Israel's Menachem Begin knew from recent polls that his popularity had slipped. But lower than a pig's? That hurt in a country that gives the back of its hand to the cloven hoof. In this instance the animal is, to be sure, no ordinary porker, but Miss Piggy herself. Department stores selling masks for the Purim festival reported that Miss P was the hottest item on the market, a distinction shared last year by Begin and Anwar Sadat after they had signed the peace accord. Begin has one slight consolation: The demand for Sadat masks this year was even more feeble.
Mellow Macho
Burt Reynolds, caustic in the past over his lack of Oscar recognition, seems to have mellowed despite being overlooked again for Starting Over. A close friend confided: "Burt understands he is regarded as a 'movie star' and movie stars aren't necessarily considered actors by the industry. But he's proved to himself that he can do a departure role, and do it well, and that is sufficient." And the last word from Burt himself on the nomination of fellow Starting Over cast members? "I am very, very happy for Jill [Clayburgh] and Candy [Bergen]," was his self-effacing comment.
Plain Jane
Jane Fonda is, understandably, not greatly impressed by movie experts. Part of the advice she got after her first screen test, in 1959, she says wryly, was to have the characteristic Fonda jaw broken and reshaped. It was also recommended that she have her hair dyed blond, get her teeth reset and wear falsies. At least she wasn't being asked to trade on the family name. "Nobody seemed to care at all whether I was a Fonda or not," she shrugs.
A Ford Recall
Vermont Gov. Richard Snelling endorsed Howard Baker for President last month only after his Draft Ford campaign fell flat. Now he finds Jerry Ford's ruminations about running after all "bittersweet." Snelling poetizes: "I feel like a lover who proposed to the most wonderful woman in the world, got turned down, proposed to another woman—and then finds the first one has changed her mind." But then Snelling, who says he hasn't heard from Ford, adds: "My betting is that he won't run." GOP front-runner Ronald Reagan, meanwhile, has his own theory about the reason for Ford's availability. "Maybe he's developed a slice in his golf game," Reagan deadpanned.
Lox Step
When Barry Manilow closed the set of his upcoming ABC-TV special to anyone not wearing a Bagel button (a security badge he devised, named for his dog, Bagel), the crew members on Bill Cullen's neighboring Chain Reaction game show retaliated. Since they couldn't watch Manilow at work during their breaks, they made up their own security stickers with the words "Cream Cheese" and banned the Bagel brigade from catching their act.
Furthermore
•And who'll play the beautiful Princess Daisy in the movie? Judith Krantz, author of the best-seller, says she doesn't care who husband-producer Steve finds for the role—"just as long as we don't cast the woman who played Mrs. Simpson [actress Cynthia Harris, in Edward and Mrs. Simpson] on television recently." Aghast, Krantz says: "I kept wondering what in the world he ever saw in her."
•Ben Vereen may always have this image problem, despite the apparent success of Tenspeed and Brownshoe on TV. He relates sadly: "I was walking down the street and this mother and her little boy were going the other way. I heard him say, 'Look, Mommy—it's Tenspeed.' And she answered, 'No, it's not. It's Chicken George.' "
•President Carter's call for a boycott of the Moscow Summer Games got possibly unwanted support from South Africa's deposed president John Vorster. "This is the death of the Olympics," Vorster rumbled, then added: "And I, for one, will be happy to go to the funeral."
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!
