OPEN MASH NOTE TO A BIG MAN ... That's right, kidds, your Uncle Max has gone soft. And ona fella. Color me purple, but I just don't care. Any man who can save eight million men, women and little children from total destruction has my respect. And that's my favorite hero, we call him Superman. He's done it again, kidds, and this time it's not just Lois Lane's pretty neck he saved, but yours and--most especially--mine. From now on, red and blue are my favorite colors and a telephone booth is a sort of street-corner shrine. When I put in my dime I'm gonna be saying to myself, maybe this is where he changed into his working togs. And so help me, I won't even tickle the coin slot for loose change.

Sounds too holy for Your Boy Max? I know you're remembering that this columnist was always sticking pins in him, calling him a scarlet-caped show-off, a menace to navigation. Well, today that seems like poking at the Washington Monument with a diaper pin. If Supe tells Max to join the Boy Scouts, look for me in short pants.

Yesterday he saved us all. So hats off, kidds. Including berets, fedoras, top hats, coonskin caps and yarmulkes. From now on I'm calling off the dogs. No more second-guessing the Up-Up-And-Away Ranger. Whoever he is, he owns me.

I promise, Superman, I'll be good.

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OPEN GET-WELL CARD TO A SWELL GUY. Jim Morgan, resting comfortably in the home of his Aunt Jennifer after the flesh wound inflicted by Father Ling, is a model of public-minded virtue.

Flowers to you, Bob, and get that arm out of a sling real soon. [Was this a typo? Did they mean "Don"?]

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METROPOLIS MEANDERINGS...the Prince of Producers (Harold, that is) looked very fit and happy at last night's Big Opening. Asked what he thought of the Saving of our City, he replied tersely: "Too busy to give it a thought." That's okay, Hal, just keep bringing in those hits....What dandy little starlet, with initials L.L., recently out of "The Mad Show" is bound for Very Big Things per the tidings along the Rialto?...Reunion Time in Showbiz: Songteam Charles Strouse and Lee Adams with recordexec Goddard Lieberson, celebrating happy days harking back to the "Bye Bye Birdie" era. It was Lieberson who championed their talents then; now it's everybody....Lovely Patricia Marand smiling for photogs at Sardi's North. A big bouquet to her even if she is married to fellow journalist Frank Farrell who once scooped me! Drat!...Special Fax Told To Your Boy Max; It is not true, as rumored, that Bigtime Star Jack Cassidy has turned Dorian Gray to look ageless. He keeps that way due to a magic recipe concocted by his lovely wife Shirley and made from herbs picked in the garden of their spectacular Hollywood home. Come on, Jack, let us all in on it....Trendsville: More and more great legit actors are taking parts in musicals. Latest entry is Michael O'Sullivan. Remember him in "Tartuffe" and "In White America?" Sing it, Michael!...Newest feud on MainStem: Musicalactors Bob Holiday and Don Chastain just happen to be in the same Big Show playing roles that call for them to get Very Close to the same girl. Hitch is: in real life she's not married to either one of them! That's The Theatah, I guess....Trade Last: What rather well-known gossip columnist now Really Knows the true identity of Superman, but ain't tellin'?

So long, kidds. And keep those cards and letters coming in.