Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 44

44 Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1984 Philadelphia Dally News i PEA 000 Griffin, who had a drug problem, "is cured and ready to go back to work." Papa Ryan punched the kid's teeth out a year or so ago. He also said daughter Tatum, 20, will move to New York to study. O'Neal, long overdo for a hit film, is pleased with the good reviews for his new movie, "Irreconcilable Differences," and is about to embark on a new picture, "Fever." The Leggy Approach Peter Allen, searching some time ago for a song to honor his ex-mother-in-law, Judy Garland, came up with a theme during Julie Wilson's cabaret act. Irked by some loud talkers at the next table, he sent them a note that read: "Quiet, please, there's a lady on the stage." That became the name of the song that brought down the house at his recent Carnegie Hall stint in New York.

Next Allen is heading for Broadway to star in his own show, "Legs," based on the life of gangster Legs Diamond, to be staged by "Zorba's" winning producers Fran and Barry Weissler. Son Day Tony Danza will use his week-long "Who's The Boss?" hiatus this month for a reunion in New York with his 13-year-old son. The 31-year-old former "Taxi" star (who's waiting to start serving his I I Steve Goodman: a fan sentence of 250 hours of New York community service for assault on a hotel guard) gained custody last year of young Marc from the wife to whom he was married briefly when he was in his teens. He says he made the decision this summer that Marc would be better off out of Hollywood and in Tony's mother's New York home, a decision that didn't come easy. "I'm still battling with it," he says.

And adds, "Please don't minimize the sacrifice because it is. I want him with me very badly. I'm much better mentally when he's with me. He keeps me on my toes. But I'm fighting those feelings.

I feel it's important for him to get the experience, the interaction with other kids that I got in New York, which I don't feel he can get in LA. My mother's in a neighborhood where he has friends; he's going to a Catholic school; he's going to be confirmed and I think someday he'll turn around and say, Thanks. When You're Hot Catherine Hicks featured in both the new "The Razor's Edge" and "Garbo Talks" has landed the female lead opposite Ryan O'Neal in Richard Brooks' "Fever," being produced by Freddie Fields. Jaclyn Smith, Art Carney and Paul Williams acted heroically, reports producer David Niven when an electrical fire broke out late last week on the Hollywood soundstage where they were filming an elves' dining-room sequence for the ABC-TV movie, "The Night They Saved Christmas." None of the stars, says Niven, would leave "until they were sure the SO little people working in the scene were safe; in fact, Jackie, Art and Paul ended up racing dut of the building each carrying one of them." As it turned out, a quick response by the fire department prevented any damage. Everybody's an Editor Pushing a publication deadline, Robin Cook turned to high-tech to finish his seventh medical mystery thriller, "Mindbent." The Boston-based doctor-author of "Coma," "Sphinx," "Fever" and "Brain" chucked pencil and yellow legal pads and turned to his Wang word proces-ser for his first computer production.

But something glitched midway through "Mindbent," he said. "Suddenly it emitted a strange sound and I lost a couple of pages. It happened a couple of times. I figured it was the Lord suggesting these pages weren't so good." Burning Vinyl Being the daughter of a Southern preacher wasn't all that tough, according to Rita Coolidge. "It wasn't as strict as you'd imagine while I was growing up," said Coolidge, who is on a national concert tour to support her "Inside the Fire" LP.

"Back in the '60s when the Beatles came to the South, the Baptist Association told everyone to burn all their records. It was crazy. But my father told me to go and enjoy the concert and forget what everyone was doing. He may be a preacher but he's always given me a lot of freedom to make my own decisions and mistakes and there have been many along the way." i FROM WAR PROTESTER TO SOPHISTICATED LADY Peter Alien: tribute Judy Garland: lady the Boys Home." It was the latter, with its strong anti-war message, that Payne says not only affected her personally, but the entire country as well. "'Bring the Boys Home' voiced the emotions of the public," she said.

"Every person that you know, or knew at the time, had somebody a friend, or a friend of a friend who was in the war, and knew of someone who didn't come back. "It didn't bother me at all to record the song, though some people around me said I might have a little trouble with the government." Did she? "It was banned in South Vietnam, but it didn't matter, because it was still a big hit in the VS. The song meant something to America." Payne hasn't had a hit since then, though she's recorded several more songs. She hopes her next record, to be released "before the year is out," will do well on the charts. But she admits that "Band of Gold" and "Bring the Boys Home" are tough acts to follow.

If You Go The Playhouse Theatre is at 10th and Market streets in Wilmington. "Sophisticated Ladies" runs through Saturday. Show times are today at 2 and 8 p.m.; Thu. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2 p.m.

8 p.m. Tickets: Info: (302) 65M401. I LOOSE UPS Jimmy Buffett made the grand gesture yesterday afternoon when he sang the national anthem at the opening game of the National League Championship series in Chicago and dedicated the song to folksinger Steve Goodman. Goodman, who died last month after a 9-year battle with leukemia, loved the Cubbies so much that one of the last songs he wrote was called "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." The irony, of course, was that Goodman died just before his beloved team won the Eastern Division. Buf-fett's dedication was a wonderful moment in baseball.

Father Knows Best Ryan O'Neal, never a candidate for Hollywood's favorite father, promises, "I'm not going to be a jerk again" in his reformation as father, actor and constant companion of Farrah Fawcett O'Neal announced that son Catherine Hicks: hot Susan Stewart Is on vacation. She will return next week. Tony Danza: paternal sonality. Just how understanding was evidenced during the interview when in between questions I had to yell at, grab, separate and otherwise manage two 5-year-olds (mine) whom fate and a Jewish holiday had combined to deposit at my desk. "It's OK," she said with a tinge of compassion.

"I think I know what you're going through." The conversation turned to "Daddy Goodness," a play that was hailed as the first "million-dollar Black musical" in "1979. It starred Payne and Clifton Davis and played for a month in Philadelphia. The reviews of this expensive child weren't exceptional, but neither, according to the critics, were the singing and dancing. "After it left Philadelphia, the musical went on to the National Theater in Washington, D.C.," noted Payne. "After that, well, it just sort of ran out of money.

It never did make it to Broadway, and that was a big disappointment for By JOSEPH P. BLAKE -Daily News Start Writer here is a point in the lives of some dancers, according to Freda Payne, when dancing becomes more than what they do to pay the bills. It becomes an essential part of their lives, as natural as breathing. That's the way it is for Payne, who's appearing at the Playhouse Theatre in Wilmington in Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Ladies." Though the show is mostly singing, Payne says she still finds herself "stretching in the wings" to loosen up. "I've always done it," Payne said of dancing, during a recent telephone interview from her hotel in New York.

"It's been my way of staying in shape. Most women are just starting to go to aerobics and dance classes, but I've always participated in them." The years of stretching and bending have paid off for Payne, whose attractive looks are complemented by a gracious, understanding per Freda Payne: gracious Payne started her career as a dancer in the "Step Lively Review" at Atlantic City's Club Harlem where she was the featured singer. It was there that she met people such as Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and others who encouraged her to record. In 1970 she did just that and her first record, "Band of Gold," was a certified hit followed by another one recorded in 1971 titled "Bring.