Fiction A Possible Possession by M. F. K. Fisher. Writer describes visit of a musically talented woman with many-colored hair and outrageous clothing who brings disaster wherever she goes. While she is sitting by the hearth playing an antique keyboard instrument, the Franklin stove opens and burning logs roll out and down her back. She has an effect...

The Race Track by G. F. T. Ryall. Obituary of Preston M. Burch, one of the country's great trainers of thoroughbreds. He died in a nursing home in Middleburg, Virginia, last Tuesday (Apr. 4). He was 93 and had been on the turf for more than half a century. Tells about him. In 1953, with Alex Bower, he...

A Reporter at Large I- GETTING THROUGH TO THE OTHERS by Emily Hahn. A REPORTER AT LARGE about animal communication. Discusses the philosophical history of the love of animals as presented in Johns Hopkins philosopher George Boas's article "Theriophily," his word for the idea. Tells about several so-called learned horses who could supposedly reason, read and answer questions on a number of...

Comment by Kennedy Fraser. A friend dropped by to see us the other day. She was carrying a bulging manila envelope, and we noticed that she was limping..she had come straight to us from seeing her accountant. "Have you noticed how accountants and doctors and lawyers don't seem to get older, like the...

The Talk of the Town Directory Assistance' by Ian Frazier. Talk story giving various facts about New York City. First the writer asked and answered what is the leading page heading, in terms of number of pages filled, in the Manhattan Yellow Pages? The same heading that leads in the Yellow Pages of each of the 4 other boroughs and...

U. S. Journal THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF DIDEE'S RESTAURANT, SO FAR by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: SOUTH LOUISIANA about Didee's restaurant a family owned business famous for a baked duck recipe which Herman Perrodin, the grandson of the founder, recently sold to Omni Capital Worldwide, Ltd., a go-go mini-conglomerate. Charles Adrian (Didee) Lastrapes started serving baked duck and Creole gumbos while running...

The Current Cinema by Penelope Gilliatt. Review of Chaplin's legendary "serious" film, "A Woman of Paris", written and directed by him in 1922 and 1923. The film, which was thought lost, has been transferred from nitrate to glittering thirty-five-millimetre safety stock...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Scandal by Natacha Stewart. Talk story about a showing at the Washburn Gallery of 33 photographs by Baron Adolf de Meyer of Nijinsky's "L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune" and a bronze by Rodin of Nijinsky as the faun. The photographs have been reproduced by hand by Richard Benson from original copies & produced by the...

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

The Talk of the Town Patriarch by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about telephone conversation with Irving Berlin, who will celebrate his ninetieth birthday on May 11th. Mr. Berlin has lost count of how many songs he has written, but at least 1,000 have been published. Writer quotes financial statistics attached to "God Bless America," proceeds of which go to...

Books by Naomi Bliven.

Fiction The Night of the Curlews by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Three men have had their eyes pecked out by curlews. They cling to each other and wander about with no sense of distance, time, or direction. They are lost and exhausted, but no one will help them because no one believes the story of the three men having their eyes...

Fiction Crossroads by Arturo Vivante. Giacomo is driving from Cape Cod to Texas to teach Italian poetry in translation. He stops in a town which is probably in Tennessee, and accidentally locks his keys in the car. He goes into the local bar for a drink and a coat hanger to unlock the door with...

Poetry Prelude to Spring by Edward Hirsch. The last moment of winter begins...

Poetry Getting Out by Cleopatra Mathis. That year we hardly slept, waking like inmates...

Poetry Memories of the Dictator by Jonathan Aaron. When he slept with somebody, he used...