Nine O'Clock Players Theatre For Children
in their 72nd Annual Season
Founded in 1929, the Nine O'Clock Players (NOP) is the oldest children's theatre companies west of the Mississippi. NOP is an auxiliary of Assistance League of So. Cal. (ALSC), a non-profit organization providing musical productions of classical children's play to enrich the lives of children and their families. NOP is a volunteer organization which operates one of ALSC's nine services, Theatre for Children.

Each year NOP presents two fully staged productions, one in the fall and one in the spring. All plays are carefully chosen and enhanced by original scripts and musical scores, many of which have been commissioned and written especially for NOP. Each Tuesday and Thursday during the run of NOP productions, at least seven invitational performances are specifically presented, free of charge, for economically and physically challenged children. These audiences come from inner city schools, rehabilitation facilities, clinics, hospitals and other institutions.

In addition, seven other weekly performances are given for Los Angeles area school children at a reduced cost. Teachers are provided with educational kits about each production for their students in advance of attending performances. These materials are learning tools which augment and enhance the children's enjoyment of the production. On weekends, performances are open to the public for an admission charge of $9.00 per ticket. Birthday party packages are also available. All funds derived from NOP activities support Assistance League of Southern California and the continual development of outstanding productions to enrich the lives of those in the community.

NOP's next production will be The Enchantment of Beauty and the Beast. Performances will be held on February 24, March 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24, on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm. All performances will be held in Walter Lantz Magic Auditorium 1367 North St. Andrews Place (one block south of Sunset Bl, one block west of Western Av) in Hollywood. To purchase tickets and for further information call the Nine O'Clock Players' Box Office at 323-469-1970. - LR


Snow Dogs
Chomps The Funny Bone
by Sean Chavel
Snow Dogs doesn't pretend to be anything more than a kiddie flick but yet has enough appeal for adults to stay engaged. It's funny and good-hearted, and it certainly helps that Cuba Gooding, Jr. has enormous charisma. Gooding has perhaps the best smile in the movies, and here is the perfect opportunity for him to play a dentist where he specializes in helping people feel proud of the big, pearly whites. Gooding's own smile is infectious and the movie itself had me smiling most of the way through.

Gooding plays dentist Ted Brooks who learns late in life that he was adopted once he becomes a recipient of an inheritance. Ted leaves the warm, sunny skies of Miami and flies to Tolketna, Alaska to claim his fortune and perhaps learn a little about his real parents. To his bewilderment, Ted has been left a team of domineering award-winning sled dogs in the will. Grouchy mountain man Thunder Jack (James Coburn) makes an insistent bid to buy the dogs from Ted, but also holds key information to Ted's past. A predictable and almost too precious bond develops between Ted and the old man, and these elements create more mush than the championship dog sled race climax that takes place.

But there are many terrific elements that keep the movie consistently entertaining. The Alaska scenery is wonderful and the small-town of commoners have easy, idiosyncratic distinctions. The action scenes have energy and plush-snow splendor and the dogs are incredibly agile (the dogs do have one speaking scene in a dream sequence). The happiest discovery of the movie is the presence of Joanna Bacalso, an attractive and appealing female interest. In less imaginative movies, the hero will get off on the wrong foot with the girl and, over time, win her over. There is sporting chemistry and good-natured enamor between Gooding and Bacalso from the start. Their unfolding romance is cute and unforced, and when I wasn't cheering for the dogs, I was rooting for them. ***