Men Seldom Make Passes at Writers Who Are Ashes

When the late writer and wit Dorothy Parker suggested that her epitaph should be “Excuse my dust,” little did she know how close she was to the truth. For the last six years, her ashes have languished in the office of Manhattan lawyer Paul O’Dwyer, who is hoping her admirers will think of a fitting way to dispose of them. The problem, O’Dwyer said, is that when Parker died on June 7, 1967, at age 73, she asked to be cremated but did not stipulate what was to be done with the ashes. They were turned over to O’Dwyer by the late writer Lillian Hellman, who was executor of the Parker estate, after they had been stored for nearly 14 years in a New York crematorium. O’Dwyer said: “I’m certain there must be some people in the literary and entertainment world who knew Dorothy and who might come forward and do something appropriate, something significant to honor her contribution to New York culture.” Parker was a member of the noted “round table” of literary figures who frequented the Algonquin Hotel in New York. In addition to numerous short stories, she is noted for such witticisms as “Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses” and a review of a performance that ran “the gamut of emotions from A to B.”

--They washed wheels in bathtubs, attacked specks of grease with Q-Tips and polished their dipsticks. Nothing, it seems, was too much for the Porsche lovers from around the world who gathered in Euless, Tex., to compete in the Concours d’Elegance, the highlight of the 32nd annual meeting of the Porsche Club of America. Tom Scott of Denver, whose 1977 Porsche 924 made the finals, said he spent two years getting ready for the competition. “You take the car apart almost completely, clean and polish every part,” he said. Another finalist, Ray Knight of Jeffersonville, Ind., bought his Sauter speedster, a custom-built race car, in 1982 after it had sat outside for almost a quarter of a century. He said he spent four years and 4,000 hours restoring it. “I always wanted a really, old funky car,” said Knight, who added he had no idea what his car is now worth.

--”Please find our Uncle Joe,” the note on the envelope read. And so the post office did. When Chris Belman decided to send a letter from Spain to his uncle in Florida, he was less than specific. He addressed it to “Joe and Elsie Belman, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.” and added a plea to the postal service to help out. Eight days later, Uncle Joe had his letter.