How It Works, Chapter 1: Don`t call two autobiographies by two of the original members of The Mamas and the Papas coming out within weeks of each other a coincidence. ”Oh, no,” agrees Michelle Phillips. ”When John
(Phillips) heard that I was writing mine (”California Dreamin`,” Warner)
he began writing his (”Papa John,” Dolphin-Doubleday) and beat me to the bookstores. It`s a typical John Phillips move.” If you recall that Michelle and John not only worked together but were once married, too, suddenly it all becomes clear.
In ”Courage Is a Three-Letter Word” (Random House), author Walter
Anderson asks Marlo Thomas what stands between people and their dreams. Her answer: ”Facts. . . When we line up all the facts that we believe are against us, the facts can stop us before we start. Whatever we need to discourage us–`I`m too young, too old, too short, too tall, unprepared, inexperienced or not quite ready`–we can uncover. And if we miss a few details, we can always find someone to help us `face the facts.` (But) all the facts together mean nothing. What matters more is what you really want, what you`re willing to work for, to struggle for, to take risks for.”
It`s amazing how far an actor will go to get into a role. Gregory Hines, who plays a Chicago cop in ”Running Scared,” took part in a police raid to get in the mood. ”We ransacked this known heroin dealer`s house,” he says in the September Playboy. ”Now when the cops say they`re going to search somebody`s house, they mean it. They open up the flowerpots, they go for the boxes of Cheerios. We didn`t find any heroin, but we found about $6,000 in cash; I found $1,500 stuffed in a green pepper. The cops were pretty impressed with me for that.”
REPLAYS
”He has swallowed the sun.” Pablo Picasso on Henri Matisse
”A great social reformer.” George Bernard Shaw on Jack the Ripper
”The best potato masher one could wish for.” Hannah Nixon on her son, Richard
