Moments in the Arts

1984

June 27: To quell complaints over violence in the PG-rated hits “Gremlins” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Hollywood adds a new rating category, PG-13.

Sept. 11: The Studio Shuffle: Paramount Chairman and CEO Barry Diller, resigns for twin position at 20th Century Fox. Michael Eisner, Paramount corporate president, departs one day later and is named Walt Disney CEO on Sept. 22.

1985 March 25: Sally Field accepts the Best Actress Academy Award at the 57th annual honors: “I can’t deny that you like me! You like me!”

Aug. 5: Tipper 1, Prince 0. Nineteen record companies try to appease Tipper Gore, wife of Sen. Albert Gore, by adopting labels warning of “blatant explicit lyric content” to music by rock singers Prince, Judas Priest and others.

Oct. 2: Rock Hudson dies of AIDS. Within a month, an uproar over love scenes Hudson played with “Dynasty” star Linda Evans, prompts the Screen Actors Guild to pass a “kissing rule” requiring producers to notify performers in advance if a role includes “open-mouth kissing.” Oct. 9: Rupert Murdoch announces the formation of his own television network. Fox Film CEO Barry Diller shifts gears to run the new Fox Television Network, a consolidation of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and four television stations Murdoch purchased earlier from Metromedia. Oct. 23: Ma Maison, Patrick Terrail’s oh-so-exclusive dining experience closes--only to be reincarnated Dec. 12, 1988, as the restaurant within Ma Maison Sofitel, a 311-room hotel across the street from the Beverly Center.

1986 March 18: Turner Broadcasting System finalizes risky deal to buy MGM, breaking up MGM/UA Entertainment Co. Unable to handle the debt, TBS soon returns the bones of MGM to UA for $300 million but sells off the production facility and retains the MGM film library.

April 8: Not just another pretty face. Tough guy actor Clint Eastwood turns politico in Carmel, Calif., winning a landslide mayoral victory with the largest voter turnout in town history.

June 26: British producer, David Puttnam is named executive miracle worker as the new CEO for Columbia Pictures, bringing much in high standards (“The Mission,” “The Killing Fields,”) but little in the way of Hollywood smarts.

Oct. 4: CBS News anchor Dan Rather is attacked by two men in New York City who repeatedly ask him: “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?”