The Talk of the Town The Lower Depths by Gerald Jonas. Talk story about a visit to Bellevue Hospital, where Lorinda Klein and Susan Marsden Kapsis have been digging into the history of the institution, which will celebrate its 250th anniversary this spring. There has been little attention given Bellevue by historians; the hospital itself has no archives. Miss Klein and...

The Talk of the Town Grand Prix by James Stevenson. Illustrated talk story about walking along Eighth Avenue and observing hand operated wheeled vehicles used for carrying things - hand-carts. Writer imagines them all taking part in the 1986 Eighth Avenue Grand Prix (unmanned vehicles only; two-wheel minimum; no power train). He says some promising new entries will be...

Fiction Time With Children by Elizabeth Tallent. Kyra and Charlie and their small son Nicholas were living in London. Charlie was an editor, on loan from N.Y. for six months to observe English publishing. Part of why they had come was also to leave behind someone Charlie was interested in. Kyra had had to forgive him for...

The Talk of the Town Old Eli by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., president-designate of Yale University. Schmidt said that when he was appointed, one of his most welcome notes of congratulation came from Bob Brooke, Yale's contribution to the New York Rangers. "I count myself one of their most rabid fans, and couldn't have...

Comment by William McKibben. Something over a year ago, a tank at Union Carbide's chemical plant in Bhopal, India, sprang a leak. Methyl isocyanate poured into the air, killing 1757 people within a few days. More than 200,000 went to the hospital. Some people are still dying from the effects of the gas... Immediately...

The Current Cinema MACRO, MICRO, STINKO by Pauline Kael.

Fiction The 1985 Beaujolais Nouveaux: Ka-Boum! by Veronica Geng. Paris-According to a recent survey, 30% of all French people over the age of 10 never drink wine... The survey found that France had lost 2 million wine customers since 1979.... "Frank J. Prial's"Wine Talk"in the Times. Paris...the head of the intelligence agency, Adm. Pierre Lacoste...

Jazz A Decent Life by Whitney Balliett. Guitarist Gene Bertoncini is interviewed at length, and his career with bassist Michael Moore is outlined in column devoted to the duo. Column gives biographical facts about Bertoncini...

Books by Helen Vendler.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Reflections SPLENDID LITTLE WARS by William Pfaff. REFLECTIONS about U.S. wars & their unexpected consequences, especially the Spanish-American war. It was that war in 1898; that ruptured the continuity of Spanish history & provoked within Spain the events that led up to the civil war & its aftermath. The Spanish-American war was a great success...

Profiles TAKING IT ALL IN by James Lardner. PROFILE of Maurice Braddell, who has been an actor, a writer, an artist, and a painting restorer. He is 85, and has lived in the U.S. since 1958. He was born in England in 1900, the last of 6 children. Tells about his childhood and school life. He attended Char...

Poetry First Trip Through the Automatic Car Wash by Mona Van Duyn. Clamped to another will, the self in its glass...