The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 25

Tennessee, tersely The New Repertory Theater does Williams a favor by editing Review, Page 26. Also Insldei TV and Radio 31" mm. i THE BOSTON GLOBE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1990 i LOOK HOMEWARD, Dance Review Alley's spirit lingers on i As repressive governments fall, those who fled them ponder return Norman, a real estate lawyer, immigrated to Boston from Johannesburg 15 years ago. "To me it was the first time I could stand up on a stage and actually feel proud that I was a South African," he said. "That's an experience that has been a long time coming." But with the pride came unease.

"In a way," Norman said, "things are easier when you are not faced with options. Options raise questions, about identity, about where you belong." Thousands like Norman, like Kempa, who fled turmoil in the countries of their birth are experiencing new turmoil, but this time it comes from within. They are men and women who left home for political reasons, for practical ones. Some left in fear, others in frustration. Some fled at a moment's notice, others deliberated and planned.

Some left by choice, others had none. By Ellen J. Bartlett GLOBE STAFF Exile, whether imposed or voluntary, is a condition as old as it is universal. "Men in exile feed on dreams of hope," Aeschylus wrote 24 centuries ago, in reference to Orestes, who was banished for speaking out against the sacrificial death of his sister, Iphigenia. Krzysztof Kempa, an assistant professor of physics at Boston College, feeds on daily dispatches from Poland, compiled by fellow scientists in Warsaw and disseminated over Bitnet, a computer network.

The computer in Kempa's office spills out news of hope turning into possibility, and he wonders where he fits into the new equation. Shortly after Nelson Mandela's release from prison, Geoffrey Norman was invited to address a forum at Harvard's Institute of Politics. Ion Bertndel of Medford left Romania 20 years ago. Mindich to buy TV station By Susan Bickelhaupt GLOBE STAFF GLOBE STAFF PHOTO DAVID RYAN Geoffrey Norman still feels the pull of Johannesburg. Whatever drove them away, it was hopelessness, the seeming impossibility of change, that kept them away.

Now change is everywhere, hopes are rising. The foundation of their exile is eroding. There is reason to return. Or is there? In the home that replaced home, families were created, new ties established, careers built, gardens nurtured. "Would I now consider going back?" asks Ion Berindei, who left Romania in 1969 and now lives in Medford with his American wife and EXILES, Page 28 AP PHOTO Including leggings by Castelbajac.

Lido, the primary owner of WHRC, whose office is in Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment Mindich, publisher of the Boston Phoenix and Providence's Phoenix New Paper and owner of radio station WFNX-FM (101.7) in Lynn, said he has been interested in buying a television station for several years. "I had been interested in buying Ch. 25 two and a half years ago, and even looked at Ch. 68 years ago," he said. "If you're in the media business, it's not that unusual." MINDICH, Page 29 Stephen Mindich, publisher of two area weekly newspapers and owner of a radio station, has now made an offer to buy a television station.

Mindich confirmed yesterday that he has struck a deal with the Massachusetts Channel 46 Corp. and is seeking FCC approval to buy WHRC-TV (Ch. 46) in Norwell, which has been the air since last September. While he would only say that the price offered "a significant investment," one source estimated the price at a little more than $4 million. Alan By Christine Temin GLOBE STAFF I he music is a spiritual, "I Want To Be Ready." The dance is by Alvin Ailey.

The performer, last night, was Dudley Williams, and when Williams lay on his back and thrust his hips upward, or reached toward heaven with his hands, or swooned backward or stood up only to spiral to the ground again, he described an entire spiritual quest a quest that Ailey himself surely made. Ailey died in December. Last night marked the opening of his company's 21st visit to Boston, a week that began with a judiciously selected, brilliantly performed, all-Ailey program of excerpts and one full work, the majestic 1960 "Revelations," of which "I Want To Be Ready" is part. The back-to-back Ailey pieces -allowed you to see, among so many things, how he could dramatically alter the meaning of a single detail such as fluttering fingers. Those fingers cast a magical spell in "Memoria," acted as insolent sexual come-on in Night Creature," and delivered a benediction in "Fix Me, Jesus," an- other part of "Revelations," which is a work I would gladly see every day.

On a grander scale, you could see how Ailey wed the spiritual to the sensual. In "Revelations," God pours through the dancers and makes their hips twitch and their pelvises roll, and suddenly the more puritanical brands of religion seem to have gotten things all wrong. Last night the curtain went up on "Memoria," and on the image of the statuesque April Berry, arms stretching upward only to break apart in that staccato signature gesture of Alley's. Berry was a solitary seeker, diving to the floor, spinning, wafting through the parade of other dancers who finally surrounded her AILEY, Page 30 The search ARILYN VOS SAVANT, the smartest person in the world, canceled our interview. Actually, to be specific and Marilyn would want me to be specific, I just know she would, sloppy expression is abhorrent to a person of her intelligence her publisher canceled it.

But it was Marilyn's decision, I'm sure of it A Bantam Books publicity person had called three weeks ago to arrange an interview to promote "Brain Building: Exercising Yourself Smarter," by Marilyn and her co-author, Leonore Fleischer. The same publicity person called a few days before the scheduled interview and left a message saying the whole thing was off. No explanation. No reason. No interview.

I tried not to take it personally, but I was hurt To be rejected by some author plugging her book is no big deal. But to be rejected by the smartest person in the world to be rejected, even, by somebody who only calls herself the smartest person in the world is pretty hard to take. Not that I am suggesting that Marilyn isn't really the smartest person in the world. According to a Bantam Books press release, she's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ ever measured, 230. Actually, it turns out she isn't listed in the 1990 edition.

There's no category called "World's Smartest Person," or even anything similar, such as "Highest IQ" or DO 7 uuu off is IBS for signs of Marilyn '(- i- i iSX-': Tights take many forms, vos Savant for only one day, she said, during which she would do two radio talk shows and one television interview. She didn't have time for me. I may not be the smartest person in the world or even the smartest person in my house but I know when I'm getting the bum's rush. And I didn't really need Brain Builder No. 50 Nothing at Face to conclude that Marilyn could have squeezed me in for 45 minutes, a half-hour even.

If she'd wanted to. There had to be another reason she wouldn't see me. I felt a Cognitive Leap coming on. I turned to Brain Builder No. 39: "Observe What Leads to Insight." Suddenly it was clear: Marilyn thinks I'm too stupid to interview her.

What can I say? She's probably right. She is the smartest person in the world, after all. But I had what I thought were some good questions all prepared to ask her. For example: What makes you think you're so smart? Has anyone ever called you Ms. Know-It-All? What about Ms.

Smarty-Pants? If you're so smart, how come you needed a co-author to help you write this book? And finally, can you explain this line from the press release accompanying your book? "Her surname, which means Vise was her grandmother's 'natural' last name, until she married Marilyn's grandfather whose last name happened to be vos Savant" Fashion THE BOTTOM LINE Marilyn vos Savant "Most Intelligent." But probably she was listed there at one time, and that's good enough for me. Besides, anybody smart enough to make a career out of declaring herself the smartest person in the world is probably worth listening to, even if she's not what she claims to be. So I was disappointed when the interview was canceled. Why would Marilyn do this to me? Preparing to meet her, I read "Brain Building" from cover to cover and even did some of the Brain Builder exercises outlined in the book. I decided to apply some of what I'd learned to figuring out why Marilyn had backed out of the interview.

I began with Brain Builder No. 31 Enough I called the publicity person at Bantam and asked why the interview had been canceled. "Scheduling difficulties," she told me. Marilyn would be in Boston a "-v ARIS ON THIS FIRST DAY OF THE Paris fallwinter shows, traditionally the smaller, lesser-known designers bring out I their collections in cramped, forgotten spaces at a fraction of what it costs to produce the bigger blockbusters at the Louvre later in the week. But this is where the new stars are found.

The three shows I caught on my arrival turned out to represent three very different aspects of the French mood for next fall's clothes, interesting ones, with a few common strains. The common ground? Softness around the shoulders, hooded jackets, close-to-the-body-silhouettes. And, below the belt tights, in all colors, fabrics and styles. Paris has been having a love affair with tights ever since last year, when Karl Lagerfeld, after shor- FASHION, Page 29.