By Claudia Wallis

Under pastel parasols on a pastoral set, the stars gathered for a Victorian garden party: Maureen O'Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, Fritz Weaver, Celeste Holm. But there was not a film crew in sight. The occasion? A benefit to revive the Tappan Zee Playhouse in Nyack, N. Y., an event that turned into a surprise 80th-birthday party for Local Resident Helen Hayes. Broadway's longtime First Lady bubbled over at the prospect of restoring the old theater where she and such "dear friends" as Jack Benny, Tallulah Bankhead and Beatrice Lillie once played. She was no less pleased with the day's festivities. "This party looks like the 19th century," said the onetime star of Victoria Regina. So, sartorially speaking, did she.

It gave new meaning to the phrase "no-frills flying." Jaromir Wagner, a 41-year-old West German car dealer, risked his life on a twelve-day, seven-stop journey from his homeland to the U.S.--without heat, seat, coffee, tea or milk. For the sake of what he called "the thrill" and at a cost of $325,000, Wagner made the trip strapped between the wings of a small, twin-engine plane, where he endured temperatures as low as 22DEG below zero. "I felt as though I was wearing a bathing suit," he said afterward. He was, in fact, clad in wool underwear, a frogman's suit, a ski suit, a leather suit, several wool sweaters and a motorcycle helmet. The frigid feat ended in a small New Jersey airfield, after a ritual circling of the Statue of Liberty and a near collision with the Goodyear blimp.

The diminutive white-haired man bowed humbly before the towering figure of the Spanish King. "Mi amigo, Don Juan Carlos," he called the monarch familiarly. The King, who stands 6 ft. 3 in., could not object. For within the domain of painting, Joan Miro is himself a reigning giant. Miro, 5 ft. and 87 years old, was honored last week in a day of ceremonies crowned by the presentation by Juan Carlos of Spain's gold medal of fine arts. Among the other events: the opening of an exhibition of Miro's works in Madrid's Tiepolo Gallery and the official designation of a square, dominated by a huge Miro ceramic mural, as Plaza Joan Miro. "This signifies recognition of a lifetime's hard, sincere, steady work," exulted the spry octogenarian. "Yes," sighed his wife, Dona Pilar Juncosa, "if only now he would slow down."

"I am the only one in the world who can arrange this event," boasted San Diego Opera Director Tito Capobianco. Indeed, Capobianco's Die Fledermaus was an operatic double play: the first time Queen Coloraturas Beverly Sills, 51, and Joan Sutherland, 53, have appeared onstage together, and the last time Sills will appear in a full-length opera. Of course, few would have considered asking two divas to, Mozart forbid, share the same spotlight. Says Sills: "We still don't know if Tito asked Joan first and told her I had said yes, or asked me first and told me she had said yes." But they got on "like sisters," reports Sutherland. "I only hope this acquaintanceship continues." Sills, in her new role as director of the New York City Opera, quickly made sure of that--by inviting her sister soprano to come and be her guest star "any time she likes." --By Claudia Wallis

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.