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Barr opens El Segundo door to charity with studio sale
by Jerry Roberts
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Technicians at Roseanne Barr’s new production studio in El Segundo will make way for a wardrobe sale tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Proceeds will benefit Children of the Night
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It doesn’t necessarily take a sitcom mind to see El Segundo as akin to the Andy Griffith-fronted world of Mayberry, but that was Roseanne Barr’s assessment when she first visited the quiet, down-home burg between LAX and Manhattan Beach.
"She calls it ‘Mayberry,’" said Patrick Bentley, one of the Roseanne team confidants. "She really loves it here, the small-town atmosphere."
Barr bought a house in town to put up her dogs even though she lives most of the time on Palos Verdes Peninsula. Next month she will be in business in El Segundo. She is opening a state-of-the-art film and television editing studio on Main Street under the title of her long-standing production outfit, Full Moon & High Tide Productions & Studios.
"We’ll mostly be in business to make or finish commercials and industrial films," said Bentley, who will manage the store at 424 Main. "When she said she was buying a place here, I thought, ‘What are we going to do there?’ Then I realized that, communitywise, this is a wonderful town, and, businesswise, we would be about five miles from facilities owned by 40 percent of the Forbes 500 companies: Raytheon, Boeing, DirecTV, Chevron …
"There’s tremendous potential in our backyard for business, and we’ve already been in talks with Raleigh Studios to give them whatever help they need. We’ll be one-stop shopping, but we don’t want to be real big. Technically, we’ll be as good as you get in Hollywood with Avid equipment, IBM XP computers, full production capabilities, sound stage, a lighting package, a sound package, a staff of four and room enough to accommodate big crews," Bentley said. The pride of the facility is one of three Avid Symphony editing units in the Los Angles area.
But before the studio sells anything else, it will unload a huge chunk of Barr’s on-air wardrobe. This weekend, Roseanne’s threads will be sold to the public at 424 Main to benefit Children of the Night, the charity that looks after runaway children and teens. The racks are loaded with sizes 14 and up, including dresses, blouses, evening wear, costumes, coats and jackets. More than 500 pairs of shoes will be for sale. Roseanne will be in and out of the studio during the sale, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. ER
Perhaps the brassiest sitcom star of the past 20 years, Barr will also launch a return to her roots with a return to the sand-up road., including Las Vegas play dates. The studio, Bentley said, will keep the comedienne closely connected to show biz.
The studio features a full kitchen set for cooking shows, can handle still photography needs, linear editing facilities and dressing rooms. The comedienne intends to produce Internet shows at the facility.