Gone were the dark glasses, slouch hat and sullen manner. In sunny Portofino, a smiling, bareheaded Greta Garbo breezed ashore from Movie Producer Sam Spiegel's yacht Malahne, sent a crowd into camera-clicking ecstasies with a big "Hello," joined her shipmate for a lighthearted shopping spree and dinner at the Restaurant Pitosforo. Burbled the proprietor: "It was the Garbo that for many years I've dreamed of seeing. She appeared rejuvenated in spirit."
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With Princess Grace and the children waiting in Monaco, all set for an oceangoing holiday, Prince Rainier, 40, flew to Amsterdam to take possession of his new 290-ton, $694,000 yacht Albecaro II, named for little Albert and Caroline. But before officially presenting the ship to Rainier, Shipbuilder Herman Kerstholt and 80 guests took it for a gala trial run in the North Sea. Ten miles offshore, smoke and flames suddenly lashed out of the engine room. An explosion sent passengers into panic, and since there were no lifeboats, only the timely arrival of rescuers prevented tragedy. When rescued, Builder Kerstholt burst into tears. Also upset, though not visibly tearful, was Rainier, who angrily bemoaned a two-month delay before the damaged vessel could be ready for her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean.
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Giving an outdoor performance in Washington, D.C., puckish Pianist Victor Borge, 54, became the first Danish-born Connecticut resident ever to play a piano on the steps of the Capitol. "It's nice to hear some harmony on Capitol Hill," quipped Borge to an audience sprinkled with Senators and Representatives. "I was in the Far East spreading good will. Then I read the news in the papers, and thought I'd better come home." The show was arranged by Connecticut's Democratic Senator Abraham Ribicoff, who hoped it would help sell Congress on his pending bill to establish a national arts council and an arts foundation.
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A professional painter himself, winner of the 1944 Carnegie Prize, the late Carroll Sargent Tyson Jr. (1878-1956) was a highly discerning art collector. That was evident last week when the Philadelphia Museum of Art reported that Tyson's widow, who died Aug. 2, had willed the museum 19 masterworks, including five Renoirs, two Manets, a Van Gogh, a Goya, a Degas. "The Tysons' taste was impeccable," said the museum's president, R. Sturges Ingersoll. "These paintings are of a quality that will make it almost impossible for future collectors to meet their standard."
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