Quick Takes - July 15, 2011

Movie smoking declines

Three film companies have drastically reduced smoking in their movies aimed at children and teens, thanks in part to their policies to reduce on-screen tobacco use, a new study says.

Over the last five years, scenes involving tobacco dropped from an average of 23 to one per film for those companies, and most of their youth movies had no smoking at all, the researchers reported Thursday. At studios without such policies, the decline was less — from an average of 18 to 10 incidents per film.

Movies are seen as very influential for kids and teens, and studies have found that their sway extends to early decisions about whether to use tobacco.

“The more you see, the more likely you are to be open to smoking and start smoking,” explained one of the study’s authors, Ursula Bauer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, which focused on youth-rated films, looked at the three companies with policies to reduce smoking: Time Warner (Warner Bros.), Comcast (Universal and Focus Features) and the Walt Disney Co. (Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Pixar and Buena Vista).

—Associated Press

Austen auction nets $1.6 million

Jane Austen’s unpublished manuscript of “The Watsons,” a book she never completed, was sold for $1.6 million at auction Thursday. The phenomenal price surprised watchers, who had expected the manuscript pages to sell for $330,000 to $490,000.

The manuscript, written and edited in Austen’s own hand, was the last to be held by a private party. The new owner is a mystery — it was purchased by an unidentified phone bidder.

The buyer doesn’t get the complete version of “The Watsons,” the name given to the unfinished manuscript after the fact. The first 12 pages of the novel-in-progress are at New York’s Morgan Library and Museum.

—Carolyn Kellogg

George Harrison doc due on HBO

A new George Harrison documentary featuring home movies, interviews and never-before-seen material will make its debut in October on HBO, the cable channel said.

Produced by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese and Harrison’s widow Olivia, “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” traces the life of the late Beatle from his musical beginnings in Liverpool to his fame with the Fab Four in the 1960s as well as his work as a philanthropist and filmmaker.

Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001 in Los Angeles at the age of 58.

The 31/2-hour documentary includes interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Eric Clapton, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector and record producer George Martin, among others.

A book accompanying the documentary will be published in late September featuring photos, letters, diaries and other memorabilia from the personal archives of Olivia and George Harrison.

—Reuters

‘Iceman’ to star Lane, Dennehy

Nathan Lane, one of Broadway’s most bankable names and the original star of both “The Addams Family” and “The Producers,” will appear alongside Brian Dennehy next spring at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The duo will star in a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s epic drama “The Iceman Cometh,” directed by Goodman artistic director Robert Falls.

“Nathan had approached me about wanting to work on an O’Neill play,” Falls said, “and I have finally been able to put together this project I have been working on for three years. I think this is the greatest American play.”

Penned in 1939 and first performed on Broadway in 1946, “The Iceman Cometh” is set in a Greenwich Village saloon and rooming house in 1912. The big-cast masterwork follows a group of drunks and delusional dreamers and is known for its emotional intensity and dark depiction of the human condition.

—Chicago Tribune

‘Glee’ threesome will graduate

Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith are making a new high school tradition on “Glee”: Usually people are bummed when the cool kids are about to graduate.

FOR THE RECORD:
“Glee”: A Quick Takes news brief about “Glee” in the July 15 Calendar section said that cast member Chris Colfer had won a supporting actor Emmy last year. He was nominated but didn’t win. —

Lovable uncool kids Rachel, Kurt and Finn will graduate after their upcoming Season 3 senior year and leave “Glee” and the halls of McKinley High forever.

Colfer, who racked up another Emmy nomination Thursday morning after winning last year for supporting actor in a comedy, said he wasn’t expecting the news but agreed with the decision.

“It’s definitely not my choice to leave the show, but I understand it’s the right choice,” he told The Times on Thursday. “The show is very real. To have the character grow up and leave and graduate, it’s the right thing to do.”

Michele tweeted her reaction late Wednesday: “We always knew we’d graduate in real time. It’s all part of the plan and it’s all good!”

—Christie D’Zurilla