The Talk of the Town More Brains by Gerald Jonas. Talk story about a meeting devoted to the brain sciences, sponsored by the N.Y. Academy of Sciences, held at Hotel Roosevelt. Long discussion of results of split-brain operations. A series of these operations were performed, beginning in 1961, by Calif. neurosurgeons in Calif. who were treating people suffering from...

Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. As though indignant of their fellow-peers calling attention to their waning authority, the members of the House of Lords recently threw some of last session's most unpopular Socialist bills back in such tatters that there is doubt if the royal opening of Parliament will take place next month as...

U. S. Journal Schools Without Money by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL about a referendum that would have raised the property tax in Rockford, Illinois. In Aug. the voters rejected the referendum by a margin of 2 to 1, meaning that, in addition to eliminating athletics and extra-curricular activities by a half-million-dollar cut, the board cut six...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. In both theU.S. & China last week, people were thinking about the political future of their country. Here voters were going to the polls. In China the public had no choice, and the leaders of one political faction were consolidating themselves in power after purging the leaders of a rival...

Fiction The Bobby Bison Buy by George W. S. Trow. Humorous story about advertising. The power of Bobby Bison's Young Affordables is discussed. Writer says buy the Bobby Bison Affordables. Buy them outright. Tell Bobby how many you want. Tell Bobby what you want them to do. Bobby Bison wants to help...

Fiction The Fairy Godfathers by John Updike. Tod and Pumpkin are lovers who have recently left their spouses, Lulu and Roger. The lovers are both seeing psychiatrists; Tod, whose name is also a word for death, sees Oz and Pumpkin sees Rhadamanthus. Tod thinks about what Oz thinks of Pumpkin and what Rhadamanthus thinks of him. He...

Musical Events Mahlerei by Andrew Porter.

Fiction My Father's Car by Laura Furman. Writer, Rosie, drives to Brewster, NY where her father lived with his mistress, Gerda, for 10 years. Rosie goes to sell his car. Her father had left his wife and family for Gerda but had continued to visit his wife and sire children. He died of a heart attack His...

The Air (On Television) Prufrock Before the Television Set by Michael J. Arlen.

The Talk of the Town Two Gatherings by Ian Frazier. Talk story about the dedication of Scotland House, the new cultural, hospitality, and information center sponsored by the American-Scottish Foundation, the other day. Seven Scottish clan chiefs and their ladies came in ceremonial dress. Mayor Abraham Beams came right on time to the ribboncutting on E. 39th Street in...

Annals of Architecture A BETTER SOUND by Bruce Bliven. ANNALS OF ARCHITECTURE about the work of acoustical consultant Cyril M. Harris, in rebuilding Avery Fisher Hall to improve its acoustics. The entire hall was demolished and rebuilt. The architect in charge was Philip Johnson. Gives details of construction work relating to acoustics...

Books Basilisks' Eggs by Alastair Reid.

The Theatre Off Broadway by Edith Oliver.

The Talk of the Town Words and Music by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about an in-absentia ceremony, held by the Graduate School of the City University of New York, to award Ira Gershwin the President's Medal for being "one of the truly authentic geniuses of American popular music in the 20th century." Ira's sister, Frances Gershwin Godowsky, accepted the medal...

The Current Cinema Notes on Evolving Heroes, Morals, Audiences by Pauline Kael. Discussed in column on certain aspects of current films, especially on his appearance in "The Shootist...

Poetry What I Came For by Philip Levine. And finally the sea closes...

Poetry Watching The Breakup by Ann Stanford. Trying to feel sure when you are not sure...

Poetry The Odds by Anthony Hecht. Three new and matching leaves...