Newman Stands Tall in Dispute

To actor Paul Newman, it might just be the height of folly, but he’s willing to play a little hardball to prove his point. Richard Johnson, a New York Post columnist, in commenting on Newman’s reported height of 5 foot, 11 inches, wrote: “Anyone who has met Paul face to face says he has never hit 5-foot-11 except in heels.” The column offered $1,000 to Newman’s favorite charity or political candidate for “every inch he measures over 5-foot-8--barefoot.” Newman shot back that if his height is 5 foot, 8 inches, he’ll give the Post a $500,000 check. “If they’re wrong, though, then now we start playing some hardball. It’s not $1,000 an inch--it’s $100,000 an inch, or $25,000 the quarter inch for every fraction over 5-foot-8,” he said. Frank Devine, executive editor of the Post, obviously recalling that Newman is no stranger to hustlers on the big screen, commented: “We smell a sting. Maybe even a hustle. As good poker players should, we are taking our time to review the play so far.”

--Bill Buskirk, 13, of Geneva, Ohio, thought his grandfather, William J. Spellacy, had gone off the deep end. “Grandpa’s finally lost it,” Bill said. “For a second, I thought he had some cash stashed,” said Michael Kraft, 12, of Lakewood. And Bill’s brother, John, 11, asked: “Are you kidding?” Actually, Spellacy wasn’t kidding at all. Last summer he told his three grandsons that he was going to take them to Geneva, Vienna, Rome, Lisbon, Paris, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin and Warsaw--a feat he eventually accomplished in four days. “A leisurely, inexpensive, on mostly back roads, tour, and all here in Ohio,” said Spellacy, a retired Cleveland police lieutenant who took off in late August on his tour. Meanwhile, John said about his summer vacation: “I tell them I went to Paris, London and Rome. And when they give me that funny look, I tell them: ‘Right here in Ohio.’ ”

--House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.), who will retire this year after 34 years in Congress, called it a blatant violation of a long-held belief. But he’s not really complaining, since it’s not every day that a member of Congress gets a room in the Capitol named after him. But that’s exactly what the House did in approving a resolution. The Speaker jokingly noted that a former House restaurant maitre d’ also has a room named in his honor. O’Neill had said that such an honor should go to a politician only after he has been out of office for 10 years. The room “is spacious and gracious, ample in its proportions and warmth,” said Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who is expected to succeed O’Neill.