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Sarasota Music Festival director to retire

Paul Wolfe is retiring as director of the Sarasota Music Festival, which he founded 40 years ago. He also was artistic director of Sarasota's Florida West Coast Symphony from 1961 to 1996.

Under Wolfe, 78, the summertime festival drew student players from conservatories and music schools. More than 125 alumni went on to become members of top American symphony orchestras. They were coached in Sarasota by a faculty that included pianist Robert Levin, flutist Carol Wincenc and violinists Ani Kavafian, Joseph Silverstein and James Buswell.

The symphony expects to announce an interim plan for next year's festival by Oct. 1.

LOS ANGELES - Has Ken Jennings ended his Jeopardy! streak?

A report posted Wednesday on TV Week's Web site said the brainy software engineer lost in a show taped Tuesday, walking away after his 75th straight game with about $2.5-million overall in cash and prizes. The magazine cited unidentified sources and said the show would air later this fall.

A spokesperson for the show told TV Week that it would not disclose whether Jennings lost.

Calls late Wednesday by the Associated Press to Jeopardy! publicist Jeff Ritter and to the show's production offices were not immediately returned.

Jennings, 30, of Salt Lake City began his record-breaking run June 2, with a six-week hiatus for summer reruns.

After winning the show that aired Thursday, his 42nd, he had amassed $1,402,461.

LOS ANGELES - Frank Thomas, one of Walt Disney's top artists who animated two dogs romantically nibbling a single strand of spaghetti in the 1955 Disney film Lady and the Tramp, has died. He was 92.

Mr. Thomas died Wednesday (Sept. 8, 2004) at his home, said Howard E. Green of Disney's Buena Vista Pictures Marketing.

Mr. Thomas had been in declining health after a cerebral hemorrhage this year.

In his 43-year history at Disney, Mr. Thomas, often working with old friend and collaborator Ollie Johnston, also animated the dancing penguins in Mary Poppins and Thumper teaching Bambi how to ice skate.

Walt Disney jokingly dubbed Mr. Thomas and other top animators his "Nine Old Men," derived from a description of the Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Mr. Thomas and Johnston both retired in 1978.

"Frank is an important part of the Disney legacy and one of the most amazing talents to ever work at the studio," said Michael Eisner, chief executive of the Walt Disney Co.

Because of concerns about Hurricane Ivan, the third annual American Stage Act One gala scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled for Sept. 19.

Times will remain the same with the Act One gala beginning at 6 p.m. and a special performance of Anna in the Tropics at 8 p.m. For more information, contact American Stage at (727) 823-1600, ext. 201.