— U.S. Rep Phil Crane (R., Ill.) and wife, Arlene, are featured in next month`s Washingtonian Magazine for keeping their marriage together for 28 years despite all the temptations in Washington, D.C., a.k.a. Hollywood East. Former D.C. gossip columnist Diana McLellan writes that Mrs. Crane`s sense of humor helped her survive the strains of 17 years in Power City. But what kinds of strains, asked INC. ”I`ve had tremendous in-law problems. But now I can laugh; I just don`t see them anymore,” Mrs. Crane said. How does she keep the Capitol Hill dollies away from her handsome husband? ”You don`t have a prayer if your husband doesn`t have any moral fiber, and Phil does,” she said. As for the broken unions of other congressmen, she said, ”You wonder how some of these guys got elected, let alone married. It wasn`t because of their brains.”
— Wednesday`s editions of the Washington Post noted that U.S. Rep. Sala Burton (D., Calif.) would speak about dietary goals for America at a Feb. 11 meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition. Apparently no one read the Post`s obituary earlier in the week reporting that Burton died last Sunday.
— The last word. Evanston`s Graeme Bannerman, who was chief of staff for Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.) while Lugar chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, threw a farewell party for staff Wednesday in the wake of North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms` return to the senior Republican committee spot. In a final toast to a room filled with ambassadors and other Powerful Ones, Bannerman said: ”To Lugar, who hired us, and to Sen. Helms, who retired us.”
CAMPAIGN TRAIL DIRT . . .
While mayoral candidate Jane Byrne skirts the gay rights issue when campaigning on the lakefront, her supporters aren`t stepping as gingerly. Carlos Castro`s Concerned Puerto Rican Citizens is airing a radio commercial on a Hispanic station blasting Mayor Harold Washington and Aldermen Luis Gutierrez (26th) and Jesus Garcia (22d) for their support of the failed gay rights ordinance. The commercials say the three ”voted in favor of homosexuals, which is against moral and religious principals,” and concludes with a pitch to ”vote for Jane Byrne to get back on the high road.” Will she take Castro with?
SCOPING THE STATE . . .
— The state`s lieutenant governor has a real job. Gov. Jim Thompson tapped Lt. Gov. George Ryan as an Illinois Trade and Tourism representative to coordinate efforts of statewide agencies and the guv`s office. The job gives Ryan some visibility from which to mount his own campaign (perhaps for governor?) in four years.
— Illinois Senate President Phil Rock (D., Oak Park) named Sen. Bill Marovitz (D., Chicago) to chair the committee studying the feasibility of a multi-purpose, and perhaps domed, sports stadium. The first hearing is later this month in Chicago.
REEL NEWS . . .
— KISS Gene goodbye: Gene Simmons has been replaced by Lewis VanBergen in the title role of the ”Jon Sable” TV movie being filmed here. Simmons, the KISS lead singer whose previous acting roles were relatively small parts in ”Runaway” with Tom Selleck and ”Wanted: Dead or Alive” with Rutger Hauer, was about 10 days into the filming of ”Sable” when he and the project`s producers agreed he`d bitten off more than he was able to chew (even with that history-making tongue)–especially since ”Sable” is expected to become a weekly series.
— After 40 years in the entertainment business, Roddy McDowall has developed a very practical attitude. Says McDowall, whose latest project is
”Dead of Winter” with Mary Steenburgen: ”All you can do is hope what you`re doing is going to have a reasonable beginning, middle and end. Whether it`s accepted or rejected is in the lap of the gods. I`ve been involved in so many things that seemed to be absolutely astonishing, and the response was . . . `Huh?` I don`t think it`s advisable to look for the ultimate effect that something is going to create . . . because it`s always sort of a surprise.”
AIR WAVES . . .
The Chicago Theatre will be the site of the May 31 Chicago Emmy Awards, which will be broadcast on WGN-TV. . . . Note to all the radio listeners casting votes for Wally Phillips in The Tribune`s ”Radio Superstar Election” to find Chicago`s most popular morning deejay: Wally moved to afternoons on WGN last year.
INC.LINGS . . .
Contrary to rumors sweeping the country Thursday, Paul Newman is not dead. Said a spokeswoman, ”He`s fine; he doesn`t even have a cold.”
. . . Friday birthdays: Fabian, 44; Ronald Reagan, 76; Zsa Zsa Gabor, 68; or 70; or 73; Bonnie Koloc, 41; WGN Radio`s Paul Brian, 36; restaurateur Bob Djahanguiri, 45. . . . Happy 50th anniversary to former Cook County treasurer Bernard Korzen and Loretta. . . . Today`s Chicago Woman will parody itself in April with ”Today`s Chicago Womanizer,” targeted for ”lecherous upscale men” and featuring airbrushed beauty makeovers of Chicago media men. . . . After Gary Collins guests Monday with Mariette Hartley on CBS-TV`s ”The Morning Program,” his crew will bring in its cameras to tape her appearance as his guest on ”Hour Magazine.”
