Daily News from New York, New York • 135

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1979 -ft, -r mVM it 'o i Ik Harry HambursDaily Newt Singer Diana Ross greets holiday crowd at the parade from atop the Daily News' Big Apple float. At left, Snoopy floats above Broadway on the way downtown. Macy balloons get us all high By MARC I A KRAMER There was a cast of thousands and an audience of millions wide-eyed kids and their parents who oohed and ahed and jumped for joy as the 53d annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade moved down Broadway yesterday with its floats and hoopla and enough giant helium balloons to set a youngster's heart thumping. Balmy weather, with the temperature up into the 60s, produced a larger turnout than usual, with youngsters of all ages lining the. parade route 23 deep in some places.

So many eager parade watchers filled the sidewalks and overflowed into the street that a few of the wider floats had difficulty getting by. And millions more watched the festivities on televison at home. A group of brightly dressed clowns on roller skates preceded the parade to get the crowd laughing and excited, and then came the lead banner, grandly decrib-ing the -event as a "holiday treat for children everywhere." "There's no other way to start Thanksgiving," said Mary Anne Hammond, a sporting goods sales manager for Macy's, who was in charge of the banner. The first of the giant helium-filled balloons to proceed down Central Park West to Broadway was the 63V4-foot-high cartoon hero Underdog, making his 14th appearance in the parade. Each of the balloons drew St.

Nick loses knickers What if they gave a parade and Santa Claus lost his pants? Well, folks, that's exactly what happened yesterday just outside Macy's. Santa, who was riding the last float, made it all the way down the length of the parade route from 77th St. and Central Park West to Herald Square. But when he stepped off the float in front of the he lost his pants. And everybody watching the event on television saw what happened.

Fortunately for Santa, he was wearing a pair of street pants underneath. --Joan Nasslvera special applause from the crowd, but the biggest hand was for Mickey Mouse, a perennial favorite who has been in the parade since 1934. Diana Ross stems the tide And then there were the celebrities: singer Diana Ross swathed in bright green furs as the stem of the Big Apple atop the Daily News' Big Apple float; Erik Estrada of "Taxi" star Andy Kaufman, who was late and almost forced parade organizers to scrap his rocking lion float; and Sandy Duncan of Broadway's "Peter Pan." Among the scores of other celebrities on hand was (Continued on page 88) Gne' pTp iriclh) odd spiroti ff Modlaiy By DONALD SINGLETON Her name was Frances. She had been waiting in line since a little after 10 a.m. and, when it got to be 11 o'clock and the line stretched all the way around the corner, she was one of the first to pass through the door of the Salvation Army's Bowery Service Center, file past the serving table and get a plateful of turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, peas and cranberry sauce.

She was wearing green slacks, blouse and jacket and beat-up sneakers. And, although her outfit was far from new, there was something about the way she carried herself, and about the sparkle in her blue eyes, that told you she was somebody pretty special. The rest of the people at the long table wolf ed down their food in perhaps four or five minutes, their eyes darting back and forth suspiciously all the while, but Frances took her time, savoring every morsel until the last bite of pumpkin pie and swallow of coffee were gone. And then she explained who she was, and what she was thankful for. "I was born right down here, at 102 Washington St, andj've lived here all my life, 62 years," she said.

"My father was an interpreter on Ellis Island Russian, time I was ever out of the city was during World War II when I went out to Oregon to get married. I came back here after nine months out West and haven't been away ever since. I had two kids my son, he died of polio, and my daughter, who still lives in the same building I do. "Right now, we're on hard times I guess everybody's on hard times these days I'm living on my Social Security, $120 a month. I'm living with my five Persian cats in two tiny little rooms on Fifth St it's rent controlled, $32.16 a Antnony PscarorcOally Newt Two men enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at Salvation Army Bowery Mission.

month, no heat, no not water, no gas, no eiecmciiy. i eat uui uug (Continued on page 90).