Enchanted

Walter Allen Teas Jr., a former AM-radio morning host who also made numerous commercials at a studio he owned, died of heart disease June 19 at his Catonsville home. He was 84. Born in San Antonio, he worked in radio in his home town, as well as Dallas, St. Louis and Tulsa before moving to Baltimore in 1953 and joining WFBR-AM. He used the phrase, "Walt Teas, if you please" on its morning show broadcast from North Avenue. In 1959, he became a freelance announcer and commercial narration artist.

HAVANA -- The rays of morning light splashing against this city's landscape offered a far different view of Havana than nightfall had disguised just hours earlier.Havana's dim night lights -- make no mistake, this is a dark city at night -- provided an unyielding mask to its scars and ills that daylight simply could not conceal.Immediately, my thoughts were consumed by my two sons and wife. I could barely contain myself as I viewed my first Cuban sunrise, for this is a land where my roots are deeply embedded.

Howard L. Adler, a national figure in outdoor display advertising, died Monday from complications of a stroke at his Pikesville residence. He was 79.Mr. Adler established Adler Display Studio in 1939 and charmed generations of children and adults with his larger-than-life figures that were displayed in amusement parks, zoos, department store windows and roofs and elsewhere.During his nearly 50-year career -- he retired in 1986 -- the Baltimore native created many memorable outdoor advertising pieces.

Nat Bingham,59, a fisherman who became a staunch activist for the West Coast salmon industry, was found dead Saturday in Fort Bragg, Calif. Tenants discovered Mr. Bingham's body at his home, two weeks after his wife, Kathryn, 52, died of pancreatic cancer. The coroner's office was determining the cause of death.Marjorie Lansing,82, an Eastern Michigan University professor whose study of women's voting patterns changed campaigns and lured women into politics in the 1980s, died of cancer May 1 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

A LOCAL BUSINESS is a success when it makes money. It turns into an institution when it becomes part of the community's collective identity. Institutions evolve over time. They require a community's affection, which can't be bought with gimmicks.Catonsville's Westview Cinemas, which roll the projectors for the last time tonight, are an institution. People reacted as if they were losing an old friend upon learning the movie house will be razed to make room for a Circuit City. Folks even rue the loss of the theater's 1950s-1960s architecture, which, it is safe to say, no one considered classic when it was built in 1965.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: Enchanted Forest Shopping Center: Someone stole clothing from Sport Around yesterday after smashing the store's front door.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: Route 40/Route 29: Tools, a car kit and several other items were stolen from a 1993 Isuzu Trooper last week. The stolen property was valued at more than $300, police said.Unit block of Enchanted Solitude Place: Someone tried to steal a 1987 Ford F350 truck from a construction site Thursday.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 5700 block of Race Road: Jewelry was stolen after someone entered a home through an unlocked window Sunday, police said.* Ellicott City: 8800 block of Ridge Road: Cigarettes were stolen Monday from the Super Fresh grocery store in the Golden Triangle Shopping Center.10000 block of U.S. 40: Officers responding to an alarm at the Family Fun Jungle in Enchanted Forest found that someone had tampered with a door lock, entered and pried open an empty cash register Monday.

Cindy and Sonia Frank make sisterly harmoniesWhen Cindy and Sonia Frank make music, as one rock critic put it, "Bruce Springsteen meets the Indigo Girls."And audiences meet a hot sister act called disappear fear, whose close harmonies and real-life lyrics are creating a buzz on the club and college circuit.During the five years they've been together, the Franks have released three albums, performed in 45 states and gotten some pretty effusive praise."It's wild to be in Huntington, W.Va., and find a strong local fan base," says Cindy, who sings and helps with songwriting.

PITTSBURGH -- For the first time, The Enchanted Season has come to a fork in the road.For the first time, for the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom every move has been the right one, for whom showers of magic dust are a daily bathing ritual, peril looms.They lost the kind of game yesterday they routinely win, lost it in extra innings, lost it in brilliant sunshine, lost it after losing three leads, lost it after stranding runners at third four times.They lost the kind of game that leaves the clubhouse mute as a tomb, the only sound the mocking clack of bats being racked and packed.

The Columbia Figure Skating Club will present "Enchanted on Ice and Other Box Office Hits" - featuring excerpts from Twilight, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Madagascar, Camp Rock and Mamma Mia! - at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. March 28 and 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. March 29. Performances are at the Columbia Ice Rink, 5876 Thunder Hill Road. The community performance for families features more than 100 performers ages 4 to adult and includes many high-level skaters. Tickets are $10; children to age 3 get in free.

The staff and volunteers at Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City have rescued princesses, beanstalks, cottages and carriages from the defunct Enchanted Forest amusement park over several years. But as of last winter, there were still a few hitches in the figures' happy endings. Sleeping Beauty had no prince poised by her bedside for an awakening kiss; Jack had no Jill to help him fetch a pail of water; the castle facade lacked both dragon and damsel; and you really can't get by with two of the three little pigs.

Capsules by Michael Sragow unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. Atonement -- The crush of an upper-class teen on her housekeeper's son (James McAvoy) catalyzes a devastating accusation that ruins his life and that of the girl's older sister (Keira Knightley). This beautifully acted, remarkably visualized adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel sums up the need for charity and generosity in art and life. R 123 minutes A Charlie Wilson's War -- follows a sybaritic East Texas congressman (Tom Hanks)

Anyone longing for a pleasant getaway to lift winter spirits might find an idyllic vacation without leaving Annapolis in the Colonial Players' production of Enchanted April. Italy has long been a favorite travel destination for me, and I was surprised at how well the Italian ambience was captured in the 1992 movie and in a later stage version that I caught in New York. Presumably, the Colonial Players crew will also be adept at creating similar magic when the show opens Friday at the 108 East St. location.

Tom Rothman is working the room at Baltimore's Charles Theatre, serving up the inside scoop on the film biz and life as the head of Fox film studio. Garrulous and quick-witted by nature, the Mount Washington native is clearly in his element, expansive before a crowd that's engaged and encouraging. "The art of `exhibition' is gone with the wind," proclaims Rothman, rocking back in his chair and lamenting a Hollywood business model that stresses blockbuster opening weekends over the careful nurturing of worthwhile films.

Finding the fresh response in obvious situations has become a specialty for Amy Adams - never more so than in Enchanted, in which she plays a fairy-tale beauty named Giselle who tumbles down a well in the magic kingdom of Andalasia and ends up peering out from a manhole in Times Square. Over the phone from Manhattan, Adams says that when she read the Enchanted script she saw that "it was a different incarnation of the classic fish-out-of-water story, the way it was told." The character of Giselle revved up her comic engine.

Enchanted will make some enchanted evening for the dating crowd and also be a boisterous Saturday matinee for youngsters. This tale of fairy-tale characters who tumble down a well in the storybook land of Andalasia and come rocketing up a manhole in New York's Times Square has a piquant idea and enough good jokes to overcome its uneven moviemaking and uncertain tone. Best of all, it has Amy Adams as the gorgeous maiden Giselle - and she carries the film gracefully and uproariously on her creamy shoulders.

For real movie lovers, fall is the season of our greatest content. It's when the Oscar contenders start making themselves known, when the big-name directors get their names up on the marquee, when the potential blockbusters promising both popularity and prestige start to open amid great rejoicing. Except ... maybe not so much this year. With fall 2007 just around the corner, no one film is dominating the movie-going discussion. The big-name directors - the Spielbergs, Scorseses, Eastwoods, Jacksons - are taking a breather, gearing up for big-time releases in 2008 and later.

Walter Allen Teas Jr., a former AM-radio morning host who also made numerous commercials at a studio he owned, died of heart disease June 19 at his Catonsville home. He was 84. Born in San Antonio, he worked in radio in his home town, as well as Dallas, St. Louis and Tulsa before moving to Baltimore in 1953 and joining WFBR-AM. He used the phrase, "Walt Teas, if you please" on its morning show broadcast from North Avenue. In 1959, he became a freelance announcer and commercial narration artist.

`Sight Unseen' The lowdown -- Director Barry Feinstein opens his fifth play at the Fell's Point Corner Theatre, this time Donald Margulies' 1992 Obie Award winner Sight Unseen. The play follows artist Jonathan Waxman, suddenly successful and able to sell his work sight unseen. He reaches beyond the glamour of his newfound high life when he visits his former muse and lover, Patricia. Now living with her husband, archaeologist Patricia leads a simple life excavating Roman ruins to discover the truth of the past.