The Talk of the Town Delivery by Mark Singer. Talk story about Musicbox, Inc., a Brooklyn based company owned by Dean Foster and his wife, Sheryl Sims-Foster, which composes singing telegrams--Musicgrams-and delivers them either by telephone or in person. Writer follows John Deyle, a newly selected courier, on his debut delivery. Deyle delivers a birthday song...

Television The DiLiberto Times by Roy Blount. Impressed at the impact of the media--radio, television, newspapers--on modern living, a man delivers a monologue suggesting far-fetched services calculated to make life conform to expectations encouraged by the media. For instance, an outfit called Quick Cuts will get you from your apartment to the Debby Boone...

The Talk of the Town Pippo by Jamaica Kincaid. Talk story about visit to Pippo of Rome, a beauty salon that advertises "Internationally Known Hairdressers." Mr. Pippo Guastella studied hairdressing in Rome and worked there for Frank the Neopolitan, who had several illustrious male clients, before opening a salon in New York in 1959. Pippo subscribes to an Italian...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Our Far-Flung Correspondents ISMAILIA REVISITED by Suzy Eban. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about the first Israeli Peace Mission to Egypt, arriving there on Christmas Day of 1977. Tells about the Canal and how it has changed since Nasser nationalized it in 1956. It has been deepened to accommodate huge tonnages. The staff, which used to be European, is...

The Talk of the Town Faith by James Stevenson. As we were having breakfast at 6 a.m. in a seedy coffee shop on Amsterdam Avenue one snowy morning recently, an elderly woman in a vivacious blond wig bustled in, looked at the small middle-aged man next to us and plopped down near him. Fixing the man with a...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman...

The Sporting Scene I WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY by E. J. Kahn. THE SPORTING SCENE about an international amateur backgammon championship, broadcast over closed-circuit television from the Dunes in Las Vegas. The final round on Jan. 29 was won by Moshe (Chico) Felberbaum, who shed his amateur status and won a first prize of $180,400. It is said there are 20...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. When the Radio City Music Hall Corp. announced its plans recently to close down the Music Hall & mentioned that proposals have been made to replace it with a new hotel, some tennis courts, and new office space, the Show People's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall, a group...

The Talk of the Town Skytrain by Kennedy Fraser. Talk story about a young Englishwoman's experience on Freddy Laker's Skytrain, the bargain flight between New York and London. The Laker office at Rego Park in Queens was something of a shock to her. She made the mistake of paying in advance for meals that she wasn't hungry for on...

The Race Track by G. F. T. Ryall. Franklin Groves, a Minneapolis industrialist's one of a group of horsemen who bought a half interest in Seattle Slew, for $6,000,000. At the dispersal sale of Harry Mangurian's stock at Ocala, Florida last week, Groves gave $700,000 for Desert Vixen, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, who is in foal...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Poetry Cave Paintings by Leslie Norris. After dark, police sirens rip us...

Poetry I Know Your Heart, Marco Polo by Henry Bromell. Scobie and Matthew are on vacation visiting their parents, Sam and Laura...

Poetry Devotions by James Galvin. Think of the way she whistles each day at three...