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MGM-Pathe to Put Together Show for Returning Troops

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MGM-Pathe Communications Co. may bring up the rear in movie ticket sales, but the financially strapped studio appears to be first in line to welcome California-based troops back from the Persian Gulf.

Officials at Camp Pendleton confirmed Sunday that they have asked Arlene Cattani, an aide to MGM Co-Chairman Giancarlo Parretti, to coordinate a welcome-home show for tens of thousands of service people on May 19.

Parretti has remained something of an outsider in Hollywood despite his $1.3-billion purchase of MGM last November. But Pendleton’s commanding general, M. I. Neil, nonetheless turned to MGM last week in a rush effort to stage what base officials hope will be a celebrity-studded show for the troops.

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“This may be the largest on-base event on the West Coast for the Desert Storm troops,” said Pat Heath, marketing director for morale, welfare and recreation at Pendleton. Heath said the base may eventually work with other studios but came to MGM first on the advice of one of its liaison coordinators.

Late last month, Parretti grabbed a bit of limelight when Don Johnson, Phyllis Diller, O. J. Simpson, Karl Malden and other celebrities turned out for a black-tie testimonial coordinated by Cattani and sponsored by the National Council on Aging.

“With the war over, I guess they read the trades,” Cattani said of her appointment by the Marines.

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