To Our Readers

By ELIZABETH VALK LONG President

His colleagues are convinced that Jeffrey Ressner, TIME's entertainment correspondent in Los Angeles, never sleeps. Ressner ranges tirelessly from the executive suites of Burbank and the sound stages of Culver City to the tables down at Mortons and Spago. He has knocked back rounds of tequila with Oliver Stone, strolled the wild streets of Amsterdam with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and watched as many as five movies in a day. "He's the Jerry Rice of the Hollywood beat," says Jordan Bonfante, chief of our Los Angeles bureau. "Like the San Francisco 49er wide receiver, he'll catch anything that's thrown at him."

For this week's profile of triple-threat comedy star Tim Allen, Ressner -- along with correspondent Patrick Cole -- carried the ball for a touchdown. "I went over to the set where Allen was readying a holiday episode of Home Improvement, and it felt friendly and homey," says Ressner, "more like a Midwestern summer-stock rehearsal than the place where the No. 1 TV show was being prepared." Senior editor James Collins, who supervises TIME's arts and entertainment coverage, wasn't surprised by the unusual candor that Ressner drew from Allen during their interview. "Stars are asked so many questions by so many reporters," says Collins, "that it takes someone with real intelligence and sympathy to get them to open up and say something honest and fresh. That's one of Jeffrey's great skills."

Ressner, 37, has sharpened his skills during a dozen years of covering show business. Raised in Springsteen country -- Lakewood, New Jersey -- he majored in film at Northwestern University, then caught the first flight to Los Angeles. From a starting job at L.A. Weekly, he rose to positions as senior writer at Rolling Stone and West Coast bureau chief at US magazine. Since he joined TIME a year and a half ago, his assignments have included the Paramount-Viacom deal, the O.J. Simpson case and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

"I find the entertainment industry pretty, well, entertaining -- the eccentric personalities, the mondo life-styles, the can-you-top-this scandals," says Ressner. "But I think what I enjoy most really is the talent of the artists." One of Ressner's own talents is the ability to work in the midst of self-generated cacophony. His office usually resounds to some combination of speakerphone, TV set, radio music and computer bells and other sound effects. Says Bonfante: "Occasionally a colleague with delicate acoustic sensitivities will softly close Jeffrey's door."