STREET TALK

When Dallas Theater Center’s artistic director and founder Paul Baker left his post last May, the search for
his replacement supposedly commenced. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the announcement. The search won’t begin
until January. Meanwhile, DTC president William Custard says the executive board will “establish their
priorities” by doing a complete study of their current projects. Interim Artistic Director Mary Sue Jones has a
contract with DTC until August 1983. So far, Custard says, “a long list of major names” is being considered for the
position.



Attention, moviegoers. Get ready to see your hometown on the silver screen. Austin film writer Bill Witt-liff
just completed an original screenplay titled Deep Eltum, a Twenties mystery set in the section of downtown
Dallas by the same name. Wittliff wrote the screenplay for Columbia Studio Productions and Sissy Spacek. Jack Kisk,
Spacek’s husband, will reportedly produce the film. Wittliff, 42, has written other screenplays including
Bar-barosa and Raggedy Man. He also wrote The Black Stallion, with Melissa Mathison,
author of E. T.



If, while dining at the Mansion during the past several weeks, you’ve noticed the distinct flavor of chili powder in
your food, don’t be alarmed. It’s probably the work of Kathleen Tolbert, daughter of the infamous chili king
himself-Frank X. Tolbert. Kathleen has been cooking since she was a child and for several years she managed
Tolbert’s downtown chili parlor. She decided to try cooking for the Mansion because she and Mansion chef Jean
Claude Galan wanted to swap recipes.