Visualizing Your Home Theater

What do the words home theater mean to you? A big screen TV in your living room with surround sound speakers hidden behind the couch, or a custom designed room with every possible high-end audio/video equipment and dedicated theater seating? The choice comes down to your level of use . . . and your pocketbook.

Start with the room you plan to use as your home theater. If it's your multi-purpose living room, think about mounting a flat-panel LCD HDTV on the wall and finding one of the many artistic solutions for hiding the screen when it's not in use. Make sure the furniture that houses your audio/video components has a cable management system to hide power cords and sufficient ventilation. Rear wheels on the cabinet make accessing your connections much easier!

There is a large range of possible entertainment centers: a plasma console or wall system, an entertainment center with bookcase or storage, cabinets to hold a large screen display. Be sure to measure your room accurately to know what will fit best in the space you have available. If you're redoing a room or moving to a new place, now is a good time to prewire the room for audio, video, security and communication needs, including cabling for future technologies. It makes for an elegant, nearly invisible installation of equipment, with more leeway in the type of furniture you choose. Another possibility — if your "home theater" room also includes your computer desk, think about using your PC to store and play your favorite MP3 files, patched through an amplifier.

There are so many choices — media stands, audio stands that hold 5 to 10 AV components, TV stands for any size television (some loaded with features like wire management systems, adjustable shelves, open ventilation, tempered glass) — as well as choices in styles and finishes, from the beauty of natural hardwoods to contemporary design elements. With such a broad variety of audio/video and other furnishings, mounts and accessories, even the most demanding A/V enthusiast or home decorator will be satisfied with the way your home theater looks.

Once you've housed your components, the next most important choice involves your seating. Do you prefer watching movies in your home theater from the comfort of a recliner, cuddled with someone special on a couch, or from dedicated custom theater seating? Do you prefer seating covered with micro fiber fabric, microfiber suede, faux leather or premium leather? Does a home theater conjure up visions of kids with large tubs of buttered popcorn, beer and chips for the guys watching the big game, or romantic glasses of wine? Choose an easy-to-clean surface, and have sturdy tables close at hand to your seating.

As long as you're visualizing your perfect home theater set-up, remember to connect the lighting and the home theater system to a master remote control. With a few taps of your finger, the DVD spins, the lights dim, you sink into your seat, and enter a galaxy far, far away . . . right from home.

About The Author
Parvati Markus
When Parvati Markus is not writing helpful and insightful articles like the one you just read from www.homeandliving.com, she works with The Kabbalah Centre and freelances on non-fiction books and articles. As a recent arrival in L.A., Parvati is completing her "residency requirement" by writing a screenplay.
Find great home furniture online at www.homeandliving.com.

Visualizing Your Home Theater

What do the words home theater mean to you? A big screen TV in your living room with surround sound speakers hidden behind the couch, or a custom designed room with every possible high-end audio/video equipment and dedicated theater seating? The choice comes down to your level of use . . . and your pocketbook.

Start with the room you plan to use as your home theater. If it’s your multi-purpose living room, think about mounting a flat-panel LCD HDTV on the wall and finding one of the many artistic solutions for hiding the screen when it’s not in use. Make sure the furniture that houses your audio/video components has a cable management system to hide power cords and sufficient ventilation. Rear wheels on the cabinet make accessing your connections much easier!

There is a large range of possible entertainment centers: a plasma console or wall system, an entertainment center with bookcase or storage, cabinets to hold a large screen display. Be sure to measure your room accurately to know what will fit best in the space you have available. If you’re redoing a room or moving to a new place, now is a good time to prewire the room for audio, video, security and communication needs, including cabling for future technologies. It makes for an elegant, nearly invisible installation of equipment, with more leeway in the type of furniture you choose. Another possibility — if your "home theater" room also includes your computer desk, think about using your PC to store and play your favorite MP3 files, patched through an amplifier.

There are so many choices — media stands, audio stands that hold 5 to 10 AV components, TV stands for any size television (some loaded with features like wire management systems, adjustable shelves, open ventilation, tempered glass) — as well as choices in styles and finishes, from the beauty of natural hardwoods to contemporary design elements. With such a broad variety of audio/video and other furnishings, mounts and accessories, even the most demanding A/V enthusiast or home decorator will be satisfied with the way your home theater looks.

Once you’ve housed your components, the next most important choice involves your seating. Do you prefer watching movies in your home theater from the comfort of a recliner, cuddled with someone special on a couch, or from dedicated custom theater seating? Do you prefer seating covered with micro fiber fabric, microfiber suede, faux leather or premium leather? Does a home theater conjure up visions of kids with large tubs of buttered popcorn, beer and chips for the guys watching the big game, or romantic glasses of wine? Choose an easy-to-clean surface, and have sturdy tables close at hand to your seating.

As long as you’re visualizing your perfect home theater set-up, remember to connect the lighting and the home theater system to a master remote control. With a few taps of your finger, the DVD spins, the lights dim, you sink into your seat, and enter a galaxy far, far away . . . right from home.

About The Author
Parvati Markus
Please find the original article and more information about this subject at http://www.homeandliving.com/DesignAdvice.aspx?Category=VisualizingYourHomeTheater

When Parvati Markus is not writing helpful and insightful articles like the one you just read from www.homeandliving.com, she works with The Kabbalah Centre and freelances on non-fiction books and articles. As a recent arrival in L.A., Parvati is completing her “residency requirement” by writing a screenplay.

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Find great home furniture online at www.homeandliving.com.
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A Miraculous Movie

It was originally called The Big Heart. Daryl Zanuck the shrewd head of Twentieth Century Fox couldn't buy the image of Santa Claus in a court room. But like so many ventures Miracle On 34th Street (1947) came about because of passion, in this case that of Director George Seaton who had gone to New York on his own and made arrangements with the real Mr. Macy and Mr. Gimbel to film inside their department stores. Impressed by Seaton's commitment Zanuck gave the show a green light.

Who would play the little girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus? Seaton agonized over it, until the assistant director remembered an amazing child prodigy from Santa Rosa, California who could cry on cue. Her name was Natasha Nikolaevna Gurdin renamed Natalie Wood after director Sam Wood . The same Natalie Wood who would later go out on a hotel room ledge and threaten to jump when her boyfriend Elvis Presley ignored her to play poker with Memphis Mafia. The same girl who would infuriate fellow cast members of West Side Story (1961) with her tardiness, her refusal to learn simple dance steps and her insistence on long lunch breaks to visit with her analyst. But the seven-year-old Natalie had none of the typical child star precocious behavior, she gained the respect of her co-stars on the Miracle set with her professional demeanor, earning the nickname One-Take-Natalie.

Like all filmed on location movies there were logistical problems. The sequence where Santa was taken to Bellevue was done without permission. The famous hospital would not cooperate with Hollywood because they had been portrayed badly in earlier films, they were not swayed by the sight of a sickly, freezing cold Santa Claus (Edmund Gwenn) bundled up under blankets in a car, waiting to shoot his scenes. The filmmakers were forced to shoot only the car approaching the building's entrance and edit the rest later. Another difficulty was getting permission to shoot the Macy's parade from the apartment dwellers on 34th street which had to be done right the first time, there could be no retakes. The film crew paid the ladies of the house to place the cameras in their windows. Then their husbands came home, complained about the inconvenience and demanded their own equal share. Most difficult to film was the sickly but determined Edmund Gwenn who would win an Oscar for playing Kris Kringle. He suffered from a bladder control problem but couldn't stand the thought of someone taking his place in the parade. The children who stood on the sidewalk waving at Santa never saw the long tube under his cloak.

Overcoming his initial reluctance Daryl Zanuck who was famous for his memos, made suggestions to improve the film's story. The mother Doris, played by Maureen O'Hara was too cold, she would scare a man like Fred (John Payne) off, she had to be made warmer to the audience by explaining that she had been burned by an earlier relationship and that's why she didn't want her daughter believing in Santa Claus. Zanuck also felt that they shouldn't overdo the scenes where Macy's employees recommend that their customers go shopping at Gimbels, just some simple dialogue was enough to get the point across. But despite the loud cheering by preview audiences when Santa Claus was declared sane in the courtroom scene, Zanuck never had full confidence in the film. He put it in theaters in July, the busiest time of year for moviegoers, and told his marketing staff to hide from the public that the film was about Christmas.

One reference in the Miracle script that's now dated was when Kris Kringle's psychiatrist mentioned a man in Hollywood who passed himself off as Russian Prince and owned a restaurant. It was a dig at Mike Romanoff, a colorful fraud whose Rodeo Drive eatery was a fun sanctuary for Hollywood's most notorious figures. One night FBI head J. Edgar Hoover was dining at Romanoffs when he was approached by an actual jewel thief named Swifty Morgan. "Like to buy these gold cuff links?" Amused, Hoover offered $200. "Oh come on John the reward is more than that!"

About The Author
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.
orgofhlly@aol.com

It's A Wonderful Movie

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) began as a short story called "The Greatest Gift". Writer Philip Van Doren Stern was unable to sell it to a publisher, so he sent the tale out as a long Christmas card to friends. His agent subsequently sold the fable to RKO pictures, where it went through several transformations. In one version a losing political candidate contemplated suicide, only to have an angel convince him to stick around and do good works. Finally it fell into the hands of Director Frank Capra who cried when he read it, said it was the story he had been looking for all his life, and purchased it to be the first project for his new production company, Liberty Films.

To play the unassuming savings and loan clerk, Capra wanted Jimmy Stewart who he had previously worked with in You Can't Take It With You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939). But coming back from World War II, the thirty-seven year old Stewart was no longer the easy going man about town he had been in the thirties. The former Academy Award winner for The Philadelphia Story (1940) had led a thousand men in bombing missions in the European theater in hard to maneuver B-24s. The loud engines damaged his hearing, in later years people when people would greet him and he would fail to respond, some would mistake his deafness for a cold personality. He was uncertain after five years away from the screen if he still wanted to be in the movies. Sometimes the profession seemed so humiliating. In 1943 when Stewart had tried to stay in the best hotel in Madrid, he was turned away because he was an actor. He went back to the air force base, got his Lieutenant Colonel's uniform and then they let him in.

When he returned to Southern California in 1945 Stewart took things easy. He refused to re-sign with his old studio MGM, despite tearful requests to do so from the hammy Louis B. Mayer. He was content to spend time flying kites and building model planes with Henry Fonda. When Capra came to make his pitch Stewart looked bored, out of it, causing the Director to lose confidence. "Well Jim, it's about a savings and loan clerk who wants to commit suicide. There's an angel named Clarence who shows him what life would have been like without him. . . aw forget it, it's a stupid idea." Capra was turning to leave when Stewart put his hand on his shoulder. "Frank, if you want me, I'm your man." At least that's how the film's publicists told it.

Stewart was morose and insecure as filming began. Since he went off to serve, Hollywood had found new leading men like Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck who were seven years younger than he was. Some scenes called for the now graying actor to still be in high school. He felt ridiculous and considered plastic surgery. But he was helped greatly by his co-star Donna Reed who encouraged him throughout. In the romantic scene where George (Stewart) and Mary (Reed) declared their love for each other, Capra joked that Stewart was so nervous he wrapped a phone chord around them so he wouldn't run away. James was also helped by the film's villain Lionel Barrymore who was confined to wheelchair because of crippling arthritis. "Son, I want you to cheer up. Don't you know you make people happier being a movie star than you ever did shooting at them in a plane."

In the 1930's Capra had toiled at Columbia Pictures which was ruled by the autocratic Harry Cohn, long considered the meanest man in Hollywood. The Mogul kept the entire studio electronically bugged, displayed a huge portrait of Mussolini in his office, and used an electrified chair to give unsuspecting victims sudden jolts. Capra had sat in it once, received a shock and angrily smashed the chair to bits. When filming began on It's A Wonderful Life, Capra was happy to be free of Cohn, but nervous. Now his own money was part of the investment. Known for making movie sets fun places to work, he was at first crabby and irritable with his cast and crew. Filming a snowy, Christmas movie in over one hundred degree heat in Encino did not help morale. Many of the heavily dressed actors fainted. But there were nice moments. One scene required Mary to throw a rock through an old mansion window and make a wish. Capra had a marksman ready off camera but to his delight Reed shattered the glass on her own. She turned to him and said," Why so surprised? Don't you think an Iowa farm girl would know how to play baseball?"

As the shoot progressed Capra regained his confidence. He disdained special effects when Clarence Oddbody the angel (Henry Travers) did his magic, preferring to tell the story through his actor's faces. The Director started to believe he was making the greatest movie ever. As his mood lightened the Company enjoyed picnics and singing on the set which were hallmarks of Capra's earlier films.

Too dark, the Country wanted comedy like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Too dated, Wonderful Life came off like a depression film rather than a post war movie. For whatever reason the three million dollar production failed to make its money back. Capra chose to fold his tent shortly after the movie's release calling Liberty Films," The quickest way to go broke a man ever devised." Stewart panicked. The ex-war hero received a phone call from his agent. "Donna Reed loved working with you. She wants to do it again." "No way. That girl is jinxed." June Allyson became his leading lady of choice playing his wife five times. Decades later he would praise the performance of a bemused Donna Reed for making Wonderful Life great. "My God," she told her friends. "He sure didn't say that when it came out."

Years passed. From that point on Capra, unwilling to either risk his own money or work for somebody else directed very few movies . Stewart decided to portray a stronger image on screen. He refused to play in war movies saying they were unrealistic, choosing instead hard, gritty Westerns like The Man From Laramie (1954) which helped to make him rich and surpass John Wayne as the nation's number one box office star. Reed restored her career by winning an Academy Award for playing a prostitute in From Here To Eternity (1953) and then became one of television's most wholesome mothers. And It's A Wonderful Life fell into the public domain in 1973 because no one renewed it's copyright. The forgotten film was shown repeatedly on almost every cable television station, finally got a huge viewership, and became a perennial Christmas Classic.

About The Author
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at http://www.hollywoodstories.com.
orgofhlly@aol.com

Titanic Anecdotes

Studio executives in High Concept Hollywood have very short attention spans. When pitching a film idea, many believe if you can't do it in one sentence it is an unmarketable product. For example Planet Of the Apes (1968) starring Charlton Heston was pitched by producer Arthur Jacobs as "Moses Talks To Monkeys". Passenger 57( 1992) with Wesley Snipes was known as "Diehard On a Plane." Director James Cameron, despite a strong track record with films like Aliens (1986) and True Lies (1994) knew he would have a tough selling job after he went deep sea diving with Dr. Robert Ballard to glimpse the remains of the RMS Titanic. He became so emotionally involved by the experience that the sinking of the famous luxury liner in 1912 had to be the subject of his next picture. His pitch to the nervous executives at Twentieth Century Fox was," Romeo and Juliet on a doomed ship." There was a tense pause and Cameron said," Also fellas it's a period piece, it's going to cost $150,000,000 and there's not going to be a sequel." Fox, a studio which had known great success with both The Love Boat (1977-1986) TV show and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was dubious about the idea's commercial prospects. But wanting a long term relationship with Cameron they gave him a green light.

Previous movie versions of the Titanic had focused on the historical aspects of the ship hitting the iceberg, so Cameron decided to play up the fictional love story. After Gywneth Paltrow turned down the female lead, Kate Winslet campaigned for it heavily by sending Cameron daily notes from England stating, "I'm your Rose." Her persistence led Cameron to invite her to Hollywood for auditions. One of her screen test partners Leonardo DiCaprio, impressed her so much she whispered to Cameron," He's great. Even if you don't pick me, pick him." Cameron picked them both, but Leonardo was harder to convince. Playing a romantic lead in a blockbuster just didn't seem cool. Cameron told him," I know what you want. You want to play him with a deformity or a limp. Well, it's lot harder playing a nice guy like Jimmy Stewart then one of those freaky, weirdo characters." Freaks and weird character portrayals often take home Oscars, but DiCaprio agreed to play the part.

For a major Hollywood production the star salaries were relatively low, DiCaprio made the most at $2,500,000. The biggest expense of the film was building the ship, it required the construction of a entirely new studio in Rosarito Beach. Cameron's attention to historical detail was evident down to the carpets, the grand staircase, the Picasso paintings and the 1911 touring car that Jack and Rose made love in. But other aspects of the film were less accurate. There was no evidence that on the real life Titanic people in third class were blocked from reaching the upper decks and the lifeboats, the emphasis was on rescuing the women and children, the richest man on board the ship actually died. In the film, First Officer William Murdoch was portrayed as a coward who shot passengers, in real life he was a hero which caused James Cameron to apologize to his surviving relatives. And Leonardo's character Jack was based on an unattractive coal miner, who never left the bottom decks, let alone met someone like Rose.

Cameron, temperamental in the best of times, was surviving on three hours sleep and saved most of his screaming for the film crew. His philosphy was you couldn't get great perfomances out of the actors by yelling. In one scene, Winslet and DiCaprio were running away from a huge wave on one of the decks and the actress was submerged and nearly drowned. Moments after she was rescued Cameron calmly said," OK. Let's do it again."

As the costs began to mount along with the stories of the director's slow pace and temper tantrums, the Fox executives began to freak out. They suggested an hour of specific cuts from the three hour film. They argued the extended length would mean less showings thus less money. But long epics are more likely to help directors bring home Oscars, and Cameron was more defiant than DiCaprio. "You want to cut my movie? You're going to have to fire me!" You want to fire me? You're going to have to kill me!" The executives, knowing that starting from scratch meant their entire investment would be gone, did neither. They also rejected Cameron's offer of forfeiting his share of the profits as an empty gesture; they were sure there wouldn't be any.

With more special effects being added Titanics's release date was moved back from summer to Christmas 1997. At one point Cameron visited the Twentieth Century Fox studio headquarters to request permission to shoot additional footage and ran smack dab into company chairman Rupert Murdoch (no relation to William) in the hallway. After months of fiercely ordering people about, the self proclaimed "King of the World" could not look his real boss in the eye. "Uh hi. Uh I know I'm not your favorite person spending all your money. But I guarantee you the movie will be good." Murdoch, with a glint of steel in voice, replied. "Young man, it had be better be better than good!"

Thanks largely to repeated viewings from young girls, the film made more money than any other picture in history. It tied Ben Hur (1959) for the most Oscars (11) although it was not even nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The Fox Executives were more relieved than euphoric and promised no more $200,000,000 movies, they felt like they had dodged a bullet. DiCaprio who infuriated the studio by refusing to promote the film and show up at the Academy Awards, became a $10,000,000 per picture star, was chased down streets by adoring young females, and later called the whole Titanic craze," kind of an empty experience". Winslet, who at one point during the shoot woke up and said, "God I wish I was dead", moved back happily into smaller independent films. Cameron got his original profit share and continued to lose his temper, suggesting a film critic who panned Titanic be impeached. He reflected later that movie prices had to be raised to fifteen dollars to pay for overblown budgets. "People would be mad for six months and then they would come back. Of course I wouldn't want one of my movies coming out during those six months."

About The Author
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.
orgofhlly@aol.com

The Warner Brothers Make Noise

Hollywood was an attractive place for the early filmmakers to settle, full of good weather, orange and lemon trees. For producers who owed money on borrowed camera equipment if a creditor came after them, they could hide among the trees. It was a hard business full of causalities and took a pirate's mentality to survive. Most of the studio heads were from poor backgrounds, with limited English skills and never forgot their childhood or a personal slight. Included were Jack, Harry, Albert and Sam, the four Warner Brothers from Youngstown, Ohio. They had begun with showing movies off the side of a tent in Youngstown, borrowing all the chairs from the local undertaker. Every time there was a funeral in Youngstown, they had to give all the chairs back and the film patrons were forced to stand.

As a boy Jack Warner wished to be a singer and a comedian. His brothers, recognizing his lack of talent instructed him to sing in the tent when they wanted the audience to leave. He was later advised that the money was not in performing, it was in paying performers. Among the stars that would be under contract to him would be Betty Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.

The silent days were a struggle for Warner Bros. Rin Tin Tin, a German shepherd that according to his publicity was born in a foxhole in World War I, was their biggest star. Heroic as he might have been on the screen, he proved to be, like many stars, cantankerous in person. Jack Warner took the dog on a publicity tour. As he introduced him to the crowd, his ungrateful employee bit him on the behind, leading to the dog's dismissal. It proved to be a prelude to Warner's many future battles with stars.

Trying to make a name for themselves, the four brothers got great publicity by announcing that the renowned opera tenor Caruso would be arriving from Italy to make a film for them. They paid him 25,000 dollars and then put him in a silent movie.

The movie studios had the technology to make talking films years before they made them. One of the reasons why they resisted the idea was that they didn't want to risk losing their overseas market. Stars like Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford rarely ever had a flop as their films were shown around the world and knew no language barriers. But in 1926 the silent films faced their biggest competition with a new device called the radio. As movie attendance dwindled the studio heads shut their eyes and pretended the radio was not there. But the Warners lead by the ambitious Sam, decided to push the envelope and try to save their sinking studio by experimenting with movie sound.

Sam purchased an experimental sound system called Vita-phone. They then acquired the rights to The Jazz Singer, a popular play about a young man who had a beautiful voice and is offered a Broadway career against the wishes of his Old World Jewish father. In the play the son gave in to his father but the Warner's, wishing to reach a wider audience, Americanized the story by having the son follow his own dreams. Star Al Jolson adlibbed the dialogue," Wait a minute, wait a minute you ain't heard nothing, yet!" The Warner's were only intending singing but at the last minute they impulsively kept the line in the film. The Jazz Singer received a standing ovation when it premiered in New York in 1927 and went on to make three and half million dollars at a time when admission costs 20 cents. The sound revolution was under way!

Movie audiences had often been loud and noisy while watching silent films. Now the theater's got quiet as people strained to hear every word. Movie Theater's had to be rewired for sound, costing major studios like Paramount and Fox millions of dollars. Movies now had to film mostly at night as any passing truck noise could ruin a sound recording. " How boring!" said Mary Pickford. "At first we moved! Now everyone is standing around talking!" One enterprising actor was hired for one day's work. When the director wasn't looking he let a bunch of crickets loose on the set. It was five days before the crew could round up the chirping crickets, and the actor kept on hold received five times the paycheck.

About The Author
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.
orgofhlly@aol.com