Charming week

THIS summer had more than its share of tension, toughness, and tumult. There were, among other situations, the peppery and preachy Iran-contra hearings; the ever-explosive situation in the Gulf; the massacres in India's Sikh-Hindu conflict; and street fighting in the Philippines and South Korea. Many may not have known that at one point during this time we were also going through Snow White Week.

Snow White Week! If it did nothing else it reminded us that once we lived in a different world.

In case there are some moderns who never heard of Snow White, she was a princess whose beauty was envied by a wicked witch. In fear of her life S.W. fled to the forest, where she was taken care of by seven dwarfs. But alas, the wicked witch finally got the upper hand and S.W. ate a poisoned apple and was given up for dead. Then along came a genuine Prince on a real white horse, who kissed her and she revived. Where can one find kisses like that now? It was love at first sight and they rode off into the sunset.

Once upon a time every kid in town knew the names of the seven dwarfs, but I wasn't sure if today they even knew Snow White. I took an unofficial poll down at the beach and was surprised to find that Snow White still has a big following. A few answers fell by the wayside. One little girl thought her sister had the Snow Whites' new record album, and one other thought it had something to do with the war on drugs. But it wasn't a bad result, considering.

Say the word ``Prince'' today and one conjures up a controversial figure, gyrating in a rock video, whose kiss, many believe, is more akin to the poison apple than the restorative and therapeutic osculations of HRH Charming. Still, HRH Charming and his trusty steed have been going onward for 50 years and are evidently still in the secret hearts of young damsels.

That in itself is a kind of solid gold record.