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ubc (ibrary buffetinkr**- No. 191 March 1986 Perry Mason comes to UBC's Main Library by Donna M. Hedges UBC's Main Library is a focal point in the upcoming Perry Mason TV-movie, The Case of the Notorious Nun, being aired by NBC in May. The Library forms part of the Archbishop's Diocese, with University Librarian Doug Mclnnes's office transformed into the Archbishop's. Perry Mason Returns stars the original cast members Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale. Her son in real life, William Catt, plays the new private investigator Paul Drake Jr. Other cast members in this episode include Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show), who plays the priest who is murdered; David Ogden Stiers of MASH fame plays the prosecutor; and Michele Greene (Bay City Blues) plays the nun accused of murder. I interviewed Raymond Burr at the Palisades Hotel Saturday, March 1. He had just completed his part in a grueling production schedule, that averaged 16-18 hours per day and ended the night before. Seven years ago I interviewed Raymond Burr's father, Bill Burr, on his 90th birthday. Bill Burr was delightful, feisty, and an ardent Royalist. On Saturday we began by talking of his father, who passed away last r year. Raymond Burr laughs at my description of his father, and recalls that he didn't care much for the changing of the the flag and that he could be provinicial in his ways. "He was certainly a strait-laced Canadian in the Anglo-Saxon tradition," said Mr. Burr. He lived out his last years in Boundary Bay. Raymond shares a special fondness for the spot, as many summers were spent there as a youngster. "I learned to swim there when I was three years old. I also have the scars on my knees to this day from the barnacles of Boundary Bay," he said. The Burr ancestry can be traced to General Burr, one of King William's military leaders in the 1690 Battle of Boyne. Following that battle, the Burr clan received lands and a castle. The Burr genealogy is a little more difficult to trace in B.C. "It is pretty mixed up," said Mr. Burr, who hasn't yet traced all its connections. But he is proud of his Canadian heritage, and has a dual citizenship in Canada and the U.S. Born in New Westminster in May 21, 1917, he lived in a house on Queen's Avenue until six years of age. His grandparents lived on Royal Avenue, and he recalls the snowy winters. "I'd slide down the hills, but it was a long trek up again. The family would often take a horse-drawn sleigh from New Westminster to Ladner," said Mr. Burr. Then, he moved to the North California Bay area, went to grammar school in Vallejo, a military school in San Raphael, and junior high in Berkeley. He started acting in school and church in Vallejo. The new minister's wife had a degree in theatre so he learned much from her, and in junior high he performed in Victor Herbert's operettas. "I started very young, but growing up in the depression I also did a lot of other things. But I wanted to be an actor, always. Second, maybe, I wanted to be in the field of communications and acting was the easiest of all those - now, in looking back." The role of Perry Mason started with a pilot in '56, went on the air in '57 and ended in 1966. Ironside began with the film in '66, and continued as a series for eight years. Why is he opting for only an occasional episode now rather than doing a weekly? "I won't do a weekly," he said. "Twenty years of T.V. series work was enough. I missed so many other things - the theatre, motion pictures and my farm. I like being outdoors and I like growing things." A 40-acre farm in Northern California (Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley) is home. Prior to owning this property, there was a plantation in Fiji. He no longer owns the island plantation, but does own orchid gardens on the main island and has part interest in a Fijian newspaper. "The reason you go to Fiji is for the people. There are wonderful beaches everywhere, but the people in Fiji are magnificent," he said. Mr. Burr still retains an active interest in Canadian affairs. He has a satellite dish which brings in the CBC, a Quebec station and others. We talked about the environment in Fiji, in the U.S. and closer to home, about the as of yet unresolved conflict between B.C.'s Lyell Island- Haida Indians and the forest industry. He said he didn't know enough about this situation, but his philosophy was clear. " I have found when business moves into an area that should either be kept for conservation or for the preservation of a heritage, that the area becomes business and none of the other. I would tend to be against that," he said. Those Depression years- how have they affected his work? From all reports his schedule is now busier than ever. He spent only 26 days at home last year. Is working a compulsion? He thinks not. "What the depression gave me was some wonderful times. I had a great mother and we lived on next to no money at all. I learned a lot of things because of the depression that I would never have learned at all. I worked on a cattle and sheep ranch in New Mexico for a year. I grew my own vegetables, raised chickens and traded them with a neigbouring Italian family. We had a great time because in return for fresh vegetables, chicken and rabbits, we got bread, cheese and wine." Asked about being back in Vancouver: "I love it," he said. He even loves the rain, being a farmer (and spoken like a true native). We talked about Canadian film productions and Canadian settings. "The Perry Mason film is set in the Pacific Northwest," he said. "We thought about writing Vancouver into the script, but the plot became rather convoluted, especially with Perry Mason being an American lawyer practicing American law. But there is no city like Vancouver, so it will be recognizable. Plus the publicity end, the dollars coming into Canadian production companies, to UBC, to the YMCA, to the University Hospital, and the Food Bank, Canadians do benefit." My concluding Question: Do you think you'll win this case? And with that clear penetrating gaze, that Perry Mason smile and that deep resonant voice, he answered: "Yes, I think so." Perry Mason Revenues You might ask, wnat does the University receive in remuneration for this fame, and that lovely (or perhaps not so lovely) disruption and excitement in the Main Library Thursday and Friday, February 27 and 28. A third day was added, an early a.m. session the following week. The University itself receives a flat location rate of $1500 per day ($4,500 for three days). The Main Library receives $250 of that money per day ($750 total). In addition, the Library is reimbursed for overtime staff costs, and any other expenses incurred, said Lorie Chortyk, Community Relations. But the flat rate for locations may soon be increased. Negotiations are •' underway to raise rates to between $2,000 to $2,500 per day, said Ms. Chortyk. Other pictures filmed on campus in the last year include Love Mary with Kristy McNichol; The Marie Baiter Story , starring Mario Thomas; Love is Never Silent ,. starring Cloris Leachman; A Letter to Three Wives (aerial shots of wooded campus areas); Picking up the Pieces , starring Margot Kidder and James Farentino, and the list continues. Center for the Book Library of Congress: the Background Prosperous times for the Library of Congress may be coming to an end. Budget cuts, in an attempt to balance the U.S. budget, have already exacted a $17M slash across the board for the Library, and will affect all programs, said John Cole, Head, Center for the Book, in a recent SLAIS colloqium, February 25. "Historically the Library has done well in government appropriations. But the Library has grown so large, that in many ways it is a 'prisoner of its history,"' said Mr. Cole. In addition to its functions as a parliamentary library, it is the library of the blind and handicapped, a public library, and it serves a copyright function. There are three large buildings, public tours hourly, and LC has overseas acquisitions offices. What do the cuts mean to the Library of Congress? The dangers alarm Daniel J. Boorstin, the Librarian of Congress, who addressed the subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives on this matter February r^ 20. "This is not just another year, and the situation of 'your Library' is serious, even dangerous, and could become tragic for the nation, the Congress, and the whole world of learning," said Dr. Boorstin. "... the Library of Congress, our collections, our staff — are dedicated to the proposition that free government is based on free, copious, and current access to knowledge. It would be a historic irony— the only analogy I can think of is the burning of the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt — if the Congress should choose this anniversary (Bicentenary of U.S. constitution 1987) to direct and promote the disintegration of this great institution." There have been 300 jobs affected by current cuts, with 100 jobs lost. The Library has relied solely on government appropriations to date.