Max MillardSan Francisco, CaliforniaNovember 2005 ******** TABLE OF CONTENTS WESTSIDER CLEVELAND AMORYAuthor, radio humorist, and president of the Fund for Animals EASTSIDER MAXENE ANDREWSAn Andrews Sister finds stardom as a solo WESTSIDER LUCIE ARNAZTo star in Neil Simon's new musical EASTSIDER ADRIEN ARPELAmerica's best-selling beauty author WESTSIDER ISAAC ASIMOVAuthor of 188 books WESTSIDER GEORGE BALANCHINEArtistic director of the New York City Ballet WESTSIDER CLIVE BARNESDrama and dance critic WESTSIDER FRANZ BECKENBAUERNorth America's most valuable soccer player WESTSIDER HIMAN BROWNCreator of the _CBS Radio Mystery Theater_ FERRIS BUTLERCreator, writer and producer of _Waste Meat News_ EASTSIDER SAMMY CAHNOscar-winning lyricist WESTSIDER HUGH CAREYGovernor of New York state WESTSIDER CRAIG CLAIBORNEFood editor of the _New York Times_ WESTSIDER MARC CONNELLYActor, director, producer, novelist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist EASTSIDER TONY CRAIGStar of _The Edge of Night_ EASTSIDER RODNEY DANGERFIELDThe comedian and the man WESTSIDER JAN DE RUTHPartner of nudes and _Time_ covers WESTSIDER MIGNON DUNNThe Met's super mezzo EASTSIDER DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR. A man for all seasons WESTSIDER LEE FALKCreator of The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician WESTSIDER BARRY FARBERRadio talkmaster and linguist WESTSIDER SUZANNE FARRELLStar of the New York City Ballet WESTSIDER JULES FEIFFERScreenwriter for _Popeye the Sailor_ EASTSIDER GERALDINE FITZGERALDActress, director and singer EASTSIDER JOAN FONTAINEActress turns author with _No Bed of Roses_ WESTSIDER BETTY FRIEDANFounder of the women's liberation movement WESTSIDER ARTHUR FROMMERAuthor of _Europe on $10 a Day_ EASTSIDER WILLIAM GAINESPublisher and founder of _Mad_ magazine WESTSIDER RALPH GINZBURGPublisher of _Moneysworth_ EASTSIDER LILLIAN GISH78 years in show business WESTSIDER MILTON GLASERDesign director of the new _Esquire_ WESTSIDER PAUL GOLDBERGERArchitecture critic for the _New York Times_ EASTSIDER MILTON GOLDMANBroadway's super agent EASTSIDER TAMMY GRIMESStar of _Father's Day_ at the American Place Theatre WESTSIDER DELORES HALLStar of _Your Arms Too Short to Box with God_ WESTSIDER LIONEL HAMPTONKing of the Newport Jazz Festival WESTSIDER DAVID HAWKExecutive director of Amnesty International U. S. A. EASTSIDER WALTER HOVINGChairman of Tiffany & Company EASTSIDER JAY JACOBSRestaurant critic for _Gourmet_ magazine WESTSIDER RAUL JULIAStar of _Dracula_ on Broadway EASTSIDER BOB KANECreator of Batman and Robin WESTSIDER LENORE KASDORFStar of _The Guiding Light_ EASTSIDER BRIAN KEITHBack on Broadway after 27 years WESTSIDER HAROLD KENNEDYAuthor of _No Pickle, No Performance_ WESTSIDER ANNA KISSELGOFFDance critic for the _New York Times_ WESTSIDER GEORGE LANGOwner of the Cafe des Artistes WESTSIDER RUTH LAREDOLeading American pianist EASTSIDER STAN LEECreator of Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk EASTSIDER JOHN LEONARDBook critic for the _New York Times_ WESTSIDER JOHN LINDSAYInternational lawyer WESTSIDER ALAN LOMAXSending songs into outer space EASTSIDER PETER MAASAuthor of _Serpico_ and _Made in America_ WESTSIDER LEONARD MALTINFilm historian and critic EASTSIDER JEAN MARSHCreator and star of _Upstairs, Downstairs_ EASTSIDER JACKIE MASONCo-starring with Steve Martin in _The Jerk_ WESTSIDER MALACHY McCOURTActor and social critic WESTSIDER MEAT LOAFHottest rock act in town WESTSIDER ANN MILLERCo-star of _Sugar Babies_ WESTSIDER SHERRILL MILNESOpera superstar WESTSIDER CARLOS MONTOYAMaster of the flamenco guitar WESTSIDER MELBA MOOREBroadway star releases ninth album WESTSIDER MICHAEL MORIARTYStar of _Holocaust_ returns to Broadway in _G. R. Point_ WESTSIDER LeROY NEIMANAmerica's greatest popular artist WESTSIDER ARNOLD NEWMANGreat portrait photographer EASTSIDER EDWIN NEWMANJournalist and first-time novelist EASTSIDER LARRY O'BRIENCommissioner of the National Basketball Association WESTSIDER MAUREEN O'SULLIVANGreat lady of the movie screen WESTSIDER BETSY PALMERStar of _Same Time, Next Year_ WESTSIDER JAN PEERCEThe man with the golden voice EASTSIDER GEORGE PLIMPTONAuthor, editor and adventurer EASTSIDER OTTO PREMINGERRebel filmmaker returns with _The Human Factor_ WESTSIDER CHARLES RANGELCongressman of the 19th District WESTSIDER JOE RAPOSOGolden boy of American composers WESTSIDER MASON REESENot just another kid WESTSIDER MARTY REISMANAmerica's best-loved ping-pong player WESTSIDER RUGGIERO RICCIWorld's most-recorded violinist WESTSIDER BUDDY RICHMonarch of the drums WESTSIDER GERALDO RIVERABroadcaster, author and humanitarian WESTSIDER NED ROREMAuthor and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer WESTSIDER JULIUS RUDELDirector of the New York City Opera EASTSIDER DR. LEE SALKAmerica's foremost child psychologist EASTSIDER FRANCESCO SCAVULLOPhotographer of the world's most beautiful women WESTSIDER ROGER SESSIONSComposer of the future EASTSIDER DICK SHAWNVeteran comic talks about _Love at First Bite_ EASTSIDER GEORGE SHEARINGFamed jazz pianist returns to New York WESTSIDER REID SHELTONThe big-hearted billionaire of _Annie_ WESTSIDER BOBBY SHORTMr. New York to perform in Newport Jazz Festival WESTSIDER BEVERLY SILLSOpera superstar GEORGE SINGER46 years a doorman on the West Side WESTSIDER GREGG SMITHFounder and conductor of the Gregg Smith Singers EASTSIDER LIZ SMITHQueen of gossip EASTSIDERS TOM & DICK SMOTHERSStars of _I Love My Wife_ on Broadway WESTSIDER VICTOR TEMKINPublisher of Berkley and Jove Books WESTSIDER JOHN TESHAnchorman for WCBS Channel 2 News WESTSIDER RICHARD THOMASJohn-Boy teams up with Henry Fonda in _Roots II_ EASTSIDER ANDY WARHOLPop artist and publisher of _Interview_ magazine EASTSIDER ARNOLD WEISSBERGERTheatrical attorney for superstars EASTSIDER TOM WICKERAuthor and columnist for the _New York Times_ EASTSIDER TOM WOLFEAvant-garde author talks about _The Right Stuff_ WESTSIDER PINCHAS ZUKERMANViolinist and conductor ******** WESTSIDER CLEVELAND AMORYAuthor, radio humorist, and president of the Fund for Animals 12-9-78 It's impossible to mistake the voice if you've heard it once -- the tone ofmock annoyance, the twangy, almost whiny drawl that rings musically inthe ear. It could easily belong to a cartoon character or a top TVpitchman, but it doesn't. It belongs to Cleveland Amory, an affable andrugged individualist who has been a celebrated writer for more than halfof his 61 years. Amory is also a highly regarded lecturer and radioessayist: his one-minute humor spot, _Curmudgeon at Large_, is hearddaily from Maine to California. His latest novel, nearing completion, isdue to be published next fall. _TV Guide_ perhaps brought Amory his widest fame. He was themagazine's star columnist from 1963 to 1976, when he gave it up in orderto devote his time to other projects, especially the Fund for Animals, anon-profit humane organization that he founded in 1967. He has served asthe group's president since the beginning; now it has 150, 000 membersacross the United States. Amory receives no pay for his involvement withthe organization. The national headquarters of the Fund for Animals is a suite of rooms inan apartment building near Carnegie Hall. The central room is lined withbookshelves, and everywhere on the 25-foot walls are pictures and statuesof animals. Amory enters the room looking utterly exhausted. He is a tall, powerful-looking man with a shock of greyish brown hair that springsfrom his head like sparks from an electrode. As we sit back to talk and histwo pet cats walk about the office, his energy seems to recharge itself. Amory's quest to protect animals from needless cruelty began severaldecades ago when, as a young reporter in Arizona, he wandered acrossthe border into Mexico and witnessed a bullfight. Shocked that peoplecould applaud the death agony of "a fellow creature of this earth, " hebegan to join various humane societies. Today he is probably the bestknown animal expert in America. His 1974 best-seller, _Man Kind? OurIncredible War On Wildlife_, was one of only three books in recent yearsto be the subject of an editorial in the _New York Times_ -- the othersbeing Rachel Carson's _Silent Spring_ and Ralph Nader's _Unsafe at AnySpeed_. "A lot of people ask me, 'Why not do something about children, or oldpeople, or minorities?'" he begins, lighting a cigarette and propping onefoot on the desk. "My feeling is that there's enough misery out there foranybody to work at whatever he wants to. I think the mark of a civilizedperson is how you treat what's beneath you. Most people do care aboutanimals. But you have to translate their feelings into action. ... We'refighting a lot of things -- the clubbing of the baby seals, the killing ofdolphins by the tuna fishermen, the poisoning of animals. The leghold trapis illegal in 14 countries of the world, but only in five states in the U. S. "The reason this fight is so hard is that man has an incredible ability torationalize his cruelty. When they kill the seals, they say it's a humaneway of doing it. But I don't see anything humane about clubbing a babyseal to death while his mother is watching, helpless. "One of our biggest fights right now is to make the wolf our nationalmammal. There's only about 400 of them left in the continental UnitedStates. The wolf is a very brave animal. It's monogamous, and it has greatsensitivity. " One of his chief reasons for dropping his _TV Guide_ column, saysAmory, was because "after 15 years of trying to decide whether the Fonzis a threat to Shakespeare, I wanted to write about things that are moreimportant than that. " His latest novel, a satirical work that he considersthe finest piece of writing he has ever done, "is basically a satire of clublife in America. ... I sent it down to a typist here, and it came back witha note from the typist saying, 'I love it!' In all my years of writing, Idon't think I've ever had a compliment like that. So I sent the note to myeditor along with the manuscript. " An expert chess player, he was long ranked number one at Manhattan'sHarvard Club until his recent dethronement at the hands of a youngwoman. "I play Russians whenever I get a chance, " he confides. "I alwayslove to beat Russians. I want to beat them all. " Once he played againstViktor Korchnoi, the defected Soviet who narrowly lost to worldchampion Anatoly Karpov this fall. "I think he threw that final game, " says Amory of Korchnoi's loss. "Hedidn't make a single threatening move. I think he was offered a deal to getthe kid and wife out. It was all set up from the beginning. I hate facts, soI don't want any facts to interfere with my thesis. " Born outside of Boston, he showed his writing talent early, becoming theyoungest editor ever at the _Saturday Evening Post_. His first book, _TheProper Bostonians_, was published in 1947. "Then I moved to NewYork, " he muses, "because whenever I write about a place, I have toleave it. " Nineteen years ago, he took on as his assistant a remarkablewoman named Marian Probst, who has worked with him ever since. SaysAmory: "She knows more about every project I've been involved withthan I know myself. " A longtime Westsider, he enjoys dining at the Russian Tea Room (150 W. 57th St. ). There are so many facets to Cleveland Amory's career and character thathe defies classification. In large doses, he can be extremely persuasive. Insmaller doses, he comes across as a sort of boon companion foreveryman, who provides an escape from the woes of modern societythrough his devastating humor. For example, his off-the-cuff remark aboutPresident Carter: "Here we have a fellow who doesn't know any more than you or I abouthow to run the country. I'm surprised he did so well in the peanutbusiness. " ******** EASTSIDER MAXENE ANDREWSAn Andrews Sister finds stardom as a solo 2-2-80 Maxene Andrews, riding high on the wave of her triumphant solo act thatopened at the Reno Sweeney cabaret last November, is sitting in her dimlylit, antique-lined Eastside living room, talking about the foibles of showbusiness. As one of the Andrews Sisters, America's most popular vocaltrio of the 1940s, she made 19 gold records in the space of 20 years. Butas a solo performer, she more or less failed in two previous attempts --first in the early 1950s, when her younger sister Patty temporarily left thegroup, and again in 1975, after her hit Broadway show _Over Here_closed amid controversy. Not until 1979 did Miss Andrews bring togetherall the elements of success -- good choice of songs, interesting patterbetween numbers, and a first-rate accompanist. The result is an act thatis nostalgic, moving, and musically powerful. "For years, our career was so different than so many, because our fansnever forgot us, " she recalls, beaming with matronly delight. "I couldwalk in anyplace in the years I wasn't working, and they'd say, 'MaxeneAndrews -- the Andrews Sisters?' Everybody was sort of in awe. So I wasalways treated like a star of some kind. But it's nice to work; it's awonderful feeling to be in demand. " She is a bubbly, husky, larger-than-life character of 61 with ruddy cheeksand a firm handshake. Deeply religious, sincere, and outspoken as always, she remains first and foremost an entertainer. "I stick to the older, standard songs by great composers, " says Maxene ofher act. "You know -- Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin. ... My partner isPhil Campanella, an extremely talented young man who plays the pianoand sings harmony. ... All the talking I do between the songs is adlibbing. I have never been successful at trying to do material that waswritten for me. " She's returning to Reno Sweeney on February 6 for a two-weekengagement, then filming a TV show titled _G. I. Jive_ before taking heract to Miami and Key West. Nightclub work, she says in her high, bellclear voice, "is not my future. I would like to get into concerts and I thinkthat's a possibility -- probably a year from now. " LaVerne, the eldest of the sisters, died in 1967. Patty stopped speaking toMaxene five years ago because of salary disagreements for _Over Here_. The contracts were negotiated separately, and when Maxene balked ataccepting $1000 a week less than her sister, the national tour was abruptlycanceled. "I never in my wildest dreams thought that we would separate, becausewe've always been very close, " says Maxene sadly. "When people say, 'You're feuding with your sister, ' I say that's not the truth. Because ittakes two people to fight, and I'm not fighting anyone. She's just nottalking to me. "It took me a long time to be able to handle the separation. I used to wakeup every morning and say, 'What have I done?' But now I just throw itup to Jesus, and I leave it there. I hope and pray that one of these days wecan bring everything out in the open, and clear it up. I love Patty verymuch, and I'm very surprised that she's not out doing her act, becauseshe's very very talented. She's been doing the _Gong Show_, which I --it's none of my business, but I would highly disapprove of. I think it'ssuch a terrible show. " Maxene owns a house outside of Los Angeles, and was "born again" acouple of years ago at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. When she's on Manhattan's East Side, which is often, she shares theapartment of Dr. Louis Parrish, an M. D. And psychiatrist whom shedescribes as "a true Southern gentleman. " The Andrews Sisters, who recorded such hits as "Bei Mir Bist DuSchoen, " "Rum and Coca Cola, " "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree, ""Apple Blossom Time, " and "Hold Tight, " arrived in New York fromMinneapolis in 1937 and took the city by storm with their wholesome, sugar-sweet harmonies and innovative arrangements. Soon they weremaking movies as well. _Buck Privates_ (1940, which featured Abbott andCostello and the song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, " was Universal'sbiggest moneymaker until _Jaws_ came along in 1975. "I didn'tparticularly care for making movies, " comments Maxene. "I found it veryboring and very repetitious, and certainly not very creative. But workingwith Bud and Lou was a lot of fun. " Now divorced, Maxene has a 33-year-old daughter named Aleda and a 31year-old son, Peter, who live in Utah. She has written her autobiography, but it hasn't been sold to a publisher "because I refuse to write the kindof books that they want written today. Ever since the Christina Crawfordbook came out, that's all the publishers want. ... I think the trend willpass, because we're really getting saturated in cruelty and lust andwhatever else you want to call it. " Asked about the changes in her life since her religious reawakening, Maxene says, "Darling, everything has improved. My disposition hasimproved. I used to be impossible for anybody to work with. ... I'm nowreconciled to the feeling that I am never alone, and that in Him I have apartner, and that if I run into a problem that I can't solve, then I'm notsupposed to solve it -- because we're just mere mortals. " ******** WESTSIDER LUCIE ARNAZTo star in Neil Simon's new musical 9-9-78 Bad timing. That's what had plagued me ever since I had tried to get aninterview with Lucie Arnaz last June. Back then, I was supposed to gettogether with her downtown, but our meeting was canceled at the lastminute. My second appointment, set for August 31 in her dressing roomjust before a performance of _Annie Get Your Gun_ at the Jones BeachTheatre in Wantagh, Long Island, now seemed in jeopardy as well. I waskept waiting nervously outside while the house manager insisted that Luciewas engaged in "a very important telephone call. " But when the young star finally emerged, her face beaming with delight, I found that my timing could not have been better. Lucie had just receivedofficial word that a major new Broadway role was hers. As we sat downto talk, Lucie was in one of those radiant moods that come only in timesof triumph. She had been chosen for the female lead in a new musical, _They're Playing My Song_, which is scheduled to open in Los Angelesin December and on Broadway in February. The show has music byMarvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. The book is writtenby Neil Simon. "I'm a lousy auditioner -- at least, I thought I was, " grinned Lucie. "Thisnew musical will be probably the pinnacle of what I've been aiming for.... It's about a fairly successful lyricist who's not nearly as successful asthe composer she's going to work with. Neil Simon has always wanted todo a play about songwriters. It's a very hip, pop musical. It doesn't haveregular Broadway-type tunes. " She flopped back on the sofa touching my arm from time to time foremphasis, and chatted on in her mildly raspy voice. Finally she moved toa seat in front of the mirror and invited me to keep talking while she puton her makeup. There is a quality about her that suggests toughness, butthis impression melts away under her girlish charm. At 27, Lucie isalready an 11-year veteran of professional acting and singing. When sheperformed at Jones Beach this summer, up to 8, 000 people per night cameto see her. Lucie first transplanted herself from the West Coast to the West Side ona full-time basis last winter, although, she admitted, "I had a New Yorkapartment for four years which I would visit every couple of months. Forsome sick reason, I really like New York. There's a lot of crazy peopledoing strange things on the streets, but there's also a lot of creative forceshere. "I went to do an interview this morning for my radio show and it startedraining. By the time I had walked six blocks I was looking terrible, andit suddenly occurred to me that I would never present myself like that inCalifornia. In New York, who gives a damn if you've got water on youwhen you come to work? On the West Coast, the things that aren'timportant they seem to put on pedestals. " Her radio show, which shestarted this year, is a nationally syndicated five-minute interview spotcalled _Tune In With Lucie_. >From 1967 to 1972 she was a regular on her mother's TV show, _Here'sLucy_. She has made countless guest appearances on other shows, andperformed lead roles in numerous musicals. Her parents, Lucille Ball andDesi Arnaz Sr. , were divorced more than a decade ago and have bothremarried. "My mother was here for opening night, then she stayed a couple of daysin New York. But she gets too lonely when my brother Desi and I goaway for too long. He was here for most of the summer. He was doinga movie called _How To Pick Up Girls_. He played the guy whosupposedly knew all about it -- one of the two stars. He said, "It's funny, I meet girls on the street, and New York has the most beautiful girls inthe world, and when they ask me what I'm doing here and I tell them thename of the movie, they walk away and say, 'You dirty toad!'" Desi alsoplays the groom in the new Robert Altman film, _A Wedding_. "My father is now putting an album together of the music that wasrecorded for the old _Lucy Show_. Salsa music is coming back now, sohe's been asked to make an album of those tapes. " Speaking of her hobbies, Lucie noted that "recently I started to build adarkroom in my house. The key word is started. It's hard to get the time.... And I have been writing songs for the last couple of years. I'm alyricist. I've sung them on things like _Mike Douglas_ and _Dinah_. " She enjoys all of New York, though at one time "the East Side gave methe ooga boogas. Then I found a couple of places there that were nice. "On the West Side, she likes to dine at La Cantina, Victor's Cafe, andYing, all on Columbus Avenue near 71st and 72nd Streets. When the five-minute warning sounded in her dressing room, Lucie hadto turn me out, but not before she divulged her philosophy about showbusiness. "Am I ambitious?" she echoed. "I don't know. There are peoplewho are willing to really knock the doors down and do just about anythingto get there. I'm not like that. Even now, when I go to the market, peoplecome up to me and say, 'Aren't you. ... ?' So I can imagine what itwould be like to be a superstar. No, I'm not really looking forward tothat. " ******** EASTSIDER ADRIEN ARPELAmerica's best-selling beauty author 3-29-80 As a young girl in Englewood, New Jersey, Adrien Arpel was determinedthat one day she would transform herself into a beautiful woman. Afterhaving her nose bobbed, she began to pester the ladies behind everycosmetic counter she could reach, and by the time she graduated fromhigh school at 17, she knew more than they did. That same year sheopened a small cosmetics shop in her hometown with $400 earned frombaby-sitting. Today, at 38, she is the president of a $12 million-a-yearcompany selling more than 100 beauty products throughout the U. S. AndEurope. Not content with mere business success, she recently turned her talent towriting her first book, Adrien Arpel's Three-Week CrashMakeover/Shapeover Beauty Program (1977). It was on the _New YorkTimes'_ best-seller list for six months, and is still selling briskly inpaperback. Miss Arpel received $275, 000 from Pocket Books for thereprint rights -- the most ever for a beauty book. "I have always been a rebel, " she proclaims regally, dressed in a stylishEdwardian outfit with padded shoulders at her midtown office. Quiteheavily made up, with hot pink lipstick and a Cleopatra hairdo, she looksconsiderably younger than her age. The strident quality of her voice isreminiscent of a Broadway chorus girl's, yet is delivered in a crisp, businesslike manner. During the interview she rarely smiles or strays fromthe question being asked. For some reason, she declines to say muchabout her new book, _How to Look 10 Years Younger_, which isscheduled for publication in April. Instead, she stresses the simple, common-sense rules about beauty that have guided her career from thebeginning. Probably her two most important innovations are her exclusive use ofnature-based, chemical-free products (chosen from leading Europeanhealth spas) and her policy of try-before-you-buy makeup. Complimentarymakeup is offered every time a customer gets a facial at one of thehundreds of Adrien Arpel salons, such as those on the first floor ofBloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue. Whenever she opens a new salon, Adrien spends the entire day on herfeet, doing upwards of 35 facials with her own pale, delicate hands. Upon being complimented for her attire, Miss Arpel gasps, "Thank you!"with schoolgirlish delight. There is something almost surreal in hercreamy white complexion. "I think sunbathing is absolutely deadly, andthat there is no reason in the world for a woman to sunbathe, " she says. Moments later, she admits that "high heel shoes are not very good foryou, " but that she wears them anyway, "because they're very fashionable. They are something that really can be a problem -- if they're pitchedwrong. If you have a good shoe and it's pitched well, you shouldn't havea problem" Does she think it would be a good idea for women to give up high heelsaltogether? "No, no. I don't think you'll ever get women to give upfashion. So we can tell what's problems, what's really hazardous, what'sgoing to be injurious to your health, and what's going to just hurt a littlebit. " She never thought of writing a book until about four years ago, saysArpel, because "every second when I was away from my business, I spentwith my daughter. Now my daughter's 16 and a half, and has a boyfriend, and goes out, and doesn't want to spend every minute with me. This allstarted when she was about 13. " Adrien and her husband, manufacturerRonald Newman, moved to the New York metropolitan area right afterthey were married in 1961, and acquired an Upper East Side apartmentlast summer. For her own health and beauty regimen, Adrien begins her typical daywith jumping rope. She thinks weight training for women is "terrific, " butconsiders jogging the best all-around exercise. "Now, jogging has itsnegatives. I get up very early in the morning, and if you jog while it's stilldark out, it can be dangerous. I also have long hair, and you have to washyour hair after you jog. So for someone that works, I find that I can onlydo it three days a week. " She has a facial twice weekly. "Facials are not luxuries. They arenecessities to peel off dead surface skin. ... Air pollution is the reason. Ifit wears away stone on buildings, think what it can do to the skin. " Afacial, she explains, consists of "all different sorts of hand massages todeep-cleanse the skin with coconut-like milk, or some sort of sea kelpcleanser. Then there's a skin vacuum which takes blackheads out --electric brushes with honey and almond scrubs which clean out the pores. And at the end, a mask. Nature-based again -- orange jelly, sea mud, orspearmint. " Arpel believes that a woman's makeup should be largely determined byher profession. She reveals a humorous side when asked whether a womanstockbroker, for example, should always dress conservatively. "Well, ifshe was wearing a see-through blouse and no bra in her office, I'dcertainly think she had poor taste, " she laughs. A nonsmoker who consumes little alcohol, she confesses to at least onevice: "I drink two cups of coffee in the morning, sometimes more. Alsonot wonderfully good for you -- but I never said I was a hundred percentgood. " ******** WESTSIDER ISAAC ASIMOVAuthor of 188 books 10-29-77 In 1965, when the Science Fiction Writers of America held a nationalconvention to vote on the best science fiction ever published in thiscountry, they sifted through hundreds of nominations dating back to the1920s before coming up with the winners. _Nightfall_ (1941) received themost votes for a short story and the _Foundation_ trilogy won for the bestseries of novels. The author of both works: Westsider Isaac Asimov. Had Asimov died 25 years ago, his fame would still be secure. But heremains more active than ever. He is, among other things, one of the mostprolific authors in the world, publishing an average of one book and threeor four magazine articles per month. He is sitting at an electric typewriter in his West 66th Street penthousewhen the doorman informs him that two visitors have arrived. Asimov isexpecting a single reporter; but he says OK, so my roommate JohnCimino and I get on the elevator. We stop at the 33rd floor. Asimov, cladin his undershirt, meets us at the door, hangs up our coats, and takes usinto the living room adjacent to his working area. Along one wall is aglass-enclosed bookcase containing the 188 books Asimov has written inhis 40-year literary career. "This is my section of the apartment, " he says. "The blinds are downbecause I always work by artificial light. " I tell him that John has comealong to ask questions about science -- Asimov is an expert in more than20 scientific disciplines -- while I will be asking about science fictionAsimov complies, and after about 10 minutes, he opens us completely andgives each answer with enthusiasm. He has lost a little weight recently, and in fact had a mild heart attackearlier this year, but Dr. Asimov is as creative as ever -- perhaps moreso. One of his latest projects is _Isaac Asimov's Science FictionMagazine_. It first appeared on the newsstands early in 1977 and hassince built up a broad readership throughout the U. S. , Canada and GreatBritain. "It was the idea of Joel Davis of Davis Publications, " says Asimov. "Hepublishes _Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine_, _Alfred Hitchcock'sMystery Magazine_, and many others. He decided that science fiction wasdoing well and that he wanted a science fiction magazine -- somethingwith the name of someone, like Ellery Queen. ... He asked me if I wasinterested. ... I wasn't really, because I had neither the time nor theinclination to edit the magazine. " Asimov found the time. He and Davis worked out a formula for theauthor to lend his name and picture to the magazine cover and to becomethe editorial director. Asimov writes the editorials and some of the fiction, answers readers' letters and helps with the story selection. GeorgeScithers, the editor, has a major role in deciding the magazine's contents. _Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine_ began as a quarterly and if allgoes well, will soon become a monthly. Some of its contributors arewriters in their 20s who are publishing their first stories. Containing manyillustrations and almost no advertising, the 200-page magazine is availableat numerous Westside newsstands for $1. Born in Russia and raised in Brooklyn, Asimov graduated from collegeand published his first short story while in his teens. For many years, hetaught biochemistry at Boston University. In 1970, he returned to NewYork and settled on the West Side. He is married to a psychiatrist andpsychoanalyst who practices under her maiden name of Dr. Janet Jeppson;her office is on the opposite end of the apartment. She too is a writer, having published a science fiction novel and some stories. "The West Side, as far as I'm concerned, has more good restaurants thanany other place on earth, though I have not been to Paris, " says Asimov, who hates flying. He made a trip to Europe last year on the QueenElizabeth II -- and came back on the return voyage. "It wasn't avacation, " he says. "I gave two talks each way and I wrote a book. " The IRS, he says, cannot believe that he doesn't take vacations. "In thelast seven years, " he testifies, there has been only one time -- two days inJune of 1975 -- that I went on a trip and didn't do a talk. And even then, I took some paper with me and worked on a murder mystery. You see, a vacation is doing what you want to do and to stop doing what you haveto do. .. But I like what I, so I'm on vacation 365 days a year. " Asimov's biggest writing project these days is his massive autobiography, which he expects to finish by the end of the year. "It will probably be intwo volumes, " says Asimov, grinning, "which is unreasonable, considering that I have led a very quiet life and not much has happenedto me. " * * * ISAAC ASIMOV: LITERARY WORKAHOLIC from _The Westsider_, 12-1-77 Morning has come to the West side. In a penthouse high above 66thStreet, a middle-aged man enters his study, pulled down the shades andfills the room with artificial light. Reference books at his elbow, he sitsdown at his electric typewriter and begins to tap out sentences at the rateof 90 words per minute. Fourteen hours later, his day's work complete, Dr. Isaac Asimov turns off the machine. In such a way has Asimov spent most of the past seven years, ever sincehe moved to the West Side from Boston. In a 40-year literary careerstretching back to his teens, he has written and published 188 books, including science fiction, science fact, history, mystery, and even guidesto Shakespeare and the Bible. Asimov has also written more than 1, 000magazine and newspaper articles, book introductions and speeches. Though his pen has never been silent since he sold his first piece of fictionto Amazing Stories in 1939, Asimov is now enjoying the most productiveperiod of his career. Since 1970 he has written 85 books -- an average ofone per month. He does not dictate his books; nor does he have asecretary. Asimov personally answers some 70 fan letters per week, andhe gives speeches frequently. He also finds time for the press. The following interview took place on a morning late in October in thesitting room adjoining his study. Along one wall was a bookcaseapproximately 6 by 8 feet containing Asimov's collected works. Question: Dr. Asimov, have you set any goals for yourself for the next 10years or so? Asimov: I'm afraid I don't generally look ahead. Right now myautobiography is the big project ... . I have no ambition whatsoeveroutside of my writing. I expect to write as long as I stay alive. Q: Could you say something about your autobiography? A: It's longer than I thought it would be. As soon as I get you out I'mgoing to deliver pages 1374 to 1500 to Doubleday. I'm hoping to get itfinished by the end of the year ... . It will probably be in two volumes --which is unreasonable, considering that I've led a very quiet life and notmuch has happened to me. I guess the only thing is that I tend to go onand on when I'm on my favorite subject. Q: What made you choose the West Side to live? A: I can't honestly say I chose the West Side. When I came to NewYork in 1970, I lived where I could, which happened to be the West Side. But now that I'm here, I like it. I was brought up in New York and wentto Columbia ... . I've always identified myself with Manhattan. Mypublishers -- almost all of them are in Manhattan. Taxis are available atany time. I West Side, as far as I'm concerned, has more good restaurantswithin walked distance than any other place on earth, though I have notbeen to Paris. I have learned to tolerate the traffic and the pollution andthe litter. When I go to the East Side it looks dull by comparison. Q: I see that your science fiction story "Nightfall" has been made intoa record Albert. And I also remember the movie version of your_Fantastic Voyage_. Do you have plans for making movies or recordingsout of your other science fiction works -- for example, the _Foundation_series? A: Fantastic Voyage was the other way around; my book was made fromthe picture ... . The Foundation series has been turned into a radio showin Great Britain. There have been other stories of mine which were turnedinto radio shows in the 1950s. I have expensive pictures under option. Whether anything will turn up in the future I don't know, and to beperfectly honest, I don't care. I am perfectly happy with my writing careeras it is. I have complete control over my books. When something is putinto the movies it can be changed, often for the worse. I might get nothingout of it both money, and I have enough money to get by. Q: How to did the new Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine getstarted? A: It was the idea of Joel Davis of Davis Publications. He publishesEllery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and many others. He decided that science fiction was doing well and hewanted a science fiction magazine -- something with the name of someone. He had seen me, because I had brought in some stories for Ellery Queen. He asked me if I was interested ... . I wasn't really, because I had neitherthe time nor the inclination to edit the magazine. So he hired GeorgeScithers to be the editor and made me the editorial director ... . It's beena quarterly to begin with. The fifth issue, which will go on sale inDecember, will be the first of the bimonthly issues. After the second yearit will be a monthly if all things go well. Q: Could you tell me something about your family life? A: My wife is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and she has her officein the other end of this apartment. She's the director of training at theWilliam Alanson White Institute on West 74th Street. The name shepractices under is Dr. Janet O. Jeppson -- that's her maiden name. It'sMrs. Asimov but Dr. Jeppson. She's also a writer. She's published ascience fiction novel and a few short stories and has a mystery novel she'strying to sell. Q: Do you stimulate her writing by your own work? A: If anything, I inhibit it. She was a writer for years before she metme. If she weren't married to me, she would probably write more. In fact, I encourage her. But it's hard when your husband writes as fast as he cantype and publishes everything he writes. Q: Do you have any children? A: Yes, I have two children by my first marriage -- a boy 26 and a girl22. He's working at a gas station and the girl is a senior at Boston College... . When she left home at 15, I said the only thing I ask of her was notto smoke. So she's done that. What else she does, I don't know, but shedoesn't smoke. Q: I realize that you are considered an authority in at least 20 branchesof science. Have you ever done in original scientific research? Q: I am still assistant professor of biochemistry at Boston University, though I no longer teach. Yes, I did original research from 1946 to 1958... . I could not with honesty say I accomplished anything of importance. I am not a first-rank researcher -- perhaps not even a second-rankresearcher. It surprised me too. I found that my heart was in writing. Q: Where do you go for vacation? A: I don't go on vacation really. I sometimes go off to do a talk and Itry to make that a little vacation. I work. In the last seven years there hasbeen only one time -- two days in June of 1975 -- that I didn't do a talk. And even then I took some paper with me and worked on a murdermystery. You see, a vacation is doing what you want to do and to stopdoing what you have to do ... . But I like what I do, so I'm on vacation365 days a year. If I had to play volleyball, fish, etcetera, that would bereal work. In fact, the IRS can't believe I don't take vacations. If they canfigure out how to write one book a month and still take vacations ... . Ido travel, although I never fly. Last year I crossed the ocean on the QEIIwithout stopping. But, I gave two talks each way and I wrote a book. Q: Since you live week three blocks of Lincoln Center, do you attend theperforming arts? A: I am a very ill-rounded person. I am fascinated by what I do. Andwhat I have done is to try to take all knowledge for my province, but Ihave tended to concentrate on science, mathematics and history. In regardto art, I can't even say I know what I like. Q: What do you think of abolishing mandatory retirement, as Congressis considering? What will it like when people keep working indefinitely? A: That was the condition until the 1930s. This forced retirement is aproduct of the Great Depression. We're moving back to situation that hasalways existed for mankind, which is to let people work as long as theycan. If the birthrate continues to go down the percentage of young peoplewill be smaller. I think that computerization and automation will altercompletely the concept of what is work. We're not going to think of jobsthe same way as we used to. Q: Do you think you could ever retire? A: There might well come a time, if I live long enough, when I can nolonger write publishable material. Then I will have to write for my ownamusement. Rex Stout's last book was written when he was 88 years old. P. G. Wodehouse was writing pretty well in his early 90s. Agatha Christiewas falling off in her 80s ... . I had a heart attack this year. I might keepwriting for another 30 years. But if for some reason I am no longer ableto write, then it will certainly take all the terrors of dying away, so therewill be that silver lining ... . So far, I detect no falling off of my abilities. In fact, this year my story "The Bicentennial Man" won all the awards. "Is there anything also you'd like to ask me?" Said Asimov when I hadrun out of questions. At that moment the telephone rang: he told his callerthat no, he would, regrettably, be unable to accept an invitation to speakat Virginia because it was too far to go by grain. "It's more my loss thanyours, " he said. When I assured Asimov that there were no more questions, he disappearedinto his study and emerged with a copy of his latest science fiction book, The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories. He signed it and presented it tome. As he walked me to the elevator he took a peek at his watch. Hisparting comment was: Let's see, I have to be downtown at 11:30. Thatgives me 1:30 minutes to dress and 10 minutes to write. " ******** WESTSIDER GEORGE BALANCHINEArtistic director of the New York City Ballet 11-26-77 To some people he is known as the Shakespeare of dance -- a title that heprobably deserves more than anyone else now living. But to his friendsand colleagues, he is simply "Mr. B" -- George Balanchine, the agelessRussian-born and trained choreographic genius whose zest for living ismatched only by his humility and his sense of humor. Balanchine has almost single-handedly transplanted ballet to American soiland made it flourish. What's more, he has played the central role inmaking New York the dance capital of the world, which it undeniably istoday for both classical and modern dance. Now in his 30th consecutive year as artistic director of the New York CityBallet, Mr. B. Shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to directmost of the dances for his 92-member company and to create newchoreographic works of daring originality. He continues to teach at theSchool of American Ballet, which he cofounded in 1934 with LincolnKirstein. And Balanchine can still, when he chooses, write out the partsfor all the instruments of the orchestra. Yet he thinks of himself more asa craftsman than a creator, and often compares his work to that of a cookor cabinetmaker -- two crafts, by the way, in which he is rather skilled. I meet George Balanchine backstage at the New York State Theatre duringan intermission of one of the season's first ballets. It's not hard to guesswhich man is Balanchine from a distance because, as usual, he issurrounded by young dancers. When he turns to face me, I see that he isdressed simply but with a touch of European elegance. The man is smallof stature and quite frail in appearance. His English is strongly accentedyet easy to understand. A smile seems to be forever playing on his lips, and when he converses with someone, he gives that person his full, undivided attention. "Why has dance become so popular in New York?" He gazes at me fromthe depths of his eyes. "I don't know why. People get used to us. It took30 years to train New York, " he says with feeling. "Maybe you can trainLos Angeles. You cannot train Boston. You cannot train Philadelphia --there are too many big men with big cigars. " Soon he is improvising on the theme. "Certainly New York isrepresentative of America. All America should pay taxes in New York tomake it beautiful. Because in Europe, everybody wants to be in New Yorkto show off. ... I think that I will suggest to senators and presidents andeverybody to pay taxes to New York. " Mr. B, who left his native St. Petersburg in 1924 and spent the next nineyears working as a ballet master throughout Europe, was persuaded by theAmerican dance connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein to come to the U. S. In1933. Since then, Balanchine has toured the world with the New YorkCity Ballet. He finds the home crowd, however, to be the mostappreciative. "We are here 25 weeks, " he explains. "It's always packed. In Paris, youcannot last two weeks. In Los Angeles, in London, they do not like thedance so much as here. In San Francisco, there were five people in theaudience. We showed them everything. They don't care. They're snobs. They only want a name. In New York, it's different. In New York, theylike the thing for itself. " Balanchine does not write down his dances. How, then, does he remembersuch works as _Prodigal Son_, which he created almost 50 years ago andrevived this season for the New York City Ballet? "How do youremember prayers?" he says in response. "You just remember. LikePepperidge Farm. I know Pepperidge Farm. I remember everything. " He dislikes excessive terminology. "I used to be a dance director, " he saysin mock lament. "Now I have become a choreographer. Choreographer isthe wrong title. Because dance is like poetry, see?" _Prodigal Son_, in which the biblical story is danced out dramatically, isan example of a ballet with a plot. But the majority of Balanchine's worksare based purely on music and movement. "The literary thing does notalways work, " he says. "You cannot move. There's very few stories youcan do. " Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky are the composers he most likes to use fornew dance works. The late Igor Stravinsky, a fellow Russian expatriatewho was his longtime friend and collaborator, once described Balanchine'schoreography as "a series of dialogues perfectly complimentary to andcoordinated with the dialogues of the music. " In spite of his fondness for Russian composers, Balanchine has nohesitation in naming Fred Astaire as his favorite dancer. "No, I don't usehis ideas because he's an individual. " says Balanchine. "You cannot usehis ideas because only he can dance them. There is nobody like that. People are not like that anymore. " A resident of West 67th Street, Balanchine shows even more than hisusual exuberance when speaking of the West Side. "It's the best side. It'slike the Rive Gauche (in Paris). We have the best hotels, like the Empire, the best restaurants -- Le Poulailler (W. 65th St. ) has such good Frenchcooking. " "We have no strikes here, nothing, " he continues, grinning widely. "Everybody's very nice, friendly. They help each other. I inviteeverybody on the East Side to come here. They don't come becausethey're snobs. The West Side? It's the cleanest side. Also there is nocrime here. There's no police here. " died 4-30-83, born 1-22-04. ******** WESTSIDER CLIVE BARNESDrama and dance critic 10-1-77 He's still the most famous drama critic in America, if not the world. His name has not yet disappeared from the subway walls or from the signsin front of the theatres along Broadway. And even though Clive Barneswas recently replaced as the _New York Times'_ drama critic, he remainsthe most-quoted authority in the newspaper ads. He is still the _Times'_dance critic. He still does his daily radio spot on theatre for WQXRRadio. He still lectures around the country and writes a column for the_London Times_. At 50, Barnes does not mind the slightly calmer pacehis life has taken. "I don't know why I was replaced, " he says. "Papers have these policydecisions. I suppose they wanted a change. They wanted to split the twodesks, dance and drama. " A refined, affable Englishman, Clive Barnes welcomes me into his WestEnd Avenue home and invites me to sit down and have some coffee forfive minutes while he puts the finishing touches on an article. His slim, attractive wife Trish and his 15-year-old son Christopher talk to him whilehe works. Soon the article is finished and he is relaxed in an armchair, ready to answer questions. He holds a pen in his lap and occasionallyclicks it as we talk. "Really, I much prefer New York to London, " says Barnes, who spent thefirst 38 years of his life in the British capital. "I'll never leave New York, ever. When I first came here visiting before I came here to live, I adoredit. It's just been a very long love affair between myself and the city. " Born the son of a London ambulance driver, Barnes won a scholarship toOxford University, and while a student there began to write reviews ontheatre and dance. Following graduation, he worked in city planning for10 years while moonlighting as a critic of theatre, dance, films and music. Thus he built up a reservoir of knowledge in all the major performingarts. In 1965, several years after Barnes got into full-time journalism, hewas doing such an impressive job as dance critic for the _London Times_that the _New York Times_ made him a handsome salary offer to fill thesame role for them. Two years later the _Times_ offered him the post ofdrama critic as well. Barnes kept the dual role until this year, when the"new" _New York Times_ asked him to concentrate strictly on dance. "Certainly American dance is the most important in the world, and hasbeen for at least 25 years, " he says. "The reason for this is that you havea very strong classical tradition, as well as a very strong modern dancetradition. This is the only country in the world that has these twotraditions, and they intermesh, so that you have George Balanchine on oneside and Martha Graham on the other. This means that American danceis astonishingly rich. " Barnes feels that Americans' television-viewing habits have made themmore appreciative of the subtleties of dance movement: "That same kindof visual orientation that has made spectator sports what they are spinsoff, and spreads over to things like dance. " He notes that dance in NewYork appeals more to the young -- to people who have been reared ontelevision. Broadway audiences, on the other hand, "tend to bemenopausal, and opera audiences to be geriatric. " Barnes finds the West Side the ideal place to live because of its proximityto his work. Trish, herself an expert on dance, usually accompanies himto opening-night performances. "We can get to any Broadway theatre in10 minutes, " he says, "or walk to Lincoln Center. I can get to the paperin about 10 minutes. The West Side has changed a little over the years. I think it's gotten rather nice. " On nights off, Barnes enjoys going to the Metropolitan Opera or to amovie. His son Christopher loves rock music and hates drama. He alsohas a 14-year-old daughter, Maya. The family enjoys dining at manyrestaurants in the Lincoln Center area, including Le Poulailler on 65thStreet near Columbus. I ask Barnes if he can think of any plays that have been forced to closebecause of unkind reviews. "That would presume it was an important playwhich the critics misunderstood and killed, " he says. "I don't think thishas actually happened. A play that gets awful notices by everyone is notthe victim of a vast critical conspiracy. It's usually a bad play. HaroldPinter's _The Birthday Party_ got bad notices in London but it recoveredand went on and became successful. " For those who miss Barnes' views on theatre in the _Times_, his radiobroadcast can be heard on WQXR (1560 AM and 96. 3 FM) Mondaythrough Friday, right after the 11 p. M. News. Trish, Clive's biggest supporter, has no complaints about being the wifeof a celebrity. "It's very enjoyable, actually, " she says with a wide smile. "You meet fascinating people and see all the best things there are to see. " ******** WESTSIDER FRANZ BECKENBAUERNorth America's most valuable soccer player 8-5-78 Last October, when Brazilian soccer virtuoso Pel‚ played his final gameas a professional, nearly 76, 000 fans filed into Giant Stadium in EastRutherford, New Jersey to bid farewell to the man who had almost singlehandedly transformed soccer into a major American sport. It was a fittingcap to Pel‚'s career that his team, the Cosmos, won the North AmericanSoccer League championship last season over 23 other teams. But while the Brazilian superstar was reaping most of the publicity, oneof his teammates, Franz Beckenbauer, was quietly getting things done. Itwas probably he, more than anyone else, who won the title for theCosmos -- not by scoring goals, but by controlling the midfield with hispinpoint touch passes and setting up the offense to go in for the shot. In May, 1977, he shocked the sports world by quitting his West Germanteam, Bayern Munich, and signing a $2. 8 million contract to play with theCosmos for four years. And though he missed one-third of the 1977season, Franz still received last year's Most Valuable Player award for aleague encompassing 600 players from around the world. This seasonagain, thanks largely to his efforts, the Cosmos clinched their division titleand are a heavy favorite to repeat their victory in the Soccer Bowl -- theSuper Bowl of soccer. This year the Soccer Bowl will be held in GiantStadium on August 27. To be in that game, the Cosmos must first win inthe playoffs, which begin on August 8. Beckenbauer is so famous in Germany that he finds it impossible to leada private life there. His fame is well deserved: Franz starred for the WestGerman national team in the 1966 World Cup finals and the 1970semifinals, and captained the team when it won the World Cup in 1974. During his 12 seasons with Bayern Munich of the German Soccer League, he was named German Footballer of the Year four times and EuropeanFootballer of the Year twice, and was runner-up on two other occasions. But Franz is somewhat of a quiet, shy man, who does not like thelimelight. In New York he can be himself, and walk the streetsundisturbed, thinking about his wife and three children in Switzerland, who will be joining him this month for a long visit. I meet Franz on a July afternoon after a practice at Giant Stadium. As wesit talking in the locker room, many of his teammates walk by and waveto him or call his name. He is an extremely popular fellow both on andoff the field -- which explains why 72, 000 people showed up for a gamelast May commemorating Franz Beckenbauer Day. With his courtlymanners, he has rightfully earned the nickname "Kaiser Franz. " He could speak almost no English when he arrived in New York less thantwo years ago at the age of 31, but has learned remarkably quickly. "Mymind was, soccer in the United States, it's easier to play. But it's not soeasy as I expect, " he says, in his slightly hesitant but perfectlyunderstandable speech. "You have so different things, like Astroturf. Youhave to play in the summertime. It's so hot. You have to make big trips, like to Los Angeles. Sometimes it's more difficult to play here than inEurope. " When asked to compare soccer with American football, he says, "Youcan't compare. It's a much different sport. As an American footballer, you must be not a normal man. You must be maybe 200 pounds, and 6foot 3, 6 foot 4 or 5. Everybody can play soccer -- big, tall, small -- if heis skilled enough, if he has the brain to play. "I started when I was 3, 4, 5 years old. I don't know exactly. But youknow, after the war, nobody has money. Soccer is the cheapest sport. Nocourts, nothing. So we all start to play soccer, and after I was 10 yearsold, I went to a little club in Munich. When I was 13 years old, I movedto Bayern, Munich, and when I was 18, I was a professional. " Franz smiles at the mention of Manhattan. "When I signed the contract, they asked me where I wanted to stay. In the suburbs? I said no, I wantto stay in the city. A friend of mine knows a businessman who livesbeside the Central Park. He is most of the year outside the country. Theapartment was free, and he let me have it for six months. I was verylucky. I like to walk around the park to watch the people. I have been toLincoln Center a few times, and of course different shows on Broadway. But I never saw a city like New York. You have so many goodrestaurants. It's unbelievable. " During the off-season, Franz does some promotional work for bothMercedes-Benz and Adidas, the sporting goods company thatmanufactures, among other things, a Franz Beckenbauer soccer shoe. Asa result, Franz, who will be 33 next month, is not at all worried about hisfuture. "You know, when I started with soccer as a professional, " he explains, "Ihad an aim. I said when I'm finished with soccer, my life will bedifferent. I can say, 'I want to do this and this, ' and not 'I must do this. 'When I finish my career, I would like to go through the United States ina mobile with my family, to see all the states. That's for sure. " ******** WESTSIDER HIMAN BROWNCreator of the _CBS Radio Mystery Theater_ 5-10-80 During the 1930s, a comedy called _The Rise of the Goldbergs_ wassecond only to _Amos & Andy_ as the most popular radio show inAmerica. Its success was due largely to the efforts of a young man fromBrooklyn named Himan Brown, who co-produced the series, sold it toNBC and did the voice of Mr. Goldberg. He had started in radio dramawhile in his teens, and soon after graduating from Brooklyn Law Schoolas valedictorian, decided to make radio, not law, his career. During the next three decades, as producer of _Inner Sanctum Mysteries_, _The Thin Man_, _Grand Central Station_, _Nero Wolfe_ and otherseries, Brown became the Norman Lear of radio. But by 1959, it was allover: the last network radio drama was forced off the air by the onslaughtof television. Brown, however, kept up a personal crusade for radio, pounding on the desks of every broadcast executive he could reach. Fourteen years later, in January 1974, his dream was realized, and radiodrama was reborn with the _CBS Radio Mystery Theater_. The 52-minute show, it turned out, was long overdue. Within weeks, CBSreceived 200, 000 fan letters from listeners. Currently the _Radio MysteryTheater_ can be heard in New York on Monday through Friday at 7:07p. M. On station WMCA (570 AM). It is heard seven nights a week onapproximately 250 other stations across the country. Brown, theproducer/director, oversees every phase of the operation, from hiring thewriters and actors to directing and recording sessions from a control boothat the CBS studios. "I have never stopped believing, " he says, "that the spoken word and theimagination of the listener are infinitely stronger and more dramatic thananything television can offer. " He is a silvery-haired, distinguishedlooking gentleman with a mischievous twinkle in hie eye and an endlesscapacity for humor. Ruddy-complexioned and vigorous, dressed in a graypinstripe suit and a crimson tie, he approaches his work with an infectiousenthusiasm. On a typical weekday, Brown arrives at the sound studio at 9 a. M. Witha batch of scripts under his arm, which he hands out to a group of actorsassembled around a table. Many are stars of the stage or screen -- TammyGrimes, Julie Harris, Tony Roberts, Fred Gwynn, Bobby Morse, RobertaMaxwell, Joan Hackett. "I get the best actors in the world, right here inNew York, " he notes with pride. "They work for me in the daytime andon Broadway at night. " As the cast members go through a cold reading. Brown interjects hiscomments: "Do a little more with that. ... Don't swallow your wordsthere. ... Cross out that line. " The actors laugh and joke their waythrough the session; Brown is the biggest jokester of all. Finally everyonetakes a break before doing the actual taping. Brown calls his 91-year-oldmother on the telephone and speaks to her in Yiddish for some time. Thenhe answers a questions about his discoveries in sound effects. "In the 1930s I was doing _Dick Tracy_, a very popular show. For soundeffects we had several doors. One of them screaked, no matter what wedid to it. I like to think that door was talking to us, saying, 'Make me astar, '" he says with a smile. The creaking door later became the signature for _Inner SanctumMysteries_, and is now employed as the introductory note for the _RadioMystery Theater_, along with host E. G. Marshall's compelling greeting:"Come _in_. " Himan Brown also created the sound of London's foghornsand Big Ben for _Bulldog Drummond_, the laugh of the fat Nero Wolfe, and the never-to-be-forgotten train that roared under Park Avenue intoGrand Central Station. When the recording session get underway, Brown observes the performersthrough the thick glass of the control booth as they stand around amicrophone, reading their line with animation. From time to time he stopsthe action and repeats parts of a scene. "It's all spliced togetherafterwards, " he explains. In the late 1940s, Brown began to produce television dramas, such as_Lights Out_ and the _Chevy Mystery Show_. He built a large TV studioon West 26th Street for that purpose, which for many years he has leasedto CBS for filming the soap opera _The Guiding Light_. For most of his career, Brown has been a resident of the Upper WestSide. The father of two, he is married to Shirley Goodman, executive vicepresident of the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has long beeninvolved in community affairs and charitable organizations, including theFederation of Jewish Philanthropies, the National Urban League and theNational Conference of Social Work. Brown is constantly in demand asa public speaker, a fund-raiser, and a creator of multimedia presentations. His plans for 1980 include reviving the _Adventure Theater_, a children'sradio with that he last did in 1977. "The best thing about radio drama, "he joyfully concludes, "is that we can take you anywhere, unhampered bysets, production costs, locations, makeup, costumes, or memorizing lines, and make you believe everything we put on the air. ... The screen in yourhead is much bigger than the biggest giant screen ever made. It gives youan experience no other form of theatre can duplicate. It's the theatre of themind. " ******** FERRIS BUTLERCreator, writer and producer of _Waste Meat News_ 4-7-79 Every Saturday at 11:30 p. M. , millions of Americans tune in to what isindisputably the boldest, the most innovative, and frequently the mosttasteless comedy show on television -- NBC's _Saturday Night Live_. Butfor the 400, 000 residents of Manhattan who have cable TV, there isanother program -- also aired at 11:30, but on Sunday evening -- that is, in its own way, even more offbeat. Known as _Waste Meat News_, the half-hour satiric revue has been aregular feature of Channel D since April, 1976, when a young Westsidernamed Ferris Butler decided that he had the talent to write, direct, andproduce his own comedy series, even without money and film equipment. Time has proven him right: last year, _TV World_ magazine discovered, in a poll of viewers, that _Waste Meat News_ is the most popular comedyprogram on cable, out of 150 public access shows. A tall, willowy, 27-year-old with a quizzical expression permanently fixedon his face, Ferris once worked as a part-time office boy at Channel 7's_Eyewitness News_, and there he came to the conclusion that "TV newsis nothing but throwaway scraps, like sausages or hot dogs. ... Very littleprotein, like waste meat. " Many of the skits he conceives have the same format as "straight" newsitems, but have been twisted by his imagination into somethingoutrageous. In place of the standard weather reports, for example, thereis Ferris' "Leather Weather Girl, " in which a girl is tied to a table, herbody representing a map of the world. The weather reporter, while telling about an impending onslaught of rainand snow, dramatizes his points by pouring a pitcher of water over thegirl, smothering her with shaving cream, and finally applying a blowdryer to evaporate the messes while explaining that a warm air front willfollow. Other skits include "Swedish Grease, " "Music to Eat Rice By, "and "The Adversaries, " in which two actors wearing grotesque masksdebate the question: should monsters be allowed to kill people, or justfrighten them? Ideas for skits, says Ferris, come to him any time of night or day, nowthat he has "stopped working at any legitimate job. I watch a lot oftelevision. But most of the time, I meander around the streets and justthink. "I remember when I got the idea for the foreign language cursingdetector. I was sitting on a bench in the park, smoking grass, when someforeign tourists came and sat down, and started talking about me inGerman like I was a bum. And I thought, why not have a portable sirenthat goes off whenever a swear word is spoken in any language?" He describes himself as "a very unregimented person who can't jive withthe mainstream industry. " This accounts for much of the spontaneity in_Waste Meat News_. The performers sometimes don't see the scripts untilthe taping session. Each segment requires several run-throughs before itis smooth enough to be filmed. Frequently the filming goes on far into thenight. Although the show is done with a single camera and half-inchvideotape, the final result makes up in charm what it lacks in professionalgloss. "Maybe I'm a little rough in the way I produce it, " says Ferris, "but I'mbeing a pioneer and I'm not worried about perfection as long as theaudience has a positive reaction. " His cast is an irregular group of about 15 unpaid actors and actresses, most of them young. Two current stars of _Waste Meat News_ are PatProfito, a master of comedy who injects an infectious vitality into all ofhis performances, and Laura Suarez, a Strassberg-trained actress andformer Playboy Bunny who frequently portrays the naive sexpot whocrops up in many of Ferris' sketches. Most of the filming is done on the Upper West Side -- usually on thestreet or in someone's apartment, but also in such diverse places as stores, restaurants, the waterfront, boiler rooms and lobbies. A recent skit wasshot at a Westside swimming pool; it features Pat Profito as a swimminginstructor who teaches three bikini-clad beauties his "jump-in-and-swim"method, in which he pushes them into the pool and expects them to swiminstinctively, or drown. Ferris, who grew up in Queens and Brooklyn "and departed as soon aswas possible, " studied filmmaking at New York University under MartinScorsese and was encouraged to pursue comedy writing. For the past fiveyears he has been married to Beverly Ross, a composer with many hits toher credit including "Lollipop. " It's 10 seconds before midnight on Sunday evening. Time once again forFerris to bid his viewers goodnight. "And remember: stay alienated, staywiped out, and stay wasted. " ******** EASTSIDER SAMMY CAHNOscar-winning lyricist 3-10-79 "I've never written a song that didn't almost write itself, " says SammyCahn, one of the world's most successful lyricists of popular songs. "I'mlike the catalyst. It's like I start the boulder down the hill, but after that, there's only one place it can go. I'm always thrilled by the adventure offinding the lyric and leading it to a happy conclusion. If I come to theslightest impasse, I've learned to stop, and look around and see whatneeds to be done around the house. Then I come back, and it's so easy. You can't go into combat with a lyric. " Over the past four decades, his songs have received four Oscars and morethan 30 Oscar nominations. Among his numerous hits, written incollaboration with six different melodists, are "Three Coins in aFountain, " "Love and Marriage, " "Call Me Irresponsible" and "Let ItSnow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" His musicals include _AnchorsAweigh_ and _High Button Shoes_. As a performer, he has the distinctionof making his Broadway debut in 1974 at the age of 60, in a one-manshow with backup musicians titled _Words and Music_, in which he sanghis own material and told colorful stories about his life and career. For hisperformance, Sammy won the Outer Circle Critic's Award for Best NewTalent on Broadway, as well as a Theatre World Award. Since then, hehas been in great demand all over the country as an entertainer. Small, wiry and energetic -- he describes himself as "all glasses andmustache" -- he is utterly without pretension, and seems as much at homewith strangers on the street as he is with royalty (last year he sang forEngland's Prince Charles). He manages to embrace both worlds byinvolving himself in many projects simultaneously. Born on "the lowest part of the Lower East Side, " he now has anapartment in the East 60s with his wife Tita, a fashion designer. He hasanother residence in Los Angeles, and spends about the same number ofdays each year in the two homes. Recently Sammy completed the songs for a new cartoon film of _Heidi_and a series of songs for _Sesame Street_. He also works as a consultantfor Faberge, and has a large office in the company's East Sideheadquarters. As president of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Sammydevotes much of his time to publicizing the non-profit organization'smuseum on the eighth floor of One Times Square. It is open Mondaythrough Saturday from 11 a. M. To 3 p. M. , and admission is free. Herecently met with the producer of the Broadway musical _Annie_ todiscuss writing a new musical. He gives generously to many charitablecauses. But the majority of his time these days goes to writing and performingspecial lyrics for special occasions -- usually parodies of his own hitsongs. Sometimes he does this for profit, and sometimes for love. He waspaid handsomely to prepare a birthday celebration for Ray Kroc, the headof Mcdonald's. But a couple of weeks ago, when a man wrote to Sammytelling him how much his songs had meant to him and his wife over theyears, and asking him to please write some personalized lyrics for their18th wedding anniversary, Sammy was "just enough of an idiot to sitdown and do it. " He works exclusively at the typewriter. "I have become almost audacious. When I put a piece of paper in the typewriter, I know that the completedsong will be on that page. I'm very grateful to the man who inventedCorrectotype and liquid paper. I start to type as soon as I get up, and Ithink about songs all day long. When I sleep at night, I sleep with anearplug in my ear, tuned to WCBS or WINS radio. They're both newsstations. The radio distracts me: it stops me from thinking about lyrics. " As we are talking, Sammy keeps remembering telephone calls he needsto make, but he keeps them brief and to the point. As soon as he hangsup, our conversation jumps immediately back to the previous subject, asif there had been no interruption. He is extremely quick-minded -- to theextent that his thoughts sometimes race ahead of him, and his sentenceslose their structure. In speaking of his son, a very successful jazz guitaristwho performs under the name Steve Khan, Sammy comments: "Now, myson -- brace yourself -- my son -- this is one of my great, greatachievements -- my fame is coming from a very curious source. Peoplecome up to me and say, 'You're Steve Kahn's father?'" Asked about the satisfaction he has gotten from songwriting, Sammyinsists that he can't imagine a more rewarding career. "I once told that toa college audience and a boy said, 'I'm studying to be a lawyer. What'swrong with that?' I said, 'Nothing, but who walks down the streethumming a lawsuit?'" ******** WESTSIDER HUGH CAREYGovernor of New York state 9-16-78 It was 5 p. M. On the Friday before Labor Day. Governor Hugh Carey satalone in his office on West 55th Street, rubbing his forehead wearily withboth hands when his assistant press secretary, Judy Deich, ushered me in. The introductions were brief, and the governor spoke very rapidly, keeping is eyes on the table in front of him, where he was scrawlingpencil lines in geometric patterns on a piece of blank paper, as if tomaintain his concentration. The Governor had been up for 12 hours, and his voice occasionally fadedto a whisper, but he answered all the questions with a flair and displayeda sincere manner throughout. Sitting kitty-corner to me at a conferencetable, he looked smaller and thinner than his photographs. He also lookedlike one of the tiredest, most overworked men I had ever met. "I have been staying on the West Side a lot since last September, " he said. "That's when my sons Donald and Michael got an apartment near CentralPark. They're kind enough to put me up there. We have the usual tenants'complaints about the leaky ceilings and peeling paint. All in all, it's agood building. I find more and more advantages to living on the WestSide. I like it because of the accessibility to work and because I jog inCentral Park. "One of my headaches is Central Park. Some of my colleagues would liketo make it a national park. It's the city's biggest showplace. ... I want toget the automobiles out of there more and more. In the morning, I see allthe New Jersey cars coming through. That's why I want Westway below42d Street -- so it will take more pressure off the city. ... I wish everyonewould realize that Westway is not a road. It's a recessed highway -- moreof a tunnel. " Speaking frankly of the problem of ex-mental patients in parts of the WestSide, Carey said that "we have indexed all the SRO's. That was neverdone before. ... The homeless people who live on the street are not thewards of the state. We can't just go out and pick them up. ... If they needsome kind of health care, they should be taken to a shelter and givenhealth care. If they resist, we will have peace officers to take care ofthem. That's something I'm doing with Mayor Koch. " Ever since he defeated Nelson Rockefeller's appointed successor, MalcolmWilson, in 1974, Hugh Carey has become well known for both hisconservative moral code and his unswerving fiscal restraint. Born on April11, 1919, to an Irish Catholic family in Brooklyn, Carey grew up withfive brothers believing in certain principles that he has never abandoned. These moral principles have become the foundation of his controversialstands on the death penalty and abortion. "I am against the death penalty, " said Carey, "because the government canmake a mistake. A sentence of life without parole is better. There are sixpeople now walking around the state who were condemned to death andlater proven innocent. One is named Zimmy and he works on the WestSide in a garment factory. Somebody should ask him what he thinks aboutthe death penalty. He's alive because somebody confessed. "I oppose abortion personally. But the Supreme Court upheld that it's thechoice of a woman of her own free will, and I support that ruling. In NewYork, the state pays for it if it's a matter of medical necessity. Otherwise, there might be a mangled body in a back alley. ... I'm also advocating analternative -- a teenage pregnancy bill, where girls can have a babywithout shame and go back to school. It's the most common reason fordropouts among teenagers. " During World War II, Hugh Carey fought in France, Belgium, Hollandand Germany, and attained the rank of major. After the service, heworked for many years as an executive in his brother Edward's PeerlessOil and Chemical Corporation. Not until 1960, when he was 41 years old, did Carey decide to run for political office. He won his first congressionalrace and during the 1960s developed a national reputation for his liberalattitude on education, and programs for the elderly and handicapped. His life has twice been touched by deep personal tragedy in recent years. An automobile accident in 1969 took the lives of his two eldest sons, andcancer claimed his wife Helen in 1974. A man who loves the company ofother people, Carey enjoys such simple pleasures as cooking with friendsand singing with his children. Asked about the chief difference between himself and Republicanchallenger Perry Duryea, the governor replied with obvious glee: "I can'tthink of anything we have in common. ... I'll knock the Y right out of hisname before I'm finished. " Generally known to be at his best in times of crisis, Carey said thatwhenever the pressures of his office become too great for him to handlealone, he drops into the chapel and asks for help. "It's a matter of privacyto me; I go where I'm not seen, " he said. "I need help quite a lot. Also, I believe that New York is a very special place, with a resourcefulnessthat can't be matched anywhere in the world. When people have cometogether as New Yorkers, they have done amazing things. " ******** WESTSIDER CRAIG CLAIBORNEFood editor of the _New York Times_ 3-10-79 "To be a good restaurant critic, you shouldn't have a conscience, " saysCraig Claiborne, food editor of the _New York Times_. "I used to visitrestaurants twice a day, frequently seven days a week, and lie awakebrooding about whether my reviews were honest -- whether I was hurtingsomebody who didn't deserve to be hurt. " Recognized throughout the United States as the father of modernrestaurant criticism, Claiborne joined the _Times_ in 1957, and shortlythereafter was given the go-ahead to write reviews based on a four-starsystem. "The _New York Times_ made the decision. I was theinstrument. It was the first newspaper that allowed a restaurant critic tosay anything he wanted. It took a lot of guts, when a newspaper dependson advertising. " A 58-year-old bachelor whose soft voice still carries strong traces of hisnative Mississippi, Claiborne has few of the characteristics generallyimagined of a Timesman. He is a true bon vivant, and does not appear totake himself or his work too seriously. He prefers to be called by his firstname, is not a particularly fashionable dresser, and spends as little timeas possible in Manhattan. In his lighter moods, such as that in which Ifind him on the day of our interview, he delights in telling jokes that areclassics of schoolyard humor. The punch line, more often than not, isdrowned by his own uproarious laughter. Although he has maintained a Westside apartment for the past nine years, Claiborne spends most of his time at his house in East Hampton, LongIsland, next door to Pierre Franey, one of the greatest French chefs inAmerica, who, since 1974, has co-authored Claiborne's food articles forthe _New York Times_ Sunday magazine. Recently he purchased a larger, more modern house about 15 minutes from Franey, which he plans tooccupy shortly. The pair cook together about five times a week. Claibornecalls the house "my Taj Mahal -- my Xanadu. " He explains his jovial mood by saying that the night before, he attendeda big dinner party for restaurateur Joe Baum at the Four Seasons. "It wasan everybody-bring-something dinner. Jim Beard brought bread. I broughtsaviche (marinated raw fish), and Gael Greene brought some chocolatedessert. I got roaring drunk. " In spite of his earthiness, Claiborne unquestionably ranks as one of theleading food authorities of his time. His articles, which appear in the_Times_ each Monday, Wednesday and Sunday, cover every subject fromthe particulars of a dinner for Chinese Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping inWashington (where Claiborne saw a rock group he had never heard ofcalled the Osmonds) to the six most creative ways of preparing scallops. He has written numerous best-selling cookbooks, and he often travelsaround the world on fact-finding missions. Claiborne's rise from obscurity to the most prestigious food job inAmerica astonished no one more than himself, since his principalqualifications were a B. A. In journalism and one year's training at a hoteland restaurant school in Switzerland. However, the _Times_ knew exactlywhat they were looking for when Jane Nickerson retired in 1957, andClaiborne quickly proved to be the man of the hour. He threw himselfinto his work with boundless energy, writing no less than five columns aweek, but his relationship with the newspaper eventually became a lovehate affair. "Things came to the point where I couldn't go to a restaurantat night unless I came home here and had at least four Scotch and sodasand four martinis. And at this point, I took myself off to Africa. I stayedat the Stanley Hotel in Kenya, and I came back and said, 'Give me mybenefits. I'm quitting this place. ' They thought I was kidding. " He wasn't. Claiborne left the paper for almost two years. "Then the_Times_ came to me and said, 'Would you come back under anycircumstances?' And I must confess that I felt a great emotional relief. "He agreed to return if the paper would have someone else do the localrestaurant reviews; he also requested that his neighbor and cooking partnerPierre Franey share the Sunday byline. The conditions were immediatelymet. Claiborne's Westside apartment is painted green from floor to ceiling --thus fulfilling an old fantasy of his. He describes the apartment itself as"gently shabby, " but says that the building, constructed in 1883, is "thegreatest residency in the entire island of Manhattan. You're catty-cornerfrom Carnegie Hall, you're six minutes by foot from Lincoln Center, youcan walk to any place on Broadway within seconds, and there are veryfew restaurants you couldn't get to within five minutes of this place. " Hisfavorite restaurant in all of Manhattan is the Shun Lee Palace (155 E. 55thSt. ), while two other favorites on the West Side are the Russian TeaRoom and the Fuji Restaurant (238 W. 56th). Asked about other interests or hobbies, Claiborne smiles mischievouslyand replies: "I'm having a $6000 Bolton stereo system put into my newXanadu. You can clap your hands and change the tapes or records. I lovemusic and sex and food, and outside of that, forget it!" ******** WESTSIDER MARC CONNELLYActor, director, producer, novelist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist 1-7-78 Eleven years ago, during my senior year in high school, I saw a moviejust before Christmas that made a deep impression. It was a film of astage play called _The Green Pastures_ -- a fascinating look at life inbiblical times, performed by an all-black cast. The memory of that film remained in my consciousness like a religiousexperience, although I never knew who wrote the play or when it waswritten. So it was a welcome surprise to learn that this week's interviewwould be with the play's author, Marc Connelly. Connelly was born in a small Pennsylvania town in 1890, the son of a pairof travelling actors. He wrote _The Green Pastures_ in 1930; it won thatyear's Pulitzer Prize for drama. In his 70-year career Connelly has writtendozens of plays. One of the most versatile talents in the American theatre, he has excelled as an actor, director, producer, playwriting professor atYale, and popular lecturer. He has written musicals, stage plays, moviescripts and radio plays. He was one of the original staff members of the _New Yorker_ magazine, and became part of the famous round table at the Algonquin Hotel. Oneof his short stories won an O. Henry award. His first novel was publishedwhen he was 74 years old. Today, still an active playwright, he livespeacefully at Central Park West, comfortable in his role as an elderstatesman of American letters. I feel a certain freedom about repeating the comments Connelly madeduring our interview because the first thing he said at the door was "Inever read anything about myself. ... It's not modesty; it's more terror --for fear that some dark secret will emerge. " Yes, he said, he's very busy these days. "I've just completed a comedywhich I'm waiting to have done. I'd rather not mention the title before itcomes out. It's a comic fantasy. " He recently taped an appearance on the _Dick Cavett Show_, which willbe aired sometime this month. And he's working on a musical version of_Farmer Takes A Wife_, a Broadway play that he co-authored in 1934. It became a successful film the next year, with Henry Fonda's screenpremiere. "They're always reviving my plays. Last summer they did _Merton of theMovies_ (which he wrote with George F. Kaufman in 1922) in that bigtheatre complex in Los Angeles. It was quite successful. The boy thatplays John-Boy on the Waltons played Merton. It was quite good; I wentto see it. " Much as Connelly dislikes certain TV shows, he thinks very highly of TVas a medium: "It's good, it's good. I like three or four shows. _Mash_ iswonderful. I like _Maude_ every now and then. And Carol Burnett. Imight like _Kojak_ if it didn't run every five minutes. Three times a nightis too much for any TV show. " Any anecdotes about the "Vicious Circle" of the Algonquin Hotel -- whosemembers included Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Alexander Woollcott and George Kaufman? "Oh, I don't want to talkabout the round table, " he said. "Every time you turn around there's anew book about the round table. ... I've written about George Kaufmanand so have a hundred other people. It might be that he might get out ofhis grave and club us all for writing about him. " Although _The Green Pastures_ is considered an American classic, it isnow performed only by school and amateur companies. Its depiction ofplantation life has become offensive to socially conscious blacks. "Thereare Negro snobs, " explained Connelly, "just like there are Irish snobs andJewish snobs. As soon as people get in a position of economic power, they become sensitive about the way they are shown on the stage. It's avery human, inevitable reaction. " However, he thinks that his masterwork is as valid today as ever. "It's astatement about the fact that man has been hunting the divine in himselfever since he became a conscious animal. And this is the story of oneaspect of his search for the divine in himself. " Connelly attends Broadway "when there's something I feel I want to see. I walk out on quite a few. Theatre is just as strong today. A seasonal cropmay be poor, but theatre itself is healthy. It's probably the greatest socialinstrument man ever invented. All religions have sprung from thetheatre. " A Westsider since about 1920, Marc Connelly named Schwartz's CandyStore on West 72nd as one of his favorite neighborhood businesses. "It'sone of the finest candy shops in New York, " he said. "You can see myportrait there. And the A&P at 68th and Broadway. There's a checkoutgirl there named Noreen who's one of the best checkout girls inAmerica. " The interview came to an end when I again asked Connelly abouttelevision. Does he approve of it? "Of course, " he said. "Any new publicaddition is going to be condemned. They used to say, 'Don't go to themovies. ... You'll go blind. ' We're not blind and we still watch them. " ******** EASTSIDER TONY CRAIGStar of _The Edge of Night_ 1-26-79 Although Los Angeles has long since taken over prime-time TVprogramming, New York is still the headquarters for daytime drama --also known as soap opera. Of the 13 "soaps, " 10 are filmed in New York, and of these 10, five have been on the small screen since the 1950s, including _The Edge of Night_, which debuted in 1956. The show's crime/mystery format has not changed much over the years, but one thing that has changed, of course, is the cast of characters. TonyCraig, who plays attorney Draper Scott, joined the show in November, 1975, and since then he has become one of the most popular male starsin daytime television. Tony owes his success not only to his good looks and his acting ability, but also to his likable off-camera personality. Upon meeting Tony on theset of _The Edge of Night_ during a busy shooting session, I cannot helpnoticing the affection that the other cast members display toward him. Hisability to get along with everyone involved with the show -- especiallyproducer Nick Nicholson, and headwriter Henry Slesar -- has enabledTony to develop the role of Draper Scott into one of the four leadingcharacters. "I was given a piece of advice when I started, " says Tony. "One: keep toyour business and do what you're told, and two, answer your fan mail. Ianswer all my fan mail with a very personal response. ... In the _NationalStar_, I once said I was looking for Miss Right, and I got inundated withletters. Some people sent plane ticket, asking me to come and see them. " As we sit down to talk in one of the dressing rooms, Tony puts on a tieand jacket for an upcoming bar scene, but because only his top half willbe shown on camera, he does not bother to change out of his blue jeansand running shoes. Tall, athletically built and boyish in appearance, hediscusses his work with an infectious enthusiasm. "The closer I get to the character, the more I see that he and I are verymuch alike, " says Tony in his rapid speech. "It's funny, the way I'veassimilated him and he's assimilated me. It's like the dummy in _Magic_. The character has gone from a very impetuous, aggressive, almost nastyyoung man to a very quiet, strong, very reserved lawyer. It's changed tothe point where I'm a pillar of the community. Whenever there's aproblem, call Draper. "I think I allow Tony a little more anger, a little more frustration, thanDraper allows himself. ... I'm very normal, I'm very average, I'm veryaggressive. Some people would say pushy. But I do what I have to. " Approximately 260 half-hour shows are filmed each year for _The Edgeof Night_, and Tony appears in most of them. He starts his day bystudying lines -- "we have about a week ahead to go over the script" --and then goes to the studio on East 44th Street, where each scene gets justone run-through before the final taping. A quick learner, Tony finds that"I have plenty of time to do what I want. " Last year he launched asuccessful musical nightclub act and performed in two stage plays by NeilSimon -- _Barefoot in the Park_ with Maureen O'Sullivan and _The StarSpangled Girl_. Another important aspect of Tony's life is sports. When growing up inPittsburgh, he says, "all I ever wanted was to be an athlete. My whole lifewas baseball. But I just wasn't good enough. " Now he works out threetimes a week at the 21st Century Health Club on East 57th Street, jogs, plays tennis and racquetball, and is on the softball and basketball teams ofboth _The Edge of Night_ and the _ABC Eyewitness News_. Says Tony:"The _Eyewitness News_ team plays all over the tri-state area and givesthe proceeds to charity. " Unlike his TV character, who recently brought up the ratings by marryingthe beautiful April Cavanaugh (played by Terry Davis), Tony lives alonein an Upper East Side apartment. "How can I put this without soundingfull of beans and self-pity?" He remarks. "I find that life is a lot moreexciting when you share it with somebody. ... The girl I'm dating now isa news reporter in Baltimore, Jeanne Downey. Long distance isn't thenext best thing to being there, believe me. " When Tony won the part of Draper Scott over 200 other actors, he wasworking part-time as a bartender at Joe Allen's in the theatre district. "Iwas doing commercials and a lot of modeling -- nothing significant. Before this show, I'd never made more than $1, 200 a year from acting. I didn't expect to get the part, because they wanted someone in his mid40s. They rewrote the script for a younger attorney. My agent signed meup on a lark. That just goes to show: when it happens, it happens. " Tony hates to cook -- which is fine with the restaurateurs in his area. Hisfavorite dining spot is La Bonne Soupe (3rd Ave. , 57th-58th St. ): theyhave the prettiest waitresses and most pleasant food. " Asked about the lasting value of soap opera, he quickly replies: "I believetelevision has an obligation to do nothing but entertain. Everything ontelevision, even news, is show business. If it weren't, they wouldn't haveratings and handsome newsmen. " Anyone wishing to hear from Tony should write to him at ABC, 1330Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. ******** EASTSIDER RODNEY DANGERFIELDThe comedian and the man 1-6-79 He was 43 years old when the big break came. Jack Roy, a paint salesmanfrom Queens who did comedy in his spare time, stood before the camerasof the _Ed Sullivan Show_ and delivered a routine that soon had theaudience helpless with laughter. Whether they realized they werewitnessing the birth of one of comedy's brightest stars is uncertain. Butfor Jack Roy -- better known as Rodney Dangerfield -- the long wait wasover. His unique brand of humor caught on immediately. Within a year he wasable to quit the paint business -- "it was a colorless job" -- and give hisfull time to comedy. After 10 appearances with Sullivan he went on _TheTonight Show_, and established such a smooth rapport with JohnnyCarson that he has so far been invited back about 60 times. With Carsonacting as "straight man, " Dangerfield tosses off a string of outrageousanecdotes that are in keeping with his image as a man who seems to havethe whole world against him. The afternoon I meet Rodney Dangerfield at his spacious modern EastSide apartment is like a day straight out of his monologue. Coming to thedoor dressed in a polka dot robe and looking quite exhausted, heapologizes by saying that he has been up since 8 in the morning -- earlyfor someone who is accustomed to working past 4 a. M. As we sit downto talk, he answers most of my questions with an unexpected seriousness. Still, the humor creeps in around the edges. "I have an image to feed. Most comedians don't, " he says with a yawn, sprawled out on the sofa like a bear prematurely woken from hibernation. "If I see something or read something that starts me thinking, I try to turnit around, and ask myself: How can it go wrong for me now? What canhappen here? For example, you're watching something on television. Yousee Lindbergh on the screen. Your mind is on that TV. ... You get norespect at all. You see the paper flying all over the place. You say, I getno respect at all. I got arrested for littering at a ticker tape parade. "Rickles has an image. Steve Martin has an image. But most don't. A lotof comedians buy their material. Others take someone else's material andsteal it. We don't go into that, though. " Being a professional funny man, says Rodney, "is a completely totalsacrifice. It's like dope: you have to do it. ... The curse is to be aperfectionist. " He writes at least 90 percent of his act. Whenever an original joke flashesinto his mind, he drops whatever he's doing and jots it down. ("I get norespect. On my wedding night I got arrested for having a girl in myroom. ") Before a new gag can be thought worthy of _The Tonight Show_, it must be tested and retested before a live audience. This is no problem, for Rodney is constantly in demand all over the North Americancontinent, not only as a nightclub performer but also as a lecturer atcolleges. Last June he was invited to give the commencement address atHarvard. "It's a strange thing, " he remarks. "Kids are into me. " One probable reason for his appeal with the young is that Rodney has twochildren of his own, an 18-year-old son in college and a 14-year-olddaughter who lives at home. It was mainly to lighten his travel scheduleand enable him to spend more time with his children that Rodney openedhis own nightclub nine years ago. Known simply as Dangerfield's, it islocated on First Avenue between 61st and 62nd Streets. Dangerfield's isespecially popular with out-of-town visitors. Among the celebrities whohave been spotted there: Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Joe Namath, TellySavalas and Led Zeppelin. The entertainment usually consists of bothmusic and comedy -- Jackie Mason, singers Gene Barry and CarmenMacRae, and America's foremost political impressionist, David Frye. But the biggest attraction, of course, is Rodney himself. He will beplaying the club from January 5 until February 4, seven nights a week. There is an $8 cover charge and a $7 minimum on food and/or drink. Rodney has lived on the East Side since 1969. Born as Jacob Cohen 57years ago in Babylon, Long Island, he spent most of his boyhood and hisearly career in Queens. After graduating from Richmond Hill HighSchool, he changed his legal name to Jack Roy "because my father used'Roy' in vaudeville. " For years he worked small nightclubs for little or nopay. Then at 28 he married. "My wife was a singer. So we decided toboth quit show business and lead a normal life. That doesn't always workout. " The first "no respect" joke he ever wrote, says Rodney, was: "I playedhide and seek. They wouldn't even look for me. " The same basic gag hassince reappeared in a thousand variations. ("My twin brother forgot mybirthday. ") Rodney now earns a substantial part of his income by makingcommercials, the best known of which are for Mobil and Miller Lite beer. He has cut two comedy albums and written a pair of books, _I Don't GetNo Respect_ and _I Couldn't Stand My Wife's Cooking So I Opened aRestaurant. _ For the moment, Rodney has no plans for other books or albums. "Perhaps I'm not ambitious enough to pursue different things the way Ishould, " he confesses. "I'd rather spend my free time at the health club. The idea in life is not to see how much money you can die with. " Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. WESTSIDER JAN DE RUTHPartner of nudes and _Time_ covers 9-24-77 In 1955, when Jan De Ruth's painting reached the point where he couldsupport himself entirely by his brush and palette, he used to take singinglessons at 8 o'clock in the morning to make himself get up early. Todayhe gets up strictly to paint, and does so with such skill and efficiency thathe maintains a reputation as one of America's foremost painters of nudes, while still managing to turn out five or six commissioned portraits amonth. At 55 and in the zenith of his career, De Ruth is a mellow, dignifiedWestsider whose lively eyes reflect the deep intellect within. Hisachievements in the past two decades are enormous. His works havegraced nearly 70 one-man shows. His portraits of former First Lady PatNixon and other celebrity wives have appeared on the cover of _Time_magazine. He has written two widely popular books -- _Portrait Painting_and _Painting the Nude_. As we relax in the workroom of his West 67thStreet apartment, I begin by asking how he came to specialize in nudes. "I always knew I would paint women, " he says in a soft voice shaded withtones of his native Czechoslovakia. "In 1948, when I came to the UnitedStates, I started to paint nudes. " Is his choice of subject matter motivated by something other than art'ssake?" "The only person I think who may have these thoughts in mind ismyself, " he answers, smiling frankly, "because I always ask myselfwhether these reasons are purely artistic or do they come from the gut?I don't think there can be art unless it comes from the gut. " De Ruth's painting used to occupy him eight to 15 hours a day. Now heis down to about seven hours. He works very rapidly, with intenseconcentration. "I don't paint after the afternoon, " he explains, "exceptsometimes sketching at night. You exhaust your juices by the time eveningcomes along. " One person he used to sketch after hours was actress Karen Black, wholived in West 68th Street just across from his apartment. Says De Ruth:"she would sit in the in the windowsill in her bra and slip. Then one dayI called over to her, 'Would you like to get paid for this?' She rushedinside to get her glasses, and looked over at me, very surprised. Shebecame my model for some time. " For a woman to be an ideal nude model, said De Ruth, "she should begentle, as intelligent as possible, considerate, and somebody in the arts, or with the sensitivity of an artist. And she must be physically attractive. " How do the women who pose fully dressed for commissioned portraitscompare to the professional nude models? "They work better than mymodels usually, " says the artist, who has painted Ethel Kennedy, EleanorMcGovern, and the late Martha Mitchell for _Time_. "They're muchmore concerned to participate. I don't think it's necessarily something todo with vanity. It's much more curiosity. Because we never really knowuntil the day we die what we look like. Because we vary so much fromone time to another. " Ironically, Martha Mitchell -- wife of President Nixon's infamous attorneygeneral, John Mitchell -- posed for De Ruth inside the Watergate Buildingduring the height of her fame. "She had a certain peasant charm -- acharm of her own, " he recalls. A man who craves variety, De Ruth has for many years spent hissummers at a studio in Massachusetts. This past summer he began to teachpainting in New Mexico -- something he has wanted to try for a longtime. A passionate skier, he travels to Austria each winter to pursue thesport that he learned as a child, then gave up until his mid-40s. His other after-work activities? "I love to be in the company of women, "says the artist with a radiant smile, adding that he prefers their companywhen he's not painting them. The East Side, according to the artist, is "a city in itself. There's asterility over there, at least for me. I just can't see myself without thismixture that the West Side is. " De Ruth has been going to the sameChinese laundry for 28 years -- Jack's on Columbus Avenue. Anotherbusiness he has patronized all that time is Schneider's Art Supplies at 75thStreet and Columbus. As the interview comes to a close, I ask De Ruth what advice he wouldgive to an aspiring young artist. "Never be discouraged by anyone oranything, " he says. Then, to balance his remarks, he relates an anecdoteabout an art student who asked Degas what he could do to help the worldof art. Replied Degas: "Stop painting. " ******** WESTSIDER MIGNON DUNNThe Met's super mezzo 3-8-80 Don't look for opera posters, photographs or reviews on the walls ofMignon Dunn's Westside apartment. The Tennessee-born MetropolitanOpera star, one of the world's most sought-after mezzo-sopranos since theearly 1970s, prefers to keep her two lives separate. She has no scrapbooksand saves no clippings. "I look forward to what I'm doing tomorrow, " sheexplains. "I don't like those stand-up-and-sing roles. I loves to play wicked women. But you have to make them just as human as possible, " she continues, hergold jewelry jingling as she settles onto the sofa. Tall and attractive, withlarge, expressive features, Miss Dunn is hospitality personified as shetalks about her life and career over a glass of wine. This season at the Met she starred in both _Lohengrin_ and _Elektra_. Inthe spring she will appear in _Aida_ on the Met tour, and perform therole of Kundry in _Parsifal_ with Germany's Hamburg Opera. After thatshe plans some orchestral and opera concerts across the country. Longpraised for her dramatic talents as well as her vocal skills, Miss Dunn hasalready signed contracts for performances into 1984. Although a few noted operas, such as _Carmen_, _Samson et Dalila_, and_Joan of Arc_, have a mezzo in the title role, most operas feature thehigher-voiced soprano in the lead and a mezzo in a character role. "Wemay not have the main roles, but we have some of the best parts in_opera_, " she says in her rich Southern accent, shouting the last word asif from an overflow of energy. "Not many of the roles I get today areangelic. It's often the 'other woman, ' or the woman who causes thetrouble. " Married since 1972 to Kurt Klippstatter, a conductor and music directorfrom Austria, Miss Dunn has never had any children of her own, somewhat to her regret. But she and her husband frequently have theirnephews and nieces staying for extended periods. "Our niece Evi, fromAustria, is living with us now. She's like a little daughter, and I adoreher. She's 18, and she's going to go to nursing school. " Mignon and Kurtare a very gregarious couple who enjoy throwing huge dinner parties. Mignon's cooking, like her singing, is international. "I cook Austrian. I cook New Orleans. I cook some nice Italian andFrench things. I'm going to be in Paris later this year for six weeks, andI really seriously want to go to the Cordon Bleu Cooking School, and takeat least a three-week course. " Around the late 1960s she was based in Germany for several years. There, says Dunn, many new operas are premiered each year, while in the U. S. They are a rarity. "It all comes back to the fact that we don't havegovernment subsidy. We have to worry about selling tickets. Opera is anexpensive thing, and until we get this government support -- which peoplefor some reason are afraid of -- we cannot be as experimental as wewould like to be. " Brought up on a cotton plantation in Memphis, she entered her firstsinging contest at the age of 9 and spent most Saturday afternoons in hergirlhood listening with rapt attention to the Metropolitan Opera broadcaston the radio. Immediately following her high school graduation, she wasauditioned by Met scouts and encouraged to go to New York. There, afterseveral years of study, she won a national competition that launched hercareer. Dunn spent part of three seasons with the New York City Opera beforejoining the Met. It was many years, however, before her talents were fullyappreciated there. "It only took me 11 auditions to get into the New YorkCity Opera, and at least that many at the Met. So take heart, everybody, "she says, laughing merrily. She has made numerous opera recordings, including the role of Susan B. Anthony in Virgil Thompson's _The Mother of Us All_ and Maddalenain _Rigoletto_. "I don't ever listen to my recordings, " she says whenasked to name her favorite. "I listen to the playbacks, when I can dosomething about it. But I don't listen to recordings afterwards becausethere's nothing that I can do about it, and I know I'm going to find amillion things that I don't like. " Mignon and her husband recently bought a house in Connecticut, but theywill keep their Westside apartment. "We have three acres, " she saysproudly. "I hope we'll get a couple of horses and I would love a goat. Ilove goats. They're so cute. I love animals -- we have a Great Dane anda Labrador -- and I'm very much into the business with the AnimalProtection Institute. Most of the experiments that are done with animalstoday: there's just no reason for it. ... I mean, I don't think we needanother shampoo on the market, really. " Her voice rises with feeling as she pursues the subject. "It is really theslavery of today. People don't have any feelings for animals, and I'm justrabid. I really am. It is so _disgraceful_. Anytime anybody wants me todo a benefit for animals, just call me and I'll do it any day I've got free. I would like to do more benefits. Actually, I'm hardly ever asked to, butif I were asked, I would do it. " ******** EASTSIDER DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR. A man for all seasons 7-14-79 Six times he has received an advance to write his autobiography, and sixtimes he has returned the money because of the enormity of the task. Thelife of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Is too rich and varied to be condensed intoa one-volume narrative. The only child of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. , America's first great matineeidol, he has acted in more than 75 feature films, produced 160 televisionplays and a dozen movies, performed in countless stage plays andmusicals, made numerous recordings, written screenplays, published hisarticles and drawings in many of the nation's leading magazines, andgiven his time freely to at least 50 public service organizations. Tencountries on four continents have presented him with major awards for hisdiplomatic and philanthropic activities. "One morning I woke up and said, 'I suppose I must have retired, '" notesthe tanned, vigorous 69-year-old at his Madison Avenue office, frombehind his huge antique desk with brass lions' heads for drawer pulls. Butin our long discussion, it becomes obvious that he has never actuallyretired, either as an entertainer or as a force in public affairs. His officeis fairly cluttered with mementoes of his world travels -- swords, statuettes, novelty lamps, old photographs, oversized travel books. Thewhite-haired, melodious-voiced actor sits looking very comfortable as hetells about his ongoing stage career. "My favorite type of work right now is doing plays for limited periods. In 1940 I gave up stage acting, but in 1968 I did the first big revival of_My Fair Lady_, and since then I have been in several other plays. Thissummer I'm doing _My Fair Lady_ again in Reno for eight to 10 weeks.... I didn't want to copy Rex Harrison, but I was prevailed upon byLerner and Loewe to do this. I've known them since before they kneweach other. They're going to make a number of adjustments for me. Myother project, which is still in the planning stages, is a new Broadwayshow. But it's really too soon to talk about it. " On August 13, the classic 1939 film _Gunga Din_, in which Fairbanks costars with Cary Grant, will be shown at 9 p. M. On Channel 9 with a singlecommercial-interruption. His other hit films include _Sinbad the Sailor_and _The Prisoner of Zenda. _ He acted in his first movie in 1923 whilebarely in his teens, and in 1932 he was designated a star. He continued tomake films until 1941, when he joined the U. S. Armed forces and servedfor more than five years. Then he resumed his film career with muchsuccess before turning his hand to producing in 1952. "Everybody misuses the word 'star' today, " he explains. "Legally, it onlymeans having your name above the title. There's no such thing as asuperstar. That's a term we have let creep into the language. ActuallyCharlie Chaplin may have been a superstar, but he's one of the very few. "He laughs and tells about another aspect of modern-day moviemaking thatamuses him. "Very few of the great producers in the past paid anyattention to credits at all. Now, they all like to get their names in thebilling and in the ads, as big as the stars' names -- as if anybody careswho made the film!" Asked whether his career was helped by having a famous father in themovie business, he replies that "the advantages were ephemeral. Theywere limited to people being polite and nice, but that wouldn't necessarilylead to any jobs. It usually meant that I would be underpaid rather thanoverpaid, and they would expect more of me. By the time I became a star, my father had already retired. " His stepmother Mary Pickford, "America's sweetheart, " who died in Mayat the age of 86, joined with Douglas Fairbanks Sr. , Charlie Chaplin andD. W. Griffith in 1919 to found United Artists. The following year shemarried Fairbanks, and together they virtually ruled Hollywood. DouglasJunior, who became close to his father only in his late teens, grew up inNew York, Hollywood, London and Paris -- which helps to explain hislove for travel and his endless quest for variety. As the creative force behind the acclaimed TV series _Douglas FairbanksPresents_, he produced an average of 32 one-hour films a year from 1952and 1957. "My studio manager had a heart attack and my story editor hada nervous breakdown, just from the pressure of getting out these films. Ithought I would be next, so I decided to quit, " he says. "They were veryelaborate productions. We used to have the scripts six months in advance. Now, if you start shooting on Tuesday, you'll get the script on Monday. " Today, with his multiple business interests and philanthropic pursuits, hemaintains a house in Florida, an office in London, and, since 1956, anapartment on the Upper East Side. He and his wife Mary have beenmarried for 40 years and have three daughters, two of whom live inEngland. His overall career, concludes Fairbanks, "does not have a single theme, because it's been so diversified. It's been a series of themes. Maybe it'scacophonous. The things I find most interesting don't pay a penny. Butpossibly all my activities blended together have something to do with aperson who's got a lot of curiosity and energy and capacity to enjoy andappreciate life. " ******** WESTSIDER LEE FALKCreator of The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician 5-27-78 Who is the most widely read author in the world today? Not counting Chairman Mao, whose quotations are required reading forone-fourth of the earth's population, the honor probably belongs to adapper, soft-spoken man in his early 60s who could walk from hisWestside apartment all the way to Times Square without being recognized. He is not a familiar figure on book jackets or talk shows because Lee Falkhappens to be a comic strip writer. His two creations, The Phantom andMandrake the Magician, are published in more than 500 newspapers in 40countries. His daily readership: close to 100 million. "One of the few places in the world where my strips don't run is in NewYork City, " says Falk, leaning gently forward in his chair. "They ran inthe _New York Journal American_ for 25 years. That was the biggestafternoon paper in America until the newspaper strike, about 10 yearsago. Then it folded, as did most of New York's papers; we were left withthe _Times_, the _Post_, and the _Daily News_. But my strips do run in_El Diario_, the Spanish-language newspaper, and in the _New YorkNews World_. " He arrived in New York from Missouri during the Great Depression, while still in his teens, carrying a sample strip he had written and drawn. King Features bought Mandrake the Magician and two years later addedThe Phantom to their syndicate. In the beginning, Falk did both the drawing and the writing himself. "Then for a long time I used to make rough sketches and give them to myartists, " he recalls. "Now I just give a description of each panel. I mightsay 'close-up' or 'long shot' like you do in a film. Then I put in thedialogue. ... Some of my early artists are dead. They've gone on to theirreward -- to that big bar up in the sky, where all artists go. ... Nowthere's one group drawing my strips on Long Island, and another one onCape Cod. Very often I don't see them from one year to the next. Collaboration works best that way. " Since giving up his drawing pad, Falk has increased his literary outputmany times over. Besides doing all the writing for his strips for the past40-odd years -- which now takes up but a small part of his time -- he haswritten five novels and a dozen plays. He owns five theatres; he hasdirected about 100 plays and produced 300. None of his own dramaticworks has been a big commercial success, although one is currently doingwell in Paris. Then there was the comedy that he co-authored with ayoung American he met in Rome just before World War II. "It almostmade it to Broadway, " says Falk. "It was redone about two years ago onthe West Coast. My collaborator was there to see it too; we've remainedfriends to this day. You may have heard of the man. He's a senator fromCalifornia, the senate majority whip. His name is Alan Cranston. ... Yousee, it's best to save the punch line for the end. " Another of Falk's main pastimes is travel. He has visited enough islands, jungles, and out-of-the-way places to keep the story ideas flowing foryears to come, but his appetite is still unwhetted. Early this year he touredScandinavia, when "they were making a big fuss about the Phantom'smarriage. There were so many press conferences to attend. One guy mademe wear a mask, and the next day as I got on the plane, there was mypicture on the front page. I said, 'But your paper doesn't even run ThePhantom. ' He said, 'The Phantom belongs to all of Norway. '" In April of this year, Lee and his wife Elizabeth, a cosmetics executiveturned mystery writer, spent three weeks in the People's Republic ofChina. Ironically, although that is one of the few places in the worldwhere Falk's name is completely unknown, neither he nor anyone else inhis touring group could escape the public eye. "They were fascinated byseeing us, because for a whole generation the Chinese have been shut offfrom foreign visitors. They crowded around us 10 deep, and held up theirbabies. " An action-oriented man who loves to play tennis, ride his bicycle, and goswimming, Falk has lived on the West Side for over 20 years because "Ifind the East Side a little too chichi for my tastes. " Another Westsidecharacteristic he likes is the abundance of Puerto Rican residents:"They're very sweet, gentle people. ... [Deputy Mayor] Herman Badillois an old friend of mine. He knew my comic strips from Puerto Rico. " Lee Falk estimates that "over a period of 40 years I must have writtenabout 800 to 1, 000 stories. They would fill this whole room. " Where doeshe get his inspiration? "A lot of it comes from my travels. It's all grist forthe mill. Now and then I see something in the news and adapt it to myfeatures. For example, once I saw a story in _Life_ magazine about aSwiss scientist who was experimenting with back-breeding. He managedto breed some European cattle back to the original aurochs, which hasbeen extinct for several hundred years. ... I put his idea into Mandrake. A scientist started with a lizard and ended up with a dinosaur. " The veteran storyteller never gets tired of spinning his yarns. "I enjoy it. It's something I can do. ... Both The Phantom and Mandrake aretranslated into about 20 languages. After all these years, they're biggerthan ever -- except in this country, because we've lost so many papers. " ******** WESTSIDER BARRY FARBERRadio talkmaster and linguist 8-12-78 "Dull" is a word that could never be used to describe Barry Farber. Heis a totally unique individual with so many far-reaching ideas that hisconservative label seems to fit him poorly, even though it was as aconservative that he ran for mayor of New York last year and garneredalmost as many votes as his Republican opponent Roy Goodman. During that campaign, Barry quit the syndicated talk show on WOR Radiothat he had hosted for 16 years. In March of this year his mesmerizingSouthern drawl took over the 4 to 7 p. M. Monday to Friday time slot onWMCA (570 AM). The ratings have gone up at least 50% since he joinedthe station. I meet Barry for an interview one August afternoon at a Chineserestaurant near the studio. To my amazement he orders the meal entirelyin Cantonese. Then he withdraws a stack of index cards from his pocketon which are printed vocabulary words in Finnish, Italian, and Mandarinchinese -- a few of the 14 languages that he studies during spare momentsin his hectic work week. The lank 48-year-old, neatly garbed in a pin-stripe suit, is surprisinglylow-keyed in our hour-long conversation. Yet the verbal gems still trip asneatly off his tongue as they do when he's putting an irate telephone callerin his place, to the delight of radio listeners. Never hesitant to voice hisopinion on any topic, Barry pounces on my questions with an eagernessthat belies his calm exterior. New York's reputation outside the city limits, says the widely travelledFarber, has gone way downhill in recent decades. "It used to be, whereI grew up, that people would brag about coming to New York four timesa year. Today they brag about never coming here. The large companiessend their salesmen to Manhattan for a 45-minute conference like anEntebbe raid. ... New York needs not a slow, gradual, ho-hum comeback. It needs a dramatic voice who is going to say that the city's priorities forthe last 40 years have been wrong. New York is a sexy woman who'sbeen running around in the mud. Turn the hose on her and she's going toregain her allure. " The tax revolt, he believes, "should definitely come to New York. Youcannot expect to live as sinfully economically as we've lived, and avoida rampage. The politicians have brought this upon themselves. And don'tlet them get away with telling us that they have to cut police, firemen, andsanitation before they cut themselves, because they don't. "When John Lindsay was mayor, he flung back his head and inhaled thevapors of the 1960s. And it was left, baby, left. He bet his presidentialhopes on that. But in the last mayoral election, it was the conservativeswho did the best. Koch was the most conservative Democrat running. " His anticommunist sentiments come to the surface when the subject turnsto the 1980 Olympics. "I think we should have never allowed it inMoscow on the grounds that we have never had the Olympics in adictatorship in the modern era. I'd like to see the athletes of the worldsay, 'We're not going to Moscow to play sportive games by rules whenthe Russians live in violation of the rules of civilization itself. ' Russia isguilty of the world's worst cast of unsportsmanlike conduct. ... Yes, weshould pull out. But the Olympics is small potatoes. I say, start a newUnited Nations for the free countries of the world -- a UFN, a UnitedFree Nations, which shall be an association of all nations governed bylaw, of all free democracies that want to remain free. In 1945, we did notseek to build a fraternity of dictatorships where tinhorn tyrants wouldoutvote democracies 10 to one. " Barry has lived on the West Side ever since he came to the city fromGreensboro, North Carolina 21 years ago, and now occupies a 17-roompenthouse overlooking the Hudson River. "The West Side and the EastSide are like East Berlin and West Berlin in terms of the rigidity oflifestyle, " he says. "There's a feeling on the West Side that we don't haveto impress each other. We know where it's at. " Recently divorced from his Swedish wife, Barry makes frequent overnighttrips to Sweden to see his children. He has to be back at the WMCAstudio on Sunday at 11 a. M. For his four-hour live show with guests. Twoweeks ago, he asked Robert Violante, who was shot and partially blindedby Son of Sam, what it felt like to be shot in the head. Questions like thistend to provoke as many listeners as they fascinate, and that is why Barryprefers not to be too specific about his address. "I don't do a Merry Mailman kind of show, " he says with a half-smile. "One of my fantasies is to have a hit man from the Communist Party, theNazi Party, the PLO, and the Black Panthers approach me from fourdifferent directions and fire all at once -- and I duck. " ******** WESTSIDER SUZANNE FARRELLStar of the New York City Ballet 5-19-79 She arrived in New York like a fairy princess -- a wondrous creationwhose beauty and talent left audiences gaping in astonishment. At 16, shebecame the youngest person ever to join George Balanchine's New YorkCity Ballet, and at 19, she was promoted to the rank of principal dancer. Since that time, 14 seasons have come and gone, but Suzanne Farrell, thegirl from Cincinnati, is still the darling of America's foremost balletcompany. In a dressing room interview last week at the New York State Theatre, theslender, angelic-looking Miss Farrell spoke at length about her public andprivate life, quickly revealing the two qualities that have enabled her toremain one of the world's top ballerinas for so long. First is her boundlessenergy; second is her genuine love for people and the world of ballet. Warm, funny, and articulate about her art, she discussed with enthusiasmthe upcoming television special, _Choreography by Balanchine, PartOne_, which will be aired May 23 on Channel 13. "This is one of four programs we taped in Nashville, " she said, in a voiceas clear and melodic as an actress's. "The name of the ballet I'm in is_Tzigane_; the music is by Ravel. We did the finale before the beginningbecause they wanted to let go the four extra couples that were needed forthat part. It was very strange -- like having dessert before the meal. " Shelaughed lightly, tossing back her long, silky brown hair. "The TV studiois very small, and the camera sees things differently than the audience seeswhen you're on stage. Things that are done in a circle look like an oval. And diagonal movement has to be done in a straight line. " Suzanne's brightest moment in the program is a solo at the beginning, which she performs to the music of a solo violin. "One of the things I likeabout doing ballet on television is that you can reach many people whohave never seen live dance before. About two years ago I got a beautifulletter from an older man in Oklahoma who was certainly not in the habitof writing fan letters. Now, every time I tape a new program, I think ofthat man. "_Tzigane_ is one of my favorite ballets, because it was the first one thatBalanchine choreographed for me after I returned to the company in1974. " In 1969, Suzanne left the New York City Ballet and spent the next fourseasons with Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century in Brussels, Belgium. When she finally wrote to Balanchine to find out the chances ofdancing with him again, he simply asked when she could start. "In Brussels, the type of ballet they're used to is different, so they reactdifferently. If you were to give them a beautiful, wonderfully stark ballet, with little costume and scenery, they might not take to it as much. ... Butit was a good thing to have in my career. I demand that I get somethingconstructive out of any situation. Because life is so short that you can'tafford to not give everything, every time you go out there. " For the past 10 years she has been married to Paul Mejia, a former dancerwho is today the artistic director and choreographer for the Ballet deGuatemala, one of Latin America's major companies. Although the couplemust undergo some long separations, their marriage is a happy one. Spending time alone at her Lincoln Center area apartment does not botherSuzanne. With a steady diet of exercise classes, rehearsals andperformances, and her nine pets (eight cats and a dog), Suzanne has littletime to be lonely. "When I have a free night, it's terrible, " she lamented, "because everytime the phone rings, I think, 'Oh no, they want me for a performance. 'I dance just about every night. By the time I go to bed, it's about 2o'clock. I happen to get up about 6. ... On Monday, my free day, I teachat the American School of Ballet. It's such a shock to do twoperformances on Saturday and Sunday, and none on Monday. It's hardlyworth it, because the body can't adjust. ... I have always thought thatactors have it easier than dancers, because it doesn't matter so much howtired your body is: all you need is your mouth. " A Westsider for most of her career, Suzanne lists reading and cooking asher preferred pastimes: "I'm a great short-order cook. I think if I weren'ta dancer, I'd be a waitress. " Two local restaurants she likes to frequentare Rikyu (210 Columbus Ave. ) and Victor's Cafe (240 Columbus). Asked about her salary, Suzanne admitted that "you'll never make a lotof money in ballet. It's something we do because we love it, and we haveto do it to be happy. ... The sole attraction is working for Balanchine andthe New York City Ballet: that's something you can't put down in dollarsand cents. I just assume that the company is paying us as much as theycan. " She smiled radiantly and added: "Most dancers wouldn't know whatto do with a lot of money anyway, because they wouldn't have time tospend it. " ******** WESTSIDER JULES FEIFFERScreenwriter for _Popeye the Sailor_ 11-5-77 Imagine a movie starring Dustin Hoffman as Popeye the Sailor and LilyTomlin as his girlfriend Olive Oyl. Anyone who has seen the old Popeye cartoons, or the new computeranimated ones, might think that the fighting mariner does not have thedramatic qualities needed for a full-length film. But according toWestsider Jules Feiffer, who is now writing the script for _Popeye theSailor_, the original comic strip in the daily newspapers was the work of"an unrecognized genius. " E. C. Segar created Popeye and drew him from1924 to 1938. After that the character changed. Feiffer finds the originalstrip to be his biggest source of inspiration. "The cartoons, " says Feiffer, sitting on one arm of a chair in his RiversideDrive apartment, "exploit the violence between Popeye and Bluto. Thatwas never part of the strip. It's more along the lines of the traditionalcartoon of the 1940s, which could find nothing more interesting than onecharacter dismembering another. I didn't find that funny when I was a kidand I don't now. " Feiffer developed his unique style of humor long before he sold his firstcartoon. Today, though still perhaps best known as a cartoonist, he hasgained a reputation as a playwright for both the stage (_Knock, Knock_and _Little Murders_) and the screen (_Carnal Knowledge_). He is alsoa respected prose writer, having recently published his second novel, _Ackroyd_. A product of the Bronx, Feiffer recalls that after graduating from highschool he went through "a series of schlock jobs to buy food and drawingmaterials. And long periods of unemployment. " He planned all along tobecome a cartoonist. "I was prepared, " he says, "for the eventual successwhich I was certain was going to happen if my work remained true tomyself. " Feiffer spent several years as an assistant to other cartoonists and attendedtwo art schools. Still, no one would publish his work until a day in 1956when Feiffer, age 27, took a batch of his best 'toons to the office of anew, relatively unknown weekly called _The Village Voice_. They lovedhis work, and he became a regular contributor. "All other publications at that time had their own idea of their readership. And editors insisted on tailoring stories to their own taste. The _Voice_, "says Feiffer, "existed for the artist's taste and the writer's taste. It was atime when McCarthyism and the blacklist were rampant through everystrata of society. " The _Voice_ was then the only publication of its kind. It wrote aboutdissent; it was considered revolutionary, and Feiffer's weekly cartoonshelped it to maintain that image. Success came quickly to Feiffer after he joined the _Village Voice_: "Ithappened faster than I thought. It was only about three months or sobefore my work came to be talked about, and publishers began to offerbook contracts. " Syndication took place a few years later. Now thecartoon is carried by somewhat over 100 publications in every country ofthe western world and several in the Far East. Feiffer's cartoon takes him one day a week to conceive and draw. Duringthe other six days he works on his latest writing project. For three years-- until it was published this past summer -- that project was _Ackroyd_, an unconventional detective-type novel in which the characters are toohuman to keep their traditional roles as props for the detective'scleverness. The book is less suspenseful than a standard detective novel, but more revealing of human nature. One of the things that has been in my work for many years, " says Feiffer, "is people's need to communicate with each other not directly, but incode. ... Coded language is used to guide our lives, to frame ourrelationships with people. " Feiffer's main character takes the name RogerAckroyd and tries to become a private detective. Instead he gets "sointertwined with the coded life of his clients that he works on that for therest of his career. " _Ackroyd_ got extremely mixed reviews. "It's what I'm used to, " notesthe author. "Some reviews have been glowing. Others wondered what thehell the book was about and why I bothered to write it. " Feiffer takes thegood and the bad in stride, remembering what happened when his firstplay, _Little Murders_, opened on Broadway in 1967. "It got all negative reviews and closed in a week, " he recalls. "It wasimmediately done in London after that, which started the revival, becauseit was done very successfully. Then it was brought back to New York thefollowing year and it won all the awards. " In 1971 it was made into asuccessful film starring Elliott Gould and Marcia Rodd. An occasional theatregoer, Feiffer ends the interview on a customarydepressing note, saying that he is generally disappointed by even thebiggest hits in town. "I don't think of myself as a Broadway playwright, " he says. "I'd beashamed of that title. I don't think the Broadway theatre is very interestingor has been for the last 20 years. " ******** EASTSIDER GERALDINE FITZGERALDActress, director and singer 3-15-80 Anyone hearing her rasping, throaty, Irish-accented voice for the first timemight think she were suffering from laryngitis. But those who have cometo love and admire Geraldine Fitzgerald over the past 40 years hearnothing but earthy humanity in the voice. One of the most versatileactresses in America, as unorthodox as she is gifted, Miss Fitzgerald at66 remains at the height of her career, constantly juggling a variety ofprojects, as she says, "like somebody cooking a meal with many courses. " We're sitting in her Upper East Side living room, which is decorated inwhite from floor to ceiling -- carpet, chairs, tables, sofa, and even thetelevision. The only picture is a childhood portrait of her daughter SusanScheftel, now a 27-year-old graduate student. "I like light unimpeded, " explains Geraldine, her rosy face breaking intoits customary smile. "And if everything is white, it's different in themorning and it's different in the middle of the day, and it's different allthe time. " A slender, handsome woman with a penchant for long flowing skirts andbright lipstick, whose straight gray hair descends halfway down her back, Geraldine is soon talking about _Mass Appeal_, the two-character playthat she is directing at the Manhattan Theatre Club; it will open in midMay. "It's by a very young author called Bill Davis. We did it lastOctober at the Circle Rep Lab, and it was very successful, but it neededstrengthening points. So Bill has just completed the ninth draft. ... MiloO'Shea is going to star in it. He's Ireland's premier comedian and amagnificent dramatic actor too. " Miss Fitzgerald's next acting role will be in a play titled _Eve. _ "It'sabout a woman who runs away from home to seek her own internalfreedom, like Nora in _A Doll's House_. The only difference is, she's myage. So of course her options are few. And she goes right down to thebottom: she becomes a derelict. And then slowly, slowly, slowly shecomes up to find some kind of strength and independence. It's a drama, but a very comedic drama. " Her third major project at the moment is to prepare her acclaimed onewoman show, _Street Songs_, for a small Broadway house such as theRialto. She started to take singing lessons about 10 years ago, and introduced herone-woman nightclub act in 1975, employing her remarkable actingtechnique to make the songs personal and moving. She has performed theact at Reno Sweeney, at Lincoln Center, in a one-hour special for publictelevision, and at the White House for President and Mrs. Carter. "I don't sing what's called 'folk songs. ' People think I do. I sing songsthat are very -- winning. Because the songs that people sing when they'reon their own -- whether singing in the streets, singing in the shower, singing in the car -- they do not sing losing songs. We didn't know thatfor a long time. 'We' is Richard Maltby Jr. , who did _Ain'tMisbehavin'_. He's my colleague and partner and he directed it. "At first we couldn't understand why a marvelous song like 'LochLomond' was sort of rejected by the audience, and then a song like'Danny Boy', that you'd think everybody's sick of, was acceptable. Well, 'Danny Boy, ' believe it or not, is a winning song. At the end of it, thegirl says, 'Even if I'm dead, if you come back and you whisper that youlove me still, I'll hear you in my grave. ' And then I'll know that you'llbe beside me for eternity. Whereas 'Loch Lomond' starts off so well, buteach verse says 'But me and my true love will never meet again ... " She began her acting career at the Gate Theatre in Dublin while in herteens, came to the U. S. In 1937, and acted with Orson Welles' MercuryTheatre on the Air before heading for Hollywood, where she made suchclassic films as _Dark Victory, Watch on the Rhine_, and _WutheringHeights_, for which she received an Oscar nomination. In 1946 she settledon Manhattan's East Side, and has been based there ever since, althoughshe frequently returns to Hollywood to act in movies. Perhaps even better known for her stage roles, she names EugeneO'Neill's poignant, autobiographical _Long Day's Journey Into Night_ asher favorite play. When it was revived Off Broadway in 1971, herportrayal of the morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone became the biggest hitof her stage career. Miss Fitzgerald has recorded this play and others forCaedmon Records. Married to Stuart Scheftel, a wealthy executive and producer, she has oneson from a previous marriage, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the hugelysuccessful young director who was nominated for a Tony Award for_Whose Life is this Anyway?_ Miss Fitzgerald is the first actress ever toreceive the Handel Medallion, New York's highest cultural award. If Geraldine has one regret about her career, it is that it took her "somany decades to get up the courage to sing. Everybody told me not to, because I have such a funny voice. ... Then I realized that I needed avehicle for expressing what I feel about the world and about people thatwas very flexible, and was mine. And if the audience would put up withthe harsh sounds, then I could use it. And evidently they can, so if theycan now, I guess they always could. " ******** EASTSIDER JOAN FONTAINEActress turns author with _No Bed of Roses_ 12-30-78 The Oscar statuette stands on the end of a shelf about eight feet off thefloor, partially obscured by a row of books, its gold surface gleamingdully in the subdued light of the room. Below, in one of the apartment'sfour fireplaces, a small log is softly burning. This room, like the rest ofthe large, immaculate home, is furnished in the style of an early 20thcentury country manor. Here, in the heart of the Upper East Side, JoanFontaine has spent 15 years of an immensely productive life. I take a seaton one side of the fire, and Miss Fontaine faces me from the opposite sideof the room, her slender, regal form resting comfortably in an antiquechair, to talk about her best-selling autobiography, _No Bed Of Roses_(Morrow, $9. 95). Published in September, the book has already sold morethan 75, 000 copies in hardcover. As the title implies, Miss Fontaine's life has been one long roller coasterride of triumph and tragedy. During the 1940s she received three Oscarnominations for Best Actress in the space of four years, and won theaward for _Suspicion_ (1941). She had the joy of raising two children --one of them adopted -- but the disappointment of four divorces. Hermother, who died in 1975, was the best friend she has ever known, yetboth her father and her stepfather gave her nothing but unhappiness, andshe never had a close relationship with her famous older sister, Olivia deHavilland. In fact, the pair have not spoken in years -- for reasons clearlyexplained in Fontaine's book. A fiercely independent woman who has flown her own airplane and takenpart in international ballooning competition, she has suffered throughnumerous illnesses and injuries that brought her close to permanentdisability or death. These are the elements of _No Bed Of Roses_, adisarmingly frank memoir that is frequently unsettling but never boring. "The fan mail for this book is getting to be enormous, " says Fontaine, stillradiant at 61. "A lot of people identify with the illnesses, or with tryingto bring up children alone. Some people empathize because they had harshrelations with their siblings. A lot of men have told me they cried at theend, in my epitaph to my mother. And then of course, I have heard froma lot of people who wanted to be actresses, or actors. " Did she write the entire book herself? "Every single word. I wouldn't letthem touch one of them. ... It's not a sordid book; it's not tacky. Onereviewer said it was immoral. I don't think I can figure that out. If youask me, it's rather religious. " The words come out like perfect silver beads. She has always been aformidable presence on the screen, and is no less so in person, as shegives her unrestrained opinions on every topic introduced. Marriage, says Fontaine, is "waiting on -- or waiting for somebody. "Asked whether she believes two average people can remain happilymarried for a lifetime, she replies: "It depends how hypocritical they are, and how much lying they want to do. ... I think the word 'love' means anentirely different thing to a woman than it does to a man. " Her classic movies, including _Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Suspicion_, and _ThisAbove All_, are frequently seen on television now, but Fontaine has littlerespect for television as a medium: "I consider it nothing more than Bpictures. I think we took a little more care with B pictures; the actors andactresses got a chance. In a television film, if the actor slips on a word, to hell with it. We'll cut around it. " Earlier this year, Fontaine appeared in the made-for-television movie _TheUsers_, starring Jaclyn Smith. She could do many others, but prefers tobe choosy. "The quality of the scripts is so poor. I think it's the taste ofthe times. It's a brutal world; it's a vulgar world. ... It's quite differentfrom the romance of Jane Eyre. I don't think I could act those roles. I'drather sit in my library in front of the fire. " In truth, she has little time for sitting around: her acting talents are toomuch in demand, in dinner theatres and in college auditoriums around thecountry. Recently she returned from a three-month working trip. InFebruary she'll be opening in Dallas. "I haven't decided on the play yet, "she says. In spite of her words, she somehow comes off as being thoroughlycharming. A highly sociable woman who loves to attend cocktail partiesand make new acquaintances, Fontaine is also a gourmet cook. "AtChristmas I cook for about 75 people. No one married can come. I'mthrilled that one of my friends has just gotten divorced. Now she cancome. " Among the Eastside restaurants that Fontaine visits frequently are21 and the Four Seasons. When she has time to herself, Fontaine enjoys reading literature andadapting it for her lectures. "I lecture on many subjects, " she says. "I dothe entire Jane Eyre -- all the roles. It takes about an hour and a half. It'smore like a film reading than a lecture. I do one on American poets, andone on Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning -- all their own words. Then a new one has crept up -- if I may say so, by popular demand --called 'The Golden Years. ' I tell how to do it -- how to make these yearsthe best. I've never felt so happy or so free or so contented as I am now. "born 10-22-17 ******** WESTSIDER BETTY FRIEDANFounder of the women's liberation movement 7-14-79 One of the most-discussed nonfiction works published in 1978 was _The100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History_ byastrophysicist Michael H. Hart. He writes: "My criterion was neither famenor talent nor nobility of character, but actual personal influence on thecourse of human history and on the everyday lives of individuals. " Sevennative-born Americans were included in the 100, and when _People_magazine requested Hart to expand his list of Americans to 25, the firstname he added was that of Betty Friedan, who, he said, "throughwomen's liberation, has already had a greater impact than mostpresidents. " The book that did most to trigger the women's movement was Friedan's_The Feminine Mystique_ (1963), a brilliant analysis of the postwar "backto the home" movement, when women were led to believe that they couldfind fulfillment only through childbearing and housework. That myth, saidFriedan, resulted in a sense of emptiness and loss of identity for millionsof American women. Her book became an international best-seller, andhas been translated into more than a dozen languages. But _The Feminine Mystique_ was only the first of many contributionsthat Friedan has made to the women's movement. In 1966 she founded theNational Organization for Women (NOW), which today has more than70, 000 members and is by far the most effective feminist group in theworld. She has written a second book, _It Changed My Life_, madecountless appearances on radio and television, and become one of the mostsought-after lecturers in the country. Despite her public image as a hardcore activist, Betty Friedan at 58 is a charming, decidedly femininewoman who enjoys wearing makeup and colorful dresses. In an interviewat her brightly decorated apartment high above Lincoln Center, she revealsthat these two aspects of her personality are not at all contradictory. "The women's movement had to come. It was an evolutionary thing, " shesays, in robust, throaty, rapid-fire bursts of speech interspersed with longpauses. "If I had not articulated these ideas in 1963, by '66 somebody elsewould have. I think that it's good that I did, because what I had to saysomehow got to the essence of it, which is the personhood of woman, andnot what later obscured it, with a woman-against-man kind of thing. " It was largely through the lobbying efforts of NOW that the U. S. Senatelast October approved a three-year extension of the deadline for ratifyingthe Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). So far, 35 of the required 38 stateshave voted for the amendment. The new deadline is June 30, 1982. "There's no question that three more states will pass it by that time, " saysFriedan. "But it's not going to be easy, because there are these wellfinanced right-wing campaigns trying to block it. They understand that theERA is not only the symbol but the substance of what women have won-- that it will give them constitutional underpinning forevermore, so thatthey can't push women back to the second-class status of the cheap laborpool. "The ERA will not do anything dramatic -- like change the bathrooms --but it will ensure, for example, that women have their own right for socialsecurity, which they don't have now. You have to realize that thereactionary forces in this country are using the sexual issue as a kind ofsmoke screen, to create a hate movement. They're the same forces thattried to prevent labor from organizing, that burnt crosses on lawns in theSouth, that painted swastikas on synagogues. ... NOW has made it _the_priority, because if the ERA is blocked, it will be the signal to take backeverything. " A woman who smiles and laughs easily in spite of her intensity, Friedanprefers to be called not Miss, Ms. , or Mrs. , but simply Betty. Born inPeoria, Illinois, she majored in psychology at Smith College andgraduated summa cum laude. In June, 1947, after moving to New YorkCity, she married Carl Friedan, then a theatrical producer. Three childrenlater, the Friedans moved to the suburbs, and it was there that sheformulated the ideas for _The Feminine Mystique. _ Divorced since 1969, Friedan maintains a very close relationship with herchildren, who are at Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley graduate school, and Harvard Medical School. A Westsider since1964, she runs in Central Park for an hour each day. Of the half dozen major projects she's involved in at the moment, themost significant is her new book, _The Fountain of Age. _ "It's about thelast third of life, " she explains. "I call it the new third of life, becausemany women have only begun to discover that it exists. " Asked about her chief pleasures in life, she replies with obvioussatisfaction, "I like parties, I like my friends, I like talking, I like dancing.... One thing I've discovered is that the stronger you get, the more you_can_ be soft and gentle and tender, and also have fun. I _demand_ myright to be funny and to have fun, and not just to always be deadlyserious. " ******** WESTSIDER ARTHUR FROMMERAuthor of _Europe on $10 a Day_ 10-8-78 His name rhymes with "roamer" and that's an accurate description ofWestsider Arthur Frommer, author of _Europe on $10 a Day_. In 1957, when he wrote the first edition, _Europe On $5 a Day_, Arthurwas a dedicated New York lawyer. But the book became so popular thathe finally decided, after much agonizing, to leave his law firm andbecome a full-time travel writer. Every year in the past two decades, Arthur and his wife Hope have revisited the 17 European cities coveredin the book; they have distilled the wisdom from thousands of lettersreceived from readers; and they have revised and updated the famoustravel book for the new edition each spring. It is still the world's bestselling guide to Europe. "This is not necessarily the glamorous occupation that some peopleimagine it to be, " says Arthur, biting into a sandwich as he, Hope andtheir daughter Pauline invite me to join them at the dinner table at theirCentral Park West home. "One of the hazards of being a travel writer isthat when you're on vacation, you're always checking to see where thebargains are, or whether the restaurants are worth their reputation. I'vevisited so many exotic cities of the world that for me, the best way torelax is to stay home. " Due to a miscommunication on my part, I arrive on an evening exactlyone week later than the Frommers have expected me, yet they managesuch a warm welcome that I end up staying three hours. They seem tohave plenty of time to talk. Still, there is a reminder throughout theevening that they lead very busy lives -- the constantly ringing telephone. One reason for my lengthy visit is that it takes place on the same night asthe second heavyweight championship boxing match between MuhammadAli and Leon Spinks. Arthur and I sit on his living room couch, watchingthe fight live on TV with great interest, rooting for Ali and resuming ourinterview between the rounds. Ali, who had lost the first fight with Spinksthe previous February, beats him handily this time. "I'm a workaholic, " confesses Arthur, excusing himself while he gets upto answer another call from overseas. An energetic, detail-oriented man, Arthur once worked 12 hours a day writing legal briefs and eight hoursa day on his book. Today he is the head of Arthur Frommer Enterprises, an international corporation that includes a publishing company, a charterservice and four hotels -- two in the Caribbean and two in Europe. Publishing remains his biggest enterprise. He publishes 30 to 40 travelguides each year, ranging in subject matter from the Far East to NewYork City. _Europe On $10 A Day_ has for many years been co-authoredby his wife Hope. "While Arthur is on the streets grubbing for bargains, "she says, "I'm in the museums. " With her own career as an actress and director, Hope does not fly theAtlantic quite as often as her husband. Says Arthur: "I go to Europe likeother people commute to Long Island. Sometimes I go without even achange of clothes. " Twelve-year-old Pauline Frommer made her first trip to Europe at the ageof two and a half months. Bright and precocious, she seems a natural tosucceed her father in the business one day. Arthur Frommer's success story began shortly after he graduated fromYale Law School in 1953. While serving in the Army in Europe, he usedevery weekend to travel. "At the end of my stay in the Army, " he recalls, "having nothing to do, I sat down and wrote a little volume called _TheGI Guide to Europe_. It was written strictly from memory; it had noprices or phone numbers. I went home and started practicing law. ThenI got a cable saying that all 50, 000 copies had sold out immediately. " Arthur used his first summer vacation from the law firm to go back toEurope and rewrite his travel guide, for civilian readers. It became "amonster which ate up my life. " But he has never regretted his choice ofcareers. "The book coincided with a revolution of American travel habits, " saysArthur, not giving himself credit for being a prime force behind thisrevolution. "When I was in college, it was unheard of for young peopleto go off to Europe. It was too far, too expensive. The students of theearly 1960s became the first students in history to travel in great numbersto Europe. Many people think the country was greatly changed by thismassive travel. " Arthur and Hope moved to the West Side in 1965, just after their daughterwas born. Among their favorite neighborhood businesses: DelPino Shoes, which has some of the lowest prices in the city for quality Italianfootwear, and the Jean Warehouse, where Pauline buys many of herclothes. These days, while Hope is busy directing a play by Pamela O'Neill, Arthur is working on several new projects. One is a course he will beteaching at the New School starting in February. Titled "Great Cities ofWestern Europe, " the course will concentrate on urban problems and theirpolitical and social solutions. But Arthur's biggest ambition these days is to expand his company'sweek-long chartered tour of Jerusalem into a two-week package forJerusalem and Cairo. Such a tour, he believes, would help create a bondof understanding in the Middle East. "It's a dream of mine, " says Arthur, "that we might be a force for peacesometime. It may not happen overnight, but I'm sure it will come. " ******** EASTSIDER WILLIAM GAINESPublisher and founder of _Mad_ magazine 9-15-79 _Mad_ magazine, an institution in American humor ever since it firstappeared in 1955, is one of the few publications on the newsstand thatcarries no advertising. In the past few years, rising costs and changingtastes have driven Mad's circulation slightly below two million, butpublisher William Gaines has no plans of giving in to commercialism. "I was brought up on a newspaper called _PM_, " recalls Gaines, aninstantly likable native New Yorker who looks like a cross between SantaClaus and a middle-aged hippie. "It sold for a nickel while everything elsewas two cents. Its policy was to take no ads, and I was kind of broughtup on the idea that it's dirty to take advertising. " His face breaks out inmerriment, and he laughs the first of many deep, rich, belly laughs thatI am to hear that afternoon. "I don't think your publication's going to want to print that, so you'dbetter leave it out. Um, so I, I. ... I mean, it's not --" he sputters, beforequickly recovering and driving the point home with his customaryjournalistic finesse. "As a matter of fact, if you're going to take ads, Ithink the way your people do it is the way to do it. If you're _going_ totake ads, give the publication away. But if somebody's putting out money, it's not right. It's like going to the movies and seeing a commercial. Television, fine: you're getting it free. " We're sitting in his somewhat disorderly Madison Avenue office, whichis decorated with paintings of monsters, huge models of King Kong, anda collection of toy zeppelins suspended from the ceiling. When Gaines isasked about lawsuits, his eyes sparkle with glee. "We have been sued many times. We've never been beaten. We had twocases that went to the U. S. Supreme Court. The first was on Alfred E. Newman (the gap-toothed, moronic-looking character who appears on themagazine cover). Two different people claimed it was theirs -- a womanby the name of Stuff and a man by the name of Schmeck. Neither oneknew about the other one, and we didn't tell them. It was pretty fun whenthey all got to court and found that both of them were claiming to ownAlfred. Through a series of decisions, the Supreme Court decided thatneither one of them owned Alfred, and we were free to use him. "The other case was when Irving Berlin and a number of othersongwriters sued _Mad_, because we used to publish a lot of articles ofsong parodies which we'd say were sung to the tune of so-and-so. Andthey took umbrage to that. They said that when people would read thewords, they were singing their music in their heads. The judge ruled thatIrving Berlin did not own iambic pentameter. " The son of a prominent comic book publisher named M. C. Gaines, William planned to become a chemistry teacher when he returned tocollege after World War II. Then his father was killed in an accident, andGaines decided to enter the comic business himself. "I started putting outsome very undistinguished, dreadful stuff, because I didn't know whereI was going. After three years, Albert Feldstein (_Mad's_ editor) joinedme, and we just had a rapport right away. We started putting out stuff thatwe had a feeling for -- science fiction, horror, crime. " These comics, known as E. C. Publications, are today worth up to $200each. Classics of their genre, they became the target of a Senatesubcommittee on juvenile delinquency. Largely because of public pressure, Gaines dropped all of them except _Mad_, which he changed from a 10cent comic into a 25-cent, more adult magazine. The complete E. C. Workshave recently been reprinted in bound volumes. A divorced father of three, Bill Gaines hates exercise, and drives the 18blocks each day from his Eastside apartment to the _Mad_ office. Hisfavorite hobbies are attending wine and food tastings, and visiting Haiti. "I've been there about 20 times. It's a wild, untamed place. Something inmy nature is appealed to by that kind of thing. ... They have nomaliciousness toward tourists. I was almost shot there twice, but it was bymistake. " Things are so relaxed around the _Mad_ headquarters that eight out of thenine full-time staffers have been with the publication for more than 20years. "Our writers and artists are free-lancers, " says Gaines. "Most ofthem have been with us 20 years also. ... We get quite a few unsolicitedmanuscripts, but most of them, unfortunately, are not usable. Every oncein a while we'll get one, and then we've got a big day of rejoicing. ... We're always looking for writers. We don't need artists, but you _never_have enough writers. And we firmly believe that the writer is God, because if you don't have a writer, you don't have movies, you don't havetelevision, you don't have books, you don't have plays, you don't havemagazines, you don't have comics -- you don't have anything! "We don't assign articles. The writers come to us with what they want towrite, and as long as it's funny, we'll buy it. And we don't care whatpoint of view, because _Mad_ has no editorial point of view. We're notleft, and we're not right. We're all mixed up. And our writers are allmixed up -- in more ways than one. " died 6-3-92. Born 3-1-22. ******** WESTSIDER RALPH GINZBURGPublisher of _Moneysworth_ 7-8-78 Less than two months ago, the U. S. Supreme Court passed an edictallowing the police to raid the files of newspaper offices in search ofinformation relating to a crime. "If they came here, I'd stand at theentrance and block their way, " says Ralph Ginzburg, gazing out thewindow at his suite of offices near Columbus Circle. "I don't care if theyarrest me, " he adds in his thick Brooklyn accent. The owlish-looking Ginzburg means what he says. He's the publisher of_Moneysworth_, which is mailed each month to 1. 2 million subscribers. It is the most successful item he has ever published, but there is no doubtthat he would risk losing it and going to jail, because Ginzburg has doneso already. In a flamboyant career marked by much notoriety, he hasemerged as one of the most important figures of his generation inexpanding the freedom of the press. Of the six magazines and newspapers that Ginzburg has founded, none hascaused such a stir as his first one, _Eros_, which lasted from 1962 to1963. "It was the first really classy magazine on love and sex in Americanhistory, " he says. "I signed up 100, 000 subscribers right away, at $50 ayear. Many leading American artists contributed to it. The big differenceis that it was sold entirely through the mails. Our promotion ofsubscriptions through the mail got a lot of complaints. " About 35, 000 complaints, in fact -- more than the U. S. Post Office hadever received up to that time. Ralph Ginzburg was charged with sendingobscene material through the mails, and _Eros_ was forced to suspendpublication while the debate went on. Most Washington lawyers, afterexamining the magazine, concluded that it was not obscene. But the casebecame a political issue, and in 1972, 10 years after the so-called crimehad taken place, Ginzburg was ordered to serve an eight-month term atthe federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. His imprisonment led toa nationwide outcry by intellectuals and public officials. Not long after the demise of _Eros_, Ginzburg started another magazinecalled _Fact_. It, too, ended over a lawsuit. This time the plaintiff wasU. S. Senator Barry Goldwater. He sued the magazine for $2 million onthe charge of libel, and was awarded $65, 000 in damages. "It was acompromise, as jury decisions frequently are, " remarks Ginzburg. "Unfortunately I didn't have very much money back then, and it wiped usout. " Describing the case, he said: "In 1964, when Goldwater was running forpresident, he advocated the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam. I thoughtthe guy was out of his mind and I wondered if anyone else had the samesuspicion. ... We polled all the members of the American MedicalAssociation who were listed as psychiatrists and asked them if theythought Goldwater was fit to be president. We printed their replies andtheir long-distance diagnoses ... " Both the _Eros_ case and the Goldwater case made the American publicexamine some far-reaching questions: What is obscene? What is libelous?Ginzburg helped to establish new definitions for these terms, and in sodoing, widened the power of the press. _Avant-Garde_, his third publication, existed from 1967 to 1970. "It wasborn during the Vietnam uprising in this country, " he explains. "It was amagazine of art and politics, and had no ad revenue. " In the same year that _Avant-Garde_ folded, he began a newsletter called_Moneysworth_. Soon it expanded into a full-sized newspaper. "It waslaunched, " says Ginzburg, "because we felt that the only existingperiodical in the area of consumer interest -- _Consumer Reports_ --wasn't broad enough. Spending money is more than buying appliances. " While _Moneysworth_ does carry many valuable tips on personal finance, it also has a considerable amount of sensationalism that would seem athome in the _National Enquirer_. Even so, Ginzburg's managerial skills, his nonstop working habits, and his literary expertise -- he has writtenseveral books -- have made _Moneysworth_ a winner. Using the samestaff of 40, along with many free-lance writers, he now publishes twoother monthly newspapers as well, _American Business_ and Extra! He has been a Westsider for 15 years, and his publishing company, Avant-Garde Media, is located on West 57th Street. If Ginzburg has a single goal right now, it's "to saved up enough moneyto enable me to put out a periodical exactly like _Avant-Garde_ was. Itwas pure pleasure for me: there was no commercial compromise. Buteven though this is a multimillion-dollar corporation here, I can't affordit at the moment. ... Money is important in publishing. I have to spend 99percent of my time and effort chasing the buck. I guess I'm lucky. Mostpeople spend 100 percent of their time that way. " ******** EASTSIDER LILLIAN GISH78 years in show business 1-5-80 D. W. Griffith, the father of motion pictures, used to say there were onlytwo people who outworked him -- Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish. Pickford, who died last May, made her final film in 1933. But LillianGish never got around to retiring. At 83, she is perhaps the most activeliving legend in America. Sipping tea at her Eastside apartment, which is decorated like a Victoriandrawing room, Gish appears to have defeated time. Her clear blue eyes, porcelain-smooth complexion, and slender, girlish figure have not changedall that much since she rose to international stardom in Griffith'scontroversial 1915 classic, _The Birth of a Nation_. She also starred in his1916 film _Intolerance_, a box office failure when released, but laterrecognized as a masterpiece. An animated speaker who makes sweeping gestures, she still has thecrystalline voice and flawless enunciation that enabled her to make thetransition from silent films to talkies and Broadway shows in the early1930s. The 1978 Robert Altman film _A Wedding_ marked her 100thscreen appearance. "I've never worked harder in my life than I have in the last three or fouryears, " says Miss Gish, who, during that period has made her singing anddancing debut in Washington's Kennedy Center, hosted a 13-week seriesfor public television, _The Silent Years_, appeared in an ABC-TV movieof the week, and toured the world three times to present a one-womanshow that combines film clips with narration. Her autobiography, _TheMovies, Mr. Griffith and Me_, has been translated into 13 languages. "I dedicated the book to my mother, who gave me love; to my sister, whotaught me to laugh; to my father, who gave me insecurity; and to Mr. Griffith, who taught me that it was more fun to work than to play, " sherecalls with merriment, describing how her mother wound up in thetheatre around 1901 due to financial need. Five-year-old Lillian and her4-year-old sister Dorothy soon followed in the business. "We didn't useour real names because we didn't want to disgrace the family. ... Theyused to have signs on hotels: 'No actors or dogs allowed. '" She never got a chance to attend school. "I loved the book _BlackBeauty_, and everybody would read it to me on the train or waiting forthe train. Well, I finally had it read to me so much, I knew it by heart. And that's how I learned to read. When we were travelling around, mother would always take her history book. When we were in historicalplaces, she'd take us to where history happened. " At the height of her silent film career, Lillian received 15, 000 fan lettersa week, many from overseas. "Silent films are the universal language thatthe Bible predicted would bring about the millennium. ... When Mr. Griffith made his first talking picture in 1921, he said, 'This is committingsuicide. My pictures play to the world. Five percent of them speakEnglish. Why should I lose 95 percent of my audience?' "One of the things I'm trying to do now is to bring back silent films andbeautiful music. I'm doing it with my film _La Boheme_, which wasmade in 1926. I've done it in the opera house in Chicago with an organist, and at Town Hall here. Harold Schonberg of the _New York Times_ gaveit the most ecstatic review. " Her credits include an honorary Oscar award, dozens of major stage roles, and a movie that she co-wrote and directed. But Miss Gish, withcharacteristic modesty, prefers to talk about her friends and family. Bitterness and complaint are alien to her nature, although life has notalways been easy. She never married, and her mother, to whom she washighly devoted, spent the last 25 years of her life as an invalid. "But shewas never unhappy, " testifies Lillian. "She was always the first to laugh, and the gayest. " Following her mother's death in 1948, the apartment was given to Dokey, her nurse, who died the following year. Then Lillian and Dorothy Gishshared the apartment until Dorothy's death in 1968. Although Lillian nowlives alone, she has no opportunity to be lonely. Besides work, travel, andreading -- her favorite activities -- she has 13 godchildren. One thing that helps keep her young, says Miss Gish, is her intensecuriosity. "I was born with it, thank heavens. I feel sorry for people whosay they're bored. How in the world can anyone be bored in the worldtoday? How can fiction complete with what's going on?" A few of her films, have been lost forever, since no original prints existin good condition. Most, however, are still shown around the globe, which explains why her autobiography is available in such languages asBurmese and East Malaysian. The Museum of Modern Art on West 53rdStreet has one of the country's finest collections of vintage Gish films. One of her upcoming projects is a movie based on a story by the Danishwriter Isak Dinesen, scheduled to begin shooting in Europe this winter. Another is a television pilot to be shot in California for Julius Evans. Asked to name some of the things she is most curious about today, MissGish quickly replies, "Naturally what's happening in Cambodia -- howthey're going to solve that problem. Those poor children. It breaks myheart. ... And who's going to be our next president. We've come to thepoint where we should have two presidents, I think -- someone to lookafter the world and somebody to look after us. " died of natural causes 2-27-93. Born 10-14-1893 WESTSIDER MILTON GLASERDesign director of the new _Esquire_ 2-11-78 Two decades before _Playboy_ first hit the newsstands, there was onlyone men's magazine in America. A generation of schoolchildren grew upspeaking its name in hushed whispers, though anyone reexamining thoseearly issues today could hardly understand why. The magazine was_Esquire_. Its popularity has dipped somewhat in recent years, but _Esquire_ stillsells one million copies per month. And it still has the reputation of beingthe most tasteful, literary, and sophisticated publication for the Americanmale. If some people have complained that it has not kept up with thetimes, they won't be able to say that any longer -- not since _Esquire_became the property of Clay Felker and Milton Glaser, the publishingteam who made _New York_ magazine into one of the best-sellingweeklies in the city. With Felker as editor and Glaser as design director, _Esquire_ will havea totally new look starting with the February 14 issue. It will have adifferent size, binding, shape, length, and contents. It will also change itsname to _Esquire Fortnightly_ and appear 26 times a year instead of 12. "The new _Esquire_ will be ungimmicky, easy to understand, " saysMilton Glaser, taking a half-hour break from his numerous artisticprojects. He is as animated as his enlarged signature, which glows froma custom-made neon lamp on the wall beside a Renaissance Madonna anda framed Islamic drawing. The first thing you notice about Glaser is the colored handkerchiefadorning his jacket pocket. Then you notice how relaxed he is, and howeasily he smiles. "The name of the game is to get an audience that identifies with themagazine and feels it's on their side. People buy a magazine because it'sof considerable interest to them, not because they get a deal on thesubscription. ... What you want to do is to find the right-size audience, made up of people who believe in the values that the magazine reflects. " The original _Esquire_, Glaser points out, helped to glamorize the rich, privileged man of the world -- the man who had arrived, who knew hisplace in the world, and whose greatest desire was to surround himselfwith the symbols of wealth, such as fancy cars and beautiful women. Today, says Glaser, the American male no longer measures success bysymbols alone. Rather, he aims for self-development, for the richness oflife itself -- professional, personal, physical, intellectual and spiritual. Clay Felker writes, in a yet-unreleased editorial in _Esquire_: "We willexplore how a man can develop a more rewarding life with the womenand children in his life. ... I see _Esquire_ magazine as a cheery, bookfilled, comfortable den, a place of wit and sparkling conversation, ofgoodwill and genial intelligence, where thoughtful discussions take placeand wise conclusions are reached. " Milton Glaser is probably the best-qualified artist in America to redesign_Esquire_. Besides his success with _New York_ magazine, which beganas a Sunday supplement to the old _New York Herald Tribune_, Glaserhas designed _The Village Voice_, _Circus_ magazine, _New West_ andtwo of France's leading publications, _L'Express_ and _Paris-Match_. Glaser's posters have sold in the millions. He has put on one-manexhibitions in the U. S. , Europe and the Middle East. (He believes, in fact, that his work is more appreciated abroad than at home). He has designedeverything from stores to toys to new typefaces. He is a faculty member at both Cooper Union and the School of VisualArts. He is responsible for all the graphic design and decorative programsat the World Trade Center. Two volumes of his works have beenpublished -- _Milton Glaser: Graphic Arts_ and _The Milton Glaser PosterBook_. In addition, he is a noted food critic. For the past 10 years he has coauthored and constantly updated the best-selling Manhattan restaurantguide, _The Underground Gourmet_. A native New Yorker, Milton Glaser has fond memories of his boyhoodin the Bronx. He especially likes recalling an event that took place in 1933-- the year that _Esquire_ was founded. "When I was 4 years old, a cousin of mine said, 'Would you like to seea pigeon?' He had a paper bag with him and I thought he meant there wasa pigeon in it. But then he took out a pencil and drew a picture of a bird. I was so astonished that you could invent reality that I never recoveredfrom it. The only thing I wanted to do in my life was to make images. " Milton and his wife, Shirley, moved to the West Side last August. "Iguess it was the opportunity to find the right physical space. I like theneighborhood because of the mix of working class, middle class, andupper class. ... That really is the richest thing the urban scene offers. "The number of Westside restaurants listed in _The Underground Gourmet_has sharply increased over the years. Among his favorite dining spots ofall price ranges are Ying's on Columbus Avenue (at 70th St. ), the Cafedes Artistes (1 West 67th St. ), and the Harbin Inn (2637 Broadway). Look in any New York subway station and you'll see a poster advertisingthe School of Visual Arts. It shows two identical men in a room. One islying on a bed and the other is floating in the air. The caption reads:"Having a talent isn't worth much unless you know what to do with it. "Milton Glaser, the designer of that poster, is a supreme example of a manwith many talents who knows what to do with all of them. ******** WESTSIDER PAUL GOLDBERGERArchitecture critic for the _New York Times_ 12-3-77 "What is architecture? It's the whole built environment. It's the outside ofa building, the inside, the function; it serves social needs, physical needs.... And a building has an obligation to work well with the buildingsaround it -- at least in the city. " The speaker is Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for the _New YorkTimes_. His immaculate suit and tie, refined manners, dry wit, andsomewhat formal way of speaking seem to mark him a Timesman evenmore than the carefully researched, colorfully written articles that havepoured out of his pen in the last four years. As a critic, Goldberger is accustomed to vocalizing opinions and facts inequal measure. His open-mindedness on architectural styles isdemonstrated by his apartment, a lavish, ultramodernized suite of highceilinged rooms inside one of the oldest buildings on Central Park West. The interview begins with a trick question: "What is the third tallestbuilding in New York?" (Answer: the Empire State Building. ) He fieldsit without cracking a smile. "I guess the question is, do you consider the World Trade Center twobuildings?" he says. "I guess it's like asking whether Grover Clevelandwas two presidents or one because he served two non-consecutive terms.... The World Trade Center was not necessary built functionally or verypleasing aesthetically. It was built as a kind of symbol of power by thePort Authority. I'm used to it now; human beings can adapt to anything. I even like going to the restaurant at the top and the restaurant at thebottom. It's the floors in the middle I don't like. " He points to the new Citicorp Center on East 53rd Street as an exampleof modern architecture at its best, and the mosquelike Cultural Center atColumbus Circle as an example of the opposite. "It's pretty horrible, "says the critic, agreeing with a newspaper writer who recently labeled theCultural Center one of the 12 ugliest buildings in Manhattan. "It's a verysilly building; it's so obviously dumb. But it doesn't particularly botherme. It's almost innocent, it's so silly. " Lincoln Center, too, draws his barbs. "I find it very pretentious. Ratherboring, really. It's a set of imitations of classical themes. The buildingsare an unfortunate compromise because the builders were afraid to buildsomething really modern, or to design something that really looked likea classical building. ... There's a feeling that they sort of want to bemodern and sort of want to be classical and end up being a veryunsatisfying compromise. " A New Jersey native who developed a passion for architecture in hisearliest years, Paul Goldberger attended Yale University and then workedas a general reporter for another newspaper. Several years later he becamean editorial assistant for the _Times_. In 1973 there came an opening foran architectural writer, and because the _Times_ knew of his background, Goldberger was given the first shot at the job. "It was fabulous, " herecalls, because it was what I always wanted to do. And it was very mucha matter of luck -- of being at the right place at the right time. " Hisarticles appear most often in the daily _Times_; Louise Huxtable remainsthe chief architectural writer for the Sunday paper. Why would a sophisticated Timesman choose the West Side over the East?"There are many more wonderful buildings on the West Side, " saysGoldberger. Unfortunately not many of the buildings on the West Sidehave been kept up as well as the East Side. ... In terms of apartmenthouse architecture, Central Park West is probably the best street in NewYork. It has all the grandeur and beauty and monumentality of FifthAvenue and it also has the relaxed atmosphere. " There's not one West Side, " he continues. "There's at least 10. Aroundhere is one neighborhood. Riverside Drive is another. Up by Columbia isanother. ... One of the reasons I like my own neighborhood is becausethough it is very much West Side, it's handy to the East Side andmidtown. I walk through the park all the time. " Any chance that Manhattan's skyscrapers will eventually weigh down theisland? "No, " replies the critic emphatically. "First, the island is very, very solid rock and nothing could cause it to sink. The other factor, especially today, is that buildings are not all that heavy, because they'rebeing built with lighter materials and more modern engineering methods. So a huge new building like the Citicorp, which is 900 feet high, is notany heavier than a building 500 feet high built 30 years ago. And since wedon't have earthquakes, this is probably the safest environment in theworld to build a skyscraper. " Although studying and writing about architecture is "more than a full-timejob, " Goldberger manages to keep abreast of the legal aspects of buildingsas well, including tenants' rights, rent control, zoning laws and redlining. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is another of hisinterests. "I think landmarking is crucial to the city, " he testifies. "A cityexists in time as much as space. It's the mixture of new and old buildingsthat gives the city life and vitality. " ******** EASTSIDER MILTON GOLDMANBroadway's super agent 4-14-79 "Pardon me -- just one more call to make, " said Milton Goldman, pushingthe buttons on his nearest desk phone. "Go on, you can ask me questionsat the same time, " he added, holding the receiver to his ear. "Are you the biggest theatrical agent in the world?" I said. He returnedmy gaze evenly. "Others have said it. It would be immodest for me to say it -- but Iprobably am, " said Goldman, who by this time had reached his party andwas inviting the young actress on the other end to a Broadway openingthat night. He chatted with her for several minutes, his Jack Bennyishvoice breaking occasionally into rich laughter. Sitting upright behind a desk-sized table covered with papers, folders, notebooks and play scripts, the ruddy-complexioned, jacketless Goldmanlooked far more relaxed that I had expected of a man who, in his 32 yearsas an agent, has handled the careers of close to 5, 000 actors and actresses. Among those he has helped "discover" are Jack Lemmon, WalterMatthau, Grace Kelly, Lee Marvin, Charlton Heston and Faye Dunaway. And though Goldman has become a celebrity in his own right, he stillexudes the low-keyed charm of a friendly neighbor talking over a fence. The appearance is no deception: he owes his success not to high-pressuretactics, but to an encyclopedic knowledge of the theatre on both sides ofthe Atlantic, a keen judgment of which shows are best for his clients, anda long-proven record for trustworthiness. By title, he is vice president incharge of the theatrical division of International Creative Management, which is matched in size only by the William Morris Agency. Unofficially, he serves as father confessor, rabbi, psychiatrist, and bestfriend to many of the top stars he represents. Attending the theatre up tofive times a week, he is always on the lookout for new clients. Hisweekends are devoted to reading and casting new plays. "I can't resist talent, and when I see a talented young actor or actress, Iwant very much to help realize their potential by opening as many doorsas I can for them, " he explained, gripping the arms of his chair. "I don'tthink of my job as work. For me, it's fun. And I never know where theone begins and the other ends. Because I'm that lucky individual whoseprivate life and public life are one and the same thing. " Every year he takes a vacation to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth II. "I'min Paris for a week and London for about three weeks. " In slow, carefullychosen sentences, he stated, "I represent many English clients because myknowledge of the English theatre is probably better than anyone else in theAmerican theatre. Every year in London, I get the same suite in the SavoyHotel and give great parties. I go to at least eight plays a week --sometimes as many as 10. So I get to see all the plays in London. And Iknow all the English actors and they know me. " Among his Britishclients: Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud. "American performers excel in the musical comedy theatre, where dancersand singers also very often are fine actors. This is not true in England. Dancers are especially hard to cast in London, though I think that ischanging now. ... It's sad that the American theatre can't support seriousplays. They're either musicals or they're comedies. I think a healthytheatre should be able to support the works of serious playwrights. Thisseason, we happen to have on Broadway an important play by anAmerican playwright -- Arthur Kopit's _Wings_, which stars our clientConstance Cummings, who is an American actress who went to Englandand made her reputation abroad, and has now returned here to greatacclaim. " A native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goldman witnessed his firstBroadway show in the summer of 1929, and from that day forward, thetheatre was his passion. For 10 years he worked as a tire salesman at afamily-owned business. Then, through his friend Arnold Weissberger, anoted lawyer, Goldman was offered a job as a theatrical agent at no basesalary, but with a $25 weekly expense account and a 25 percent interestin any clients he signed up. Success came to him almost at once. A lifelong bachelor, Goldman today shares an apartment with Weissbergeron the Upper East Side. His favorite local restaurant is the Four Seasons. "I go there all the time for lunch; that's my main meal of the day. I thinkit's the best restaurant in the world. " The actor's life, he believes, "is a sad and a difficult one. Every time youget a good part, the next part has to be bigger -- more money. As youreach the top, it becomes tougher and tougher to get those parts. "Nevertheless, Goldman does not find his own job at all frustrating. "Pressures? Yes, there are many pressures. But I have said this before:there are so many rewards for me when I see a client in whom I believeget a great break in the theatre or films of television. It's a source of greatsatisfaction. And with the number of clients I represent, each day bringssome rewards. That's why I've often said to clients: 'I have many livesto live. '" ******** EASTSIDER TAMMY GRIMESStar of _Father's Day_ at the American Place Theatre 6-23-79 Tammy Grimes is one of the few Broadway stars to have received TonyAwards in two categories -- for best Musical Comedy Actress in _TheUnsinkable Molly Brown_ (1961), and for Best Dramatic Actress in NoelCoward's _Private Lives_ (1969). In a sense, she is Molly Brownpersonified -- a powerful stage presence whose charm, beauty, and puretalent make her shine in every production she takes part in, regardless ofthe overall merit of the show itself. Her disappointments have been, at times, as spectacular as her triumphs. For example, there was her shot at network television in the early 1960s, _The Tammy Grimes Show_, which lasted only 11 episodes because, shesays, "the writing, the concept, and the talent never really got together. And I blame myself for that. Because if your name's up there, you areresponsible for the product. " Her marriage to actor Christopher Plummer ended in divorce after fouryears, but had the happy result of producing a daughter, AmandaPlummer, who is now a successful actress herself. Tammy played Molly Brown on Broadway for the show's entire two-yearrun, but the movie role went to Debbie Reynolds. She got some ravereviews for her acting in a Broadway thriller named _Trick_ this year, butthe show closed within weeks. When that happened, she quickly startedworking on a new show, _Father's Day_ by Oliver Hailey, that isscheduled to open on June 21 at the American Place Theatre on West 46thStreet. "It's about three women who get together on Father's Day, " says MissGrimes in an interview at her Upper East Side apartment. "They live inthe same building, and they're divorced. It shows how the three of themare coping with the situation. My feeling is that they don't want to bedivorced. It's a very well-written play -- a comedy. ... It's at the sametheatre where _In Cold Storage_ started. " The interview takes place in her softly decorated bedroom looking out ona garden. Tammy is propped up on pillows beneath the covers, smokinga cigarette and sipping a bottle of Tab as she apologizes for her condition. "It may have been the caviar I had last night, " she says, cheerful in spiteof her discomfort. Her pixyish features expand easily into a grin, and at45 she has lost none of the childlike playfulness that first propelled her tostardom. But the most surprising quality about Tammy Grimes is herthroaty British accent. Although she has done little work in England, hernormal speaking voice is far more British than American -- a fact which, for some reason, she strenuously denies. "I spent a lot of time doingBritish comedy, " she explains, "but I don't sound British!" A native of Lynn, Massachusetts -- "I just happened to be born on theway home from a party" -- she grew up in Boston and decided early tobecome an actress. When she was 16, Thornton Wilder saw her in aproduction of his classic play, _The Skin of Our Teeth_. He declared:"Young lady, even Tallulah Bankhead didn't do the things you did to therole. " By her early 20s she was performing in numerous Off Broadwayshows. A singing act she developed for one of New York's leading supperclubs won her a rave review in _Life_ magazine, and shortly after her25th birthday, she received her first starring role on Broadway, in an illfated Noel Coward production called _Look After Lulu_. The following year, 1960, saw _The Unsinkable Molly Brown_ reachBroadway. It was the most expensive musical ever mounted until then, and became a smash. Tammy played the role 1, 800 times; she missed only13 performances. "I believe that if you can speak, you should be upthere, " she says. "Even today, people will stop me and say, 'We came infrom North Carolina to see you, and when we got to the theatre, youweren't there. '" As a television performer, she has appeared as a guest star in dozens ofdramatic series, situation comedies, and variety shows. She has playednumerous Shakespearean roles, made five movies, done a great deal ofradio work, and recorded numerous albums, including several forchildren. An animal lover, she gives her time freely to such groups as theAmerican Horse Protection Association and Friends of the Animals. Tammy has been at her present East Side address since 1969. Though shelikes to cook, she also frequents many restaurants including Veau d'Orand Gino's. Asked to evaluate her career as a whole, Tammy notes that all but one ofthe shows she has done "seemed to open and close in a natural way. There's always a reason why a play ends prematurely. ... It's nice toplease the public, but you can't constantly be thinking that they will acceptthis but not something else from you. You have to go by your feelings. If something is good, the public will go to see it. " ******** WESTSIDER DELORES HALLStar of _Your Arms Too Short to Box with God_ 5-21-77 It's just after 10 on a Wednesday evening when Delores Hall steps out ofthe Lyceum Theatre's stage door onto 46th Street. At least 20 fans arewaiting; they give a cheer as she emerges and rush toward her. DeloresHall smiles broadly as she autographs their programs, for these fans arehers. She has worked hard to become a Broadway star, and now in _YourArms Too Short to Box with God_ she is precisely that. "No, I'm not really tired, " says Ms. Hall a few minutes later over a snackat the All-State Cafe. "I'm still at a peak of energy from the show. Thatwas my second performance today, but I could do another one if I hadto. " Asking Delores about her earlier days brings a flood of memories andlaughter. She's a happy, bouncy woman and seems as pleased to talk asany friendly neighbor. "When I was 3 I discovered I had vibrato, " sherecalls. "My mother taught me everything I know about singing. I canremember her hitting me in the stomach, showing me how to breathe. Butwhatever she did, she did it right. I was 4 when I first sang in public; theystood me on a table. I can remember some people throwing 50-centpieces. " Born in Kansas City slightly more than 30 years ago, Delores grew upwith music in her ears. Her father played the bass for Count Basie, andher mother was -- and still is -- a missionary in the Church of God inChrist, which produces gospel singers the way southern universities raisefootball players. Young Delores began singing regularly at the churchservices -- an activity she continued when her family moved to LosAngeles. When Delores entered college she formed her own gospel group, an act so popular that she soon left school to become a full-time musician. Later, Harry Belafonte invited the Delores Hall Singers to tour with himfor six months. "Harry is a beautiful man, " Delores grins. "He came to the show a monthor so ago, and afterwards he went backstage and somebody introduced us. He said, 'Miss Hall, I've heard so much about you, ' and then hescreamed, and we jumped into each other's arms. Delores has lived in New York since 1969. Five years ago she moved tothe West Side. "People are so much warmer here, " she says. Herremarkable singing has won her parts in half a dozen Broadway shows, but with _Box_, for the first time, she suddenly found herself the star ofa hit production. Clive Barnes, in a highly positive review in the _NewYork Times_, declares: "Miss Hall has the audience in the palm of hervoice. " The all-black cast of this musical adaptation of the Book ofMatthew has been packing the Lyceum since Christmas, and advanceticket sales go to October. In spite of Ms. Hall's unbroken musical success, her life has not beenwithout personal tragedy. Just before the Broadway premiere of _Box_last December 22, she suffered the heartbreaking loss of her only brother, a minister. "It was very hard to open the show, " she recalls, "but I gotthrough it with the help of God. " Delores lives on West 72nd Street with her husband of seven years, Michael Goodstone. Whenever she can, Delores joins Michael at templein Westchester County: "I find it very uplifting spiritually, because Ibelieve God is everywhere. " Each Sunday the couple both attend theChurch of God in Christ. "Some people call it the Holy Roller church, "she explains. "After the service, we go downstairs for a piece of the bestfried chicken. " Ms. Hall's face glows with pride when she speaks of Deardra, her 14year-old daughter from a previous marriage: "My daughter is a singer, too. She won the music award from her school. " Deardra is hoping toenter New York's High School of Performing Arts this fall. Plans for the future? Delores would like to try grand opera someday --possibly the role of Aida. And a new record album is not far off. Severalyears ago she recorded her first album for RCA. Since she began drawingnational attention in _Box_, some tempting offers have come in fromrecording companies, and her manager is in the process of negotiating acontract. The new album may be either gospel or middle of the road: "I'mpraying very hard, so it depends on what the Lord says. " But for the moment, Delores Hall is well satisfied at filling the LyceumTheatre seven times each week. "This show I love so much, " she says, her eyes sparkling, "because it takes me home. " ******** WESTSIDER LIONEL HAMPTONKing of the Newport Jazz Festival 6-24-78 The world's greatest celebration of jazz, the Newport Jazz Festival, willget off the ground on June 23 -- its 25th consecutive year. During the 12day festival, in indoor and outdoor settings all over Manhattan andbeyond, the most important names in jazz will stage nearly 30 majormusical events. More than half the concerts, appropriately enough, will take place on theWest Side, in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. And just asappropriately, this year's festival will be dedicated to a Westsider whoselife has been an inspiration to millions of people, not only for the greatmusic he has created, but for a heart as large as the Grand Canyon. Tocall him merely a giant of jazz could be an understatement, because theydon't come any bigger than Lionel Hampton. Ask a dozen people what the name Lionel Hampton means to them andyou're likely to get a dozen answers -- all of them correct. In his 50 yearsas a professional musician, "Hamp" has used his remarkable gifts humbly, wisely, and unselfishly. Music historians will always remember him as the man who introducedthe vibraphone into jazz. This he accomplished in 1930, while playingwith Louis Armstrong. Ever since, Hampton has been known as theworld's foremost master of the instrument. He is also a leading drummer, pianist, singer, arranger, bandleader and composer. At 69, he continuesto work nearly 50 weeks out of the year, taking his band to every cornerof the U. S. And Europe. But whether he's making a live recording in anightclub or performing his own symphonic works with the BostonSymphony Orchestra, Lionel Hampton glows with a spiritual energy thatextends far beyond his music. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon when I arrive at Hampton's neat, modernapartment overlooking Lincoln Center. I sit on the sofa talking with ChuckJones, his public relations man, and a few minutes later Hampton emergesfrom the bedroom and plops down on the sofa beside me, wearing adressing gown, slippers, and the famous smile that no one can imitate. After the introductions, I ask about his most recent concerts. "I'm still trying to get myself together, " he says almost apologetically inhis rich Southern drawl. "We just got back from a six-week tour inEurope. We played all over Scandinavia, Germany, Southern France. "When I was in Chicago this week, at the Playboy Cub, they gave me anew set of drums, with lights inside. I push a button and the whole drumlights up. I'm going to use them for Newport. This is the latest thing. Itwill blow their minds. We open on July first in Carnegie Hall and I'mbringing back a lot of veterans from my band. " He grew up in Chicago, but because of the gang fights in hisneighborhood, Lionel's grandmother sent him to a Catholic school inWisconsin. There a nun taught him to play the drums. The youngsterlearned fast; when he was 15, he made up his mind to head for the WestCoast on his own, to pursue a jazz career. At the train station, hepromised his grandmother that he would say his prayers and read the Bibleevery day. Some 15 years later, Hampton was invited to join the Benny Goodmanband in New York. His acceptance of the offer had great socialsignificance, for it was the first time that blacks and whites playedtogether in a major musical group. >From 1937 to 1971 he lived in central Harlem. Then, after moving to theWest Side, Hampton decided that he wanted to help upgrade his oldneighborhood, so, on the advice of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, heraised $1 million in seed money and filed an application with the UrbanDevelopment Corporation for some new housing. Today there are 355families living in the Lionel Hampton Houses at 130th Street and 8thAvenue. " I was just designated the land right next to it, " he says proudly. "We're going to break ground next year. It will be 250 family units, dedicated to my late wife Gladys. The Gladys Hampton Building. " A friend of many important public figures, Hampton has never lost hisaffection for Richard Nixon: "When I was a kid in California, PresidentNixon was our congressman. Then he became our senator. He was a goodman and a good politician. He helped the blacks a lot; he helped theSpanish. I campaigned for him when he ran for president. ... Whathappened with Watergate, I don't know. That's high politics. But I knowI always had high esteem for him. " In a political campaign last year, Hampton threw his support behindErnest Morial, a black man who was running for mayor of New Orleans. Before Hampton stepped in, Morial was sixth in the polls. "I sent my P. R. Man Chuck Jones down there to put some life into his campaign. Chuckput a thousand placards all over town and went on all the radio stations, and I played at a Morial for Mayor music festival. He came in first in theprimary and then he won the election. " My questions are finished. I get up and shake Lionel's hand, telling himthat I've always loved his music. He dashes into his bedroom, bringingout four records for me to take home. He shakes my hand twice more. On my way to the door, I ask him one last question: Does he still havetime to read the Bible every day? "Yes, " he replies, grinning, "That's what I was doing when you camehere and that's what I'm going to do after you leave. " ******** WESTSIDER DAVID HAWKExecutive director of Amnesty International U. S. A. 3-11-78 During the final days of World War II, a captured resistance member satalone in a black prison cell, tired, hungry, tortured, and convinced ofapproaching death. After weeks of torment, the prisoner was sure thatthere was no hope, that no one knew or cared. But in the middle of thenight, the door of the cell opened, and the jailer, shouting abuse into thedarkness, threw a loaf of bread onto the dirt floor. The prisoner, by thistime ravenous, tore open the loaf. Inside was a matchbox. Inside the matchbox were matches and a scrap ofpaper. The prisoner lit a match. On the paper was a single word:"Coraggio!" Courage. Take courage. Don't give up, don't give in. We aretrying to help you. "Coraggio!" The prisoner never did find out who wrote the one-word message, but thespark of hope it provided may well have saved his life. The story is toldin _Matchbox_, the newspaper of Amnesty International U. S. A. , one ofthe largest branches of the worldwide human rights organization thatreceived the Nobel Peace Prize for 1977. David Hawk, executive director of Amnesty international U. S. A. , sitsbehind his desk on a weekday morning talking about how the grouporiginated and what it has done to earn the prize. "It was started in Britain in 1961 by a lawyer named Peter Benenson, "says Hawk, whose name belies the fact that he has been involved in civilrights for nearly half of his 34 years. "It started over a trial that was goingon in Portugal. " Benenson launched a one-year campaign to call attentionto the Portuguese prisoners. Soon the idea became so popular that a permanent organization wascreated. Chapters sprang up in other countries, and members began towork toward freeing "prisoners of conscience" on every continent. In thepast 17 years, Amnesty International -- or "Amnesty" for short -- hasaided in securing the release of nearly 13, 000 individuals who wereimprisoned not for crimes, but for personal beliefs that went against theirgovernments' official policies. "We're a nuisance factor, " says Hawk. "We organize letter-writing andpublicity campaigns on behalf of individual victims of human rightsviolations. It's the letters and the publicity that are Amnesty's tools forsecuring their release or bettering their conditions while they're in. Atfirst it sounds strange to think that people sitting in living rooms in theUnited States can help someone in a fortress prison on an island inIndonesia, or in Siberia. ... You deluge certain people with so manyletters that eventually it becomes an issue. Then the government asks, 'Isholding this person worth the trouble?' And on occasion, the answer isno. " The secret of Amnesty's success is its huge number of volunteers --170, 000 in 78 countries -- who work on the case of a particular prisonerfor years if necessary. They send letters and telegrams not only togovernment officials, but also to the prisoner himself. At times they sendpackages, or give financial aid to his family, or arrange for legal aid. A 100-member research team in London makes sure that every new caseis thoroughly documented before assigning it to an "adoption group" of 12to 20 people. This group generally receives the names of three prisonersfrom three different political systems, and meets once a month to work onthe cases until a result is obtained. The Riverside adoption group, dating back to 1966, was the first oneestablished in the U. S. Today there are more than 100 in 32 states. All ofthese are monitored by David Hawk and his staff of 20 full-time workersat their Westside office. The $750, 000 annual U. S. Budget comes frommembers' contributions, foundations, and church agencies. Hawk assumed the leadership of A. I. -U. S. A. In 1974. "In the early '60sI worked in the civil rights movement in the Deep South, " he recalls. "From 1967 to 1972 I was one of the organizers of the MoratoriumAgainst the War. Then I worked in the McGovern campaign. " At about the same time he graduated from Union Theological Seminary, and from there went to Oxford University in England, where he found outabout Amnesty International. Returning to the U. S. , he applied for thevacant post of executive director and was accepted. Ever since then he hasbeen a resident of the West Side. David's wife Joan, a potter, is the editorof _Matchbox_. Hawk's biggest concern these days is to focus attention on the humanrights covenants that President Carter has signed and is planning to sendto the U. S. Senate for ratification. The covenants are worded almost thesame as the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in December, 1948. "Put into treaty form, " explains Hawk, "thearticles will carry more weight. It's very important for governments toagree among themselves that they shouldn't torture their citizens, andshould give them fair trials, and should provide food and housing andeducation for their citizens. Amnesty wants all governments to ratify thetreaty. " Anyone interest in volunteering some time to this worthy organizationshould write to: Amnesty International, 2112 Broadway, Room 309, NewYork, NY 10023. ******** EASTSIDER WALTER HOVINGChairman of Tiffany & Company 12-22-79 When Walter Hoving took over as chairman of Tiffany and Company in1955, he gave his designers one simple rule: "Design what you think isbeautiful and don't worry about selling it. " The rule applies as much tostore's eye-catching Christmas display windows as to the three floors ofjewelry, silver, china, and crystal at the corner of 5th Avenue and 57thStreet. Hoving's unique combination of business wizardry and impeccabletaste has paid off dramatically: since he joined the company, Tiffany'sannual sales haver gone from $7 million to $73 million. A tall, soft-spoken, former Brown University football star whose unlinedforehead and vigorous appearance belie his 82 years, Hoving has a voicelike Jimmy Stewart's and kindly yet authoritative manner. On hisconservative gray suit is a tiny silver pin with the words "Try God. "Leaning back in the comfortable desk chair at his vast, teakwood-paneledoffice at Tiffany's on a recent afternoon, he answers all questionsthoroughly and unhesitatingly. "We don't think in terms of price at all. Whatever we sell has got to beup to our standard in quality material, quality workmanship, and qualityof design. ... You see, you've got to have a point of view in this thing. That's all we've got is a point of view, and we stick to it. " What he calls a "point of view" others would simply define as "taste. "And Hoving is well qualified to have strong opinions in this area. At theage of 30, three years after joining R. H. Macy and Company, he wasalready a vice president and merchandising director. At that point, saysHoving, "I realized that design was going to be a coming thing, and Ireally didn't know much about it. So I matriculated at New YorkUniversity in their arts department, and I took courses on period furniture, old silver, historic textiles, color and design. It took me three years, twicea week at night. ... Then, of course, I could learn by going into people'shomes that were beautiful, in England and France, at museums --wherever I was. You learn if you have a basis. And so I advise anybodywho comes into this business to get knowledgeable about decorative arts. " After leaving Macy's, he climbed steadily, becoming vice president ofMontgomery Ward, president of Lord & Taylor, and president of BonwitTeller. Upon arriving at Tiffany's, one of the first things he did was todiscontinue selling anything that didn't conform to his esthetic standards, regardless of profit. The current 180-page catalogue lists almost 100 items under $25, alongwith such unabashed luxuries as a porcelain dessert service for six pricedat $4, 200 and an unpriced "seashell" necklace of 18-carat gold withdiamonds set in platinum. Tiffany's carries no synthetic gems because, according to Hoving, "everything here is real, " and no men's diamondrings because "we think they're vulgar. " He adds: "I dropped antiquesilver. I saw no reason why Tiffany should carry it. You can get antiquesanyplace. Our job is to make antiques for the future. " Since 1963, Tiffany has opened branch stores in five other cities. Severalfloors in the Fifth Avenue headquarters house artists, engravers, clockmakers and jewelry craftsmen. There is also a Tiffany factory inNew Jersey. The author of two best-selling books, _Your Career in Business_ and_Tiffany's Table Manners for Teenagers_, Hoving is a deeply religiousman who has long been actively involved in charitable work. He is a cofounder of the Salvation Army Association of New York, and gives histime to the United Negro College Fund, the United Service Organizations, and, most recently, a home for heroin-addicted girls in Garrison, NewYork, which has been named in his honor. When a friend at St. Bartholomew's Church asked Hoving to make her apin reading "Try God, " he got the idea of selling the pin at Tiffany's andgiving the proceeds to the Walter Hoving Home. So far, 600, 000 havebeen sold. Jane Pickens Hoving, his wife since 1977, is the founder and chairman ofan organization known as Tune in New York, which matches volunteersto jobs best suited for their talents and interests. It is about to open aheadquarters at 730 Fifth Avenue, across from Tiffany's. His son Thomas Hoving served as commissioner of parks for New YorkCity and for many years was director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He recently wrote a book on Tutankhamen and has another book in theworks. An Eastsider for over 50 years, Walter Hoving walks more than threemiles a day between his home and office. He frequently mixes withcustomers in the store, and one of his favorite anecdotes is about the timehe spoke with a woman who was registering her daughter for weddingpresents. "The woman said that she and her husband wanted everythingto come from Tiffany's because they were sure if it was from Tiffany'sit would be all right, " relates Hoving. "I said, 'What does your husbanddo?' She said, 'He is a letter carrier. ' Well, I felt better than if I had soldMrs. Astorbilt a million-dollar diamond ring. " ******** EASTSIDER JAY JACOBSRestaurant critic for _Gourmet_ magazine 2-9-80 It is a familiar scene to New York restaurateurs: an out-of-town visitorarrives clutching a magazine, turns to an article, and orders the items thathave been underlined. Whether the magazine is current or several yearsold, the chances are that it is _Gourmet_ and that the article is a reviewby Jay Jacobs, _Gourmet's_ New York restaurant critic since 1972. Its monthly circulation of 600, 000 makes _Gourmet_ the most widely readfood publication in the English-speaking world. But Jacobs, who isresponsible for writing three lengthy reviews per issue, is quick to pointout that, in spite of his knowledge of the business and his love of cooking, he would never consider opening a restaurant himself. "I think everybody born in this century has fantasized about a restaurant, but I think it would be insane, " he says in a voice as rich and mellow asvintage port. "One of the great tragedies of the restaurant business is thatpeople who cook well at home often think that's all it takes. ... If you'vegot any interest in food and the least bit of talent, you can probably cooka better meal for four people than you'll ever get in any restaurant in theworld -- if you want to invest that kind of labor and time, andconcentration. But there's a huge gap between doing that and servinganywhere from 70 to 130 people at night, all wanting different dishes. Itbecomes a tremendous problem of strategy and logistics. " Affable, low-keyed, and very small of stature, Jacob displays a wry witwhile telling how he began his career as a painter, cartoonist andillustrator before turning to full-time writing in 1956. For years he workedmainly for art publications, and he still writes a bimonthly column for_theArtgallery_ magazine. His first book, a quickie titled _RFK: His Lifeand Death_, came out in 1968. He is also the author of _A History ofGastronomy_, _New York a la Carte_, and _Winning the RestaurantGame_ (McGraw-Hill, 1980). _Winning the Restaurant Game_ is an extremely humorous andentertaining volume that is notable for its exotic vocabulary. However, thebook's message is not to be taken lightly -- that restaurant dining is acomplex game in which the best players can expect better service, betterfood, and the lasting affection of the owner. All the conventions of diningout, including who to tip and how much, are discussed in depth. Amongthe subchapters are "Humbling the Opposition, " "The Uselessness ofMenus, " "Addressing Flunkies, " and "Securing Advantageous Tables. " His next book, _Winning the Kitchen Game_, is due from McGraw-Hillnext winter. Jacobs dines out at least once a day while in the city. He visits restaurantsseveral times before doing a review -- always anonymously, and generallyaccompanied by others. "My job, " he says, "is to find worthwhile placesthat our readers will want to go to. The magazine's policy is not to dounfavorable reviews. If I think a place stinks, I don't go back and I don'treview it. ... Most of our readers are knowledgeable about food, somewhat self-indulgent, affluent, and well-travelled. When they comeinto New York, they don't want to find some cut-rate taco house, and theydon't want to know about the bad places. They're only in for a few days, and they want to hit the high spots. "The daily press have a different readership and a different function. ... When they do a favorable review, it can damage a restaurant in that itgenerates a sudden spurt of interest that the restaurant can't handle. " The father of four boys, Jacobs is a very sociable person who enjoysthrowing parties for 50 to 60. To prepare the food, he says, "I lockmyself in the kitchen for three or four days. " His _Gourmet_ reviews are so detailed that Jacobs gets letters fromreaders across the country who tell how they have recreated a night at theFour Seasons or 21 "by analyzing what I have written, and approximatingthe dishes. " But what makes his job particularly gratifying is the restaurantpeople themselves. "I'm very impressed by these restaurant guys. If you travel in Europe yousee them when they're 13 years old, schlepping suitcases in some moteland dreaming of the day when they open their own restaurant. Theyusually come out of small towns or even villages, and don't have thebenefit of birth or upbringing or schooling. And the next thing you know, it's 30 years later and they can converse very adequately with HenryKissinger or Jackie Onassis or anyone else, and maintain a business andmake it work. " ******** WESTSIDER RAUL JULIAStar of _Dracula_ on Broadway 5-26-79 "It's nice to be a vampire eight times a week, " says Raul Julia, the starof _Dracula_ at the Martin Beck Theatre. Last October he took over therole made famous by Frank Langella, and now Julia -- pronounced "Hoolia" by his Puerto Rican countrymen -- has developed a cult following ofhis own, in this classic remake of the 1927 Broadway hit. Some critics have said that the sets and costumes by Edward Gorey arethe centerpieces of the show, more so than any of the performers. ButRaul Julia is rapidly becoming a local matinee idol, drawing fan mail bythe bagful and constantly meeting crowds of autograph seekers outside thestage door. In his portrayal of Count Dracula, Raul takes on many characteristics ofa bat. He hangs over the mantlepiece at strange angles and whips his darkcloak through the air like a bat's wings. When entrapped by threedesperate men holding protective crosses and religious relics in front ofthem, he changes into a bat and flies out the window at the stroke ofdawn. In the dressing room prior to a performance, without his makeup, he looksneither sinister nor magnetically attractive, but seems almost boyish. Hiswit is matched by his humility: Raul is aware that his name is not yet ahousehold word. Not many people realize, for example, that his naturalspeaking voice has the same lilting Puerto Rican accent heard everywherein the streets and subways of New York. When asked how he accounts forhis flawless onstage pronunciation, Raul shrugs and says with a grin, "Well, that's acting. " Like Richard Chamberlain, who in 1970 played Hamlet with great successon the British stage, Julia is equally at home in British and Americanplays. He has starred in many of Joseph Papp's New York ShakespeareFestival productions, and has received three Tony nominations for hisdramatic and musical roles on Broadway. He sips a glass of apricot juice while a makeup artist brushes his jet blackhair straight back and starts to darken his eyes. Removing his shoes, Raultells all sorts of little anecdotes about his life as the famous Count. "I usually eat very little during the day. I go to sleep at about five, sometimes six. Maybe I'm getting a Dracula schedule, " he says with alaugh. "Some people who see the show write and say they're going tokeep their windows open at night. "Dracula is a myth, although some people think there actually arevampires. Bram Stoker really created the character of Dracula, takinglegends from different parts of the world, like the stories of sailors whohad been stricken by bats, appearing on deck the next morning, all pale, without blood in them. "I hear that Bela Lugosi was buried in a Dracula costume. I also hear thatBoris Karloff came to the funeral home to visit him and looked down atthe coffin and said, 'You're not kidding are you sweetie?'" Dracula the character is more than 500 years old; Julia the actor declinesto give his age. "Actors should be ageless, " he says. "You see, what agedoes, it limits you to a certain category. " He doesn't mind telling hisheight, however. "Eight foot four, " he quips. "No, six two. " He was, in fact, born 30-odd years ago in San Juan. In 1964, aftergraduating from the university there, he was performing in a localnightclub revue, and comedian Orson Bean happened to be in theaudience. Bean urged him to come to New York, and introduced him toWynn Handman of the American Place Theatre. Although he had notstudied acting formally, Raul's natural ability and his versatility soonbegan to pay off. Within two years he was playing lead roles for JosephPapp. Married for the past three years to dancer/actress Merel Poloway, Rauldevotes a great deal of his spare time to a charitable organization calledthe Hunger Project. "The purpose of the group is to support anything thatwill help bring an end to hunger by 1997. Our goal is to transform theatmosphere that exists now, . That says that hunger is inevitable. All theexperts and scientists agree that we have the means right now to end thestarvation on the planet. " A resident of the Upper West Side for the past 10 years, Raul has twomajor projects coming up -- the title role of Othello for Shakespeare-inthe-Park this summer and a movie called _Isabel_, which he will film inPuerto Rico this spring: "I wanted to be in it because it's a totally PuertoRican venture, and I want to encourage the beginning of a quality movieindustry. " Raul appears to be utterly at ease as he prepares to make his stageentrance in the middle of the first act of _Dracula_. I have time for onemore question: "Is the acting life everything you hoped it would be?" Raul wraps the cloak around himself and heads out of the dressing room. He looks back at me and smiles. "Yes, " he replies. "_Now_ it is. " ******** EASTSIDER BOB KANECreator of Batman and Robin 3-24-79 At the 1939 World's Fair in New York, a time capsule was filled withmemorabilia thought to be representative of 20th-century Americanculture, and scheduled to be opened by historians 5, 000 years later. Among the objects chosen was a comic magazine that had appeared forthe first time that year, the creation of an 18-year-old artist and writernamed Bob Kane. Whoever chose the contents of the time capsule musthave been prophetic, because today, 40 years later, few characters inAmerican fantasy or fiction are so well known as Kane's pulp hero --Batman. "It was a big success from the very beginning, " says the cartoonist, a tall, wiry, powerful-looking man of 58 whose tanned, leathery features bear astriking resemblance to those of Bruce Wayne, Batman's secret identity. "Superman started in 1938, and the same company, D. C. Comics, waslooking for another superhero. I happened to be in the right place at theright time. "The first year, Batman was more evil, more sinister. My concept was forhim to scare the hell out of the denizens of the underworld. And then thesecond year, I introduced Robin, because I realized he would appeal to thechildren's audience. That's when the strip really took hold. " The walls of his Eastside apartment are covered with vintage hand-drawnpanels by America's most famous cartoonists, and Kane, with his casualattire, his broad New York accent, and his habit of twirling his glassesaround while slumped far down in his easy chair, would not seem out ofplace as a character in Maggie and Jiggs. Yet he likes to consider himselfa serious artist, and has, in fact, had some notable achievements in his"second career, " which began in 1966 when he resigned from D. C. Comics, on the heels of the successful _Batman_ TV series. "I got tired of working over the drawing board after 30 years. I wantedto be an entrepreneur -- painter, screenplay writer, and producer. " Sincethat time, he has built up a large body of work -- oil paintings, watercolors, pen and ink sketches and lithographs, most of them depictingcharacters from Batman. They have been purchased by leadinguniversities, famous private collectors, and New York's Museum ofModern Art. As a writer, Kane has created four animated cartoon series for television, has penned a screenplay for Paramount Pictures, _The Silent Gun_, haswritten an autobiography titled _Batman and Me_ (due to be publishednext year), and has completed a screenplay for a full-length Batmanmovie. Recently, he has also emerged as an active participant in charitablecauses, such as UNICEF, Cerebral Palsy and the American CancerSociety. >From March 16 to April 8, the Circle Gallery at 435 West Broadway inSoHo will exhibit a one-man show of about 40 Kane originals. Says Kanewith his typical immodesty: "I'm probably the first cartoonist to make thetransition to fine art. When you do hand-signed, limited editions oflithographs, you are definitely entering the world of Lautrec and Picassoand Chagall. " Kane has lived on the East Side for the past 15 years and has no plans toleave. Asked about his early years, he tells of growing up poor in theBronx. "I used to draw on all the sidewalks, and black out the teeth of thegirls on the subway posters. I used to copy all the comics as a kid, too. That was my school of learning. ... My greatest influence in creatingBatman was a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci of a flying machine, which Isaw when I was 13 years old. It showed a man on a sled with huge batwings attached to it. To me, it looked like a bat man. And that same year, I saw a movie called _The Mark of Zorro_, with Douglas FairbanksSenior. Zorro fought for the downtrodden and he had a cave in themountainside, and wore a mask, which gave me the idea for Batman'sdual identity and the Batmobile. " As might be expected, Kane takes much pride in his lifelong success. "Batman has influenced four decades of children, " he declares. "It hasinfluenced the language. ... It has influenced people's lives whereby itgives them a sense of hope that the good guy usually wins in the end. Andmainly, the influence has been one of sheer entertainment. I feel that mostpeople would like to be a Batman-type superhero, to take them out of theirdull, mundane routine of everyday living. ... My greatest thrill comesfrom my 5-year-old grandson. Little did I know when I was 18 that oneday I would see my grandson wearing a little Batman costume, drivingaround in a miniature Batmobile and yelling 'Batman!'" ******** WESTSIDER LENORE KASDORFStar of _The Guiding Light_ 1-20-79 For the pat few months at least, the hottest soap opera on television hasbeen CBS' _The Guiding Light_, which reaches approximately 10 millionviewers nationwide. The show has 22 regular characters, and right nowthe one who is getting the most attention is Rita Stapleton, a beautiful butdeceitful nurse who recently brought up the ratings for the week when shewas raped by her ex-lover on the night before her engagement to anotherman. It was all in a day's work for Westsider Lenore Kasdorf, whoportrays the popular villainess. "This is definitely a job, and you get the feeling of a schedule, ofpunching in and punching out, of rolling it off the presses. But you put inyour creative element too, " says Miss Kasdorf, taking a break betweenscenes at the studio. With her soft hazel eyes, pearly teeth, finely chiseledfeatures, and billowing brown hair, she is nothing short of stunning -- animpression that is heightened by her throaty voice and by the red sweaterthat covers her ample figure. Being the star of an hour-long "soap" means that Lenore often has to workfrom 7 a. M. To 7 p. M. Inside the mazelike studio, so that in winter, anentire week may go by when she doesn't see sunlight. Although shereceives a tremendous number of fan letters, Lenore does not have timeto answer most of them. "I'm not a letter writer anyway, " she explains. "There are times whensomeone is so sincere that you feel you really want to respond. I have hadpeople send me a dollar check for postage. My heart goes out sometimes;I get guilty when I read my mail. This audience is very responsive. Theylove to comment about the show. I get a lot of identifying mail. Somepeople say, 'You're like the sister I wish I had. ' Sometimes there'sstrange mail. Sometimes there's lewd mail, which is removed before I canread it. " She laughs vigorously. "That's fine with me, because then I canenjoy all my mail. " Asked about which part of the Upper West Side she lives in, Lenoredeclines to say. "I have some fans who would follow my footprints in thesnow. You have to be careful. My husband and I tend to stay in theneighborhood a lot, and I'd hate to ruin our indiscreet little way of gettingaround. ... In New York people are used to seeing Al Pacino walkingdown the street, or Jackie O. Shopping at the corner. But out of town --at first they're not sure if it's you. A lot of people come up to me andsay, 'Do you ever watch _The Guiding Light_? You look so much likethat girl. ' I usually tell them who I am. I can't see any point in lying. Face it, that's part of the reason we're doing this. I'm sure there's a hamin every actor, whether they're shy about it or not. " Her husband, actor Phil Peters, recently won the part of Dr. StevenFarrell on _As The World Turns_, another CBS soap opera. Within a fewweeks, however, there was a change of writers. "The new writers wantedto bring in their own characters, " says Lenore, "so on the show, Phil justdisappeared in the night. He never showed up for his wedding. All theother characters were saying, 'Where could he be?'" She laughs at therecollection of what happened soon afterward when she and her husbandwere visiting Fredericksburg, Virginia: "A woman came up behind Philwhile we were eating dinner, and said, 'Shame on you! How could yourun off on that pretty little thing?'" Born 30 years ago on Long Island, the daughter of an Army officer, Lenore grew up in such diverse places as Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, Germany and Thailand. After graduating from the International School inBangkok, she "got out of the Army" and returned to the U. S. To attendcollege in Indiana. There she began to do local TV commercials, and wasso successful that she decided to try her luck in California. Quickly shebecame an established television actress, winning roles in many primetime series, including _Starsky and Hutch_, _Barnaby Jones_, and_Ironside_. While performing for a small theatre company she met PhilPeters. Phil wanted to come to New York to work in the theatre, and, with some reservations, Lenore came with him. Although Phil does nothave a regular acting assignment at present, Lenore points out that "actorsare never out of work. They're just between jobs. " _The Guiding Light_, says Lenore, "was originally a religious programon the radio, where the moral of the story was an enlightening lesson foreverybody. " Since moving to television in 1952, the show has changedconsiderably in content, but, according to Lenore, it still contains manylessons that are relevant to modern living. "You can tell from mail that you do help people, whether you mean to ornot, " says the actress with obvious satisfaction. "I've gotten letters saying, 'Seeing Rita through that difficulty has enlightened me about my ownsituation. ' She has not helped by example, because Rita doesn't always dothings right. But she shows how much trouble you can get into bybehaving the way she does, and in that way I think she helps people avoidthe same mistakes. " ******** EASTSIDER BRIAN KEITHBack on Broadway after 27 years 12-29-79 On January 1, 1980, the curtain will finally ring down on _Da_, HughLeonard's strikingly original and poignant drama about a man's fondmemories of his working-class Irish father. _Da_ won four Tony Awardsin 1978, including Best Play. Since July 30, the title role has been ablyfilled by Brian Keith, an actor perhaps best known for playing "UncleBill" in the situation comedy _Family Affair_, one of television's mostpopular shows from 1966 to 1971. Recently he has been seen in the TVspecials _Centennial, The Chisholms_ and _The Seekers_. In his long, illustrious career, the 57-year-old actor has starred in four other TV seriesand appeared in more than 60 motion pictures. During the late 1940s, when he worked primarily on Broadway, Keithrented an apartment on East 66th Street with a fireplace and kitchen for$70 a month. Leaving for Hollywood in 1952, he eventually married aHawaiian actress, and nine years ago became a full-time resident ofHawaii. "I hadn't been to New York for years and years and years, and when wecame here for a vacation last winter, I saw a play every night for a coupleof weeks, " says Keith. "_Da_ was the only one I thought I'd really liketo do sometime. " Not long afterward, Barnard Hughes, the Tony Awardwinning star of _Da_, decided to tour with the show, and Keith wasoffered a five-month contract to replace him. Delighted with the chanceto return to Broadway in such a compelling role after a 27-year absence, Keith quickly said yes. Bringing his wife and children to New York foran extended visit, he again chose the Upper East Side as a place to live. A big, brawny 6-footer whose deep, gravelly voice and slothfulmannerisms somehow bring to mind a friendly trained bear, Keithnormally spends the time between his matinee and evening performancessleeping on an Army cot in his dressing room. On this particular day, heis sitting in the sparsely furnished room with his shirt off, smoking acigarette and answering questions about his career. His initially gruffdemeanor soon gives way to laughter, sentiment, hopefulness andcynicism in equal measure. A no-holds-barred conversationalist, he talksabout the acting life with a rare frankness. Taking over the role of Da with only about 20 hours of rehearsal, saysKeith, was "just a matter of trouping it. " He didn't find the task toodifficult, partly because of his Irish background. Asked how far back hisancestry goes, Keith laughs and says, "How far back? If you go back farenough, you never stop. I'm Irish on both sides. On my father's side theycame over in Revolutionary days. On my mother's side, five or sixgenerations. It stays, though. The first time I went to Ireland, I felt thewhole deja vu thing. I knew what I'd see around the next corner when Iwalked. " He was born in the backstage of a theatre in Bayonne, New Jersey. "I wasthere about a week. I'm always getting letter from people saying: 'I'mfrom Bayonne too!' My parents were actors, so we went everywhere. ... I went to high school in Long Island. Very ... Very nothing. And I didn'tcare a damn thing about acting. " >From 1945 to 1955 he served in the U. S. Marine Corps as a sergeant inthe Pacific campaign. "When I got out of the service, I was just bangingaround, looking for a job. I didn't have an education or anything. A guyoffered me a part in a play and I didn't know whether I'd ever get anotherone. But I did, so it's been very nice. Very lucky. It's unlike the usualstruggle that people go through. " When the conversation lands on _Meteor_, his latest movie, Keith declinescomment, choosing to speak instead of _The Last of the Mountain Men_, a feature film that was completed in July and is scheduled for a Easterrelease. "Charlton Heston and I co-star. It's about two trappers in theWest in 1830, and what happens to them when the beaver period comesto a close. The two guys are like Sundance and Butch. But damn wellwritten. It's one of the best scripts I ever read. Heston's kid wrote it. Heworked for a couple of years up around Idaho and Montana as a riverguide. There's not a wasted word in the script. " Many of his films and TV shows Keith has never seen. "If it's some pieceof junk, I don't see why I should bother. It's bad enough you did it. Butto live through it again!. ... You can't sit around and wait for somethingyou think is _worthy_ of you. " Brian and his wife Victoria have two children. Mimi, his daughter froma previous marriage, is a member of the Pennsylvania Ballet Company. Between acting assignments, says Keith with affection, he spends most ofhis time "raising the damn kids. It's a 24-hour job. We do a lot of outdoorstuff, because in Hawaii you can, all year round. We go on the beach andcamp out and all that crap. " He finds that being based in Hawaii causes no problems with his career. "It doesn't make any difference where you live, " Keith growls softly. "People live in London, in Spain, in Switzerland. You don't go aroundlooking for jobs. You wait till your agent calls you and you get on a planeand go. You can be halfway around the world overnight, from anywhere. It beats Bayonne. " ******** WESTSIDER HAROLD KENNEDYAuthor of _No Pickle, No Performance_ 7-22-78 In the early days of Harold Kennedy's theatrical career, he was involvedin a play written by Sinclair Lewis, who may have been a great novelistbut was no playwright. Kennedy was talking with Lewis one eveningbefore the play opened when a young student approached the famousauthor and politely asked for an autograph. Lewis took the piece of paperthe boy offered him and wrote on it: "Why don't you find a hobby thatisn't a nuisance to other people?" He handed it back unsigned. But the boy got even. The play opened a few nights later and was a totaldisaster. Lewis was sitting gloomily in the dressing room after the finalcurtain when a note was hand-delivered to him by an usher. He opened itand read, in his own handwriting: "Why don't you find a hobby that isn'ta nuisance to other people?" The story is one of dozens told in Harold Kennedy's book, _No Pickle, No Performance_, published this month by Doubleday. The book is afascinating collection of true-life anecdotes stored up by Kennedy duringhis four decades in the theatre as a director, actor, and playwright onBroadway and across the country. The subtitle of his book is "AnIrreverent Theatrical Excursion from Tallulah to Travolta, " and he haswritten chapters about his experiences with both of these stars, in additionto Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Thornton Wilder, Gloria Swanson, Steve Allen, and others who are less well known today but were legendsin their time. Its book is dedicated to actress Renee Taylor, who refused to come onstage during a play's opening night until she got a pickle with hersandwich, as she had during the previews. The coffee shop that hadprovided those sandwiches was closed, and the curtain was held while aprop man got in his car and went searching for the holy pickle. It arrivedseven minutes after the advertised curtain time, and the show went on. Unknown to Taylor, the stage crew was so enraged by her antics that theyperformed "a little ceremony" with the pickle before giving it to her. Gloria Swanson later said: "Poor Miss Taylor. Can't you see her shoppingaround to every delicatessen in New York complaining that she can neverfind a pickle to match the caliber of the one she had in New Jersey. " I meet the author on a recent evening at Backstage on West 45th Street. "The thing about this book, " he says, "is that whether people know theactors or not, they find the stories amusing. You know, I never thoughtof writing these stories down. I used to tell them to other members of thecompany over drinks after the show, and everyone loved them. But I'man actor, and I thought what made them funny was the way I told them. I didn't know how they'd look in print. A good friend of mine finallyconvinced me to write about a hundred pages, and I said, "If anyonewants it, I'll write the whole thing. " The first publisher I sent it to --Doubleday -- accepted it. " Those who have seen portions of the Ginger Rogers chapter in a recentissue of _New York_ magazine might think the book is malicious, but thisis not the case. Says Kennedy: "It just tells what happened, and somepeople come out better than others. " The chapter begins: "It seems that Ginger Rogers never smiles. It may bethat someone has told her it would crack her face. It may be more likelythat she's a lady devoid of one smidgin of one inch of a sense of humor. "The author describes her as "colder than anyone else I had met. Totallyunlike her screen self -- which only goes to prove what a good actress sheis. " He reveals Rogers at her worst when she attempts to make an actor outof her no-talent fifth husband, G. William Marshall, at the expense ofKennedy and everyone else in the cast. The couple were still on theirhoneymoon, and Rogers demanded that Bill be given the role of herleading man in _Bell, Book and Candle_. The results were disastrous. Detroit's leading critic wrote after the opening: "The program lists Mr. Marshall as having been acquainted with many phases of show business. Last night he showed not even a nodding acquaintance with any of them. " Kennedy writes at the chapter's end: "Hopefully Ginger will find anotherhusband. As it turned out, the last one apparently worked out worse forher than it did for me. " Rogers is apparently considering a lawsuit againstthe author. Still very active in the theatre at 64, Kennedy is undertaking threeproductions this summer -- _Barefoot In the Park_ with MaureenO'Sullivan and Donny Most, _The Marriage-Go-Round_ with KittyCarlisle, and _Bell, Book and Candle_ with Lana Turner. He is directingall three and acting in two of them. Two years ago he directed John Travolta for a summer stock companythat opened to hordes of screaming teenagers in Skowhegan, Maine. Whenever Travolta made in entrance or an exit, Kennedy tells in thechapter titled "John Who?", he caused such a commotion that the playvirtually came to a halt. "John is a darling. He's such a lovely boy, " saysthe author. "He'd kiss me full on the lips when we met and parted. AndI say that with no sense of implication. In the theatre, we've always beenrelaxed about an expression of affection. ... I thought in _Saturday NightFever_ he was a star in the old tradition -- in the tradition of TyronePower. ... I couldn't call John intelligent, but he'll own the movieindustry in two years. And he has things in his contract that no other starshave had, like approval of the final cut of the movie. " A native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Kennedy worked his way throughDartmouth College and the Yale School of Drama "and came out with aprofit. " In 1937 he moved to New York; he has lived on the West Sideever since. Among his close friends are some of the merchants andartisans in his area. "They care about theatre and they know we havespecial problems, " he says. "There's Mal the Tailor on West 72nd Street, for example. If I'm doing a play and need something right away, he'lldrop everything and take care of me. " _No Pickle, No Performance_ has already received many favorablereviews and has been partially reprinted in the _New York Post_. Kennedy is planning to hit the talk shows soon with some of his leadingladies. What seems to be uppermost in his mind at the moment, however, is whether Ginger Rogers will sue for libel. "I kind of wish she would, just to get some publicity for the book, " hemuses. "Of course, she's a fool if she does, because she'd never win, andthe people who haven't heard of the book will rush out and get it. ... ButI can say one thing: if there's a package from Ginger waiting for me inmy dressing room, I'm going to have it dumped in water. " ******** WESTSIDER ANNA KISSELGOFFDance critic for the _New York Times_ 6-9-79 It was 3 p. M. , and as usual, Anna Kisselgoff was sitting before thecomputer-typewriter at the _New York Times'_ newsroom, putting thefinishing touches on her latest dance review. She had spent the morningdoing research, and had arrived at the _Times_ building around noon tobegin writing the article directly on the computer terminal, using her notestaken the night before at a dance performance. At 8 o'clock that evening, she would be attending yet another performance, but for the moment atleast, Miss Kisselgoff had a little time to herself, and when we sat downto talk in her three-walled cubicle office facing the relatively quietnewsroom, she seemed noticeably relaxed and cheerful, notwithstandingthe pile of opened and unopened mail piled high on her desk. "We get no help: that's the problem, " she said, in a clear, even voice witha tone that recalled Mary Tyler Moore. "We have one secretary for ninepeople in the arts and architecture department. She's terriblyoverworked, " Anne went on, sweeping her hands like an orchestraconductor toward the stack of mail. "You're looking at what's left afterI've thrown away half of it. I make up the review schedule for the weekbased on these releases. " Petite, attractive, and looking somewhat younger than her 41 years, theeffervescent Miss Kisselgoff soon got to the root of her problem. "This time of year, everybody wants to be reviewed. The tragedy is thatdancers _do_ wait until the spring, and then they give their one-shotconcert that they have been preparing all year, and it's on the same nightthat 17 other dancers are giving theirs. I think it's suicidal. ... We havethree dance critics at the _Times_ -- Jack Anderson and Jennifer Dunningbesides myself -- and in the spring, all three of us are working every day, and we still can't keep up. " Anna herself attends up to nine performances a week during the busyseason. Besides her regular pieces in the daily _Times_, she is responsiblefor a long, comprehensive article in the Sunday edition. "There has beena tremendous increase in dance activity in the past 10 years, " sheexplained. "In 1969, the year after I joined the paper, I was asked to doa rundown of dance events, and I found there was not a single week in theyear that was free from dance. That was the first time it happened. "I think the decade of the 1960s had something to do with it. That waswhen choreographers like Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, who usedpure movement, became most popular. The audience that came to seethem was a new audience that was already comfortable with abstraction. They didn't require story ballets. One of the problems with dance in thepast was the people thought they wouldn't be able to understand it. But ifyou like plotless ballet, you don't have to understand any more than whatyou see. I think Marshall McLuhan was right: this is the age of television. This generation is used to watching images without getting bored. " She has no favorite dancers, but her favorite choreographers come downto two -- George Balanchine and Martha Graham. "You don't have anyyoung choreographers now who are really the stature of the old ones. Ican't give a reason why, except that it happened historically that the 1930sturned out to be the most creative period in dance -- not just in the UnitedStates, but in most parts of the world. That's when the modern dancepioneers became active. People like Martha Graham are revolutionaries, and you just don't get them in every generation. ... This applies to theother arts as well. Who are the great opera composers of today? Andfrankly, are there any Tolstoys?" Born in Paris, Anna arrived on the Upper West Side at the age of one. She attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and later spent fouryears in Paris as a general reporter for several English-languagenewspapers, but otherwise she has been a lifelong Westsider. Dance hasalways been one of her prime interests: she studied ballet for 10 yearswhile a child, and remained an avid fan long after realizing she would notbecome a professional dancer. In the mid-1960s, Anna wrote an article on a major dance festival for theinternational edition of the _New York Times_ in Paris. This led tosimilar assignments. In October 1968, shortly after she returned toManhattan, the _Times_ hired her to assist chief dance critic Clive Barnes. She quickly found herself writing many first-string reviews, and whenBarnes resigned almost two years ago, Kisselgoff was named to replacehim. One of the disadvantages of her job, Anna pointed out, is that she isfrequently approached by strangers at intermission. "I feel that everybodywho agrees or disagrees with me can do so by mail. I don't want to havelong discussions with people I don't know, because I think it's an invasionof my privacy as a person. " The advantages, however, far outweigh the inconveniences. "I can evenenjoy bad dance, " she quickly added. "That's why I'm very happy doingthis job. The day that I'll no longer be interested in watching a danceperformance, I think I should quit and go on to something else. " ******** WESTSIDER GEORGE LANGOwner of the Cafe des Artistes 8-4-79 George Lang, artist and perfectionist, could have become a success in anyof a hundred professions. In 1946, when he arrived in the U. S. From hisnative Hungary, he got a job as violinist with the Dallas Symphony. ButLang soon discovered that the orchestra pit was too confining for a manof his vision. He might have turned to composition or conducting; insteadhe decided to switch to a different field entirely -- cooking. Today, at 54, he is the George Balanchine of the food world -- a "culinarychoreographer" with an international reputation for knowing virtuallyeverything relevant that is to be known about food preparation andrestaurants. Lang's imagination, _Gourmet_ magazine once wrote, "is as fertile as theIndus Valley. " This imagination, combined with his keen intelligence, hisconcern for details, his natural versatility, and his seemingly endlesscapacity for work, have enabled him to rewrite the definition of the term"restaurant consultant. " As head of the George Lang Corporation, a loosely structured group ofassociates that he founded in 1971, he commands $2, 500 a day plusexpenses for jetting around the world, giving advice on restaurant andkitchen design, menu planning, and every other aspect of a restaurantfrom the lighting to the color of the napkins. His large-scale projects in the past few years include food consulting anddesign for Marriot Motor Hotels, Holiday Inn, the Cunard Lines, andPhilippine President Ferdinand Marcos. He was the chief planner for TheMarket, a three-level, 20-shop marketplace in the East Side's CiticorpCenter. In 1975, when he took over the West Side's famous Cafe desArtistes, the business quadrupled within weeks. A prolific author as well, Lang has written several books and hundreds ofarticles for leading publications, including the _Encyclopedia Britannica_. His column, "Table for One, " is a regular feature of _Travel & Leisure_magazine. He has bottled burgundy under his own label, arranged partiesfor the rich and famous, and served as consultant for _Time-Life's_ serieson international cookery. His office has a miniature garden in the middle; the wall are lined with5, 000 catalogued cookbooks. He comes sailing into the room and takes aseat at his semicircular desk, which all but engulfs him. Short in stature, bald as a gourd, he moves with a darting energy that sees him through 20hour workdays with as many as 30 food tastings. His softly accentedspeech is the only thing about him that is slow, because Lang chooses hiswords carefully, aiming for the same perfection in English as ineverything else. Although modesty is not one of his characteristics, hegives full credit to his staff for being equal partners in his corporation'ssuccess. There is a feeling of camaraderie in the air, as if all are membersof a single family. The Cafe des Artistes, he admits, was a moderately successful Frenchrestaurant for 60 years before he took it over. "But it needed spiritualchanges as well as physical changes. And -- let me underline this andtriple-space it -- excellent food. You cannot chew scenery. We maintaina certain kind of formal informality, which simply means that anyone cancome, dressed any way they want, as long as their behavior will justifytheir white tie or dungarees. I could raise the prices by 50 to 100 percentovernight, and I wouldn't lose a single customer. But feel an obligationto New York City and the restaurant industry to maintain what I callreasonable prices. " His corporation also owns the Hungaria Restaurant at Citicorp, which hasa gypsy orchestra from Budapest, and Small Pleasures, a pastry shop inthe same building. However, Lang stresses that "98 percent of ourbusiness comes from consulting. I always think in terms of problems andsolutions, because every restaurant must be designed to suit the needs ofa particular market. At Alexander's, for example, we came up with arestaurant where you could have a reasonably pleasant luncheon for twoto four dollars. " Still an ardent music lover, George Lang plays the violin whenever timepermits. He recently acquired a Stradivarius and says with a laugh, "I'mthreatening to get back completely to shape and play a concert. " Lang enjoys the European atmosphere of the West Side, where he haslived for the past 30 years. Among his favorite Westside restaurants: theMoon Palace on Broadway, Sakura Chaya on Columbus, and Le Poulailleron 65th Street. His latest endeavor is a 4-to-6-minute TV spot titled _Lang at Large_, which is broadcast twice a month on the CBS network show _SundayMorning_. "It's part of my new career, " he announces joyfully. Asked about which aspect of his work gives him the most satisfaction, Lang ponders for a moment and concludes: "It would be easiest for me tosay that my biggest thrill is to see an idea of mine become a threedimensional reality, especially if it may be a $50 million project. Butactually, an even bigger thrill for me is to go to an obscure place in theworld, and see a bit of improvement in people's lives through the effortof someone who was my former disciple. " ******** WESTSIDER RUTH LAREDOLeading American pianist 12-30-78 She has frequently been called America's greatest female pianist -- a titlewhich, as recently as the 1960s, almost any woman would have coveted. But when the year is 1978 and the musician is Ruth Laredo, this"compliment" brings a different response. "I have mixed feelings about it, " says Miss Laredo, sitting back on thecouch of her West Side living room. "I would really rather be known asan American pianist. Being female doesn't preclude playing some of themost powerful sounds on the piano. " Her words are backed by accomplishments. In October, Ruth came to theend of a four-year project to record the complete works for solo piano bySergei Rachmaninoff, the late Russian-born composer who emigrated tothe U. S. After the Revolution of 1917. Almost all of his piano works werecomposed before 1910, and they rank among the most technically difficultpieces ever written for the instrument. Laredo is the first person in historyto record the piano solos in their entirety. Columbia Records will releasethe final three discs of the seven-album set in early 1979. Slender, graceful, and radiantly attractive, Laredo is still adjusting to herrecently acquired status as a major international artist. For 14 years shewas married to the acclaimed Bolivian-born violinist, Jaime Laredo, andduring most of that time she was known primarily as his accompanist. Shortly after their marriage broke up in 1974, her career began to soar. That year the first of her Rachmaninoff recordings was made, and it wonrave reviews. Her Lincoln Center debut with the New York PhilharmonicOrchestra in December 1974 caused such a sensation that she was quicklysigned up to perform with the Boston, Philadelphia, National Symphony, Cleveland, and Detroit orchestras. "After 15 years, " recalls Ruth, "I wasan overnight success. " Now, at 41 -- but looking considerably younger -- she can look back onfour years of unbroken triumph. Following a recital at Alice Tully Hallin 1976, the _New York Times_ reported that she "operated within arelatively narrow range -- from first-rate to superb. " Her talents have beenconstantly in demand ever since across the U. S. And Canada. During the1976-77 season she had over 40 concerts, including tours of Europe andJapan. This season she will perform in Japan and Hong Kong. Although her repertoire includes piano works spanning the last 250 years, Ruth has concentrated largely on Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, a Russiancomposer of the same era. She has recorded five albums of Scriabin'spiano solos. "It's such strange music if you haven't heard it before, " shesays. "I gave some concerts of Scriabin at Hunter College, and talkedabout each piece before playing it. I was kind of a crusader at the time forhis music. It was very rewarding for me. I think people are much morefamiliar with Scriabin today than they were 10 years ago. "One thing I love to do is to talk to the audience after a concert. There'sa certain feeling of distance sometimes between the audience and classicalmusicians, which need not happen. " On most days, Ruth practices at one of her twin grand pianos from about10:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon, when her 9-year-olddaughter Jennifer gets home from school. The walls of the Laredos' livingroom are covered with neatly framed fingerpaintings that Jennifer created. "She's intellectually brilliant and lots of fun. I take her to concerts withme when it's possible. When I gave a talk on Rachmaninoff to the cadetsat West Point, they all called her 'ma'am. '" A native of Detroit, Ruth began studying piano at the age of 2, performedwith the Detroit Symphony at 11, and entered the Curtis Institute of Musicin Philadelphia at 16. There she met her future husband. During theiryears together, Ruth longed for a solo career, but it somehow eluded her. "I played with Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony in the1960s, " she says. "There was a major concert I did at Carnegie Hall then, but nobody heard about it. I think that women are being accepted on theirown merits today. They weren't given a chance until recently. " Ruth keeps fit by riding her bicycle almost every day. She is a fan of theNew York Yankees -- "I saw all the World Series games" -- and likes todo photography when she has the time. A Westsider ever since she movedto New York in 1960, Ruth lists Fiorello's (on Broadway across fromLincoln Center) as her favorite restaurant. When she needs music suppliesof any kind, she goes to Patelson's (56th Street and 7th Avenue). SaysRuth: "It's a gathering place for musicians. The people who sell musicthere are very friendly and very knowledgeable. ... They sell recordsthere. They sell my records. " Asked whether men might have an inborn advantage at the piano, Ruthdenies the suggestion vigorously. "Of course not, " she replies. "I can'timagine why a man should play the piano better than a woman. At WestPoint, the women do everything the same as the male cadets except boxingand wrestling. Women might have smaller fingers on the average, but asfar as strength, speed, and dexterity are concerned, it's impossible tolisten to a recording and guess whether it was played by a man or awoman. " ******** EASTSIDER STAN LEECreator of Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk 1-13-79 With the current rage over Superman due to last year's hit movie, manypeople will purchase a copy of the comic for the first time in years, andmay be disappointed to see how much it has changed. Once the largestselling comic book hero on the market, Superman was knocked out of firstplace long ago by Spiderman, the creation of a 56-year-old native NewYorker named Stan Lee. Besides selling about one million Marvel comicseach month, Spiderman appears as a daily strip in some 500 newspapersaround the world. But even without this giant success, Stan Lee would be rich and famous. His fertile mind has also given birth to the Incredible Hulk, the FantasticFour, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and a host of other modern-daymythological figures. As publisher of Marvel Comics, he rules over anempire that branches out into dozens of areas -- prime-time televisiondrama, animated cartoons, hardbound and paperback collections of comicreprints, novels about Marvel characters, toys, games, posters, clothingand much more. Most of these spin-off products are the work of othercompanies that have bought the rights, but Stan Lee remains the creativeforce behind the whole operation, as I discover during a meeting with Leeat the Marvel headquarters on Madison Avenue. "I think the title of publisher is just given to me so I can have moreprestige when I'm dealing with people, " says Lee in his clipped, precisevoice, as he stretches his feet onto the coffee table of his brightlydecorated office. "I'm a salaried employee of Marvel -- your averagehumble little guy trying to stay afloat in the stormy sea of culture. Thecompany owns the properties, of course, but I have no complaints. I don'tthink I could have as much anywhere else. ... My main interest is to seethat the company itself does well and makes as much money as possible. " He is an intense, energetic man of wiry build who dresses in a casual yetelegant manner. As he shifts the position of his arms and legs on thecouch, there is something unmistakably spiderlike in the movements. Forall his politeness, he cannot mask the impression that his mind is racingfar ahead of his rapidly spoken words. "My involvement with this company goes back to about 1939, " says Lee. "I was always the editor, the art director, the head writer, and the creativedirector [from the age of 17]. In the early 1960s I was thinking ofquitting. I thought I wasn't really getting anywhere. My wife said, 'Whynot give it one last fling and do the kind of stories you want to do?' So Istarted bringing out the offbeat heroes. I never dreamt that they wouldcatch on the way they did. " He emphasizes that he did not create the characters alone, but co-createdthem with the help of an artist. Nevertheless, it was Lee whorevolutionized the comic book industry by introducing the concept of whathas been termed the "hung-up hero" -- the superhero whose powers do notpreclude him from having the same emotional troubles as the averagemortal. This is what makes Lee's characters so believable and soirresistibly entertaining on television. It explains why CBS' _TheIncredible Hulk_ is a hit, and why the same network has filmed eightepisodes of _The Amazing Spiderman_. On January 19 from 8 to 10 p. M. , CBS will broadcast the pilot for a new Marvel-based series, _CaptainAmerica_. "Dr. Strange may come back again, " says Lee. "It was made into a twohour television movie. " His old Spiderman cartoons, too, are still insyndication. He claims to work "about 28 hours a day, " and a look at his dizzying listof activities supports this claim. Besides running the Marvel headquarters, Lee makes frequent trips to the West Coast to develop shows for ABC andCBS, writes some cartoons for NBC, acts as consultant to the Spidermanand Hulk programs, writes an introduction to each of the dozens ofMarvel books published each year, writes occasional books andscreenplays of his own, gives lectures all over the country, and -- what tosome would be a full-time job in itself -- writes the plot and dialogue notonly for the Spiderman newspaper strip, but also, since November, for aHulk newspaper strip that already appears in more than 200 daily papersworldwide. Few people know Manhattan as well as Stan Lee. Born the son of a dresscutter in Washington Heights, he has made the Upper East Side his homefor the past 15 years. "I'm a big walker, " he explains. "I'm a fast walker:I can easily average a block a minute. So if I want to walk to GreenwichVillage, I give myself an hour -- 60 blocks. I wouldn't know what timeto leave if I took a cab. " Asked about new projects in the works, Lee mentions that Marvel isplanning to produce some motion pictures that will be filmed in Japan. "And I have a contract to write my autobiography, " he adds. "I wassurprised and delighted that they gave me five years to do it. So I presumeI'll wait four years; maybe in that period, something interesting willhappen to me. " ******** EASTSIDER JOHN LEONARDBook critic for the _New York Times_ 3-22-80 "It's as if the job I have were designed for me, " says bearded, bespectacled John Leonard, lighting his fifth cigarette of the earlyafternoon as he sits relaxed at his Eastside brownstone, talking about thepleasures and perils of being one of the _New York Times'_ three dailybook critics. Like his colleagues Christopher Lehmann-Haupt and AnatoleBroyard, Leonard writes two book reviews for the _Times_ each week, and is syndicated nationally. An avid reader since childhood, he now getsto read anything and everything he desires. That's the advantage. The disadvantage, explains Leonard, is that "thereare 50 thousand books published every year in this country. You cannever even pretend to be comprehensive. You can't even pretend to beadequate in your coverage, whereas the _Times_ will review almost anyplay that opens, on or Off Broadway, and almost every concert andmovie. We'll review maybe 400 books a year in the daily paper. " A smallish, balding man of 41 who dresses purely for comfort and has acalm, refined speaking manner, Leonard looks precisely like thebookworm he is. "I'll get here, in this house, probably 5, 000 or 6, 000books a year, mailed to me, or brought by messenger. The luxury of thisjob is that there's so much to choose from that any mood or interest orcompulsion or desire to educate oneself or amuse oneself can be matchedby some book that has come in. " New books by well-known authors, he says, are the first priority because"they've earned reviews, for service to the literary culture over theyears. " He and his two fellow critics "divide up the plums and divide upthe dogs. Since I did Kissinger's memoirs, the next huge, endless bookthat has to be reviewed, whether anybody wants to review it or not, willnot be reviewed by me. " Somewhere between 100 and 140 serious first novels are published in theU. S. Each year, according to Leonard. "This is not pulp paperbackwesterns. It doesn't even count science fiction or gothic or all that. I thinka special effort is made by all of us in the reviewing racket to review firstnovels. " He reads many authors' first books on the recommendation of trustedagents and publishers. "Over the years you decide who isn't lying to you.... Christopher Lehmann-Haupt was telling someone about that the otherday. He said, 'Sure, you can call me as often as you want. But I'll saythat you begin with a hundred dollars in you bank account, and if it turnsout that you are begging me to review a book that has no other redeemingvirtues but the fact that you have invested 50 or 80 thousand dollars'worth of advertising in it and you've got too many copies out in thebookstores that aren't moving, that bank account goes down. When yougive me a real surprise and a pleasure which is what makes this jobworthwhile, the bank account goes up. But if the bank account goes downto zero, it's closed. ' "And that's right. There are people in this town who I won't take atelephone call from. But that's the exception. " Apart from reading, writing and travel, Leonard has few interests. "ByMay, I can even look healthy, because I just sit out in the garden, gettingpaid to read, " he says with a grin. He and his wife Sue, a schoolteacher, have three children from previous marriages. His son Andrew will bestarting college in the fall. A book reviewer since 1967, including a five-year stint as editor of the_Sunday Times Book Review_, Leonard also write a warmly personal, frequently humorous column in the Wednesday _Times_ titled "PrivateLives. " A collection of 69 of the columns appeared in book form last yearunder the title _Private Lives in the Imperial City_ (Knopf, $8. 95). Inaddition, he has published four novels and hundreds of free-lance articlesfor magazines ranging from _Playboy_ to the _New Republic_. For yearshe wrote TV reviews for _Life_ magazine under the pseudonym"Cyclops. " Recalls Leonard: "It was a good way to turn your brain toSpam. " Born in Washington, D. C. , he grew up reading the _CongressionalRecord_ instead of comics, and initially planned a career in law. Bootedout of Harvard for neglecting his studies in favor of the campusnewspaper, he sharpened his journalistic skills under William F. BuckleyJr. At the _National Review_ before completing college at the Universityof California's Berkeley campus. Following graduation, he became theprogram director of a radio station, wrote his first two novels, and workedin an anti-poverty program in Boston. Then he was invited to join the_Times_. "I did my Westside and Village stuff when I was first here andbroke, " comments Leonard. He has owned his four-story Eastside housesince 1971. Among the most memorable books that Leonard has helped to "discover"are Joseph Heller's _Catch-22_ and Gunter Grass's _The Tin Drum_. "Tobe able to sit down one night, as I did, and to realize you're in thepresence of an extraordinary talent, with no advance publicity, to be ableto have a hole to fill in the paper two days later, to sit down and pull outall your adjectives and get people to buy the book: this is what you livefor, " he sighs happily. "You only need two or three of those to last alifetime. " ******** WESTSIDER JOHN LINDSAYInternational lawyer 7-1-78 It was said of John Kennedy that he was too young and too active a manto retire immediately after the presidency. Had he lived to serve two fullterms, he would have been 51 upon leaving office. How he might havespent the remainder of his career is difficult to guess, but it's likely thathe would have ended up doing work very similar to what John Lindsaydoes today. A comparison between the two men is hard to escape. Both were warheroes. Both rose to power aided by their personal magnetism -- Kennedyto the nation's highest office at 43, Lindsay to the nation's secondtoughest job at 44. Both gave eloquent speeches, aimed for high ideals, and made controversial decisions that brought plenty of criticism fromwithin their own ranks. Lindsay, now an international lawyer, has changed little in appearancesince he stepped down in 1974 after eight years in City Hall. The brownhair has turned mostly grey, and the lines in the face are slightly morepronounced, but when he's behind the desk of his Rockefeller Plazaoffice, his lean, immaculately dressed, 6-foot-3-inch frame restingcomfortably in a huge leather swivel chair, he still looks like a man whois very much in charge. He is a partner in the corporate law firm of Webster and Sheffield, whichhe first joined in 1948. "This is a firm of about 75 lawyers, " he says ina soft, lyrical voice. "We're general practice. ... I'm back into corporatelaw, and there's a fair amount of international work which takes meabroad quite a bit -- largely representing American businesses overseas. A lot of my work is done in French. I'm handling a complicated matterinvolving imports to this country, and a complex arrangement involvingoffshore oil exploration and drilling. Real estate transactions. Thepurchase of oil. A matter in Australia. Municipal counseling for a city inColorado ... " The international situation is beneficial to New York these days, saysLindsay, because "parts of the Western free world have a bad case of thejitters. Europeans particularly, and also many people in the Middle East, feel that this is a more stable place to invest their capital. " Leaning back, with his feet propped up on another chair, he elaborates onforeign affairs: "I think Carter's plane deal in the Middle East escalatedtensions rather than reduced them. It's not a foreign policy to sell arms inthe Middle East. I think Americans have an obligation to spell out whatour foreign policy is. " Except for a few public speaking engagements, Lindsay has devotednearly all his attention this year to the practice of law. "I used to spenda little time with _Good Morning America_ on ABC, but I dropped it inJanuary because of the pressures of this office, " he says. "Recently I dida pilot for public television. It's a small documentary that showscataclysmic events in world history -- mostly from World War II -- andat the same time, shows what was going on in America. ... It might beturned into a series of documentaries. " Because he served four terms as congressman for Manhattan's SilkStocking district, Lindsay is generally associated with the East Side, butactually he was born on the West Side's Riverside Drive in 1921. Onemonth after graduating from Yale in 1943, he enlisted in the Navy andserved for the next three years, taking part in the Sicily landing and theinvasion of the Philippines on his way to earning five battle stars. Two years after leaving the service, he received his law degree, and sevenyears after that, in 1955, his abilities impressed U. S. Attorney GeneralHerbert Brownell so much that he made Lindsay his executive assistant. In 1958, Lindsay ran for Congress and won, quickly establishing himselfas a tireless worker for the rights of refugees. Lindsay was an earlysupporter of the Peace Corps and a prominent member of the Council onForeign Relations. Soon after leaving Gracie Mansion, John and his wife Mary and theirchildren settled down on the West Side near Central Park. "I feel verystrongly that the park is for people, and not for special interest groups, "he says. "We introduced bicycling on weekends, and when I retired fromgovernment we had a major plan to restore all of Central Park. " The reason he first got involved in politics, says Lindsay, was because"out in the Pacific on lonely nights, after hearing the news of the death ofgood friends, I made a determination that one day I was going to try to dosomething. I was determined that we weren't going to have war again. " In regard to his years as mayor, Lindsay makes the simple statement that"I did my best of a very tough job and I have no regrets about it. I lookahead to the future. " But what will the future bring? Would he consider running for officeagain? "That's a tough question, Max, " he replies. "I know there's a lot of talkwith some of my friends about the Senate in 1980. I don't take thatlightly. ... Right now I'm not making any plans to run. ... But you justdon't know, because life does funny things, and I also think there's a bigvacuum out there now -- second-rate politics everywhere. ******** WESTSIDER ALAN LOMAXSending songs into outer space 9-17-77 On August 20, when the Voyager 2 spacecraft blasted off for a tripbeyond the solar system, it carried on its side a unique record player anda single phonograph record. Included on that record are 27 musicalselections that the _New York Times_ has called "Earth's Greatest Hits. "If, someday, extraterrestrial creatures play the record and enjoy it, theywill be most indebted to the man who chose 13 of the songs -- WestsiderAlan Lomax. That Alan's advice should be so highly respected by a committee thatspent eight weeks choosing the other 14 songs is a testimonial to hismusical reputation. Ever since he became head of the Folk MusicArchives of the Library of Congress at age 20, Alan has devoted his lifeto the preservation and study of international folk music. Following thefootsteps of his late father, musicologist John Lomax, Alan has taken hisrecording equipment to six continents in search of the rapidly disappearingmusical treasures of the world. I finally caught up with Alan and met him for an interview on a Fridayevening at his office/apartment on West 98th Street. One room, Iobserved, was lined wall to wall with tapes and record albums. Anotherwas filled with music books, a third with computer readouts, and a fourthwith movie films. Alan's foremost interest right now is cantometrics -- the science of songas a measure of culture. Recently he published a book titled_Cantometrics: A Method in Musical Anthropology_. Accompanying thevolume are seven cassette tapes. The songs are arranged in an order thatwill teach the student to interpret their general meaning without knowingthe language. "When you learn the system, you can understand any music, " said Alan. "We analyzed 4000 songs from 400 societies around the world. Out ofthat study has come a map of world music. " He then showed me amusical chart of Europe, the Far East, and Indian North America. Thirtyseven aspects of the music, including rhythm, volume and repetition, hadbeen analyzed by a computer to make a graph. "Each aspect of the music, " said Alan, "stands for a different social style. It's like the guy who says, 'I don't know anything about music, but Iknow what I like. ' It means that kind of music stands for his backgroundand what he believes in. " Alan played a tape for me containing a Spanish folk song, an Irish jig anda song from Nepal, explaining some of the elements as the music wasplaying. "By the time you've heard two or three tapes, " he said, "you getused to the world standards of music. In primitive societies, he added, "everybody knows the same things about everything, so being specific isa bore, and repetition is what they like. You don't impose your boringaccuracy on everyone. By the same token, primitive people find it mucheasier to sing together than, for example, New Yorkers of differentbackgrounds. In the latter case, " said Alan, "everybody starts singing ata different tempo, like six cats in a bag. But if you take people who livetogether and work together, it's like clouds rolling out of the sea. " Alan was not impressed with the 1976 movie _Bound for Glory_, aboutthe life of American folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie during theGreat Depression. The movie ends with Woody leaving Hollywood forNew York to perform in a coast-to-coast radio show. The man who hostedthat show was Alan Lomax. "We collaborated on a number of things, " recalled Alan. "It was anenormous pleasure. He was the funniest man that ever talked. And he wasso quick. That's what was wrong with the movie. Talking with Woodywas like playing a game of jai alai. He was a deeply passionate person, and tremendously gifted. He got up in the morning and wrote 25 pagesbefore breakfast just to warm up. " Though Alan can sing and play the guitar, he does not regard himself asa performer but rather as a "funnel" for other musicians. During the 1940she helped launch the careers of people like Burl Ives and Pete Seeger byproviding them with songs and putting them on the radio. "We set out torevive the American folk music in 1938, and by God we did it, " saidAlan. "By 1950 it was a national movement. " Alan spent the next 10 years of his life in Europe, where he produced adefinitive 14-album collection of international folk music. Then he movedback to the U. S. And settled on the Upper West Side, where he has livedfor the past 15 years. His residential apartment is located two blocks fromhis office. Besides his research in cantometrics, done in cooperation with ColumbiaUniversity, Alan is now preparing for publication a study on internationaldance movement and its relations to society. Energetic, jovial, and lookingconsiderably younger than his years, Alan has no doubts about the lastingvalue of his work. "I make my living as a very hard-working scientist, " he said. "By usingscientific methods, I can absolutely refute the ideas of those who say thatOklahoma doesn't matter, or that the Pygmies might as well beexterminated. Each of these people, we have found, has something for thehuman future, for the human destiny. " * * * The Mighty Lomax from _The Westsider_, late 1977 It's oldies night on the radio. The d. J. Has promised to play nothing butthe greatest hits of the '50s and '60s, and sure enough, here they are --"Irene Goodnight" sung by the Weavers; "Tom Dooley" by the KingstonTrio; "Abilene" by George Hamilton IV; "Midnight Special" by JohnnyRivers; and "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals. All of these songs reached number one on the charts. And they havesomething else in common: all are genuine American folk songs ofunknown authorship that might have been lost forever if they had not beendiscovered and preserved by John and Alan Lomax, the famous father-sonfolklorist team. The folk music explosion in America that peaked in the early 1960s andcontinues today owes more of a debt to the Lomaxes than to anyperformer or songwriter. John Lomax died in 1948 at the age of 80. Hisson Alan, 62, has been a resident of New York's Upper West Side for thepast 15 years. Working seven days a week at his 98th Street office and his100th Street apartment, Alan has carried on his father's work with aremarkable talent and energy. He has gone far beyond the simplecollecting of folk songs, and maintains a dizzying schedule of activities --writing books, catching planes for Europe or Africa, making movies, producing record albums and tapes, and heading a musical researchproject for the Anthropology Department of Columbia University. Fathers and Sons The elder Lomax was primarily a songhunter. His first collection, _Cowboy Songs_, was published in 1910. It contained such gems as "JohnHenry, " "Shenandoah" and "Home on the Range, " which he heard for thefirst time in the back of a saloon in the Negro red light district of SanAntonio. Alan was born in Texas in 1915. When he was 13 years old his fathergave him an old-fashioned cylinder recording machine, and the boy washooked. He became a full-time song scholar at 18. In that same year hisfather was put in charge of the newly created Archives of American FolkSong at the Library of Congress in Washington. When Alan was 20 hetook over as archives director. The father-son team eventually providedmore than half of the 20, 000 songs in the collection. The Lomaxes wrote many books together; they introduced American folkmusic into the nation's public schools, and through their radio programsin the U. S. And Europe, made celebrities out of such performers as BurlIves, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. Whereas John Lomax was interested in the music for its own sake, Alanbegan some time ago to look for the deeper meaning, or socialsignificance, of folk songs. In his many trips around the world he built upa collection of recordings from every continent and virtually every majorculture. Along with a co-worker he developed his findings into the newbranch of anthropology known as cantometrics. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft left Earth last August for a journeybeyond the solar system, it carried on its side a unique record player witha specially made disk for alien beings to hear and enjoy. The diskcontained 27 musical selections, which have been named "Earth's GreatestHits"; 13 of them were chosen by Alan Lomax. The following interview was conducted in various rooms of Alan's officeon a Friday evening in August, 1977. One room was filled with recordingequipment, tapes and records; another with music books; a third withcomputer readouts; and a fourth with movie films. Lomax spoke rapidlyand found it difficult to sit still. He is not a neat housekeeper, a sharpdresser or a master of the social graces. He is, however, a tireless workerwho gives the impression of being totally absorbed in his work. A large, robust man, he will no doubt continue to be a major figure in the field ofinternational folk music for years to come. Question: What exactly is cantometrics? Answer: It means, literally, singing as a measure of culture. With it, asong performance may be analyzed and related to a culture pattern. Eachaspect of music stands for a different social style. By using cantometricsyou get the story of mankind in musical terms. ... It's like the guy whosays, "I don't know anything about music but I know what I like. " Itmeans that kind of music stands for his background and what he believesin. Q: How did you develop this new science? A: I started this project in 1961. ... We analyzed 4, 000 songs on acomputer. Out of that has come a map of world culture. There are 10 biggroups or styles of music. Stone age people have style 1. ... We foundthere's a similarity of Patagonian music and Siberian, even though thesepeople live near the opposite poles. ... Along with studying song, we havealso studied dance and conversation in the same way, from film. Iprobably have the biggest collection of dance film in the world -- 200, 000feet. Maybe the New York Public Library has more, but that's specializedin fine art. Q: What's the purpose of cantometrics? How can someone learn it? A: I recently published a set of seven cassette tapes of folk songs fromall 10 cultural levels around the world. In the booklet that comes with it, the songs are broken down and analyzed so that the student can learn thecantometrics system on his own. When you learn the system, you canunderstand any music, even if you don't know the language it's beingsung in. By the time you've heard two or three tapes, you get used to theworld standard of music. Cantometrics measures things like repetition, ornamentation, rhythm, melody, orchestral arrangement. ... It analyzesmusic in relation to social structure -- political organization, communitysolidarity, severity of sexual sanctions. Cantometrics makes the world'smusic into a geography. Q: How does American music differ from that of the world in general? A: In our culture, for example, we didn't have much repetition until rockand roll came around. And that represents another influence. ... As youknow, we of European background don't sing very well together. Everybody starts singing at a different tempo, like seven cats in a bag. Butif you take people who live and work together, it's like clouds rolling outof the sea. ... It turns out that the people with the most repetition in theirsongs have the most primitive cultures -- at least, in relation to theireconomic development. Everybody knows the same thing abouteverything. So being specific is boring, and repetition is what they like. You don't impose your boring accuracy on everyone. Q: What do you consider the real beginning of the folk music movementin America? A: It all began in Texas in 1885 when my father heard "Whoopee Ti YiYo" on the Chisholm Trail. He was a country boy. He grew up in Texas, and the cowboys drifted past. He wrote the songs down just for the hellof it. Then he got a grant from Harvard and found out how important itwas. He was the first person in the country to use a recording device, in1902. Q: Did you know Woody Guthrie very well? A: Know him? I made him famous. I had a coast-to-coast radio programwhen Woody first came to New York. I introduced him when he first sangon radio. He stayed at my house. ... They offered him a huge contract, but he just walked off and went to Oklahoma. He was a deeply passionateperson, and tremendously gifted. First of all he was the funniest man thatever talked. And Woody was so quick: talking to him was like playing jaialai. He got up in the morning and wrote 25 pages before breakfast justto warm up. And there was always a slightly strange thing about woody-- an itchy feeling that he had. It might have been beginning of the diseasewhich later killed him. Q: What's your connection with Pete Seeger? A: Peter Seeger is my protege. I gave him his banjo. The banjo was adead issue, and he came to me and asked what he should do with his life. He was a Harvard hippie. ... We got to be colleagues. We worked on thewhole revival of the American folk music. I taught him most of his earlysongs. Q: Were you ever a performer yourself? A: Yes, I've made a few records. But I was always more of a funnel. Iregarded myself as a dredge, dredging up the rich subsoil of Americanfolk and putting it back on the developing music scene. We set out torevive the American folk music in 1938, and by God we did it. By 1950it was a national movement. Q: What are some other things you've done? A: I did the first oral history -- the Leadbelly book and the book on JellyRoll Morton. The Leadbelly movie (1976) was taken from that oralhistory. For Jelly Roll Morton, I transcribed the tape and made it into apiece of literature. The story has been bought for a movie by the samepeople who made the Woody Guthrie movie, _Bound for Glory_. Q: Have you done a lot of research outside the United States? A: Yes, I spent 1950 to 1960 in Europe assembling all the best materialthat had been collected into 14 albums, geographically arranged. Then Istarted thinking about what I heard on albums -- not what musicians orliterary people heard, but what I heard. Then I met some people at theNational Institute of Mental Health who were interested in the norms ofhealthy behavior. I indicated to them that I was that getting at the behaviorstyles of the people of the world. They gave me some dough and I got astaff together. Q: How was the American folk music scene then? A: I was very shocked when I came back to the United States in 1960. The musical scene at Washington Square made me sick. They said, "Alan, those people you talked to are all dead. " I kind of withdrew from thewhole business. ... Later I set up a concert in Carnegie Hall and broughtin the first bluegrass group and the first gospel group to perform in NewYork. People stormed the stage. There were fistfights and everything. Well, that was the whole end of people saying New York was the centerof the folk scene. Q: What do you think of Bob Dylan? A: Dylan came along in the footsteps of Ramblin' Jack Elliott. He livedwith Woody for a while, and picked him as his model. He absorbed thewhole southwestern style from Woody. And the country for the first timefell for a national American vocal style. Then Dylan left the scene andwent middle class after three years. He turned his back on folk music, turned his back on people. I think he did a big disservice to the countrywhen he did that. ... The whole thing has been to make urban mobilepeople have a folk music of their own. It's not a bad idea. Terribly boringthough. Q: Do all your projects lead to one goal? A: I make my living as a very hardworking scientist. I do that becauseit was important finally to take this huge world that was coming out ofloudspeakers, and get down to the meat of it so that it can be used for thebetterment of our future ... So that we can keep all the treasures of thepast and use them. That's what I'm doing. I'm doing it in a scientific wayso that I can absolutely refute the idea of those who say that Oklahomadoesn't matter, or that the Pygmies might as well be exterminated. Eachof these people, we have found, has something for the human future, andfor the human destiny. ******** EASTSIDER PETER MAASAuthor of _Serpico_ and _Made in America_ 1-12-80 On the surface, his life could hardly be calmer. Peter Maas gets up everymorning to have breakfast with his 12-year-old son, then heads for hismidtown office, where he spends about five hours at the typewriter. Herarely goes out in the evening, and his idea of fun is a weekend of fishing, a set of tennis or a game of backgammon. "I don't have to live in NewYork, " he says. "When I'm working on a book, I might as well be livingin the wilds of Maine. " But in his mind, Peter Maas leads the life of James Bond and Al Caponerolled into one. "I know an awful lot of people on both sides of the law, "says the author of two nonfiction block-busters about crime, _The ValachiPapers_ and _Serpico_. _The Valachi Papers_, the real-life saga of threegenerations of a Mafia chieftain's family, was published in 1969 followingtwo years of court battles and rejections from 26 publishers who felt thatbooks on the Mafia had no commercial potential. It sold three millioncopies in 14 languages and paved the way for an entire industry of Mafiabooks and movies. _Serpico_ (1973) revealed the rampant corruption in the New York CityPolice Department through the eyes of officer Frank Serpico. Then came_King of the Gypsies_ (1975), Maas' third expose of the underbelly ofAmerican society which, like the others, was made into a successfulmovie. Now the 50-year-old author has written his first novel, _Made inAmerica_. Published in September by Viking, it is a raw, violent, grimlyhumorous story of an ex-football star for the New York Giants who getsmixed up with organized crime while borrowing money for a shadyinvestment scheme. King Kong Karpstein, the terrifying loan shark whodominates the book, is based on several people whom Maas had knownpersonally, and the novel's head Mafia character has much in commonwith Frank Costello, the "prime minister of the underworld, " who grantedMaas 11 interviews shortly before his death in 1975. The scenes of _MadeIn America_ -- porn parlors, criminal hideaways, the FBI offices -- are alldescribed with the same intense realism as the characters. The movierights have been sold for $450, 000. "The reason I wrote it, " explains Maas, sitting restlessly at his 11-roomEastside apartment on a recent afternoon, "was that I didn't want to wakeup 10 years from now wondering what would have happened if I hadwritten a novel. ... I also think a writer has to challenge himselfconstantly. I don't think he should play a pat hand. " As he talks on in his breezy New York accent, fidgeting with a goldmatchbox on the antique table beside him, Maas seems barely able torestrain himself from getting up and pacing the room. Quite striking inappearance, he is a tall, stocky man with a Brillo-pad thatch of silveryhair and eyebrows like cotton batting. A native Manhattanite, he was oneof the country's top investigative reporters for many years before writinghis first book, _The Rescuer_, in 1967. The reason for the title _Made In America_, says Maas is that "the eventsin the novel could only happen in America. ... One of the themes is thatnobody in the book, including the football player and the federalprosecutor, thinks that he's doing anything wrong. So that's a veryprofound kind of corruption. " Like his previous books, _Made in America_ took two years to write. "The biggest difference that I found, " he points out, "was that innonfiction, all the discoveries and surprises are in the research, and infiction, they're all in the writing. When I write nonfiction, about twothirds of the time is spent in research. I didn't do any research for this. It was much harder. And it was the only time I had to rewrite the wholebook. " Although Maas claims that his own life has never been in imminentdanger, he was touched by deep personal tragedy in 1975 when his wife, a highly talented writer/producer named Audrey Gellen, was killed in anautomobile accident. Their only child, John Michael, is a skilled pianist. Puffing on an imported little cigar, Maas speaks with pride of some of hismost important stories in the past. An article he wrote in 1960 led to therelease of Edgar Labat, a black convict in Louisiana who had been ondeath row for 11 years. An article about columnist Igor Cassini in 1963resulted in Cassini's arrest and conviction as a secret agent for Dominicanstrongman Trujillo. The biggest story Maas never wrote was a book aboutthe shah of Iran; several years ago he turned down an offer of $1 millionfor the project in order to concentrate on his novel. "I've always had trouble writing about women, " he confesses when askedabout future books. "So the main character of my next work will be awoman. It was going to be another novel, but now I've run across whatI think is a fantastic nonfiction project, which I'm mostly interested inbecause the subject matter is a woman. So I think I'll do that first and thenovel afterward. At least I know what my next two will be, and that'scomforting. " died 8-23-01. Born 6-27-29. Author of _Serpico_ and _The Terrible Hours_. WESTSIDER LEONARD MALTINFilm historian and critic 9-2-78 Most people who opt for a writing career do not expect to accomplishmuch before the age of 30. But Leonard Maltin, a 27-year-old Westsider, breaks all the rules. His book _The Great Movie Comedians: FromCharlie Chaplin to Woody Allen_, published in June by Crown Press, isthe 30th volume to bear his name on the jacket. One of America'sforemost film historians, he has written nine books and edited 21 others, while contributing articles to such publications as _TV Guide_, _Esquire_and the _New York Times_. _The Great Movie Comedians_ is one of his most ambitious projects todate. In 240 pages of text and more than 200 photographs, the authoranalyzes the careers of 22 comic stars from the days of silent film to the1970s. Sales have been brisk so far. The book is already in its secondprinting and has been picked up by the Nostalgia Book Club. Leonard was born on the West Side, moved to New Jersey at the age of4, and became hooked on old movies by the time he was 8. At 13, hebegan to write for a magazine called _Film Fan Monthly_. Two yearslater, he took over as editor and publisher -- a job he continued for nineyears. His work with the magazine led to his first book contract in 1968-- a thick paperback titled _TV Movies_ with summaries of thousands offilms. The third edition is coming out this fall. In 1975, when Leonard got married, he and his wife Alice moved to theWest Side. She, too, is a film buff; their favorite Westside movie theatreis the Regency (Broadway at 67th). Leonard's literary career has never been in better shape than now. Twoof his other books will appear in new editions this fall. And the 10th bookthat he has authored, a comprehensive history of American animatedcartoons treated _Of Mice and Magic_, will be published next year bySignet. ******** EASTSIDER JEAN MARSHCreator and star of _Upstairs, Downstairs_ 2-10-79 _Upstairs, Downstairs_, the saga of a wealthy London family and its staffof servants in the early years of the 20th century, is one of the mostpopular television series ever filmed. The first episode of the British-madeseries was released in England in 1971, and since that time more than onebillion people in 40 countries have watched the exploits of the Bellamyfamily. Introduced to American public television in 1974, _Upstairs, Downstairs_ won seven Emmy Awards, including one for Best Series eachyear it was shown. If any single performer could be said to stand out over all the others, thatwould be Jean marsh, who received an Emmy for Best Actress for herportrayal of Rose, the head parlormaid. But what most of Marsh'sAmerican fans fail to realize is that, with her, without would be no_Upstairs, Downstairs_: she co-created the show with another Britishactress. A New Yorker on and off for the past two decades, Jean Marshnow lives in an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is here thatI meet her to talk about _Upstairs, Downstairs_, which returned toAmerican television in January with 39 hour-long segments, eight ofwhich have never been seen before on this side of the Atlantic. "Sometimes it drives me crazy that nobody ever speaks to me aboutanything else, " says Jean, a slender, pretty, soft-spoken woman who hasthe knack of putting visitors immediately at their ease with her charm andlack of pretension. "I start to drivel after a while, because I tell how Idevised _Upstairs, Downstairs_ and how the cast was chosen. " There isno irritation in her voice, only humor. With her lively eyes and childlikeappearance, she is reminiscent of Peter Pan. _Upstairs, Downstairs_, says Jean, "didn't spring new-minted. My friendEileen Atkins and I had been talking about trying to devise a televisionseries. We thought we should write something we knew about -- about ourpasts. And it became servants more than anything else, because her fatherhad been a butler. She was showing me pictures of her family one day;she had photographs of servants going to a pub in a horse-drawn bus. Sothe first thing we wrote about was servants going on an outing. And laterwe decided it wouldn't be nearly as interesting unless we included thepeople upstairs. " Jean herself was born in a poor section of London, the daughter of alaborer and a barmaid. From her earliest years she aimed for a showbusiness career as the surest route out of her social class. She began as adancer -- "I could teach classical ballet or tap if I wanted now" -- anddanced in stage productions and films from the age of 7 until she gave itup at 20. As an actress, she became an instant success at 15 when sheplayed the role of a cat opposite one of England's leading comic actors. "The play opened, and I stole the review, " recalls Jean with a grin. "Itwas a regional theatre, and they asked me to stay in their company. It wasa peak of happiness in my life. There was no time to think of money orboys or clothes or anything -- just work. " Her Broadway debut took place more than two decades ago, and over theyears she has dazzled British and American audiences in an endlessnumber of plays and movies. Classical theatre is her specialty; Jeanrecently completed a tour of American regional theatres with plays byShakespeare, Shaw and Oscar Wilde. "Regional theatres are usually more professional than Broadway. Icouldn't do _Twelfth Night_ on Broadway, but I can do it on the road andmake money, " she says of her favorite Shakespearean play. "At oneperformance, I was playing in britches and split them, and I managed tomake up a rhymed couplet. Somebody came backstage and said, 'How canyou split your britches at exactly the same time every night?'" Her current project is a film titled _The Changeling_ with George C. Scott. "I leave for Canada next week to do the exteriors. I'm going to getcrushed to death in the snow. I play George's wife. My role is over veryquickly, but then I appear in flashback soon afterward. It's a ghost/murdermystery. My death makes him susceptible to phenomena. " Asked aboutScott, she says, "I've known him for about 20 years. I think he's a dear. His image seems to be spiky and alarming. People say, 'How can you getalong with him?' But I think he's like a teddy bear. He's adorable. Rathershy, too. " Married and divorced at an early age, Jean now lives alone and likes it. She acquired her Eastside apartment a year ago but has been unable tospend more than six weeks in it so far, due to her extensive travel. "I goout and get the bread and newspaper in my pajamas, " she says. Jean explains her amazingly youthful appearance by saying, "I'm veryyoung in my head. I'm quite daft; I'm sillier than most people I know. Ibelieve in God, and I believe you should lead a good life. ... One thingI'm one hundred percent for is ecology. I'm so anxious that we don'tbequeath the next generation with an ugly world. I'd like them to go onthe walks I have had, and breathe the air I have breathed. " _Elliott_. ******** EASTSIDER JACKIE MASONCo-starring with Steve Martin in _The Jerk_ 12-8-79 Jackie Mason admits that the most famous thing he ever did was to becaught with one of his fingers pointing upwards on the _Ed SullivanShow_. "The most famous and the least helpful, " he says of the 1964incident. "At that time there was a great wave of excitement about mytype of character, because I was new and fresh and different. In thosedays, every comedian talked like an American; nobody talked like a Jewor a Puerto Rican or an Italian. ... There was a lot of heat to give me myown series, but all the offers were canceled after that incident. " Asked whether he actually did make an obscene gesture, the short, stockycomedian with the broad New York Jewish accent shakes his curly head. "The truth is that I didn't -- because I wouldn't be ashamed to tell you ifI did. There's nothing wrong with it today. But the truth is that I wasmaking with my fingers -- I have a very visual act, you know -- andSullivan got panicky because President Johnson had just cut into theprogram, and when the camera came back on me, it looked like I wasgiving him some kind of message. The next day, I became headlines allover the world. ... I maintained enough success and enough imagery to beable to do all the other shows as a guest, but the sponsors were afraid tobe associated with me as the star. " Jackie is telling me this in his dressing room at Dangerfield's (1118 FirstAvenue), where he's performing six nights a week until December 17. The affable Mason is quick to defend his caustic brand of ethnic humor. "I don't see how it can be harmful. If people do feel any prejudice, itprovides an outlet for them to be able to laugh at it. The people whodecry ethnic humor are afraid of their own prejudice. You remind themof the ridiculous nature of prejudice. ... Most of the things I say areuniversal: they're about marriage, about minorities, about social problems-- the issues of the day. " He also pokes fun at doctors, weathermen and every profession inbetween. Then there are his highly exaggerated impressions of MenachemBegin, Jimmy Carter and Ed Sullivan ("He always asked me to do animpression of him on his show. He found out from me how to do_him_. "). Another of his ploys is to razz the audience members. "In 21years, " he said, "I only had one incident where a guy got mad and wantedto punch me in the mouth. Thank God I move very fast. He wanted to killme. Obviously he didn't catch me. That's why I'm still here for theinterview. " Born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he was raised in New York's Lower EastSide from the age of 5. Following in the footsteps of three older brothers, he studied to become a rabbi to please his father. "I knew it wasn't forme. I have all license to be a rabbi, but I'm not a rabbi. " A bachelor andEastside resident, he loves New York because "this is a melting pot thatdoesn't really melt. There's a pot, but it's full of unmelted people. " Dangerfield's, he says, is the only club in New York where majorcomedians still perform. "Seven, eight, nine years ago, there was about12 clubs that played comedians. There was the Copacabana, the WaldorfAstoria, the Latin Quarter, the Plaza: all those rooms were wiped out. "Consequently, Jackie does a lot of performing in such clubs as the Rivierain Las Vegas and the Fontainebleau in Miami. Nowadays, however, he'smore interested in making movies. His first one, directed by John Avelsonof _Rocky_ fame, was "a big success without anybody seeing it. " Hissecond film, _The Jerk_, is now being heavily promoted for its December14 opening. Also starring Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters and CatlinAdams, it is about a poor black sharecropper's adopted son (Martin) wholeaves home and begins wandering on the road until he ends up at the gasstation of Harry Hartounian, played by Mason. "He's an uneducated kid who doesn't know anything, " explains Jackie. "He doesn't know how to handle himself, how to talk, how to act. I givehim a part-time job at my place, and I give him a room. He doesn't knowwhat a job is, and he doesn't understand that you get paid. He never sawmoney. He thinks you're supposed to eat it. He's a crazy lost kid and Iplay the father figure. " On December 20, Jackie will appear on the _Merv Griffin Show_ withSteve Martin and Carl Reiner, the movie's director. Jackie loves being a comedian because "I'm my own boss and I do whatI like ... When young comics say it's a hard business to enter, it's becausethey have no talent. If a young comic has talent, he's more likely to makea big living than in any business you can think of, with comparatively lesseffort, and more opportunity, and greater longevity. I never saw a goodcomedian in this business who hasn't made a comfortable living at it. " ******** WESTSIDER MALACHY McCOURTActor and social critic 9-22-79 "I never take anything seriously -- least of all myself, " says MalachyMcCourt, one of the wittiest, most outrageous Irish personalities in NewYork. "I find my life is cyclical, and so I move every five or six yearsfrom one interest to another. Now that I'm doing acting sort of full-time, I thoroughly enjoy the uncertainty of it. But I do appear almost also everyWednesday at the unemployment office at 90th Street. I do a matinee from2:15 to 2:45. " He concludes the remarks with his customary gust of laughter. Asopinionated as he is entertaining, Malachy McCourt is one of those largerthan-life characters who has mastered the art of conversation to such adegree that no matter what people think of him, they cannot help beingmagnetically attracted by his words. In 1968 he had his own talk show in WOR-TV that was canceled becauseof the controversy it raised. From 1970 to 1976 he had a weekend showon WMCA radio, and lost that as well -- for publicly condemning thestation's treatment of an employee whose job was abolished. "They calledhim in on a Friday at five minutes to five, and told him to clear his desk. He had been there for 28 years. " The airwaves' loss has been the theatre's gain, because in the past threeyears, Malachy has developed an ever-increasing reputation as a characteractor. Well-known for his roles in Irish plays -- especially those by JohnMillington Synge -- he has also been seen recently in movies andtelevision. His films include _Two for the Seesaw_ and _The Brink'sJob_, while on television, he appeared in last season's _The Dain Curse_with James Coburn and in Thomas Wolfe's _You Can't Go Home Again_. His current vehicle is _The Shadow of a Gunman_ by Sean O'Casey, thegreat Irish playwright. In the role of Seamus Shields, whom Malachydescribes as "a snivelling, sycophantic swine of a braggart, " he is costarring with Stephen Lang at the Off-Off Broadway Symphony Space forthe Performing Arts, 95th Street and Broadway. The action takes place in Dublin in 1920. "It was during the time of whatthey euphemistically call 'the Troubles, '" explains Malachy in his broad, breezy irish accent. We're sitting in his Westside living room. The wallsare so loaded down with books that they seem ready to collapse. "TheEnglish brought in a bunch of gangsters from their prisons, called theBlack and Tans. They were paid an extraordinary amount of money to goover and pacify the country. They could do anything they pleased. Youcould be tortured, raped and robbed. " Born in Limerick in 1931, Malachy quit school at the age of 12. "It wasan equal struggle. They couldn't teach me and I couldn't learn. " He joinedthe Irish Army at 14, was kicked out at 15, then went to England, wherehe worked as a laborer prior to emigrating to the U. S. At the age of 20. His conversational brilliance soon made him famous as a saloon keeper. At one time he ran a Malachy's and a Malachy's II on the Upper EastSide. "I gave it up, " he quips, "for the sake of the wife and the kidneys. "Now the only bartending he does is on the ABC soap opera _Ryan'sHope_, where he is a regular. "I much prefer that. It's a fake bar, andeverybody else cleans it up. " He has few happy memories of his native country. "There should not bea united Ireland, " he asserts. "In the South, the government is subject toenormous pressures by the church all the time, in the areas of birthcontrol, contraception, abortion. People should have the rights to theirown bodies and their own lives. ... Consequently, those of us who escapeget very savage about it. Very savage. "Someone I was talking to the other day said, 'I can't understand how youcan be an atheist and have of fear of death. ' I said, 'I have no fear ofdeath because I grew up with it. ' It was all around. I woke up onemorning when I was 5 and a half to find my brother dead beside me. Another brother had died six months before. My sister died in her crib. So therefore, what can you fear, when you know it so well? I'm alivetoday. I'll probably get up tomorrow. There's great comfort in the factthat we're all going to die eventually. " Asked about Daniel P. Moynihan, whom he somewhat resemblesphysically, Malachy describes the senator as "the Nureyev of politics. Hecan leap from conservative crag to liberal crag with gay abandon. A manwho could serve Kennedy and compare Nixon to Disraeli must be eitherinsane or insanely clever. I look at him and I cannot believe that thistwinkly-eyed, overweight leprechaun can be so cunning. " Malachy's wife Diana -- "she's the only Smith graduate I know thatbecame a carpenter" -- does custom carpentry work out of a shop calledSpace Constructs on 85th Street. Westsiders for two decades, theMcCourts have two children, Conor and Cormic. One of their favoritelocal restaurants is Los Panchos at 71st and Columbus; it is owned byMalachy's brother Alfie. Although Malachy has no desire to return to Ireland to live, herecommends it for tourists because "it's the last outpost of civilizedconversation. The Irish have an attitude that when God made time, hemade plenty of it. So for God's sake, don't be rushing around. Stand thereand talk to me. " ******** WESTSIDER MEAT LOAFHottest rock act in town 10-21-78 For several years, up until last fall, Meat loaf lived in peaceful obscurityin an apartment at 25 West 74th Street. Few people outside of his owncircle knew that the name applied to a gargantuan 29-year-old singer fromTexas and the rock band he headed. A couple of months ago, Meat returned to his old neighborhood after along absence. This time he caused a mob scene in the local supermarket, and, on escaping to his apartment, found people climbing on the windowledges trying to catch a glimpse of him. The reason? His group's firstalbum, _Bat Out Of Hell_, which has sold three million copies since itsrelease a year ago. "I don't like to be rude to fans, " says the calm, gentlemanly Meat Loaf(his legal name) during an interview at his new apartment in another partof the West Side. "I'd lie down on the floor for hours so they couldn't seeme. ... _People_ magazine printed my real name and told more or lesswhere I lived: that's why I had to move. " Bare feet perched on the coffee table, he spreads his 275-pound, 6-footframe evenly on the living room sofa. Although Meat's onstage imagemakes him out to be one of rock's meanest and toughest characters, inperson he is totally devoid of arrogance, and in fact seems almost shy. Sam Ellis, Meat Loaf's glib road manager who arranged the group'srecent trips to England, Germany, Canada and Australia, helps theinterview along by adding his comments whenever Meat begins to reachfor words. All the songs on _Bat Out Of Hell_ -- raucous, earthy, and intense -- werewritten by fellow Westsider Jim Steinman, who plays keyboard with thegroup. After he and Meat Loaf met in 1973, they performed togetherfrequently, but their music met with limited success. "People were afraid of it, " says Meat. "The songs were long. The voiceswere loud. People in rock said it was too theatre. People in theatre saidit was too rock and roll. " When Meat and Jim were finally offered acontract to do an album, Steinman went to work on some new material, and wrote nearly the entire contents of _Bat Out Of Hell_ in four months, including the gold singles _Two Out of Three Ain't Bad_ and _Paradiseby the Dashboard Light_ -- a duet celebrating teen sexuality that has beenchoreographed into an 8-minute show stopper by Meat and lead femalevocalist Karla DeVito. "Jim doesn't just write the songs and hand them tome. I do most of the vocal arrangements. It's really a team. It's likeSonny and Cher, " says the gargantuan singer. Brought up in Dallas under the name Marvin Lee Aday, he tipped thescales at 185 while in the fifth grade. "I was an only child and my parentsalways wanted two kids, " he jokes. "So they set two places at the dinnertable, and I ate both meals. ... I was always on the baseball team, becauseif they needed a base runner, they'd say, 'Go in there and get hit by theball. ' I'd back up just enough so that I wouldn't get hurt. " He joined the high school choir in order to avoid study hall, and fromthen on, singing became his main passion. After completing high schoolat 15, he travelled around with a number of bands. By the time he settleddown in New York, live rock music was no longer in so much demand asbefore. "That's one reason I went into theatre, " he remarks. "Anotherreason was because someone hired me and I didn't have a job. " As ansinger and actor, Meat performed in some 10 Broadway and OffBroadway productions, including _Hair_ and _The Rocky Horror PictureShow_, in which he also appeared in the 1975 film. When _Bat Out Of Hell_ was first released, it did not catch onimmediately. But soon a couple of influential radio stations in New YorkCity fell in love with it. Then Cleveland and Boston began to give it a lotof air time. From there, its reputation gathered momentum across thecountry. As a result of the slow start, _Bat Out Of Hell_ was stillclimbing on the national charts nearly a year after it came out. InAustralia, it was the number one album for 10 straight weeks. This past summer the Meat Loaf band did four sellout concerts in the NewYork area in the space of a month. Now the band is taking it easy for alittle while before returning to the studio for their second album. Theyplan to launch another world tour after the album is completed in March. Meat shares his apartment with 23-year-old Candy Darling, a slender, pretty dancer/singer who will be performing in an upcoming Broadwaymusical, _Whoopee!_ What does Meat Loaf like about the West Side? "Ihave absolutely no idea, " he replies matter-of-factly. "I can't stand itanywhere else. " Among his preferred Westside hangouts: O'Neal's, Gleason's, La Cantina, and Anita's Chili Parlor, all on Columbus Avenuebetween 71st and 73rd streets. In spite of his meteoric rise to fame, Meat Loaf sees his overall career ina different light then his fans. "For me, " he says thoughtfully, "rock androll is not an end. I'd like to make movies someday. I want to direct. Iwant to produce. It's great to sell records, but this is not what I alwayswant to do. It's just another step on the mountain. " ******** WESTSIDER ANN MILLERCo-star of _Sugar Babies_ 1-12-80 _Sugar Babies_, the rollicking burlesque musical that rolled into Broadwaylast fall, was one of the most-awaited shows of the year because itsignalled Mickey Rooney's return to Broadway after umpteen years. Lessattention was initially given to Mickey's co-star, dazzling Ann Miller, wholast appeared on Broadway in 1970 as a star of _Mame_. Ann, it turnsout, is not only a wonderful singer and comedienne, but, in her mid-50s, is still one of the best tap dancers in America. Her fancy footwork hasbecome a prime attraction of this box-office smash. "I was also in _George White's Scandals_ for a year when I was 15, "recalls Ann in her dressing room after a performance. "This is my thirdshow only. " For most of her career, she has lived in Beverly Hills, California. The veteran of dozens of movies, including _On The Town_with Frank Sinatra, Miss Miller is a larger-than-life entertainer whobelieves that her career comes first and foremost, ahead of personalhappiness and family. Married and divorced three times, she has nochildren, but is an ardent animal lover. "I have two beautiful dogs, Cinderella and Jasmine, " she says in a lightSouthern accent. "They look exactly alike, only one is Hungarian and theother is French. My secretary walks them. ... I'm very much interestedin the protection of animals. I think people treat animals very cruelly, andto me, when you adopt a dog, it's like adopting a child. My littleCinderella: she was thrown out of a car by somebody wanting to get ridof her. I found her in Cincinnati in a blizzard. She almost died and Isaved her life. " By looking beyond the heavy rouge, bright red lipstick, large rhinestoneearrings and fluttering false eyelashes that are part of her act, one can seethat Ann appears considerably younger then her years. _Sugar Babies_, she points out, is not burlesque in the normal sense. "Burlesque got sleazyin the 1940s with bumps and grinds and tassel-twirlers, but that's not whatwe're selling. We sell, in a sense, glorified, old-fashioned, 1920s-stylevaudeville, with good production numbers. And that's what burlesque wasoriginally. ... A college professor got this together. The jokes areauthentic. ... Our show is for everybody. It's not dirty at all -- not bytoday's standards. " There is a crowd of people waiting to see Ann after nearly every show. Rooney escapes the fans by dashing out the stage door within minutes ofthe final curtain. "He lives way out in New Jersey, " explains Ann, whorents a hotel suite on the Upper West Side. "Mickey is married and he has10 children. He loves them all very much. ... Mickey and I went toschool together. He's a very nice person and he's a great pro. He may bea small man, but he's a giant in his own way. " Miss Miller, who likes to dine at the 21 Club, Sardi's and theConservatory, believes that _Sugar Babies_ is a hit "because it's timely. People are desperate to laugh. They're tired of hearing about war and thefood crunch and the oil crunch. They want to be entertained. " She has written her autobiography, _Miller's High Life_, which isavailable "only in rate bookstores and in every library in the country. Itisn't out in paperback yet, but there's some talk of it. " Asked about aprojected second volume, _Miller on Tap_, she says: "It will be my life;it will carry on from where the other one left off. " She has no secret for looking so young, except that she is a nonsmoker, drinks nothing stronger than wine, watches her diet, and avoids anythingstrenuous in the daytime, to save her energy for the show. With her jet-black hair, pearl-white teeth, and exaggerated makeup, Annlooks more than a little exotic. This may help to explain her belief inreincarnation. "I really do have memories of Egypt. They're not in a formthat I can describe. You sometimes just know things. You're born withknowing. I have been to Egypt three times, and I'm planning to go backagain and again, I want to go mainly to Luxor. I'm very entranced withit. I like all the antiquities of Egypt. The present-day Egypt I have nointerest in to speak of. " Ann says she doesn't like the name of her current show. "People think it'scandy, because there is Sugar Babies candy, " she explains, "but in the olddays, babies meant beautiful show girls. The girls had sugar daddies, sothey were called sugar babies. " A Texas native who began dancing professionally in New York at the ageof 11, Ann says yes, she feels good about her career, but that "it's beena long struggle. The sad part is, I have wanted so much to be happy, butI have never found happiness. " Her father, who was a lawyer, left her mother when Ann was 10. SinceMrs. Miller was almost totally deaf, Ann supported them by tap dancingat Rotary Club luncheons. She retains a fear of poverty to this day. "Isave all my clothes because some day I might be poor again, " she says. "I have a room with nothing in it but racks of clothes. I cover themnicely, and once a year I air them out, in case they come back in style. " ******** WESTSIDER SHERRILL MILNESOpera superstar 2-24-79 "In a career of my size, " says baritone Sherrill Milnes, "there is no offseason. I try to hold myself to 60 performances a year -- not includingrecordings or dress rehearsals or private studies. ... In fact, I think I'mthe most-recorded American opera singer ever, in any voice category. " We're talking in his spacious Westside apartment facing the HudsonRiver. I cannot help observing that Milnes, a handsome man who stands6 foot 2 and weighs 220 pounds, with his dark hair combed straight backand wearing a blue flowered shirt, looks very much like a country andwestern singer. It is his chest that gives him away -- a massive, powerfulchest that hints at the huge voice it supports. To deliver notes that areclearly audible throughout the largest opera houses in the world, over thesound of a full orchestra, and without amplification, is one of the mostphysically demanding tasks in all the performing arts. And one of the bestpaying. Only a handful of singers take home, like Milnes, approximately$7, 000 for each night's work. At 44, he is in the peak of his career, and has been since he made hisMetropolitan Opera debut in December, 1965. He has sung in virtually allof the world's leading opera houses, including the Paris Opera, theHamburg State Opera, and La Scala in Milan. Asked what more he canaccomplish, Milnes replies that "one hopes to become a better artist all thetime. But you can only go so fast. If you make family a priority position-- which is certainly true in this case -- there are only so many hours inthe day. I could be more famous, were I on television more. But it takestime. ... I don't want to sound like: he's satisfied with his career, wherehe is, and he doesn't want to do any more. But I have to realize that mycareer can no longer continue at the same rate of ascendancy. " His current show with the Met, Verdi's _Don Carlo_, will continue untilmid-March. "This is the first time New York has heard the five-actoriginal version, " notes Milnes. "We'll be doing it in Italian. People said, 'Why don't you do _Don Carlo_ like the real original, in French?' Theproblem is, five years later, where do you find people who know it inFrench? There's a practical set of problems when, worldwide, everybodyknow it in Italian. I don't know if it would have been worth it for oneseason. " Long-range planning is an important aspect of any opera singer'slife. Milnes already has his schedule set up until 1984. The main reason why Italy has declined in importance as a center foropera, says Milnes, is that the country's economic problems make itimpossible for the companies to book singers years in advance. "I thinkAmerica is now producing more singers than Italy, and Spain is very highon the list of producing singers. " It is to Italy that Milnes owes much of his success. "We have that phrase'Verdi baritone' -- sometimes more generically, 'Italian baritone. ' There'sno question that Verdi treated the baritone as a special voice category, differently really than composers before him. He did a lot of title roles forthe baritone voice, and really split the bass and baritone roles very much. " Widely known as an unselfish performer who gives his time freely toothers, Milnes is chairman of the board of Affiliated Artists, a non-profitorganization that arranges concerts across America for young, up-andcoming singers. Born on an Illinois farm, he studied piano and violin from earlychildhood. In high school, he won the state music contest in five separatecategories, including vocal soloist. Deciding that his voice was theinstrument that showed most promise, he began his professional career asa member of a chorus attached to the Chicago Symphony. In 1960 heturned to opera. Boris Goldovsky, the opera maestro, signed himimmediately, taught his willing pupil the fine points of acting in opera, and took him on five cross-country tours. Since 1962, Milnes has hadpractically no time for anything but singing. A dedicated family man, he is married to soprano Nancy Stokes. Thecouple has a 6-year-old son, Shawn, and Milnes has two other childrenfrom a previous marriage. He has been a Westsider for almost 10 years. Not at all snobbish about his own musical gifts, Milnes believes thatsinging is excellent recreation for anyone, regardless of voice quality. "Iencourage people to sing in the shower. It's a great emotional outlet. Evenif you're lousy, it makes you sound fantastic. When I'm on the stage, Ialways have that feeling that I'm never going to sound as good as I do inthe shower. You can't get the same _ring_ when you're singing to 5, 000people. " ******** WESTSIDER CARLOS MONTOYAMaster of the flamenco guitar 10-28-78 Carlos Montoya speaks two languages. The first is music; the other isSpanish. At 74, he is the world's most famous master of flamenco -- theancient folk music of the Spanish gypsies, which Montoya performs withdazzling speed and dexterity. On October 29 he will give a major concertat Avery Fisher Hall. With more than 30 albums to his credit, Montoya is the most recordedflamenco guitarist in history. He is thoroughly committed to hisinstrument. It is not merely his living, but his life. He is a pure gypsy --"on all four sides, " as the Spanish say. Maybe that explains why he likesto tour from January to May and from October to December every year, almost nonstop, across the U. S. And Canada, to South America, Europeand the Far East. He has been a Westsider since the 1940s and has rentedthe same Westside apartment since 1957. Yet when people ask Montoyawhere he lives, he is likely to reply, "On airplanes. " An American citizen for more than 30 years, he is perhaps the firstpersons ever to acquire citizenship after answering "no" to the question, "Do you like the American form of government?" Because of his poorEnglish, he had misunderstood the query. He corrected himself, and thatnight played for President Harry Truman. Montoya's wife, Sally, is his steady helpmate. Since their marriage in1940, she has been his manager, interpreter and best friend. He stillspeaks little English, so interviews with him are often ponderous threeway affairs. When I arrived at the Montoyas' residence late one morning, he was very polite, but eager to get the interview over with. "Vamos, " hesaid. His demeanor changed when he discovered that I was able tounderstand his crisp, precise Spanish when spoken slowly. We quicklydispensed with the interpreter. Does he consider flamenco to be the highest art attainable on the guitar?Sitting upright in an overstuffed chair, he smiled benignly and said, "Notall the flamenco guitarists are artists. There are many guitarists, but in theworld there are only two or three artists on the flamenco guitar. ... Mostmusicians are technicians. I think that to play flamenco as it should beplayed, you have to be an artist. The music is either very bad or verygood. People who hear the performance may applaud both the technicianand the artist. But afterward, if the performer was not an artist, theyforget what they have heard. " The smile remained on his face, and he began to use his hands with muchexpression as he continued. "I carry the music inside me. I want to touchinside the heart of the public. That's what I always aim for. My music issincere. It is very human. I believe it should be listened to closely. Thatis why I play concerts. " He was, in fact, the first prominent flamenco guitarist to go solo. UntilMontoya started giving one-man concerts in 1948, flamenco was strictlya music to accompany singers or dancers, who added to the rhythm withcastanets, snapping fingers and feverishly clicking heels. When faced withMontoya's guitar alone, the audiences did not catch on immediately. Butas soon as they learned to appreciate the full range of his artistry, hiscareer was assured. Many of the sound effects produced by a whole flamenco group can beduplicated by Montoya alone. His left hand can play a melody and tap outa rhythm independent of what the right hand is going. To add to theexcitement, Montoya never plays a piece the same way twice. One reasonis that improvisation is the essence of flamenco. Another is that he hasnever learned to read music. "Flamenco guitar is more popular than ever right now, " said Montoya. "Young people like it; I perform at a lot of colleges. I also perform withmany symphony orchestras to play my _Flamenco Suite_. That composition, which Montoya co-wrote and premiered in 1996, is thefirst flamenco piece ever to be written for a full orchestra. The guitarsections, appropriately, allow for some improvising. Other works byMontoya, mainly his arrangements of age-old gypsy themes, have beentranscribed and published for the benefit of fellow guitarists. However, asMontoya pointed out, "the style you can write. But all the notes -- it isimpossible. So, my written works are simplified. " Born in Madrid, he took his first guitar lesson at the age of 8, and by hisearly teens was performing regularly in cafes. He toured extensively untilWorld War II broke out, when he more or less "settled" in New York. Intruth, he has never been content to settle anywhere. He spends severalmonths each year in Spain. And when he's on tour, said his wife, "he getsrestless staying around the hotel, and likes to visit all the sights in thearea. " Sally Montoya, a slender, graceful native New Yorker who met Carloswhile her father was working for the Foreign Service, was once aSpanish-style dancer herself, but gave it up because "I obviously didn'tdance as well as Carlos plays. I'm a casualty of his success. " The couplehas two sons. Except for travel, Carlos Montoya has few interests outside his work. "Music and family -- that's all, " he said quietly. "To be an artist, youmust be a slave to the instrument and to the public. To play the guitar isa serious thing -- not a game. To me, it is a complete life. " ******** WESTSIDER MELBA MOOREBroadway star releases ninth album 10-14-78 When Melba Moore recently dropped out of her co-starring role in theBroadway hit musical _Timbuktu_, there was a lot of speculation as to thereason why. Some observers suggested that Eartha Kitt, the biggest boxoffice draw, did not like to share the billing with a performer of Melba'scaliber. Melba herself has a simpler explanation: seven months of one show isenough, and she had too many other things to do -- promoting her newalbum, preparing for another Broadway musical, doing her first lead rolein a movie, going on a concert tour, making guest appearances ontelevision, and taking care of her 16-month-old daughter Charli. "Honey, I could join the Olympics with all I do, " says Melba oneafternoon at the comfortable midtown office that is used as the nervecenter for her multiple activities. She is dressed in a striped hat, a whiteshirt and a bright red necktie. Easing her slender form onto the couch, shelooks smaller, younger, and more beautiful in person than her photographsindicate. I remark on her flashy necktie, and Melba, using her handsexpressively while she speaks, tells with amusement how she saw it on thecollar of a salesman at Fiorucci's and said to him, "I want that tie. " Melba's first professional stage role was in _Hair_; from 1968 to 1970 sherose up through the chorus to win the female lead. "I have no hard-luckstories, " she says, in her clear, nearly accentless voice. "From _Hair_, Iwent right into _Purlie_. " That was the role that earned her the 1970 TonyAward for Best Supporting Actress and the New York Drama Critics' andDrama Desk Awards. Melba was born 32 years ago on West 108th Street. Both her parents wereentertainers, and Melba began singing at the age of 4. At college shemajored in music, and upon graduation, taking the advice of her parentsto "get some security, " she taught school for a year. But soon a burningdesire to get into show business took hold of her, and she quit teaching. "Ever since that day, " she recalls, "even before I got my first singing job, the whole world looked better to me. " It was while working as a studio singer that she was given an audition for_Hair_, and since then her story has been a virtually unbroken success. Melba has starred in numerous television shows, including her ownsummer series for CBS and an ABC special on the life of abolitionistHarriet Tubman. Better known for her singing than her acting, Melba hasrecorded nine albums and has received a Grammy nomination. Her mostremarkable vocal feat, however, was probably her one-woman concert atthe Metropolitan Opera House in December 1976, which won her ravenotices from every music critic in town. In the concert, she performedeverything from ballads to rock to opera. "Singing opera actually rests my voice, " says Melba. "It's like doingvocal exercises. " Equally at home in a nightclub or a concert hall, she hasdemonstrated her four-octave range with many of America's leadingorchestras. Her new album, released late in September by Epic Records and titledsimply _Melba Moore_, contains both disco songs and straight ballads. One of the cuts, "You Stepped Into My Life, " is out as a single. Anothercut is "The Greatest, " from a film about Muhammad Ali. "No, I didn'tsing it in the movie, but I am an Ali fan. I'm a fight fan. I turn on thecable and watch everyone -- flyweights, everybody. People I've neverhard of. " Her new movie, _Purlie_, in which Melba will recreate her Broadwaysmash success, is scheduled to begin filming this November in thecountryside of Georgia. Melba plays the orphan Lutibelle GussiemaeJenkins. After the movie, she will devote most of her time to a newmusical, _Harlem Renaissance_, which is planned to reach Broadway nextspring. The day after she quit _Timbuktu_, Melba headed for Acapulco to be oneof the judges in the Miss Universe Pageant. "They said there were goingto be 600 million people watching, so I made sure my nose waspowdered. ... They worked us from sunup to sunup, but I did manage toget a little suntan, " she says teasingly, showing me a patch of light brownskin directly under her top shirt button. Married for the past five years to restaurateur Charles Huggins, Melba isoverjoyed to have a child at last -- "we have been waiting for her" -- andspends as much time as she can with her daughter. A Westsider off andon for most of her life, Melba is fond of shopping at Vim and VigorHealth Foods (57th Street near the Carnegie Recital Hall), then going nextdoor to the Merit Farm Store, where she buys her favorite junk food. Of all her accomplishments in the last 10 years, Melba is perhaps proudestof her involvement with an international television series for children, _Big Blue Marble_, which is currently being shown in 78 countries. "I'm very much into international things, " says Melba, "I have appearedin some of the segments, but basically my role is to let people know aboutit. ... In some way, we hope that the program can help promote peace andunderstanding to these children -- while they're still at a vulnerable age. " ******** WESTSIDER MICHAEL MORIARTYStar of _Holocaust_ returns to Broadway in _G. R. Point_ 5-5-79 When Michael Moriarty rose to national stardom last year with his chillingportrayal of SS Officer Dorf in the NBC miniseries _Holocaust_, hisperformance was witnessed by some 120 million Americans. His currentvehicle, _G. R. Point_ at the Playhouse Theatre on West 48th Street playsto a maximum audience of 500. Yet, in the lead role of Micah Bradstreet, a wet-behind-the-ears soldier from rural Maine, Moriarty delivers whatClive Barnes of the _New York Post_ has said is "the best performance, so far, of his career. " _G. R. Point_ is a play about the Vietnam War and its effects on thosewho are forced to partake in it. Set on a strikingly designed stage built toresemble a devastated hillside, the play demonstrates how each of theeight characters manages to cope with his predicament in his own way. Itsmessage is summed up in the final words of the drama, spoken to Micahas he departs for the U. S. : he is told to "count the living, not the dead. " "One of the main reasons I wanted to do this play is that it affirms life, "says Moriarty, in a dressing room interview just before a performance. "Itdoesn't take any specific political stance, but it doesn't avoid any of thehorrors of war. Its only stance is: in the end, what overcomes the situationis love. And love sometimes shows itself in the strangest, most bizarreways. " He is tall and solidly built, looking somewhat younger than his 38 years, and though his demeanor has an edge of shyness to it, Moriarty'spenetrating eyes reveal that much is going on beneath the surface. Askedabout his personal views on Vietnam, the actor replies, "I'm not anintellectual, so I have no specific feelings about it. " But his conversationsoon reveals him to be a deep thinker and a wit besides, whose remarksare tempered as much by humility as by professional instinct. "Whatever I could say about the war has been better stated by DavidBerry, the playwright. I'm able to show my emotional response to the warthrough Micah Bradstreet. ... I'm not trying to influence anyone in anyway in particular. I do think the play tells the truth about Vietnam. So themore information people have, the better decisions they can make. " Moriarty's decision to become a dramatic actor can be traced to hisundergraduate days at Dartmouth College, when he was overwhelmed byPaul Scofield's performance in _Love's Labor Lost_. Followinggraduation, he won a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the London Academyof Music and Dramatic Art. In 1974, after years of perfecting his craft intheatres across America, he picked up the first of his two Tony Awardsfor his performances in _Find Your Way Home_. Equally skilled attelevision acting, he is the recipient of two Emmys, including one for_Holocaust_. A Detroit native of Scandinavian and Irish ancestry, Moriarty attendsCatholic mass regularly, and finds much inspiration in the Bible, bothspiritual and literary. His chief hobby is music: he is a polishedsinger/pianist/songwriter who frequently performs in the city's leadingnightclubs between acting assignments. Asked whether he would considerteaming up with octogenarian blues singer Alberta Hunter at the Cookeryin Greenwich Village, he replies with a laugh, "That's very heavycompany. I'll cook and she'll sing. " He usually practices in the morning. "I'll ramble over the piano and play some easy music. It's purelyaccording to my libido. You might call it ad libido. Hey, not bad! How'sthat for an album title?" Another of his talents is writing plays. Although hesitant to discuss thisup-and-coming aspect of his career, Moriarty finally admits that one of hisplays was recently read dramatically at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, under the direction of Ben Levit. "It was none of my doing. I sat back, and it all happened before my very eyes. I was astonished, andpleased, and proud, and in no great hurry to see it produced except by thisdirector -- if he wants to. " Long a devotee of Shakespeare, Moriarty founded his own non-profitShakespearean company, Potter's Field, in 1977. He and his groupperform free each Sunday in Central Park near the statue of Sir WalterScott, weather permitting. In response to a question about the West Side, where he has lived for thepast five years, Moriarty says that "you can walk one block and encountereverything the world should either be proud of or ashamed of. " Hisfavorite local restaurants include Coq du Vin on 8th Avenue and O'Neal'sBalloon at 6th Avenue and 57th Street. "Pat O'Neal and I crack jokesabout my career as a waiter. I worked at O'Neal's off and on for aboutfour years. I was terrible! They kept me on out of sheer compassion. Iguess I became an endearing lunkhead. " Other goals? "None that I'd care to mention, " says Moriarty, smilingsoftly. "All the other ones are neurotic, and I don't want to expose them. I've done it too often. In my neuroses, I think, 'Gee, I'd like to do thator this. ' But in my higher self, I have no unfulfilled needs. " ******** WESTSIDER LeROY NEIMANAmerica's greatest popular artist 1-27-79 Like Norman Rockwell before him, LeRoy Neiman has the distinction ofbeing one of the very few American artists whose work is familiar topractically everybody in the country -- rich and poor, black and white, urban and rural, educated and illiterate. This is as far as their similarity goes, however. Rockwell, who died inNovember, 1978 at the age of 84, was known for his meticulouslydetailed, placid portraits of American family life, while Neiman has builthis reputation on action-filled scenes composed of bold splashes of color. Rockwell's career started and ended at the _Saturday Evening Post_;Neiman's began at _Playboy_ and has reached its zenith in an entirely newmedium -- television. His televised mural of the 1976 Olympic Games wasseen by an estimated 170 million people. One of the most commercially successful artists in the world, LeRoyNeiman has spent the last 18 years living and working in a hugeapartment/studio just off Central Park West. His original paintingscommand up to $50, 000 each, but the larger portion of his work comesout in the form of limited-edition serigraphs (silkscreen prints). A singlepiece of silkscreen art generally yields some 300 prints, each of whichsells for about $1, 500. Neiman's eye-catching style is admired everywhere. His posters andcalendars are best-sellers in Japan; several of his painting are onpermanent display at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. He was theofficial United States artist-in-residence for the last two Olympics and willbe for the 1980 Games as well. Although best known for his sportspictures, Neiman is also a renowned portraitist who specializes in famousfaces. He is attracted by drama and excitement of any kind, whether foundin a tavern inhabited by the Beautiful People, in a heavyweight fight, ina world chess championship, or, as television viewers witnessed lastJanuary, in a Super Bowl. Neiman sat on the sidelines of that contestdrawing pictures of the game in progress, using a computer-controlledelectronic pen and palette. The pictures were then flashed onto thetelevision screen. "It's painting with light, " explains Neiman one morning in his studio, taking a break from the half-dozen oils and acrylics he is working on. "Itgives you the same sense of creation as any other art medium. You'rebuilding and creating an image of your own that wasn't there when youstarted. The only limitation you ever have in doing a work of art isyourself. " Starting this month, Neiman's work has become a regular feature of _CBSSports Spectacular_. At the beginning and end of each program, Neiman'spaintings are interspersed with photographs of athletes to form a movingcollage of colors and shapes. The artist has been contracted to make sixor seven personal appearances on the program over the next year, inwhich he will demonstrate the art of drawing sports in action. Neiman is a suave, sophisticated man who loves his work and loves to talkabout it. Dressed in a fancy denim-style suit, with a long, thin cigarprotruding from under his handlebar moustache, he expounds on a scoreof subjects as if he had all the time in the world. In the adjacent room, thetelephone rings almost unceasingly. It is answered by his assistant, whocalls out the message to him. More likely than not, it is a request forNeiman's artistic services. "I sketch all the time, " he says. "A sketch is not necessarily a study tome. It's a record -- something to consult with. I sketch an awful lot inpublic. Because when I go someplace and I get bored, I sketch. Everybody forgives me for it. They think I have an uncontrollable desireto draw. " His style, says Neiman, "came out of nowhere. It happened verysuddenly, about 1954, just before I started with _Playboy_. " Thatmagazine recently honored him with an award for being one of the fivemost important contributors in its 25-year history. During his childhood in Minnesota, recalls Neiman, "I was alwaysdrawing pictures and getting special treatment at school -- showing off, copping out of other things. ... I lived a couple of years in England andFrance. " since moving to New York, he has been a constant Westsider. Central Park, says Neiman, "is the West Side's front yard, but the EastSide's back yard. " Neiman's latest one-man show is an exhibit of approximately 50serigraphs, etching, and drawings at Hammer Graphics on East 57thStreet. Part of the proceeds from sales will go to the U. S. OlympicCommittee. "I turn most things down, because they're not stimulating and inspiring, "says Neiman matter-of-factly. "Money isn't enough stimulus to dosomething I don't like. ... I work very hard. I fool around a lot too, butI don't go on vacations. I don't have hobbies. I put my vices within mycraft. " ******** WESTSIDER ARNOLD NEWMANGreat portrait photographer 12-1-79 When the _Sunday Times_ of London decided to hire someone tophotograph 50 leading British citizens for a show at England's NationalPortrait Gallery, the venerable newspaper caused something of an uproarby choosing an American for the job -- Arnold Newman, one of theworld's most important portrait photographers for the past 30 years. The 50 portraits, whose subjects include Sir Lawrence Oliver, Sir JohnGielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Henry Moore, Lord Mountbatten and HaroldPinter, were exhibited last month at the Light Gallery on Fifth Avenue, and have just opened in London. Meanwhile, the book version of theprints, with extensive commentary, has been published this month as _TheGreat British_ (New York Graphic Society, Boston, $14. 95). Thephotographs, like those found in Newman's three previous books and inhis hundreds of assignments for _Life_, _Look_, _Newsweek_ and otherpublications, are far more than mere portraits. Rather, they are profoundartistic statements, in which the background of the picture oftensymbolizes the person's achievement. "I don't use props: I use reality, " explains Newman, taking a break at theWest 57th Street studio he has occupied since 1948. On the wall arepictures -- he prefers that word to "photographs" -- of Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Eugene O'Neill and four American presidents; Newmanhas photographed every president since Truman. Big, burly, mellow-voiced and casually dressed, Arnold Newman at 61looks like an aging beatnik. His quick wit and ready laugh mask aperfectionism that has characterized his work ever since he turned tophotography in 1938. His ability "to make the camera see what I saw"showed itself almost at once. In 1941 he held his first exhibition and soldhis first print to the Museum of Modern Art. "I could have made, over the years, a hell of a lot more money than Ihave, simply by doing more commercial work and cashing in on myreputation. But that doesn't interest me, " he reflects, puffing on his everpresent cigar. "I mean, money interests me, but I'd just see my life beingwasted. " Specializing in portraits of artists, he studies the work of each subjectintensely beforehand so that the essence of the artist will be distilled intothe photograph, by subconscious as well as conscious effort. On the side, he does enough commercial work to support his own artistic efforts. Butover the years, the two have somehow merged: "I'm forever beingcommissioned for things I'd give my eye teeth to do, and paid very wellfor it. Recently I went out to do a photograph strictly on my own ofsomebody I admired, and I hate the picture. Yet the day before I did apicture for money which I think is one of my best pictures in the last threeyears. " In 1953, he went to Washington to photograph 15 U. S. Senators for_Holiday_ magazine, including John F. Kennedy -- then a politicalunknown who was sometimes labeled the Playboy senator. "Years later, "recalls Newman, "I was photographing President Kennedy on the WhiteHouse lawn. He turned to me and said, 'Arnold, whatever happened tothat first picture you took of me?' "I said, 'Well, Mr. President, we did 15 senators, and they found out theyhad one too many for the layout, so they dropped the one least likely tosucceed. ' "And you have to understand: we were surrounded by secret servicemen, and Pierre Salinger, his press secretary, was there. Well I thought I'd geta big yack, because Kennedy had a marvelous sense of humor. Butinstead, his face went rigid. And I -- I absolutely turned ice cold. TheSecret Service men turned around and gave me a 'How stupid can yoube?' look. "A bit later I managed to get into Pierre's office and started stammeringand apologizing. Suddenly Pierre started breaking out in laughter. I said, 'What the hell's so funny?' He said, 'He was pulling your leg! He's beenwalking all around the White House for the last 30 minutes, telling thatstory on himself. '" After the assassination, Newman was called to the White House again tophotograph the official portrait of Lyndon Johnson. "He could give anangel an ulcer. ... I didn't get paid for the picture, not even my expenses. It cost me a fortune. " Arnold and his wife Augusta have been married for 31 years; she runs thestudio and works closely with him. Their two sons, Eric and David, areprofessionals in neurology and architecture, respectively. The Newmans'favorite neighborhood restaurants include Rikyu and Genghiz Khan'sBicycle on Columbus Avenue, and the Cafe des Artistes on their ownblock. Asked whether he eventually plans to pursue other areas of photographybesides portraits, Newman shakes his head. "The whole history of paintingwas changed by a man who used the same materials as everybody else did-- the same brushes, paints, canvas, and subject matter, " he explains. "Sowhy do we say that Cezanne revolutionized painting? It's his ideas. I dealwith ideas too. " ******** EASTSIDER EDWIN NEWMANJournalist and first-time novelist 8-11-79 "When you achieve a certain prominence on television, " says NBC'sEdwin Newman, "publishers come to you and ask you to write books. Then you go round in circles for a while, and finally say, 'Gee, I'd liketo write a book, but I don't have the time. '" Six years ago, the award-winning broadcast journalist decided to find outif he was bluffing himself. He spent seven months of his spare timewriting a book called _Strictly Speaking: Will America be the Death ofEnglish?_ Published in 1974 when Newman was 55 years old, it becamethe nation's number one best-seller for non-fiction. His follow-up book, _A Civil Tongue_ (1976), was another best-seller. Now Edwin newman has written his first novel, _Sunday Punch_(Houghton Mifflin, $9. 95). Published in June, it has already gone throughtwo printings in hardcover, totaling 60, 000 copies. The _Atlantic_ hasdescribed the book as "a Wodehousian excursion that is lighter than airand twice as much fun as laughing gas. " In a leisurely interview at his Rockefeller Plaza office, the author comesacross very much as he does on television. His leathery features expandeasily into a smile as he delivers, in his slow, concise, foghorn voice, comments that are as thought-provoking as they are witty. _Sunday Punch_, he says, "is the story of an extremely thin, tall, Britishprizefighter named Aubrey Philpott-Grimes who comes to the U. S. Tofight because he can make more money here than in Britain. The moremoney he makes, the higher taxes he can pay, and Aubrey is a greatbeliever in paying taxes. He is tremendously interested in economics, sothat if he is brought to the microphone after a fight, he'll probably starttalking about structural unemployment and floating exchange rates, ratherthan talking about fighting. ... The book allows me to comment on theUnited States from the view of an outsider. " His fascination with the cultural and linguistic differences of the U. S. AndEngland dates back to the late 1940s, when Newman left his job with theWashington-based International News Service and moved to London. There, he found work as a "stringer" for the NBC network, and when hewas invited to join the full-time staff in 1952, he remained at the Britishcapital for five more years. In 1961, after serving as NBC bureau chiefin both Paris and Rome, he returned to his native Manhattan and settledinto his present Eastside apartment with his English wife, Rigel. TheNewmans' daughter Nancy was educated entirely in England. A harsh critic of the state of the language in America today, Newman isthe head of the Usage Panel for the American Heritage Dictionary. He isalways being sent examples of poor English. "Do you want to know whataccountability is?" he says, his eyes crinkling with amusement as he takesa letter from his desk. "This is from a teachers' committee in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 'Accountability is a concept that, when operationalized, findsthe interrelatedness and parameters of responsibility shaped by individualswithin the system. ' "It seems to me there are two movements going on that affect language inthe United States, and it's curious that they would be going on at the sametime, because in a way they conflict with each other. One is the increasinguse of jargon and pomposity, which can partly traced to the size of thegovernment. As the government grows, this kind of language grows. ... The more technical they make the language sound, the more moneythey're likely to earn. "Then you have the influence of the social sciences, where exactly thesame thing goes on. People attempt to take familiar ideas, small ideas, andin some cases no ideas, and make them sound large by wrapping them upin grandiose language. "The other movement that is going on is based on the notion that correct, specific, concrete language doesn't matter very much. What matters is thatyour heart be in the right place. ... This idea was thoroughly welcome tomany people in education. For one thing, it means that you have lesswritten work to correct. And also, of course, if you don't have to teachcorrect English, you don't have to know it. " During his 28 years as an NBC news correspondent, Edwin Newman hasexcelled in so many areas that he has become known as the network's"Renaissance man. " One of the most quick-thinking ad-libbers on the air, he is frequently called upon to do live "instant specials" of breaking news. He moderated the first Ford-Carter debate in 1976, has hosted the _TodayShow_ numerous times, has covered six national political conventions andreported from 35 foreign countries. Each Monday through Friday, he isheard on both radio and television across the U. S. In a series of newsbriefs. His biggest project at the moment is a two-hour, prime-time documentaryon U. S. Foreign policy, which is scheduled to be aired early in September. "I think in some way, " concludes Newman, "I fell into the rightprofession. Somebody said -- I think it was H. L. Mencken -- that you gointo the news business because it gives you a front-row seat. And hemight have added that not only does it give you a front row seat, but youget the seat free. " born 1-15-19 ******** EASTSIDER LARRY O'BRIENCommissioner of the National Basketball Association 2-16-80 Fame rests lightly on the shoulders of Larry O'Brien, who was raised onpolitics in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and never soughtelective office for himself, yet became one of the Democratic Party's mostinfluential spokesmen for nearly two decades. As a campaign manager, he propelled John F. Kennedy into the Senateand then into the White House. He served as postmaster general underPresident Johnson from 1965 to 1968, and was twice named chairman ofthe Democratic National Committee, a post traditionally given to theparty's foremost political strategist. His name loomed large in theWatergate hearings, for it was O'Brien whose office was broken into bythe original Watergate burglars. He was in the news again in 1974, when, having retired from politics, hepublished his autobiography, _No Final Victories_. Expecting to be outof the public eye after that, O'Brien was astonished to be offered the jobof commissioner of the National Basketball Association. Now midwaythrough his fifth season, he has not only resolved the major disputes thatthreatened the future of professional basketball, but has brought a newvitality to the sport. The NBA's headquarters, a plush suite of office high above Fifth Avenue, is silent and practically empty on the afternoon of my appointment withthe commissioner. A gregarious host, he talks about basketball and politicsfor nearly two hours in his effusive manner, while chain-smoking low-tarcigarettes. He is a hearty, husky man with a basso voice that rarely altersin pitch, and is as casual as a bartender. Brought up in the town where basketball was invented, the son of Irishimmigrants, he worked his way through law school by tending bar in hisfather's cafe in the daytime and taking classes at night. One of the mosttrusted of politicians, known for his uncommon organizational abilities andhis gift for compromise, O'Brien is a fascinatingly long-windedconversationalist who speaks with many digressions. "The sports commissioner is somewhat unique. First of all, you are paidby the owners, and you are expected to be as responsive as you can to thefans -- to do everything possible to ensure that the game is presented inthe best conceivable way to the fans, and the most exciting and interestingmanner, because after all, this is business. " During the Kennedy and Johnson White House years, he served aspresidential liaison to Congress and helped win passage of the PeaceCorps, Medicare, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As commissioner, hisauthority is all-powerful. "It goes to supervision of every aspect of thegame, on and off the court, " he explains. "It goes to determining evenwhat time games are played and who plays them. " Attendance in the NBA has risen considerably this year; O'Briencheerfully attributes it to the resurgence of the Boston Celtics and theimprovement of the New York Knicks. Recently Dallas was granted a franchise to create a new NBA team, the23rd in the U. S. "If there were further expansion beyond 24 teams, "O'Brien predicts, "I think it would take on an international flavor. ... There are a number of countries in Europe that are playing qualitybasketball at the professional level. I envision that by the mid-80s, youwould find countries in Europe that could be competitive with us. Probably the first step would be only exhibitions, but I can see it reachinga point where you could give serious thought to establishing anotherconference perhaps. " Larry and his wife Elva have been married since 1944; their son LaurenceIII is a Washington-based lawyer. An Eastside resident during most of thelast seven years, O'Brien recalls the Watergate break-in with grim humor. "We didn't have anything in the office anyway. We were practicallybankrupt. I thought, maybe there's a typewriter missing. ... I was adisbeliever. It took a long time for it to penetrate that this was real. ... My best recollection of that period is that I was very depressed, in thesense of what effects it was having on our system of government. "When I was on my book promotion tour, people would ask, 'How doesit feel to be a politician?' as if it was a dirty word. I have always beenproud of being a politician, and I've never felt otherwise. But I found thatall of us involved in politics were painted with the same brush. " His mood brightens when the subject returns to basketball. Speaking of therecent backboard-shattering antics of "Chocolate Thunder" DarrylDawkins, O'Brien reports that the star "said that he certainly could adjusthis dunk shot to prevent further incidents. " The most difficult aspect of his job so far, says O'Brien, has been toenforce the compensation agreement that players and owners signed fouryears ago. "Compensation means that when a player has terminated hiscontractual obligations to a club, the new club that acquires him mustmake compensation to the other team, and work that out between them. And then if the two teams fail to reach an agreement, the case comes tome and I determine what compensation is appropriate. In making thelosing club whole, I can assign draft choices, players, money, or anycombination thereof. It's extremely difficult -- weighing players againstplayers, and deciding how much money is valid compensation. There's nosure way of doing it, unless you were Solomon or you had a crystal ballas to how it would turn out. " ******** WESTSIDER MAUREEN O'SULLIVANGreat lady of the movie screen 3-4-78 As recently as 10 years ago, most of the motion pictures filmed in thiscountry had a single run at the theatres, and then were seldom seen orheard from again. Television has changed that. Now, with longer broadcasting hours and theabundance of new channels, vintage movies are enjoying a second life, often with a bigger audience than the first time. Maybe that's why thename Maureen O'Sullivan is practically a household word even today. Between 1930 and 1965 she made dozens of films, ranging from MarxBrothers comedy (_A Day At The Races_) to classics of English literature(_David Copperfield_, _Pride and Prejudice_) to Tarzan films, in whichshe played Jane. But unlike so many of her contemporaries, Maureen is neither dead norretired. She maintains a busy schedule of acting, writing, traveling, andenjoying her status as a mother of five and a grandmother of many. Maureen shows me around her large, beautiful apartment facing CentralPark, right across the hallway from Basil Rathbone's last home. "I keepthis part for the children, " she says, indicating a section of several rooms. There are photos of her children everywhere, including a good number ofher actress daughters Mia and Tisa Farrow. Mia lives in England and Tisais in California, but they still get together frequently. "I'm doing an autobiography now. It's about halfway done. My agent hasthe manuscript. But I'm not writing any more until I see if there's anyinterest in it. ... I started it two years ago, then put it away. I wasn't eveninterested in it myself. Then a friend of mine, John Springer, had me tolunch. He said, 'You ought to do an autobiography. ' I said I had alreadystarted one. ... So I went back and worked on it some more, andcondensed it into 10 pages. I had to do it myself -- every word, syllable, comma. " She recently spent five weeks in upstate New York playing one of theleads in _The Glass Menagerie_ by Tennessee Williams. The critics hadnothing but praise for her portrayal of the ambitious mother, and onedescribed Maureen's acting as "genius. " The stage is not the only place where Maureen employs her dramatictalents. Shortly after completing the Williams play, she went to Albany, New York to do a reading from _The Wayward Bus_ for the statelegislature. "They're trying to get a new bill through Congress to getmoney for a program for more halfway houses for women alcoholics, " sheexplains. "I believe in that kind of thing. " One of the last plays she did in New York City was _No Sex Please --We're British_. It was a hit in London, and the preview performanceswere doing well enough in New York to call for an official Broadwayopening. "Then [drama critic] Clive Barnes came to the producer andsaid, 'If you have an opening you'll have a disaster, because the criticswon't like it. ' And he was right. As soon as the reviews came out, thetheatre emptied. In the previews, the audiences loved it. The critics madea big thing out of opening night. In London, I don't think the public paysthat much attention to the critics. The average person there doesn't readthe reviews. " Perhaps it's the singing lessons she has never stopped taking that accountfor her pure lyrical speaking voice, which is still as sweet as it was whenshe made her first film, _Song of My Heart_, nearly 50 years ago. Though Maureen's soft British accent gives no hint of it, she was broughtup in Dublin, Ireland. While working as a young actress in England shewas discovered by an American producer and brought to the U. S. To doher first movie with famed tenor John McCormack. After that her careerblossomed. Any comment on the Tarzan films for which she became famous? "I madefive. They have been remembered. I'm glad to be remembered forsomething. Let's leave it at that. " These days, while Maureen is waiting to hear about her autobiography, she is working on some short stories. Two have appeared in the _Ladies'Home Journal_. "I have no special goals, " she says. "One thing leads toanother. Supposing my theatrical career came to an end, I'd like to openan antique shop in Vermont, and write, and paint -- I always have -- andsew. If you can do one art, you can do them all. It's different ways ofsaying the same thing. "I'm a special type of grandmother. At the theatre, I like to take thechildren backstage. And in New York, I take them in a horse and buggyaround the park, or for tea at the Plaza. In that way, I can bring color intotheir lives. " Maureen has been a Westsider for the past 15 years. "I'm very fond ofMal the Tailor, on 72nd near Columbus. And Mr. Walsh the florist. O'Neal's Balloon. The Pioneer Market. They're all on 72nd Street. That'smy beat. " She walks toward the window. "I love this view. The park is differentevery time of the year. Now it's all covered with snow. Pretty soon thebuds will be all over the trees. " She smiles contentedly. "I really thinkthat if I had to leave the West Side I'd leave New York. Because to me, this is New York. " _Hannah and Her Sisters_. ******** WESTSIDER BETSY PALMERStar of _Same Time, Next Year_ 4-1-78 "Oh, do you take shorthand?" said Betsy Palmer as we sat down in herdressing room to chat between shows. "I could always read and writeshorthand. I worked for the B & O Railroad as a stenographer before Iwent away to school and learned acting. I guess if I had to, I could brushup and go back to it. " It's most unlikely that she'll ever have to. Even if her Tony Awardwinning play, _Same Time, Next Year_, should happen to close, Betsywould find herself swamped with offers for choice acting roles. But herhit show about the lighter side of adultery won't be closing for a long timeyet. It is currently being made into a film starring Ellen Burstyn and AlanAlda. "A lot of people think of me as a personality rather than an actress, andwhen they come to see me they expect to see that personality, " saysPalmer, who has one of the more recognizable names and faces onBroadway. "Mostly people know me from panel shows. It's been adouble-edged sword for me. When they see me doing something that'sreally dramatic, they say, 'My God, she can act!'" She has made countless appearances on _What's My Line?_, _Girl Talk_and _The Today Show_, but to most television viewers she is bestremembered as the bright, beautiful, All-American girl who for 11 yearswas a panelist on _I've Got a Secret_. During her years of TV stardom Betsy was doing plenty of serious acting-- everything from Shakespeare to Peter Pan to Ibsen. She has made fiveHollywood films and performed the lead in numerous Broadway shows, including _South Pacific_, _Cactus Flower_ and Tennessee Williams'_Eccentricities of a Nightingale_. Few of her roles, however, have beenas demanding as Doris in _Same Time, Next Year_. To begin with, she and her co-star, Monte Markham, are the onlycharacters in the play. Second, the play's action takes place over a periodof 25 years, in which Doris goes through momentous changes. In doingthis transformation smoothly, Betsy creates a character so believable andlovable that the audience forgives her for cheating on her husband, whichshe does one weekend a year in order to meet her lover George. "Doing the play takes all my energy. I'm a single woman now, and havebeen for three years. But if I were involved with somebody now, it wouldtake up a lot of my energies. So it doesn't bother me; when the timecomes for me to be involved, I will be. Right now, I'm really quitesatisfied to come here six days a week and have a fantasy life. It has allthe good things in it and none of the bad things. ... It gives you such arainbow of colors to express yourself within, that I find it terriblyrewarding and gratifying. I am never bored with the show. " George, like Doris, is married and has three children, and he too goesthrough drastic changes of attitude during the time period from 1951 to1976. But while George wins the audience's respect and sympathy, Dorissteals their hearts. "I get out there and I feel such love. All of a sudden they begin to adoreher. They're watching her spread her wings and finally fly. ... Theadultery is done with such taste. You see two people who really love theirrespective mates, and their children. " In her cozy backstage room at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, which isdecorated with Christmas lights, Betsy demonstrates an overbubblingfriendliness and an extremely fluent style of speech. An interview with heris both a pleasure and a challenge, for she talks about each subject withan enthusiasm that makes it hard for anyone to interrupt and go on to thenext question. Her memories of those panel shows? "You know, we used to do _Secret_right in this theatre. We must have done it here five, six, seven yearseasily. There are a lot of guys here now, on the backstage crew, whowere here with _Secret_. It's nice to be working with them again. ... ButI'm not interested in the past. The past is an illusion, as is the future. " Betsy has been an off-and-on Westside resident ever since she first cameto New York in 1951. When doing _Same Time, Next Year_ she issubletting a friend's apartment on Riverside Drive. Her 16-year-olddaughter frequently comes down from Connecticut to spend time with heron the West Side. "I've lived on the East Side but my preference is the West Side. Let's faceit, Broadway's on the West Side. Where Broadway is is where my heartis. " Flowers by Edith (69th and B'way) is one of Betsy's best-lovedWestside establishments. "I've become very good friends with her. I'vegone to her house to parties. " In response to an obvious question, Betsy scolds gently: "Never ask anactress what she's going to do next. Opera stars say, 'You know, I've gotthis opera lined up, then this one, then this, ' but an actress doesn't usuallyknow. ... I just hope that the next play I'm able to do will have a lot ofhumanity in it, like this one. It's not enough to get a bunch of laughs. You've got to be touched inside. " ******** WESTSIDER JAN PEERCEThe man with the golden voice 3-22-80 In December 1979, in a benefit concert at the Alvin Theatre, about adozen Broadway stars of the past and present strode to the microphone tosing some of the songs they made famous. John Raitt, Alan Jones, JackGilford, Michael Moriarty, Delores Wilson and others received waves ofenthusiastic applause from the packed house. But when a short, stocky, barrel-chested man with thick eyeglasses and a nose like Jimmy Durante'sshuffled to center stage, the audience didn't merely cheer: it erupted. Andwhen 75-year-old Jan Peerce finished his two arias, he was prevailed uponto give the only encore of the evening. Appropriately enough, his choicewas "If I Were a Rich Man" from _Fiddler on the Roof_, the show inwhich he made his Broadway debut at the age of 67. Although Peerce has been one of America's most beloved singers foralmost half a century, it was not for sentimental reasons alone that he wastreated with such acclaim that evening. He still has one of the clearest, strongest, sweetest tenor voices in the business, and his repertoire isenormous. Besides arias and showtunes, he performs ballads, Germanlieder, French contemporary songs, cantorial and oratory musicwith equal facility. In order to keep his voice in top form, he now limitshis concerts to about 50 a year, but last summer, on a tour of Australia, he did 17 concerts in 21 days. "I vocalize every day of my life, I keep observing the laws of decentliving, and I face every booking as it was my first, " he says in a recenttelephone interview, contacted at his Westside apartment. "I believe in theadage that the show must go on, but you must not go out at the expenseof your health, or impair the quality of your voice by singing againstnature. " This fall will find him doing a one-man show at Carnegie Hall. In additionto his regular schedule of cross-country concerts, he makes cruises of theCaribbean several times each year aboard the SS Rotterdam. His parents were Orthodox Jews who had immigrated from Russia, andthey were able to afford violin lessons for him by taking in lodgers at theLower East Side apartment where he grew up. Born under the name JacobPincus Perelmuth, he began his career working primarily as a violinist andbandleader in the Catskills. In 1929 he married his childhood sweetheart, Alice Kalmanowitz, and three years later was discovered by the greatshowman Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel, who hired him as a featured singer atthe new Radio City Music Hall. "People on Broadway said I belonged in opera, " recalls Peerce, "andopera people said I belonged on Broadway. But when Roxy gave me mybreak, things began to happen. And then came Toscanini. He hired me tosing with his NBC Symphony of the Air. And when he accepted me, thatsort of clinched things. People said, "If he's good enough for Toscanini, this guy must be good. '" For 15 years, Arturo Toscanini preferred Peerce to all other tenors in theworld. Meanwhile, in 1941, Peerce had joined the Metropolitan Opera. There he sang the major tenor roles up until 1968, when, after losing thesight in one eye, he retired from the Met and began to concentrate onrecitals. In 1976 he published his memoirs, _The Bluebird of Happiness_, named after his recording that has sold 1. 5 million copies. Peerce hasmade dozens of other recordings, including many complete operas. A deeply religious man, long noted for his humanitarian efforts, Peerceis particularly supportive of Bonds for Israel. "My wife Alice is the onlywoman on the board of governors. She's the chairperson, " he saysproudly. "It's to help Israel build and keep building, and develop to thepoint where she belongs. She's growing beautifully, and she will groweven more. " The Peerces, who have two daughters and a son, maintain a house in NewRochelle as well as the Westside apartment that they have had for the past15 years. Although Jan Peerce stopped playing the violin long ago, he isstill a dues-paying member of the local violinists' union. "One day I askedthem if they could give me an honorary membership, " he chuckles, revealing his famous offbeat humor. "They said they were very sorry, they couldn't do it. I said why not, and they said, 'All our honorarymembers are dead. '" Another time, when he was the guest of honor at a dinner party, thehostess, seated next to him, chatted with such energy that Peerce hadtrouble getting in a single word. He got his chance when the waiterbrought around a tray of assorted salad dressings. The gabby womanasked, "Mr. Peerce, how do you usually eat your salad?" "In complete silence, madame, " he replied. Of the dozens of conductors he has worked with, Peerce is quick to nameToscanini his favorite. "First of all, he was a great man, and second ofall, he was a genius musically. He had no tricks, except that he had acertain vision about the music. He made everybody sing or play as thecomposer meant it to be. And that was the secret of his success. He wasan inspiration to anybody who worked with him or under him. " ******** EASTSIDER GEORGE PLIMPTONAuthor, editor and adventurer 2-2-79 It was an unusual statement to come from a man who has made a careerout of fearing nothing. "I'm scared to death every time I sit down at atypewriter, " confessed George Plimpton, who, in his 20 years asAmerica's foremost "participatory journalist, " has played football with theDetroit Lions, fought the light heavyweight champion of the world, pitched to major league baseball players, raced cars internationally, andperformed with the New York Philharmonic as a percussionist. "Sometimes you can do it, and sometimes it's not there, " continuedPlimpton, leaning back in the desk chair at his Eastside apartment. "It'svery hard to work alone. There's the television set, and all these books, and your son and daughter in the next room. Sometimes I have to getaway. So I go to bars and I sit in a corner and write. You're trapped inthere. There's nothing else to do but write. " As we sat talking, the telephone rang frequently, and Plimpton, apologizing for the interruption, spoke to the callers with widely varyingdegrees of enthusiasm, but was consistently polite, urbane and witty. Inoticed a hint of an English accent in his voice -- the result of his earlyeducation at St. Bernard's School on the Upper East Side, followed muchlater by four years of study in England. It is easy to imagine him steppinginto a boxing ring like an English gentleman, calmly lacing on his glovesfor a friendly bout. Which is precisely what he did in 1959 when, for the purpose of one ofhis countless stories for _Sports Illustrated_, he took on Archie Moore, then king of the light heavyweight division, for a three-round exhibitionmatch in New York. Since that time, Plimpton has never lost his interestin boxing. A close friend of Muhammad Ali's who has followed thechampion around the world, he made Ali the chief character of his book_Shadow Box_, which came out in paperback this month from Berkley. As with most of Plimpton's works, the story is told with an abundance ofhumor. Currently at work on three new books, Plimpton emphasized that hewrites on many subjects outside of sports. A lifelong friend of theKennedy family, he has co-authored an oral history volume titled_American Journey: The Times of Robert F. Kennedy_. He is anassociate editor of _Harper's_ magazine and a regular contributor to the_International Food & Wine Review_. His first love, in fact, seems to benot sports at all, but the _Paris Review_, a magazine for up-and-comingserious writers that he has edited since its creation in 1953. One of themost important literary magazines in the English-speaking world, the_Paris Review_ is published four times a year as a 175-page journaldevoted almost exclusively to fiction and poetry. His hair is mostly silver now, and there are creases starting to appear onhis ruggedly handsome face, but Plimpton, at 52, is still the same largerthan-life, charismatic figure he has been since he came to nationalattention in 1961 with the publication of _Out of My League_, a bookabout his foray into major league baseball. _Paper Lion_ (1966), whichtold of his brief career as a quarterback with the Detroit Lions, cementedhis reputation as the nation's most realistic sportswriter. His other booksinclude _The Bogey Man_, _One More July_, and _Mad Ducks andBears_. As a lecturer, he is in demand all over the country. He and hiswife Freddy have been married for 11 years. Born in New York City, he grew up around 98th Street and 5th Avenue, attended Harvard University (where he edited the _Harvard Lampoon_), and spent three years in the Army before heading for England to study atKing's College, Cambridge. During an Easter vacation there, he joinedsome friends in Paris to discuss the launching of the literary magazine hehas guided ever since. In 1979, said Plimpton with a grin, "I'm supposed to manage the NewYork Yankees for a day, and go through the whole procedure of beingfired by George Steinbrenner. I hope it's followed by a beer commercialwith Billy Martin. " Asked about his attachment to the East Side, Plimpton stressed hisfondness for the city as a whole. "In the last couple of years, there's beenan enormous rebirth of excitement about living in the city. ... I thinkMayor [Ed] Koch has a lot to do with pulling it up. He seems to fiteverywhere. If I saw him twirling up a pancake dough in a pizza shop onBroadway, or driving a 5th Avenue bus, or carrying a briefcase into 20Exchange Place, I wouldn't be surprised. He's a quintessential NewYorker. " When my visit with Plimpton was about to end, I couldn't resist testinghim with my favorite sports question: "Who was the only man to play forthe Boston Red Sox, the Boston Patriots and the Boston Bruins?" Hecouldn't guess. The answer, I told him, was a guy named John Kiley, whoplayed the national anthem on the organ. But Plimpton got the last word in. "Who was the only man to play for the Boston Bruins and the BostonCeltics?" he asked. I said I didn't know. He smiled and replied: "GeorgePlimpton. " ******** EASTSIDER OTTO PREMINGERRebel filmmaker returns with _The Human Factor_ 1-26-80 On the cover of his 1977 autobiography _Preminger_, he is described as"Hollywood's most tempestuous director" and "the screen's stormiestrebel. " But today, at 73, the years appear to have caught up with OttoPreminger, the Austrian-born director and actor who came to the U. S. In1935 and met success after success, both in movies and on Broadway. He became the first producer/director to make major motion picturesindependently of the giant studios, and with such films as _ForeverAmber_, _The Moon is Blue_ and _The Man with the Golden Arm_, wonprecedent-settling battles with censorship boards that established newartistic freedom for filmmakers. Between 1959 and 1963 he produced and directed, in succession, _Porgyand Bess_, _Anatomy of a Murder_, _Exodus_, _Advice and Consent_, and _The Cardinal_. After that his career took a dip, and since 1971 hehas released but a single movie, _Rosebud_ (1975), which marked thescreenwriting debut of his son _Erik Lee Preminger_ and the acting debutof a New Yorker named John Lindsay, the city's former mayor. In February, Preminger's 33rd film, _The Human Factor_, is scheduledto open in New York and across the country. Based on a best-sellingnovel by Graham Greene, _The Human Factor_ is the suspenseful storyof a black South African woman (played by fashion model Iman) whomarries a white secret agent (Nicol Williamson). Filmed mainly in theEnglish countryside, the movie deals with the agent's allegiance to theman who helps his wife to escape from South Africa. Persuaded tobecome a double agent, he ends up in Moscow, separated from the oneperson he loves. The novel's title underlines the fact that bureaucracy cannever be all-powerful: there is always the human factor. Preminger, seated at his huge palette-shaped desk of white marble in thelavishly furnished projection room on the uppermost floor of his Eastsidetown house, admits that he sank over $2 million of his own money intothe picture when his signed backers failed to come through. "Everybodyin Europe lies about money, " says Preminger in his deep, Germanaccented voice. "I originally wanted to sue them, but suing doesn't makesense unless you are sure they have money. So I inquired from my Swisslawyer, and they didn't have money in Switzerland. You see, inSwitzerland, the advantage of the Swiss law is that is you sue somebody, all his assets are frozen immediately. ... Luckily enough, I had two housesthat I wanted to sell in the south of France. ... At least I own the wholefilm. The question is now only: Will the picture be a big success as Ihope, or not? That is always the main thing. " The nattily dressed Preminger, a tall, large man whose distinguishedfeatures and totally bald head give the opposite impression of his slowmovement and somewhat frail appearance, revealed that the film's Africanscenes had to be shot in Kenya rather than South Africa "because theysaid they must see what I am shooting, and if they don't like it, they willconfiscate it. They said, 'People in bed you can't shoot. ' Then I went toKenya, where there is a black government, and they didn't even ask forthe script. They said I could have anything I want. " Asked whether any memorable events took place during the filming, Preminger snaps, "Even if there were, I don't remember. After I havemade a picture and I have seen it maybe two, three times with anaudience, I deliberately detach myself, because I don't want it to influencemy next picture. As a matter of fact, a few months ago, my wife wasdressing to go out, and I turned on the television and saw one of my oldpictures. I recognized it, but we had to leave before it was finished. I stilldon't know how it ends. " As for Preminger's love life, he writes in his autobiography: "I have areputation with women which is not entirely deserved, though it is truethat I had my share of them, some of them stars. " In 1944 he had a three-week love affair with Gypsy Rose Lee that resultedin the birth of his son Erik Lee Preminger. The boy didn't find out theidentity of his real father until the age of 18. They were reunited fouryears later, and liked each other immediately. Preminger legally adoptedErik, who is currently in Los Angeles writing a biography of his latemother. Preminger and his third wife, a former costume designer named HopeBryce, to whom he has been married since 1959, are the parents of 19year-old twins, Victoria and Mark. An Upper Eastsider for two decades, Preminger includes among his favorite restaurants Caravelle, Le Cirqueand 21, where agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar once broke a glass over hishead that took 51 stitches to close. An unabashed admirer of luxury, Preminger remains unruffled whenquestioned about how his fancy Eastside pad is in line with the philosophystated in his autobiography that "my real reward is my work itself. Success matters only because without it, one cannot continue to work. " "I could live without it, " he says with a shrug. "I like to give my familyluxuries, but I could easily live in one furnished room and be also happy. " ******** WESTSIDER CHARLES RANGELCongressman of the 19th District 8-26-78 The dividing line of New York's 19th Congressional District twists andloops through upper Manhattan like a traveler who has lost his way. Fromthe corner of 62nd Street and Central Park West, the boundary turnssharply at Amsterdam Avenue and extends northward to 164th Street, thenfollows the East River shoreline south to Roosevelt Island, taking in all ofHarlem and a large chunk of the East Side. This is the area that U. S. Congressman Charles Rangel has representedever since he was sent to Washington in 1971, after defeating the colorfuland controversial Adam Clayton Powell Jr. In the Democratic primary. Today, as firmly in control of the seat as Powell was during his height ofpopularity, Congressman Rangel stands virtually unopposed in his questfor a fifth term. "I have received the Democratic endorsement, the Republicanendorsement, and the Liberal endorsement, " says Rangel one Fridayafternoon at the towering State Office Building on 125th Street. "I amassuming that the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party willbe filing. They normally do. In the last election I got 96. 4 percent of thevote. " Whereas the late Powell had wide appeal only among the city's blacks, Rangel gained the support of many Harlem residents plus a large majorityof liberal whites on the upper West Side. It was they who provided himwith a 150-vote margin of victory over Powell in 1970. In the present95th Congress, Rangel has had the most liberal voting record of anycongressman from New York state. And while he has continued to givea great deal of attention to Harlem's problems of health care, unemployment and drugs, Rangel has recently had more demands placedon his time as a member of the powerful House Ways and MeansCommittee. The first black ever to serve on the committee, he is currently11th in seniority and will be seventh in the next Congress. In his New York office, where he generally spends two days per week, Rangel appears surprisingly fresh and relaxed at the end of a working day. As we settle into the interview, the elegantly dressed congressman withthe graying moustache and the rasping voice proves himself very much thepolitician. He uses each question as a springboard to launch into hisfavorite topics -- for example, his access to President Carter. Because of his various committee assignments and his strong support ofmost of Carter's policies, says Rangel, "I am forced to meet with thepresident more than probably many other members of Congress. I oftenstop by the White House on my way to the office. " Rangel also likes totalk about Chip Carter, the president's son, who is involved in a projectcalled City in Schools, designed to upgrade the neighborhoods outsidecertain schools. Chip has taken a special interest in Harlem, and oneschool in particular near Morningside Park. "I am confident that withChip Carter's help, and with my help, Morningside Park will soon showsome improvements. I hope that Columbia University will assist us too. " When asked about the unusual shape of the 19th Congressional District, Rangel says, "The reason for it is that as we find populations expanding, we don't find the size or the numbers of the members of Congressexpanding. We used to have half a dozen members of Congressrepresenting different parts of Manhattan. Now we're down to three --me, Green, and Weiss. If you break it down, you can see that AdamClayton Powell's district used to be just Harlem. " As a member of the House Select Committee on Narcotics and Drugs, says Rangel, "I have gone to Moscow, to try to encourage them to domore in the area of controlling opium. I have been to Thailand for thesame reason. ... That's one area in which I have great disappointment inthis administration. I find efforts of Nixon's to be greater than Carter's. The Office of Drug Abuse was disbanded by Carter. " Another field in which he finds Carter at fault is health care. "I supportKennedy's proposal, " said the congressman. "There's no question that, foranti-inflation reasons, the president has put his national health program onthe back burner. But to think that any program could be directly controlledby economic needs rather than by the medical needs of the people issomething I cannot accept. " The ultraliberal Rangel, one of the most vociferous supporters of U. S. Ambassador Andrew Young, still lives in the same building where he wasborn 48 years ago, whenever he's not in Washington. He dropped out ofhigh school to enlist in the Army and spent four years compiling adistinguished service record, including a presidential citation and threebattle stars. Once he returned to New York, Rangel completed highschool, went to college, and entered law school on a full scholarship. Hewas admitted to the bar in 1960; in 1966 he was elected to the first of twoterms in the New York State Assembly. Married and with two children, Congressman Rangel believes that hisfuture lies primarily in the Ways and Means Committee, which handlessuch giant concerns as taxes, trade, health insurance, social security andwelfare. In order to maintain his popularity throughout the 19thCongressional District, he must continue to support those programs thatbenefit his constituents in both Harlem and the Upper West Side. How canthis be done? "If we're going to use the tax system to make incentives forthe business community to help the economy, " he replies, "we need tobring the disadvantaged into the mainstream. " ******** WESTSIDER JOE RAPOSOGolden boy of American composers 2-23-80 Sing, sing a songSing out loud, sing out strongSing of good things, not badSing of happy, not sadSing, sing a songMake it simpleTo last your whole life longDon't worry that it's not good enoughFor anyone else to hearJust sing, sing a song. Joe Raposo wrote those words, along with their music, on a Januarymorning in New York City, about 10 years ago. "It was, " he recalls, "assuccinctly and as economically and precisely as I could embody aphilosophy of life in a song. 'Sing' is my philosophy of life, period. ... I remember leaving the studio and walking up Sixth Avenue saying, 'Ifthat isn't a hit song, I know absolutely nothing about it. '" The boyish, roly-poly, 40-year-old songwriter, whose incredibly crowdedcareer has included the writing of five movie scores and more than 350songs recorded by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, TonyBennett and Tom Jones, was right about "Sing. " When Karen Carpenter'ssingle went platinum in 1974, that was only the beginning. "It's one of the most recorded songs in the world, " says Joe. "I thinkthere are something like 180 versions of it, in just about every majorlanguage. ... Lawrence Welk recently did this hit parade of songs of thedecade, and the number one song of the decade was 'Sing. '" We're riding in a limousine along Fifth Avenue. Joe has requested to beinterviewed while he attends to some gift shopping. Because of atemporary leg injury, he has hired a limousine for the afternoon. As wego from store to store, Joe greets the merchants by name, then answersquestions into a tape recorder while waiting for his merchandise. Long noted for his musical versatility, Raposo grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts, the only child of a classical musician father and a pianoplaying mother. "I learned counterpoint at the age of 6 or so by wanderingaround the concert hall as my father rehearsed Mozart. " His parentstaught him piano, violin and bass viol. At Harvard University he beganto write and direct his own musicals. Soon after moving to New YorkCity in 1966, he had all the work he could handle as musical director, composer and lyricist for both television and the stage. He is the recipientof three Emmy Awards and an Oscar nomination. As a record producer, he has won four Grammy Awards. "It's Not Easy Bein' Green, " one of many songs he wrote for the _SesameStreet_ TV show, has become the international anthem for the Girl Scoutsof America. Another Raposo hit, "You Will Be My Music, " broughtSinatra out of retirement several years ago. His _Sesame Street Fever_disco album has sold more than a million copies. An album of all-Raposo music recorded by the Boston Pops in 1976 ledto a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra for an orchestraland choral work. The result is a 12-to-14-minute oratorio titled _From theDiary of Johann Sutter_, about the man whose quiet farm became theepicenter of the California Gold Rush. "It's the darndest story ever. Because it tells how a man who's atremendous idealist came to this country from Switzerland to found a newutopian agrarian state, with cattle and fields of grain, and vineyards. ... When the Gold Rush started, Sutter's whole society was ruined. And it isan incredible parallel for our time, in that our pursuit of material goodstends to make us forget all the natural, beautiful things that surround us. "Sheldon Harnick has done a wonderfully literate libretto. It premieresthis spring in Boston. Sheldon and I have been talking about the possibilityof expansion, but we have a musical to write first based on _It's AWonderful Life_, the Frank Capra movie. " At the same time, Raposo is collaborating with Hal David on anothermusical and writing songs for a sequel to _The Muppet Movie_. But withall his success, Joe admits to having "a trunk of songs that areunrecorded, and many of them I feel are right up on a par with anythingI've ever done. But they sit there and nobody grabs them. You have towait. ... A lot of people think, 'Oh, if I only had the talent to write a hitsong. ' But writing a great song isn't enough: you have to get the rightrecording at the right time. " Apart from being a creative artist and a practical businessman, Joe has anactive family life. Married for the past four years to beautiful Pat Collinsof ABC-TV's _Good Morning America_, he has custody of two sons froma previous marriage. The eldest, 16-year-old Joseph, is already makingwaves as a bass player, both electric and orchestral. Joe and Pat also havea 3-year-old daughter of their own. An admirer of President Carter since 1975, Joe wrote the music forCarter's campaign song the following year, and has done so again for1980. In his infrequent spare time Joe loves "tinkering -- banging nails intothings, and building stuff. I'm a pretty handy carpenter, a fair electrician. "With a mischievous smile he adds: "As a matter of fact, sometimes I thinkI should go into that full-time, because the music business is chancy. " ******** WESTSIDER MASON REESENot just another kid 6-4-77 "Mason, I've got two very very important pieces of advice to give you, "Milton Berle told the youngster when they first met. "Don't believe inHollywood party promises; and practice, practice and rehearse. " Uncle Miltie's words have been a useful lesson for Mason Reese, the boywonder of television. In 1973, at the age of 7, Mason skyrocketed to fameby winning a Clio Award for best male in a TV commercial. In the sameyear he co-hosted the _Mike Douglas Show_ for a week and became achildren's reporter for WNBC-TV. His picture appeared in _Time_, _Newsweek_, and on the cover of _TV Guide_. Mason's unique face andvoice became known to millions. Since that time, however, there have been a few disappointments mixedin with the triumphs. At 11, Mason is wiser and more philosophical aboutshow business. Along with his parents, he has learned not to place faithin verbal agreements, as Berle cautioned. The Reeses welcome me into their West End Avenue home. As I take aseat beside the "borgasmord kid" and look around me at the Chagallprints, Bill and Sonia, Mason's parents, pull up armchairs to listen in andhelp out. But during the interview, Mason needs no more help with his answersthan he did with his first audition at age 5, when he beat out 600 otherchildren to become the spokesman for Ivory Snow. After that he endorsedsuch products as Ralston Purina, Thick and Frosty, and Underwood MeatSpread, winning a total of seven Clios to date. He's been co-host withMike Douglas for three weeks and has appeared as a television guest withcountless other celebrities. One of my first questions is about children's rights. "I think children haveenough rights as it is, " he says. "They're with their families, they go toschool, they have the pleasure of learning. ... And they realize that whenthey grow up they'll be able to have more and more fun, as long as theydon't go on a mad rampage when they're kids. " Which type of people are most likely to grab him or pick him up? "It'salways the middle-aged Italian ladies and the Jewish grandmothers, " hesays authoritatively. "Some people don't want to treat a kid like a humanbeing. They want them like a puppy dog; instead of petting, it'spinching. " When it comes time to talk about Mason's not-so-successful ventures, Bill-- a producer of audiovisual shows and an expert in 3-D design work --takes over. He tells about the Broadway show that was written and readyto go, with Mason as one of the leads, that folded up and disappearedwithout warning or explanation. He tells about the ABC pilot titled_Mason_, which cost $250, 000 to make and was never televised; aboutthe movie offers that were never followed through; about the _HowardCosell Show_ -- with Mason as co-host -- that was canceled shortly afterit began. In spite of these setbacks, Mason recently did some Munchkinscommercials for Dunkin' Donuts and will go to California this summer todo some ads for Birdseye frozen french fries. While the Reeses remain optimistic about the future, they try not to buildup their hopes on a new project unless it is something solid. For showbusiness is, after all, a business. Mason has lived on the West Side for all of his 11 years. "I don't seemto understand why everyone thinks the East Side is classier, " he says. "Ithink they're friendlier people on the West Side, because people on theEast Side get snobby. Most of my friends are on the West Side. " His favorite eating places? "I love the Greek restaurants -- the FourBrothers (87th & Broadway) and the Argo (72nd & Columbus). Greeksare okay, aren't they mom? I like restaurants that are a little bit dumpy, without much decor. " When I run out of questions, I ask Mason if there are any other commentshe wants to make. "I think you've asked what everyone else has asked, "he replies honestly. And then with a smile: "Except that I've given youdifferent answers. "Wait, there's one thing, " he goes on. "I'd like my allowance raised tofive dollars. " Then, leaning back on the, sofa looking as content as a mancelebrating his 100th birthday, he adds: "I've really had no gripes in life. Except that I'd like people to stop calling me a midget, and to stoppinching me. " Some people who have never met Mason Reese in person unfairly assumethat he is a spoiled brat with pushy, exploitive parents. In fact, Bill andSonia are warm, creative people who are fully aware of the greatresponsibility they have in bringing up their extraordinary son. Mason isnot only brilliant, but a gentleman. He should be making movies, and witha bit of luck, he will be, soon. Having met him, I can only repeat -- notimprove on -- the words of Tony Randall: "I tell you this with neitherhesitation nor embarrassment. ... I'm a fan of his for life. " ******** WESTSIDER MARTY REISMANAmerica's best-loved ping-pong player 6-10-78 Marty Reisman was ready for _The Tonight Show_. But was _TheTonight Show_ ready for Marty Reisman? In a recent TV appearance, his name was announced and he started acrossthe stage toward the desk of guest host John Davidson. Then suddenly heseemed to get lost in the floodlights. For a few seconds the televisionaudience didn't know what was happening. An anonymous cameramanraced out of the wings to guide Marty to his destination. "My gosh, that's never happened before, " laughed Davidson. But Marty'shumorous stumbling may well have been part of his act because, asAmerica's best-loved table tennis player, he very often does things thathaven't been done before. On _The Tonight Show_ he returned shots withhis foot and behind his back, broke a cigarette with his slam shot (that hasbeen clocked at 105 miles per hour), and soon had Davidson sprawledacross the table trying to reach shots that came back of their own. At 48, Reisman (rhymes with "policeman") is still the nation's highestpaid Ping-Pong player in exhibitions. The stunts that he has developedover the past 30 years make his games pure entertainment. But Marty ismore than a player; he is a personality, a man with a thousand stories totell, and an instant friend to the people who visit his table tennis center on96th Street just west of Broadway. "I feel I'm moving with the times, " he remarks, late one evening at thecenter. "When from an athletic professional point of view some peoplewould think about retirement, my career is on the point of freshblossoming. " He is referring to the fact that his autobiography, _TheMoney Player_, published in 1974, is now being converted into a moviescript. And other things are happening. Several months ago his tabletennis parlor was the scene of a unique recording session -- a piece ofmusic titled _Tournament Overture for Flute, Cello, Synthesizer, and TwoPing-Pong Players_, composed especially for Reisman. The event wasfollowed by a regular tournament. And this fall Marty has a long-rangeexhibition tour lined up. "I started playing on the Lower East Side, about 1942, " he says. "A yearlater, at the age of 13, I was the New York City Junior Champion. ... At17, I represented the United States in the World Championship which washeld in London, at Wembley Stadium. There were 10, 000 peoplewatching. I lost in the quarterfinals. ... The next year I made it to thesemifinals and received a rating of number three in the world. " That year, 1949, was probably the peak of Marty's career from a purelyathletic standpoint, although he was good enough to win the U. S. Championship in 1958 and 1960. What distinguishes him from otherplayers, however, is the variety and richness of his experiences in theworld of Ping-Pong. For three years he toured with the HarlemGlobetrotters as their star attraction at halftime. He spent several years inthe Far East as well, and was in Hanoi when the French were defeated atDien Bien Phu. Altogether he has played in 65 countries, and has pickedup such titles as South American Champion, Canadian Champion, andBritish Champion. He once taught the game to a chimpanzee; the chimp managed to returnthe ball up to four times in a row. "But the most astounding thing abouthim, " recalls Marty, "was his short span of attention. When the ball wasabout an inch from his racket, he'd turn his head away and get smackedin the face. " As the title of his autobiography indicates, Marty has also been known toplace a wager on occasion. "I've hustled when I've had to, " he confesses. "But it hasn't been my way of life. I don't misrepresent myself. I playagainst the best players in the world, all over the world. Wherever I am, I create the drama, the action, the excitement, because of the large sumsof money I bet. " In one of his biggest hustles he flew to Omaha, Nebraska, under the guise of a baby crib salesman, to help a man who hadbeen hustled himself. Reisman played for $1, 000 a game and emergedfrom the contest 14 games ahead. West 96th Street has long been a hotbed of table tennis activity. A PingPong parlor opened there in 1934, and Marty took it over in 1958. Today, many of the world's great players stop by for a game when they visit NewYork. Dustin Hoffman, Walter Matthau, Bobby Fischer and Art Carneyhave played there also. Marty's regular customers range from 8-year-oldboys to a man of 83 who plays twice a week. The center opens in theafternoon and doesn't close until 3:30 in the morning, seven days a week. "I live on the West Side and so do most of my friends, " says Marty. A man has been standing nearby during the interview; Marty introduceshim as Bill, his former manager. "Manager?" snorts the man with a gruff smile. "He can't be managed. Human beings can be managed, but Reisman is something different. If hesays 'I'll be there at 3 o'clock' he might show up at 4 -- the next day. But, " he concedes, "if Marty didn't have those idiosyncracies, he wouldn'thave those rare talents. " ******** WESTSIDER RUGGIERO RICCIWorld's most-recorded violinist 3-3-79 It was Sunday, October 20, 1929. Four days later, on Black Thursday, Wall Street would be rocked by the biggest losses in its history and thenation would be plunged into its greatest crisis since the Civil War. ButOctober 20 still belonged to the Roaring Twenties, and on that date themost highly publicized event to take place in Manhattan was a violinconcert by a 9-year-old wunderkind named Ruggiero Ricci, who delivereda flawless performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and waslauded as a genius by the city's leading music critics. That concert madeRicci's career; in the 10 years that followed, the boy virtuoso earned anannual salary higher than that of the president of the United States. The story might have ended there, but unlike most prodigies, who burnthemselves out early, Ruggiero Ricci has continued to grow in stature asan artist. Since the 1940s he has been considered one of the greatest livingviolinists, and, with more than 500 recordings to his credit, he is themost-recorded soloist, instrumental or vocal, in the world today. Especially in demand abroad, he has made five trips to Australia and threeto the Soviet Union, where he was obliged to play nine encores at hisdebut appearance. Twenty of his concerts in West Germany were sold outa year in advance, and more than a dozen of his South American tourshave been sellouts as well. "I travel most of the year, except maybe a month off in the summer, " saysRicci, a short, good-humored man of 60 with large, sparkling eyes, jetblack brows, and a soft, slightly accented voice that sounds as if he wereborn in Europe. He sits curled up in a corner of the couch in hismagnificent Westside apartment. "I dislike to travel. In the old days, therewere a lot of airplane breakdowns, and we were always hung up inairports waiting for them to fix the plane. Today they have all thesehijacking searches. You have to go through the machines; they have theseenormous lines. And when you get to the hotel, there's a line a milelong. " He believes that Russian audiences are "the best public in the world. Theydon't applaud between the movements, like they do in New York. ... It'salways interesting to visit a place for the first time. I don't want to go toRussia so much anymore. We found out it's boring. There's nothing todo. And it's not much fun. There's no tipping, so the hotel service is verybad. It takes an hour to get breakfast; you can sit there and be completelyignored by the waiter. To make a telephone call: it's easier to go to themoon. " Ricci's repertoire, which includes more than 60 concertos from the 17thto the 20th centuries, is the largest of any violinist's now before thepublic. This calls for a lot of practice. "When you're a kid, " says Ricci, "you hate to practice. And when you're a grownup, practice is a pleasure. It lets you escape all the other junk. ... I don't have any trouble practicingin this building, because the old buildings have heavy walls. But if youwant to practice in a hotel, that's hard. Sometimes you can use a mute. Oryou turn on the television. Then they don't complain. If they hear afiddle, they complain. " Ricci has two major concerts in New York this year. The first will takeplace at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, March 3, when Ricci will join suchcelebrities as Andres Segovia, Yehudi Menuhin, Jose Ferrer, Jean-PierreRampal, and Peter Ustinov for a historic musical program tocommemorate the 15th anniversary of Symphonicum Europae, afoundation whose aim is to promote international understanding andcooperation by sponsoring performances in every country. Ricci's other New York concert will mark another anniversary. It will beon October 20th -- 50 years to the day since he took the city by storm. "The early concerts I remember very well, " says the maestro, who wasborn in San Francisco to a family of Italian immigrants. "For mostprodigies, the problem is the parents. My father just wasn't every smartabout how to handle me. Nowadays they don't have prodigies anymorebecause there isn't any profit in it. In the old days, a kid could get $2, 500to $3000 dollars a night. Everybody had their kid study. " None of his five children has turned out to be a prodigy, but three of themare already professionals in the performing arts. Ricci's slender, attractivewife, Julia, is an active participant in his career. Westsiders for manyyears, the Riccis enjoy such local restaurants as La Tablita, Alfredo's andthe Cafe des Artistes. Asked what he likes best about his career, Ricci says it is makingrecordings. "It's more leisurely. You don't have all the headaches. ... Thenewest development is direct-to-disc records. The music goes straightfrom the mike into the cutting head master, and there's no way to erase. If it's a 20-minute recording and you make a mistake on the 19th minute, you have to start over. I just finished recording the _Paganini Caprices_on direct-to-disc. It's coming out this month. The caprices are very rarelyperformed in public, because they're so difficult. " ******** WESTSIDER BUDDY RICHMonarch of the drums 1-5-80 "Mediocrity has no place in my life, " says fast-talking, hard-drivingBuddy Rich, wrapped in a bathrobe at his luxurious Westside apartment. "Anybody who is expert at what they do, I admire, whether it'sdrumming, tennis, or whatever. If they do it at the top of their form, constantly, I become a fan. " Dragging deeply on his cigarette, the man whom critics and fellow jazzartists have frequently called the greatest drummer in the world -- perhapsof all time -- dismisses such labels with something approachingannoyance. "I don't think anybody is the best of anything in the world. Babe Ruth'srecord was broken, Joe Louis was knocked out. ... I'd rather not be theworld's greatest anything. I'd rather be what I am, which is a gooddrummer. " It is an unexpected statement to come from a bandleader and drummerknown more for arrogance than modesty, but in an hour-long interview, Buddy's complex personality unfolds itself in all its richness, and heproves to be far more than a flamboyant, free-thinking musician who pullsno punches. In Buddy's hands, a snare drum comes to life: it whispers, shouts, purrs, snarls, chuckles, gasps or roars, as the mood of the music strikes him. Hebegan playing in 1921 at the age of 4, when his parents -- vaudevilleactors from Brooklyn -- included him in their act and then made him thestar. By the age of 7 he had toured the world as "Traps, the DrumWonder. " At 15, he was second only to Jackie Coogan as the highest-paidchild performer in America. He began recording in 1937, joined bandsheaded by Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey, and finally formed his ownband in 1946. Over the next 20 years, as both a drummer/bandleader andas the highest-paid sideman in the business, he made hundreds ofrecordings with some of the biggest names in the history of jazz -- CharlieParker, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Harry James, Thelonius Monk. Then in 1966 he formed his current band, the 15-man Buddy RichOrchestra. In December he brought the band to the chic, newly remodeledGrand Finale on West 70th Street. Seated at his drums in the center of theorchestra, he effortlessly mixes snare, tom-tom, bass drum and cymbalsin a whirling, benumbing mass of sound. Back in his huge living room, which is decorated much like a summerhouse in Newport, Rhode Island, Buddy says that his nightclub gigs arerare. "We do about nine months on the road, which includes Europe andthe Orient. All the cities of this country. Most of the tours I'm on are 90percent concert halls and schools. ... The main reason is educational. It'sgood for the young people to discover all of a sudden that music isn't justa guitar and a drum and a bad out-of-tune singer. ... I think as youngpeople become more sophisticated in their tastes, they begin to realize thatjazz is just as high an art form as classical music. " One of his chief gripes about jazz in America, he explains in a voice asrough as sandpaper, is that "during the season you might see 15 or 20award shows on television dedicated to country and western slop, butyou'll never see a jazz presentation in its true form. When there's anextended piece of music, they usually cloud it up with dancing girls andtrick lighting and anything that distracts from the music, instead ofpresenting the music as the attraction, the way they do in Europe. " Another sore spot is the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. "I'm heavily intosports cars; I used to race long ago. I find that the restrictions placed onus today are insane, contradictory, and hypocritical. ... I don't knowanyone on the highway who actually does 55 miles an hour, and it's justanother way of making money for the state or the local community, andI think it's no better than a *ing stickup!" He doesn't keep any drums in the apartment, and never practices. "I wantmy days to be as a man, and I want my nights to be as a working man. In the day, I exercise, I do karate -- I have a black belt -- and totallydisengage myself from the person I am at night. " His apartment is sharedby Buddy's wife Marie and their 25-year-old daughter Cathy, a singer. "My wife is just as beautiful today as she was the day I married her, "Buddy says proudly. "She used to be in pictures, but she gave it up whenwe married. Now she's a wife and a female and a woman, and she's notinto ERA and she's not into 'I got my thing man and you got your thing. 'She's a woman, and wears dresses so that I know she's a woman. That'swhat I like. " He often performs free at prisons and hospitals, but refuses to give details. "I do these things for the good that it does for me, " he asserts. "To havesomeone write about it takes the goodness away from it. I'd rather nothave anybody know what I do as long as I know. " Buddy suffered a heart attack in 1959 and has had others since, but apartfrom giving up liquor, he has made few adjustments in his whirlwindlifestyle. "I really don't think of past illnesses, " he declares. "I think I'mhealthier and stronger today than I've ever been in my life. I smoke morenow, and I run around more, and I do more exercise. I don't put toomuch reality into warnings about 'don't do this and don't do that. ' Dowhat you have to do, and do it. If you cut out -- it was time. " ******** WESTSIDER GERALDO RIVERABroadcaster, author and humanitarian 6-2-79 >From hundreds of local television stations across the nation, manypersonalities have risen up through the ranks to become national figureson network, but few have risen to far or so fast as Geraldo Rivera. In 1969, the year he graduated from Brooklyn Law School, Riveradecided to become a poor people's lawyer, and over the next 12 monthshe took part in 50 trials, most of them in criminal courts. Then his careertook an abrupt turn: in June 1970 he was offered a job at WABC-TV's_Eyewitness News_, and Rivera quickly accepted. His aggressive, probingstyle, matchless reportorial skills, and charismatic presence gained him theAssociated Press' first-place citation as top newsman of 1971 -- an awardhe received three more times in the next four years. In 1975 he became the traveling co-host of _Good Morning America_ onABC network; in the 20 months that followed, his assignments took himto more than two dozen countries. Continuing his upward climb, he wasnext transferred to the _ABC Evening News_ with Barbara Walters andHarry Reasoner. Finally in 1978, he was named to his present position --as special correspondent for _20/20_, ABC's weekly hour-long newsmagazine show. Over the past nine years, Rivera's special reports have earned himvirtually all the major awards in broadcast journalism, including severalEmmys. It was one of his earliest documentaries, however, that broughthim the most recognition. Titled _Willowbrook: The Last GreatDisgrace_, the 1972 expose focused on the conditions at Staten Island'sWillowbrook institution for the mentally retarded. The broadcast resultedin an unprecedented response from viewers. So many offers of assistancepoured in that Rivera was able to set up a national organization known asOne to One, whose goal is to give ongoing, individualized attention toretarded persons. Since 1973, One to One has raised more than $2million, and helped to build almost 60 group homes throughout the NewYork metropolitan area, each housing approximately 12 retarded personsof the same general age range. On June 6 from 8 to 10:30 p. M. , One to One will present a TV specialthat will combine top entertainment with personal accounts of retardedpeople, their parents, and the role of the media in helping to shape publicawareness. The entertainers include Paul McCartney and Wings, NeilSedaka, Debby Boone, Ed Asner, Angela Lansbury and the Captain &Tennille. Geraldo Rivera shares the emceeing chores with his ABCcolleague John Johnson. "The show will be both taped and live, " says Rivera in an interview at hisWest 60th Street office. "We've designed the program so that it's not aclassic telethon where every two seconds they say, 'Please send us yourmoney. '" Among the more dramatic moments is a tape of the Seventh Annual WallStreet Charity Fund Boxing Match, which raised thousands of dollars forOne to One. "For the first year, I'm not the main event, " commentsRivera, who scored a technical knockout over his opponent in 1978. "Mynose was broken last year, and they took out all the scar tissue. Theydecided that my nose had given enough for the cause. " He learned most of his boxing "just street fighting growing up. " Born 35years ago on the Lower East Side to a Puerto Rican father and a Jewishmother, he was christened Gerald Rivers and hispanicized his name whilein college. There are no scars on his ruggedly handsome face. With hisneatly styled hair, easy smile, and air of casual masculinity -- one of hisfavorite outfits is a denim jacket over a T-shirt -- Rivera could easily passfor a professional athlete turned matinee idol. Yet it is primarily hisliterary ability, combined with a sentimentality backed up by facts, thathas made him a type of media folk hero. His documentaries have earnedhim 78 humanitarian awards. In addition to his more than 3, 000 news stories, Rivera has written fourbooks, including one on Willowbrook. "I've been back there many times, and it still stinks -- literally and figuratively, " says Rivera in hiscustomary vibrant tone. "But it's now a much smaller place. Willowbrookstarted with 6, 500 people, and now it's well under a thousand. It hasbecome, in fact, one of the better institutions. But institutions are not theanswer. There's no such thing as a good big institution. " With his commitments as chairman of One to One, his heavy travelschedule for _20/20_, and his new daily commentary on ABC Radio, Rivera likes to spend free evenings at home with his wife Sheri at theirapartment near Lincoln Center. A Westsider since 1975, he names theGinger Man and the Cafe des Artistes as his favorite dining spots. Asked about the biggest difference between his present career and hisearlier career as a lawyer, Rivera says: "Now I have the power to causepositive change in a dramatic way. When you have an audience of tens ofmillions of people, it's a multiple in terms of influence and impact, andthe effective delivery of information. As a broadcaster, I've found that oneperson can make a difference. " ******** WESTSIDER NED ROREMAuthor and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer 6-17-78 The world has always been fascinated by artists who excel in more thanone field. There was Richard Wagner, for example, who wrote the wordsand the music to all his operas. Cole Porter and Bob Dylan are two otherswho have proven their mastery of both language and composition. But while these three men combined their talents to produce great songs, Ned Rorem has employed his musical and literary gifts in a different way. By keeping the two separate, he has gained a huge reputation as acomposer of serious music and also as a prose writer of formidable style. In 1976 he won the Pulitzer Prize for music. And last month Simon andSchuster published his eighth book, _An Absolute Gift_. At 54, Rorem has become somewhat of a fixture on the New York artisticscene, who no longer sparks the controversy that he once did. But inParis, where he spent nine years during his early career in the 1950s, Rorem was as well-known for his socializing as for his music. With hishandsome, youthful good looks and boyish charm, his biting wit, and hiswide knowledge of the arts, he became a close companion of many of theleading literary and musical figures of France. His recollections of those years were carefully recorded in his first book, _The Paris Diary_, published in 1966 amid fanfare on both sides of theAtlantic. It was quickly followed by _The New York Diary_, which wasmore popular still. Since then, Rorem's books have appeared at fairlyregular intervals, all of them either diaries or essays, or a combination ofboth. In print, Rorem comes across as being somewhat disillusioned with lifeand art. In person, however, he is a warm, sincere host. With a tendencytoward shyness that does not come through in his books. Rorem makes allof his remarks so matter-of-factly that nothing he says seems vicious oroutrageous. Leaning back on the sofa of his large Westside apartment, with one handresting against his chin and the other stroking his pet cat Wallace, Roremanswers one of the first questions saying that yes, he is upset by thenegative review that _An Absolute Gift_ received in the _New YorkTimes_. "A bad review in the Times can kill a book, " he explains. "It killed mylast book. And I don't think it's fair that they gave my new book to thesame reviewer. He made some of the same statements that he did lasttime, with almost the same wording. But just today I got a very goodreview from the _Washington Post_. And I hope there will be somethingin the _New York Review of Books_. That's even more important thanthe _Times_. " Rorem is considerably more versatile as a composer than as a writer. Hisoutput includes five operas, three symphonies, and "literally hundreds ofvocal pieces for solo voice and ensembles of various sizes. Andinstrumental music of every description. " He is considered by many to bethe world's greatest living composer of art songs. Generally he sets otherpeople's words to music. Asked for the definition of an art song, Roremsays, "I hate the term. I composed dozens of arts songs before everhearing the word. It's a song sung by a trained singer in concert halls. " The piece that won him the Pulitzer, surprisingly, was not a song at all, but an orchestral work titled _Air Music_, which was commissioned forthe U. S. Bicentennial by the late Thomas Schippers and the CincinnatiSymphony. This summer the Philadelphia Orchestra under EugeneOrmandy will premiere a new, major composition of Rorem's, _SundayMorning_. "I feel very, very, very lucky that I'm able to support myself as acomposer of serious music, " he says. "My income is not so much fromroyalties as from commissions, prizes, fellowships, and official handouts, such as the National Endowment of the Arts, and the GuggenheimFellowship, which I now am living on. " Born in Indiana and raised in Chicago, Rorem began composing music atthe age of 10. He was never attracted to pop music, and today he likes itless than ever. "Inasmuch as pop music goes hand in hand with highvolume, I bitterly resent it, " he says. "When the Met Opera gives aconcert in Central Park the same night that the Schaefer Beer Festivalgives one of their concerts, they're crushed like the runt beneath the bellyof a great fat sow. " When a desire for more space and lower rent drove Rorem fromGreenwich Village to the West Side 10 years ago, he feared that he wasmoving to "a big, nonartistic, bourgeois ghetto. " He soon changed hismind. In _An Absolute Gift_ he makes the statement: "From 116th Streetto 56th Street, the West Side contains more first-rate artists, bothperformers and creators, than any concentrated neighborhood since Parisin the 1920s. " One of Rorem's favorite Westside businesses is Patelson's Half PriceMusic Shop at 160 W. 56th Street, right across from the stage door ofCarnegie Hall. "It's the best music shop in America, " he testifies. "Theyhave everything or they can get it for you. " All of Rorem's books carry a fair amount of philosophy. But the onlyprinciple that the artist claims to have stuck by during the entire course ofhis life is: "I've never sold out. I've never done what I didn't want to do.... I've never been guided by other than my heart. And certainly not bymoney. " ******** WESTSIDER JULIUS RUDELDirector of the New York City Opera 4-22-78 In 1943, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia made an announcement that the oldMecca Temple on West 55th Street would be converted into the CityCenter of Music and Drama. As a result, a new major company was born-- the New York City Opera. A young Jewish immigrant, Julius Rudel, who had fled Austria with hisfamily not long before, immediately went to City Center in search of ajob. He was hired as a rehearsal pianist, and in the years to come histalents blossomed forth in many areas. Working quietly behind the scenes, he became the Opera's indispensable Mr. Everything, who not only knewevery phase of show production, but could be called on to conduct theorchestra and even take the place of a missing cast member on stage. Rudel's versatile musicianship and his personal charm did much to knit thecompany together. In 1956 the New York City Opera suffered a financially disastrous seasonthat led to the resignation of the distinguished Erich Leinsdorf as directorand chief conductor. That was perhaps the lowest point in the company'shistory. The board of directors pored over dozens of nominations forLeinsdorf's replacement before they decided on the one person who hadthe confidence of everybody -- Julius Rudel. Twenty-two seasons later, he is still firmly in command, and the oncestruggling City Opera has risen to world prominence. Although its $8million annual budget is much smaller than that of the Metropolitan Operaand the major houses of Europe, Rudel has been able to get many singerswho are unequaled anywhere, and has staged far more new works byliving composers than has Lincoln Center's "other" opera house. Apart from its musical significance, the City Opera has become a sort ofliving symbol for the arts in America, flourishing in the face of financialhardships, and somehow emerging more creative, more artisticallyexciting because of those hardships. Why else would people like BeverlySills and Sherrill Milnes perform at City for a top fee of $1, 000, or evenfor free, when they can get $10, 000 for a night's work elsewhere? "We build loyalties, " explains Rudel in his delicate Germanic-Britishaccent, the morning after conducting a benefit performance of _The MerryWidow_. "A lot of our singers go on to other companies, but they comeback. They don't forget us. The New York City Opera has produced moregreat singers than probably any other company in the world. " It is early, even for this man who begins his work as soon as he get upand keeps going till late at night with his multiple roles as music director, chief conductor, administrator, impresario and goodwill ambassador. Cladin his colorful dressing gown, his thick silver hair shining, he seems anentirely different person from the magnetic orchestral leader whosepresence on the podium generally guarantees a full house. At hisexpansive Central Park West apartment, he is low-key and to the point, and fiercely proud of the City Opera's achievements. "We try to look at every opera we do with fresh eyes, as if it had neverbeen done before. We try to reexamine everything about the opera. Sometimes the tradition attached to a work differs from what the composerand librettist intended. ... Tradition was defined by a famous conductorlong ago as 'the last bad performance. ' For example, in _Turandot_there's a character who had been traditionally [portrayed] as blind. But itmakes no sense in the story for him to be blind, so we don't play him thatway. We're restoring the classics, not changing them. " He jumps up to answer the telephone just as his wife Rita enters the room. A slender, dark-haired woman, she is a doctor of neuropsychology atColumbia Presbyterian Hospital and a devoted opera fan. "I'm Mrs. Rudelin the morning, " she explains, smiling. She met Julius when they wereboth at music school. Today, while keeping a close friendship with manyof the City Opera's singers, she maintains her own identity to the extentthat her medical colleagues sometimes tell her, "I saw you at the operalast night, " without realizing that her husband was the conductor. The Rudels have lived on the West Side ever since they were married 36years ago. "My wife sometimes says we live within mugging distance ofLincoln Center, " says Rudel, his eyes twinkling with impish amusement. "But really, we're confirmed Westsiders. I don't think I ever use any formof transportation from here to the theatre, and I don't eat out much, because my wife is a marvelous cook. Time being so of the essence, weprefer to stay at home. " The City Opera's spring season continues until April 30. Rudelrecommends three shows in particular: _The Saint of Bleecker Street_, _The Turn of the Screw_, and _The Marriage of Figaro_, which he isconducting. "I envy all the Westsiders who have the opportunity to cometo us, " he concludes. "Our seats in the upper reaches of the State Theatreare the best theatrical bargains in the world. " ******** EASTSIDER DR. LEE SALKAmerica's foremost child psychologist 5-5-79 At one time, the name Salk was synonymous with one thing only -- therevolutionary polio vaccine discovered by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1953. In the1970s, however, another national figure of the same name has emerged-- Dr. Lee Salk, Jonas' younger brother, who is probably the most highlyrespected and best-known child psychologist in America today. The most successful of his five books, _What Every Child Would LikeHis Parents to Know_ (1972), has been translated into 16 languages, whilehis most recent work, titled simply _Dear Dr. Salk_, was published inMarch by Harper & Row. A soft-spoken, highly energetic man who bears a close physicalresemblance to comedian Phil Silvers, Dr. Salk recently invited me toshare his thoughts in an interview at his Upper East Side apartment. "What I try to do as a psychologist, " he said, sitting in a large, circularchair in his spacious library, "is to use all the media to present what Iconsider useful psychological information that has been distilled for theconsumer -- to take the jargon out of it, and the ambiguity, so people canuse it to deal effectively with their problems. While most people see meas a child psychologist, I'm really an adult psychologist who has focusedon some of the most difficult issues that affect all people. ... In my initialyears of practice, it became clear to me that most of the problemsoriginated in childhood, and I felt that perhaps the front line of mentalhealth is really in those early, critical years. " Since 1972, he has been writing a column titled "You and Your Family"for _McCall's_ magazine, which has a readership of 16 million. "I frequently deal with family concerns, including problems that have todo with older people, " he explained. "I choose a different topic eachmonth. Frequently the topic revolves around a number of letters that comein. The June issue, for example, has an unusually large column becausewe're dealing with sexuality. We get hundreds and hundreds of letters, soI can't answer them personally, but I do read them all. When I'm givinga speech across the country, I like to use airplane time to catch up on mymail. " As a television personality, he appears at least twice a week on NBC's_News Center 4_. His off-the-cuff manner is no deception: Salk does eachof his broadcasts live, without a script, speaking spontaneously on acurrent issue. His latest book, _Dear Dr. Salk_, answers questions ranging from thespacing of children to problems specific to teenagers. When asked how hisapproach compares to that of Ann Landers or Dear Abby, Salk replies: "Imust say that they fall far short of what I'm trying to do. These people arenot professional psychologists. They tend to sensationalize -- to appeal tothe voyeuristic tendencies people have. I'm not saying they don't helppeople, but they don't always provide people with knowledge. "A good deal of what I say is not direct advice. In answering a question, I try to provide knowledge about the problem, which the person can use, to answer his or her own question. I really feel I shouldn't give people aseries of do's and don'ts" His knowledge is based on a 25-year career as a professional clinicalpsychologist. Following his graduation from the doctoral program at theUniversity of Michigan, Salk spent three years teaching at McGillUniversity in Montreal, then returned to Manhattan, where he grew up. He still maintains a private practice, and is on the staff at CornellUniversity Medical School, the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic and theLenox Hill Hospital. Dr. Salk won the custody of his two children, Pia and Eric, in 1975 aftera precedent-setting divorce trial in which it was ruled that he was "theparent that can best nurture their complex needs and social development. " A problem of many parents, he said, is not that they spend too little timewith their children, but that "it's basically useless time, because they'renot actively involved with the child. " Salk himself makes a point of havingbreakfast and dinner with Pia and Eric virtually every day, and includesthem in his social life whenever possible. "Their friends are frequently mydinner guests. " Each summer he spends three months with them at anisland retreat in Maine, while commuting to New York for hisprofessional commitments. Dr. Salk enjoys cooking, and also likes to goto restaurants. Dr. Salk's newest project is a 13-part series for public television, to beaired starting September 29. He will appear each week with three childrento discuss such topics as love and attachment, divorce, and "making afamily work. " The programs, he said, "are geared to family viewing time, so children and their parents can watch together. " ******** EASTSIDER FRANCESCO SCAVULLOPhotographer of the world's most beautiful women 6-16-79 As Richard Stolley, the managing editor of _People_ magazine, is fond ofsaying, every publication on the newsstand is actually two publications. One is the inner contents, and the other -- far more important in terms ofsales -- is the front cover. A stunning cover can make the difference oftens of thousands of dollars in revenue for a national magazine, and that'swhy _Cosmopolitan_ has engaged the talents of photographer FrancescoScavullo for virtually every one of its covers for the last 11 years. He has done album covers and posters for Paul McCartney, BarbraStreisand, Donna Summer, Judy Collins and many others. Among thepublications that rely on his most often for covers are _Vogue_, _Playboy_, _Glamour_, _Harper's Bazaar_, _Redbook_, _Ladies HomeJournal_, _People_ and the magazine that started it all -- _Seventeen_ --which ran its first Scavullo cover in 1948, when he was still a teenagerhimself. He never had any formal training in photography, but got plenty ofpractice during his Manhattan boyhood when he began taking pictures ofhis sisters and their girlfriends. Francesco delighted in applying makeupto their faces, running his hands through their hair, and dressing them insexy gowns. He quickly made two discoveries -- first, that there's no suchthing as an ugly woman, and second, that the photographer and his subjectmust be personally compatible. Although he charges approximately $3, 000for unsolicited private portraits, Scavullo won't photograph anyone withwhom he has bad rapport -- and that includes all people who don't takecare of themselves physically or abuse themselves with drugs. A small, lithe man of 50 who walks with the gracefulness of a dancer andlooks considerably younger than his years, Scavullo recently agreed to aninterview at the town house on East 63rd Street that serves as both hisstudio and his home. Dressed in blue jeans, an open-neck white shirt, andWestern boots, the chatty, unpretentious photographer sat back on thecouch with his arms behind his head and a mischievous smile planted onhis face. Asked about the large pills he popped into his mouth from timeto time, Scavullo explained that they were vitamins and organicsupplements. "I'm very health-conscious, " he said in a gravelly voice with a broad NewYork accent. "I don't eat meat, and I very seldom have even chicken orfish. I don't drink tea, or coffee, or alcohol -- except for a little wine. ... A lot of people stop smoking when they start working for me, because Ihate it -- all this pollution in the air of New York already. I think smokingis great if you live out in the West, and you sit on top of a mountain likein the Marlboro commercials. " As we were talking in his spacious living room, decorated with Scavullo'sown paintings, a member of his staff came from the studio below andsaid, in reference to a woman who was being made up for a shootingsession, "She's still not ready, Francesco. " Scavullo sighed. "A seating with a man takes 20 minutes, " he remarked, "and with awoman it takes the whole afternoon. Makeup, " he added, "is used moreintensely in photography than it is in the street. I think women look bestwithout any type of makeup in the daytime. Sunlight has a very bad effecton it. Some of the ladies going by on the street look like they're holdinga mask a fraction of an inch away from their face. " He has never developed the habit of stopping beautiful women on thesidewalk, but, said a grinning Scavullo, "if I see someone wildly attractivewalking by, I get excited. I might turn around and whistle or something. " Number one on his list of the world's most beautiful women is 14-yearold Brooke Shields, who also lives on the Upper East Side. She is one ofthe 59 models, actresses, and other celebrities featured in his first book, _Scavullo On Beauty_ (1976), which came out in paperback last monthfrom Vintage Press. The volume is filled with life-size shots of women'sfaces, many of them showing the difference before and after the Scavullotreatment. It is accompanied by frank interviews dealing with clothing, diet, exercise, makeup, and related subjects. _Scavullo On Men_, hissecond book, was published in 1977. And he has two more in the works-- a picture book on baseball, with text by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt ofthe _New York Times_, and a retrospective volume covering hisphotographs from 1949 to 1980. Both will be out next year. A resident of the Upper East Side since 1950, he likes to dance until dawnat Studio 54 "whenever I don't have to get up too early the next day. "Asked about his favorite local restaurants, he said he rarely goes to any, but that his entire staff orders lunch almost every day from GreenerPastures, a natural foods restaurant on East 60th Street. Beauty, he believes, "is an advantage to everything -- man, woman, child, flower, state. I mean, everything. Beauty is the most fabulous thing in theworld. I hate ugliness. " His advice to amateur photographers: "Get aPolaroid. It is a very flattering camera to use, because it washeseverything out. " He couldn't resist adding: "If you can't be photographedby Scavullo, have your picture taken with a Polaroid. " ******** WESTSIDER ROGER SESSIONSComposer of the future 2-10-79 The story of Western music, from the baroque era to the present day, hasbeen written largely by men whose contributions to their art wereunderappreciated during their own lifetimes. Serious music has a tendencyto be ahead of its time, and must wait for the public taste to catch upbefore it can be accepted. Such is the case with Roger Sessions. For at least 50 years he has beenconsidered by the American academic establishment to be one of the mostgifted and original composers of his generation. But his work has startedto gain wide recognition with the general public only since the early1960s. Today, at 82, he is comfortable in his role as the elder statesmanof American concert music. Although relatively few of his works havebeen recorded -- they place extraordinary demands on both performer andlistener -- Sessions continues to write music with practically unabatedenergy. His most significant official honor came in 1974, when thePulitzer Prize Committee issued a special citation naming him "one of themost musical composers of the century. " Since his early 20s, Session has led a dual career as a composer and ateacher of music theory. A former professor at both the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and Princeton University, he has published severalbooks on his musical ideas, and now teaches two days a week at theJuilliard School at Lincoln Center. When I heard that his piano sonataswere going to be performed soon on West 57th Street, I called him torequest an interview, and he promptly concurred. We met for lunch at LaCrepe on Broadway, and over the meal Sessions revealed himself to be aman of wit, humility, and charm. Speaking of his piano sonatas, which will be performed at CarnegieRecital Hall in February, March and April, Sessions commented in hisslow, precise manner of speech that "the first one was composed in 1930, the second one was composed in '46, and the third one was composed in'65. One sonata will be performed on each program. ... I have heard theyoung lady play one of them. She's going to come and play for me today. I'm helping her to prepare them. Because they're difficult and they takea lot of practice. Her name is Miss Rebecca la Becque. I just laid eyes onher for the first time last week. " Nearly half of his works have been composed in the last 20 years; someare quite melodic; others are so atonal and eery that to some people theysuggest the rhythm of the universe itself, or music from the stars. Oneremarkable aspect of his compositions is that no two are even vaguelyalike; another is that they come in so many different instrumentalcombinations. Besides his piano works, he has composed for violin, organ, cello, chorus and solo voice. In addition, there are his stringquartets, his rhapsodies, his nine symphonies, and _Montezuma_, one ofthe most distinguished operas ever written by an American. Why write in so many forms? "You might say I'm paid to, " he explained, ordering a second espresso and lighting his pipe. "Generally when I writea big work, it's for a specific purpose. " His eighth symphony, forexample, was written for the New York Philharmonic to commemorate theorchestra's 125th anniversary. When I asked Sessions whether he was concerned that most of his worksare not available on albums, he said calmly, "I never have tried to get myworks recorded or performed. I decided years ago that people would haveto come to me; I wasn't coming to them. Things move a little more slowlythat way, but one knows that everything one gets is perfectly genuine. ... When I wrote my first symphony, Otto Klemperer said he wouldn't dareto conduct it. So I conducted it myself. It would be easy nowadays. Eventhe Princeton student orchestra played it a few years ago and didn't do toobadly. Orchestra players get used to the idiom and people get used tolistening. ... The only thing is, " he added with a chuckle, "I keep gettingahead in that respect. " He was born in Brooklyn in 1896 and moved to Massachusetts at age 3, but Sessions noted that "I do have some memories of the inside of thehouse. " He wrote his first opera at 13 and graduated from Harvard at 18. >From 1925 until 1933 he lived in Italy and Germany, supported byscholarships. Shortly after Hitler came to power, he returned to the U. S. , and not long afterward joined the faculty at Princeton, where he remaineduntil 1946. Then he taught at the University of California at Berkeley foreight years before returning to Princeton, where he remained until hismandatory retirement in 1965. Since that time he has taught at Juilliard. He and his wife Elizabeth have been married for 42 years; they have twochildren and two grandchildren. Said the composer: "I learned that I hada grandson just a few hours after I'd gotten the citation from the PulitzerPrize Committee, and the grandson was much more exciting -- with alldue respect. " A resident of Princeton, New Jersey except for the one night each weekthat he spends on the West Side, Sessions is now eagerly awaiting theperformance of his ninth symphony. It was completed in October and willbe premiered in Syracuse shortly. In his Princeton study he is kept constantly busy composing new works, writing letters and correcting proofs. "I don't have any hobbies, " heremarked at the end of the interview. "I like good books, but I don't getmuch time to read them. If I go a few days without composing, I start tofeel a little bit depressed. " ******** EASTSIDER DICK SHAWNVeteran comic talks about _Love at First Bite_ 5-19-79 Dick Shawn's name keeps cropping up these days. The last time he madea big splash in New York was two years ago, when his one-man show, _Dick Shawn is the Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole WideWorld_, played at the Promenade Theatre for 14 weeks. But last fall, hegained millions of new fans with his sparkling appearances on the ill-fatednetwork variety show starring Mary Tyler Moore, which folded after thethird week. A commonly heard criticism of the show was: less Mary andmore Shawn. In George Hamilton's recently released film, _Love At First Bite_, Shawnplays the role of Lieutenant Ferguson, who teams up with a psychiatristin order to make war on Dracula. Also he recently played the lead in thenew Russell Baker/Cy Coleman musical, _Home Again_. But these areonly a few of the highlights of Shawn's career, as I discover in aninterview with the 51-year-old comedian at his plush Upper East Sideapartment. The word "comedian, " he quickly points out, is not quite accurate. "Ithink of myself as a comedy character, " he explains, relaxing on his couchwith a plate of croissants and bacon that his pretty assistant has justbrought him. "In _Home Again_, I played seven characters. ... They ranout of money; it just closed out of town. It needs another four or fiveweeks of work. They plan to bring it back around September. " With his middle-age paunch and full head of tousled grey hair thatresembles a bird's nest, Shawn has a definite comedic look about him, buthe seldom smiles and never laughs during our long conversation. Still, hisanswers are both entertaining and revealing. On Mary Tyler Moore's variety show: "That was a total mistake. Theydidn't know what they were doing there. I thought she was going to getthe best writers and the best producers. But it was totally inadequate. Iknew from the very first day that it wasn't going to work. ... The wholeconcept was wrong. Variety isn't Mary's forte. You have to get yourselfrolling around on the ground a little bit. She's such a nice, sweet girl thatshe doesn't come off as a clown. " The basis of all humor, believes Shawn, "is hostility. But it has to besweet hostility. ... I think people become comedians because they pokefun at pretentiousness. They usually come from meager backgrounds, andthen they can look up and see the pomposity and the hypocrisy of manyhuman beings. That's why there are no rich comics. A great many ofthem are Jewish or black -- because as a kid they were told they were partof a minority group. They learned to have a sense of humor aboutthemselves: they had to, in order to survive. Humor is their way ofgetting even with mankind. " Shawn's own background lends credence to his theory. Born RichardSchulefand in the steel town of Lackawanna, New York, he grew up ina family that was hard-hit by the Depression. While serving with theArmy following World War II, he ended up in an entertainment troupe. "I was delighted, " he recalls, "and when I got out, I decided to pursue it. "In the early 1950s, he secured his first professional engagement as astand-up comic in Bayonne, New Jersey, and was paid $25 a night. Sincethen, he has never been out of work, and has constantly used only his ownmaterial for his solo act -- songs as well as sketches. "I don't really do jokes, " he explains. "I do situation characters. Althoughthe thrust of my humor is serious, I have always taken chances. In myclub act, for example, I always ended up pretending to die on stage, ratherthan taking bows. Two guys would come with a stretcher and carry meout. " Among his more memorable performances over the years: the successorto Zero Mostel in Broadway's _A Funny Thing Happened on the Way tothe Forum_, the freakishly funny beach bum in the Stanley Kramer film_It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_, and a cavorting Adolph Hitler inMel Brooks' zany 1968 movie, _The Producers_. Still, no project has gained him as much personal satisfaction as _TheSecond Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World_. After the NewYork run, the show played to enthusiastic audiences in San Francisco andLos Angeles, and earned Shawn awards for both Best Performer and BestPlaywright of the Year. An Eastsider for the past seven years, he names Elaine's as his favoritelocal restaurant because "the food is good, and there's a simplicity aboutthe place the attracts me. " Shawn describes himself as "disciplined, but not as disciplined as I shouldbe. Because my work is loose, I'm always adding or changing. Nothingever stays the same. But comedy is a very rewarding profession. It's niceto know that something that pops into your head can cause a reaction fromtotal strangers who are paying you money to be entertained. I think that'sthe ultimate. " Probably best-known for _The Producers_. EASTSIDER GEORGE SHEARINGFamed jazz pianist returns to New York 2-3-79 The scene was a Boston nightclub in the early 1950s. George Shearing andhis quintet were scheduled to play the second set of the evening; theopening act was a piano/bass/drums trio. But as soon as the first group'spianist hit the keys, a groan went up from the audience. It was a bad box, as they said in those days. The management's promise of a tuning had notbeen kept. The trio retired in defeat 15 minutes later, and the audience called forShearing. When the blind pianist was led on stage, he announced, toeveryone's astonishment, that he would open with a solo. But when he satdown at the instruments, a small miracle took place. The notes rang outwith the clarity of crystal; Shearing's acute ear had told him which keysto avoid, and the precise amount of pressure to apply to the others so thatthe poor tuning would be camouflaged. Those who were present towitness Shearing's uncanny musicianship may never forget the experience. But attending any of his performances is hardly less forgettable. He's now playing each Tuesday through Saturday evening at the CafeCarlyle, 76th Street and Madison Avenue, and will remain there untilMarch 3rd. His famous quintet is no more -- the group was disbanded in1978 after 29 years -- but Shearing, accompanied only by bass playerBrian Torff, proves himself a master showman as he performs his uniquebrand of jazz, tells funny stories between numbers, and sings in his lilting, playful manner. "I'm on the road about 10 months a year, " he told the Carlyle crowd theprevious night, when I went there to catch his show. "And one thing Icannot tolerate is the mediocrity of hotels and motels in this country. Once, on my second morning in a hotel, I called up the room service andsaid, 'Could you please bring me some breakfast? I'd like two eggs, oneof them poached and the other scrambled; two pieces of toast, one barelywarm and the other burned almost to a crisp; and a pot of half coffee andhalf tea. ' The person on the other end said, 'I'm sorry sir, I don't thinkwe can fill that order. ' I said, 'Why not? That's what you brought meyesterday. '" The next afternoon I paid Shearing a visit at his new Eastside apartment, where he recently moved from San Francisco. An extremely amiable, witty, and knowledgeable man who speaks with a soft British accent, heguided me around the large, tastefully furnished apartment with greatease, showing me his braille-marked tape collection, his audio calculatorand his braille library. He described everything, from the drapes to thefurniture, as if he had perfect vision. Blind since birth, he is an expertbridge player and a fine cook. "I've just started to take cooking lessons, " said Shearing, stretched out nthe sofa with a smile hovering constantly on his face. "My wife and I aretaking the same course. It's at the Jewish Guild for the Blind. Naturallyit's better for me to take lessons from someone who knows theidiosyncracies of cooking without looking. ... I'm very interested in taste. If I were to cook some peas, for example, I would be inclined to line thesaucepan with lettuce and add a little sugar and mint. " Born 59 years ago in London, the ninth child of a coalman, he beganplucking out radio tunes on the piano at the age of 6, and by his early 20swas considered one of England's finest jazz pianists. He moved to theU. S. In 1947, and two years later became an overnight sensation when hisnewly formed quintet recorded "September in the Rain, " which sold900, 000 copies. To date, Shearing has recorded more than 50 albums. When he finally broke up his quintet, it was to allow himself moremusical freedom. His playing is a combination of jazz, classical and popthat calls for much improvisation. His most famous original composition, "Lullaby of Birdland, " came tohim "when I was sitting in my dining room in New Jersey, eating a steak. It took me only 10 minutes to write it. I went back to that butcher severaltimes afterwards, but I never got the same steak. " A popular television personality, Shearing has appeared on all the majorTV talk shows. In the past 15 years or so, he has also become a frequentperformer with symphony orchestras, usually playing a piano concerto inthe first half of the program and a jazz piece in the second half. Lionizedin England, he returned to London last December and played a selloutconcert at the 6500-seat Royal Albert Hall. New York is where his American career began, and he decided to moveback after spending 16 years on the West Coast, primarily because NewYork is far more centrally located for his extensive travelling. He chosethe Upper East Side because "it would be difficult to realize we're in theheart of Manhattan, it's so quiet here. " No sooner did he speak the wordsthan, as if on cue, a baby in a downstairs apartment began to cry loudly. "Does somebody have a plastic bag?" he deadpanned. One of Shearing's main interests -- besides music, bridge and cooking --is business law. He once took a course on the subject "because I wantedto know what the other guy's rights are. If I know what his rights are, Iknow what mine are. " Speaking of his many disappointments in hotels andmotels, he said, "Misrepresentation and false advertising can be beaten atany time anyone wants to fight it. I have never lost a battle on this scoreyet. " He might have added, had modesty not prevented it, that he has also lostno battles in the game of life. ******** WESTSIDER REID SHELTONThe big-hearted billionaire of _Annie_ 12-22-79 _Annie_, the touching musical about seven little orphan girls in New YorkCity at Christmastime during the Great Depression, has been theBroadway show against which all others must be compared ever since itopened in April, 1977. That year it won seven Tony Awards. Later the movie rights were soldfor a record $9. 5 million. There are now companies performing themusical in Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, England, South Africa, Australia, Japan and Scandinavia. The album has gone gold. Still a selloutvirtually every night at the Alvin Theatre, its tickets are the hardest toobtain of any show in town. Two of the three leading characters -- those of Annie and the cruel, ginsodden orphanage director Miss Hannigan -- have been twice replaced bynew performers. But Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks, the bald-headedbillionaire with a heart as big as his bank account, has been played sincethe beginning by Reid Shelton, a Westside actor long known for hisportrayal of powerful figures on stage -- cardinals and kings, statesmenand presidents. On December 23rd, just a few days short of its 1, 200th performance, Reidwill finally leave the New York company to star in _Annie_ on the WestCoast. He has no plans, at this point, of giving up the role that earned hima Tony nomination for Best Actor. "I've had two three-week vacations and I've missed four performances inalmost three years, " says Reid in his dressing room on a recent afternoon. Easing his tall, bulky frame onto a sofa, he immediately reveals apersonality that is warm, good-humored and eager to please. His broad, all-American features give distinction to his gleaming, newly shaved head. Reid shaves twice a day with an electric razor. "My understudy plays Roosevelt in the show, and of course for the fourperformances that he's had to go on for me, he didn't shave his head, "laughs the 55-year-old actor. "I've gotten the most angry letters frompeople saying, 'Well my God, can't you at least have the understudyshave his head? How dare you do that to us!'" Asked about his qualifications for playing a billionaire, Reid says, "I don'tknow whether it's my look, personality, or what, but people have alwaysthought that I've come from money. Actually, my family during theDepression was very poor. " Born and raised in Salem, Oregon, he began studying voice while a highschool freshman, doing chores in exchange for lessons. After graduation, he was drafted into the First Cavalry Division of the U. S. Army, foughtin the Pacific, then received his master's degree in voice under the G. I. Bill. Arriving in New York City in 1951, he got a job singing at RadioCity Music Hall. From there he went on to many Broadway musicals, TVshows, films and recordings. His generous income from _Annie_ enabledhim, last year, to purchase the Westside apartment building in the TheaterDistrict where he's been living since 1956. "It's a rent-controlled buildingwith 20 apartment units. This last year I lost four thousand dollars on itbecause of oil and everything, but I have never regretted buying it. " Some behind-the-scene stories are as interesting as the show itself. YulBrynner, for example, has refused to be photographed with Shelton:"Maybe he's afraid if the strobes hit our glistening heads simultaneouslythere will be no picture. " Sandy, the dog, was discovered in an animalshelter just one day before he was due to be put to sleep. "It's that bored, I-don't-care quality that that dog has, " says Reid, "that's so endearing tothe audience. He lives with his trainer and owner, Bill Berloni, amarvelous young chap who found a whole new career for himself throughthe dog. " And when the subject of orphanages comes up, Reid tells of aplace called the Jennie Clarkson Home in Valhalla, New York, which hevisited not long ago. "It's not exactly an orphanage, but a temporary home for girls whosefamilies can't provide for them. They have about 40 girls who stay incottages with cottage parents, and they go to school there. The agencyworks with the family by trying to find the father a job or whatever, sothe girls can finally return home. ... I was so impressed with the workthey're doing. I'm trying to raise money for it. " He recalls visiting the White House to do a shortened version of _Annie_for the Carters. "We got back at 3 in the morning, totally exhausted, butthe whole day was made worthwhile when Mrs. Carter sought me out andsaid, 'You know, I must tell you how much I appreciate your taking yourday off to come down here and do this for us. It must be a real chore, andI do appreciate it. ' It was just a wonderful, wonderful personal thing thatshe didn't have to do. It's something I will always treasure. " On another occasion, says Reid, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood camebackstage after a show. "Bobby just kept crying, and Natalie finally said, 'For God's sake, Bob, stop it. ' But he couldn't. Even now, I'm terriblythrilled when people come back and say, 'You made me cry. ' I'm proudof that. If I can touch some response in people, and maybe open upsomething that they didn't even know they felt, that's a tremendous plusin being an actor. " ******** WESTSIDER BOBBY SHORTMr. New York to perform in Newport Jazz Festival 6-23-79 To some, he is New York City personified -- Bobby Short, the eternallyyouthful singer and pianist who has been packing in audiences at the CafeCarlyle five nights a week for the past 11 years. Regarded as the foremostliving interpreter of Cole Porter, Short has recorded eight albums, published his autobiography, lectured on American music at Harvard andperformed at the White House. His many television commercials havegained him national recognition in the last year or so, but he is proudestof the one he did for the "I Love A Clean New York" campaign, showinghim sweeping the sidewalk with his customary savoir-faire. Six months out of the year, he holds court at the Carlyle, a supper clubat Lexington Avenue and 76th Street, where eager fans plunk down $10for each one-hour set. Backed up by a bass player and a percussionist, thesmooth, sophisticated Short sits behind the keyboard in a tuxedo, performing popular songs from the early 20th century to the present day. Every word and every note comes out a finely polished jewel, leaving theaudience with the impression that they have never heard the song before. Four months out of the year, Short takes to the road, giving concerts fromLos Angeles to Paris, often as soloist with major orchestras. The hottestand coldest months of the year -- January and August -- he sets aside forvacation, sometimes taking a house in the south of France, since he iswell versed in the French language and is constantly seeking to expand hisknowledge of gourmet cooking. While in New York, he occupies a luxurious nine-room Westsideapartment with 18-foot ceilings that formerly belonged to LeonardBernstein. Here, in a vast living room with a complete wall of mirror, afireplace and a virtual forest of green plants, I thank Short for the glassof wine that he offers me from a crystal decanter, and I begin ourinterview by asking about the show he's co-producing for the NewportJazz Festival. Titled A _Salute to Black Broadway, 1900-1945_, it willtake place in Avery Fisher Hall at 8 p. M. On June 24, and is one of thehighlights of the 26th annual jazz festival, which runs from June 22 toJuly 1. "It's the chance to try my wings at something new, " says the jovialmusician, in a somewhat gravelly, high-pitched voice marked by flawlessdiction. "Also, it's a chance to inform. I suppose I'm a frustratedprofessor of sorts. This show is a way of stating that, in fact, there wereblacks involved in productions on Broadway as far back as 1900 --perhaps even further back. Many were performers who wrote their ownmaterial. Others were composers and lyricists whose writing was notconfined to black performers. Some of them wrote for the ZiegfeldFollies. " As co-producer with Robert Kimball, Short has been "researching materialto find out what's good, what's bad, what's important, and also who'saround today that was in those shows. " Among the performers to befeatured: famed jazz singer Mabel Mercer, a longtime friend of Short's;Adelaide Hall and Edith Wilson, two of black Broadway's original stars;Nell Carter, the Tony Award-winning star of Fats Waller's _Ain'tMisbehavin'_; Eubie Blake, still an active pianist in his 90s, whosecurrently running _Eubie!_ is the fourth Broadway show he has written;special guest artist Diahann Carroll; and the Dick Hyman Orchestra. Ofcourse Bobby Short will be on stage too; he'll do at least five songs outof his repertoire of 1, 000-plus. Slender, debonair, and looking more like 40 than his actual 54 years, Short has been playing and singing in public ever since he made his debutat the age of 9 while growing up in Danville, Illinois. From the age of 12to 14 he was a child star on the vaudeville and nightclub circuit. Then hereturned to Danville, completed high school at 17, and began his secondcareer. Producer/songwriter Anna Sosenko got him a job at the BlueAngel in Manhattan; after that he worked in California and France beforesettling permanently in New York in 1956. A perennial name on the best-dressed list, Short says that "today I've gota tailor in New York, a tailor in London, and I buy a lot of things inbetween. But I've grown more sensible over the years. I no longer buy allI can get my hands on. " His secret for staying young? "Be sensible. If you use the most intimateparts of your body to make a living -- like your throat -- you can't abuseit. You can't drink too much, and you simply cannot smoke. " Extremelyknowledgeable about restaurants, he lists the Russian Tea Room andPearl's Chinese Restaurant as his favorites. His "Charlie" commercial for a cologne by Revlon has made Short one ofthe most recognized figures on the streets of New York, yet he doesn'tmind being approached by strangers. "It's part of what I do for a living, "he muses with a smile. "It never stops. You have to learn to live with itor get out of show business. Fortunately, I'm a very social person and Ilike people. I understand the need to say hello to someone on the street --so I can't knock somebody for speaking to me. " ******** WESTSIDER BEVERLY SILLSOpera superstar 9-30-78 Probably no opera singer since Caruso has made so great an impact on theAmerican public as Beverly Sills. Even today, the mention of her namecan automatically sell out a concert hall anywhere in the U. S. She hasbecome bigger than her art, for while a few younger singers can reach thenotes more easily, Sills generates a certain intense excitement into all herroles that makes every show she appears in not just an opera, but anevent. Her star vehicle this fall is an early 19th-century opera, _Il Turco InItalia_ (The Turk in Italy), written by Gioacchino Rossini prior to hismasterpiece, _The Barber of Seville_. _Il Turco_, presented by the New York City Opera for eight performancesin September through November, is a subtle comedy about a flirtatious, Sophia Loren-type character (Sills) with a jealous husband. The audiencewill miss none of the Italian humor because this production of _Il Turco_is in English. "I love to do English translations, " said Miss Sills last week in a telephoneinterview. "I believe the whole art of opera is based on communication. I don't see how people can appreciate a comedy in a language that fourfifths of the audience doesn't understand. There's only snobbery aboutforeign languages in this country -- not in Europe. In America, an operais like a museum piece. But I think the great classics like _Boheme_ and_Traviata_ don't need to be translated because everyone knows whatthey're about. " She performs regularly with the New York City Opera even though theState Theatre-based company is able to pay only a tiny fraction of whatsingers receive at other great opera houses around the world. "I made mycareer with them, " she explained. "I sing there because of loyalty, andbecause I love to. " She has already made plans to retire from singing in1980 and to become codirector of the New York City Opera with JuliusRudel, the present director. Right now she is busy studying three other roles. On December 7 she willheadline the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Donizetti's _DonPasquale_, which will run until January 20. In March she will star in aworld premiere for the New York City Opera, _Miss Haversham's Fire_, based on the Charles Dickens novel _Great Expectations_. In June shewill go to San Diego to perform in yet another world-premiere opera, _Juana La Loca_ by Gian Carlo Menotti. Last season, Beverly hosted a popular television program called_Lifestyles_. This year, she said, "I'm doing something much bigger, asa result of that show's success. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it is, because CBS will be making an announcement in mid-October. " Miss Sills said she has no plans for another book. Her first, the selfportrait _Bubbles_, has sold 130, 000 copies in hardcover and many timesthat figure in paperback since it came out a year ago. "Bubbles" was herchildhood nickname. She was born Belle Silverman in Brooklyn a fewmonths before the stock market crash of 1929. At 3 she did her first radiobroadcast; at 7 she was the star of a regular weekly radio show. In herearly teens she joined a touring musical company and spent the next 10years on the road. Then she was accepted by the New York City Opera. In her first few seasons with the fledgling company, she showed few signsof the fame that was to come. Meanwhile, she and her husband, newspaper publisher Peter Greenough, had become the happy parents oftwo, a girl named Meredith (Muffy) and a boy, Peter Junior. Then the heartbreak struck. When Muffy was 2, it was discovered that shesuffered from a serious hearing impairment. A few months later, thecouple learned that their son was severely mentally retarded. For the next year and a half, Beverly abandoned her singing career andspent all her time at home. When she returned to the New York CityOpera, people noticed a distinct change. Somehow she seemed to haveacquired a new dramatic power. In such roles as Cleopatra in Handel's_Julius Caesar_ she dazzled both critics and public, and has done so eversince. In 1969, when she made her debut at La Scala in Milan -- Europe'sforemost opera house -- the Italian press labeled her "La Fenomena. " Because of a long-standing disagreement with Rudolph Bing, the managingdirector of the Metropolitan Opera, it was not until 1975, after Bing'sretirement, that she made her debut at the Met. The occasion caused thelargest advance ticket sale in the company's history. For the pat eight years, Sills and her family have lived on Central ParkWest. "I just feel that we get all the sunshine here, " she said. Muffy hasjust started her freshman year at college in upstate New York and plansto become a veterinarian. Beverly's husband Peter divides his time amongvarious business projects and the National Foundation for the March ofDimes. Her advice for young singers trying to break into opera? "Keepauditioning, " Beverly replied emphatically, "no matter how many timesyou're turned down. I tried out for the New York City Opera nine timesbefore they took me. And auditions themselves are valuable: they give youthe experience of a performance. " ******** GEORGE SINGER46 years a doorman on the West Side 12-20-77 It's a wet, stormy night on the West Side; rain is pelting down withoutmercy, and the wind is whipping along the edge of the park like a tornadoin a canyon. A taxi pulls up in front of the Century Building at 25 CentralPark West, and at the same moment a man in uniform emerges from thebuilding holding an umbrella to escort the woman passenger to safety. Anyone watching the scene would hardly guess that the doorman is 75years old. But his age is not the only remarkable thing about GeorgeSinger. During his 46 years at the Century -- longer than any other employee ortenant -- George has seen the entire history of the city reflected in thepeople who have come and gone through the entrance. He has gotten toknow world-famous celebrities who have lived in the building, and hasmet countless others who came to visit -- from prizefighters to presidents. He has watched the enormous changes of fashion, custom and law. Andfrom the start of the Great Depression to the beginning of the Kochadministration, George has remained the same calm, good-naturedobserver, seeing all but criticizing no one. "I've been here since this was a hole in the ground, " he says matter-offactly, puffing on a cigar in the outer lobby of the building, keeping oneeye on the door. "It all started in 1930, when they tore down the oldCentury Theatre to put up a luxury apartment building. I got a job as aplumber's helper, lugging big pipes across the ground. After it wasfinished in 1931, I went to the superintendent and told him I helped buildthe Century and asked for a job. I simply had to get work, because it wasduring the Depression and I had my wife and two kids. ... I started as anelevator man and I worked up to the front door within a year. " In 1929 George had been earning $125 a week in a hat factory; in 1931his wages were $75 a month for a 72-hour work week. "Our suits had tobe pressed, our hair combed, shoes shined. We had to wear a white bowtie, white gloves. ... If you looked cross-eyed at a tenant and he reportedyou to the office you were fired in those days. " During the 1930s, only about one-fourth of the apartments were rented. Among the residents was a Mrs. Gershwin; her sons George, Ira andArthur made frequent visits. By the early 1940s the Century Building hadbecome one of the most exclusive addresses in New York. Heavyweightboxing champion Jack Dempsey, Ethel Merman, Nannette Fabray, MikeTodd and theatre magnate Lee Schubert moved in during those years, along with many celebrities whose names are less familiar today -- singerBelle Baker, sports announcers Ted Husing and Graham McNamee, andworld champion welterweight boxer Barney Ross. George recalls "sparring around" with Dempsey in the lobby at night. "Hehad a great sense of humor. When he came in late and found the elevatorboy asleep he'd give him a hot foot. " Ethel Merman, he remembers, "hadthree or four husbands. In between her husbands she used to go out withdifferent men. She used to smooch with them in the lobby. "In those days we took in Louis Lepke, with his wife and family, " saysGeorge with a smile. "He always had three or four bodyguards with him. When he was here, he behaved himself. " At other times, of course, Lepkewas not so well behaved. He headed a group known as "MurderIncorporated, " popularized the term "hit man, " and was sent to theelectric chair for his crimes. More recent tenants include Robert Goulet, singer/Playboy playmate JoeyHeatherton, and Ted Sorenson, a former presidential advisor who in thepast year has been visited at the Century by both Jimmy Carter and WalterMondale. Did George get a chance to shake the president's hand? "Yes. What's the big deal?" George Singer and Estelle, his wife of 53 years, live in Trump Villagenear Coney Island. They have seven grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. George could easily afford to retire -- in fact, he is sometimesjokingly referred to as "the richest man in the building" -- but he choosesto keep working. "Why not work till 75 or 80 if you're able?" he says. "I think it's good for a person. Mr. Chanin, who owns this building: he'sin his 80s and he goes to work most every day. " George continues to do the night shift as he always has -- "I'd rather worknights. There's more money at nights. And you don't have the bossesaround. ... At night people are more in a free spirit. " How does George explain his continued success and good health? Does hehave a secret he would like to pass on? "I smoke two cigars a day, " heanswers immediately, with a gleam in his eye. "That keeps the cold germsaway. I never catch cold. It's the best medicine in the world. " Is George looking forward to Christmas? Aren't all doormen! ******** WESTSIDER GREGG SMITHFounder and conductor of the Gregg Smith Singers 1-28-78 What might you guess about a man who has composed 60 major choralworks, toured the world with his singing group, and recorded 50 albumsincluding three Grammy Award winners? If you didn't know anything else about this man, you would probablyguess, first, that he is rich. Then you might imagine that his door isconstantly bombarded by recording agents trying to enlist his talents. Andthird, you would probably think that his name is a household word. But Westsider Gregg Smith has all of the qualifications listed and none ofthe imagined results. This is because his music happens to be classical --a field in which, he says, "a record that sells 10, 000 copies is considereda good hit. " Conducting his choral group, the Gregg Smith Singers, whousually have anywhere from 16 to 32 voices, he performs works spanningthe last four centuries of the Western classical tradition. Gregg writesmost of the arrangements himself. Last year his sheet music sales reached60, 000 copies. The Gregg Smith Singers specialize in pieces that have been infrequentlyperformed or recorded. But a more lengthy description of their music canonly tell what it is, not how it sounds. Music speaks for itself better thanany words can describe. "None of the American composers of today are making a living, " saysGregg, shaking his head. We're sitting in his spacious but unluxuriousapartment near Lincoln Center. "It's a terrible struggle. When people talkabout ghetto areas, let me tell you, no one is more in a ghetto than theAmerican classical composer. We have more great composers in thiscountry right now than any other country in the word, and the UnitedStates supports its composers less than any other country. ... They wantso desperately to perform their music. A composer does a piece and getsa performance in New York, and that may be the last performance it evergets. " He leads me to a room lined with shelves, boxes and cabinets filled withsheet music, some of it in manuscript. This is where Gregg chooses eachnew selection for his group. He shrugs at the enormity of the task. "There are at least 400 new American compositions here, waiting to belooked at. Probably at least 100 of them are of the highest quality. ... When we record this type of material, we don't expect to make a profit, even with the royalties over the years. Classical records are made becausethe music needs to be heard. It's a second form of publication. We do itas a means of getting this music out. " The same economic rule holds true when the Singers do a concert. Because of the large size of the group and the vast amount of rehearsaltime needed to perfect new works or new arrangements, the box officereceipts don't come close to meeting the expenses. The grants they receivefrom the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York StateCouncil for the Arts are not always sufficient. "Like every one of the arts, it's a constant deficit operation. At this point, we're not nearly as strongin fund-raising as in the other aspects. " In spite of the financial pressures, Gregg does manage to provide hisSingers with about 25 weeks of full-time work per year. His group hasgone on a national tour for 15 consecutive years so far. The Singers haveperformed in every state except Alaska. They have made four tours ofEurope and one of the Far East. Their typical New York season includedfour concerts at Alice Tully Hall and a contemporary music festival in oneof the local churches. This year the three-day festival will be held in St. Peter's Church located in the Citicorp Center starting on April 20. A native of Chicago, Gregg attended college in Los Angeles and foundedthe Gregg Smith Singers there in 1955. His talent as a conductor andarranger soon came to the attention of the late Igor Stravinsky, theRussian-born composer who was then living in California. The paireventually recorded more than a dozen albums together. When Stravinskydied in 1971, Gregg was invited to Venice, Italy, to prepare the chorusand orchestra for the rites in honor of the late maestro. In all his travels, Gregg and his wife Rosalind have found no place wherethey would feel so much at home as the West Side. "It's a great, wonderful community for the classical musician, " he says. "It's one of themost vibrant, alive, sometimes terrifying but always exciting, places tolive. " Perhaps Gregg's rarest quality is his unselfishness toward other Americancomposers. His biggest concern seems to be: how will be manage to getall their works recorded? "I have enough important recordings to do, " he says in a voice hoveringbetween joy and frustration, "to keep me busy for five years. That wouldmean literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. " The money may comeor it may not. But the worth of Gregg Smith, gentleman artist, is beyondprice. ******** EASTSIDER LIZ SMITHQueen of gossip 3-8-80 Like most of the kids she grew up with in Fort Worth, Texas during theGreat Depression, Liz Smith was star-struck by the movies. "They toldme there was a whole world out there where people were glamorous, where men and women drank wine with dinner and wore white tie andtails and drove cars with the tops down and danced on glass floors, " sherecalls, smiling dreamily. Her soft, languid accent, dripping with Southerncharm, echoes through the coffee shop at the NBC building in midtown. Despite her cordiality, she somehow gives the impression of being in agreat hurry. And for good reason: Smith is probably the hardest-working-- and certainly the most successful -- gossip writer on the East Coast. Unlike Rona Barrett, the queen of Hollywood gossip, Liz Smith does nothave a large staff, but relies on a single full-time assistant and part-time"leg man" in California. Nevertheless, she manages to turn out, eachweek, six columns for the _New York Daily News_ (syndicated nationallyto more than 60 newspapers), five radio spots for NBC, and two televisionspots for WNBC's _Newscenter 4_. "The minute I get up, I go to work. I get up at about nine, and go rightto work, " says Liz. "I look at the paper right quick, and go right to thetypewriter, and work till I finish the column at one. I work in myapartment because I would never have time to get up and dress and go toanother place. I would never get to meet my deadline. ... I work all thetime. I work a lot on the weekends because that's the only time I can evenvaguely make a stab at catching up. ... I just about kill myself to geteverything done. I don't know if it's worth it. " For all her complaints, Liz believes that gossip-writing is well suited forher personality. "I can't help it. I'm just one of those people who likes torepeat a tale, " she explains. "I'd be reading every newspaper in Americathat I could get my hands on and every book and magazine anyway, evenif I weren't doing this job. " When she was hired by the _Daily News_ in February, 1976 to start hercolumn, Liz was no stranger to the New York celebrity scene; she hadalready been in the city for 26 years, working mainly as a free-lancewriter. "I made a lot of money free-lancing. Even 15 years ago, I nevermade less than $25, 000 a year. " Besides writing for virtually every massmarket publication in America, she spent five years ghostwriting theCholly Knickerbocker society column in the old _Journal American_. Hermany contacts among the famous, and the resurgence of interest in gossip, also helped persuade _Daily News_ editor Mike O'Neill that the papercould use a gossip column in which the personality of the writer camethrough. Within weeks of her debut, Liz broke some of the sensational details ofWoodward and Bernstein's _The Final Days_, which was about to beexcerpted in _Newsweek_. She added the TV and radio broadcasts to herschedule in 1978, and avoids duplicating items whenever possible. Her best sources, says Liz, are other journalists. "Because they knowwhat stories are. I know a lot of very serious and important writers whohave a lot of news and gossip and rumors and stuff that they don't haveany place to put, so they're apt to give it to me. They have impulses todisseminate news; I think real reporters do feel that way. " Liz says that, generally speaking, she prefers writers to all other people. Asked to name some favorites, she bubblingly replies: "Norman Mailer. I just think Norman is a genius. Oh God, I love so many writers. Myfavorite novel recently was Peter Maas' book, _Made in America_. ... There's Tommy Thompson, who just wrote _Serpentine_. Nora Ephrom, Carl Bernstein are friends of mine. Norman Mailer is a friend of mine. Oh, I could go on forever. " An author in her own right, Liz wrote _The Mother Book_ two years ago;it sold approximately 65, 000 copies in hardcover and 200, 000 inpaperback. "It kind of wrote itself, " she says modestly of the acclaimedcollection of anecdotes about mothers. Someday she would like to tryfiction; at present she is working on a book that she describes as "ahistory and philosophy of gossip and what it is and what it's all about. " An Eastsider for half her life, Liz says her neighborhood "has the lowestcrime rate of any police district in New York. " Most of the restaurants hefrequents are on the Upper East Side. They include Le Plaisir, GianMarino, Szechuan East and Elaine's. For years she saw her therapist at least once a week; now she pays himjust occasional visits. "It helped me enormously in writing. I quit havingwriter's block. I quit putting things off. I quit making myself miserable. I accepted my success, which was hard, because a lot of writers: theydon't want to succeed. They don't think they deserve it. It's like peoplewho don't want to be happy. "Well, I mean you can be happy, you know, if you let yourself, and ifyou do your work. The most important thing in the world, I think, is todo your work. If you do your work, you'll be happy: I'm almost positiveabout it. " ******** EASTSIDERS TOM & DICK SMOTHERSStars of _I Love My Wife_ on Broadway 2-17-79 As the Smothers Brothers, they were perhaps the funniest, most originalAmerican music and comedy team to come out of the 1960s. Their 10albums sold in the millions, and for three seasons they had the mostcontroversial show on television, _The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour_. When CBS abruptly canceled their contract in 1969 for seemingly politicalreasons, they became a cause celebre by suing the network and winninga million dollars in damages. After 18 years of performing together as ateam, they retired their act in December, 1976, saying that their brand ofsatire had been "stated, " and that repetition would bore them. Thebrothers parted on friendly terms, each determined to make his markseparately as an entertainer. This past Labor Day, they were reunited as a comedy team -- not ontelevision or in a nightclub, but on the stage of the Ethel BarrymoreTheatre on West 47th Street, where they instantly breathed new life intothe long-running musical _I Love My Wife_. Cast in the roles of twowould-be wife swappers from Trenton, New Jersey, they insisted on beingbilled not as the Smothers Brothers, but as Dick and Tom Smothers. However, anyone who laments the demise of the Smothers Brothers actshould catch the show before the six-month contract runs out on March 4. Dick Smothers, as Wally, a smooth-talking pseudo-sophisticate, and TomSmothers, as his naive, bumbling friend Alvin, a moving man, wear theirroles as if they had been written for no one else. "I like theatre and I'm going to do more of it, " said Tom, 42, during arecent dressing room interview after a matinee performance. His brotherDick, 40, had other plans. "As soon as this show is over, I have to goback to California and do some bottling for my winery. And I want to domore auto racing. I race for American Motors. As far as making a careerin acting on Broadway: no. I think I could work at it and become a fairlydecent actor, but while I'm making wine, I want to play in cabaret theatreand dinner theatre. It's fun, and it keeps you sharp. Broadway isn't aplace you should learn. What we're doing is apprenticing on Broadway. "But that's how we got our television show, " protested Tom. "We'd neverdone a television show before. " In spite of the box office success of their Broadway debut, Dick cannothelp feeling disappointed that, as always, he is cast as the straight man. His character Wally is a foil to the lovable, slow-witted Alvin. "There'snot a whole lot to do with Wally, " said Dick, pouring me a glass of hisSmothers white Riesling wine. "The fact is, everyone is pretty locked inexcept for Alvin. We're all dancing around him. " Tom's only complaint about the show is that it has put a strain on hishealth, and especially on his throat. "This is the first time I've been closeto the edge of anxiety healthwise, " he confided, sipping hot tea withlemon. "As soon as I arrived n New York I got tonsillitis. Now I haveinsomnia. Antibiotics really drain your body. I've lost 15 pounds so far. It's a very demanding part physically. " Both brothers seemed very serious offstage, although Tom went throughhis full range of marvelous mug expressions as he answered the questionsand posed for photos. Asked about how his current salary compares towhat he has earned previously, he replied: "Broadway you do for love ofthe craft. The money is nothing to what you can make in film. You do itbecause not many actors can do theatre. " Dick commented: "Some of thebig stars in Las Vegas get 20 to 30 times what we're making. It's theprestige and the experience. " Tom and Dick were born on Governor's Island in New York Harbor. Their father, an Army major, died in the Philippines near the end ofWorld War II. Their mother then took them to the West Coast, and whenTom was 12, she gave him a guitar. "I wanted to be a bandleader first, then a comedian, " he recalled. "At San Jose State, I was in a trio, and weneeded a tenor. So I got Dickie to come to school. " While still in college, they played their first professional engagement as the Smothers Brothersat San Francisco's Purple Onion nightclub and got four encores. Beforelong, Jack Paar invited them on _The Tonight Show_, and their careerwas assured. One thing that is particularly touching about Tom and Dick Smothers isthe great affection they have for each other. They live in separate UpperEast Side apartments about a mile apart, but Dick drives Tom to thetheatre each day, and they frequently socialize together. Tom's mind is currently on a 19th-century farce, _Nothing but the Truth_, which he plans to start rehearsing this fall and hopes to eventually bringto Broadway. Dick, meanwhile, is thinking more about the jeep herecently won in a celebrity auto race. "I'm going to drive it home to SantaCruz, " he commented, with obvious satisfaction. "It has four-wheel drive, bush guards, a roll bar, and heavy off-road tires. It's perfect forManhattan. " ******** WESTSIDER VICTOR TEMKINPublisher of Berkley and Jove Books 1-26-80 Victor Temkin, who looks like a character out of Dickens and comesacross with the gruff friendliness of television's Ed Asner, is sitting in hismidtown office on Friday afternoon trying to deal with three things atonce. The telephone is jangling, visitors are dropping by unannounced, and I'm throwing him questions about the publishing business. What complicates matters is that Mr. Temkin is in the process of movinghis offices to another floor; has ad and his staff of 80 are packingeverything into cardboard boxes, and now it's impossible to find anything. But the short, pink-faced man with gold-framed spectacles takes it all instride. He lights a Lucky Strike, props one hand against his chin, andexplains how he got to be the head of Berkley Books, which has long beenthe paperback division of G. P. Putnam. "I came to New York in 1960 as a lawyer. I became assistant U. S. Attorney in '61. I stayed there till '64, " he relates in short bursts ofspeech. "Then I went into private practice until September of 1967, whenI got into the book business. I became house counsel at Bantam Books, and worked my way up, and later became a vice president. I came herein July of 1977 as president and chief executive officer. "Since that time, we purchased Jove Books from Harcourt BraceJovanovich. It's another paperback house. ... Berkley does largely reprintsof hardcovers, but Jove does exclusively paperback originals. Together, the two companies put out about 300 or 325 books a year. Of these, 120are from Jove. " Berkley Books, he admits, is one of the smaller paperback houses, perhapssixth or seventh. But the company manages to get its share of best-sellers. At New Year's two were in the nation's top 10 -- _Mommie Dearest_ byChristina Crawford and _Nurse_ by Peggy Anderson. _Mommie Dearest_, says Temkin, "is the first time we've had a story of child abuse at thatlevel off society, which I think is a great thing for the people to read. Itisn't only poor kids that get beat up, it's the rich kids too -- just asbadly. " In terms of sales and profits, he says, "There's no such thing as anaverage book. It depends on what you pay for the advance and what thecost of manufacturing the book is. ... I can have books sell 50, 000 copiesand make a profit, or I can have books sell a million copies and losemoney. ... It's not hard to spend a million dollars on a book. That's easyto do. The hard thing is to find a book like _Nurse_, where you didn'tpay the million for it and you can sell a million and a half. We jumped inand bought it early on, before it was a hardcover best-seller. " Berkley's hottest author at present is John Jakes, whose seven-volumeKent family saga has sold 30 million copies. Jakes' new book, _TheAmericans_, is scheduled to be out in February 1980. "The first printingis over three million copies, " says Temkin. "We expect it to be a numberone best-seller.. ... What a great success story. John has been around formany many years and he's written a lot of books but he's never had thecommercial success until that came along. You can never tell in thisbusiness. That's why we're in it: You don't know what tomorrow's goingto be. " Temkin, who anticipates losing money on seven out of 10 books hepublishes, does frequently travels around the country on business, andmakes it a point to observe what people are reading on buses and inbookstores. "I think kids today are coming back to books. Because it's thebest form of entertainment there is for the money, " he says. "I read a lot. I try to read two, three books a week. I have a rule that I don't readbooks by authors who are friends of mine that I am publishing, becauseI know it will be nothing but trouble. ... I can't tell them I don't like abook, and if I tell them I do like it, they may not believe me. But I likewriters. I enjoy being around them. " A native of Milwaukee, Temkin lives on the West Side with his wifeSusan and their 8-year-old twins, Andrew and Peter. Susan has a busycareer as a caterer who runs her own cooking school for kids. In December, 1977, Berkley brought out a book about the Jonestowntragedy, _The Guyana Massacre_ by Charles Krause, which was written, published and distributed in a single week. "It's instant journalism, "Temkin explains. "We're going to do a book late in 1980 about the 1980election, to tell how and why it happened. " He laughs when asked whether his skills as a lawyer have been helpful inhis publishing career. "No, I think I've forgotten most of what I knowabout being a lawyer. It's not the same. " ******** WESTSIDER JOHN TESHAnchorman for WCBS Channel 2 News 2-3-79 "I've had a lot of luck in my career, " says John Tesh of WCBS Channel2 News. "I enjoy working hard and I know exactly what I want. Whoknows, 10 years from now I may not be that way. A lot of my friends areafraid I've gone too far too fast. " During the first 18 years of his life, when he lived in Garden City, LongIsland, John was a top student, a star athlete, and a fine musician. Aftergraduating from high school he left for North Carolina to attend the stateuniversity on a soccer scholarship. His goal -- to become a doctor. Butwhen John returned to the New York area in 1976 at the age of 24, it wasnot as a professional athlete or a physician, but as a television newsreporter. Today, at 27, he is one of the most highly respected youngbroadcasters in New York. Throughout the week he appears regularly onChannel 2's 6 o'clock news as an on-the-scene reporter, and eachSaturday and Sunday he co-anchors both the 6 o'clock and the 11 o'clockevening news. According to Tesh, his 6 o'clock weekend show is watchedby more people than any other local news program in New York. As if this job were not enough, last September John opened his ownsporting goods store, Sports Stripes, located on Columbus Avenue at 75thStreet, a few blocks from his apartment. The compact, brightly decoratedstore specializes in running equipment and is the only place in New YorkCity where running shoes can be resoled on the premises. When I stop by Sports Stripes one afternoon to talk with John over lunch, the first thing I notice is his sheer size. At 6 foot and 190 pounds, hemakes a commanding presence. There is command in his voice as well;it is as deep and rich as a Russian bass-baritone's. He seemsextraordinarily calm, and when I comment on this, he says that "there'snot as much pressure in New York as there was then I worked in NorthCarolina. Here you're able to concentrate solely on your reporting. Thereyou were concerned with logistical problems -- shooting the film, developing it, editing it, selecting slides, producing the broadcast, andthen anchoring it. ... But I'm not as calm as I might appear. I thinkpeople at Sports Stripes and CBS think of me as frenetic. " His entry into broadcasting was totally unplanned. Halfway throughcollege, he got a part-time job as a copy boy at a local radio station. Oneday the station's two newsmen called in sick, and John was asked to fillin. Instantly bitten by the broadcast journalism "bug, " he decided to tradein his premed courses for television/radio production and political science. "When I finished college, " says John in his low-keyed manner, "I had thechoice of going to medical school or continuing in broadcasting, so I feltl could go either way. I decided to stay in broadcasting for a while. " Afterworking at television stations in North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, he was offered a job at WCBS. "I would say that most correspondents try to get to New York, becausethe production is a lot better here. ... I wouldn't like the anchor jobwithout the field work, " he adds thoughtfully. "I have been told that myforte is breaking news. Last year I won an Emmy for that. The same yearI won an Emmy for outstanding reporting. "Unedited, live television is what it's coming to. It's interesting, becauseit's come full circle. At one time, everything was live. Then for somereason it went so heavily into tape, and now it's back into live journalism. As the public becomes better informed, so changes the news. "When Fred Cowan was holed up in a warehouse in New Rochelle, andhe had killed at least one police officer and was holding several hostages, I was in a house across the street from there. We were reporting as it washappening. There were shots fired; I didn't realize until afterwards howintense it was. " Asked about which skills are required for live journalism, John says: "Ithink it's being able to explain quickly and concisely the situation at handwithout becoming too involved in the situation. Becoming the eyes andears of the viewer. Being able to ad-lib is actually what it is. [Walter]Cronkite is one of the great all-time ad-libbers. " A bachelor who lives alone, John still finds time for sports and music: "Iget enough excitement out of the store and work so that when it's time togo home I like to be quiet. I have an electric piano, which I play withheadsets. ... I've run two marathons here in New York. I'm too big to bea good marathon runner, but I do train hard. My ambition is to find somerace to win. " John says he likes the West Side to much that "my friends have to dragme to the East Side. I do all my shopping on the West Side because Ifigure, why shouldn't I help out my friends who live here by shopping attheir stores?" When John decided to open his own store, he called up hisboyhood friend Paul Abbott to run it. The pair were classmates fromgrammar school through high school. John says he hopes to eventually open his own seafood restaurant -- "onthe West Side, of course. This is where I plan to live for the rest of mylife. " ******** WESTSIDER RICHARD THOMASJohn-Boy teams up with Henry Fonda in _Roots II_ 2-17-79 Seven years ago, on Christmas Day 1972, CBS aired a holiday programtitled _The Homecoming_ about a family living in Appalachia during theGreat Depression. All who were involved in the project went theirseparate ways after the filming, including a young actor from the UpperWest Side named Richard Thomas. But it drew such a favorable responsethat CBS decided to turn it into a series. The rest is history: _TheWaltons_ became a hit and made Thomas a television superstar. For five years he charmed his way into American homes as the belovedJohn Boy. Then in 1976 he decided to leave _The Waltons_ in order toconcentrate on his marriage, write poetry, do stage acting, perform balletand make movies. On February 18, in what is certain to be his mostclosely watched performance to date, Richard will star in the first segmentof ABCs _Roots II_, playing the son of a wealthy railroad lawyer (HenryFonda) who marries a black schoolteacher. He will appear, to a lesserextent, on the two following evenings as well, before leaving the scene asa 54-year-old man. In an interview at the New York School of Ballet at Broadway and 83rdStreet -- which is owned by his parents, Richard Thomas III and BarbaraFallis -- he talks enthusiastically about his role in Roots II. "My characteris an actual historical figure, " says Richard. "He had just come back fromcollege and didn't know what he wanted out of life. ... Obviously in 1892or 3, his marriage was considered a disaster. His wife Carrie was AlexHaley's first teacher. Her school is still in Tennessee today. " Sporting a newly grown moustache, casually dressed, and still boyishlooking at 27, Richard carries an air of tremendous confidence about him. Yet his voice changes to one of awed respect when he speaks of HenryFonda: "The thing about working with someone like Fonda is that hispresence is so strongly felt that you get caught up in watching him. It'sreally uncanny. I had to pinch myself to get back into the scene. AndOlivia de Havilland, who plays my mother -- she's extraordinary, too. Wegot along great. " Earlier this year, Richard Performed in the Los Angeles production of_Streamers_, and also made a TV movie for CBS, _Getting Married_, which was broadcast last summer. In the late fall, during one of hisfrequent trips to the West Side, he donned ballet tights to play thecharacter role of Hilarion in the U. S. Terpsichore Company's productionof _Giselle_, starring his 19-year-old sister Bronwyn Thomas, one of themost highly acclaimed young ballerinas in the city. Richard's parents are both former principal dancers for the New YorkCity Ballet. They were on tour in Cuba when he was born, and the firstlanguage he learned was Spanish. He began acting at the age of 7. Growing up on West 96th Street, he attended McBurney High School andColumbia University. Although he moved to Los Angeles in 1971, Richard still considershimself a Westsider. "I just know it like the back of my hand, " he says. "I'm not sure I could live without LA anymore, but whenever I'm here, I feel completely at home. There's a kind of underground chic on theUpper West Side that I kind of respond to. I'm very comfortable aroundSpanish-speaking people. I speak Spanish, and my wife is part Mexican. I like the Latin flavor. " He and his wife Alma have been married since 1975; they have a 2-yearold son, also named Richard Thomas. "He talks a blue streak, " commentsthe proud father. "Sometimes he gets very blue. You have to watch whatyou say around him. " In 1994 the young actor published his first book of poetry. Titled simply_Poems by Richard Thomas_, it won the California Robert Frost Awardthe following year. His second volume of poetry, _In The Moment_, isscheduled for publication by Avon early in 1979. Another of his prime interests is music. "I'm a big operagoer, " he says. "I'm really partial to Verdi and Wagner, if you have to get it down totwo. " He also plays the dulcimer. "When I go to Kentucky this week, I'mgoing to call on a man who's one of the great dulcimer makers in theUnited States. " The three-stringed mountain instrument, an important component in thefolk music of Appalachia, caught Richard's fancy long ago, during a visitto his grandfather's Kentucky farm, where he spent many summers as aboy. Both of his grandparents on his father's side are still living. Like anepisode from _The Waltons_, the family often gathers at the farm onThanksgiving Day. The original _Roots_ was seen by more people than any other program inthe history of television, but Richard does not dwell on his important rolein _Roots II_. He prefers to talk about the fulfillment he has found inmarriage. "I can't imagine not being married at this point, " he says, the thick goldband gleaming on his finger. "If my marriage weren't happy, I couldn'tmake the right kind of career decisions. One supports the other. They'repart of the same package. " Does he expect to have more children? Richardsmiles broadly and replies: "That's really my wife's department. " ******** EASTSIDER ANDY WARHOLPop artist and publisher of _Interview_ magazine 4-7-79 He is the great enigma of American art. Some of his most famouspaintings are exercises in monotony. His movies often put the viewer tosleep. As a conversationalist, he can be low-keyed to the point of dullness:speaking softly in a slow-paced, emotionless voice, he relies heavily onshort sentences, long pauses, and an abundance of "ums" and "uhs. "However, he has one asset that overshadows everything negative thatmight be said or written about him: his name happens to be Andy Warhol. The only time I met Warhol in person was at a book publication partyseveral months ago. He came by himself, spoke to hardly anyone, andspent most of his brief visit flitting quietly about the room, avoidingpeople's eyes and taking snapshots of the more celebrated guests. With hispale complexion, narrow frame, and hair like bleached straw, he lookednot unlike a scarecrow. Everywhere he went, heads turned to catch aglimpse. That has been the story of Warhol's life ever since he rose tointernational prominence in the 1960s. Although he did not feel like talking when I met him, Andy -- neverpublicity-shy -- agreed to a telephone interview at a later date. Reachedat the offices of his _Interview_ magazine off Union Square, he answeredall my questions briefly, and in a voice so low that he could barely beheard. _Interview_, the monthly tabloid-shaped magazine that he publishes, isWarhol's most visible creative project at the moment. "It's been going forabout seven or eight years, " he said. "I started it for Brigid Berlin. Herfather ran the Hearst Corporation. She didn't want to work on it. " Theperson on the cover of each issue is identified only on the inside, andmany of the faces are difficult to recognize. Some are genuine celebrities, such as Truman Capote, who has a regular column. Others are youngunknowns who have caught Warhol's fancy. The ultramodern layoutincludes many full-page ads for some of the most expensive shops inManhattan. The interviews, interspersed with many photos, lean heavilyon show business personalities, models, artists, writers and fashionpeople. In most cases, the "interviews" are actually group discussions --often with Andy himself taking part -- that are printed verbatim. Even themost mundane comments are not cut. The reason? "I used to carry a tape recorder with me all the time, so thiswas a way to use it, " said Warhol. But in truth, the literal transcriptionsare another example of the naturalism that characterizes much of his work. When he turned his attention from painting and drawing to filmmaking in1963, he became notorious for such movies as _Sleep_, which showed aman sleeping for six hours, and _Empire_, which he made by aiming hiscamera at the Empire State Building and keeping the film running foreight straight hours. According to Warhol, many people have turned down his request forinterviews. "It's hard to get Robert Redford. ... We choose people wholike to talk a lot. " The type of reader he seeks to attract is "the richaudience. People who go to places like Christie's and Fiorucci's. ... It'sfun to go to those places and get invited to parties. I love fashion parties. Shoe parties are even better. " His affection for shoes dates back to 1949, when, in his first year in NewYork, he got a job in the art department of a shoe store. His designs andmagazine illustrations caught on so fast that within a year, he was able topurchase the town house on the Upper East Side, where he still lives withhis mother. "But mostly I live with my two dachshunds. They've takenover. " Certain facts abut Andy Warhol's early life remain a mystery because hehas always objected to questions that he considers irrelevant to anunderstanding of him as an artist. It is known that he was born somewherein Pennsylvania, sometime between 1927 and 1931, to a family ofimmigrants from Czechoslovakia named Warhola. By his mid-20s, Warhol was one of the most sought-after commercialartists in the field. His silk-screen prints of Campbell's soup cans madehim famous with the general public, and by the mid-1960s he was clearlythe most highly celebrated "plastic artist" -- a title he relishes -- in theEnglish-speaking world. In recent years, his creative output has been reduced somewhat, as theresult of the severe wounds he sustained in June, 1968, when a derangedwoman shot him in his office. Nevertheless, he continues to mount galleryexhibitions, write books and paint portraits. The Whitney Museum (75thSt. At Madison Ave. ) will have a show of his portraits in December. Asked about the East Side, Warhol said that one of his favorite activitiesis to go window shopping. "When you live on the East Side, you don'thave to go far. Because usually everything happens here. " When he goesto the West Side, it's often to visit Studio 54. "I only go there to see myfriend Steve Rubell. Afterwards, we usually go to Cowboys andCowgirls. " About the only medium that Warhol has not worked in is television. "Oh, I always wanted to, yeah, " was his parting comment. "It just neverhappens. The stations think we're not Middle America. " ******** EASTSIDER ARNOLD WEISSBERGERTheatrical attorney for superstars 9-29-79 What do Leonard Bernstein, Helen Hayes, Otto Preminger, CarolChanning, Truman Capote and George Balanchine have in common? All are giants in the performing arts. And all are -- or have been -- clientsof Arnold Weissberger, one of the world's foremost theatrical attorneys. Now in his 50th year of practice, the Brooklyn-born, Westside-raisedWeissberger has been representing stars ever since a chance encounterbrought Orson Welles to his office in 1936. "Most of my clients are involved in making contracts that have to do withplays or films or television, " says Weissberger on a recent afternoon. Thescene is his small, richly furnished law firm in the East 50s. Dressed ina dark suit, with a white carnation in his buttonhole to match his whitemustache, Weissberger looks very much like the stereotype of a businesstycoon. "Part of my job, " he continues, "is to be familiar with the rulesof guilds and unions. And I have to know about the treaties betweencountries that affect the payment of taxes. " Smiling benevolently, his hands folded in front of him, the gentlemanlylawyer quickly proves himself a gifted storyteller. In his upper-classBoston accent, acquired during seven years at Harvard, he delights intelling anecdotes about his favorite performers. Not shy about droppingnames, Weissberger drops only the biggest, such as Sir Laurence Olivier-- a client who had invited him to lunch the previous day -- and MarthaGraham. His work is so crowded that whenever he has to read anything that islonger than three pages, he puts it in his weekend bag. Yet Weissbergerdevotes an hour or two every day to one of several philanthropicorganizations. At the top of his list is the Martha Graham Center ofContemporary Dance, of which he is co-chairman. "I consider her one ofthe three great seminal figures in the arts in the 20th century, and I prizeher friendship enormously. " The other two outstanding artistic figures ofthe century, he says, are "Stravinsky, who it was also my privilege torepresent, and Picasso, who I did not represent. " He serves as chairman of the New Dramatists, a group that nurturesyoung playwrights; he is a board member of Fountain House, a halfwayhouse for ex-mental patients; and he is chairman of the Theatre and MusicCollection of the Museum of the City of New York. On Monday through Thursday, Weissberger lives in a luxurious Eastsideapartment that he shares with his longtime friend, theatrical agent MiltonGoldman. Each Friday after work, Weissberger departs for Seacliff, LongIsland, where he owns a house overlooking the ocean. Goldman andWeissberger, whose careers have run a parallel course during the 35 yearsof their acquaintance, travel widely each summer, generally spending amonth in London, where both have many clients. "Our interests are very similar, except that I am an opera buff, and Miltonis not. He's a realist. I started going to opera when I was 10 years old, soI don't mind if a 300-pound soprano dies of consumption in _Traviata_, as long as she sings beautifully. " An avid art collector, Weissberger buys only what he has room to displayon the walls of his home and office. For the past 30 years his chief hobbyhas been photography. He has published two volumes of his work --_Close Up_ (1967) and _Famous Faces_ (1971). Although he has nevertaken a photography course, and never uses flash, he captures the essenceof his subjects through his rapport with them. "I have discussed thepossibility of doing a photo book of children I've taken around theworld, " he notes. "And now, of course, I have enough photos for asecond volume of famous faces. " His vigorous appearance to the contrary, Weissberger claims to get littleexercise. "I have one of those stationary bicycles at home, but I've nevergotten round to using it. And I've got to do so before I next see mydoctor, or I won't be able to face him. ... It's interesting how doctorialadvice changes. I remember several years ago, it was not considered agood idea for people who were no longer young to climb stairs, and nowmy doctor says that climbing stairs is the best thing I can do for myconstitution. " So closely connected are the various aspects of his life that Weissbergeris able to say: "There's no demarcation between my workday and my playday. People ask me when I'm going to retire, and I say there's no needfor me to retire, because I enjoy my work so much. I become part ofpeople's lives. I become privy to their problems. It is, in many ways, anextension, an enhancement of my own life to be able to participate in thelives of my clients. I remember a few months ago, when Lilli Palmer wassitting right there, and I said, 'Lilli, what a lucky person I am. I'm havingto do a tax return and I'm doing it for Lilli Palmer. ' Because there sat thisbeautiful, charming, intelligent, lovely lady, and I was representing herprofessionally. For me, I can't think of any profession that could possiblybe more rewarding. " ******** EASTSIDER TOM WICKERAuthor and columnist for the _New York Times_ 6-2-79 Something unusual was happening up ahead: that much he was sure of, although no sound of gunshots reached Tom Wicker's ears as he rode ina press bus in the presidential motorcade through the streets of Dallas onNovember 22, 1963. Gazing out the window, he observed crowds ofpeople running about in confusion. Shortly afterward, outside ParklandHospital, the full extent of the tragedy was announced to the world, andTom Wicker, the only reporter from the _New York Times_ who waspresent that day, rushed off to write the biggest story of his career. Working feverishly through the afternoon, he came up with a 106paragraph account of the day's events that dominated the _Times'_ frontpage the following morning. In decades to come, students and historianswill turn to Wicker's story on microfilm with perhaps a sense of wonderthat it omits no facts of major importance, and contains virtually noerrors. Tom Wicker was writing for history that day, and largely as a result ofhis masterful performance, he was elevated the following year to theposition of the _Times_ bureau chief in Washington. In 1968, he wasappointed associate editor of the newspaper, and in 1971, he returned toNew York in order to concentrate on his column, "In the Nation. " For thepast 13 years, the column has appeared three times weekly in the op-edpage of the _Times. _ A tall, ruddy-complexioned, powerful-looking Southerner of 52 with acountry-boy manner and a Carolina accent as thick as molasses, Wickerhas managed to combine his lifelong career in journalism with anindependent career as a book author. The most successful of his sevennovels, _Facing the Lions_, was on the _New York Times_ best-seller listfor 18 weeks in 1973, while his most recent nonfiction work, _On Press:A Top Reporter's Life in, and Reflections on, American Journalism_, waspublished last year by Viking and will soon be released as a paperback byBerkley. In an interview at his office in the _Times_ building, the affable, articulateWicker responds to an opening question about whether journalists are lessaccurate today than in the past by saying, "No, I don't think they everwere very accurate. It's hard to get pinpoint accuracy under pressure. Ithink that's an inherent weakness of daily journalism. But you have toconsider that there are something like eight million words a day comingin here. It's very tough to double-check all of that by deadline. I think ofjournalism as being kind of like an early alert system. " In his column, Wicker has never been told what to write, never had anarticle killed or edited, and never been urged to conform to the _Times_editorial policy. Some of his pieces look best in retrospect -- for example, the threecolumns he wrote in September and October 1977 about the dangers ofstoring nuclear waste. The sympathy with which he treated the prisondeath of convict George Jackson in a 1971 column caught the attention ofinmates everywhere, and during the uprising at New York's Attica prisonlater that year, he was called in as a mediator and official observer. Hisbook about the uprising, _A Time To Die_, (1975), won him two majorliterary awards and was made a Book of the Month Club selection. An engaging public speaker who travels widely, he spent two months inAfrica last year. At present, he is preparing a long article on RichardNixon that will appear in the _Sunday Times_ magazine this August tocoincide with the fifth anniversary of the ex-president's resignation. Asked for his opinion on the seeming resurgence of Nixon as a publicfigure, Wicker smiles and says, "I'm sure Al Capone could have drawna crowd the day he got out of prison. I don't think Nixon has beenrevived. He never was dead in that sense. He left the White House undera cloud, yet he retained, I am sure, millions of people who supported him.... I myself have always discounted these reports that some futureRepublican president might appoint him a sort of roving ambassador. Asfar as his giving speeches at big colleges is concerned, I think that's allright. He may have made mistakes, but I myself would find it veryinteresting to read an article by Richard Nixon about foreign affairs. Ithink he's a man of intelligence and knowledge in this area. " For the past five years, Wicker has been married to Pamela Hill, vicepresident of ABC News and executive producer of the network'sdocumentary productions. They live in a four-story brownstone on theUpper East Side. Though both enjoy cooking, their busy schedules call formany visits to local restaurants. Wicker's next book is a historical novel about the American Civil Warthat he has been researching for several years. "It probably won't becompleted until 1981, " he says, "but I expect it to be the best book I haveever done. It's certainly the one I'm putting the most effort into. At thesame time, the column is my first priority. That's the clock I punch. ... My experience is, the more you write, the better you get at it. It's abusiness in which you keep sharpening your tools all the time. " ******** EASTSIDER TOM WOLFEAvant-garde author talks about _The Right Stuff_ 10-6-79 During New York City's newspaper strike of 1963, a 31-year-old _HeraldTribune_ reporter named Tom Wolfe visited California in order to writean article for _Esquire_ magazine about the souped-up, customized carsand the crowd they attracted. When _Esquire's_ deadline arrived, Wolfewas unable to pull the article together, so he typed out his largelyimpressionistic notes and sent them to the editor, who decided to run "TheKandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" exactly as written. Thus was Tom Wolfe established as one of the most important new talentsin American journalism. Today he is generally recognized as the foremost proponent of what mightbe called the nonfiction short story. The majority of his eight books arecollections of factual articles written in the style of fiction. His latesteffort, _The Right Stuff_ (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $12. 95), is about theseven Mercury astronauts and the world of military flying. Over cocktailsat the Isle of Capri, a restaurant not far from his Eastside apartment, theslender, gentlemanly, and slightly bashful author spoke at length about hisnew book and a dozen other subjects. Dressed in a one-button, swallowtail, yellow pinstriped suit -- "it's kind of an early Duke ofWindsor" -- he poured forth his colorful phrases in a rich, soothing, mildly Southern accent that rang with sincerity. "I began this book in 1972, when _Rolling Stone_ asked me to go downto the Cape and cover Apollo 17. Somewhat to my surprise, I becamequite interested in the whole business of: what's the makeup of someonewho's willing to sit on top of a rocket and let you light the candle? AndI ended up writing four stories for _Rolling Stone_ ... In about a month. And I thought if I spent a couple of months in expanding them, I'd havea book. Well, it's now 1979 and here we are. " He laughed heartily. "Itwas so difficult that I put it aside every opportunity I had. I wrote threeother books in the meantime, to avoid working on it. "I ended up being more interested in the fraternity of flying than in spaceexploration. I found the reactions of people and flying conditions muchmore fascinating. So the book is really about the right stuff -- the code ofbravery that the pilots live by, and the mystical belief about what it takesto be a hot fighter jock. "Flying has a competitive structure that's as hotly contested as the worldof show business. And the egos are just as big -- in fact, in a way, they'rebigger. ... It's hard to top surgeons for sheer ego. I think surgeons are themost egotistical people on the face of the earth, but pilots usually makethe playoffs: they're in there. " An excellent caricaturist who has published hundreds of drawings andmounted several major exhibitions, he confessed to being vain about hisartwork because "I don't feel as sure of myself as I do in writing. " Abook of his drawings will come out in 1980. He also has a captioneddrawing each month in _Harper's_, the magazine where his wife Sheilaworks as art director. Tom was a lifelong bachelor until they weremarried last year. He arrived in New York in 1962, armed with a Ph. D. From Yale andthree years' experience on the _Washington Post_. "I really love it in NewYork. It reminds me of the state fair in Virginia, where I grew up. ... Thepicture of the East Side really is of the man living in the $525, 000 co-op, leaving the building at night with his wife, both clothed in turtlenecksweaters with pieces of barbed wire and jeans, going past a doorman whois dressed like an Austrian Army colonel from 1870. " No relation to the novelist Thomas Wolfe, Tom Wolfe has written onlyone short piece of fiction in his life. He is now thinking about writing "a_Vanity Fair_ type of novel about New York" as his next majorundertaking. In the meantime, he is working on a sequel to _The PaintedWord_, his book-length essay abut modern art that appeared in 1975. "Another thing I'd like to try is a movie script, " he added. "I've done one-- a series of vignettes about life in Los Angeles. ... But many talentedwriters just go bananas in trying to write for the movies. Because they'renot in charge of what they're doing. All that a good director can do iskeep from ruining the script. He cannot turn a bad script into a goodmovie. He can turn a good script into a bad movie. And often, I think, ithappens, because the director is given a power that he simply should nothave. " Another possible project, said Wolfe, is a second volume of _The RightStuff_, to bring the story up to the $250 million Soviet-Americanhandshake in 1975. The 436-page first volume has been received withacclaim. In the _New York Sunday Times_ book review, C. D. B. Bryanwrote: "It is Tom Wolfe at his very best. ... It is technically accurate, learned, cheeky, risky, touching, tough, compassionate, nostalgic, worshipful, jingoistic -- it is superb. " * * * An Interview with Tom Wolfe from _The Westsider_, 11-22-79 Tom Wolfe, one of the most original stylists in American writing today, burst spectacularly on the literary horizon in 1965 with _The KandyKolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby_, a collection of articles aboutcontemporary American life written as nonfiction. Wolfe's adoption of stream of consciousness, his unorthodox use of italicsand exclamation marks, his repetition of letters, and his effectiveness ininventing hip phrases with nonsense words and classical references, helpedestablish an entirely new literary form -- the nonfiction short story. His reputation was cemented by such books as _The Electric Kool-AidAcid Test_, _The Pump House Gang_ and _The Painted Word_, a lengthyessay on modern art. Wolfe sometimes illustrates his work with pen-andink drawings. His latest book, _The Right Stuff_, deals with the age of rockets, the earlyastronauts and the world of military flying. Published in September 1979, it is a critical and commercial success that has already hit the best-sellerlist. A tall, slender 48-year-old transplanted Southerner with a rich baritonevoice, Wolfe speaks softly, chooses his word carefully, and exhibits akind of schoolboy bashfulness when discussing his own work. A NewYorker since 1962, he lives on the Upper East Side with his wife Sheila, the art director of _Harper's_ magazine. On the day of our interview, Wolfe is wearing his customary one-button, swallow-tailed, yellow pinstripe suit, which he describes as "early Duke of Windsor. " Q: What made you decide to write this book? A: Back in 1972, Rolling Stone asked me to go down to the Cape andcover Apollo 17. That was the last mission to the moon. ... Somewhat tomy surprise, I really became quite interested in the whole business ofwhat's the makeup of someone who's willing to sit on top of a rocket andlet you light the candle? And I ended up writing four stories for _RollingStone_ in about a month. And I thought if I spent a couple of months inexpanding them, I'd have a book. Well, it's now 1979 and here we are. "(He laughs. ) It was so difficult that I put it aside every opportunity I had. I wrote three other books in the meantime, to avoid working on it. I ended up being more interested in the fraternity of flying than in spaceexploration. I found the reactions of people and flying conditions muchmore fascinating. So the book is really about the right stuff -- the code ofbravery that the pilots live by, and the mystical belief about what it takesto be a hot fighter jock, as the expression goes. I became interested inpeople like Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier back in 1947. When the seven Mercury astronauts were chosen, they were not the sevenhottest test pilots in America, although they were presented as such at thetime. The arrival of the astronauts as a type completely upset thecompetitive hierarchy of flying. Flying has a competitive structure that's as hotly contested as the worldof show business. And the egos are just as big -- in fact, in a way, they'rebigger. . ... It's hard to top surgeons for sheer ego. I think surgeons arethe most egotistical people on the face of the earth, but pilots usuallymake the playoffs: they're in there. Q: Speaking of your other books: how do you manage to know all thehip phrases of the day? Do you spend a lot of time with teenagers? A: At one time, people thought I was some sort of medium who hungaround with children to pick up what young people were thinking anddoing. Well, that interested me very much in the '60s, when suddenlyyoung people were doing extraordinary things -- things they had neverdone, which really boiled down to living lives that they controlled, sometimes in a communal way, going with their own styles, rather thanimitating that of their elders. So it was fascinating. I made a point oflearning about it. Sometimes now I turn on the radio and I don't recognize a single song onthe charts. Right now I have no idea what any of the top 20 singles are. And I have the feeling that it's probably not worth finding out, becausewe're now in a phase where we're just filling in the spaces of what wasintroduced by rock and the Beatles and the Grateful Dead and so on. There's nothing very new, I don't think. Maybe I'm wrong. Q: How do you choose your clothes? A: Right now I'm in the phase of pretentiousness. During the late '60sI had a lot of fun by making mild departures in style -- wearing whitesuits instead of blue suits, things like that. That was very shocking andunusual in 1963. Suddenly things reached a point beyond which it reallywasn't worth going, as far as I was concerned, when Jerry Rubin andAbbie Hoffman appeared on the _Dick Cavett Show_ in body paint. There's one direction in which clothes can go that still annoys the hell outof people, and that's pretentiousness. If you wear double-breastedwaistcoats, which I rather like, that annoys people. Spats more than annoypeople: they infuriate people. Try it sometime if you don't believe me. They think that this is an affront. It stirs up all sorts of resentment. We'rein a period now in which the picture of the East Side really is of the manliving in the $525, 000 co-op, leaving the building at night, both clothedin turtleneck sweaters with pieces of barbed wire and jeans, going past adoorman who is dressed like an Austrian Army colonel from 1870. Q: Do you do a lot of drawing? A: I have a regular feature in _Harper's_. I do one large drawing eachmonth, with a caption. Q: What's your artistic background? A: I never was trained in art. I worked for a commercial artist a numberof summers when I was in high school. And I learned anatomy fromdrawing boxers in _Ring_ magazine. It was the only way I could think ofto learn anatomy. I've had two gallery shows of drawings. ... And I'll have a book ofdrawings coming out next year. I find myself very vain about mydrawing. I guess I don't feel as sure of myself as I do in writing;therefore I'm always straining to get people's reactions to what I'vedrawn. What I do mostly is caricature. I try not to make them too cartoony. Thisis a period that absolutely cries out for good caricature. Part of it is thatthe great caricaturists used to be people who were determined to be fineartists. Every artist, whether he was good or bad, learned anatomy verythoroughly. He learned how to render landscapes, buildings, and learnedsomething about costume. So the ones who didn't make it as easel paintersmight turn to doing caricature, and some of them were spectacular. We all grow up thinking we're in an era of progress, because we have hadso much technological progress. But it simply doesn't work that way inart and literature. We're living in an era -- to use Mencken's phrase -- ofthe "Sahara of the beaux arts. " I wrote about that in _The Painted Word_. In fact, I'm doing a sequel tothat now. It will be an article for _Harper's_ magazine. I'm moving intothe areas of architecture and serious music and dance. It's very enjoyableto work on a subject like that after a long haul of writing about astronauts-- essentially because it's easier. Q: What do you like to watch on TV? A: To be honest, my two favorite shows are _Mannix_ -- which, alas, is no longer except in reruns -- and the _Johnny Carson Show_. I justthink he's terrific. It was such a common currency among those in thegeneral category of intellectuals to like the _Dick Cavett Show_ and notthe _Johnny Carson Show_. And that is so much the party line that ittakes awhile to dawn on you that Carson is really extremely funny. DickCavett, he has a lot of talent, but when it comes to wit, and even inhandling the language, he's simply not in Carson's league. There are a whole bunch of shows, I must say, in which I simply don'tknow who these people are. A lot of general-circulation magazines todayare really television magazines. _People_ magazine is a televisionmagazine. Look at these people. Who are they? Who are Mindy andMork? I mean, I've never seen the show. And yet, they're obviouslyextremely well-known. These magazines now, in an era in which general circulation magazinesare in trouble, have hit upon this idea: all these people that are watchingtelevision will have the thrill of recognition if we write about the peoplethey've seen on television. So _Sports Illustrated_ will tend to give youa kind of a rehash of the game of the week or the fight that everyone sawon television. It's kind of funny. At first, television was alwayscannibalizing the printed word for material, and now it's suddenly turningaround. Q: Do you have any other major projects coming up? A: For years I've been telling myself that I was going to try a _VanityFair_ type of novel about New York, and I think I should probably try tomake myself tackle that next. I've debated whether to make it fiction ornonfiction. My fiction writing has been confined to one short story that Idid for _Esquire_. And I was surprised that it was harder than I thoughtto write fiction. I thought that I could sit down on a Sunday afternoon andknock out a short story, because you could make things up. Another thing I'd like to try is a movie script. I've done one -- a series ofvignettes about life in Los Angeles. ... But many talented writers just gobananas in trying to write for the movies. Because they're not in chargeof what they're doing. All that a good director can do is keep fromruining the script. He cannot turn a bad script into a good movie. He canturn a good script into a bad movie. And often, I think, it happens, because the director is given a power that he simply should not have. Q: Do you feel a lot of pressure on yourself when you sit down at thetypewriter, as being one of the trend-setters in American writing today? A: It was terrible after my first book came out, and I suddenly got a lotof publicity I never dreamed I'd get. I was still working with the _HeraldTribune_ as a general assignment reporter at the city desk. And I suddenlywas made aware by publicity that there was something called the TomWolfe style. And this can really do terrible things to you. I wrote a wholeseries of just dreadful article because the first phase I went through was:"Well, I'll be damned. I have the Tom Wolfe style, I guess I'd better useit. " And so I started writing these self-parodies. The second phase was:"I've got to stop this. It's self-destructive. " And I would write somethingand a bell would go off and I'd say, "That's Tom Wolfe style. Now isthat good the way I've used it there, or it is bad the way I've used it?"And this became very troublesome. When I did this book, _The Right Stuff_, I decided I really was going totry to tailor my language to the mental atmosphere of pilots, and somehowmake my tone what I have elsewhere called the downstage voice. You'rewriting in the third person about other people, but your own writing styletakes on their tone. So I think the result is a book that seems different instyle, and is sort of an experiment for me. ******** WESTSIDER PINCHAS ZUKERMANViolinist and conductor 10-13-79 "Travel is not fun anymore, " sighs world-renowned violinist, violist andconductor Pinchas Zukerman. "It used to be. Now there are all the checksand securities at airports, and the hotel standards have gone down. Theold-style luxury hotel is gone. Now it's a businessman's Ramada Inn, kindof hit-and-run hotel. But you learn to live with it. " Since making his American debut with the New York Philharmonic underLeonard Bernstein 11 years ago, he has been a soloist with every majororchestra in Europe, and acted as both conductor and soloist for most ofthe leading orchestras in America. His schedule of 120 concerts a year issolidly booked until 1982, and he has a discography of several dozenrecordings on four labels. For personal credits, Pinchas -- or "Pinky, " ashe prefers to be called -- has lived on the West Side for 17 years, beenmarried to Eugenia Zukerman for 12 of those years. They have twodaughters, one of whom is a skilled pianist. The _New York Times_ has called him "one of the world's leadingviolinists, " the _London Times_ has said he is "absolutely without peer, "and the _Washington Post_ has labeled him "the most versatile of allmajor musicians. " Born in Israel, the son of Polish survivors ofAuschwitz, he was invited to perform at the White House last year forEgyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister MenachemBegin. "I want to tell Sadat he should set up a recording studio inside thepyramids, " he joked before the event. This year, Pinky's greatest honorwas his appointment as music director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the only full-time chamber orchestra in America. But the most astonishing thing about this burly, muscular man who speaksnostalgically of the "old days, " may be his age. He's 31. "I think I had as normal a childhood as one could expect from a talentedboy that had to work, " he muses in his living room overlooking theHudson River. Serious one moment, clownish the next, he frequentlypunctuates his remarks with loud belly laughter. Pinky's sense of humoris one of the things that endears him to his close friend, violinist ItzhakPerlman, who lives six floors above. They were born three years apart, grew up a few miles from each other, and both came to New York withthe help of violinist Isaac Stern to study at Juilliard. The pair sometimes travel together for concerts, and according to EugeniaZukerman, "they do things like imitate apes at airports. " Eugenia herselfis an extraordinary woman. Besides being a wife and mother, she is aflutist with an international music career of her own, frequently appearingin recitals with her husband. In addition, she is a highly talented writerwho has written free-lance articles for many leading publications, and nowdevotes three or four hours a day to her first novel. On October 19 at 10 p. M. , and for the next three Friday evenings, Channel 13 will present a series called _Here to Make Music_, whichdocuments Pinchas Zukerman's musical collaborations with Perlman, Stern and others. Zukerman's life story is told through the use ofrecordings he made before the age of 10, old photographs and candidinterviews, producing a portrait that is often fascinating. "I think music on TV is getting definitely better in America. They'reahead of the game at the BBC and in Europe, but they're quickly catchingup here, " he notes. "Sometimes they overcompensate with pictures for thesake of making a so-called 'interesting' show for the guy sitting with hisslippers in the living room, drinking a glass of beer. They're afraid toleave the camera on the same musician for three minutes. That's whyyou've got this flute playing, and you see this horn player picking hisnose. " When I ask Pinky about critics, the color rises in his cheeks. "Don't getme on critics, " he warns, before launching into an unrestrained diatribe. "First of all, they're not critics as far as I'm concerned. They should bereporters. But they never report what goes on in the concert hall. Thepublic stood up and clapped for 10 minutes. Say it, damn it! Don't saythat bar 56 was not right in the Beethoven G Major Sonata. Who cares?It's so stupid! "I'm a great fiddle player. They all say that. Fine. It's understood, it'sgranted. It's there. Okay. So instead of criticizing my fiddle playing, theysay I'm becoming aloof, and this and that. ... One week they tear me toshreds for my conducting. The next week I get these rave reviews. Now, how can one person be that different in one week? What do they think, that I'm a duet?" Asked how much time he spends practicing, Pinky replies: "As much asI need to. I don't think about time. You either live music or you don't. ... Music is an unending art form which demands your complete attention andperfection at all times. What a wonderful thing to be able to say -- I'll beable to say it in maybe 15 or 20 years -- that I have gone through all ofSchubert's works. What an incredible achievement that is! I can tell you, it's a lot more satisfying than flying an airplane. " -- THE END --