People in the News for December 23, 1997

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 | 10:02 a.m.

For keen insight into the woes of struggling eastern mill towns, you need consult only one knowledgeable source: actor Luke Perry, who plays a resident of a struggling eastern mill town in an upcoming film. When the steel outfits closed in Bethlehem, Pa. -- where Perry just wrapped filming of "The Florentine" -- "the American dream just pulled out," Perry says. "Everybody thought these people would pack up and die." That they didn't is a testament to -- what else? -- the community-building power of screenplay cliches: "There's a line in the movie I really believe in," Perry says. "One character says life isn't about being dealt the best cards, it's about playing well the ones you are dealt." Rarely has the notion of playing the hand you're dealt been better put. In "The Florentine," the Florentine is a rundown steel-town bar where rundown steel-town residents gather to contemplate the skid marks of the departed American dream. "They're fighting for a way to keep their town going ... That's the American spirit right there, though not the glamorous side of it." No, the glamorous side involves having ex "90210" stars filming in your little ol' city! "We're like the adopted children of this town," Perry says. "I don't think I've paid for a beer since I've been here." Yet another exciting example of filmmaking pumping dollars into a local economy.

Briefly

The world and people have been wonderful to actor Eli Wallach, and he wants to give something back -- specifically, a really nasty-sounding sandwich. New York's famed Stage Delicatessen recently unveiled the Eli Wallach Special: bacon, peanut butter and a hard-boiled egg on toasted rye. Quick, a news-sickness bag! Wallach has been eating such sandwiches for years. While it's tempting to contemplate the chain of events that first led him to try that, uh, peculiar combination, let's chalk it up to an otherwise empty fridge and playing the hand you're dealt. "Sometimes I get a little heartburn," he admitted, "but that is the price you pay for a delicious sandwich." Or the Eli Wallach Special. We're willing to bet he's a man alone on his sandwich island.

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets