The Race Track Singing in the Rain by G. F. T. Ryall. Mr. & Mrs. Stuart S. Janney, Jr.'s Ruffian received an award as the best two-year-old filly...

Fiction Willis Avenue by Mark Helprin. Writer recalls one summer when he worked in a typewriter-ribbon factory in the South Bronx. Sitting across from him on the production line was Johanna. Tells about Johanna and his feelings for her...

Comment by Richard H. Rovere. Comment about the problems of islands. Writer thinks they ought to be linked to the nearest mainland but the natives would hate all those bridges & tunnels and try to stop them, as the people on Martha's Vineyard have opposed the construction of a span from Woods Hole, but in...

Fiction Oya Life These Days by Garrison Keillor. Spoof of a scientific treatise based on anthropological study of the Oya people in the Oya Valley. Writer tells of the difficulty in observing the Oya: They stop their normal activity and gather around the scholars, they also converse in the form of questions. Writer footnotes his treatise and includes...

Books The Last Victorian by George Steiner.

The Talk of the Town Zoo Message by Mark Singer. Talk story about a visit to the Bronx Zoo. Writer went to hear a lecture at the World of Birds but arrived too late. The curator of ornithology gave another talk - this was a play-by-play commentary on a slide presentation that was synchronized with bird-calls. Writer could...

Musical Events A Manon of Great Price by Andrew Porter.

The Current Cinema Beverly Hills as a Big Bed by Pauline Kael. Review of "Shampoo". The scenarist is Robert Towne...

Passage to Ararat III-THE FIELDS OF YELLOW FLOWERS by Michael J. Arlen. PASSAGE TO ARARAT about writer's trip to Armenia. He was invited to the house of a friend, Sarkis, where a small group discussed Western literature. Tells about the 1908 coup in Turkey when the Young Turks took over, Turkish nationalism, & World War I, when Turkey allied with Germany. In...

U. S. Journal ON THE POSSIBILITY OF HOUSTONIZATION by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: NEW ORLEANS about the commercialization of the traditional Mardi Gras celebration. A few yrs. ago a friend of the writer's predicted it would someday be held in the Superdome. The gigantic dome was sold to the voters of Louisiana partly as a way for N. O. to leap...

The Talk of the Town Calligraphic Art by Geoffrey T. Hellman. Talk story about an exhibition called "Calligraphy: Why Not Learn to Write?" at the Museum of American Folk Art. Definition of the term calligraphy as given in the show's catalogue by Bruce Johnson, director of the museum. Writer attended the opening of the show - nearly 200 exhibits, all but three...

The Talk of the Town Miss Mercer by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about Mabel Mercer, who celebrated her 75th birthday, Mon. Feb. 3rd. Miss Mercer is currently living near Catham, N.Y. Writer celebrated her birthday in 3 different ways. First, an interview with songwriter Alec Wilder who has known Miss Mercer since 1941, when she first settled in this country...

The Talk of the Town Ump at Auto Show by Ian Frazier. Talk story about the N. Y. Auto Show & a featured attraction, National League umpire, Nick Colosi. Nick was there as part of the major-league umpires' new "get tough" policy of making themselves available for interviews. Mr. Colosi who is 47 and from Maspeth broke into the business in...

The Theatre From the Duke of Westminster's Yacht by Brendan Gill.

Poetry Cumberland Station by Dave Smith. Gray brick, ash, hand-bent railings, steps so big...

Poetry Waking in the Cold by Philip Schultz. My brain loves itself too much, I think...