T A B L E_.T A L K

First it was Tinky Winky. Add your conjecture in the puppet and toon rumor thread in Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

The Teen Millennium
By Steve Erickson
From 'Buffy' to 'Jawbreaker,' today's culture makes teenagers the battlegrounds of cosmic forces.
(03/03/99)

Bill lettres
By James Poniewozik
Write about screwing your father? Ho-hum. Admit a youthful murder? Been there, done that. But confess in print how much money you make, and all hell breaks loose
(03/02/99)

Inside Outside
By Susan Lehman
Plus: New editor flies into Mother Jones; Janeane Garofalo and her body double
(02/25/99)

Steady hand on the Tilley
By James Poniewozik
The double "New York" issue finds David Remnick's New Yorker sailing smoothly. Maybe too smoothly
(02/23/99)

Pimps without portfolio
By Steve Erickson
Even after the impeachment debacle revealed just how out of touch they are, the Washington media elite are still trying to hustle the American people
(02/17/99)

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N.Y. cops to New Yorker: Come out of the Algonquin with your hands up!

There could be some interesting matchups on 43rd Street Thursday. How will David Remnick's quickness match up with the brawn of a choleric trooper? Can Anthony Lane fast-talk his way past the business end of a baton? Will Christopher Buckley's impeccable right-wing pedigree enable him to run the gantlet of New York City's finest?

These questions may be answered Thursday, when New York City's policemen will mingle unpleasantly with New York City's crafters of urbane prose to protest this week's New Yorker cover. Outraged by what Patrolmen's Benevolent Society President James Savage called "an insensitive display of journalism out of control," the PBA plans a massive protest demonstration outside the New Yorker's office.

Savage -- along with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki and Police Commissioner Howard Safir -- is incensed about Art Spiegelman's cartoon on the cover of the magazine's March 8 issue. The illustration depicts a smiling police officer taking shots at human targets inside a shooting gallery adorned with a sign offering 41 shots for a dime -- an obvious reference to the fatal fusillade four New York City police officers recently fired at a West African man named Amadou Diallo.

In interviews in various local newspapers and on several morning television shows, police officials have slammed Spiegelman and the New Yorker for smearing police officers. Police Commissioner Safir went further and asked that the magazine apologize for the "outrageous and irresponsible" cover.

New Yorker editor Remnick says he will not apologize. Spiegelman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for "Maus," a powerful graphic novel about the Holocaust, said in an interview with the Associated Press that the police should be upset by the cover illustration. It was meant, Spiegelman said, "as a warning sign of how radically the public perception of a police officer has changed."

"We must stop this now," PBA President Savage wrote in a fax asking all PBA members to attend tomorrow's demonstration on West 43rd Street. Joseph Mancini, a spokesman for the PBA, said hundreds and possibly thousands of off-duty officers were expected and would "march around outside with signs and things." A spokesperson for the New Yorker said the magazine plans to go about its business as usual.

Wenner, handyman still crying 96 tears over doubloon bonanza

The fun continues in a lawsuit between media mogul Jann Wenner and the handyman who unearthed a buried treasure -- 96 gold coins -- while building a driveway on Wenner's Sun Valley, Idaho, ranch. Wenner and the handyman, Greg Corliss, both claim they own the coins -- worth either $25,000 or $1 million, depending upon which litigant you ask. The matter appeared to have ended when District Court Judge James May decided, in January, that Wenner should keep the loot. Corliss, however, recently appealed the matter to the Idaho Supreme Court.

"Greg Corliss is a never-say-die kind of guy," says his lawyer, John Cushman, suggesting the driveway builder will fight to the death for the disputed booty. The basis of Corliss' appeal: "Well, they're unhappy with the result. That's the long and short of it," says Wenner's Idaho attorney, Gary Slette. "They're hoping for a different bounce out of the appellate court."

The case is a matter of first impression in Idaho, meaning that there is no existing state law covering found property. Corliss' attorney says the great weight of English common law suggests that the ancient doctrine of treasure trove -- essentially a juridical version of "finders keepers" -- ought to be the law in Idaho. Wenner's side says Idaho ought to adopt the more contemporary view that awards mislaid items to whoever owns the property on which it is found. The question of which doctrine prevails will not be settled until the state's high court rules on the matter. Until that time, Wenner's attorney confirms that the coins will remain in a safe Wenner keeps at the offices of Rolling Stone, Men's Journal and Us magazine. What else does Wenner keep in that strongbox? Wenner did not return calls seeking comment on this and related questions.

Surowiecki walks that Talk

Slate Moneybox writer, New York magazine business reporter and sometime Salon contributor James Surowiecki is going to be a staff writer for Talk magazine, Tina Brown's much-discussed monthly, which is set to launch in September.

Surowiecki, one of the fastest and most prolific writers around, will continue his weekly Slate dispatches. "The truth is, I love Slate. I love Mike [Kinsley] and it is nice to have the weekly outlet." He will also continue writing for Fortune.

"He's someone who both takes a broad approach to his subjects and has the intense expertise that makes for the kind of journalism we're interested in," says Talk editor David Kuhn. Surowiecki's hire may corroborate the word that Talk is on the lookout for writers interested in ideas. At Talk, Surowiecki will focus on business stories broadly defined, including possible pieces about Hollywood.
SALON | March 4, 1999