President Went to the Mat for Her, First Lady Says

--Nancy Reagan got President Reagan to duck the press for a secret viewing of their new Bel-Air home by insisting that he hide on the floor of a car as they left their Los Angeles hotel. “I snuck him away from you (reporters),” the First Lady triumphantly told United Press International in an interview. White House press aides had been asked for months whether Reagan had seen his new home, bought by a consortium of friends for lease to the Reagans, and the answer had always been no. “I certainly didn’t want to have a house without showing him,” Mrs. Reagan said, adding that he saw the house “a year and a half ago . . . before the deal was closed.” The First Lady reported that Reagan was pleased with the house, “but I hope he’ll like it even more” now that it is decorated and furnished. She did not say whether the President has been able to avoid White House reporters in a similar fashion on other occasions. The Reagans were vacationing in Los Angeles at the time they gave reporters the slip.

--The gambling industry has its image to consider, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission said in canceling an appearance by former White House aide Oliver L. North. The former Marine lieutenant colonel, indicted for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, had been scheduled to speak at the Sands in Atlantic City in February. But Assemblyman Dennis Riley objected to North’s appearance, saying it would “strain the integrity of the New Jersey casino industry.” The Sands had planned to have North deliver a speech on American family life. He has been making $25,000 per speaking engagement.

--The champ wants a second chance at romance, say friends of pugilist Mike Tyson, after spilling the beans to the New York Daily News that Tyson had a date with estranged wife Robin Givens last weekend in Gotham. Tyson reportedly tried to talk Givens out of going back to Los Angeles, where she is filming her TV series, “Head of the Class,” and jumped in his Rolls-Royce and followed her cab part of the way to the airport. “Mike wants her back,” one Tyson friend said. “He’s still in love with her.” The friends report Givens is expected back in New York soon and intends to see Tyson again.