European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 8, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Roberts Rule throughout pages of the Bob books by Bob Pool los Angeles times Bob Chamberlin gave his camera Lens a last Minuit swipe with his Shin sleeve and said what was on both of our minds. A what do these Guys know Bob a he asked. A their names Are David and  Good question. We had come to see David Ronsin and Bill Zelime authors of the Boh Book a paperback that purports to examine the name Bob backward and Forward. We had come sceptical. And Back at the los Angeles times office Bob Welkos was waiting the same Way to edit our Story. There has never been a president named Bob or a King Bob or a Pope Bob. But Ronsin and Zelime have decided that men named Bob Are men who gel things done. True bobs do Quot enjoy a solid sense of  but they Are decent dependable types who instinctively make the most of a bad situation according to the Book. Bobs Are sensible approachable likable and reliable. Not to mention predictable. Nobody named Bob could have Ever written 77ie Boh Bot a said Ronsin 41. That a because bobs Are too pragmatic and unpretentious. Bobs do not Wear berets or quote Nietzsche or hang out at Renaissance fairs he said. A they Don t take themselves  but the Boh Book does. It includes the results of the first Survey of men named Bob that purports to Chart their fears fantasies and favorite after shave lotions. A bobs appreciate scientific reality a Rensin said. A they need to see cold hard  the poll shows that bobs Hale wasted time fake accents and phony compliments about their lies. It suggests that bobs Are slaves Only to their own minimalist style. A bobs not Only like the Way a la a boy Recliner feels they actually like the Way it looks Quot the Survey says. A this is the first sociological study of the common  said Zehme 32, who divides his time Between los Angeles and Chicago. A it should be the Bihac of the  Zehme and Rensin said that they decided to write about the ultimate common Man As a break from their regular jobs. Zehme interviews celebrities for rolling Stone Rensin does the same thing for Playboy. Rensin said he became interested in bobs when he a started seeing the name everywhere Quot a including a freeway off ramp near san Francisco where he once spied a restaurant called Smorga Bob s. Bobs arc made not born the pair discovered. Virtually All bobs Start out As Roberts. That Moniker was the most popular name for Newborn Lovsin ll>25. I Mii and l>5tl, according to the Hook. It ranked thud in second in r>70 and 17th in l Psi but i s had the name Rohan too  their mothers undoubtedly called them Bobby but that is too Frothy for a grown up. To most bobs robs Are too Slick and Robby Are too wimpy the Book says. A look at yourself. Bob. You chose to be Bob. You could be Robert a Rensin said glancing at the two of us. A but you picked Bob. You too  the authors Trace the first Bob Back to about 1721, when it was derived from the Norman name proc Debrecht. Zehme and Ronsin Sprinkle findings from their Survey throughout much of the 176-Pagc Book which includes chapters on the romantic Boh and bad bobs the rarest Breed. Bob big boys who completed the Survey include comedians Bob Hope Bob Newhart and Bob Sagut game show hosts Bob Barker and Bob Eubanks sports figures Bob Welch Bob Feller and Bob Richards entertainers Buffalo Bob Smith and the late Bob Cummings and politicians sen. Boh Dole r-kun., and gov. Bob Miller a Nev. Quot bobs Are the connecting tissue of american society a Ronsin said. A Bob is Back to  Bob snapped his picture of the two authors. He pronounced them a Good reflection of Bohs. Quot frankly Bob i think they re a couple of Good  he said. Yusimi acc.  Banks climbs through american dreamy Carolyn see los Angeles times even though outer Banks by Anne Rivers Siddons is frankly summer Reading a a talc of four women who As an advertising tag hopefully states Are brought together by Friendship and torn apart by love a its actually far More thoughtful a treatise something like . Forster a Howard s end. The question asked Here is who will inherit America not the White House but the Beach House who will find the Sweet husband travel the world enjoy self respect and peace of mind outer Banks follows a fascinating premise or one that always will be fascinating to americans How far can you climb in our society Are you really moving when you climb or just walking up on a Down escalator if you do succeed in actually climbing will you have fun when you get there the novels heroine Kate Lee is bom in the South in a Nasty swamp of genteel poverty. Her name seems right although she a absolutely not a Lee of Virginia. Her dad who looks and acts like f. Scott Fitzgerald who coaches her in the Art of social climbing is a pathetic fraud. This is Back in the 50s, remember when society s signals weren to quite so mixed and fairly easy to read. Kate As a teen Ager goes North to Cape cod to work in a fashionable resort Quot i threw away my Revlon and Max. Factor and bought Chopstick and sat endless hours in the Sun with Lemon juice scalding the Silver Ash out of Niy hair. By the end of the summer it was the streaked Tow of every other Young woman of a certain station on the Eastern  but Kate does t belong to that certain station. She a a rampant fake. Flash Forward to Kate a Sophomore year in College. She has been forced to Transfer to a state University because of her fathers suicide and her own intransigent poverty. But at Randolph state As a Tri Omega she meets the friends who will color her life forever. She meets Cecie who is her Roommate and smart and also poor As a Church mouse. And Ginger Fowler who is squat and Friendly and unpretentious and very very Rich. Ginger a family has a Beach House on the outer Banks. When she asks her friends up for the holidays they glimpse a different Way of living the a Beach Quot the Way it is Down South a a Way of integrating the idea of the Good life into realities that they already know. Finally the fourth in their sorority suite is a repellent adenoid Al disgusting creature named Fig. Ladies does any of this sound familiar do any of us remember foursomes from our High schools our colleges a uneasy alliances where one girl is Rich and a couple of others arc poor but learning and the fourth a wild card May be a crazy person a Force for evil or maybe just misunderstood ? All this ground is gone Over in a leisurely Pace in that Oasis of time that makes up undergraduate life. A the stars and stapes Book department says the two books in viewed hero arc available a its inc stores. A sunday i .17 o i i r