Tape Delay
If you've been holding your breath for Big Man on Campus, Party
Plane, The Lie, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: Greatest Hits, or
Following the Tundra Wolf, you can stop. These April and May video
releases from Vestron are on hold pending a possible merger between
the company and LIVE Entertainment. Vestron was one of the first
independent video companies, but since it peaked with Dirty Dancingin 1987, it has released mostly B-grade titles. Lately, the firm has
had financial difficulties.
Video Players
Attention junior video fans: not only does home video offer the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but you can trade baseball cards on
video, too. Priced at $6.95,the 22-minute tapes from Ohio-based
Rotfeld Video highlight the careers of such b-ball greats as Willie
Mays, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Pete Rose. They're
available in K mart, music stores, and, of course, through comic
books.
Rent This, Buy That
Ad agency Video Box Billboard is tapping an as yet unused ad
spacac the plastic cassette boxes that hold rental videos. Forty
stores across Vermont have boxes that hawk everything from banks to
pizzas, and the company plans to add at least 200 more New England
stores this year.
Twin Peeks
Making a video means more exposure, but when the new Playboy Playmate of the Year, Reneé Tenison, Miss November 1989,
taped Playmate of the Year Video Centerfold 1990 (HBO), it
was more than she bargained for. ''Posing for the magazine was child's
play compared to he video,'' says Tenison, the first black playmate
to win the annual honor. ''When you're shooting the still photos,
three people are there, but during the taping, there were about 20
people on the set.'' There are other drawbacks. In the past, Tenison
has teamed with her twin sister for many modeling jobs.
''All this is very weird for her,'' she says. ''If people see the
magazine or video, they know what she looks like too.''
