He Scores Scoop in Gift to Man Who Knows His Beans

--Unofficial taste-tester Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah) declared Richard Snelgrove’s concoction fit for a President. So, 18 gallons of jelly bean ice cream are on their way to President Reagan. Utah congressional candidate Snelgrove and his family spent days whipping up a jelly bean recipe after Reagan, a jelly bean fan, asked for it when Snelgrove visited the White House with other Republican candidates last month. Snelgrove, a part-owner of Snelgrove Ice Cream Co., was told the President’s favorite jelly bean flavors are cherry and tangerine, so the company made batches of both. “On a scale of 10, I’d give it a 10,” Garn said after sampling the treat in Salt Lake City. Reagan will not be the first President to sample the Snelgrove family’s products. In 1935, the company provided Thanksgiving dessert for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Snelgrove said.

--Maybe President Reagan would like some “Martian punch” with his ice cream. The green concoction of vodka, fruit juices and liqueur, with melon balls bobbing on top, was the featured beverage as the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Committee for War of the Worlds Inc. began a celebration of the broadcast of Orson Welles’ radio play about a Martian invasion of Earth on Oct. 30, 1938. The “War of the Worlds” invasion began at Grovers Mill, N.J., in West Windsor Township near Princeton, which was chosen at random by scriptwriter Howard Koch. Anniversary festivities in West Windsor included the debut of the song “Over the Airwaves, the Ballad of Grovers Mill.” By Oct. 30’s closing ceremonies, the committee plans to have installed a bronze relief at the site of the Martian “landing,” depicting Welles, the Martians and a family huddled around a radio.

--Elton John’s latest house-cleaning effort has resulted in plans for an auction of about 2,000 items that Sotheby’s expects will bring in $5 million. “He said he wanted to have the house cleared, and that was quite a project,” said Hillary Kay, of Sotheby’s in London. Among the items taken from the rock star’s house in Windsor, England, were a pair of 54-inch boots worn by John in the film “Tommy” and 100 pairs of eyeglasses. The auction will be in London in September, but the collection is on display at Sotheby’s in Manhattan. “I’ve been thinking about this for five or six years, and now the time is right,” John said in a statement. “I’m changing direction now. I’m going to be ultramodern.”