Allen Zwerdling, the colorful co-founder and co-publisher of trade paper Back Stage–which started as a resource for actors, and diversified to become the leading publication chronicling TV commercial production (eventually spawning SHOOT)–died of natural causes on Jan. 12 at his home in Rosendale. He was 86.
In 1960, Zwerdling and Ira Eaker, who passed away in 2002, created Back Stage. Zwerdling served as editor and Eaker as advertising director. Enduring some growing pains, the paper evolved into being and continues to this day as a pre-eminent source for news and casting info serving the working performer in America,
As an actor in the Players Guild of Manhattan from 1936 to 1941, director of the CCNY Theatre Workshop while attending college, editor of a U.S. Army newspaper, and founder of the American Players of Switzerland, Zwerdling found the perfect fit for his talents in Back Stage.
Then when the TV commercial production industry began to expand in the 1960s, he and Eaker broadened Back Stage‘s coverage into that arena, giving it two prime entertainment market news beats. Back Stage opened a West Coast office in 1975 and eventually expanded its coverage to Chicago, New England, and Florida as TV commercial production began to grow in these areas.
In the early ’80s, with the understanding that Back Stage was now serving two distinctly different creative readerships, Zwerdling and Eaker decided to provide two papers in one, creating a theatre section that was inserted upside down in the center of the paper. In November of 1985, the co-publishers celebrated the paper’s silver anniversary with a black-tie gala in N.Y. attended by 1,400 business leaders and celebrities from all sectors of the entertainment industry. The event was a milestone in Zwerdling and Eaker’s careers.
A year later, in 1986, the publishing team sold Back Stage to Billboard Publications, thus ending a 26-year partnership. Zwerdling retired with his wife Shirley to their farm in upstate N.Y.
Later the commercial production component of Back Stage broke out on its own, establishing its standalone identity as SHOOT and is now published by entrepreneurial DCA Business Media. Roberta Griefer, publisher of SHOOT since September 1990 and DCA co-owner, recalled meeting Zwerdling in late 1990. “He gave me a hug and asked that I take good care of his baby,” said Griefer. “With eyes always pointed towards the future, with a respect for the past, this is something all of us at SHOOT work hard at every day.”
Zwerdling is survived by a daughter Sherry Zwerdling, of Key West, Fla., a daughter Jan Heyes of Topanga Canyon, Calif., a son Gary Zwerdling, also of Rosendale, NY, and a grandson Adam Heyes. Shirley, Allen’s wife of 62 years, passed away just four weeks prior to his death.
Because Allen Zwerdling was an avid tennis player as well as president of the New Paltz Tennis Club, the Zwerdling family suggests that donations for a bench to honor him at the club be sent to Camy Fischer, 173 Route 208, New Paltz, NY 12561.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer โ but not the trigger โ and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More