Dancing by Pauline Kael. Review of "Slow Dancing in the Big City", on which John G. Avildsen was director, co-producer, camera operator, and editor...

Fiction The Hard Parts by Gilbert Rogin. Albert and Violet, who are separated, live in the same building in Greenwich Village-Albert on the third floor, Violet in the garden apartment. Albert often walks her dachsund, and brings her flowers, the "Times" and a brioche (two, if he sees a lover in her bed) on weekends. The...

The Talk of the Town Memorandum by Jamaica Kincaid. Talk story about a memorandum, read out loud by Mayor Ed .Koch at a luncheon party for Merv Griffin at City Hall, concerning an avant garde theatre group which had a 250-pound woman perform nude in a shopwindow in a production of "Andy Warhol's Last Love" at the Squat...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Fiction Q & A by George W. S. Trow. Story begins and ends as an interview except the person who is supposed to get interviewed asks all the questions. Sammy is a man of myth, apparently a rock star, who is promoting a film. The girl who answers his questions after viewing the film is a longtime, devoted fan...

The Race Track by G. F. T. Ryall. Seattle Slew won his farewell race - the Stuyvesant Handicap - last Saturday at Aqueduct. Mrs. Karen Taylor, one of Slew's owners, was in tears as she led him into the winner's circle for the last time. "I only hope he does as well in his second life", she said. Syndicated for...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "Paradise Alley", which Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and starred in...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Obituary by William Shawn. Obituary of Janet Flanner, who died on Monday, Nov. 7, 1978, at 86...

Affairs of State by Richard H. Rovere. Writer discusses the recent elections. The decline of the political party system began almost half a century ago, when American politics, like almost everything else, was being nationalized and, with patronage, and other favors coming mainly from Washington, the power of the state and municipal machines began to diminish. Radio...

The Sporting Scene CITY LIGHTS: HEARTTHROBS, PRODIGIES, WINNERS, LOST CHILDREN by Roger Angell. SPORTING SCENE about the 1978 baseball season and the Yankee World Series victory. This year was like last: the Red Sox fell to the Yankees for the American League East Title; the Phillies and the Kansas City Royals won their divisional titles but were beaten in the playoffs; the Dodgers...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL WINNERS AND LOSERS by Andy Logan. In discussing the recent election writer evaluates the importance of the issue of capital punishment in the campaign. Many local political observers had argued that the key question in the election would be how many of the 75% of New Yorkers who, according to polls, favor the death penalty would...

U. S. Journal CONFESSIONS OF A GROWNUP TRICK-OR-TREATER by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: GREENWICH VILLAGE about the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Writer is as enthusiastic about Halloween as his school-age daughters Abigail & Sarah. Greenwich Village is particularly suited by architecture and spirit to Halloween celebrations. Describes costumes designed by Ralph Lee, who makes masks and creatures for the theatre...

U. S. Journal CONFESSIONS OF A GROWNUP TRICK-OR-TREATER by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: GREENWICH VILLAGE about the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. By the third year the parade, produced by Ralph Lee who creates costumes and masks for the theatre, began to attract grants from the National Endowment for the Arts...

Books by Lis Harris.

Comment by Ved Mehta. On Wednesday, the 27th of September, Calcutta was awash in torrential rains that continued for 36 hours, the heaviest rain in India in 60 years and only part of 4 successive floods over 2 months in Calcutta, West Bengal, and northern India. Writer gives statistics of flood's devastation, affecting 15...

The Theatre by Brendan Gill. In a review of the musical "Platinum", writer complains about the use of microphones, which distort voices...

The Talk of the Town Back by Fred C. Shapiro. Talk story about the Times newsroom on Nov. 5th, the day the newspapers started working again after an 88-day strike. Arthur Gelb, deputy managing editor, greeted James Clarity, asst. metropolitan editor, who was the first editorial employee to report for work. Reporters and editors were working on the video...

Poetry On the Photograph "Yarn Mill," by Lewis W. Hine by David Ray. A boy, age about eleven...

Poetry Retired Schoolteacher by Heather McHugh. Brilliant planets float in that black lake...

Poetry A Woman Picks Up the Habit of Anger by Elizabeth Macklin. The astonishing knife-thrower grabbed my astonished...