He sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker in 1930--a sketch of two prisoners in a cell, with one bitterly denouncing his child as "incorrigible." Since then, William Steig, 71, has published nearly 2,000 drawings there; to celebrate his 50th year at the magazine, he has selected more than 250 for publication in a new book. The world of Steig is populated mostly by grotesques, human and animal, gamboling through life. More often than not, critics treat his work as art. Steig is less sure. "I suppose every cartoonist likes to be called an artist," he says, "but if people ask me what I am, I say cartoonist."

The scene might have been an outtake from Creature from the Black Lagoon: a lone figure stumbles from the water covered in yellow guck and with a swollen eye. Except that there were hundreds of spectators on the beach, and they cheered when Diana Nyad came ashore last week in Jupiter, Fla., the first person ever to swim from the Bahamas to the U.S. "I feel like the F train in New York just ran over me, but emotionally I'm exhilarated," exulted Nyad between sips of champagne and whiffs of oxygen. The marathoner attempted the feat three weeks ago, but gave up after being stung by a Portuguese manofwar; this time she sprayed herself with latex, "prayed to the Portuguese man-of-war god," and proceeded to finish the 89-mile swim in 27 hrs. and 38 min. Now she will pursue her other goal: the 130-mile crawl from Cuba to the Florida Keys. If she succeeds, it will be her last lap. Says Nyad: "Where do you go after that?"

Pay attention, now, and no giggling in the back rows, please. Raquel Welch, 38, is making a three-hour TV epic called The Legend of Walks Far Woman near Billings, Mont. Raquel plays Ms. Woman, a squaw of Sioux and Blackfoot pedigree whose tale is traced from the 1870s to World War II. She is supposed to race, ride and swim in the movie, but since Raquel can't do these things very well, half a dozen doubles will fill in for her. Here she is acting, with no double in sight.

When Victor Willis, lead singer of the Village People, spun himself off into a solo career, the thump-thump-thump that reverberates through Discoland, U.S.A., was suddenly muffled. After all, the flamboyant sextet is the ruling clan of that realm; they have sold some 9 million albums and made songs like Macho Man, Y.M.C.A. and In the Navy into nocturnal national anthems. Now the beat goes on, for a onetime back-up singer named Ray Simpson has been promoted to the group, joining Cowboy Randy Jones, Construction Worker David Hodo, Indian Felipe Rose, Motorcyclist Glenn Hughes and G.I. Alex Briley. Simpson came along in perfect 4/4 time: shooting has just begun on the People's first film, You Can't Stop the Music, co-starring Bruce Jenner and Valerie Perrine. Harmony, disco style, reigns again.

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