WINKLER WRITES THE BOOK ON HARD TIMES IN SCHOOL

Winkler writes the bookon hard times in school
MADISON, Wis. -- A class of fifth-graders heard an unlikely confession from Henry "The Fonz" Winkler -- he wasn't always the king of cool.
Winkler called the Waunakee Intermediate School on Friday to talk about his series of popular books for young adults and discussed his own hard times in school.
"I was just called lazy," he said. "Some people said I was stupid."
Winkler's series of popular books feature a character named Hank Zipzer, a lovable underachiever whose good intentions go awry.
All 481 pupils at the school are reading the first book in the series this fall as part of an all-school book club. Fifth-grade teacher Margaret Martin said she wrote a letter to Winkler and was shocked when he called back.
The call was broadcast over the public address system as Winkler, 58, best known for his character on "Happy Days," spent 30 minutes answering questions from students.
"This is the first book I've ever liked that someone assigned me," said Emmett Gordon, 10.
MGM musical starscelebrate 'Entertainment'
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- MGM's musical stars of a half-century ago, including Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Esther Williams and Cyd Charise, took the stage at the Motion Picture Academy to once again bask in photographers' flashes and wild applause. The occasion was a 30th anniversary screening of the 1974 paean to MGM's golden age of the movie musical, "That's Entertainment," presented in a newly restored digital version.
The Friday night event, planned weeks ago, happened to fall at the end of a week when MGM tentatively agreed to be acquired by a group led by Sony, meaning MGM may soon disappear as an independent studio.
"This is a night that will live in irony," said Roger Mayer, a longtime MGM executive and emcee for the evening.
Still, it was a night for celebration, and the audience cheered the stars as they came on stage.
Reynolds, Rooney, Williams, Charisse, Tony Martin, Arlene Dahl, Betty Garrett, Julie Newmar, Virginia O'Brien, Janis Paige and Russ Tamblyn each took the microphone for a brief remark then together posed for a class photo.
Reynolds cracked: "We're all delighted to be here. We're all happy to be alive."
The Hollywood musical became a rarity starting in the 1960s and then virtually disappeared. At Friday's reception, stars were asked why.
Said Paige: "The world got more complicated. Our pictures were simple, just entertainment."
Station finds lost tapeof Jimi Hendrix concert
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Technicians at Sweden's public television have unearthed an unexpected delight for music lovers -- a complete original recording of a Jimi Hendrix concert in Stockholm from 1969 on a tape long thought to have been destroyed.
The unmarked tape was recently found stashed on a shelf deep inside the station's enormous archives during a project to transfer archived material from tape and film to digital, SVT spokeswoman Catarina Wilson said Friday.
"They looked through the tape and found it had some Jimi Hendrix," Wilson said. "Then they saw it had a lot of Jimi Hendrix -- the entire concert, which is what makes this tape unique."
The black-and-white recording from Stockholm's concert hall was ordered destroyed by a producer in 1969, a time when it was too expensive to keep all raw footage, Wilson said.
Hendrix died in 1970.
Wilson said it was likely that one of the state-run network's workers, perhaps a Hendrix fan, stashed it on the shelf, where it sat for 35 years gathering dust.
Part of the 56-minute concert was broadcast on SVT in 1969, before the Jimi Hendrix Experience disbanded, but it has never been shown in its entirety. SVT is determining if it still has the rights to show the entire broadcast of the concert.
Notable death
Songwriter Donald Yetter Gardner, who wrote the international children's favorite "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," died Wednesday. He was 91. Gardner died of complications from an operation after falling at his Needham, Mass., home, said his son, Richard Yoder Gardner.
Today's birthdays
Author Roger Angell is 84. Rhythm and blues musician Billy Ward is 83. Former Defense Secretary Harold Brown is 77. Actress Rosemary Harris is 74. Actor Adam West is 74. Actor David McCallum is 71. Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is 64. Singer Bill Medley is 64. Golfer Jane Blalock is 59. Singer Freda Payne is 59. Actor Jeremy Irons is 56. Actress Twiggy Lawson is 55. TV personality Joan Lunden is 54. Actor Scott Colomby is 52. Singer-actor Rex Smith is 49. Country singer Jeff Bates is 41. Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 40. Actress-comedian Cheri Oteri is 39. News anchor Soledad O'Brien is 38. Rhythm and blues singer Espraronza Griffin is 35. Actress Sanaa Lathan is 33. Rock singer A. Jay Popoff (Lit) is 31. Comedian Jimmy Fallon is 30. Rapper Eamon is 21. Actor Kevin Zegers is 20.
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