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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 10 July 2019

Book ‘Wild and Crazy Guys’ stars ‘80s film funnymen

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL of too much too soon than ing Miss Daisy.” teens when he first ap-
Associated Press finding the good material For all their wildness and peared on “SNL,” he start-
“Wild and Crazy Guys: How and avoiding the bad. The craziness, being taken se- ed off big with “48 Hrs.” and
the Comedy Mavericks of first star spawned by “Satur- riously for a change was “Trading Places” and soon
the ‘80s Changed Holly- day Night Live,” the moth- a must. Murray and Mar- blew down the doors with
wood Forever” (Crown Ar- er ship of post-Watergate tin may have tried a little “Beverly Hills Cop.” He was
chetype), by Nick de Sem- American comedy, Chase too soon to suit their fans. the golden child of ‘80s
lyen enjoyed comparisons to Buffeted by the intense comedy until “The Golden
Our favorite funnymen of Cary Grant with his star turn fandom that came with Child,” but then the block-
the 1980s reached glori- in “Foul Play.” Then came “Ghostbusters” and the buster “Coming to Ameri-
ous heights and managed “Oh Heavenly Dog” and personal disappointment ca” made everything right
to endure the decade de- several other box-office generated by his critically again. Murphy didn’t risk
spite some appallingly un- canines. Fortunately, “Cad- rejected dramatic turn in ruining himself with drugs,
funny lows. Sharing “SNL” dyshack” and “National “The Razor’s Edge,” Murray preferring women as his
in their DNA, most of them Lampoon’s Vacation” put practically went into hid- not-so-guilty pleasure. And,
worked together in front of Chase’s best qualities front ing for a few years to figure like Martin and the others,
the camera at some point and center again and led things out. he stayed in the game by
and, behind the scenes, This cover image released by to “Fletch” and “Spies Like Martin could relate to the playing dads and other
Random House shows “Wild
commiserated at times and Crazy Guys,” by Nick de Us.” De Semlyen’s solid re- hunger for drama. “The middle-age characters.
over the vagaries of show Semlyen. porting and interviewing Jerk” was a solid starring A flaw in de Semlyen’s en-
business. Associated Press show how hard work helps debut, but he put off au- joyable book is its bent
Offering colorful film back- and fortune. Belushi, the but isn’t always enough. diences and critics with toward fact over analy-
stories and insightful por- “Animal House” and “Blues Aykroyd comes off as the the oddball musical “Pen- sis. His answer to the ques-
traits of Bill Murray, Steve Brothers” star, couldn’t worker bee, taking leading nies from Heaven” — Fred tion posed by its subtitle
Martin, Eddie Murphy, handle the high of success, and supporting roles while Astaire hated it — then — a couple of paragraphs
Chevy Chase, John Belushi morphing from comedic constantly dreaming up appeared in a half-dozen about legacies, rule-break-
and Dan Aykroyd, author wunderkind to caution- ideas for movies. His script comedies that were mildly ing and commercial suc-
Nick de Semlyen’s “Wild ary tale when he died of a laying the groundwork for amusing at best. He mixed cess — feels perfunctory.
and Crazy Guys” explores drug overdose at 33. Others “Ghostbusters” had started laughs with romance for Looking back three de-
the nature of stardom itself who dabbled in drugs and out as another vehicle for “Roxanne” and laughs cades, it’s hard to re-
— the struggle to be no- alcohol managed to avoid his friend and co-star Be- with drama for “L.A. Story” member when Murray,
ticed and the even greater his fate — the late John lushi. That megahit, which before transitioning into Martin, Murphy and Ayk-
struggle to stay noticed. Candy’s self-destruction followed “Trading Places” family-friendly comedies, a royd weren’t part of the
Interestingly, their careers was more about food and with Murphy, led to years of reliable venue for graying American scene. De Sem-
often followed similar tra- drink — but they still faced reliable comedy work plus mavericks. lyen’s welcome flashback
jectories. personal and professional an occasional dramatic If anyone could do no reminds us why their very
One common challenge stumbling blocks. role, including his Oscar- wrong, it seemed to be names still bring a smile to
was surviving all that fame Chase’s were less a matter nominated support in “Driv- Murphy. Barely out of his our faces.q

Research, restoration begins on Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’

By ALEKSANDAR FURTULA museum’s general director, ogy to peer through the
Associated Press Taco Dibbits. surface.
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Re- “We don’t know much On Monday, a macro X-ray
searchers and restorers at about how Rembrandt fluorescence scanner be-
Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum made this painting. And gan taking a series of imag-
launched a months-long now we hope to discov- es, said Petria Noble, Head
project Monday, using er more and really get a of Paintings Conservation
high-tech imaging technol- glimpse into the kitchen of at the Rijksmuseum.
ogy to throw new light on the artist,” he added. “Each type of technique
Rembrandt van Rijn’s icon- The 1642 painting last un- will give us some informa-
ic “Night Watch.” derwent significant resto- tion that we then need to
Working in a specially de- ration 40 years ago after put together and interpret
signed glass chamber, re- it was slashed by a knife- all the information together
searchers at the museum wielding man and is start- and what that means for
are undertaking a pains- ing to show blanching in the painting.” Noble said.
taking examination and parts of the canvas. More than 2 million peo-
restoration of the huge por- The painting has under- ple each year visit the
trait of a 17th-century civil gone many retouches and Rijksmuseum, which has
militia. restorations in the past and the world’s largest collec-
Art lovers around the world some of the later additions tion of Rembrandt works.
can follow the project on- are starting to fade. The Golden Age master is
line. Before the latest restora- known for his innovative
“This is the first time that tion can begin, experts use of light and rebellious
we can actually make a will photograph and scan compositions.
full body scan and that we the painting to evaluate its The restoration project
can discover which pig- condition. comes in a year that marks Technicians and researchers check equipment set up inside a
ments he used not only They will build up a detailed the 350th anniversary of the glass chamber as they begin to study Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’
through making little sam- digital picture by merging artist’s death in 1669 and masterpiece, at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Monday July 8,
ples but with scanning the 12,000 separate images as is part of a “Year of Rem- 2019.
entire surface,” said the well as using X-ray technol- brandt” at the museum.q Associated Press