European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Observation deck offers View of Seattle s puget sound it. Rainier up s by Mary Ellen Myren a staff writer or three huge legs curl skyward join j. Briefly then shoot up again 500 get above the Earth. Nestled on top Ini 90-ton Orange disc is a $3.5-million-a ear business. The Structure the Seattle space Needle Symbol of Seattle s 1962 world s  business tourists. The theory Money that goes updo est t come Down. In the five years since it was built the space Needle has survived a Roll ing earthquake and the rumblings of business Community that said it could never compete in the frantic business of Leisure. The Needle with a Plush revolving restaurant on the first level of the Cap sule and souvenir and food concessions n an observation deck one layer up brings in $2.5 million a year. Despite its widespread Public Appeal the Needle has been a target of critics one of whom recently characterized Itas the biggest hamburger in the  a trip up the Core of the Needle be gins in a Glass enclosed elevator that gives its 30 passengers a panoramic View of the ground falling away at the rate of 13 feet a second. About 41 seconds later the elevator enters the Bot Tom of the disc and the doors open to strata one the space Needle restaurant. The affluent depart the doors Clos and the journey continues to strata two an observation deck with an outside Walkway ringed by a Chest High railing. The illusion of having reached solid ground is most assuredly an illusion. Imagine you Are on a space ship gushes a brochure aimed at those who fruitlessly search for visible signs of support it is a fascinating entrancing experience that literally takes you breath  almost 2.3 million persons took that bold adventure during the six month world s fair and since then customer shave zipped up the Needle at the rate of one million a year. Those who prefer to View the Needle from the Bottom up Are hard pressed to prove their Point. Built in 400 Days Ata Cost of $4.5 million the space Needle has enjoyed nearly flawless operation since it opened on March 24, 1962. Architect Victor Steinbrueck is credited with the Basic tripod design which was later refined by a team of engineers at John Graham and co. The Basic problem was to balance the 90-ton disc on top of three 1,200-ton, High test steel legs. The common impression is that the made the thing top heavy. But in fact Page 12 the Center of Gravity is one foot below Ethe Earth where the legs Are sunk in e 5,600 tons of Concrete and 250 tons of reinforcing steel. S the greatest structural test came at e8 29 . On april 29, 1965, when an = earthquake recorded at 6.5 on the Rich Ter scale rocked the City damaging Sev a eral squatter structures. Occupants of Ethe Needle reported 9nly a slight Cir s Cular motion that subsided without Struc Tural damage. 5 by Robert Musel up staff writer Ryphe image Jackie Gleason projects Al to the world is that of a mail who eats a lot drinks a lot makes a lot of Money and has a lot of Talent. The strangest thing about this pictures that it is True. Most stars hire press agents to bemused their fans with a idealized portrait believe me Fellows behind the makeup there s a Humm be ing who is just folks like you and me. Not Gleason. He is larger than life in his likes and dislikes his appetites and aversions and does t care who know sit. He in t the boy next door and never was Well not since he broke into show business when he was 15 and his Mother died a few hours before he went onstage. He lives harder and works harder than the average Man. He makes Mil Lions of dollars a year. The Mere fac that his lbs to hour the Jackie Gleason show originates in Miami each produces a tourist Boom. A Star who generates All this can hardly be expected to be Sweet and Humble. Gleason in  he has an excuse few other stars have. He is a Talent a genuine blazing Talent. He is More than a comedian he is an actor who plays comedy roles. And he plays then with a command of tech Nique that few performers have matched. Just before he went into rehearsal for the first of this season s the honeymooners Jackie was guest of Honor at a civic luncheon. One of the items on the program was a this is your life Type review of the material he used on his Way up from night club comic to television celebrity. Some pretty fair performers cracked the jokes and san the songs. But they raised scarcely a Ripple and yet in Jackie s skilled hands these same comments and situations had convulse audiences All Over the country. The per formers paid Gleason a most remark Able tribute though hot in the Way they intended. If Gleason got laughs with that material he must be a Genius said one of the guests. Well Gleason did. Otherwise he would not today be Star of a nation wide television show a recording artist whose album sales Are approaching $20 million and a partner in a land develop ment company a scenery company and a Complex of other projects from Interior decoration to Golf courses. He has t always counted his Money in millions. Many of the earlier years of ii put and Downs included some hard Downs in cheap night clubs and periods when friends had to stake him to  Jackie had it and the payoff came. Jackie has been a bit edgier than usual this fourth season in Miami Beach. He was lured by the Promise of All-1 year around Golf and the fact he would be the Only to Star in town since All other network shows originate from hol Lywood or new York. It was Wetter than usual this summer so he could not Golf off enough of the overweight he picked up during a european vacation. Jackie considers anything beyond 265pounds overweight and has graduated wardrobes to match the ebb and flow of his Waistline. Despite his wealth and position Gleason shares the worry of every other television performer the ratings. Will the final judge the to audience accept his decision to play 10 honeymooners,10 variety shows and 10 repeat pro Grams this is the anguished uncertainty that makes even a $60,000-a-week artist wonder whether it is All Worth while. Consider the first taping of the honeymooners this season. Many in the enthusiastic audience in the vast Miami each auditorium on Jackie Gleason drive did not realize the backstage drama that was under Way. More than Halfway through it was realized the show would run several minttes overtime. Gleason As bus Driver Ralph Ramden and his cast Art Carney Jane Kean and Sheila Macrae held a Hasty conference with the writers. They had to Cut deeply into the final scene with the danger they would lose the Point of the joke they had been set Ting up All night. After studying the final tape Jackie thought the program could be salvaged and perhaps it May be. But they did not open the season with it by John Krueger staff writer humility is one of my Low Points notes Jackie Gleason candidly. Up As planned. And this May mean expensive adjustments to the production schedule. At 52, Jackie rarely Speaks of retire ment even in his least optimistic moods. Friends say he would t know what Todo with himself if he were not Busy on one idea or another. Besides he likes the adulation of stardom. Asked How he re acted to the acclaim he continually receives he laughed and said humility is one of my Low  most of the stories about Jackie seating and drinking feats Are reasonable facsimiles of the truth. He once said no Man who eats and drinks the Way i do can be afraid of dying but he Hasa Large Library of books on psychic Phenomena and life beyond the grave. He is a poor Sleeper which May explain along with the habits of Long years As a night club comic Why he likes to stay up late. Next to Golf he occasionally Breaks 80his favorite game is Pool he gave a Brilliant performance As a Pool shark in the film the Hustler. Jackie is a Grandfather but has Bee separated from his wife Genevieve Hal Ford for Many years. They have two daughters. A nightclub dancer when they met miss Halford wanted a quiet Home life. Jackie preferred the Bright lights. So they parted and since both Are catholics there will not be a divorce. Jackie is an absorbing conversation Alist with a gift for colourful idiom. He often Calls himself the great one and May half mean it. A performer s ego needs constant bolstering so does his Confidence. Says Jackie the minute a comic stops worrying about laughs he s dead. You be made them laugh this week How do you make them laugh next week a Fust when it looks As if the Folk singers have had their Day and say on the pop charts along come Bobbie Gentry with her ode to Billy  the 24-year-old Beauty with the Cas Cading Raven tresses and a haunting voice has Given the Folk Ballad the big Gest boost since Tom Dooley Laid Down his head and died for the Kingston Trio. Billie Joe Bobbie s own composition topped a million in record sales in a month and according to disc jockeys revitalized an Industry suffer ing from the summer  the Ballad filled the air Waves. I Giggle with Joy every time i Hearit bubbled Bobbie. Newsweek christened the drawling Darling from Chickasaw county miss., an instant superstar a Southern and prettier  comments Capitol records on its new est discovery she s one of the Lucky few that has the ability not Only to see what really goes on around us but can also Tell the world about it in a meaningful  Capitol producer Kelly Gordon said if i were going to invent a personality i could t do it any better than what this girl is naturally. Fifty percent of my time is spent making an image out of a Singer or a group Outwith Bobbie i just pushed the Button and there she  Bobbie brought her Billy Joe lament about a Small town boy whose suicide fails to make any impression on his Kinfolk in mid summer. I saw great potential in the tune recalls Gordon Capitol s artists and repertoire representative. I wanted to Point up indifference Bobbie said. The tragic event is Dis cussed at the dinner table where Billy suicide is no More important than pass ing the Black eyed  the 4-minute-Long record took a Littleover an hour of taping with Bobbie her guitar six violinists and two cellists. Her music and her performance of i transcends All barriers claims Capitol which posits out that her record displayed on every Type of radio station format there is top 40, Good music country and Western and even rhythm and blues the Industry experts Analyse Bobbie phenomenal Success As stemming not Only from her musical Talent but also Moon beams on the  a Gleason is muffled in a scene from honeymooners with Sheila Macrae. Jacki went for something else in the Hustler where he Paul Newman teamed. S the stars and stripes monday october 30, 1967 the stars and stripes every Day is just the greatest Day of my life says Bobbie. Bobbie revitalized an  from her sincere and honest ability Roget to people of All Ages from the much maligned teenybopper to the senior  people talk about her As though the know her personally marvelled one disc jockey. Her Charm is really straight fro the farm where Bobbie was raised helping Granddaddy Choppin Cotton Balin Hay Pullin  her Shoolin " began in Greenwood,miss., where she also taught herself to play the piano. As a teen Ager she Learned guitar Banjo Bass and vibes and studied at the los Angeles conservatory of music where she majored in theory composition and counterpoint. She moved with her family to Cali fornia when she was 13. By 15 she was writing her own songs and performing at a Palm Springs country club before celebrities. Stars such As Bob Hope Phil Harris and Hoagy Carmichael gave her encouragement but still she had tout in a period As a Las vegas Hoofer before finally breaking into tie big times a Singer. The Brown eyed statuesque Southern Belle has been booked for Cross country personal appearances As Well As to appearances with the smothers Broth ers and Perry Como. Her first up features other compositions of her own such As Chickasaw country child Lazie Willie Papp Awon t let me go into town with you and tuesday s child just the sort of material you d expect from a former philosophy major at Urcla. Every Day is just the greatest Day of my life enthused Bobbie in the Newsweek interview. Every Day some thing really groovy happens. I can t think of what i la do with All the Money but i d love to have a House with land and  Page 13