People in the News for November 13, 1997

Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997 | 10:26 a.m.

A big hand now for Marv Albert as he takes his bite stuff into the on-air confessionals of Tabloid America, seeking absolution from Barbara Walters, Larry King and, Wednesday night, his old pal David Letterman. The crowd roared with yahoo vigor when Albert appeared. "Hugh Downs was off tonight," joked Dave, who has held his sharp tongue throughout le affaire du Marv; no transvestite jokes, no Dentu-Grip parodies. The tongue depressor came off Wednesday: "The only thing I have ever bitten during sex is my lower lip," Dave yukked to Marv. Albert suffered the gentle barbs with an occasional wan smile. Otherwise, he skirted the seamier aspects of his tale. That transvestite business? "A curious stage" in his sex files, Albert insisted. "When I get curious," Dave replied, "I turn on the Discovery Channel, and I think maybe you should too, Marv." Noting the inconsistencies in Albert's public statements -- pleading guilty in court, proclaiming innocence in the media -- Letterman wondered which Marv we are to believe. "Even if a little bit of it is true, man, wow," he goggled. Then he touched Marv's hair weave. The interview lasted 19 minutes, Letterman's longest ever; the overall tone was amiable -- unlike Marv, Dave didn't bite hard. Said a producer beforehand, "If people expect skits with big panties, they're going to be disappointed."

Strip maul

"Dilbert" -- frequently amusing comic strip satirizing corporate life or fraudulent, capitalist-supporting comic strip only pretending to satirize corporate life? Clearly the latter, according to "The Trouble With Dilbert" by Norman Solomon. He says "Dilbert" mocks ordinary paper-pushers and middle management, leaving the evil upper echelons unsketched. And while appearing to be subversively anti-corporate, creator Scott Adams cynically licenses "Dilbert" to any company with sufficient cash. "Instead of being a weapon against mind-numbing corporate blather, Dilbert is a tool for propagating more of it," the book huffs. To the not entirely irrelevant argument that "Dilbert" is just a comic strip, Solomon counters, "But values and messages are important." In other words, if even a little of it is true, man, wow! Adams says he doesn't mind being attacked: "I can't criticize him for doing exactly what I'm doing." As for us, we expected skits with big panties. We're disappointed!

Nice suit, Steve

Steven Spielberg's latest effort is no mere big-pantied skit; if it were, novelist Barbara Chase-Riboud wouldn't have sued him. She claims portions of Spielberg's upcoming "Amistad" -- about a real 18th century slave rebellion -- were lifted from her book, "Echo of Lions." In particular, the black abolitionist played by Morgan Freeman; the character appears in her novel but not in the historical record of the incident. Spielberg says the film was based on other historical sources. "They keep changing their story about where they got the story," her lawyer says. There's no copyright on history, Spielberg's lawyer parries. "It's really sad that this lady, who should be supporting this picture, is trying to destroy the project, to get money." Still, even if a little of what she's claiming is true, man, wow.

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets