Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 68

F2 THE HARTFORD COURANT Friday, June 4, 1999 PAGE The Gateses' Donation Bill and Melinda Gates have made another multibillion-dollar donation to charity. The Microsoft founder and his wife gave $5 billion to one of their philanthropic foundations. In announcing the gift Wednesday, the Gates family foundation said it, in turn, had given $50 BRIDGE The Conflicted Rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott is a devout Baptist who goes to church, but her raps often include raunchy behavior and foul language. The rapperproducer is feeling a little conflicted "I go through battles where I'm like, 'Dag, I'm still cussing on albums, and I don't wanna cuss no she said in July's Spin magazine. "I'm trying to get it together.

I stopped doing a lot of things I won't drink and I don't smoke. But I don't want people to be like, 'OK, now she's Rev. Elliott." Today's Birthdays Former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, is 82. Opera singer Robert Merrill is 80.

Actor Dennis Weaver is 75. Actor John Drew Barrymore is 67. Actor Bruce Dern is 63. Country singer Freddy Fender is 62. Musician Roger Ball (ex-Average White Band) is 55.

Jazz musician Anthony Braxton is 54. Singer Gordon Waller (Peter and Gordon) is 54. Rock musician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is 48. Actor Parker Stevenson is 47. Actor Keith David is 43.

Actress Julie Gholson is 41. Actor Eddie Velez is 41. PEOPLE The Mercury Stamp A commemorative British stamp depicting Freddie Mercury has drawn objections from critics who call it inappropriate for the Royal Mail to feature the flamboyant singer. The stamps honoring Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen, are part of a series noting Britain's various achievements during the last millennium. But some people have objected to the inclusion of a bisexual who died of AIDS.

"The queen we would rather see on our postage stamps is not stripped to the waist and wearing spray-on red trousers," columnist Simon Heffer wrote in the tabloid Daily Mail. Others objected because a tiny portion of the stamp also shows Queen drummer Roger Taylor, which violates the Royal Mail's rule that only members of the royal family are depicted on stamps during their lifetimes. The Royal Mail issued a statement standing by the stamp, which went on sale Tuesday, saying the organization was proud to have Mercury depicted. "Every stamp is approved by the queen, including this one, which was also given the consent of Freddie Mercury's family and by Mr. Taylor," the statement said.

BILL GATES By OMAR SHARIF and TAN AH HIRSCH Tribune Media Services North-South vulnerable. North deals. NORTH K862 Q3 4 AQ987 3 million to the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health to help find a vaccine for malaria. The $5 billion gift of Microsoft Corp. stock to the William H.

Gates Foundation gives it an asset base of $10 billion. A second family charitable organization, the Gates Learning Foundation, has assets of $1.3 billion. Gates, the richest man in the United States, and his wife are estimated to be worth more than $80 billion. The latest gift follows a $3 billion donation by the Gateses to their foundation in February. tive, Hercule Poirot, sipped contentedly at his after-dinner Armagnac.

He and his partner, Capt. Hastings, had done well in the afternoon session. "On that hand where we defeated four spades," queried Hastings, "how did you find that defense?" This was the deal the pair was discussing. "My dear friend," replied Poirot "how many times have I told you that good bridge is simply a matter of using those little gray cells and trusting your partner. As you know, I have the greatest faith in your ability, and there was also the auction to guide me.

"First, you had made a weak jump overcall of two hearts, so you could not have six hearts headed by the ace-king and an outside ace to boot. To confirm this, after winning the first two heart tricks, your continuation of a third round of hearts denied holding the ace of diamonds you would have cashed it before playing a third heart if you held it "My club holding made it unlikely that we had a trick coming in that suit, so if we were to defeat the contract we needed two trump tricks. To get them, you would have to hold a guarded queen of spades. Left to his own devices, declarer would surely have tackled spades by leading low to the king running the jack is unlikely to succeed if trumps are 3-1. "Once I had all the facts, the solution was obvious.

I ruffed the third heart with the ace of trumps. Voila, your queen became the setting trick." WEST A7 7 K976532 K52 EAST Q9 VAKJ1085 108 41064 From Wire Reports SOUTH J10543 V9642 AQJ The bidding: NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST 1 2 2 3 3 Pass 4 Pass Pass Pass Opening lead: Seven of The famous Belgian detec 'Death Of Papa' A Gentle Chronicle CHESS JUMBLE By Shelby Lyman By Henri Arnold and Mike Argirion THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME by Htnrt Arnold and HMit Argirion WM. Look. Daddy YC WM W0. WM unscramble these tour Jumbles, one letter to each square, to torm tour orrjnary words.

WM i ran mm mt WM, ZALBE i lj i STAGE REVIEW THE DEATH OF PAPA, written by Horton Foote; directed by Michael Wilson; scenery designed by Jeff Cowie; costumesdesigned by McKay Coble; lighting designed by Michael Lincoln; original music and sound design by Johnna Doty; dramaturg, Christopher Baker; production stage manager, Wendy Beaton. Presented by the Hartford Stage Company, Michael Wilson, artistic director; Eliane Calder, managing director Horace Robedaux Jr. Frankie Muniz Eliza Beatrice Winde Gertrude Preslaysa Edwards Elizabeth Robedaux Hallie Foote Mary Vaughn Dana Ivey Brother Vaughn Andrew McCarthy Corella Davenport Jean Stapleton Inez Kirby Julie Fishell Horace Robedaux Sr Devon Abner Will Borden Frank Giradeau Walter Ed Wheeler C-f Jrtunm MM StmcN. few wm wm wm MAGEL I T'v I Am v. SCUMEL A.

A A I abcdefgh WHITE GETS A ROOK FOR A KNIGHT WHAT THE ZOO NEEPEP TO fW FOR ITS NEW ANIMALS. strength of Papa's lineage as Elizabeth (her fictionalized grandmother), and from Beatrice Winde, who bespeaks the patience and wisdom of black Southern women as the servant Eliza. Preslaysa Edwards exudes a sweetness of spirit and determination as the doomed Gertrude, and there are also finely done vignettes from Julie Fishell, Frank Girardeau and Ed Wheeler (who drives Miss Daisy, as it were). In his first season, Wilson has displayed his range with three very different major American playwrights. He has mined the expressionism in Tennessee Williams, illuminated the heightened naturalism in Eugene O'Neill, dug into the down-to-earth realism of Foote.

To end the season, he draws on his own Southern roots to bring a true life to the landscape designed by Jeff Cowie, with its bluish, rolling vista that evokes the world Foote saw around him as a boy. "The Death of Papa" continues through June 27 at the Hartford Stage Company, 50 Church Hartford. Performances are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 with an additional matinee June 10 at 2 p.m., no Wednesday evening performance June 9, no Saturday matinee June 19 and no Sunday evening performance June 27. Box office: 860-527-5151. Continued from Page F1 domination of Harrison.

The play quickens after intermission as Papa's fortune and the Vaughns' power begins to waste away. In the summing up of the Robedaux cycle, Foote sketches out many themes. He asks questions about the relative merits of growing up poor and rich. He expresses sympathy and quiet indignation over the unjust poverty of blacks. He offers intimations of the changes, like the hewing down of the pecan tree, that would forever alter the Wharton of his remembered, and cherished, childhood.

Under the low-key, building direction of Michael Wilson, the people of Foote's plain-spoken memory play come alive in comedy and pain. Act I feels very like a television play of the so-called Golden Era, with Jean Stapleton serving up a funny, absurd portrait of Corella Davenport, Horace paternal grandmother, forever worrying about the boy's reading habits, and Dana Ivey subtly etching the sorrows and pride of the grande dame widow, and bestowing largesse. Act which cuts much more deeply into the heart of the family, contrasts Horace Robedaux whose own father's death began the cycle in 1902, and Brother Vaughn, whose father's fatal heart attack frees him to sink into a self-destructive drinker's life. Devon Abner's flat, almost expressionless playing of the tall, lean, la- TROPSY I I WHATZIT I I I I Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon. I YTYYY'' Ans: A R.

A A A By Paul Sellers Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters. (Answers tomorrow) BENUMB Yesterday's Jumbles: CUBIC RAPID CARNAL Answer: Why he look the dirty job TO CLEAN UP WONDER WONDER WONDER WONDER ad infinitum WONDER WONDER WONDER WONDER WONDER i conic Horace Sr. evolves into a potent reflection on the hardships of losing a father in childhood. But the revelation of this production is Andrew McCarthy's deeply felt portrayal, of the mercurial, self-pitying, whiskey-thin Brother, who lived in fear of his father and cannot escape his harsh judgment even after the old man's death. McCarthy must have learned much while working on "Long Day's Journey Into Night," for his playing of Brother is imbued with touches of O'Neill.

Across the play, there is also remarkable work from Frankie Muniz, who is natural and appealing as the curious Horace from Hallie Foote (the playwright's daughter), who communicates the quiet ij Chess arri Whatzrt solutions on comics page CROSSWORD Edited by Fran Sabin and Lou Sabin DOWN Flower stalk Wahine wiggle On with Mafia canary Thirst WORD WATCH 32 Well-studied pseudopod 33 Speakers' aids 35 One alone 38 Unlettered 39 Plentiful 40 Profits 45 Prove false 46 Before now 47 Joao, Brazil 50 Show delight 51 Sleazy 52 Bergman role 53 Jazz group 54 Brine-cured cheese 55 "To a Mockingbird" 56 Role model 57 Turn down 61 "Addio!" quencher 6 Illinois destination 7 Beds room Democrat Or Democratic, It's A Party 8 Norway's patron 49 Watered (the lawn) ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE ARsnsTElNr RE0LlcARNEi a sh eTs no mp 0 JLA TLJo IsIaInIpIbI oTf lIi mJiTtTsL MITE lI'JnIoJ IE A lljE Df T.l VNM A tE t' llSll ATj saint 9 Debate feature 10 Club member's coat 11 Points 12 Andy Taylor's boy 13 Connects 22 Pub quaff 23 Madhouse 24 China-North Korea river 26 Punch out 27 Teen followers 28 Legal 29 Could be 30 Peepers 31 Creator Today, "Democrat Party" is a partisan term, dripping with the venom of reptilian rivalry. But if you think the Democrats will retaliate in kind and start referring to the "Republic Party," forget it "Republic Party" sounds even BETTER than publican Party." Who, after all, would oppose a candidate pledged to family values, to tax reduction AND to the Republic for which it stands? No, in this escalation of linguistic throw weight, the Democrats should unveil the ultimate bombast: Call themselves the "Democracy Party" and dub their foes "Republicants." i Rob Kyffis a teacher and writer in West Hartford. Write to him in care of The Cou-rant, Features Department, Hartford, CT 06115, or by e-mail at By ROB KYFF "Is it correct to say, 'I belong to the Democratic or, belong to the Democrat Party' asks loyal e-mailer and, presumably, loyal Democrat Lynn Raim Levine. Well now. Traditionally, that raucous, "y'all come!" party of Jackson (Andy and Jesse), Roosevelt (Franklin, not Teddy) and Truman (Harry, not Jim Carrey) has been referred to as the "Democratic Party." But around 1950, sourball Republicans, always sniffing out new ways to denigrate Democrats, decided "Democratic Party" sounded too positive, too much like the party of the people, just too, well democratic darn it! So they pinned this title on the donkey: "Democrat Party." While "Democratic Party" has a cer tain mellifluous rhythm, "Democrat Party" sounds harsh and choppy, like a bunch of rowdies who are "Not Our Kind, Dear," barbecuing a wild boor in the woods.

(A favorite chant of the "I like Dee" kids during the 1950s comes to mind: "Adlai is a dirty rat. Adlai is a In case some of you eggheads are wondering, the use of the noun "Democrat" to describe "Party" is grammatically correct. Such "attributive" nouns are perfectly legal, e.g., "block party," "house party," "cocktail party" (as long as no guest contributes more than William Safire has traced the devilish dysphemism "Democrat Party" all the way back to 1940s Republican Thomas Dewey. (Headline: "DEWEY DEFEATS But only in recent years has "Democrat Party" become the GOP's preferred epithet for the archenemy. a vTeIsJo a sTifsJ 1 TijT nJT otjdTVT 0 JS ORB Tip DEN ADMAN (7 DE A ACROSS 1 Lamb Chop's voice 6 Freshener target 10 "Get tost!" 14 First name in rap 15 Ace in the 16 Canter 17 Give a lift 18 Jordanian, e.g.

19 Folic or boric 20 Scratch 21 Cheerful words 24 Where Bill met Hillary 25 Wingtip section 26 Sense of taste 29 Subway staffer 34 Nimble 35 PoetTeasdale 36 37 Linus holds tight to this 41 Part of a threesome? 42 Schmoozes 43 Bathysphere explorer, William 44 Alienate 47 Buddhist sermons 48 Kind of trip 49 John, in Dresden 50 Soul-soothing diet 55 Josh 58 In place of 59 Son of Zeus 60 Tolerate 62 Settled down 63 "Nick at-" 64 Stocking stuff 65 Pile of wood for burning 66 Lickspittle 67 Brit's TV 6499 A Game For Everyone Bid whist is an American card game that combines elements of bridge, whist and spades, with the common goal of making your bid. Kitty: 873; TO. NORTH KQ1072 K7 Q96 J8 1 3 4 8 9 11 12 113 KaJ aaa 21 22 23 124 25 26 w2930 31 s2 33 34 35 I 36 37 38 38140 41 42 43 nifMM tj Lriaj 44 45 46 ie -J--. huLJ so sfTlT" 5TIS4 sT'TITTsr' 58 61 62 63 64 Hm. nTTl.H WEST 86 J1052 A102 74 Little joker South deals.

West bids a five low. Everyone passes. Diamonds are trumps. West leads with the little joker. The king and nine of diamonds fall, along with the big joker.

South wins the book. South plays the king of hearts. West cuts it with the jack of diamonds; North and East plays the jack and five of hearts. West plays the ace of diamonds. The seven, eight and queen of diamonds fall.

West plays the two of diamonds. North plays the king of spades. East and South play the four and three of diamonds. West plays the ace of clubs. The queen, king and jack of clubs fall.

West plays the two of clubs. North plays the nine of clubs; East plays the jack of spades; and South plays the fivof clubs. West plays the three of clubs. North plays the six of clubs; East plays the four of spades; and South plays the four of clubs. West plays the seven of clubs.

The eight, three and 10 of hearts fall. West lays down her remaining cards, all winners, making her bid. EAST AJ43 9864 A53 SOUTH 5 Q3 J54 VK10962 Big joker WEST (after kitty) A108732 AJ1052 Little joker Legendary singer Gladys Knight plays bid whist as passionately as she sings. "I love that game," Knight said. "I can play any way it's played, with or without jokers, straight, it doesn't matter." Bid-whist players are like musicians in a band to Knight.

"You've got to be in the clique, around folks who know how to play, because it's an art form. Angel Beck Bid Whist With Beck By Diane Baldwin 0 19 Los Angeles Tunes SyndkaU 6499 Stumped? Call (900) 896-2123 (95 cents a minute) Everyone can't play, and especially a no- trump. Angel Beck of Stamford is author of "How To Play Bid Whist.".