• September 19, 1983
• Vol. 20
• No. 12

Take One

By Fred Bernstein

Author J.D. Salinger has lived as a virtual recluse in his New Hampshire cottage since 1951, but now his son Matt, 23, has chosen that most public of all possible professions, acting. On Oct. 18 in Los Angeles, Matt will open in Jordan Katz's play, One Night at Studio, in which he portrays a doorman at Manhattan's Studio 54. As he describes it, the doorman is "the arbiter of cool"; he keeps the other characters outside all night. Salinger, who acted in student productions at Columbia, says he "tried everything else I was interested in," including a trainee stint at Sotheby's auction house, before deciding to perform professionally. Matt (whose sister, Margaret, 27, is studying at Oxford) could heat up his career just by getting Dad to write a screenplay: J.D. has never allowed his most popular work, The Catcher in the Rye, to be made into a movie, and though his son seems a natural to play its hero, Holden Caulfield, Matt says, "I would never ask him." Ready when you are, J.D.

Thousands of Elvis Presley fans have been trying to get the Postal Service to issue an Elvis commemorative stamp, but they have been, so to speak, licked. Despite a massive letter-writing campaign, the Service has refused to consider giving Elvis its stamp of approval till 1987, the 10th anniversary of his death (the traditional minimum wait). Still, philatelists expect one of the smaller countries that are always ready to oblige collectors as a source of revenue to issue an Elvis commemorative any day now. A leading possibility is the independent Arab sheikdom Fujeira, one of the United Arab Emirates, which in the past has come out with the likes of a 1972 stamp featuring the murdered actress Sharon Tate posing in a bathtub near husband Roman Polanski.

Accommodations in L.A. during the Olympics next summer may be a bit pricey, especially for those planning to rent in such enclaves as Beverly Hills or even more exclusive Bel Air. Many homes there are going for $40,000 to $100,000 a month, and one estate with maid, security system, library, pool, Jacuzzi and tennis courts is being advertised at $200,000 a week....

If money really is no object, you might consider flying Regent Air to the Olympics. The new luxury airline will begin nonstop service next month between New York and the coast at $1,500 plus tax per person; that includes limo or helicopter service to the airport and on-board food and beverages catered by Wolfgang Puck, impresario of L.A.'s trendy Spago eatery. Among the other freebies are manicures, haircuts, stenography service and individual video monitors for watching first-run movies. Sorry, air-to-ground telephone calls are extra.

George Lucas won't make $100 million-plus from his Return of the Jedi for nothing. You could say Lucas had a grip on every aspect of the production, including the poster that shows a pair of hands clutching Luke Skywalker's lightsaber. Mark Hamill, who plays the saber-wielding Luke, wasn't required to pose for the close-up, but Lucas already had a sub in mind. The light-saber in the poster is in the hands, by George, of George.

Remember those paper-doll books of Charles and Di that were popular with cutups at the time of the royal wedding? Well, now that Bonnie Prince William is 15 months old, Pocket Books thinks he should have his own version. In November they'll release The Royal Baby paper doll book ($4.95), in which an adorable William can be dressed up to go sailing, play polo, take in the races, eat lunch or whip around Buckingham Palace's 600 or so rooms in—you guessed it—his baby Rolls.