The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 108

Page SUBURBAN LIVING Monday, Februaiy 10,1997 Baity HCKlld By Leigh Rubin How astronomically high salaries have forever changed the game. HE WEEKLY READ Two noteworthy novels from unlikely sources End-of-world thriller and espionage tale from TV-news types BY JOHN KATZENBACH For The Washington Post A MURDER OF CROWS, by Steve Shepard (Lyford, $23.95) THE UNLIKELY SPY, by Daniel Silva (VHlard, $25) There is an old fiction about i newspaper reporters, that in the top drawer of their desks one can find the first chapter of the novel that they have always longed to write. This same myth is rarely applied to television journalists. It is always assumed that they are too modern to want to while away their fantasy time on such romantic and antique projects as novels. Fortunately, this assumption has been proved wrong by a pair of TV news-types who have written notable first novels.

Both Steve Shepard, author of "A Murder of Crows," a nuclear- end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thriller, and Daniel Silva, whose "The Unlikely Spy" is a classic World War II espionage tale, are longtime Washington, D.C., residents. Shepard was ABC-TV's chief Pentagon correspondent, while Silva is CNN's Washington producer of the weekly political talk shows "Crossfire," "The Capital Gang," "Inside Politics" and others. While Shepard has probably called on his experience covering the military to add verisimilitude to his thriller, Silya's book relies far more on an intimate knowledge of history. The unlikely spy of Silva's title is Professor Alfred Vicary, a noted historian, dedicated academic and a man who in the prewar period occasionally contributed articles to the London Sunday Times decrying Hitler's rise to power. Vicary, a middle-aged man of modest background, with a limp from a wound received in the First World War, possessor of a broken heart from a failed love affair as a young man and a friend of Winston Churchill, is swept out of his cozy academic world one day and put in charge of a section of MI-5, rounding up German spies and turning them to the advantage of the British.

Vicary and his cohorts are successful until the eve of the 1944 Invasion of Normandy, when, to their terror, they learn that the Germans have activated a "sleeper" spy in London. This spy, planted years before, is beyond their grasp and has targeted the single most important secret of the wan the location of the proposed invasion. Suffice it to say that the future of the free world lies on the unassuming shoulders of Professor Vicary, as he tries to ferret out the "sleeper" and preserve the secret of the invasion. The spy in question a beautiful young woman with a murderous heart is more than a match tor the professor. Author Silva has the elements of the spy genre down pat.

His characters especially the beautiful Anna Katerina Von Steiner, who becomes Catherine Blake, and yicary are drawn with detail and substance. In addition, Silva manages to endow all the secondary characters with memorable style. His writing is clear and evocative, and the world at war conies vividly alive. Silva is also adept at devising all the layers of intrigue that make a good spy novel work. That spies play a game is reiterated several times in the book.

The problem is, the rules are always obscure, and the goal is often elusive. People on both sides are played upon by unseen emotions and hidden desires. Finding the truth is a tricky, maddening experience. Silva understands this and creates a richly murky atmosphere that serves his tale well. Of course, this can also be a drawback.

At times in "The Unlikely the action slows and is subject to the demands of mood. Of the many tangled subplots, a few seem added on and further slow the pace. Additionally, much of the emotional temporizing that the secret German Catherine Blake engages in gets a bit tiresome. Still, even with the' occasional heavy footstep resounding on the page, "The Unlikely Spy" is a dandy tale. Steve Shepard's "A Murder of Crows" is at the other end of the thriller spectrum, in that it takes its plot out of the stuff of daily headlines.

Disgruntled former Soviet military leaders, angry at the ruin the United States has brought to their nation, devise a clever method to either subjugate this nation or vaporize it. The plan involves smuggling hydrogen bombs into the United States and then placing them at key strategic locations in the heartland. At the proper, moment, the bombs can be detonated using a massive yet antique radio wave, emitted from a secret hidden camp. The genius of the plan is that the radio wave travels underground and cannot be blocked by the high-tech capabilities of the Americans. The Russians expect to be able to blackmail the United States into submission with relative ease.

The plan, however, is compromised by a poorly trained Russian driver on a slippery Nebraska roadway that is also being traveled by a young country doctor. The doctor believes that the explosive accident he's witnessed is some secret U.S. nuclear incident it's only later, when he and his fiancee are on the run from a Russian hit squad and curious FBI agents, that the truth starts to become clear. At the same time, one determined prisoner in Russia, at the labor camp building the massive radio transmitter that is critical to the plan, manages to escape: "A Murder of Crows" follows the parallel courses of the doctor on the run in the United States and the prisoner seeking freedom near Mongolia both of whom hold keys to the nuclear puzzle. Shepard handles all this material in sturdy, if uninspired, fashion.

Depth of character is not his strong suit; indeed, the technical scenes, describing the weapons and the manner in which they are being smuggled into the United States, are stronger than his attempts to flesh out his characters' personalities. But "A Murder of Crows" does not really rely on character, the way "The Unlikely Spy" does. Shepard's novel is merely supposed to be an exciting entertainment of the page-turner variety. In this regard it is suc- cessfuj. The man who brought TV to reality Early on in "Big Dream, Small Screen," a documentary about the inventor of television, Philo T.

Farnsworth is seen in the '50s making an appearance on the game show "I've Got a Secret" The panel is told that "Dr. Farnsworth" is an inventor, and Bill Cullen asks if his invention "is some kind of device that might be painful in its use," "Yes," Farnsworth replies, "sometimes it's most painful" The audience laughs, thinking that Farnsworth is making a joke about content But by the end of the hour- long documentary it's dear that, for Farnsworth, his greatest invention was a blessing that turned into a most painful curse. "Big Dream, Small Screen" airs at 8 pjn. today on WTTW Channel 11 as part of the excellent PBS series "The American Experience." It tells a story that is all too common to "the American genius first exploited ana then cast aside by corporate power and greed. Series host David McCullough refers to it as "the stuff of myth," and Farnsworth lives up to the billing.

He was a Mormon farm boy obsessed with the idea of visual radio television. He came up with the idea of TVs swiftly changing dot pattern caused by electrons beating back and forth on the lines of a picture screen while riding back and forth across a field, planting crops in rows. Edison and Bell were his childhood heroes, but kismet played a role in his development He was also inspired by a stack of sci-fi magazines found in the attic of an Idaho farmhouse the family moved into after leaving Utah. Farnsworth had to leave college when his father, died in 1924, but at 19 he already had the confidence and ability to convince two investors to put their life savings into the development of television. He married his sweetheart, Pern, when both were still in their teens, but he abandoned her on their wedding night for a meeting with the investors.

"Pern, I have to tell you there's another woman in my life," he explained on his return, "and her name is television." So she joined him in his work, and they all moved to California. The first prototype exploded, but that only prompted them to go out and find new investors. At the time, the BBC's John Logic Baird was working on a broadcast picture created by spinning mechanical disks. It was destined to fail But in New York City the Russian emigre scientist Vladimir Zworykin was independently looking into an electron system much like Farnsworth's and, in fact, was already working with a cathode-ray picture tube. That was on the receiving end.

The trick was developing a camera that could turn an image into a stream of electronic pulses that could be broadcast. There, Farnsworth was far out in front. Enter Gen. David Sarnoff (complete with villainous piano music on the soundtrack), who as the ruthless head of RCA was to radio what Carnegie was to steel and Rockefeller was to oil. Sarnoff threw $100,000 into Zworykin's experiments and sent him out to California to find out what Farnsworth was doing.

"At that time we were all too IN THE AIR Tube talk: Joel Cheatwood joins WMAQ Channel 5 today as vice president of news. Cheatwood arrives amid fears that he'll bring to Chicago the same high-tech, tabloid-style approach he used in Miami at WSVN and, to a lesser extent, in Boston at WHDH. Cheatwood pooh-poohed those preconceptions in an interview last week in Electronic Media, saying, "The most frustrating thing is people assuming I'm a one-trick pony. What I do is design products specifically for a market, and that's what Chicago's all about" Nunzio Pietrangelo II of Schaumburg is a finalist to appear on the Stupid Pet Tricks segment of "Late Show With David Lettennan" at 10:35 p.m. today on WBBM Channel 2.

Pietrangelo, a construction worker, stands on his construc- tion stilts while his white shepherd Zappa leaps to snatch a biscuit out of las mouth. End of the dial: WRCX 103.5-FM afternoon-drive disc jockey Lou Brutus is being featured on "America Ya Get on U.S a Japanese radio program looking at the best of the medium in America. WKQX 101.1-FM's new spot on America Online (keyword: QlOl) looks sharp, although it takes a while to figure out that to follow the paths you have to press not the signs but, for instance, the equivalent body parts on an ant. It's also a bother that, for at-home users of obsolete Macs like myself, it requires the new 3.0 system. Now if you could only get, and keep, a connection to AOL.

Ted Cox Philo T. Farnsworth: a classic American genius who lived out a "mythic" story of power and corruption. naive," says Rom Rutherford, who worked in Farnsworth's lab. "Zworykin was in here just to find out anything he possibly could. And Phil was the other way around: "Here's some When Sarnoff then offered Farnsworth $100,000 to join RCA, if he would give up the rights to his inventions, he refused.

So Zworykin went ahead with his work, much of it copied from what he'd seen in California, while Sarnoff sicked RCA's attorneys on Farnsworth. Farnsworth, in need of corporate backing, joined up with Philco and moved to Philadelphia He put TV on public demonstration at the Franklin Institute in 1934, five years before Sarnoff and RCA would trumpet the "arrival" of TV at the 1939 New York World's Fair. But in the meantime Farnsworth and his wife had a falling out over the death of their 13-month-old son. (With the competing teams racing to develop TV, Farnsworth felt he couldn't take the time off to attend the child's burial in Utah.) He finally won the patent suit in 1939, but World War II halted the development of television. Farnsworth's patents were to expire in 1947, just as TV was taking off in the postwar boom.

He retreated to a new home in Maine but, embittered and burned out from years of relentless work, he turned to drink and then suffered a nervous breakdown. For the last 20 years of his life, he ignored TV and instead explored fusion energy a concept that remains elusive today. "Big Dream, Small Screen" doesn't really capture Farnsworth's personality. He is the stereotypical genius off in the clouds, lost in the day-to-day. His sister comes as close as anyone to explaining him when she says the source of both his greatness and his mental breakdown was "he just couldn't turn it But the story "Big Dream, Small Screen" does capture is the strug- le between Sarnoff and arnsworth over control of what would become the most powerful medium in the modern world a struggle eventually won, hands down, by Sarnoff.

Ted Cox's column appears Monday and Wednesday in Suburban Living, and Thursday in Sports and Friday in Time out! Readers offer views of life after death of a spouse This column works best, I judge, when the words and thoughts presented in this space succeed in stirring the emotional juices of readers. The result is often a spirited dialogue, one that, over time, makes all of us a little wiser. As our first 1997 mailbag spills open, here are a pair of spirited, even spicy, submissions: "You had a column on widows that I enjoyed," begins an upbeat note from an Illinois woman. "After more than 40 years of couplehood (geez, is that a word?) I found myself suddenly single, and only 58 years old. Now I'm alone but not lonely.

I really don't think I would want to remarry. I would like some guy to wash my back (Tm a big bath gal), or to shout along with me as we watch Chicago Bulls basketball games on TV, but I'm not in the market for a live-in fellow. I enjoy being single and in charge of myself. "Incidentally, I haven't had sex for two years, and really don't miss it. IVe had one date in all that time, and it was a bummer.

The guy was a heavy drinker, and an 'old' 64. I'm a youthful 60, and would have to find a young stud, not some old man, for my sexual pleasure because Fm a very sexual person." Comment: When I telephoned this feisty widow, who is happy as a clam at low tide while living in a mobile home, she was baby-sitting a year-old grandchild; meanwhile, the infant's mother was away in class, studying to be an ER nurse. We shared a laugh over her harmless boasting, characterizing herself as an enthusiastic sexual partner, with the right man, to be sure. A second letter in response to the column where widows vowed to remain single spoke in defense of the male gender. John A.

Buonomo of New Jersey declares: "I read where you said remarriage loses appeal for many senior women. Well, I am 68, a male Italian, who is retired. I own my home, I cook, clean and wash my own socks. I don't ask for anything but companionship. If that widow in her middle 60s who wrote you asking about her chances for remarriage in '97 were to write or call me, I would make her chances a lot better than they are at the moment.

Thankyou." Comment: When gentleman John came to the telephone, he explained he was wearing clean socks, and that he'd been cooking. Following our conversation, he was en route to a dance lesson. "I can do every dance, including the Peabody," he announced. This voluble widower, who began his new, single life some 20 months ago, also belongs to a singles club that comprises "250 women and me." In other words, John Buonomo enjoys a number of friendships, along with good food and wine, the opera, dancing, his church, going to Florida, you name it He's a people-person who, when first widowed, thought "about sticking my head in the oven." Today, he's moved far beyond that grief stage and is busy casting his net in search of the one perfect companion, much like the wife of 40 years he continues to mourn and to miss. Please write if you'd like to contribute to this dialogue.

Prune notes: The wisdom of the week is from Dr. Arthur Kprnhaber, expert in grandparenting, who believes that "kids raised by their grandparents are broader and deeper people." Modern Maturity magazine also quotes him saying, "We have to change our culture so old means you're ennobled, you're powerful, you're important." Clayton Moore, who played the Lone Ranger on TV (1949-57) is now 82 and has written a book: "I Was That Masked Man." Sad to report, the book is thin gruel, at best. Does anyone truly care that Helen Gurley Brown, 74, no longer is editing COSMO? As Gloria Steinem states, "The Cosmo girl needs to become a woman!" Agreed. According to the Older Americans Report (a Washington-based newsletter), "Almost one-fifth (18 percent) of the older population in the United States was poor or near- poor in 1994." So much for those Greedy Geezer Lastly, it was Flannery O'Connor who once said, "One old lady who wants her head lifted wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her 250,000 times and what you get is a book club." In Your Prime appears Mondays and Thursdays in Suburban Living. Bard Lmdeman welcomes questions from readers.

Although he cannot reply to all of them individually, he will answer those of general interest in this column. Write to him in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights EL 60006. 1997, Tribune Media Services Steps you can take to cut risk of heart disease Heart disease was once considered a "man's problem," but no longer. This No.

1 killer of women affects one in five women over age 65. Women are 10 times more to die of heart disease than breast cancer. Despite these chilling statistics, women can take steps to decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease, or diseases of the heart and blood vessels. With some lifestyle and dietary changes, you can reduce your vulnerability. Here are some tips: Don't smoke.

Many smokers know that smoking significantiy increases the risk of heart disease and other conditions, but they find it difficult to break this highly addictive habit If you are frying to quit, seek support It is possible to quit and to restore your risk of heart disease to that of a nonsmoker. Talk to your doctor, or call the American Lung Association or American Cancer Society chapter near you, to find a support group. Control high blood pressure. More than half of all women over 55 are said to suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure, a significant contributor to heart disease and stroke. Have routine blood-pressure checks.

If your blood pressure is high, ask your doctor how to lower it Weight loss, dietary changes and regular exercise are usually recom- Dr. Fredric D. Frigoletto of cardiovascular disease, might be suggested for post-menopausal women at high risk for heart disease. Talk to your doctor about whether such therapy might be right foryou. Remember: A healthy lifestyle is your key to heart health.

The Women's Health column appears Mondays in Suburban Living. mended. Medication might also be prescribed, but this will not replace the need for dietary and lifestyle changes. Control cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is an important natural substance in the body, but too much cholesterol can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Have your cholesterol levels checked (with a blood test) at least every five years until age 65, then every three to five years thereafter. To combat high cholesterol levels, doctors usually recommend diet and lifestyle changes. Overweight women are at greater risk for both hypertension and elevated cholesterol. A diet that is low in fat, particularly saturated fat, is generally advised. Regular as walking, aerobics or swimming is also crucial and helps with weight loss.

For some women, cholesterol-lowering medication also might be prescribed. Estrogen replacement therapy, which can significantly reduce both cholesterol levels and the risk Compiled by the staff of Harper's Magazine Facts and figures about our world Days an Ohio public school suspended a 14-year-old girl last October for giving a Midol tablet to her classmate: 80 Hour that "voracious criminals go to bed," according to Bob Dole: 6 a.m. Time at which Americans are most likely to have sex: 10:34 p.m. tength of the average sex session, including foreplay, in minutes: 33.24 Average number of additional minutes women say they would like each session to last: 12 Amount a tondon insurance firm will pay clients who can prove they were impregnated by God: $1,500,000 Number of people on the Omaha, Public Library's waiting list to check out Madonna's book 230 Sources- District Court (Dayton, Ohio); Republican National Committae (Washington); Rebecca Ingrams Pearson (London); Omaha Public library. (c)1997, Haipei's Inc.

Distributed by the Los Angelas Times Syndicate Graphic.