The interviews for this book were conducted from May 1977 to December 1979. They appeared as cover stories for the TV Shopper, a free weekly paper that was distributed to homes and businesses in New York City. Founded by Bruce Logan in the mid-1970s as the West Side TV Shopper, it consisted of TV listings, advertisements, and two full-page stories per issue. One was a "friendly" restaurant review of an advertiser;the other was a profile of a prominent resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The honoree's face appeared on the cover, framed by a TV screen.The formula was successful enough so that in 1978, Bruce beganpublishing the East Side TV Shopper as well. My job was to trackdown the biggest names I could find for both papers, interview them, and write a 900-word story. Most interviewees were in the arts and entertainment industry -- actors, singers, dancers, writers, musicians, news broadcasters and radio personalities. Bruce quickly recruited me to write the restaurant reviews as well. During my two and a half years at the paper, I wrote about 210 interviews. These are my 100 favorites of theones that survive.