This prophecy greeted the 1960 debut of an American actress: ”I have a hunch that—- —– will do okay in pictures for about four years. Then as soon as she gets Hollywood out of her system, she`ll settle down with a nice, handsome husband, make babies, and that will be it. By 1965 I think she`ll be more often on the society pages than the entertainment pages.” Who`s the actress? Jane Fonda. In ”Jane Fonda” (St. Martin`s), biographer Michael Freedland writes that Fonda`s debut in ”Tall Story”-with Tony Perkins, in his pre-”Psycho” days-was ”an act of theft from the people who were generous enough to spend money on tickets.”
Lee Radziwill offers, in the June issue of McCall`s, some ”great ways to start a conversation” with strangers at parties. She suggests using something ”less banal” than ”And what do you do?” such as making a comment about the place where the party is being held. ”Perhaps there`s a striking painting, sculpture or piece of furniture that has impressed you. You might then find that you and the other guest are both art lovers or collectors. . . If the party is in a hotel, you might mention some hotels you have liked.” Of course, people have no problem starting a conversation with Radziwill. They just ask her what her sister`s like.
Art imitated life on the ”thirtysomething” set when the TV show dealt with the death of a parent. Ken Olin`s fictional father was supposed to be dying of cancer, and his screen friend, played by Peter Horton, told him about the death of his own father. ”I pulled that pretty much from my own life,”
says Horton. ”It was a most valuable experience. It was healthy for me to bring up feelings that I really didn`t want to deal with. Painful, but healthy. One of the great things the show does is allow us to share our private moments. It makes us all feel less alone.”
