People: Aug. 9, 1968

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Massachusetts' sky was crisp blue, and a bright sun spilled down on the familiar figure cutting through the ocean on water skis. Just as she has done every day during her six-week stay at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport this summer, Jackie Kennedy celebrated her 39th birthday skimming over Nantucket Sound. Then she collected an assortment of Kennedy children and treated them to an alfresco picnic on Egg Island, a sand bar that was a J.F.K. favorite during his summer White House days. Came evening, and she was at Father-in-Law Joe Kennedy's house for a quiet family dinner and a private screening of The Thomas Crown Affair, the story of a swinging Boston millionaire-turned-bank-robber.

The mixture of screaming teeny-boppers and shoving matrons made it look like a cross between a rock concert and a girdle sale. Actually, that wasn't far off the mark as the Beatles' Apple Boutique, London's psychedelic Woolworth's, staged a two-day going-out-of-business giveaway. Why, after eight months, was Apple closing? "We got fed up with the rag trade," explained Paul McCartney. Groused Ringo Starr: "I never could find anything to fit me there anyway." In fact, despite the Beatle name and a hefty investment, Apple was barely breaking even.

If a lady of style has gobs of money, she can still find all the exclusive, just-for-you creations her heart desires in Paris' high-fashion houses. But the designers these days trend more to mass-market ready-to-wears, known as prét à porter—and to more pants, more boots, more chains, more turtlenecks and, of course, more transparency. For his fall collection, André Courrèges' main excitement was a white, rib-knit jump suit, with a tunic for daytime wear and a sequined pants outfit with see-through top for after dark. Not to be outdone, Yves St. Laurent turned out an even more daring evening gown, then produced for everyday a series of wide-cut pants suits just possibly ugly enough to be chic. At least Lauren Bacall, on hand for a CBS-TV fashion special, thought they were. "I'm going all over New York in them," she promised. "And I dare any maitre d' to throw me out of a restaurant."

Truth and beauty. That's what Author-turned-Film Maker Norman Mailer says he's after, and despite the critical catcalls over his first movie, he's still in there cranking away. The latest is a flick about a paranoid film director, played by old Norm of course, with a sharp little subplot about a bunch of male prostitutes. How's that for a takeoff on Belle de Jour? Beautiful. So there they were, Mailer and about 100 of his pals, out on Long Island shooting some scenes and pow!—Norm got into a fight with Actor Lane Smith and broke Smith's jaw. Next day, Mailer and Actor Rip Torn were doing a scene—and pow again! Torn whammed Mailer over the head with a toy hammer, to which Mailer responded by chewing away on Torn's ear. "I was making a movie on a violent subject," said Norm. "Obviously you can't always control violence." True, but not necessarily beautiful.