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"I'm too old to waste my time being sentimental," says Mary Hemingway, 69. Her return to her old home in Cuba last week after a 16-year absence was strictly a business meeting. Its aim? To help an MGM film team select sites for a movie on her late husband's life. The group visited Ernest's old mate on the fishing boat Pilar, as well as the Hemingway estate Finca Vigia, which is now a Cuban national museum. "They speak of it as sacred in Cuba and take such good care of it," says Hemingway's widow. "Inside everything is just the same. Even the ashtrays are where I left them." A high point of the trip was a talk with Fidel Castro in the Presidential Palace. "He said he had read The Old Man and the Sea and reread For Whom the Bell Tolls several times," she recalls. He also wanted to know what actor would play Ernest and was told no one had yet been cast for the film. As for who will play Mary, she says: "I don't care who it is, as long as she is beautiful, sexy and intelligent."
The odd couple got together for a little beer and banter in Plains, Ga. As a staunch Carter supporter. Supermodel Margaux Hemingway dreamed up the idea of posing in high fashion in Jimmy's home town to make people think of plain old Plains as a fashion capital. New West magazine bought the notion and Brother Billy Carter amiably agreed to provide local color. Says Margaux: "Billy is very sweet and very gentle and very real." Billy had a different perspective on the meeting: "She was wearing a pair of gold pants that kept slipping up her leg. Of course, my wife was there with me the whole time, so I didn't notice what kind of legs she had."
Oakland Raider Defensive Back George Atkinson, known as a hard-hitter on the gridiron, gave Pittsburgh Steeler Wide Receiver Lynn Swann such a bash on the head last September that Swann suffered a concussion. But when Steeler Coach Chuck Noll publicly complained of "a criminal element in the National Football League," Atkinson's feelings were hurt. "Do I look like an assassin?" he asked, peering through rose-colored glasses. Atkinson filed a slander suit against the Steelers and Noll for $1 million each. As the trial opened last week in San Francisco, Atkinson brought along a squad of other players to testify that cracking skulls is all part of the game. Said former All-Pro Receiver Lance Alworth: "That was almost a commonplace hit." Added Atkinson's teammate, Offensive Guard Gene Upshaw: "This is a game where we hit each other. It's not a kissing contest."