1985

We love a meaty story, even if it is second-hand, because we're so grateful for material which breaks the mold of weddings, graduate schools and job switches. So we leapt at this tale we heard from a third party about Barbie Van Buskirk, which occurred after she moved into a new apartment with Jenny Gabler.

This script treatment, which has been sold to CBS as a possible movie-of-the-week, was snatched off an executive's desk by one of our many informers. While the main events are true, certain dramatic elements have been added to please the TV viewing audience.

"Terror After Midnight"

It is late. "Debbie," a smart and sexy young brand manager, is alone in her fashionable Boston apartment. (Roommate "Julie" is on a retreat for senior associates of the emerging and middlemarket services department of her firm). Debbie pores over some market research at her desk. The only light comes from her reading lamp.

Cut to: Outside Debbie's apartment door. A gloved hand picks the lock. Door swings noiselessly open.

Cut to: Debbie, jotting notes on a legal pad, oblivious to the intruder.

Cut to: Camera, from robber's POV, glides through living room. He notes the stereo, Macintosh, a pair of skis. Suddenly, he stumbles over a packing box.

Cut to: Debbie looks up from her work, takes off headphones and listens intently. She leaps to her feet. Camera follows her to the kitchen. Debbie surprises the robber. He grabs a carving knife and brandishes it at her. Debbie, enraged, flies at him. Frightened, he drops the knife and runs.

Cut to: Outside. Robber running around a corner. Debbie's feet come into frame. Camera pulls back to reveal a wallet in front of her Nikes. She picks it up. Debbie opens wallet, and discovers driver's license bearing picture of robber.

Cut to: Police Station, later that same night. Officer O'Malley: "Miss Van Doeswell, we just picked up your robber. You've certainly made our job easy." Camera zooms in on Debbie's confident smile. Fade out.

Back to jobs and marriage. Beth Parish sent a clipping from Advertising Age depicting Lonnie Staley, a media supervisor at McNamara, Clapp & Klein, hobnobbing with some magazine publishers in New York. Beth has been applying herself to the makeup business as a brand manager for Cover Girl at Noxell in Baltimore. (And, yes, she has met Christie Brinkley.)

In the New York Times we caught the wedding announcement of John Grussing and Kathleen Wojciechowski. We can't help but recall John's story about their first encounter (you may remember it from the reunion video). They met at a Dartmouth party thrown by recent grads in New York. A mutual friend brought Kathleen over to introduce her to John, who was in mid-ubangi. John calmly finished the chug, pried his lips from the cup, stuck out his hand and said "Nice to meet you."

We heard reports of a large Boston party over President's day whose attendees included (among many others) Lisa Zaslow (headhunter at Russell Reynolds), Bob Finn (lawyer in Concord), Henrietta Hung (Ph.D. candidate in linguistics), Paul Perry (government job which he apparently won't name), and Joanna Tsiantis (at The Boston Company).

A Final note: We're interested to hear about those classmates who were (or still are) stationed in the Gulf. Our records (admittedly out of date) show a number of classmates in the services: Kristin Ellis, Ken Bogusz, and John Duer in the army; Tom Bradley, JeffDreiwitz, and Tom McDonald in the navy; Glen Eberle in the air national guard, and Larry Weidner in the marines. Any word?

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