The Talk of the Town Major Motion Picture by George W. S. Trow. Talk story about a press conference announcing the acquisition of a Major Motion Picture: "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." Frank Yablans, the president of Paramount Pictures, called the conference. Yablans said "Jonathan" was unprecedented in publishing history, selling 2 million copies in hardcover and 3 1/2 million in the first 3 weeks...

Profiles III-THE DELTOID PUMPKIN SEED by John McPhee. PROFILE of the Aereon aircraft, developed in the 1960s & 70s in New Jersey, by the Aereon Corp., founded in 1959 by Monroe Drew & John Fitzpatrick. Tells about Rev. Drew's exaggerated claims for the aircraft, in order to raise money, & how the S.E.C. prohibited any more stocks from...

The Current Cinema The Riddles of Pop by Pauline Kael. Review of "The Harder They Come", made in Jamaica, and the first feature made there that deal with Jamaican life. It stars Jimmy Cliff, the reggae singer. Reggae is a mixture of calypso and rock and the blues...

The Talk of the Town Long Birthday by Calvin Tomkins. Talk story about the recent activities of composer John Cage, now celebrating his sixtieth birthday. Lejaren Hiller collaborated with Cage on the composition "Harpsichord" (formally known as HPSCHD). It is a work scored for from one to seven harpsichords and from one to fifty-two tape machines in which selections...

Books Bessie Smith Plain by Whitney Balliett.

Fiction Rebecca by Donald Barthelme. Rebecca Lizard is a homosexual lesbian schoolteacher who goes to court to have her last name changed because it is ugly and reptilian. The judge refuses her and tells her she is cluttering up the court's calendar. Miss Lizard goes to a dermatologist whose diagnosis is: "slight greenishness, genetic anomaly...

Fiction Four Figures In A Room. A Distant Figure by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Fanny and Ludovica Gillespie, two sisters, were practicing a violin duet written for them by Julius Morley. Both were professional violinists. A boy was in the room with them as they played. Julius Morley stepped out of the elevator and was overwhelmed by the sounds of their playing. Bothered by...

Comment by Roger Angell. Comment (in humorous question & answer form) about the dollar devaluation...

U. S. Journal U.S. JOURNAL: THE LOWER EAST SIDE A SUNDAY-MORNING TALE by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL about Sunday morning visits to the Lower East Side to buy ingredients for breakfast: the perfect bagel, lox and cream cheese. Writer's normal stops include Russ & Daughters for Nova Scotia salmon, Tannenbaum's Bakery (now Moishe's Bakery) for pumpernickel bagels, and Ben's Dairy for cream chees & his...

On and Off the Avenue Feminine Fashion by Kennedy Fraser. Column about style and taste & the diference between them. More jolting that her resemblance to Mick or her beauty is Bianca Jagger's unmistakable style... Mentions portraits of her in a recent Harper's Bazaar. (It was the Nov, 1972 issue...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) What's New by Robert M. Coates.

The Talk of the Town Auras by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about the Second Western Hemisphere Conference on Acupuncture, Kirilian Photography, & the Human Aura, held at Town Hall last week. Kirilian photography, which employs a high-voltage alternating current energy field bet. 2 condenser-like plates results in pictures showing bright streams of energy pouring from the surface...

Obituary by Brendan Gill. Obituary of Robert M. Coates, who died Feb. 8, 1973. He began writing for "The New Yorker" in 1927. In the ensuing forty years he wrote over a hundred short stories and innumerable book reviews, Profiles and other fact pieces. From 1937 to 1967, he was the art critic of...

The Theatre Zapped by Edith Oliver.

The Race Track Two Million a Day by G. F. T. Ryall. Writer tells about visiting several OTB parlors in midtown Manhattan & tells briefly about betting in London & Paris...

The Talk of the Town Almanac by Garrison Keillor. Talk story about the new edition of the "World Almanac and Book of Facts." According to the Almanac, Armenia still owes the U.S. money from the First World War. The amount of that debt keeps rising and one needs a new Almanac to keep track of the figure. As of...

Letter from Vietnam by Robert Shaplen. In general, the Communists were far better prepared-after the cease-fire as well as long before-not only to deal with the press but also to propagandize and proselytize the population. As soon as the agreement was signed, they began 24-hour-a-day broadcasts of all its terms...

Fiction The People's Shopper by Garrison Keillor. The Whole Wheat Food Co-op Coordinating Council has published a statement designed to help shoppers. The prices of different foods are cited. Where the vote on a certain price was not unanimous, statements from the dissenting minority are included. An example of such a statement is Marcia's who disagreed...

Musical Events An Encyclopedic Heroine by Andrew Porter.

Poetry Phenomena by John Updike. The tide goes up and down in the creek...

Poetry The Old Poet by Howard Moss. I had forgotten how the book once read...