Flight attendant Suzanne Sanders, who routinely was assigned to the Lockheed Electra turboprop that crashed Monday in Nevada, wasn`t on the plane when it went down. Sanders, who worked on the plane when it was chartered by Jesse Jackson`s presidential campaign, had been assigned to Monday`s flight. She became ill, however, and called in sick.
WASHINGTON WHIRL . . .
WASHINGTON–INC. hears that UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick has ”no specific requests” prepared for a meeting next week with President Reagan. . . . Illinois Gov. James Thompson and U.S. House Minority Leader Bob Michel
(R., Ill.), meeting behind closed doors, agreed on Thompson`s selection of attorney Anton Valukas to replace U.S. Atty. Dan Webb. So scratch those rumors that Michel is a ”kingmaker.” . . . Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins, who didn`t get the postmaster general appointment he wanted because Reagan isn`t the one who gets to fill that nonpartisan spot, is telling folks he`d like to succeed Ray Donovan as secretary of labor. Now that`s a job Reagan can fill. . . . It`s so cold here that a group of ”mountain men” warmed up their bear and badger skins on radiators before heading to Monday`s inaugural events. . . . Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig is traveling in a limo bearing a ”Haigmobile” sign. So much for anonymity.
— Stars on parade: Naturalized citizen Arnold Schwarzenegger is telling everybody that he`s a rock-ribbed Republican, which doesn`t seem to bother his girlfriend, Maria Shriver, JFK`s niece. ”Our relationship isn`t built on political philosophy,” she says. Oh, gag. . . . First Friend Jerry Zipkin, escort to the stars, was assigned to entertain Nancy Reagan`s pals. . . . Paparazzi Ron Gallela, snapping pix of Elizabeth Taylor, snapped, ”Liz is No. 1. Forget Jackie O.” . . . Opera singer Beverly Sills, who has lost 70 pounds, was seen in Nancy Reagan Red. . . . INC. watched actress Jill St. John wolf down three huge crab legs at a gala event.
KITTY AND FRANK, CHAPTER 106 . . .
While Frank Sinatra threw his latest temper tantrum for the press over the weekend, Kitty (”Jackie O!”) Kelley was piling up more ammunition for her unauthorized biography of the singer-turned-inaugural -gala-producer.
”Frank is accustomed to controlling the press and giving only what he wants them to know,” she said. ”So he was furious and humiliated over a front-page story about his `Rat Pack` days, when he was adoring John F. Kennedy on bended knee.” Added Kelley, in a low meow, ”It didn`t even mention his connections to organized crime.” Her book undoubtedly will mention that, along with material from nine hours of taped interviews with the late Peter Lawford, who Kelley contends was ”desperate” to get back into Sinatra`s circle. ”Frank hadn`t talked to him for 20 years, but when Lawford died, Frank had his press agent issue a statement that he was `deeply grieved.` Humph!” Humph indeed. The book should be out by the end of the year.
SMALL-SCREEN TRADE . . .
Is Phil Donahue trying to change his image? On Monday, the show–or, more accurately, the studio–got so hot that seven people fainted and the audience was evacuated. Donahue just took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves (can`t you just see him?) and carried on with a panel discussion about homosexual senior citizens. Donahue doesn`t have another sex show scheduled for this week. . . . Super Bowl payoffs: ”Today” show cohost Jane Pauley, who backed Miami in a ”favorite foods” bet with Bryant Gumbel, had Kansas City ribs delivered to him Monday. And Gumbel, taking no chances, flew in a Gino`s pizza anyway and just dangled it in front of Jane`s face.
PARTY, PARTY . . .
South Shore neighborhood groups are wondering if the South Shore Country Club has turned into a wedding hall instead of the community center they had expected. The Chicago Park District has given Crucial Inc., which handles concessions at South Side beaches, an exclusive catering contract at the club. That includes serving three large dining rooms, each of which seat 200 to 800 people, and two smaller rooms. Although dinners start at $16.50 a person, plus liquor, plus room rental of $50 an hour for private parties and fundraisers and $100 an hour for organizations, the place is so popular that all Saturday nights this summer are booked. ”We`re basically doing weddings, family reunions, anniversary parties and dances,” says Crucial General Manager Tony Razko. Although his firm has catered parties before, Razko says, ”This is our first major thing.” . . . A neighborhood organizer asks: ”Why can you bring your own food into the Cultural Center but not here? This has nothing to do with local business and nothing to do with community groups. We feel like we`re being shut out.”
INC.LINGS . . .
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is giving Europeans a chance to see Chicagoans carrying violin cases with real violins in them. The symphony, which is receiving standing ovations across the continent, entertained U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Franklin Forsberg in Stockholm and U.S. Ambassador to Germany Arthur Burns in Bonn. Both were guests of the State of Illinois at the concerts. . . . Dr. Lisa Arbisser, an Iowa ophthalmologist, will be on hand Tuesday in the Museum of Science and Industry when Dr. Joyce Brothers is presented the Health Achievers Award by the American Hospital Supply Corp. Foundation. She`s Brothers` daughter. . . . Tuesday birthdays: Piper Laurie, 53; Linda Blair, 26; Ann Sothern, 73; Joseph Wambaugh, 48; Bill Bixby, 51;
Frank Coakley, 47; Bruce (”Shear Madness”) Jordan, 40. . . . Playwright Timothy Mason is in from New York for Wednesday`s Midwest premiere of
”Levitation” at Victory Gardens. . . . Sculptor Richard Hunt has been commissioned by the Illinois Arts Council to design the Governor`s Art Award, to be presented May 4 at the council`s 20th anniversary gala.
THE NAME GAME . . .
A Washington punster on the real reason Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler was the only Cabinet member who didn`t attend Monday`s inauguration rerun: ”They didn`t want any Hecklers in the audience.”
