People

By Richard Lacayo

As the voices of Monday Night Football, they are already an odd couple, so why shouldn't Frank Gifford and Don Meredith make it official? To help raise money for the Festival Theater in Santa Fe, Dandy Don and the Giffer opened there last week in Neil Simon's comedy The Odd Couple. Meredith, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, plays Oscar Madison, the slob's slob, complete with a cigar and a New York Mets baseball cap. ("I hate the Yankees," he explains.) Gifford, the ex-New York Giants running back, is Felix Unger, the neat freak. Although Meredith did a show at the same theater last year, this is the first time on the boards for Gifford. No matter: his football experience comes in handy. As the built-for-comfort Meredith scatters ashes across the stage, the built-for-speed Gifford does end runs with a vacuum cleaner. Meredith calls it typecasting: "There's a lot more of Felix in Gifford than there is in me. He hurts easily." Anyway, says Meredith, "he's so cute in his little apron."