The Talk of the Town Zeke by Whitney Balliett. Talk story about actor Morgan Freeman who played Zeke, the wino, brilliantly in Richard Wesley's "The Mighty Gents"(formerly "The Last Street Play") on Broadway this April. Describes the play and Freeman's performance which won many awards. Freeman tells writer about his childhood when he moved constantly and often lived...

Musical Events by David Hamilton.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Fiction Lurchers by Leslie Norris. When the narrator's great-grandfather left Llandovery for Glamorgan(two places in Wales, just 50 miles apart) his most prized possessions were his sheepdogs. The narrator grew up on a farm with those dog's descendants but wanted only to own a lurcher. Lurchers are hunters--part greyhound, part sheepdog or...

A Reporter at Large GIVING GOOD WEIGHT by John McPhee. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Greenmarket: open-air markets at several N.Y.C. sites, which sell local farm produce directly to the consumer. The site shifts with the day of the week: Tuesdays-Harlem, 137th St. & 7th Ave; Wednesdays-Brooklyn, Flatbush & Atlantic Avenues; Fridays-Amsterdam Ave. at 102nd St...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Fiction Dating Your Mom by Ian Frazier. Writer adopts style of the sex manual to explain the advantages of dating your mom. Since you are thrown together naturally, there is none of that tension that accompanies courtship. Many guys suffer from guilt over their dads, but dad just has to realize that women prefer sons to husbands...

Comment by Penelope Gilliatt. Review of Neil Simon's movie "The Cheap Detective". Writer comments on Mr. Simon's writing...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Up, Up, and Away by Rogers E. M. Whitaker. Talk story about E.M. Frimbo's excursion with friends on the last open-platform observation car on any passenger train in the country. Frimbo's friends are railroad buffs: Bob Lewis, Tom Streeter, Arthur Yorke Allen, and Porter Collins. The company departs Penn Station in Newark on the 5:30 pm for Phillipsburg...

The Talk of the Town Cheese by Jamaica Kincaid. Talk story about a luncheon the Dorman Cheese Co. gave at the Sky Garden Roof of the St. Moritz to honor the following people whom they consider good New Yorkers: Mary Anne Krupsak, Lieut. Governor of NY; Carol Bellamy, City Council Pres.; John Lindsay, former mayor of NYC; Lewis Rudin...

Comment by Jane Mankiewicz. A young woman we know writes: Not long ago, I had an abortion under the best of circumstances. The father was loving. There was enough money. And so on. The next morning, a woman called me at home. She said: "We know you murdered a six-week-old baby girl...

Poetry The Pawnshop by Louis Simpson. The first time I saw a pawnshop...

Poetry The Face by Philip Levine. A strange wind off the night...