Fools Fall in Love, in Love, in Love

A singer who “didn’t like being alone” apparently has left behind three “widows,” who are embroiled in a fight over his estate. The singer, doo-wop rocker Frankie Lymon, hit the big time in 1956. The song--”Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” Now, three women are claiming they each had been wed to--and never divorced from--the singer, who died 18 years ago at age 26 of a heroin overdose. “It now appears that (Lymon) may have practiced what he composed, since there is a dispute between three individuals as to who is his widow,” said Judge Marie Lambert, who is presiding over the case in Surrogate Court in Manhattan. “It’s a circus,” said Melvyn Altman, a lawyer for one of the “widows,” Elizabeth Waters Lymon of Philadelphia. “Frankie didn’t tell anyone. I guess he didn’t like being alone.” Also involved in the fight are Emira Eagle Lymon, a schoolteacher in Augusta, Ga., and Zola Mae Taylor of Los Angeles, the female singer in the group the Platters. The battle started in 1984, when Emira Lymon sued the late singer’s record company in federal court in Manhattan over the royalties from “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” She claimed Morris Levy and his firms, Roulette Records and Big Seven Music, owed her $500,000. However, the other two “widows,” Elizabeth Lymon and Taylor, both have signed agreements with Big Seven for that company to continue as publisher of the song.

--A teen-ager who lost parts of both legs in Oregon’s worst mountain-climbing accident flashed a big smile from his wheelchair as he left a hospital and headed home. Giles Thompson, 16, of Longview, Wash., was released after nearly two months at Providence Medical Center in Portland. “He’s done amazingly well through this whole thing,” said Christopher Hike, the orthopedic surgeon who directed Thompson’s treatment. “I don’t have any worries about him in the future.” Thompson and 16-year-old Brinton Clark survived three days in a snow cave after being trapped on Mt. Hood during a blizzard on May 12. Nine students and two faculty members from the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland died in the accident.

--Actress Goldie Hawn has given birth to an 8-pound, 4-ounce boy by Caesarean section at a Los Angeles hospital. Hawn and the father, actor Kurt Russell, plan to return to their home in Aspen, Colo., after she leaves the hospital, Hawn’s publicist said. The baby’s name is Wyatt Russell and is the third child for the actress and movie producer, who has two children by actor Bill Hudson. Russell has a son by actress Season Hubley.