Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 26

fSSltlfO P2f0call features: 222-6828 icamico. -UOO by V.B. Park Gff the Leash DETROIT FREE PRESSTuesday, Oct, 27, 1987 Glad to be a part of the paper with a heart Some times I get so mad at the Free Press, I II I I I the way these concerned people have gotte could wring its neck. "A behind this campaign. could wring its neck.

the way these concerned people have gotten W. Some times I eet so clad about the Free It should have the support of everyone in Bob I Talbert Louise Reid Ritchie wants to get 25,500 kids books. Press, I could hug its neck. The mad moments times when I scream bloody murder aren't a daily occurrence by any means, but they do occur. I get mad at my paper when there's a story I know a lot about and we get it either entirely or partially wrong.

I get mad when a columnist's or editorialist's views irk me and I immediately want to raise issue with them and voice my opinion about their general air-headed-ness. I get mad at my Free Press for the same reasons and things you get mad at it most of the time. These are things people are getting mad at their newspapers for this very moment all over the world. Oh, I get mad when we get scooped on stories we should be doing the scooping. And I get mad at what I think is the poor use of some of our personnel.

But that's in-house irritation, you see. Stuff with which you aren't yi i the community whose life revolves around the printed word, whose business or product deals with people reading. What we are talking about here is preventing illiteracy from taking hold and handicapping youngsters before they even get to school. HERE'S SOMETHING guaranteed: If that first book is the right book and becomes part of that child, then there will be a thirst for a second book, a third, fourth, fifth and lo and behold a reader is born. Once born, readers never quit, thank God and dictionaries.

Now it's nice, important for these youngsters to own that first book. One day they'll realize that, once read, they own that book forever. It's inside them, in their heads, hearts and experience for life. You can loan it to someone, lose it physically, but that book is still yours. Every word.

Every thought. Forever. I have thousands and thousands of books inside me that make me what I am. You are what you read, have read and will read. We are a nation running out of readers.

We can blame many factors, but that's not getting the readers-for-tomorrow job done. The program is getting the job done a wonderful start anyway! toward creating tomorrow's readers today with this Gift of Reading campaign. I'm so glad it's a Free Press program I could hug everybody's necks. by Garry Trudeau 'I'd love to kiss you, but I'm not at all sure it's possible." I get glad (often) when I read the Free Press from cover to cover, ads included, and come away full of information and conversational tools. I feel filled with the knowledge I pretty much have a handle on what's going on around here and elsewhere.

And then sometimes like today I get so glad and happy about something the Free Press is doing that I am column-bragging proud of this marvelous paper and the terrific people who work here. There arewere some not-so-terrific ones around here but most of them seemed to have already left for other papers and jobs. MEDIA CRITICS on television and local mags gleefully talk about an exodus from the Free Press as if the heart and soul had gone elsewhere, spurred by the Free Press' designation as the failing paper in the application for a joint operating agreement with the Detroit News. It was addition by subtraction, if you know what I mean. I'll show you the defectors' report cards and ratings if you doubt me.

I saw most of the heart and soul of this paper recently during a look-to-the-future session last week. It was just about the best morale-boosting, pump-us-up session I've experienced at the Free Press in what will soon be 20 years. This feeling of glad-about-my-Free Press is all internal, of course, in-house, as I've said, but I think you'll find it reflected in editions now and the future. The momentum is back at 321 West Lafayette. BUT THE PROUDEST and gladdest I've been about the Free Press in a long time is the Gift of Reading campaign columnist Louise Reid Ritchie started.

Columnist Ritchie, whose Family Ties column runs each Sunday in The Way We Live, wants to buy and acquire 25,500 new books for poor children under seven who are being served by There's a coupon on Page 3B that will tell you specifics about this program. It has the endorsement and support of the Detroit libraries and Detroit's educators. It's thrilling concerned. I ALSO GET glad with the Free Press over many of the same things you do. I get glad when some columnist turns me on, turns you on, turns the community on to something we didn't know or understand before.

I get glad when one of our reporters or team of reporters takes a complicated, but important story, and makes it so relatable and readable and we understand the complexity of it easily. This bozo says Bozo favor was the last Doonesbury today's test SHUT UP, HONEY, LOOK, I WAS GOING TO PAY YOU BACK'. I SWEAR IT! BUT WHATCDULPI PO? VJHOKNW IS THINK YOU SHOUlP LEVEL WITH TH5 GUY COULP you've got mi i MYMomeRWOULPNteP5UFmf? I have accomplished some pretty formidable favors for people over the years. 1 have arranged for a man and his wife to get a personal tour of the White House. I have arranged for a friend to sit in the audience of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." I have even gotten some people tickets to "Late Night With David Letterman" on less than 24 hours' notice.

But recently I got a request that I knew was going to border on the impossible. A woman named Kate Winburn-Smith I had never met her before, and still haven't wrote me a- CARRY A MOTHER, ON, RIGHT, BIG HPS JOHN GOTTI, HEAP OF THE GAM-BINO FAMILY! 00 GUY? RIGHT? TU1 BE A F6PERAL AGENT! pleading letter. She admitted the error of her ways: "I blew it. I was so busy with the baby bottles, walking around with lack of sleep and trying to be the perfect mother that I forgot to send away for Bozo tickets." Without reading another sentence, I knew exactly what she" was talking about. The best-kept secret in the United States is that the hardest ticket to get and this includes Broadway shows, the Super Bowl and the World Series is Give the kid some margin for error Bob Greene Free to navigate Do you know about this date in history? Answers below.

1. In 1795, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo, which provided for free navigation of Caribbean Detroit River Florida Straits Straits of Gibraltar Great Lakes Ohio River Mediterranean Mississippi River Pacific 2. In 1858, the 26th president of the United States was born in New York City. He was Cleveland Harrison McKinley Roosevelt Taft Wilson Harding Coolidge 3. In' 1914, poet Dylan Thomas was born in Brooklyn Ireland The Lakes region London Paris Scotland Vienna Virginia Wales 4.

In 1938, Du Pont announced it had coined a name for its new product: Bubble gum Frisbee Hula Hoop Jell-0 Nutra-Sweet Nylon Pantyhose Plastic Rhinestones Saccharin Styrofoam TNT 5. In 1967, "Expo 67" closed In Calgary Montreal New Orleans Ottawa St. Louis Seattle Toronto Vancouver 6. Match birthday celebrity, age. Actor-comedian John Cleese 41 TV producer Frederick DeCordova 48 Actress Ruby Dee 61 Actress Nanette Fabray 63 Former Nixon aide H.R.

Haldeman 65 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ralph Kiner 67 Actress Carrie Snodgress 77 today's test answers 1. The Mississippi River. 2. Theodore Roosevelt. 3.

Swansea, Wales. 4. Nylon (for a new synthetic yarn). 5. Montreal, Canada.

6. "Tonight Show" producer DeCordova is 77; Fabray, 67; sportscaster Kiner, 65; Dee, 63; former White house chief of staff Haldeman, 61; Cleese, 48; Snodgress, 41. Mother Goose Grimm Art Buchwald "That's how he played the market?" "That's how most people played it. For two years the cat couldn't do anything wrong." "If I had known that 1 would have paid the cat our fee," I said. "1 think Baby should come out." She yelled up to the bedroom window, "Baby, there are some people out front who want to see you." Baby finally came out.

His eyes were red and he was sniffling. "Tell the nice people you're sorry you lost their life savings, Baby," his mother said. "I don't want to." "Be a good boy." Baby said, "I'm sorry I lost your money, but now is the time to buy because there are a lot of bargains around and this is only a correction, and Reagan is bullish and the German mark will never destroy the dollar, as long as J.P. Morgan is alive." He took a piece of chalk and started writing orders on the sidewalk. His mother beamed, "The nice thing about investment advisers is they don't stay sad very long." There are many young people who work in the stock market investing billions of dollars of other people's money.

These young investment advisers have known only success, so Black Monday hit them very hard. One I know personally is Baby Duckett, a blue-chip specialist who was handling the money of almost everyone in our neighborhood. On paper we were all millionaires and worshiped his investing know-how. Like most Wall Street advisers, Baby is 13. When the Slide for Life happened, I rushed down to Baby's house to find out what was going on.

His mother was standing on the lawn with other investors. "He won't come out, he's crying," she said. "He has never lost money in the stock market before, and he says it's unfair." "He lost our money," I yelled. "How does he explain that?" "He thinks what took place is that more people sold stock on Monday than bought it. When this happens the Dow Jones usually goes down." "It could be a reasonable explanation," I agreed with Baby's mother.

"Why didn't he sell with the others?" "Baby doesn't know how to sell. He only knows how to buy." "Two weeks ago I was a nouveau riche now I'm a nouveau pauvre. Baby has to answer for that." The mother said, "Baby is taking this very hard. He told me he doesn't want to grow up in a world where people have a chance of losing money in the stock market." "He can say that now, but he's the one who took us down the river with General Motors and IBM. Why did he pick those two dogs?" "Baby never picked them," Mrs.

Duckett said. "What he did was lay out the Wall Street Journal stock pages on the floor and let the cat walk over them." by Hike Peters htl L.F.l. Boyd 2. Sport of danger a ticket to "The Bozo Show," which is broadcast five mornings a week over WGN-TV in Chicago. Winburn-Smith informed me that she and her husband have two sons Dillon, 7, and Reilly 6.

"The boys are always saying, 'Mom, when are we going to get to go to "The Bozo Winburn-Smith told me. "How can I tell them: 'You're never going to get to go'?" HERE IS the problem: For those of you who are unfamiliar with "The Bozo Show," it is a simple TV production. It features a clown Bozo his sidekick Cooky, games and cartoons. It also has a studio with bleachers that seat approximately 200 people. WGN is one of those so-called superstations whose signal is transmitted around the world via satellite and is picked up by cable operations everywhere.

It is estimated that "The Bozo Show" is available to 20 million cable households in all 50 states, Central America, Canada, Puerto Rico and countries that even WGN doesn't know about. "The Bozo Show" is so popular that the show's staff is sending out tickets to people who wrote in in 1979. The tickets are free, but there is an eight-year! wait. Right now, there are 10,000 ticket requests filed away in three metal cabinets at WGN's headquarters. Which is why Winburn-Smith was so distraught.

If she sent away for tickets now, her sons would be 15 and 14 by the time they got tickets. And "The Bozo Show" is not really designed for people that old. Actually, even if Winburn-Smith were to send' away for tickets now, she would not get tickets even in eight years. "We have not been taking requests for tickets since 1983," said Ron McCoy, a spokesman for "The Bozo Show." (Yes, "The Bozo Show" has a spokesman.) McCOY EXPLAINED that, with the eight-year waiting list and the backlog, WGN wants to work its way through the current file cabinets of requests before it begins accepting new ones. "I've been in television for 15 years, and I've never: seen anything like it," McCoy said.

"Getting tickets to 'The Tonight Show' or 'Wheel of Fortune' is a snap in comparison to getting tickets to 'The Bozo Show." Winburn-Smith sent me a lovely color photograph of her family. They are sitting on what appears to be their back porch. Kate is resting her hand lovingly on her husband's knee. The two boys are smiling angelically. After Ron McCoy relented and said he would make an exception, just this once I simply told Winburn-Smith that she and her boys would be given free tickets to "The Bozo Show" this month.

A note to readers: This is the only time I am going to do this. I am serious. I will never do this again. Do not call me and ask for tickets to "The Bozo Show." It will get you nowhere. I have spoken with the telephone company, and we have arranged so that if you call this office with the intention of asking for tickets to "The Bozo Show," the telephone receiver in your hand will electrocute you.

I mean it. I THINK raw over ARGUMENT CONTINUES over the most dangerous sport. It's not motorcycle or car racing, according to a student of the matter, but horse racing. This authority contends more jockeys are killed or injured every year than any other athlete. Q.

What else do men convicted of violent crimes have in common? A. Tattoos. History of abuse as children. BEFORE PEOPLE gave up meat for Lent, they celebrated with a "carnival." That word stems from "came vale" meaning "goodby, meat." Streisand-Baskin split-up for real, but it's friendly Shirley HOLLYWOOD It's true absolutely true that Barbra Streisand and her longtime fella, Richard Baskin, have split. "It's all very amicable, and they remain good friends," said a really good friend of Streisand who preferred to be unnamed.

In the meantime, Streisand's movie "Nuts" has been previewing in several markets and I hear the test scores all read "excellent," SHIRLEBRITIES: You win some and you win some more! Billionaire Marvin Davis, who sold the Beverly Hills Hotel (after own- ino it nnlv cinra loct rWpmhpfMorfl TeDOrted I Schwarzenegger: Real-life hero Streisand: Good reviews Schwarzenegger, who at the time was going with Maria Shriver (to whom he's married now), was sitting on the beach with her when he spotted me fighting the undertow, and the undertow was winning the battle. He quickly ran to the ocean, swam out to me and pulled me back with him to the beach, where, by now, a crowd had assembled at the water's edge. After I sputtered water and sand, and he knew I was all right, he and Maria went back to their places on the beach, and went on with their original project, which was to get great suntans. "Needless to say, that Arnold Schwarzen-egger, even though I haven't seen him since except on screen, will forever be my real-life hero!" I dined out in Hollywood Saturday at Nicky Blair's. It was jammed with people, and you had to know someone to get a table.

Fortunately the people I was with Pia Zadora and her husband Meshulam Riklis know everyone! Sitting at other tables all around us were Dabney Coleman with Harry Dean Stanton; Jack Klugman, in from his home away from home (the racetrack); Tyne and Daley; Norm Crosby; Suzanne Pie-shette, and three Sinatras Nancy Nancy Jr. and Tina. Pot-Shots by Ashleigh Brilliant rillMifttKI' B'iii'tnl 8oi iil tiMfli'M'i 9310: fa sp' tv good from one small station to another. When we still lived in New York, I can remember Merv and his wife Julann they have long since divorced coming to a New Year's Eve party at our apartment. As a treat for all of us, he played the piano most of the evening, and he and Julann sang up a storm together.

The Johnny Carson production company is up for sale. What does the Carson company own? "The David Letterman Show," "Mr. President" and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." REAL-LIFE HERO This past weekend in Hollywood, we saw a preview of the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "The Running Man." (It opens Nov. 13.) It should be an even bigger box office hit than his previous films, because it really is his best movie and best performance to date. I've always liked Schwarzenegger the man, but haven't been too crazy for his movies or his BEFORE I BECOME 1.1 ri "') vmjr uw.

$50Mlion profit to the Sultan of Brunei, got out of the stock market several weeks before last week's "black Monday." Half-a-billionaire Merv Griffin was informed that his bid on the Beverly Hilton Hotel came in second to the Japanese syndicate that bought it. On hearing that news, Griffin said, "With the Sultan of Brunei owning the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hong Kong group owning the Beverly Wiishire Hotel and now the Japanese at the Hilton, I'll need a green card to work in Beverly Hills!" And it doesn't seem so long ago that the "Merv Griffin Show" still was coming from New York and getting kicked around pretty EMBITTERED, larger-than-life movie persona until this one. I spoke with Sheryl Gunn about how much I truly enjoyed "The Running Man" and Arnold's performance in it. Gunn, who until her recent marriage was Cybill Shepherd's executive secretary assistant, told me how Schwarzenegger in real life literally saved her life. "He may not remember," said Gunn, "but I'll never forget it! "Years ago, while I was body-surfing in the ocean in Hawaii, I got tangled in an undertow and couldn't fight my way out of it.

I LL PROVE IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE TO BE YOUNG AND EMBITTERED it.