European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 01, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Cwhite Chouse whodunit by Anna Quindlen new York times ill Al Tizor insists none of the charac ters in her murder in Story is based on any person lung or . The Corpse. Secretary of slate Blaine is pure president Rob in Webster a suspect in the slaying is like no president i acc Var whodunit the author is nol telling who committed the Mur Der but Margaret Truman has done the Book called murder in the White House and she says she is writing Only about what she Kamms. In t that the basis of Good writing asked miss Truman. That s what i be always heard miss Truman insists that her fictional president bears no resemblance to the late Harry s. Truman her feisty and adoring father. And she says that president Webster s stunning daughter like Margarct an Only child is not based on the Small smiling aspiring Singer who became the first daughter in 1945. Heavens said miss Truman whose Lovely complexion and Large eyes were often mentioned when she was written about As a Young woman. I never looked like that. Wish i and the decision to kill off the Secretary of state rather than the attorney general or another Cabinet member is no reflection at All on the occupant of the Job during the Truman administration. No. No. Absolutely not the 56 year old author said. I adored Dean the truth is. Said miss Truman that Only the floor plan and the furniture in her Book Are True to the White House life that she led for nearly eight years. And even then she took a bit of a refresher course calling the White House curator Clement e. Conger to Send her diagrams so that she would have her comings goings and killings accurately set. I could remember most of it she said but i wanted to make sure. Someone told me later that the plans for the while House arc in the Little Book they give you when you take the Lour but i did t know that because i d never taken the the whole idea for miss Truman s first novel her fifth Book came about when she was at work on another manuscript. I was writing a More serious Book a More historical Book and i got bored with it said miss tru Man who uses her own surname professionally and has been married for 24 years to Clifton Daniel former Man Ossett mystery writer Truman. Killing the Secretary of state. Aping editor of the new York times. I figured if it did t grab me it was t going to grab anyone else. And i was talking with my agent and i said i be always liked mysteries. I think i la write a mystery and out of nowhere i said How about murder in the while Llo uset and he almost jumped out of his the leap of Faith has Well founded although publication by Arbor House is not until july Dick Clark has already purchased Motie rights and the Book of the month club has chosen the mystery As one of its october offerings. Despite the setting however. Miss Truman said she did t think much about the White House anymore about the difficulties of going to school on dates to dinner in the Public Eye of the problems of starting a career As a Singer while of necessity pursuing one As a Public figure. Of the letter her father wrote to a critic who had panned her voice after a Washington concert i never met you but if i do you la need a new nose and plenty of Beefsteak the president wrote in part she said lightly with a coloratura trill of laughter. I thought it Wai funny. Sold then she added More thoughtfully looking fresh and Friendly and far less awesome than the Francesco Scavullo High fashion portrait on her Book jacket i feet that i be lived several different lives and that was one of them. Some of it was fun but most of it was not. It was a great View of history being made and i was a history major in College and in that Way it was a useful experience. I Don t think about it much anymore except that occasionally one of the older cab Drivers will say Aren t you and then hell say that he was the Only person in his neighbourhood that knew dad was going to win. 1 must say i gel a i talc tired of since her time in the White House miss Truman has raised four sons in an East Side new York apartment been Host of radio and television shows done summer Stock and Given up singing except in the Church choir. But after doing a biography of her father an autobiography a Book on White House pets and a collection of profiles of courageous women she still finds writing much More difficult than facing a full concert Hall or the red Eye of a television camera. Put a writing Job in front of me and i turn into Scarlett o Hara tomorrow is another Day said miss Truman who dictates her prose into a tape recorder. Still she is pleased with murder in the White House and while her Mother Bess now 95, Only laughed when she was told of it her daughter suspects that her father might hate been Happy with it too. He d certainly gel a laugh out of it miss Truman said with one of her own. He used to Call the White House the great White jail and he might appreciate using it As a setting for a kids speak out about to t them. By Norman Black associated press 1here s a problem with being seen and nol heard nobody knows what you want. So the children of America Are telling the Federal communications commission what they think of Tele vision before the inc decides what s Good for for starters Many Are not impressed by the shows de signed with them in mind. A child goes to school Fate Days a week a girl in Purlin. N.j., wrote the commission. He goes from Early in the morning unlit about 3 o clock in the afternoon and three sometimes four Days out of the week Hal child has Homework. A Jinn this child is finally allowed to watch to he does t want to Sec an education show. He wants some others arc critical of commercial television in general. An 11-year-old girl from Canoga Park. Calif., dismisses several lop ranked shows eight is enough. Three s company. Archie Hunker s place and All in the family As positively these quotes were culled from letters sent to the fed Page 10 the stars and stripes Cral communications commission for its on going in Quiry into television programming for children. Prodded by teachers or Laking advantage of comment forms published by children s Maga Ines. More than 8,000 kids so far have offered their views. Statements were expected from broadcasters Public interest groups and government agencies before the june 2 deadline for Public comment but the flood of letters from children caught the commission by Surprise. The acc inquiry stems from a finding that most of the programs aimed at children arc limited to the week ends. The commission is studying a number of options including one that would require stations to carry at least t s hours of children s programming weekly on week Days. An la year old los Angeles boy says he has no opinion about requiring such programming because i would t watch it anyway. The Only things i watch on to Are sports and most All inc children see no problem with Federal regulation believing inc acc controls what goes on inc air and should order the networks to put on shows they what do they like la varies there s resistance to overtly educational shows and Many prefer programs sunday june 1, 1980 intended for adult audiences like Sani Lin Ign live. A fifth grader in Cypress calif., surveyed her Reading class and found that her Peers three favorite shows were Buck Rogers. The Dukes Olla Ard. And Happy Days. On the other hand a 9-year-old boy from Brandon miss., says my Mother and father say thai the pro Grams like soap and the Dukes of Haard Are just junk movies and should t be on to. If you could take those programs off and put educational ones on during that same time we could get More out of a few of the comments could have come from anlage group what i do not like about to is when they Cul off a soap opera just for a news bulletin. Besides that i think that ,"saysanelcmentaryschoolgirlincohocs,. Y really bugs me when women arc used on to Tosel things that a Man would buy. For example a woman Walta on stage in a skimpy outfit trying to convince a Man to buy aftershave. Usually it sounds like the woman comes Wilh the aftershave . " and gets caught and goes to jail. It makes the younger think nol do says a to year old Ovrom Amhurst Iii
