The Talk of the Town Cometose by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about a party at the South Street Seaport at 5 AM on Dec. 9th for observation of comet Kohoutek. Dr. Franklin, of the Hayden Planetarium, said that on the sixth of January Kohoutek, Venus, & Jupiter will all be very close together in the evening sky. He added...

The Talk of the Town Depravity by Hendrik Hertzberg. Talk story about the opening of a new night club, the Blue Angel, on E. 54th St., named after an infinitely superior club that operated a block uptown between 1942 & 1964. Paul Newman, Dyan Cannon, Anthony Perkins, Patricia Lawford & about 150 others had been invited by their close...

Books by L. E. Sissman.

The Talk of the Town Bear by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about the Juillard American Opera Center rehearsal of "The Bartered Bride," the Czech comic opera by Bedrich Smetana. Peter Herman Adler, the conductor, loves comic opera & is producing 2 new ones for N.E.T.; he was shouting at a chorus of Juillard students who were playing a scene...

Our Local Correspondents A RUMOR IN THE AIR by Eugene Kinkead. OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about the eastern bluebird, the state bird of N.Y. (the last state in the Union to acquire an official state bird--on May 18, 1970). Writer tries to find evidence of the bird in NYC--he looks on Hunter Island in the Bronx--and in Westchester County...

Fiction The Marvellous Girl by V. S. Pritchett. A young man, an artist, has not lived with his wife for two years. They had taken interest in each other's love affairs, & now only sometimes see each other. She works at the Institute where his drawings are shown. The artist is attracted to his wife's assistant - a marvellous...

Fiction Ready, Aim, Flee! by S. J. Perelman. Writer meets Mark Silver, a columnist for the "Daily Worker", at a meeting of idealists in Greenwich Village, in 1927. These writers have gathered to launch a magazine to be called "Mickey Finn". Division among the writers, & disputes over editorial leadership lead to shelving the magazine. In 1932, the...

The Theatre STARS IN YOUR EYES by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Addict by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about Anne Zoltan, a Hungarian - Australian novelist, who was recently brought to this country by her publishers. She was introduced to the hamburger, which she finds to be the absolutely perfect comforting food. She had a hamburger at the A. & W., which she felt didn't have the...

Profiles INFINITE PAINS by Winthrop Sargeant. PROFILE of Sarah Caldwell, 45, perhaps the finest operatic stage director in America, who presides over the Opera Company of Boston. This is one of the few opera companies which manages to give opera the dramatic polish of the theatre. Productions are limited to 4 or 5 each season. Her...

The Current Cinema Labyrinths by Pauline Kael. Review of "Don't Look Now", directed by Nicolas Roeg, a new English film, with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland...

Comment by Donald Barthelme. Writer quotes from a letter from a friend. "I was standing in line at the bank last Friday, and I happened to notice the amount of the check the short Puerto Rican woman in front of me was cashing: $84.06 I noticed there were a lot of white and black...

Musical Events Schumann's Faust by Desmond Shawe-Taylor.

Comment by Richard Harris. Comment about the Presidential aspirations of Nelson Rockefeller, who has just resigned as governor of New York, & who no longer resembles the man--compassionate, farsighted, concerned, & ready to stand up to personal abuse to defend his beliefs--whom the people of N.Y. elected 4 times to serve them...

The Race Track Three for Paraje by G. F. T. Ryall. Sandy Hawley had the biggest day of his life down at Laurel last weekend; he rode four winners, bringing his total to 503 - the largest ever for one season...

Books by L. E. Sissman.

The Talk of the Town Inventive by George W. S. Trow. Talk story about a Non-Inventive party at the Metropolitan Museum last week to celebrate the opening of a show at the Costume Institute involving Inventive Clothes. There were clothes from 1909 to 1939 by Poiret, Callot Soeurs, Vionnet, Chanel and Schiaparelli. Diana Vreeland put the show together...

Dancing Culture Hero by Arlene Croce. Entire column about the book entitled "The New York City Ballet", by Lincoln Kirstein. It is a lavish volume published by Knopf in observance of the company's 25th anniversary. Photographs by George Platt Lynes and Martha Swope...

The Talk of the Town Mice by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about a rehearsal for "The Nutcracker" by members of the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center; they have just ended their strike. The dancers rehearsed a battle between big mice played by men & toy soldiers played by little girls...

Poetry Greetings Friends! by Frank Sullivan. At this point in time (to coin a phrase...

Poetry A Child's Nativity by John N. Morris. Struck dumb at arm's length...