TV & VIDEO - Aug. 15, 1990

Letterman on the Rails: David Letterman has a new shtick--”Smashing Things With a Train.” Letterman and his “Late Night” crew were in Cromwell, Conn., Monday filming as a blue diesel locomotive, rented from the Connecticut Central Railroad, ran down the rails and crashed into things such as melons, glass, an ice sculpture and fish tanks filled with guacamole. “We hope to fill up three minutes of television time,” Letterman said. Randy Cohen, one of the show’s writers, said the stunt “may be the dumbest thing they’ll put on TV” but said it was justified: “If it entertains America just a little, then we’ve done our part.”