New York

Maureen Corrigan considers the New York City subway system. She reviews Jim Dwyer's new book, "Subway Lives," and she discusses an exhibit of Walker Evans subway photographs from the 1930s and 40s. It's now at the National Gallery in Washington.

Writer Nik Cohn (pronounced "cone"). Cohn walked the length of Broadway in New York City, talking with the various characters along the Great White Way. His chronicle of that experience is "The Heart of the World." (published by Knopf).

Jazz singer Sylvia Syms passed away yesterday at the age of 74. She had a heart attack just as she finished a performance at the Algonquin Hotel. Syms was known as the quintessential saloon singer, and foremost among her admirers was Frank Sinatra, who produced and conducted a 1982 album of standards called "Syms By Sinatra." Her one hit was "I could Have Danced All Night," from the 1956 musical "My Fair Lady." Her nightclub career spanned 51 years.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "New York in the Fifties," a new memoir by Dan Wakefield. (Published by Houghton Mifflin)

TV Critic David Bianculli previews "Street Scenes: New York on Film," a new hour-long documentary on the AMC cable network.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says the new film, about a crime investigation in a Hassidic community, is a low point for its director -- but not so for star Melanie Griffith.

Smith will discuss her one-woman show, Fires in the Mirror, which is currently playing to sold-out audiences at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York. It's about racial and ethnic tensions between African Americans and Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Terry talks with Nancy Wackstein, Executive Director of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association, a settlement house in New York City. Wackstein recently gave up her job as Director of New York's Office on Homelessness. Before that she was an advocate for the homeless at the Citizens' Committee for Children. Wackstein used to believe that the solution to homelessness was more housing; she now believes that housing alone will not solve the problem

Critic John Powers reviews "Single White Female," the new psychological thriller starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bridget Fonda.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new crime show on Fox, produced by Robert De Niro.

The world of New York drag queens was captured on film long before "Paris Is Burning." In 1968, a movie called "The Queen" documented the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant. The film was a sensation in New York City; it was even shown at the Cannes Film Festival. This month "The Queen" has been revived for a short run at New York's Film Forum. Terry talks with Jack Doroshow also known as Sabrina, the organizer and mistress of ceremonies of the 1968 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant.

Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel by Cathleen Schine, about a woman who falls in love with a French manuscript.

Regular Stephen Schiff is covering the final days of the Cannes Film Festival. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead fills in with a review of "Sliver".

Journalist Nicholas Dawidoff recently wrote a New York Times Magazine piece (24 Apr 94) about it, "The Business of Begging: To Give or Not to Give." Dawidoff went into New York's subways where panhandlers had gotten increasingly aggressive. In January the New York Transit officials announced a crackdown and began arresting the most persistent of the lot.

New York City transit police officer Brendan McGarry. He's been at the job for 21 years. McGarry wrote (also in a recent New York Times article, 10 Apr 94) about the homeless and the panhandlers on the subways, "for a transit cop, they are a tough, unpleasant, sometimes dangerous part of a sometimes thankless job." McGarry complains the public misunderstands them and accuses them of mistreatment. But he says they've worked hard at finding shelter and services for the subway's homeless, setting up a homeless outreach unit.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new film, "Vanya on 42nd St," starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, and with a screenplay adapted by David Mamet from Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya".

TV critic David Bianculli previews tonight's episode of "Mad About You," which features a guest appearance by Carl Reiner as Alan Brady -- the character he played on "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Kiss of Death." It stars David Caruso, Samuel Jackson, and Nicolas Cage.

Rock historian Ed Ward continues his look at the contribution various cities have made to rock and roll.

Former three-term Governor for New York State Mario Cuomo and one of the Democratic party's most respected spokesperson. Since losing office in the 1994 republican-landslide election, Cuomo has started his own nationally syndicated radio show. His new book, Reason to Believe (Simon & Schuster) is his critique of the Republican's Contract with America.