Fiction Irina by Mavis Gallant. Irina, an elderly widow living in Switzerland is visited by her grandson Riri, one of 14 grandchildren, on Christmas. Her husband, the Swiss writer Richard Notte had died not long ago. He was 21 yrs. older than she. Her children, all in their thirties and forties, feared what would happen...

The Talk of the Town New York to Bowling Green by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about a visit to the Old Fitzgerald Distillery in Louisville, Ky. & a few other places, by the writer - a victim of bourbonmania. A photographer friend told him about two bourbons sold only in Ky. They were Waller's AntiqueReserve (10 yrs. old) and Very Very Old Fitzgerald (12...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town City Weathers, "Godfather" by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about the effects on business the nights (Sat. Nov. 16th&Mon. Nov. 18th) "The Godfather," shown in two parts, was aired on NBC TV. NBC paid Paramount ten million dollars for the rights to show the picture just once. Sat. night 6,500,000 people in the greater N.Y...

Reflections A DIVIDED PARTY by Richard N. Goodwin. REFLECTIONS about the Democratic Party, which is scheduled to hold a special mid-term Party conference to begin Dec. 6 in Kansas City. In the past TV worked against the Democrats. The coverage of the 1968 & 1972 Conventions contributed to the defeat of Dem. candidates. Until last week signs...

Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. Mr. Denis Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave a bit of the hoped-for fiscal relief to private industry, which had been hammering home its fears of a collapse as a result of his too zealous Socialist squeeze on profits in the March budget. This was a shock to his...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

A Reporter at Large I-GLOBAL REACH by Ronald Muller. REPORTER AT LARGE about exploitation of poor countries by multinational or global corporations. The men who run them make a credible try at managing the world as an integrated unit. Within the last 10 years they have grown so fast their combined total sales exceed the GNP of every country...

Comment by Michael J. Arlen. Too many questions are being asked these days. One do doesn't mean those journalistic questions that are sometimes asked of Important Persons, such as: What happened to the last energy crisis? What is the CIA doing this week? One doesn't mean the official questions directed at ordinary citizens by agencies...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "Earthquake", a Universal picture. Lew R. Wasserman, the board chairman of M.C.A., Universal's parent company, who has just completed 8 years as chairman of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, was honored earlier this month by his colleagues...

The Talk of the Town Surprise by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about taxidriver Paul Sperber's accident on Central Park South last Tuesday morning. Nobody was hurt. The Sands Hotel, in Las Vegas, has a ground-floor reservations office at 24 Central Park South, just west of the Plaza, with a picture window in front. Writer was walking past and...

The Talk of the Town In Transit by Mark Singer. Talk story about the Metropolitan Transp. Authority and double-decker buses which will arrive in N. Y. next summer. Writer took a ride with David L. Yunich, chairman of the M.T.A., on a German Neoplan (a touring coach). Instead of the Neoplans which cost $130,000 each, the M.T.A. ordered eight...

The Theatre BLUNDERS by Brendan Gill.

U. S. Journal PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER by Calvin Trillin. U. S. JOURNAL: WHEELER LAKE, ALABAMA about bass fishing and the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) founded in 1967 by ex-insurance man, Ray Scott, a fanatic fisherman himself. Bass fishermen are the largest group of fishermen in the country and 185,000 of them have joined BASS. The annual membership...

Fiction Mantras For Everyone by F. P. Tullius. Humorous piece making fun of the Eastern ritual of chanting mantras. Writer begins by telling an anecdote of when he was walking down a steet in San Francisco chanting a mantra: Om man padme hum. A man passing gave him a Kennedy half dollar thinking that what was being chanted...

Poetry The Man On the Bed by Debora Greger. He lay on the bed, thinking...

Poetry City Afternoon by John Ashbery. A veil of haze protects this...