Joe Fortunato, Senior Lecturer in the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre, recently had his research paper "The Gaze and The Spielberg Face: Steven Spielberg's Application of Lacan's Mirror Stage and Audience Response honored as a "Top Paper" in the Visual Communications Division of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC).

Fortunato was invited to present his award-winning peer-reviewed paper at the National Conference of AEJMC in Washington D.C. on August 8, 2013, where he received a commemorative plaque and prize for his scholarship. Download Full Image

More information about AEJMC is available at www.aejmc.org.

Liberace Extravaganza! explores the costumes of a iconic pianist performer whose flamboyant costumes and showmanship inspired the likes of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and other modern celebrities. Connie Furr Soloman's new book "Liberace Extravaganza!" is quickly becoming a bestseller on Amazon.com. Published by Harper Collins, the beautifully printed and designed hardcover book looks at the life and costumes of the iconic 20th century pianist, performer and entertainer.

Furr Soloman, associate professor of costume design in the ASU School of Theatre and Film, came to the project through a serendipitous glimpse at a magazine advertisement for the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas. Furr Soloman and her friend and fellow costumer Jan Jewett made the trek to the museum and were amazed by the artistry and complexity of the costumes on display. "We were mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of colors reflecting off the glittering costumes," Furr Soloman and Jewett write in the winter issue of Theatre Design and Technology magazine. "It reminded us of the magic of opening a beautiful, ornate music box we rushed to find the gift shop to take home a keepsake book but there were none to be found. Stunned, we looked at each other and we knew we had found our next project." Download Full Image

Thus began a four-year odyssey to photograph all of the costumes in the collection as well as to unearth the stories behind them. Furr Soloman and Jewett studied the people who created the costumes, the man who wore them and the pageantry and flamboyance in which they were unveiled.

The team interviewed several of Liberace's surviving designers, his showrunner and other contemporaries for the book. Furr Soloman made Liberace her sabbatical project during the 2008-09 academic year. "It is in so many ways an American story," she says. "All of the designers were first generation Americans and Liberace himself was a rags-to-riches tale."

The costumes are works of art, she adds: "Their construction would rival those of any monarch from any era. They were completely hand-sewn with beading and rhinestones and then of course there were those that were electrified."

Born Wladziu Valentino Liberace (1919-1987) to Polish immigrant parents, Liberace's world-famous career spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures and television performances. During the 1950s-1970s he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world. Known for his signature candelabra placed atop his piano, a typical Liberace performance would open with him arriving in a chauffer-driven Rolls Royce right up onto the stage. He would emerge in whatever fantastical cape or outfit he was unveiling that day. "He wore them just long enough for people to see him and then he would remove the cape and the chauffer would drive it away," Furr Soloman says. "They were too heavy to wear for very long."

Contemporary artists who knew Liberace and acknowledge his influence on some of their work include Cher, Michael Jackson and Elton John. But Liberace's influence reaches further into the new millennium. "Lady Gaga's entry to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in the Faberge egg is straight out of Liberace," Furr Soloman says, while musician Ceelo Green's current Las Vegas show, "Loberace," is a direct tribute to the 20th century entertainer.

"Ultimately, we discovered a man who has against all odds realized his wildest dreams," Furr Soloman says. "His flamboyant stage persona changed the world of show business and his designers provided the razzle-dazzle."

Adam Collis, visiting professor of film directing at ASU, hates the word “connections,’’ but that’s what the filmmaker and actor taps when he’s lining up Hollywood A-listers to talk with students about filmmaking. Collis started his Hollywood Invades Tempe (HIT) film series more than two years ago, and it quickly has become a must-see event among ASU School of Theatre and Film students.

The popular series attracts such Hollywood insiders as cinematographer Lawrence Sher, of “Garden State," "The Hangover" and "Due Date" fame, and Bennett Miller, who directed "Capote" and the recent "Moneyball." Download Full Image

“It’s like a great dinner party,’’ says Collis, who has coordinated video conference calls with Hollywood heavyweights such as Brunson Green, the producer of “The Help” – and most recently, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"I wanted our students to speak with professionals working at the very top level of movies and TV,’’ he says.

The evenings – complete with free popcorn, pizza and a movie screening, thanks to the student-run Programming and Activities Board and the ASU Film Association – are a kind of Actors Studio, with Collis serving as moderator. The conversations are tantalizingly candid, casual and informative. Frequently, the guests are talking from their living rooms swapping stories, answering questions and sharing insight and guidance.

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Join Adam Collis and special guests Stephen Gyllenhaal, director and writer, and Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal, co-producer of "Grassroots", for Hollywood Invades Tempe, starting at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 30, in Coor Hall room 174. Come for pizza at 7 p.m., the film screening at 7:30 p.m., and a chat with the husband and wife team at 9:10 p.m. The interview will be broadcast live on ASUtv. Visit theatrefilm.asu.edu for more information.

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And like a good dinner party, the guests linger. Q&A sessions can last up to 90 minutes and rarely go less than an hour.

Collis, who flies in from Los Angeles every Wednesday to teach film directing, has booked 18 guest speakers so far, including upcoming speakers Stephen Gyllenhaal, writer and director, and Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal, co-producer of “Grassroots” – a newly released film based on the true story of a Seattle activist who makes a run for a city council seat.

Among the folks Collis hopes to line up for future HIT events are Alexander Payne, director of “Descendants,’’ “Sideways” and “Election”; Larry Franco, producer of “Anonymous,” “Jurassic Park III” and “October Sky’’ and Jason Reitman, director of “Up in the Air’’ and “Juno.’’

A native of Lexington, Ky., Collis went to Duke University to play soccer and wound up smitten by a film class and by Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing.’’

“That film inspired me to want to become a filmmaker,’’ Collis says.

He studied film at the University of Southern California and wound up directing “Mad Boy, I’ll Blow Your Blues Away,’’ because he couldn’t bear for “this gem of a story’’ to not be produced. The short film wound up winning several awards and put Collis in line for directing a feature film, “Sunset Strip,’’ about the Los Angeles rock ‘n roll scene in the early 1970s.

A regular on the film festival circuit, Collis began building a network of friends and colleagues who, like him, loved making movies.

When he began teaching three years ago in the Herberger Institute’s Theatre and Film School as a visiting professor, Collis saw the students' lack of exposure to real filmmakers – people he knew just a quick flight or call away.

“I asked friends of mine to Skype,’’ he says. And Hollywood Invades Tempe was born.

“Folks in Hollywood enjoy giving back.’’

For more information on past speakers, visit Hollywood Invades Tempe.

Susan Felt
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
susan.felt@asu.edu