Fire at Universal Studios destroys sets, videos

By GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 31 minutes ago

Back to the FutureKing Kong exhibitmovies and TV shows

It was the second fire at the historic site in nearly two decades, leveling facades, hollowing out buildings and creating the kind of catastrophe filmmakers relish re-creating. This time around, thousands of videos chronicling Universal's movie and TV shows were destroyed in the blaze.

But Universal officials said that they were thankful no one was seriously injured at the theme park and that the damaged footage can be replaced.

"We have duplicates of everything," said Ron Meyer, NBC Universal president and chief operating officer. "Nothing is lost forever."

The blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades around 4:30 a.m. at the 400-acre property, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. The fire was contained to the lot, but about 400 firefighters were still trying to put it out several hours later.

"It is one of the longest fires to extinguish because of its complexity and size," said county Fire Capt. Mike Brown.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars.

The iconic courthouse square from "Back to the Future" was destroyed, and the famous clock tower that enabled Michael J. Fox's character to travel through time was damaged, fire officials said. Two mock New York and New England streets used both for movie-making and as tourist displays were a total loss, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs said.

An exhibit housing a mechanically animated King Kong that bellows at visitors on a tram also was destroyed.

All three sites were either damaged or destroyed during another fire at Universal Studios in November 1990. That fire caused $25 million in damage and was started by a security guard who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.

Hundreds of visitors who had waited for hours outside the park gates were turned away after officials decided not to open the area. On a typical weekend day, about 25,000 people visit Universal Studios. NBC Universal said in a statement that the park would reopen Monday morning.

Mike Herrick of San Diego watched the fire on television from his hotel before deciding to return to Universal Studios for a second day with his wife.

"By gosh, we're going to go and get whatever we can out of it," Herrick said. On Saturday, Herrick rode the tram that winds around the studio lot, snapping photos of the King Kong attraction, among other sights.

The fire broke out along New York Street, where firefighting helicopters swept in for drops and cranes dumped water on the flames. A thick column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the air and could be seen for miles.

"It looked like a disaster film," said Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

Several firefighters suffered minor injuries. One firefighter and a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy were slightly hurt when a pressurized cylinder exploded inside the building housing the videos.

The streetscape that burned recently served as a backdrop in such films as "Bruce Almighty" and television shows including "Monk," "Crossing Jordan" and "House," said NBC Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner.

Miami Vicenine miles northWar of the WorldsWhen Harry Met Sally

The fire will not affect the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which is to broadcast live Sunday night from the Gibson Amphitheatre in the adjacent Universal CityWalk, according to the music network.

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Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71

By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer
12 minutes ago

Yves Saint Laurent

Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's business partner for four decades, said he had died at his Paris home following a long illness.

A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.

In the fast-changing world of haute couture, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time. From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and glamorous gowns, Saint Laurent created instant classics that remain stylish decades later.

Berge praised Saint Laurent as the man who marked "the second half of the 20th century" in fashion.

"Chanel gave women freedom" in the first half, and Saint Laurent "gave them power," he said on France-Info radio. Saint Laurent was a "true creator," going beyond the aesthetic to make a social statement, Berge said.

"In this sense he was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society. That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women."

When Saint Laurent announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65 and the closure of the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world as the end of an era. His ready-to-wear label, Rive Gauche, which was sold to Gucci in 1999, still has boutiques around the world.

In October 2006, Saint Laurent slipped and fell outside a Paris restaurant during Fashion Week, suffering slight scratches but reminding fans of the perennially fragile designer's advancing age.

Saint Laurent was born Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked as a shipping executive. He first emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a cocktail dress design.

A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture, but student life lasted only three months. He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.

When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21. The next year, his first solo collection for Dior — the "trapeze" line — launched Saint Laurent's stardom. The trapeze dress — with its narrow shoulders and wide, swinging skirt — was a hit, and a breath of fresh air after years of constructed clothing, tight waists and girdles.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service — an experience that shattered the delicate designer, who by the end of the year was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.

Bouts of depression marked his career. Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown.

Saint Laurent returned to the spotlight in 1962, opening his own haute couture fashion house with Berge. The pair later started a chain of Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques.

Life Magazine hailed his first line under his own label as "the best collection of suits since Chanel."

Berge has said that Saint Laurent's gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them.

navy blue pea coatblack leather jacketSaint Laurent pantsuitsStade de France

Associated Press writers Rachid Aouli and Joelle Diderich contributed to this report.

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Ky. museum to get Clooney's 'Leatherheads' uniform

Turns out, the museum for singer and actress Rosemary Clooney will get the leather headgear and the rest of the football uniform.

"This will be a nice addition," curator Steve Henry said. "In the future we are hoping to accumulate at least one costume from each of his new movies."

Clooney's uniform will be placed among his aunt's memorabilia. Henry said the new display at the Rosemary Clooney House Museum is scheduled to be unveiled June 7.

"We were at the premiere of 'Leatherheads' in March and were told the entire football costume, from the cleats and socks to the helmet we had originally asked for, was ours to have for the museum," Henry told The Ledger Independent of Maysville.

George Clooney is a Kentucky native. He stars alongside Renee Zellweger in "Leatherheads," a romantic comedy set in the world of 1920s professional football.

Henry, a former Kentucky lieutenant governor, and his wife, former Miss America Heather French Henry, bought and converted Rosemary Clooney's house into a museum after she died.

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Information from: The Ledger Independent, http://www.maysville-online

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