Cinderella Story

"Though it has its moments," Kenneth Turan concludes his patronizing review of "Ever After" ("Cinderella as the Original Spice Girl," Calendar, July 31), it "never completely finds its footing, either in its century or our own." Here, Turan completely misses the point, not only of the movie, but of the entire nature and function of myth. First of all, I must ask, what does he mean by "its" century? The 19th century of the Brothers Grimm version? The 16th of the Perrault?

The urge to update the classics, to modernize all around, can be an overpowering one. After all, aren't we the smartest, most sophisticated people who ever lived? Why shouldn't we remake everything in our own image? The well-meaning, erratic "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore as an empowered, post-feminist Cinderella, demonstrates that successful modernization is harder to pull off than it seems.

Adeline Yen Mah couldn't have written her autobiography while her stepmother was alive. To do so would have forever cut her ties with the woman whose love and approval Mah spent a lifetime seeking. The woman who also made her childhood in China a living hell. But now her stepmother is dead. And Mah, 60, is resigned to the betrayal that led to her being excluded from inheriting any of the family's fortune--estimated at $30 million.

"Hello?" answered Rhode Island Coach Jim Harrick, knowing darn well who was calling his hotel room at 11:30 p.m. "We're coming after you! We're coming after you!" the caller said. Nothing like getting a prank phone call . . . from your son. When the Midwest Regional brackets were released, no one could have dreamed of the story lines it would produce.

Maria Ines de San Millan was the picture of a happy Mexican matron. Married to a prominent lawyer for 27 years, she had three attractive children and a tasteful home with two maids. Life was good--or so she thought. But one day, she discovered that her husband had been having an affair with a younger woman for two years. As Maria Ines wept and despaired, her husband delivered the final blow: He was moving out. So far, so typical.

Speaking of dreams, one of children's literature's dreamiest belles returns to the Orange County stage this weekend. But this Cinderella is a far cry from the one in Disney's 1950 animated film. While that heroine depended on the whims of a passing fairy godmother to turn her dreams into reality, the title character in Greg Atkins' new "Cinderella" is very much a can-do gal.

Neighboring rivals Camarillo High and Rio Mesa played 12 innings but all the action came at the end. Underdog Rio Mesa scored in the top of the 12th before Camarillo's Kortney Edge singled home two runs with two out in the bottom of the inning to give the Scorpions a 2-1 victory in the Southern Section playoffs. Camarillo (21-2-1) will play Pacifica on Thursday in a quarterfinal game, but for the first 11 1/2 innings Tuesday, the Scorpions teetered on the edge of a significant upset.

The third-floor rehearsal studio of the Pasadena Playhouse is rockin'. Several rows of hip young dancers in street togs and workout wear jam to a heavy beat as they move across the crowded room. Heads jut forward and back, hands strike sharp-angled poses in the air, and legs strut in syncopated time as the booming sound drives them.

Once upon a time, actually it was January, 1937, Judy Turner cut her Hollywood High School typing class and slipped across Sunset Boulevard to share a Coke with some friends. My father R. (Billy) Wilkerson, was already sipping Coke at the same soda fountain. He often strolled there from his nearby office at the Hollywood Reporter. During the years a dispute has arisen over the name of this soda fountain. Some remember it as Curries Ice Cream Parlor.