Hollywood Filmmaker Schwartz Premiers Movie at Marymount University By Kari H. Sayers
Past and present faculty, staff and students joined producers, actors and crew at Marymount California University here on the hill last month to celebrate the achievement of one of their own, filmmaker and film professor Bruce Schwartz who chose the school’s “Commons” auditorium to premiere his 17th movie Justice for Lizzie last month. Schwartz, who wrote the script, produced and directed the film, based his film on a colleague’s novel by the same title. But Schwartz, who worked at Marymount for thirty-two years, taught not only film but also literature and writing as well until he retired two years ago.
Schwartz grew up in the movie business. He is the son of Al Schwartz, the head writer for Bob Hope, the nephew of Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of Gilligan’s Island and the brother of Douglas Schwartz, the creator of Baywatch. Bruce, however is best known for his adaptations of American short stories such as “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and A&P by John Updike. The screening was free, and the campus café provided free popcorn and drinks. Before and after the screening, Schwartz was on hand with the author, actors and crew for a Q and A session with the audience.
Marymount was a fitting place for the first screening of the film as the project was a Marymount collaboration. Current theater director Greg Levonian, a resident of Palos Verdes Estates, joined as a co-producer and filled the role of sheriff’s deputy Earl Garcia, while former theater director John Lane of San Pedro played a retired actor. Marymount professor and Palos Verdes resident David Tomlin made his lakeside cabin in Lake Arrowhead available for the murder scene, while several scenes were shot on the Marymount campus. When scenes from the old Learning Centers, which served as the Los Angeles Detention Center appeared on the screen, both students and the old Marymount gang in attendance broke out in laughter and enthusiastic shouts of approval. More laughter and shouts of encouragement ensued when the students recognized their teachers on the screen.
“There was so much excitement and enthusiasm . . .,” wrote Mary Jo Hazard, a writer and Palos Verdes resident, in an email the next day. “I could feel it, hear it, and taste it.”
“It was a packed house,” wrote the popular sociology professor Carlos Royal in a Facebook post. “A welcome party of former colleagues who came home to support one of Marymount’s greats: Bruce Schwartz.”
“It was an unofficial reunion of past and present Marymount faculty and staff,” wrote anthropology professor Dr. Allen Franz in a separate post
Other old-timers in attendance included psychology professor Dr. Joe Cuseo, mathematics professor Patrick Webster and his wife Susie Martin, communications professor and long-time comical referee for the Harlem Globetrotters Mark Shannon, registrar Paula Avery, English professors Joan Cashion and Dr. Susan Garman, psychology professor Dr. David Draper and university pillars Sharon ,Ruth Proctor, and Denise Fessenbecker, who all enjoyed visiting with each other as much as watching the film. Coming out in support were also University President Brian Marcotte and Provost Dr. Ariane Schauer.
No performance is without glitches, of course. The security guard, who was supposed to be on duty at the gate to direct visitors to the parking lot and the auditorium, unfortunately abandoned his post, leaving some guests to wander around the campus until they were lucky enough to find a helpful cleaning crew who directed them to the correct building. Someone reported that the live microphones didn’t work as they should; the quality of the projector was spotty, and no one knew how to turn off all the security lights. However, despite such problems, members of the community reported that they liked it all. “We enjoyed it,” said Don Kline, the vice president of the Ascension Lutheran Church council, who came with his wife Jane, a sentiment echoed by ALC’s council president June Kuehn, who brought a carload of friends with her. “It was great!” she said.
Kari H. Sayers BIO
With a BA in English and an MA in linguistics from California State University, Long Beach, Kari Sayers went with her husband to Saudi Arabia, where she first worked as a music teacher at Riyadh International Community School and then as a journalist for the English newspapers the Saudi Gazette and the Arab News as well as in-flight magazines. When she returned to Southern California, she taught literature, college composition, and English as a Second Language at Marymount California University in Rancho Palos Verdes, while freelancing as a theater, classical concert, and opera reviewer for local newspapers and magazines in the Los Angeles area.. In addition to authoring the novels Roses Where Thorns Grow, Under the Linden Tree, and the soon-to-be-released Justice for Lizzie, all published by Melange Books in Minnesota, she is the developer and editor of the anthology Views and Values, published by Cengage. Now widowed,. Kari lives in the Los Angeles area.
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