People: Apr. 5, 1982

Ah, the lush, pastoral tidiness of rural Connecticut. Ah, the tranquillity and the clean air—not to mention the attraction of living in a state with no income tax—that have made happy, settled residents of such literary luminaries as Playwright Arthur Miller, 61; Journalist Theodore H. White, 66, and his wife, Historian Beatrice K. Hofstadter; Novelist and Poet Robert Penn Warren, 76, and his wife, Writer Eleanor Clark; Author William Styron, 56; Humorist Peter De Vries, 62; Writer Harrison Salisbury, 73; and Novelist Philip Roth, 49. Agghhh, the newly passed unincorporated business tax, a temporary, two-year, 5% levy on unincorporated businesses in Connecticut that gross more than $50,000 a year and net $15,000. The tax hits writers directly, as well as other self-employed people like grocers, doctors and dentists. Rattling quills in preparation for battle, the Connecticut round table of writers will lobby the state assembly for exemption. “We are not businesses,” says Salisbury. “We don’t have a shop. We just have our typewriters.” And a new cause.

It may not be the kind of off-season passing practice that San Francisco 49er Coach Bill Walsh had in mind for the man who quarterbacked his unheralded team to victory in January’s Super Bowl. Still, Joe Montana’s famed cool-underpressure should get a pressurized workout at this weekend’s pro/celebrity race during the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach, Calif. Montana, 25 has been behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica, running practice laps at California’s Riverside International Raceway. Among the varied competitors scheduled for the 21.3-mile race are: Actor Robert Hays, Rock Star Ted Nugent, Race Drivers Parnelli Jones and Bobby Unser and fellow 49er Linebacker Jack (“Hacksaw”) Reynolds. Racing on the same track as pros like Unser and Jones, says Reynolds nervously, “is like putting a college freshman out on the field against me and Joe.”

He may deserve his widespread reputation in Japan as an accomplished marine biologist, but as a budding ornithologist Emperor Hirohito may just have to feather his reputation some other way. During a recent visit to Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, the Emperor dropped in on a special, eight-month-old friend—her parents were a gift from former President Gerald R. Ford during Hirohito’s state visit to the U.S. in 1975. But Japan’s most famous young bird seemed unimpressed with her imperial visitor. Hoping to change the fowl’s nonchalance, Hirohito studied the crane avidly, then moved in to try his hand at feeding. Still no recognition, but the Emperor was not about to create a flap. For the 80-year-old Hirohito, the bird’s mere existence may carry more import than her aloof manners. In Japanese culture, the crane is a symbol of longevity.

Seldom had Pro Golfer Jerry Pate’s follow-through seemed more fluid. Of course, the former U.S. Open winner had had a bit of practice. After winning the Memphis Classic a year ago, he stunned spectators and a national television audience by diving joyously into a water hazard. After winning the $90,000 first-place prize at the Tournament Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Pate, 28, plotted to make an even bigger splash. “Come here, I want you to see something,” said Pate to P.G.A. Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, 43, leading him to the edge of the water hazard near the 18th green. Too late. Into four feet of water, said to be inhabited by a sleepy, well-fed alligator, went Beman, camel blazer, tassled loafers and all. Pate then cast Tournament Players Club course Architect Pete Dye, 56, in too. “Jerry made us both look like a pair of awkward storks,” says Beman. “Then he makes the most perfect dive you’ve ever seen. Absolutely flawless form.” All wet or not, Beman, pro golfs tour commissioner since 1974, knows good form when he sees it.

—By E. Graydon Carter