The Talk of the Town Hachette by Geoffrey T. Hellman. Talk story about a reception at the Plaza Hotel for the Marquis Ithier de Roquemaurel, president of the Librairie Hachette, which is one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. It is also one of the biggest distributors of books, magazines, newspapers, & educational records. Hachette now publishes, among...

The Talk of the Town Surprises by Brendan Gill. Talk story about the Municipal Art Society, which for nearly eighty years has fought to preserve the amenities of NYC. It has helped the City Planning Commission & the Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission into being, & prevented projects like the proposed parking garage which would have been built under Madison...

Fiction The Gospel According To Mark by Jorge Luis Borges. A medical student from Buenos Aires, Baltasar Espinosa, went to stay at his cousin's ranch for a while. Near the main house lived Gutre, the foreman, his unusually uncouth son, & his daughter. One day, right after his cousin had to go away on business, heavy rains began, & did...

Profiles PRESIDENT II-AFTER MIDNIGHT by William Edgett Smith. PROFILE of Julius K. Nyerere, Pres. of the United Republic of Tanzania. Tells how he withstood successfully an Army mutiny in 1964. Also tells about the revolution in Zanzibar in early 1964, & how later that year, Tanganyika & Z. agreed to unite, with Nyerere as Pres. & Z's Pres...

The Current Cinema Louis Malle's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Pauline Kael. Review of "T.R. Baskin", a ludicrously bad film, starring Candice Bergen. Long critique of her acting. Writer calls it the "worst starring performance I have ever seen...

The Theatre ALIEN CORN by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Close to Somebody by Lillian Ross. Talk story about the Children's Theatre the newest of the resident companies at the City Center of Music & Drama, & interview with Marjorie Sigley, the originator & director, Siggy, as she is called, said that educational drama is usually part of every school's curriculum in England. At this moment...

Letter from Washington by Richard H. Rovere. Tells about international politics, ranging from exotic ceremonies to crucial negotiations. Pres. Nixon as a "risk-taker" is something of a surprise. The chances he has taken has been mostly in diplomacy. It is a repudiation of his past. If the visit to Peking contributes to the liquidation of the...

A Reporter at Large STARTING OVER by John Brooks. REPORTER AT LARGE about the annual meeting of the governors of the International Monetary Fund held in Washington the last week of Sept. One of the reasons for a current crisis is that the U.S. suddenly moved to temporarily stop redeeming dollars with gold. Gold is the only world currency...

The Race Track Belmont Finale by G. F. T. Ryall. The Florida Supreme Court has directed the racing commission there to give Gulfstream Park the choice dates that Hialeah has held since the twenties. The Hialeah management will no doubt petition for a rehearing but it looks as though Jimmy Donn had won the fight for those dates that he...

Fiction The Day of the Lhasa Apso by Dan Greenburg. At 5:41 a.m. 3 housewives met in a deserted launderette in Queens. Their once beloved mayor had betrayed them, & must be punished. They had found the person to humiliate him publicly--not a New Yorker, not a housewife, not even a woman: The Lhasa Apso... With a number of...

Dept. of Amplification by Paul Brodeur. DEPT. OF AMPLIFICATION about asbestos. (REPORTER: Oct. 12, 1968). NYC recently adopted a law which will ban the spraying of fire-proofing materials containing asbestos on the structural steel of buildings after Feb., 1972. Similar bans have been imposed in Boston, Chicago, & Philadelphia. Investigation of medical histories of 632...

Comment by Michael J. Arlen. One of the main reasons, we imagine, that a number of people feel suspicious of "the news" has something to do with the fact that the conventional, responsible news systems we profess to admire, still haven't found a very effective way of dealing with the face-value pronouncements of official...

Poetry Speed by May Swenson. In 200 miles...

Poetry Pompeii Revisited by Paul Roche. By the villa of Diomedes...

Poetry Totem by Richard Shelton. stars you inquisitive...

Poetry The Fisher Cat by Richard Eberhart. Wildness sleeps upon the mountain...