THE BLIZZARD OF '88

A reworking of news and human interest items gives a reasonably graphic presentation of the eastern seaboard disaster snowfall which accounted for 200 deaths, more than twenty million dollars worth of property damage in New York City alone, and the saying- ""Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it"". From the fury of the storm first felt at sea, to the wires downed, trains wrecked and immobilized, people stranded to die in the snow which reached the second story of brownstone houses, this goes on to the further evils in a city completely cut off. (The coverage here is largely New York.) Among them are the drinking- almost a classic binge; the scalping on food and coal prices (a bankrupt restaurateur was able to return to solvency); the brawls; and the fires.... A capable and readable account- which obviously counts heavily on its calamity-Jane appeal for the audience which did so well by A Night to Remember. It lacks the ominous overtones.