WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR White Plains Variety. By John F. Bailey. November 1, 2002: Attention good-looking women and leading men: looking for that big break to get in the movies? Next time he drives you to the airport, Jimmy Hollywood may give you a shot at the big-time.

JIMMY MORRICONE’S FILM CREW ON LOCATION ON LAFAYETTE AVENUE IN WHITE PLAINS on October 13. Carla Fulco emerges with Jeff Koutril of White Plains, as a doctor from an office building The Marquis next to Bob Buchanan’s Photo Studio in the local movie, InterVention, planned for release by summer. A sold-out party for his “Hollywood East Angels” takes place tonight at Juliano’s in New Rochelle, one of the ways he is self-financing the film. Jimmy says he is so touched by the support he has received.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

What’s it like directing producing and acting in your own movie? “Jimmy Hollywood,” better known in White Plains as Jimmy Morricone, says “When you’re an actor in Hollywood, you’re sitting in a trailer reading your lines, getting into character, eating a catered spread from Le Cirque, and they call you when they’re ready for you on the set.”

JIMMY HOLLYWOOD IN HIS WHITE PLAINS HOME TALKS PICTURES: “When I’m shooting a scene at Lafayette Avenue in White Plains (last month), I’m behind the camera, working the grip, the lights, and in the next scene, I have to be ready to play Frank. It’s very stressful.”Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Tonight, Morricone hosts his second sold-out fundraiser for his and Anton Evangelista’s new movie at Juliano’s on Main Street in New Rochelle. A crowd of 250 White Plains/ Westchester and cast friends are paying $75 apiece to support his movie and enjoy old-time rock and roll with The Inkspots.

That’s the life of the independent film producer with a dream, a dream that is 70% completed. With the proceeds from Friday’s glitzy bash, he will have paid for the photography portion of the production. Tonight, his “Hollywood East Angels” will get to see key “rushes,” scenes from in his “movie-in-progress,” InterVention to attract some new investors. Got an extra $50 Grand you want to grow into millions? Give Jimmy a call. He is offering $5,000 pieces of the film, and you cannot get a better deal in Hollywood. His number is 914-972-6709. Have your people call his people. Next stop the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Comprehensive Films is a dream.

Jimmy Morricone, Executive Producer of Comprehensive Films, Armonk, has been chasing this dream since 1994 when his short film, Beyond Reason made and written by Anton Evangelista was showcased at the Independent Feature Film Market and at Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Festival and attracted wide attention.

Ever since Jimmie has been working to make his movie based on that short film. This summer he began shooting “The Film Noir for the 21st century, “InterVention”

SO I’M HOLDING THIS CASTING CALL AND CATHERINE DENEUVE WALKS IN: Intervention stars Carla Fulco, the daughter of Mary Fulco, the popular waitress at Magnotta’s Restaurant. She read at the casting call at the White Plains YWCA based on her Mom’s tip. She won the lead based on her “improv.” She’s shown here at Bob Buchanan’s studio at a WPCNR interview.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

The good news is that the film is now 75% “in the can,” and Jimmie is looking for just a “few good investors” to finish the work.

Everybody’s heard the story about the man who drives a cab trying to sell a script to a big-time director? Well in White Plains, when Jimmie Marricone is driving you to the airport, he just might give you a part in his next movie, if he likes your charisma. Jimmie runs a limousine service by night, and is a movie producer, actor and director in reality.

Making a Film Like Robert Moses Made Bridges: A Little Bit at a Time

Morricone is financing his film in a unique way, disdaining the usual “negative pickup” procedure, where a film concept is sold to a studio before it is made. Instead, Morricone is acquiring the financing as he goes, offering pieces of the movie at $5,000 a pop to persons wanting a share of future profits, an unorthodox way of promoting a movie.

His plan is to shoot the film and present it directly to distributors. But, unlike the typical movie which acquires all the financing first, Morricone is shooting as he goes, financing “the shoots” the way a politician pays for a campaign: with “Preview Parties” showcasing the “film so far” for potential backers. He expects the film to cost $200,000, and so far his “shoot-by-the-dollar” procedure is working.

He is using actors and actresses who are acting in a movie for the first time, including the daughter of the popular longtime waitress at Magnotta’s Restaurant, in White Plains Mary Fulco. Carla Fulco is cast as Susan the female lead in a drama about two Italian families in The Bronx in the 1960s.

The film mixes in elements of crime, infidelity, depression, broken dreams, and shattered dreams, in a script recalling that of Niagara, The Postman Always Rings Twice, with a little bit of Pulp Fiction thrown in. There are lots of vintage cars, familiar scenes around Queens and The Bronx. Marricone is attempting to recreate the feel of the family pressures, the everyday life in the so-called age of innocence, the early 1960s, the way it was growing up, raising a family in The Bronx. He calls it a “Bronx Love Story” with underworld overtones, or “Highway to Heaven meets the Twilight Zone.”

100 LOCAL PERSONS WORKING FOR LOVE NOW, MONEY LATER: Lorraine Kroutil(right) of White Plains is handling costumes and props. She’s shown at Bob Buchanan’s Photography preparing the costume of BronxTalk Hostess, Jane Folloro of Yonkers, making her acting debut in InterVention, for a scene on Lafayette Avenue. Lorraine’s husband, Jeff is an extra in the film, that’s all about growing up Italian in The Bronx in the 1960s, chopshops, maltshops, T-Birds and Mustangs, just slightly on the other side of the law.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

When WPCNR interviewed Jimmie in September, he had 30 scenes done and 109 more to shoot, and now has completed about 40 more scenes, all the major ones. Using persons who have not acted before, Morricone has been training them, rehearsing them and then shooting the scenes. Bob Buchanan’s Studio on Lafayette Avenue in White Plains has been the new “White Plains Actor’s Studio.”

Morricone held auditions for the casting at the White Plains YWCA, and that’s how Carla Fulco, Mary’s daughter heard of the film. Carla’s Mom Mary who worked at the YWCA noticed the open call auditions and told her about it. Carla said she just decided “just to try it.”

Morricone found she was “a natural.”

Stars Are Born?

JIMMY HOLLYWOOD FLANKED BY HIS STARS, JOE DEVITO, RIGHT, AND MS. FULCO talked with WPCNR about how they were cast and acting together.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

“They had me go in August (2001) and say my name, where I was from, a little about myself on camera,” Ms. Fulco recalls. “Then they didn’t bring me back. They stopped everything after September 11. They brought me back a couple of months later to read some lines from the script.”

IS BRANDO BACK? Joe DeVito, playing Ms. Fulco’s husband in the film changed his looks and build to get the part.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Joe DeVito, an accountant by day, actually raised in The Bronx, plays Carla’s husband. He said he sent in his picture to Jimmie’s ad in Backstage, not knowing it was Morricone’s film. He had known Morricone previously. “I came up and read. He liked what I did.”

“We knew what we wanted in the girl lead part,” Morricone said, talking about how he decided to pair the two. We had a type cast in our mind. We saw a lot of different people for the (Carla’s) part. It took Anton Evangelista (Director/Writer) and me a long time to make up our minds for Carla’s role and Joe’s role. We took a long time stretching it out. At first Joe I felt wasn’t right for the part, but he convinced me.”

DeVito Transforms Himself.

“I worked on it, I knew what he wanted, I asked Jimmie, because I know I can give him what he wants, tell me what he wants. He told me. Actually I had a real short haircut, was really bulked up. I had to make a transition.”

Morricone recalled, “I said to him when he came to me the second time, I brought him to my house. I said, Joe, you’re a good actor, I think you can do a good job, but you can’t transform yourself into my son, if you remain the scary tough guy I perceive you to be, then I can’t give you the part. So, he came back for another interview, and had totally transformed himself. And, I recognized it immediately. I gave him the part.”

While Joe had done acting in high school, Carla has never acted before:

“It’s strange because I always thought of it But I just never went ahead, never pushed to do it. I’m outgoing, always doing crazy things. It doesn’t bother me in front of people, lights, talent shows, plays. When my mother told me about the open casting I wasn’t even nervous about going. Even the day I read, like I just read it as written, and did improv with James, like he was my dad and I was his daughter.”

Improv by the Ingénue Clinches the Part.

“I wanted to see how easy it would be for her to improv me as her father. She responded and responded very good. I sensed something that she was able to, no hesitation, she just interacted really well, whatever I said, she had something to say back to me. It went better than even the read. That kind of made me say to myself, the girl’s got something.”

Next, Carla read with a few different people.

“Once we decided we were pretty sure we were going to use Carla for the part of Susan we started to let her read with the different actors who came in to play her husband.”

Carla said she had nothing to say about who would play her husband in the film. But, Joe and Carla in the parts had chemistry together in their readings together, she said she just made comments to Jimmie and Anton, the director, but she liked reading with Joe.

A SCENE FROM INTERVENTION with Carla Fulco in an emotional scene with her parents in the film.
Photo Duplicated with Permission

“I know I felt very comfortable with him (Joe DeVito).The first time I read with him, he got me like really emotional. I was very upset. I had a difference when I read with him than all the other guys. It was just something, whatever it was.”
Morricone noticed that spark: “It kind of like popped. We asked her, Anton and I, how did you feel with him? She said she felt the best of everyone. We together, Anton, myself and Carla really made that decision as to who we were going to use. Once she said “him,” then we knew we were right.”

Joe said at the time, he still wasn’t sure he had impressed producer and director enough. He said he knew the two had “chemistry” and Carla and he “were giving them some good stuff.”

Rehearsing and Setting up Scenes

DIRECTOR-WRITER ANTON EVANGELISTA BLOCKS OUT A SCENE ON LAFAYETTE AVENUE with Ms. Fulco. Evangelista is a quiet, patient, meticulous craftsman who believes in preparation.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

“Anton (writer/director) had many rehearsals,” Carla recalls, at Bob Buchanan’s Photo Studio on Lafayette Street, White Plains before beginning shooting. “He’d give us acting exercises to do.”

“Four months of intense rehearsal, sometimes twice a week,” was the schedule, Morricone said, “Three hours. We’d come here about 7, and leave about 11 sometimes with the principle cast. We’d then have run-throughs at various locations to emulate the actual arrangement of the kitchen, the living room, so that we could run-through the actual steps that everyone was going to take so we all hit our marks when it was time to shoot the scene.”

Morricone said the average scene took six takes to shoot.

“They also started taping a few of our rehearsals,” Carla added.

“Anton followed what Fellini used to do years ago. He would do a preliminary shoot before the actual shoot. What Anton was doing was running test shots in the actual location. We went to an apartment in Park Chester (The Bronx, naturally), and ran a test shot of an actual scene between Joe and Carla in Park Chester, and that was only for fun, to go back and look at it, study and analyze to see what we could do to make it better. That only comes with having the luxury of the digital format, digital video. You could not do that with film. Today we have the luxury of a camcorder, and come back and do the real McCoy the next time.”

WPCNR asked how actors stayed emotionally on pitch when scenes were shot out of sequence, unlike a play.

Joe said, “I think that goes back to rehearsals. There were multiple rehearsals. Constant. So many scenes stuck in your head. It’s like (snapping his fingers) dredging back on a memory, you know.”

JOE DEVITO AT THE WHEEL WITH A FRIEND in a scene from InterVention. The Car is a vintage Buick Biscayne from 1960 one of many classics in the film.
Photo Duplicated with permission

WPCNR asked Carla if making a movie was more work than she expected.

The ingénue replied, “It’s a lot of work. Long hours. I enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun.”
Asked if she liked playing a dramatic role instead of a comedy part, Carla added, “I’ve always seen myself to be very funny, more of a comedy thing, but I like this (InterVention) a lot. I enjoy it. I think I can do something in comedy if I can do InterVention, it’s a lot harder.”

Do Leads Fall for Each Other?

Joe DeVito quickly said, “That came and went.”

Carla laughed and, “We’re just part of the deal. You do get close to him when you first meet him, but you work with them, and you’re spending all your time with them. But it’s that way with the whole cast. Everyone is a family. I really am so close with them.”

Morricone mused on the question, “It’s something that happens in the process of making a film that the actors develop an affinity, as you said for each other. They look at each other as family. Something happens.”

Joe became more candid, “Carla and I were attracted to each other when we first met. We liked each other and whatever, but I guess that died out. But, that’s cool. But that’s like the way it is.”

Chemistry’s there. Then it’s not.

Morricone, an actor with 18 film credits, 10 television shows, and 4 commercials in his journeys, delved into the mystery of chemistry:

“It happens a lot. But, it’s kind of like not real. At some point in time when this (InterVention) is all over, people are just going to back to what they are doing. It’s going to be sad. You literally go home and cry about it.”

“I don’t think I’d have been able to have a relationship with Joe,” Carla said, in view of the filming process. “Like it would have been different.”

“I told them,” Morricone revealed, “they can both attest to this. I said I know this business. Don’t get confused. Don’t get involved.”

“I wouldn’t want to be involved with somebody in this business,” Joe said.

“You know what, you learn it for yourself as you get to do what you’re doing as a family to create the film. You learn it’s not going to work. That’s why a lot of actresses and actors they come together, marry and divorce five or six times. I don’t know why they don’t learn,” Morricone concluded on the sensitive topic of chemistry.

A movie about temptation and redemption

Morricone says InterVention has a good ending. It deals with family pressures that can drive couples apart, professional and outside-the-law activities that pressurize a relationship, and temptations of other men and other women. All the things that many persons face in reality. How Carla and Joe, as Susan and Paul deal with those pressures with a strange “Intervener,” draws you into the film.

MS. FULCO AND MR. DEVITO TALK ABOUT THEIR CHEMISTRY.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Some kind of bond is necessary between the leads.

We asked how her co-lead, Joe, helped her bring out those character swings: “That’s why even the beginning when we first met, I wanted to get to know him and get close to him to know what kind of personality he was so when I do have to act with him I know him as a person so it’s more comfortable. They even said try and hang out with the person. Anton even said, try to get to know one another and know how each other is, because in the film we’re the starring roles and supposed to be married, so you should have somewhat of a bond to be able to act together.”

MS. FULCO ON HER FIRST ACTING ROLE: Asked about playing a character that is faced with an immoral choice, Carla said she welcomed the challenge, and had no problem with it: “I like having all the different emotions and having to change your thoughts and the way you act. I get into what I have to do whether I agree with it or not.”
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Joe said, he saw some of himself in his character Paul. “ I just want to do good work in this film and see what Hollywood says.”

“For both Carla and Joe, it’s a great opportunity to get out there,” Morricone noted. “It’s a big challenge considering the kind of films being made today. I know why Joe wanted this film. The typecast syndrome. You look like a cop. You look like a gangster, so everytime you walk in the door…Oh, you’re a gangster.”

Joe said, “I was always cast as a gangster, so I definitely wanted something different.”

Carla said she is much like the character she plays in the film: “I’m very much like the character Susan, the way she is emotionally and with family. I mean not the way she is in the film, dysfunctional. I very much take care of my family. That’s me, I’m very emotional very much like her, having to go see my family if someone is ill.”

Mary Fulco, her mom, will be pleased to hear that.

Carla/Joe Bond brings out the best

We asked how her co-lead, Joe, helped her bring out those character swings: “That’s why even in the beginning when we first met, I wanted to get to know him and get close to him to know what kind of personality he was so when I do have to act with him I know him as a person so it’s more comfortable. They even said try and hang out with the person. Anton even said, try to get to know one another and know how each other is, because in the film we’re the starring roles and we’re supposed to be married, so you should somewhat have a bond to be able to act together.”

Morricone observed, “The fact that they learn a lot about each other, and come together at some point in time prior to the actual filming, then maybe the relationship deteriorates and becomes something else, it works, for the film. Anton and I had a lot of discussions about Carla and Joe and letting them get to know one another because when they learned about each other, that’s o.k. And if that liking each other turns to disliking each other, that’s even better.”

“So now you’ve got a really good movie,” Carla quipped, and the laughter started between all three.

“We’ve got a good movie, because two people who liked each other, now hate each other,” Morricone laughed.

“I have a love for Carla and Joe. It’s something that just happens to you in the process of acting out this whole family thing. They’ll stay with me forever. I’m sure that none of us are going to walk away after having done this film and say it never happened. We’re going to miss the people. It’s going to be very strange.”

But they may be back together again in Intervention II.

Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

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WPCNR NEWSREEL. From Maureen Keating-Tuchiya. October 31, 2002:Worth taking note of is the intriguing number of Asian Pacific Americans running for office this coming Tuesday. There are 3 Gubernatorial candidates, 4 Lieutenant Governor candidates, 14 running for the House of Representatives, 30 State Senate candidates and 93 State Representative candidates.

APAICS Chair Clayton Fong stated, “It is exciting that we have identifie
close to 200 APA candidates who are running next week. And there were many more APA candidates who ran in primary elections, but unfortunately did not advance to the general elections. It is vital that the Asian Pacific American community continue to identify, encourage and train qualified APAs to run for public office. This is one of the major roles that APAICS plays on behalf of the community. Post November 5th , we look forward to having more APA elected officials as role models to inspire the next group of candidates.”

“Some of the key races that we are watching are the Hawaii gubernatorial race where a win by Mazie Hirono will enable Hawaii to retain an APA governor; the Guam gubernatorial race where Congressman Robert Underwood is running against Felix Camacho; and the Colorado Fourth Congressional District seat where a win by Colorado State Senate President Stan Matsunaka will make political history by sending the first APA Member of Congress from Colorado,” commented Daphne Kwok, Executive Director of APAICS.

Asian Pacific Americans Register to Vote in Record Numbers

“According to analysis prepared by Karthick Ramakrishnan, a research fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, voter registration increased from 56% to 63% of all eligible APA voters from 1998 to 2000. The voting rates increased from 37% of eligible APA voters in 1998 to 53% in 2000. Even though midterm elections usually have lower voter turnouts, it is important that next week we will be able to dramatically improve the APA voting rate from the 1998 37% turnout,” stated Daphne Kwok.

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization based in Washington, D.C., that seeks to build a politically empowered APA community, to fill the political pipeline for Asian Pacific Americans to enter and advance into elected office, and to be a resource to Congress about the APA community.

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WPCNR Evening City Star Reporter. By E. Hezi, Yonkers Tribune October 30, 2002:The Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department has unanimously overturned the ruling by the Supreme Court in Westchester County removing Oswaldo Ramos as the Democratic Nominee.

The decision by the Appellate Division restores Oswaldo Ramos petition for the 35th Senatorial District. It further orders the Westchester County Board of elections to place Mr. Ramos name on all ballots for the November 5 elections, opposing State Senator Nicholas Spano.

The decision was reported to Westchester Network affiliate, The Yonkers Tribune by Mr. Ramos’ Campaign Manager, Herbert Padilla.

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WPCNR AFTERNOON TRIB & POST. From Westchester County Department of Communications.(EDITED) October 30, 2002:Following New York City’s lead, Westchester County Executive Andy Spano today announced that as of Nov. 1 the county will lift the drought emergency that was first declared back in April. But a “drought warning,” which calls for voluntary conservation and education measures, is now in effect.
Above-average rainfall in September and October has replenished the Catskill/Delaware reservoirs enough that mandatory water restrictions originally imposed on April 1 can now be lifted, he said.

“New York City has informed us the our reservoirs are now at 68 percent capacity, which is normal for this time of year, but although mandatory restrictions are lifted, we are asking businesses and residents to voluntarily reduce water use since we have a long way to go to reach the 100 percent capacity we’re required to have by June 1.’’

Spano said although the mandatory restrictions have been lifted, people should continue to save water. “We encourage people to continue to conserve because who knows how much rain and snow we will get this winter, and we don’t want to be in the same position we were last year come springtime,’’ said Spano.
Following New York City’s lead, Westchester County Executive Andy Spano today announced that as of Nov. 1 the county will lift the drought emergency that was first declared back in April. But a “drought warning,” which calls for voluntary conservation and education measures, is now in effect.

As a result of the emergency declared April 1, businesses and governments that use more than 1,000 gallons of water per day were asked to develop a plan to decrease water usage by 15 percent. The mandatory restrictions applied to all municipalities, schools, businesses, landlords and building owners. Restaurants were barred from serving water except upon request and lawn watering and car-washing restrictions were in place.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also announced today that the city’s drought emergency would be lifted as of Nov. 1, affecting 1 million upstate wpcnr_users in a four-county region, including Westchester. Westchester gets about 85 percent of its water from the New York City reservoir system; therefore it follows the lead of New York City in regards to water shortages.

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WPCNR Evening News. From NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct Press Office. October 29, 2002:The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that Roseanna H. Washington, a Judge of the White Plains City Court, Westchester County, should be removed from office.

In a determination dated October 1, 2002, the Commission found that Judge Washington failed to render timely decisions in numerous small claims cases, failed to report the delays to court administrators, and failed to respond to letters from the Commission, which was investigating her conduct.

The Commission found that the judge, who sits part-time and has a caseload of only 75 to 80 small claims matters per year, developed a “significant backlog” of cases after becoming a judge in 1997.

Despite the “active intervention” of her administrative judges and numerous complaints from litigants, the delays continued, even after the judge was on notice that the Commission was looking into the matter. The Commission found that Judge Washington “seriously compounded” her misconduct by filing “false, misleading and incomplete” reports of the delayed cases with court administrators.

The Commission concluded that the judge’s conduct “has demonstrated that she is unable or unwilling to properly carry out the duties of a judge.”

The Commission Proceedings

Judge Washington was served with a formal written complaint dated April 16, 2001, and filed an answer dated May 7, 2001. A hearing was held before a referee, Honorable Janet A. Johnson, in White Plains, New York on September 28, 2001. The referee filed a report with the Commission on March 4, 2002. The parties submitted memoranda with respect to the issues of misconduct and sanctions. Oral argument was held on June 20, 2002.

The Commission filed a determination dated October 1, 2002, in which eight members concurred. Three members, Judge Frederick M. Marshall, Christina Hernandez and Alan J. Pope, Esq., were not present.

Court of Appeals Review Next.

The Commission transmitted its determination to the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, pursuant to Judiciary Law Section 44, subdivi­sion 7.

A judge may either accept the Commission’s determina­tion or, within 30 days from the date he received the determina­tion, make a written request to the Chief Judge for a review of the determina­tion by the Court of Appeals.

Pursuant to Judiciary Law Section 44, subdivision 7, if Judge Washington does not request review by the Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals will issue an order removing her from office in accordance with the Commission determination. Removal automatically bars a judge from holding judicial office in the future.

If the Commission’s determination is reviewed by the Court of Appeals, the Court may accept the determined sanction, impose a different sanction including admonition, censure or removal, or impose no sanction.

Statistics Relating to Prior Determinations

Since 1978, the Commission has issued a determination of removal in 139 cases, 108 of which involved part-time judges. (More than two-thirds of the judicia­ry in New York State are part-time.) The Commission has censured 207 judges and admonished 190 judges.

The Court of Appeals has reviewed 73 Commission deter­mi­nations. The Court accepted the Commission’s sanctions in 60 cases. Of the remaining 13 cases, two were increased from censure to removal, and eleven were reduced: eight removal determi­nations were modified to censure, two censure determina­tions were modified to admoni­tion, and one censure was rejected and the charges dis­missed.