PEOPLE

Bill Bradley, handed a form to till out during his two weeks of active duty with his Air Force Reserve unit, gave it back with the space following "Present Occupation" left blank—thus qualifying, perhaps, for the title of least forward forward.

Willie Shoemaker suffered a ruptured bladder and a pelvis broken in five places when his mount fell on him in the paddock at Hollywood Park last April 30. To get back into shape, Shoemaker had been jogging around the track at Arlington Park in Chicago, covering as much distance, if a good deal more slowly, as he used to on a horse—a mile or so. But jogging on his own two feet is no way for a jockey to circle a track. A few weeks ago, Shoemaker mounted a horse, a pony actually, for the first time since his accident. Next, he rode a Thoroughbred (one not noted for friskiness), and later in the week galloped five furlongs on dirt, five furlongs on grass and went once around the track. Shoemaker had been saying he would be lucky to return to the races by September, but on Monday he felt so full of beans that he accepted mounts in a couple of races at Arlington for the following day.

A small part, but Ewing Kauffman made it his own. He recently played the Commissioner of Baseball in Damn Yankees at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City, and in his honor the local scriptwriters added a little something to the two-minute role. First the Royals' owner got to declaim the ringing words, "Baseball is our first sport and no taint of scandal must ever be allowed to touch it!" after which the writers, those sly dogs, tucked in, "There is a line new baseball team in Kansas City called the Royals. The Midwest fans are crazy about them, and Joe Gordon has done a wonderful job as manager!" The drama critic of the Kansas City Star observed wanly, "Before getting to major roles I might mention a minor one—Ewing Kauffman's one-night-only portrayal of the Commissioner The Royals' owner seems likable His pitch for his Kansas City team won a lot of applause, and I suppose this gimmick appearance is harmless enough at that, though gimmickry is an old Starlight custom I'd like to see less of in favor of enduring values."

Dinah Shore has been invited to be the official hostess for the First Annual Howard Hughes Open Tennis Championships—a tournament to be held at one of Hughes' Las Vegas hotels next October. Dinah herself will be playing in the celebrity matches associated with the tournament, and she will doubtless do well. Before she took off for Las Vegas, where she is now performing, Dinah requested that a tennis court be specially lighted so she could play at 3 a.m. She finishes her show around 1:30 a.m., sits down at a 21 table for a bit and then heads for the tennis court, to play (with fellow night people, such as Ed Ames) until about 5. "It helps me unwind," she says, "and keeps me in real good condition."

President Nixon has finally received his surfboard. Christened The Silver Bullet, the President's Father's Day present from daughters Tricia and Julie is 9'6" long, weighs 22 pounds and is cream-colored with a blue pinstripe. According to Robert Patterson, one of the men who made it, "When Nixon tries it out he's going to wish he wasn't President, because when the surfing bug hits you, who wants to work?" Robert Patterson is one of three brothers who make boards for Hobie Surfboards—Robert glazes, Ronald sands and Raymond glosses. They made The Silver Bullet—made two Silver Bullets, in fact. Someone dropped the first, slightly damaging the finish, so the Patterson boys painted out President Nixon's initials and took off with the board and a cooler of sauterne for the beach at San Onofre, which they scouted for a man who was the same height and weight (5'10", 166 pounds) as President Nixon. They found him, one Jack Blackburn, a real surfer who was delighted to test the board, and so delighted after he had tested it that he bought it. Nixon's new board is identical to Blackburn's, except for the dings, and Blackburn can assure the President that the real Silver Bullet will "turn on a dime."

A newspaperman murmured a question about the possible effeminacy of Liberace's manner of dress during a recent press conference in Indianapolis, and received a stern reply. "Well," Liberace said. "then Joe Namath and Richard Burton are also effeminate, because they dress in wild clothes." Asked later if he were a pro football fan (having chosen Namath as a point of sartorial reference) Liberace said yes—because he knows Namath, as well as some other football players. His interest in sports, he says, is pretty much limited to those in which he has friends who play. His own athletic endeavors? They consist of a series of exercises he can do in his room where he will not, as he says. "Make a spectacle of myself."

"I used to play golf," says England's Tory Leader Edward Heath, "but I found there was nothing to do between holes but talk about politics. I didn't like that. The good thing about sailing is that you're so busy, nobody ever dreams of mentioning politics."

TWO PHOTOS