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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 7 March 2019
Author writes part biography, part Hollywood history

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL ria Riskin's pages like the one of the screen's most
Associated Press plots of the feel-good mov- productive.
"Fay Wray and Robert ies they made back then Wray (1907-2004), born
Riskin: A Hollywood Mem- — people with little but in Alberta, Canada, got
oir" (Pantheon), by Victoria talent and determination to Hollywood first and by
Riskin overcome adversity and wholly different means. Her
If there was an Academy achieve their dreams. And Mormon parents moved
Award for movie books, one of their dreams was to the family to Arizona and
Victoria Riskin would be find the right someone to later to Salt Lake City, their
making room beside the love. children then numbering
Oscar her father won for Riskin (1897-1955) was born six and seldom well-fed.
writing the romantic com- in New York to Jewish im- Her daughter describes
edy classic "It Happened migrants from Russia; his the Wray family's years in
One Night." Part biography, only connection to his fa- the nearby mining town of
part Hollywood history, part ther's work as a tailor was a Lark, Utah, as marked by
love story, Riskin's memoir love for stylish suits. He quit "grim and grinding pover-
about her parents is capti- school at 13, taught himself ty." Wray's father left town
vating and poignant. how to type and pursued for work and never came
Her mother, actress Fay an interest in show busi- back.
Wray, became an ageless ness. At 17, the handsome, Fay's mother moved her
icon as the beauty held by quick-witted kid from Brook- brood back to Salt Lake
the beast atop the Empire lyn who liked to tell stories City. Two years later, she al-
State Building in 1933's "King began producing comedy lowed another daughter's
Kong." Her father, Robert shorts. The naturally ener- young boyfriend, a pho-
Riskin, wrote his way to ac- getic Riskin later wrote and tographer, to take Fay with
claim with scripts for "Mr. produced plays for Broad- him to Los Angeles to find
Deeds Goes to Town" and way and eventually ended work in the movies for the
other Depression-era films. up in Hollywood, his work This cover image released by Pantheon shows "Fay Wray and pretty, dark-haired teen-
Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir," by Victoria Riskin.
Their lives roll out in Victo- with director Frank Capra Associated Press ager. q

Dierks Bentley recruits Luke Bryan for Seven Peaks fest

By KRISTIN M. HALL paper reports, about 8,000
Associated Press people attended the festi-
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — val in its first year, but Bent-
After watching a recent ley said they are expecting
documentary about the attendance to increase.
doomed Fyre Festival in the Because of its remote-
Bahamas, country star Dier- ness, Seven Peaks caters
ks Bentley was appalled at to camping and RVs. It
how it all went disastrously has a beautiful mountain
wrong. range nearby, a beach
Bentley knows the pressure and a pond on the festival
of putting on a destina- grounds.
tion music festival that he's "The location could never
invested in and curated lose its intimacy. It's such a
as he's heading into the unique spot," Bentley said.
second year for the Seven Bryan is one of the genre's
Peaks Music Festival in Bue- biggest stadium-filling stars
na Vista, Colorado, a small and the two have shared
town about two hours out- hosting duties for the
side of Denver. Academy of Country Music
"It gave me hot flashes, Awards. Bentley said he's
even now just thinking In this May 7, 2018, file photo, country music star Dierks Bentley poses in Nashville, Tenn. played Bryan's Mexico fes-
about it. On every level, Associated Press tival, "Crash My Playa," and
that was so wrong," Bentley decided to call in a favor.
said of the Fyre Festival. artists like The War and more importantly Live Na- representatives spent time "He recognizes the role
Performers at the three-day Treaty and Steep Canyon tion didn't make any mon- in the city during the plan- he plays at a festival, the
Labor Day festival will in- Rangers and new country ey and they lost a lot of ning process talking to lo- weight he carries and the
clude Bentley, Luke Bryan, artists like Tennille Townes, money because that's the cal officials about traffic, people he brings in," Bent-
Maren Morris, Jon Pardi, Caylee Hammack, Mitchell way it goes with launching ticketing, sound, safety and ley said.
Travis Tritt, the Nitty Gritty Tenpenny and Ryan Hurd. a festival." more. Bentley is proud that many
Dirt Band and Diamond Rio. "I'm ecstatic that we're Bentley's inaugural festival "There's a trust that goes of last year's headliners
There will be a '90s country getting a second year, had its challenges. There on," Bentley said. "We didn't just play their set and
night with artists like Deana because it's not a given," had previously been an could come in there with leave for home but stayed
Carter, Tracy Lawrence Bentley told The Associated electronic music festival a big country music ham- for the whole weekend.
and Bentley's own '90s Press. "These don't make at the site that drew com- mer and really just stomp "It's making my liver hurt just
cover band, the Hot Coun- money for three, four years. plaints about loud music all over their town, so I get thinking about Luke hang-
try Knights, in addition to I don't think I'll make any well after midnight. Both their concerns." ing out for several nights,"
Americana and bluegrass money for a long time and Bentley and Live Nation According to local news- Bentley said.q