HOLLYWOOD -- Director Kurt Baker says his latest work, 'The Importance of Being Earnest,' is one of the most expensive 'home movies' ever made.
He calls it that because he filmed every foot of it in his own house, which just happens to be the old Joan Crawford manse in Brentwood, a posh westside suburb.
The film of the classic Oscar Wilde play of Victorian English manners and morals stars an all black cast.
Producer Nancy Carter Crow, who happens to be director Baker's wife, said using the family house was a perfect solution for saving production dollars while making everybody feel right at home.
Among the first-timers who have never appeared with Hope before are Roseanne Barr and her husband, Tom Arnold, country music superstar Garth Brooks, who sings 'Ropin' the Wind,' and Angela Lansbury, with whom Hope sings in duet Cole Porter's 'Well, Did You Evah ... '
'She's beautiful, great,' Hope said of Lansbury. 'She dances all over the place.'
The theme of the show is 'the first time around,' and aside from the guests who are doing Hope debuts, there also are the repeat performers.
The viewers get to see some memorable clips from the 87-year-old Hope's past specials, then are presented the same performers today. Among those special guests are Dorothy Lamour, Debbie Reynolds and Jane Russell and sportstars Dick Butkus, O.J. Simpson, Mark Spitz and Lynn Swann.
Other clips from Hope specials include appearances by Lucille Ball, Richard Burton, Jack Benny, George Burns, Carson, Richard Chamberlain, Zsa Zsa Gabor, David Niven, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.
A high point comes with the arrival of Burt Reynolds, who joins Hope for a replay of their 1974 spoof of the movie 'Papillon.'
'He's really a standup comic now,' Hope said. 'He's doing a standup act. He's something else and yeah, he's good.
'In one of the sketches he does a straight talk spot with me about what he is doing and how he is enjoying it and all that kind of stuff.
'How he suffers -- he has to go home every night to Loni Anderson.'
Hope also introduces 10 new 'stars of tomorrow,' recreating the 'Deb Star' feature that has been part of 10 specials since 1955. Hope said he picked 10 of 50 up-and-coming actresses in the segment, including Jennie Garth, who plays Kelly Taylor on Fox's series 'Beverly Hills 90210.'
Going back to the clips, the show takes a look at some of the 'Deb Stars' of past shows -- including Paula Prentiss, Susan St. James, Jill St. John and Tuesday Weld.
Hope is already planning ahead to his next special, the annual Christmas show, which lately has featured more palm trees than frosty firs. It took place in Bermuda last year and in Florida the year before.
'I don't know what I'm going to do,' he said. 'I may go into the snow. I would like that -- a white Christmas and doing 'Silver Bells' in the snow.'NEWLN: ------
Sharon Gless is back in 'The Trials of Rosie O'Neill' -- with a new and flattering hairdo, a new investigator to clash with in the person of Edward Asner, and a new and faster pace to the program.
The series makes its sophmore season debut Thursday, Sept. 12, 9-10 p.m. Eastern time, but unfortunately the premiere episode was not ready for review as airdate approached.
Producer Barney Rosenzweig and company instead sent over a review copy of the second episode, 'Knock, Knock,' in which Rosie must defend a retarded man accused to killing a little girl because he wanted her yellow bicycle.
Asner plays Walter Kovatch, an ex-cop who is Rosie's reluctant investigator and he and Gless work well together. The series appears to be moving at a faster clip than last season, with more balls in the air, as Rosie contends with her case, her sister's and her ex-stepdaughter's problems, and her batting average.
It still isn't 'Cagney & Lacey,' but it offers well-written scripts, polished performances and a few surprises -- not bad for a TV series these days.
The show also has a big problem this season -- it is opposite 'Cheers' on NBC, which last season was the most successful entertainment series on television in terms of ratings and audience. There is no reason to believe 'Cheers' is losing it.
And in its opening show, it not only has to vie for viewers with the bar crowd, but the second half-hour of 'Rose O'Neill' goes up against the first half-hour of the Bob Hope special.NEWLN:COPYRIGHT:Copyright 1991 U.P.I.
