The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "Come Back to the 5 and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean" Director Robert Altman has produced a magical film out of a poor play by Ed Graczyk...

The Talk of the Town Debuts by William McKibben. Talk story about a new ice cream that tastes like booze, dispersed by C.W. Sweets Brands, Inc. It tastes like expensive booze --Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and champagne. Charles B. Tichenor, the company president said that in Chicago, at the National Hotel and Restaurant Food Show, they had ten thousand samples...

The Talk of the Town Transformations by Wallace White. Talk story about going to see the installation of an ice sculpture at the United Nations Plaza. Spelling out the word "Survival" in 24-inch blocks of ice, the work was carved by Joyce Cutler-Shaw in an ice factory in Queens and presented in a ceremony entitled "Messages From...

On and Off the Avenue Feminine Fashions by Kennedy Fraser.

The Talk of the Town Toy Trains by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about F.A.O. Schwarz's First Annual Train Exhibit held at the store on Fifth Ave. and 58th Street. Tells about the collectors and some of the exhibits of toy trains...

Fiction New Best Friends by Alice Adams. Jonathan Ferris and Sarah Stein, married 5 years, have been relocated to Hilton, a mid-Southern town, from New York City. While Jonathan has been able to make the adjustment more smoothly (his job with the computer corporation awaited him) Sarah has had a more difficult time. This story tells...

Fiction Edmund by Peter Gordon. Edmund Yee, a free-lance Peruvian-Chinese guide and driver leads an American family of four, the Zuckermans, into some nameless ruins in Peru's southern desert. Before he meets them he thinks about North America, and imagines what it must be like--he has never been there. The trip with...

Letter from Europe by Jane Kramer. Pierre Mendes-France died on Oct. 18 at the age of 75. He had been Premier of the Fourth Republic only 7 1/2 months, 30 years ago, but his moral influence on socialism had remained strong. LETTER describes a case of discrimination in a neighborhood of Paris near the Pont...

Musical Events Ducal Splendor by Andrew Porter.

The Theatre HALF A LAFF RIOT IS BETTER THAN NONE by Brendan Gill.

Comment by James Stevenson. A business friend who lives in the suburbs reports: Despite a recessionary climate, a decline in anticipated yields...one witch, one clown, one robot, one ghost, one vampire -- visited a number of households here on Sunday night (Halloween). Although it was a streamlined operation and there was decreased competition, the...

Poetry Saltwater Story by Richard Hugo. He loved his cabin--there...