Mayor of N.Y. Can’t Fix a Ticket

--A lack of public support has led New York Mayor Edward I. Koch to throw in the towel on his 46-day boycott of 44 Manhattan movie theaters that raised the price of their tickets to $7 from $6. “It’s clear to me that moviegoers distressed with the higher prices are nevertheless willing to pay them, having no alternative other than to boycott, which they have not been doing,” Koch said Sunday through his spokesman, Lee Jones. “Boycotts without mass support don’t prevail.” Still in the fight, however, is Joanne Zyontz, leader of a group calling itself Boycott $7. “We were happy to have the mayor’s voice in our fight, but we will not drop the battle at this point,” Zyontz said. Meanwhile, Jones said Koch will attend his first $7 movie this weekend.

--The grades are in, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson is the “classiest” guy around--when it comes to rhetorical speaking. So said Ted Windt, professor at the University of Pittsburgh, in his report card on the presidential candidates. Jackson earned an A-minus for being able to stir a crowd, but he does tend to overstate his case, Windt said. Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart’s F was attributed by the professor to his lack of substance. In rounding out the Democratic field, Windt gave Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt a B-plus; Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis a C, for little warmth; Illinois Sen. Paul Simon a C, for being too professorial, and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. an incomplete, because he must learn to show some humor. On the Republican side, Vice President George Bush got a C-minus because he tends to whine. “He’ll stand up to (CBS-TV anchorman) Dan Rather but not to Iran-Contra,” Windt said. Kansas Sen. Bob Dole walked away with a B, but, Windt said, he’s got to curb his sardonic humor. Former religious broadcaster Pat Robertson earned a B, and New York Rep. Jack Kemp could do no better than a C-plus.

--Raleigh Bakker, 81, and his wife, Furnia, 81, have entered the ranks of the unemployed. The parents of former PTL President Jim Bakker have applied for jobless benefits in Fort Mill, S.C., after they were laid off last month from their $500-a-month jobs as greeters at Heritage USA, PTL’s religious theme park. “It’s pretty hard to take when you’ve been independent all your life and then you have to go down for unemployment,” Raleigh said. PTL spokeswoman Linda Ivey said: “We love the Bakkers. We hope they will continue to feel a part of the family. But there have been numerous positions we have had to reduce.” The work force, Ivey said, has dropped to 900 from 2,700 since 1985.