MIRACLE ON 42ND ST.

Every New Yorker has a Times Square story. Rudolph Giuliani, the city's high-strung mayor, fondly recalls trips to see the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Paramount theater. "They were my favorite comedians as a youngster," Giuliani recalls. "The crowds would spill right out onto Times Square. It would almost be like a New Year's Eve celebration. Dean and Jerry would hang out the window of their dressing room and throw programs and things down to their fans." According to Giuliani, Times Square in those days was "the center of the world" --just the sort of boosterish...