The candidate's first foray into politics, a bid for the Ohio Senate seat held by Democrat Stephen Young, ended in frustration and dizzy spells when he took a header on a bath mat, injured his inner ear, and had to pull out of the race. That was 1964. This time, the first American to orbit the earth will take no chances. John Glenn, 48, announced that he will seek the post to be vacated by Young's retirement. "It will be the dirtiest campaign ever," he promised. "I won't take a bath."

When the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (A.S.C.A.P.) decided to celebrate Rudolf Friml's 90th birthday with a grand to-do at Manhattan's Shubert Theater, they couldn't locate him: he was on a concert tour in Europe. Deaf but spry, his hair still red, his piano playing still powerful, Friml gives his Chinese wife Kay, 56, credit for his fitness: "Some mornings I get up and she walks on my back." During the A.S.C.A.P. tribute, a chorus and soloists sang his hits, and Ogden Nash reminisced:

His music glistens in the dark charade;

Even Agnew brays the Donkey Serenade.

I trust that your conclusion and mine are similar:

T'would be a happier world if it were Friml-er.

His opposition party banned, and he himself imprisoned for "subversion," Kenya's flamboyant, left-leaning Oginga Odinga was dismayed to find that he was not even allowed to read about the national elections. When "Double O" made a plea for newspaper privileges to President Jomo Kenyatta, his onetime pal replied: "When I was in detention, the British gave me nothing to read but the Bible. Let Odinga read that. It will do him good."

"Keep those cards and letters comin', folks," drawled Dean Martin at the end of his NBC variety hour, " 'cause me and Jeannie just love to get 'em." Not any more. Jeanne Biegger Martin, 43, announced that she will sue for divorce, at her husband's request, after 20 years of marriage. Dino, it seems, is in love with another, much younger blonde. While half of Hollywood's Clairol set claimed to be next in line to share his mail, gossipists pointed to buxom Gail Renshaw, Miss World-U.S.A.

It is not true that Attorney General John Mitchell has forbidden his garrulous wife to give any more interviews. "We have a full understanding in the family," Martha's husband told a group of investment bankers. "She can go on television any time at all; she can say anything to the newspapers. There's just one limitation that I've placed on her: she is to do it in Swahili."

To a man they Give a Damn, and gave their damnedest. The all-celebrity chorale was assembled to raise funds--and the rafters--for the Urban Coalition with a taped TV commercial featuring the message: "Love--it comes in all colors." With professional help from Mitch Miller, Leontyne Price and the cast of Hair, lung power for the coalition chorus was supplied by Ed Sullivan, Arthur Goldberg, Henry Fonda, Ralph Bunche, Chet Huntley, John D. Rockefeller III, Johnny Carson and nearly 100 other distinguished Americans of every hue and hairstyle. All the group needs now is a title. The Urbanes?

Protesting "tyranny, sadism and so-called benevolent despotism," Sirhan Sirhan began a hunger strike at San Quentin. His specific grievance was his forced separation from other convicts on Death Row. The warden was unmoved. Under close medical observation, Robert Kennedy's convicted killer subsisted for more than two weeks on instant cocoa and coffee, plus his regular reading diet of Arab newspapers and Playboy.

One way to acquire a distinguished archaeological collection at little or no cost is to be named Moshe Dayan. The Israeli hero, now the nation's Defense Minister, digs a great many artifacts himself. Others he buys. "Dayan pays for everything with a check," explained an Arab antique dealer in East Jerusalem. "Tourists are usually in the shop at the time. When Dayan leaves, they are eager to cash the check for me so they can frame it as a memento. So Dayan gets his archaeological pieces, I get my money, and the tourist gets the autographed check." And Dayan's bank account remains unchanged.

Snoopy notwithstanding, the Red Baron was "a gentleman throughout" who went out of his way to give World War I adversaries an even break. So insists Manfred von Richthofen's great-niece Carmen, 24, a dark-haired charmer who, of all things, pilots a typewriter for the U.S. Army in Germany.

As tailors fitted a turn-of-the-century cape, frock coat and waistcoat for his 5,000-tulip wedding on the Johnny Carson show, Tiny Tim announced that his honeymoon would begin with "a three-day fast from S-E-X." Said Tiny: "Not even a kiss. I plan to give the Lord the first fruits of my marriage. If only more people followed the ways of St. Paul and King David." No comment from Mrs. Tim-to-be, Vicki Budinger, 17. There was even a rumor that Tim's tresses would be shorn for the event. "I hope they will," said his gray-haired mother, Mrs. Tillie Khaury. "He was such a beautiful baby,"

"Hare Krishna," intoned Allen Ginsberg. "Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama." The Hindu mantra worked no spell at all on peppery Judge Julius Hoffman, in whose federal courtroom the bushy-bearded poet was appearing as a defense witness in the Chicago conspiracy trial. When the judge protested that he did not even know what language the guru was using, Ginsberg explained that it was Sanskrit. "Well," huffed Hoffman, "we don't allow Sanskrit in federal courts." Hare, Hare.

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