People: Jul. 29, 1966

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Things were purring along on the good ship Pussycat as it headed south out of San Francisco down the coast to San Diego. Aboard the 65-ft. yacht was Comedian Jerry Lewis, making his first real cruise on his spanking new toy. There was crystal in the galley, mahogany paneling everywhere, and a pair of deck chairs were tastefully stenciled "Mr. Captain" and "Mrs. Captain." Suddenly the tub sprang a leak, and pretty soon Pussycat was drifting helplessly. At last, when the table floated across the dining room, Mr. Captain and crew abandoned ship and made it to the beach, where they watched $350,000 worth of status break up in the surf.

Because of the light—the shattering clarity that had seduced so many artists—Painter Marc Chagall in 1950 left Paris to live on the Riviera. Last week Chagall, now 79, said merci to the land of azure waters with a $2,000,000 gift: 17 major oils and 50 gouaches and watercolors, representing much of his last twelve years' work, which will be housed in a government-financed Chagall museum in Nice. When it is completed in 1968, the memorial will take its place beside the Riviera's three other museums dedicated to modern masters: Picasso's in Antibes, Léger's in Biot and Matisse's, also in Nice.

"They don't care anything about Latin girls," cried Miss Ecuador before the judging. "The European girls get better food, and they are the ones who are photographed," sobbed Miss Argentina. Sure enough, Miss Sweden, Margareta Arvidsson, 18, was crowned Miss Universe in Miami. No pleasing some people—she wept too. "I don't want it," she groaned. "Now I won't be able to go anywhere without a chaperone." By next morning the sea captain's daughter had recovered. Said she: "I don't remember anything about last night."

Not much escaped the memento seekers when Manhattan's old Metropolitan Opera House closed down last April. Opera buffs pried off seat numbers, and ripped down damask wall coverings. Not to be outdone, RCA Victor carted away (after paying $10,000) the gold brocade curtain and announced that it would cut the drapery into 45,000 patches and include one in each copy of a souvenir-record album called Opening Nights at the Metropolitan. Of course, the curtain did shrink some in the cleaning, but there was enough to go around as Soprano Leontyne Price scissored off the first snippet for publicity's sake. Then she hurried back to rehearsals at the new Met, where she will star opening night as Cleopatra in an opera written for her by Composer Samuel Barber.