July 10, 1978

View Full Issue Table of Contents

Interview

Maclean’s: Is it true you were born in a hospital elevator? Lemmon: Yes. According to my mother, who always swore it. Maclean’s: And you were born with jaundice? (A nurse is said to have exclaimed: “My, look at the little yellow Lemmon!”) Lemmon: That’s for sure.

Business

A quiet bidder sends the auction astray

Chalked on the press conference blackboard was the question: “Bob, do you want to buy any Husky shares cheap?” Sidney Robert Blair smiled but wasn’t pulling out his wallet because the man who beat out the big boys seeking to build the Canadian portion of the Alaska Highway pipeline last year had repeated his underdog role. By RODERICK MCQUEEN WITH BUREAU REPORTS5 min

Television

Have Nielsens, Will Travel

Last year, television’s hottest personality was Farrah Fawcett-Majors. This year it’s Fred Silverman, who doesn't look half as good in a T-shirt, doesn’t star in a major series, doesn’t host a talk show or broadcast the news. But by masterminding those who do, Silverman, 40, the new president and chief executive officer of NBC, has had infinitely more influence on North America’s viewing habits than a host of Charlie’s angels.

What René Lévesque has wrought, he himself may be putting asunder

The best possible place to be for a Canadian who is an optimist is Place Jacques Cartier on St. Jean-Baptiste Day. This is the cobblestoned square, sloping down past a grain elevator to the St. Lawrence from the turreted balcony of Montreal’s City Hall, where Charles de Gaulle shouted his famed “Vive le Québec libre.” By Allan Fotheringham5 min

The Referendum Debate

For pressure to be exerted effectively, the first step is to define the points

It is always a good idea to know something about the person with whom you are having an argument. Otherwise we continue to speak past each other, which is what Canadians are doing presently, or most of the time when it comes to Quebec. Most Canadians treat the inhabitants of the province as if they constituted one single, identifiable block of humanity. By W. Gunther Plaut4 min

June 261978