN DIEGO - In the latest example of art imitating life, a group of high school students has created a musical based on Winona Ryder's shoplifting trial.
Point Loma High School's "Sticky Fingers: A Tale of Saks, Lies and Videotape" satirizes the fall trial in which the Oscar-nominated actress was convicted of taking about $6,000 worth of items from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
The production is the culmination of a year's worth of work by several dozen students and is directed by teacher Larry Zeiger, who plays piano for the show and stars as CNN interviewer Larry King.
"Sticky Fingers" marks the 27th annual production by Zeiger's "Gotta Sing Gotta Dance Company."
The musical follows a missile-factory employee and tango dancer who travels to Rodeo Drive, where she has a fateful meeting with her idol, Ryder, at Saks. The department store donated shopping bags for the set.
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of high school students got the chance to talk with Steven Spielberg about his film "Schindler's List" as part of the school district's social studies program.
The 1993 film tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved more than 1,100 Jews from death during World War II. The film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.
Steven Spielberg: The director talked to students from a high school social studies program about the making of "Schindler's List."
Teachers around the country have used the film to help teach history, tolerance and social justice.
The Los Angeles students watched the film on the district's educational TV station before meeting with Spielberg at the Hollywood American Legion's auditorium last week.
"I'm known for films that are more entertaining than thought-provoking," Spielberg said during the meeting. The director of "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial," "Saving Private Ryan" and "Minority Report" fielded questions about everything from his favorite scene in the movie, to how many Jews were still alive that Schindler saved.
As it turned out, one was in the audience.
Leon Leyson, who was a child when he and his family were sent to Auschwitz, told the students he remembered the camp and Schindler.
"When I saw the movie, I was startled at how accurate it was," he told the students. "I could see my house, where I used to live."
NEW YORK - Though once thought dead, Henry Grimes has come back to life.
One of the best-known bassists in the avant-garde jazz community during the 1960s, Grimes trained at Juilliard and played with the likes of Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane.
He made a name for himself with his versatile style of playing, which he lent to some of the most influential albums of the day.
But suddenly, Grimes disappeared without a trace; no word was heard from him and he was rumored to be dead.
Then a fan resurrected the 65-year-old musician.
Social worker Marshall Marrotte searched court records and death certificates and talked to family and friends before finding Grimes living in Los Angeles, no longer even owning a musical instrument.
Marrotte and bassist William Parker, who donated a bass to Grimes, have been able to return him to the music scene.
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