Back in 1974, Henry Kissinger's family—wife Nancy plus son David and daughter Elizabeth by his first marriage—flew with the Secretary of State to Peking aboard his Air Force 707. Nancy's passage was a legitimate government expense, and Kissinger spiked any possible criticism by announcing he'd cover the kids' fares out of his $63,000 annual salary. But in the 17 months since, the Pentagon hasn't rendered a bill, and the Secretary's office—which now insists that the kids "did not add to the cost of the mission"—has not requested one.
Slow Burn
The celebrity roasts where the flesh really sizzles never make TV. Take the recent skewering of Pat Henry, in which Frank Sinatra, the comic's professional Godfather, admitted, "Sure, Pat is my opening act. I had a choice of him or an automobile accident." Milton Berle put it another way—Henry is "Sinatra's pet rock." But the real capper on the evening at the Beverly (Hills) Hilton came from gag writer Pat McCormick, who observed of the man born Pasquale Scarnato: "You can tell a fellow by his friends—and half the people in this room know where Jimmy Hoffa is."
Sick Transit Gloria
After eight cash-in years, ABC has finally unnailed the shingle of Marcus Welby, M.D. Supporting sawbones James Brolin may be relieved—he'd made noises about leaving anyway for the big screen (though one critic suggested that after Gable and Lombard, "he should leave the country instead"). But not the star. "There are supposed to be 2,500 known diseases," sighs Robert Young, 69. "We've only covered a fraction of them in 170 episodes."
Sign of the Times
Back in 1923, after silent movie moguls had migrated west and made their homes in L.A., local boosters proudly erected the 50-foot-high letters on the hill that today still spell out H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D. Now, the metal letters are rusting out—only a temporary patch job saved several from avalanching down Mount Lee. So stars like Gene Kelly, Lucy Ball and John Wayne have mobilized to raise $10,000 to shore up the monument permanently. "Hollywood desperately needs any of the old glamor," says Monty Hall, "and the sign is part of the old Hollywood." It is a sign of the new Hollywood that in 1976 the town's honorary mayor is TV deal-maker Hall.
Led Balloon
In taking his road show to a convention of the folks who keep America's record racks filled, Democratic presidential aspirant Jimmy Carter reeled off the lyrics of such pop hits as Blowin' in the Wind and Eleanor Rigby. Carter claimed he preferred classical music before becoming Georgia's governor, but that while in office, he listened to John Denver, the Allman Bros, (who've campaigned for Jimmy), Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. But when Carter, 51, insisted he also dug the Eagles and hard-rocking Led Zeppelin, record industry conventioneers impolitely laughed out loud.
Israeli Pigs
Even before British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's unexpected resignation, opposition leader Margaret Thatcher had booked a quickie tour of Israel and confab with Golda Meir. Among other counsel, the ex-Israeli P.M. warned Thatcher of the perils of wearing the political pants. "How chauvinistic men can be," groused Golda. "They used to nickname me the only man in the Israeli cabinet. How would a man feel if I thought I complimented him by calling him the only female in the cabinet?"
Furthermore
•There isn't a prayer that any of the 10 women crudely asked by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt to pose in the nude will agree, even for $1 million—the cutesy eclectic list ranges from Barbara Walters to Gloria Steinem to Julie Nixon Eisenhower. But Grant Tinker, husband of invitee Mary Tyler Moore, was intrigued enough to ask jokingly if that million was "before or after taxes?"
•"I always had this image of my being voluptuous," observed Candy (American Graffiti) Clark. But then she was cast opposite pallid, paper-thin rock monster David Bowie in his first film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. On screening their nude love scene, Candy "got such a shock when I saw how slight David and I looked. We were both really like two little white worms."
•The marriage in Acapulco of rock monster Alice Cooper, 28, to Sheryl Goddard, a 19-year-old singer and dancer in Cooper's show, must have been a tear-jerker: The rings they coyly exchanged were onion.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
