Monday, Sep. 22, 1980
By E. Graydon Carter
Taken together, the three birthday celebrators have more summers behind them than does the nation itself. Former Kansas Governor Alf Landon, 93, the eldest of the trio, was given a regular River City-style salute by the trombones of the Landon Middle School band in Topeka. The Governor still maintains a high degree of horse sense with daily rides on Red, his 27-year-old Morgan. "I'm in good shape," reports Landon, who carried the G.O.P. banner during the ill-fated campaign against F.D.R. in 1936, "though I can't get in and out of the saddle without help." Colonel Harland Sanders, 90, whose birthday fete took place at his old Kentucky home town of Louisville, prefers to do most of his traveling by air. Though he will not cover the 250,000 miles he managed last year, he still makes a bucketful of appearances touting his famous fried chicken for Heublein, Inc. The colonel's secret recipe: he just doesn't let birthdays ruffle his feathers. Besides, says Sanders, "90 is a good landmark to start from. I'm planning to reach 100 with no problem at all." Just the sort of Gray Panther gumption that Democratic Congressman Claude Pepper, 80, chairman of the Select Committee on the Aging, likes to hear from his elders. In fact, most times he can get downright salty over what he calls "agism"--discrimination against the elderly. At the birthday party in his Capitol office, the oldest member of the House of Representatives gazed around the room at the young staff members who had organized the affair. Said he: "I plan to be around for your 80th birthdays too, you know."
Alec Guinness may have abandoned his Star Wars' light-sword for a more earthly riding crop, but the Force is still with him. In Little Lord Fauntleroy, a CBS-TV movie, he plays the Earl of Dorincourt, a crusty old gaffer gradually softened by his grandson's winsome ways. Guinness, 66, who found himself "with a moist eye now and then" while reading his part, was beguiled by his young costar, Ricky Schroder, 10, who plays the Brooklyn tot turned aristocrat. (This is the third movie version of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic: Mary Pickford played "Fauntleroy" in the 1921 film and Freddie Bartholomew in the 1936 remake.) Between takes at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, England, the lord and the knight discovered a mutual passion: fishing. Says Schroder of his new friend: "I like working with Alec. He's a nice guy and not at all stuffy."
In the title song of her new abum For the Working Girl, sultry Melissa Manchester rails against male chauvinists like some roadies and back-up bandsmen. But since she tuned out her six-piece rock group for a full orchestra, touring has become a nonsexist family affair. Her father, David Manchester, 60, former bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, occasionally hits the road with her, and has been instrumental on Melissa's last two orchestrated pop-rock records. Sister Claudia Cagan, 34, sings backup, and Mother Ruth creates some of her costumes. Manchester, 29, is even getting some help up front: Brother-in-Law Steve Cagan, 34, is her conductor.
--By E. Graydon Carter
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.