Television Critic David Bianculli previews "Poor Little Rich Girl," the NBC miniseries based on the life of heiress Barbara Hutton, who squandered a vast fortune and died nearly penniless. Farah Fawcett stars.
Architectural preservationist David Naylor, whose new book, Great American Movie Theaters, charts the past glory and current demise of a uniquely American architectural treasure, the downtown movie palace.
Salvadoran poet Claribel Alegria. She has lived in exile for many years. She now lives in Nicaragua. Her best-known book is titled Flowers From the Volcano.
Siobhan Egan and Eileen Ivers, fiddle players who perform with "Cherish the Ladies," a touring ensemble of top Irish musicians. Both are American-born, and both emigrated to Ireland to pursue their musical education. Ivers earned All-Ireland fiddle champion honors for seven years in a row. They will perform a reel and a jig, accompanied on guitar by Mick Moloney.
Terry Jones, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. Jones did much of the writing for the troupe. He directed most of their movies, often appearing as one of the Python women. Jones now writes children's books in England. He also directed the recent film "Personal Services."
August Darnell, lead singer of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Kid Creole is the dapper stage persona of August Darnell, a wildly inventive showman whose music fuses salsa, rock, jazz, reggae, funk and rap. The group has found fame in Europe and South America, but success in America has proven elusive.
John Boorman, British film director. His new film is titled "Hope and Glory" set in London during the Blitz in World War II. The film looks at war from the vantage point of a child, who saw in the chaos a non-stop party.
Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Cry Freedom," starring Kevin Kline as South African journalist Donald Woods, and Denzel Washington as anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko. The movie portrays the friendship that developed between Woods, a white reporter, and Biko, one of the leading foes of apartheid. "Cry Freedom" is directed by Richard Attenborough.
Brendan Gill. He has written for The New Yorker magazine for more than 50 years, writing poems, prose, profiles and film and theater reviews. Gill also writes about architecture and has just written a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Adventure essayist Tim Cahill. Cahill's writing appeared in the premiere issue of Outside magazine and has been a regular feature ever since. In his latest odyssey, Cahill drove from the tip of South America to Purdhoe Bay in Alaska. His newest collection of adventure tales is titled Jaguars Ripped My Flesh.
Henry Mancini, who's had a long career writing scores for movies and TV. He has composed some classic songs, such as "The Pink Panther," "Moon River," "The Days of Wine and Roses," and the themes for "Peter Gunn" and "Mr. Lucky." He had just done the music for the new film version of "The Glass Menagerie."
Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a 1960 recording of Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies, conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky and performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles some of rock's most memorable break-in records, which are singles made up of snippets of many different records. These include records by Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman's Flying Saucer.
Composer David Del Tredici. His works place him at the forefront of the neo-romantic movement. Del Tredici won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1980 for his composition "In Memory of A Summer Day." From 1968 to 1985, his works evolved around themes from Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll's beloved fairy tale. It was his 1976 work, "Final Alice," commissioned by the Chicago Symphony, that first brought Del Tredici international recognition.
