The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 77

Novelist goes where story takes him Restaurateurs add Garden Buffet to their platter. By NICHOLAS A. BASBANES page F10 henever he begins work on a new novel or short story, E.L. Doctorow has no idea where the journey will take him, a serendipitous circumstance the E.L Doctorow will present a writing workshop on Thursday at Lehigh University in Bethlehem. 1 i 1 1 i I f' 'x JL quickly develop, plots take shape, and novels that millions of appreciative readers know as "The Book of Daniel," "Ragtime," "Loon Lake," "Billy Bathgate" and "World's Fair" inevitably emerge.

"I never want to know in advance what's going to happen," the 65-year-old New York City native said, which is why he never discusses works-in-progress in any specific detail "That's where I clam up," he added, although he did characterize his next book, which he hopes to finish sometime next year, as "something totally new and quite ambitious for me." Doctorow is more than happy to displease See DOCTOROW Page F7 distinguished author of 11 books finds essential to the creative process. Indeed, few of Doctorow's books begin with anything more than a vague image or an ambiguous phrase, an experience he described in a recent interview as a "private little excitement" that flashes unexpectedly through his consciousness to suggest the barest premise for a narrative. Once he starts to write, characters THE MORNING GALL SUNDAY. JUNE 2, 1996 INSIDE A Television Page F2 Calendar Page F4 Curtain Rises Page F8 1 V. 1 i I ffl 1 i 4 1 I is.

Agr-ieJNU Sean Connery is the voice of the dragon in the sword-and-sorcery epic above. In the action film The he helps foil a military renegade threatening to shoot poison rockets at San Francisco. i 1 ing life to talk about his back-to-back releases: "Dragonheart," a Dark Ages fantasy in which he lends his voice to a cranky dragon, and Friday's "The Rock," an Alca-traz-set action thriller about a military renegade (Ed Harris) threatening to shoot poison rockets at San Francisco. Connery's willingness to engage in a weekend's worth of publicity flies in the face of tabloid reports that he's suffering from throat cancer. He flatly denies those rumors, claiming he underwent radiation Actor Sean Connery breathes life into a hot-tempered dragon and a cool con By AMY LONGSDORF NEW YORK Few performers are lucky enough to come up with a single role that slips into the cultural consciousness, the kind that turns an actor into a star.

Sean Connery has had at least three: in the James Bond movies, "Robin and Marian" and "Indiana 1 Jones and the Last Crusade." At 66, Connery may be the closest thing there is to an old-time movie star, in the Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper tradition. "Why am I a star?" asks Connery with a laugh. "Well, I find myself playing these father figures lately. There's something stabilizing about those characters. They have a sense of security but audiences know that behind it all is a sense of devilment." Looking like he just walked off the links, the golf-obsessed Scot has taken a break from the sport Lk, jJ and Please See CONNERY Page F2 Travel Hersheypark unleashes a new thriller in Wildcat Buildup to Tonys more Bickersons than Barrymores By SID SMITH Of The Chicago Tribune Would somebody, anybody, give their regards to poor Broadway? The Great White Way, that diamond in the rough of New York City, that cradle of glamour and fame, that street of sore, sore loseiV The buildup to the 50th annual Tony Awards, HERSHEY Like a swirling golden sculpture, the new wooden roller coaster dramatically dominates the parents can't enjoy it.

Being an old-fashioned wooden coaster, Wildcat does not go upside down. But with so many curves, it may make you feel queasier than riding other wooden coasters. Boodley acknowledged riders are more "apt to get vertigo'' on a curving coaster than they would on an out-and back-type but he does not expect Wildcat's ricie will make people sick. Boodley said cyclone or twister coasters built in the 1920s were not very successful. With passengers WILDCAT Page F6 Randy Kraft TRAVEL WRfTER Cedar Pbint coaster F4 mph, but seems to go twice as fast.

The first twisting 85-foot drop is incredible definitely better than average. For an instant, you're certain the train is going to crash down onto Hersheypark Drive. That first 45-degree drop is not steeper than those on other coasters, said Mike Boodley, who designed Wildcat, "but it twists more. When you start down the hill you are facing north. When you pull out of it, you are facing south.

You've turned 180 degrees while you are dropping. There's no other wooden coaster anywhere iU IHI mwi. the annual Broadway celebration to be telecast 9 to 11 p.m. Sunday on CBS with Nathan Lane as host, has been more akin to the world of the Bickersons than the Barrymores. The failure of the Tony committee to nominate two blockbuster shows and Victor honoring instead two shows-that had already closed of a Death Fore Host Nathan Lane landscape as you approach Hersheypark.

With its graceful curves, the coaster is one of the prettiest I've ever seen. Although it is more like a gigantic coiled snake, the ride is named Wildcat. Climb aboard and you may feel like you are clinging to the back of a very fast, very angry and very wild cat. Rather than an "out-and-back" coaster like Hersheypark's Comet, Wildcat is called a cyclone or twister coaster. That means the track twists under and over itself 20 times during the 90-second ride with 12 steeply banked curves.

Cyclone or twister coasters were popular in the 1920s, according to park officials. Wildcat has a top speed of 49 that does that." It's an intense ride. After the top of the first hill, it seems to have almost no sections of straight track. There's no chance to catch your breath or orient yourself. Riders experience forces of up to 3.5 gs.

That's wild enough for teen-agers, said park officials, but not so wild that parents and grand told and Swinging on a launched a fracas last month and brought national attention to Broadway infighting. Rejected show people attacked the nominatimr committee with language usually reserved for the floors of Congress. It was bad enough that some of the complainers were producers, a breed rarely accused of rnagnanimity or restraint But the most outraged rejectee of all was actress Julie Andrews, who was not really rejected she got a nominatlou for best actress in a musical but who was smart- DON FISHER The Morning Call Riders plunge down an 85-foot drop on the Wildcat at Hersheypark. The new coaster dominates a view of park. Please See TONYS Page F2.