The Talk of the Town The Morning Watch by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about a visit before dawn to Comsat's new Launch Control Center, in Washington, D.C., in order to watch the main event in the life of the largest commercial satellite ever launched. The satellite, Intelsat VF3, had been launched two nights before, and in less than half an hour...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Comment on Poland. One of the most surprising features of the martial law that has been declared in Poland is the thoroughness of the blackout of information within Poland and between Poland and the outside world. The Solidarity movement, in its sixteen months of legal existence, was a light &...

The Talk of the Town Broken Toe by Susan Lardner. Talk story about a phone conversation with Janet. Writer received a call from Janet, who was at a pay phone. Her own phone had been disconnected, and she wanted writer to call her back. Janet had taken some notes and wanted to read them to her. She had broken her...

Books No Dearth of Death by John Updike.

Fiction A Little Spoon by Alfred Habegger. In 1944, Albert Gering's father, a doctor and a conscientious objector to World War II because of his Mennonite religion, was ordered to move with his family to a Civilian Public Service camp outside a small town called Minersville, in California. The Minersville camp was one of about a hundred...

Jazz American Masterpieces by Whitney Balliett.

Fiction "The Stylish New York Couples" by Veronica Geng. Parody of article in New York magazine about "Ten Stylish New York Couples." Current piece describes four couples: "These 4 couples have different names and faces, but they have one thing in common--a strong tendency to appear in articles of this kind, because they are fashion individualists... Each couple...

The Talk of the Town Sylvia Marlowe by Suzannah Lessard. Obituary Talk story about Sylvia Marlowe, the harpsichordist who died last month...

The Theatre SLEEPY APPLE by Brendan Gill.

Fiction Security by George Booth. Eight captioned drawings which suggest means of discouraging robbers from entering one's home. Some of the captions are: "Geese will still do the job. And you can always use the eggs." "Burglars hate the old wire-coat-hanger alarm." "Those in the know wear a police cap during afternoon-saunter...

Profiles DEALMAKER by Mark Singer. PROFILE of Sam Cohn, 52, a motion-picture and theatrical talent agent. At International Creative Management on W. 57th St., the agency where he works, his title is head of the N.Y. motion-picture dept. More often than his competitors Cohn manages to become involved with films and plays that...

Poetry The Kingfisher by Amy Clampitt. In a year the nightingales were said to be so loud...