• September 23, 1985
• Vol. 23
• No. 13

Take One

By Rebecca Bricker

Add Howie (St. Elsewhere) Mandel to the list of celebs, including John Travolta, Linda Evans and Lisa Hartman, who have shaped up with body trainer Dan Isaacson. In his new comedy feature Bobo the Dog Boy, in which he plays a boy raised by a pack of wild dogs, "I'll be scantily clad," Mandel admits. "So I want to look good." His last attempt at shaping up turned out to be all wet. "I tried the Jane Fonda tape, but it didn't work," says Mandel. "Then I realized it was On Golden Pond."

When a novel about the kidnapping of an outspoken Vice-President's wife hits the bookstalls next spring, readers may be surprised to learn that the high jinks are based more on fact than fiction. The authors of the book, One Woman Lost, are credentialed observers of the Washington scene: Abigail McCarthy, estranged wife of former Senator Eugene McCarthy, and Jane Muskie, wife of former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie. McCarthy got the idea for One Woman Lost after reading a biography of Martha Mitchell. "During the Watergate flap she was nearly institutionalized against her will," says McCarthy. "The question we raise in our book is what if somebody who wasn't as flamboyant as Martha and who didn't have her press contacts became inconvenient to a powerful Administration." Washington, McCarthy adds, has provided plenty of literary inspiration. "Things happen in real life," she says, "that are worse than what happens in fiction."

A funny thing happened on the set of Invaders from Mars, a remake of the 1953 sci-fi thriller in which aliens capture and brainwash residents of a small town. In one scene a mind-control device implanted in back of Laraine Newman's neck explodes. As planned, an explosive disk "went off in a succession of three charges," says Newman. "They had wet down my hair so it wouldn't catch fire, but it did anyway." Crew members quickly extinguished the fire. Shades of that other Thriller with Michael Jackson.

Lynda Carter, who dresses up Bob Hope's comedy special this week, will tackle serious roles in two TV movies, which Carter will also co-produce: Still watch, based on Mary Higgins Clark's novel of political intrigue, and Life Penalty, inspired by Joy Fielding's book about the aftermath of a child's murder.

Actor Dean Paul Martin and skater Dorothy Hamill, who divorced last year, are dating again. Not only that, Martin has also recruited Hamill for a bit part in an episode of his new NBC series, Misfits of Science. Hamill plays a bag lady who sets trash-can fires telekinetically. The pair has only one encounter during the episode. When Martin, a scientist studying superhuman powers, learns of Hamill's abilities, he tells an assistant, "Just put her on ice and I'll get to her later."