All are American classics, and all have been singled out by public schools or libraries--but not for praise. In fact, these distinguished titles all appear on some current list or other of banned books: Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Bernard Malamud's The Fixer, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Ralph Ellison's Invisible. Man, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, P.L Travers' Mary Poppins and The American Heritage Dictionary. Last week a collection of literary luminaries from PEN, the writers' association, dramatized their opposition to censorship by staging a public reading from the banned books at Manhattan's Public Theater. Among those reciting some famous--and forbidden--lines were John Irving, 40, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., 64, Donald Barthelme, 51, Erica Jong, 40, E.L. Doctorow, 51, Calvin Trillin, 46, and Frances FitzGerald, 41. But perhaps the most impassioned protester was Actress Margaret Hamilton, 79, who in the 1939 film version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz brought to life the character of the Wicked Witch of the West. Last week Hamilton did it again by reading from the original L. Frank Baum children's favorite, which was banned by the Detroit public school system in 1957 for its overly "negative" outlook. "Book censorship is like them taking a book out of my own home," huffed Hamilton, something of an American classic herself.

For the first time in years, John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, 49, was photographed with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, 39, and Wife Linda, 39. The rendezvous took place over a pricey meal (asparagus and fettuccine with wild mushrooms) at Manhattan's ultra-chic Le Cirque restaurant, and may have been nothing more than "simply a friendly lunch," as a McCartney business aide insisted. The McCartneys and Ono were not the coziest of friends when the group was still together, so the event took on the significance of an unscheduled summit meeting. According to eyewitnesses, the diners chatted amiably enough--perhaps about such affairs of estate as the re-release of vintage Beatle works and the distribution of royalties. But the session, arranged by a mutual friend from Paris, seems to have evoked at least a bit of the good old days of harmony and song. As Le Cirque Owner Sirio Maccioni put it afterward: "The lunch was personal, not business."

Gather round, Mouska-dults. Who's making a comeback to cartooning's silver screen? Why, M-I-C-K-E-Y . . . MOUSE, 54, erstwhile star of Steamboat Willie and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Yup, Mickey's back in his first major role since 1952, this time playing Bob Cratchit in Mickey's Christmas Carol, a Disneyed version of the Charles Dickens tale. Due out at year's end, the fully animated, 24-min. featurette reunites Mickey with some old friends, including Minnie Mouse as his wife, Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, Goofy as Marley's Ghost, Donald Duck as Ebenezer's nephew, Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Daisy Duck as Scrooge's girlfriend. Newcomers may not notice, but age has changed Mickey's voice. His creator, Walt Disney, spoke for him for the first 19 years of his life, and Disney Sound Effects Man Jim Macdonald, 75, carried on the tradition for the next three decades. Now Wayne Allwine, 35, who was but a Mouskatoddler when Mickey last used his union card, will be handling the vocals. "Mickey has a high-pitched voice well above my own," says Allwine. "He does not really have a lot of range. I just hope I can do as well as my predecessors." Welcome back, Mickey. See you real soon!

--By E. Graydon Carter

On the Record

Morris Udall, 59, Democratic Congressman, on the difference between the Supreme Court and the Ku Klux Klan: "One puts on black robes to scare the hell out of white people, while the other puts on white robes to scare the hell out of blacks."

Rose Sachs, Palm Beach, Fla., socialite, on the pastimes of her fellow residents: "We have this terrible image that we play all the time. I went to three balls last week, and all of them were for charity."

Jack Kemp, 46, conservative Republican Representative and ex-pro footballer: "My introduction to the theory of money and exchange occurred when the San Diego Chargers sold me to the Buffalo Bills for $100."

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