TOMMY BARTOSH of West, Texas, left, the
winner of the 242-pound class, holds son T. J.
just after lifting 650 pounds in the “squat.” The
squat is considered the toughest of the three
events because it requires both strength and
form. Above, Tim Penley puts all of his 160
pounds into squat lifting 405 pounds. Penley, a
17-year-old from Grand Prairie, won the 160-
pound weight class.
Z channel may affect Oscar nominations
By Vernon Scott
United Press International
Oscar nominations are just
around the corner, with balloting
among the 3,000 motion picture
academy members scheduled to
begin next month. The usual bar
rage of trade paper ads extolling
the virtues of performers and
films is already underway.
Studios and actors take every
opportunity to jiggle the
memories of academy members
in hopes of nominations.
Ideally, every member of the
academy would see each and
every movie made during the
year, evaluating performances,
direction and the rest. Since
some 300 films pour into theaters
every year, it is almost impossible
for most Hollywood folk to see
more than a fraction of them.
Members invariably vote for
films they have seen, ignoring the
others. It is vital, then, for actors,
producers and directors to have
as many members as possible
see their wprk.
In the past, movies with'a good
chance for nominations traveled
the Bel Air circuit, playing in home
projection rooms. But only a tiny
percentage of academy members
has home projection rooms.
Now television has come to the
aid of those films which are seri
ous Academy Award contenders.
Theta Cable, a pay TV outfit in
the Los Angeles area which
serves 89,000 subscribers, has a
subsidiary “Z channel’’ which
runs three movies a week during
most of the year.
But in the past four Januarys Z
has programmed from one to six
showings of nominee prospects,
thus allowing academy member
subscribers, along with other cus
tomers, to see nominee possibi-
lites without leaving home.
Frank Hickey, marketing man
ager for Theta, says Z is the per
fect answer for academy mem
bers who refuse to visit theaters
throughout the year seeing
scores of mediocre films in hopes
of finding Oscar worthy conten
ders.
Z is particularly effective be
cause it covers Santa Monica,
Bel Air, Hollywood, Beverly Hills,
Holmby Hills, Malibu, Brentwood,
Pacific Palisades and parts of the
San Fernando Valley — where
the great bulk of show folk live.
“A recent Z survey showed
that 22 percent of our customers
are in show business or movie-
TV related jobs,” Hickey said.
The combination of Theta
Cable and Z costs subscribers
$19.95 a month. It provides cus
tomers with no fewer than 12
movies a month, most of which
are about a year old or less.
But in the month of January,
just before nomination ballots go
out, Z talks producers and studios
into showing their best films on
the tube for free as a means of
providing exposure to academy
voters.
In all, 18 top films of 1978 will
be screened on Z. “Superman”
will not be among them, however,
and, like “Star Wars,” may never
be shown on pay TV.
One spokesman for Z said
showings for nominations began
four years ago with “Conversa
tions,” a distinguished and highly
praised Gene Hackman film
which did nothing at the box office
and which few academy mem
bers saw.
It was shown on Z and won a
nomination for best picture.
Last year “Annie Hall” was
shown several times on Z and
came away with the Oscar for
best picture.
“I’m convinced ‘Annie Hall’
won because, thanks to the ca
ble, more members saw it than
any other film nominated that
year,” said the spokesman. “It
also convinced producers and
studios. This year almost all the
films with a chance are being
seen on Z.”
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