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If you get invited to travel in a Rolls Royce and sit with the big-whigs at a movie premier, don't ever say the first thing that comes into your head.

I was vice president of a New York public relations agency, and assigned to the account just as the Rock Hudson-Mia Farrow movie "Avalanche" was finishing 8 weeks of filming at one of our client's resorts, Tamarron Ski & Golf Resort in Durango, Colorado.

Avalanche was the latest offering in the crop of disaster flicks that exploded on movie screens in the 1970s. Camera shots moved from snowmobile races, an ice skating contest and plenty of skiing scenes, all Tamarron activities. Good publicity for my client.

The film's premise has vacationers at the opening of a ski resort caught in a life and death battle when an airplane hits the mountain, and 20,000 tons of snow rumbles down and into Tamarron's lobby. Well, not really. The lobby in the avalanche snow scene was a stage set back in Hollywood.

I flew out to Denver for four days back in July 1978 for the world premier to position the resort favorably in the national exposure the film's opening would get. New World Productions cooperated fully, and besides solid mentions of Tamarron the newspaper coverage, I was able to set up several radio and TV interviews on talk shows for Tamarron executives as well as Producer Roger Corman and Director Corey Allen. Hudson wouldn't do any interviews, and I never saw Mia Farrow during the trip.

As move buffs might recall, Corey Allen played 'Buzz' in 'Rebel Without A Cause' and went off a cliff in a speeding car he couldn't get out of while playing chicken with James Dean.

The day of the premier began by taking Rock Hudson to a country club for a morning brunch, followed by a noontime visit to the opening of a shopping center, then a press conference, a cocktail party at a disco, and a quick reception at our host hotel before the premier. The final event was a post-premier reception at the Governor's Mansion. I was surprised at the amount of booze Hudson consumed at each event throughout the day.

After spending several years as a newspaper and magazine editor before changing careers and going into public relations, this was my first movie premier. It was a wild, fast-paced, and exciting day. I had done promotions for celebrity golf tournaments, hotel openings, cruise ship launchings and a score of similar events, but this was really different.

New World Productions scouted 30 resorts but Producer Roger Corman liked Tamarron so much

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