Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Since the fall of Saigon, American political observers have been trying to work out the "lessons of Vietnam." Some say the war should teach us to be wary of similar interventions elsewhere; others say we have already overlearned this first lesson, and must now remember that intervention is sometimes necessary...

The Talk of the Town Rehearsal by Lillian Ross. Talk story about George Abbott, the 91-year-old actor-writer-producer-director. He is directing "Winning Isn't Everything", a play written by Lee Kalcheim, which is being produced by the Hudson Guild Theatre, & is scheduled to open on Nov. 8th. The theatre is on W. 26 St., between...

The Theatre BALEFUL BIGNESS by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Paper by Charles McGrath. Talk story about ticker-tape parade up Broadway to City Hall for the World Series winning New York Yankees. There wasn't much authentic ticker tape to see, but the sky was full of other kinds of papers: streamers confetti, Kleenex, adding-machine rolls, envelopes, torn-up file folders, and IBM...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "The Wiz" for which Joel Schumacher wrote the script. It's a black version of "The Wizard of Oz...

Profiles FROLICS AND DETOURS OF A SHORT HEBREW MAN by Kenneth Tynan. PROFILE of Mel Brooks, 52, comedian-writer-filmmaker. Tells about his career, which blossomed only recently. Born Melvin Kaminsky, of Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, Brooks worked as general worker and comic in Catskills resorts before the war. He tells about his life as an enlisted man. From 1949-54, he wrote...

Fiction The Canoes by Douglas Dunn. The narrator is a Scotsman in the village of Locharnhead. He is a bachelor and lazy. He and the other men of the village live on social security and stand around on the jetty overlooking the Loch on summer evenings. An English couple, Peter and Rosalind Barker, arrive on holiday...

Fiction From the Fifteenth District by Mavis Gallant. Writer describes 3 complaints of hauntings in the 15th district. In each instance the person who complains of being haunted is already dead and being haunted by the living. Major Emery Travella claims he is haunted by the congregation of St. Michael's Church where he was buried and returns for...

Books by George Steiner.

U. S. Journal THOUGHTS DURING AN AUCTION OF OCEANFRONT LOTS by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: ROQUE BLUFFS, ME. about an auction of oceanfront land on Chambers Point near Roque Bluffs, Maine. Everybody wants a piece of the shore and land speculation has reached Washington County, Maine, the poorest county in a poor state. Suddenly land that had changed hands for years as woodlot...

The Race Track by G. F. T. Ryall. Dr. Jerome Torsney's Mac Diarmida took the $185,300 Canadian International Championship Stakes at Toronto's Woodbine...

Portrait Portrait of a Woman by Dave Smith. October, that glittering rakehell month...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Poetry Who Will Drive Me Home? by Vladimir Nabokov. Who will drive me home, along the bumpy road...

Poetry Gathering Greens by Philip Booth. In thin snow...