AMAGANSETT

Morey to John Richards, Meeting House Lane, $745,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Smith to Michael Soleimani, Hayground Road, $388,000.

Doran to David Grant, Edgewood Road, $300,000.

Butter Lane of Bridgehampton Assoc. to Richard Brennan, Mitchell Lane (four vacant lots), $1,000,000.

Bridge Bldg. Co. to Orlando Lopez, Tansey Lane, $316,500.

Finney to Philippe Bigar, Tiffany Way, $350,000.

Wiskey Hill Inc. to Jonquil Enterprises, Mill Path, $225,000.

Mecagni to Madeline Doran, Sagg Road, $183,000.

Susan Gottlieb Inc. to Orrin and Deborah Devinsky, Rose Way, $775,000.

Woodridge Homes Bldrs. to Jack and Pati Haber, Sea Farm Lane, $310,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Siegel to Steve Madden, Old Orchard Lane, $850,000.

Chester to Jon and Tracie Grossman, Cove Hollow Road, $226,500.

Stewart to Stellan Holm, Georgica Road, $850,000.

Abacus Homes to Alberto and Ana Gomez, Jefferson Avenue, $150,000.

Conner to Thomas and Beryl Birch, Stokes Court, $200,000.

East Hampton Realty Assoc. to 66 Newtown Corp., Newtown Lane, $2,018,000.

Goldberg estate to Benjamin and Claire Dorogusker, Treescape Drive, $178,000.

Welby (trustee) to Thomas Lasersohn, Amy's Lane, $512,000.

Salomon (trustee) to Nicholas and Yukine Callaway, Georgica Road, $850,000.

Woods Prop. Inc. to Montauk Group Productions Inc., Goodfriend Drive, $300,000.

Chester to John Shanholt, Cove Hollow Road, $226,500.

Cohen to S&W Dev. L.L.C., Hither Lane, $850,000.

MONTAUK

O'Neill to James Cash, South Lake Drive, $310,000.

Varde Virginia L.P. to Joseph and Lorraine Dryer, Kettlehole Road, $170,000.

Perna to Robert and Kathryn Willets, Fairway Place, $155,000.

The Waterfront Inn Inc. to Ramon Becce and Andrew Presti, West Lake Drive, $750,000.

Eurell to Gerald and Gianna Flannery and Elisa Corridore, Gainsboro Court, $250,000.

NORTHWEST

Forst and Silverblank Inc. to Kathy Frazier, Long Hill Road, $570,000.

Cedar Woods Ltd. to Gary and Patricia Stanis, Owls Nest Lane, $175,000.

Goldstein to Brad Resnikoff, Spread Oak Lane, $405,000.

SAG HARBOR

Weseman to Jeffrey Koller, Redwood Road, $267,500.

Mahoney to John Vigna, Round Pond Lane, $420,000.

Konopka to Scott Fordham and Jenette Martaron, Merchants Path, $162,000.

Maeder to Donald Lipski and Teresa Hyland, Hampton Street, $250,000.

LeGrand to John MacArthur, Sagg Road, $158,000.

Zorzy to Dragon Seed Realty #1 L.L.C., Main Street, $426,000.

SAGAPONACK

Solomon (trustee) to Alfred and Janice Kelman, Sagg Main Street, $1,070,000.

Charles Rich Design/Build Inc. to John and Tammy MacWilliams, Hedges Lane, $500,000.

SPRINGS

Crane to Sean Murphy, Copeces Lane, $224,000.

Kurz to Roslen Tavera and Jose Gil, Broadway, $161,000.

Barlow to Maria Masliah and How ard Robinson, Sandra Road, $155,000.

Olsen Jr. to Neil Cohen and Sarah Person, Camberly Road, $234,000.

Miller to Joseph and Wendy Capri, Sandra Road, $200,000.

Ianell to Blake and Lisle Davies, Gerard Drive, $250,000.

Bliss to Joe Chaves, Guernsey Lane, $160,000.

McGilloway to Maria Novielli, Runnymeade Drive, $320,000.

WAINSCOTT

Petschek to Merle Levin, Sayre's Path, $540,000.

Along with the annual migration of striped bass past the Montauk Lighthouse, the annual Montauk Locals Surfcasting Tournament is due to start soon - by Oct. 1. And, as casters cast their eyes toward the sea, a movement is afoot to keep those who use another fishing method off the rocks.

Joe Gaviola, a surfcaster who frequents the rocks in the fall, reported that the Montauk Surfcasters Association was about to ask the State Department of Parks and Recreation to intervene on their behalf.

He explained that last year between two and eight persons using fixed baits, that is, baits held on the bottom with heavy weights attached to heavy fishing line, had staked out positions on the rocks.

The baiters, said Mr. Gaviola, "effectively close it" for the many surf casters who cannot cast near the fixed lines for fear of becoming snarled. The technique is a waiting game, the opposite of the surfcasters' cast-and-retrieve approach.

Casters normally reel in their lines to make way for someone else's big fish that's hooked and running. Bait fishers cannot accommodate their neighbors in the same way.

One week ago, fishing way offshore, the Viking Starship with 23 people aboard landed over 60 yellowfin tuna. The largest of the yellowfins weighed 120 pounds. The tuna are out there for those who have the fuel to access the offshore canyons, although they might be rethinking those trips in light of the large swells being generated by Hurricane Erika.

Shark fishing remains good. Anglers aboard Capt. Mike Albronda's Montauk landed a 197-pound thresher on Sunday; also, three blue sharks and a small mako.

Inshore, the fly fishing shows signs of excellence, but it ain't quite there. Paul Dixon of Dixon's Sporting Life shop in Wainscott said he had not moved his flats-style charter boats to Montauk as he usually does this time of year because the false albacore (bonito) "have not set up" in the rips there.

Rain Bait

The reason, he said, was that the rain bait - the inch-long anchovies that the small tunas love to feed on - have not shown up.

"They're here, but they haven't set up, they're eating snappers and junk and they're up and down. It's a race and chase." Mr. Dixon said he hoped the hurricane swells would "push everything in."

In the meantime, his charters out of Three Mile Harbor have been taking anglers within range of gorilla bluefish in the 15-pound class, as well as one 39-inch striped bass with smaller ones mixed in.

Porgie Blitz

Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Springs reported "a ton of weakfish on the ocean beaches in Amagansett." The weaks were being lured by tins: Hopkins and Kastmasters. Mr. Bennett reported Charlie Price taking a 14-pound bluefish on light tackle on Napeague. That was Sunday. He said Napeague beaches had been "full of striped bass."

In the bay, porgies were biting in the rips near Gardiner's Island. Mr. Bennett described Richard Stone and his 8-year-old son, Mike, in the middle of a porgie blitz in Cherry Harbor (Gardiner's Island) suddenly being hammered by big mackerel.

"The kid had a blast. I like to marinate them and throw them on the grill," Mr. Bennett said.

Don't Recall

Hackensack, N.J.

September 4, 1997

Dear Mrs. Rattray,

I just finished reading "Playing Favorites" by Phyllis Raphael. I don't recall Betty Grable, John Wayne, and Carmen Miranda ever being in a movie together. But I do recall John Payne starring with the two actresses. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Best wishes,

AUDREY McGUIRE

Ms. McGuire is right. See the next letter. Ed.

Changed The Name

New York City

September 8, 1997

To The Editor:

In my story, "Playing Favorites," published last week in The Star I think a well-meaning copy editor changed the name of the '40s movie star John Payne to John Wayne. The change gives an entirely incorrect context to the story which is about a child's mimicry of the 20th Century Fox movie musicals of the '40s which starred such luminaries as Betty Grable, John Payne, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, and Xavier Cugat. John Payne was a romantic movie "pretty boy," perfectly suited for playing musical comedy heroes. And John Wayne was . . . well, John Wayne. The opening lines of the story should read, "When my sister Bonnie was 5 years old my mother took her to a Betty Grable-John Payne movie, and when they came home Bonnie began to sing."

Sincerely,

PHYLLIS RAPHAEL

Airport's Runways

East Hampton

September 5, 1997

Dear Helen:

I was pleased to see the East Hampton Democratic platform state unequivocally that the party does not support expansion of the airport's runways.

Republican Tom Knobel is headed for a nose dive if he thinks the majority of East Hampton's residents want more and larger jets making more and larger noises above our backyards.

An updated terminal building is okay. A longer and wider and thicker runway - no way.

I'm voting Democratic this November so I can try to hang onto what's left of my peace and quiet.

Sincerely,

VALERIE POLICASTRO

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and daytime telephone number for purposes of verification.

The Viking Starliner, newly renovated to meet Government standards for carrying gambling equipment, will leave her berth in Montauk Harbor next week and head for Federal waters with a cargo of 25 slot machines, 5 gaming tables, and up to 85 patrons who hope Lady Luck comes along for the ride.

The Viking Fleet's maiden "casino cruise," featuring cash bars, food, security, and a professional gaming crew, has been a long time in the making, according to Capt. Paul G. Forsberg, owner of the Starliner.

A change in Federal law late last year, Captain Forsberg explained, has sparked a nationwide explosion of interest in offshore gambling. He predicted a number of boats would soon be in the around-Long Island casino cruise business following the lead, last winter, of the Liberty I, which sails out of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.

Prior to the change in the law, only foreign boats or vessels owned by Native Americans could carry gambling equipment onboard.

Opponents Cite Code

Even as the Starliner prepares to sail, however, the forces of opposition are mobilizing. Opponents of gambling this week cited chapter 60 of the East Hampton Town Code, which prohibits the possession of "any gambling device with the intent to use it in the conduct of a gambling house," defined as "any premises or establishment at which gambling is conducted . . . for profit."

A deputy town attorney, Richard Whalen, said he thought town police would have to act when the Starliner ties up in Montauk, even though the actual gambling will take place beyond town and state boundaries.

Throughout the fall, the 110-foot vessel is scheduled to leave Montauk Harbor at 7:30 p.m. daily except Mondays and travel four miles due east to the coordinates that mark the New York State/Federal border, returning at about 12:30 in the morning. The $20-per-person charge includes a $3 Federal gaming tax.

Foxwoods Alternative?

When cold weather sets in, the Starliner is scheduled to head to Florida to ferry gamblers offshore there.

"The change in the law is what opened Florida up," Captain Forsberg said. Just about every port in that state has at least one casino cruiser, he said, and larger ports like Tampa have two or three. The Starliner is being leased for gambling to C.G.S. Creative Gaming Systems, a Florida corporation.

Captain Forsberg called the cruises scheduled in local waters "just a trial." He said he saw the Starliner as an alternative to the enormously popular Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn.

"Why would you drive across Shelter Island to Orient Point to take a ferry and get on a bus when you can [gamble] right here? It's an hour away from Montauk and East Hampton," Captain Forsberg reasoned.

A Lee Harbor

He said he did not want to depend on summer crowds to make the Starliner a success. "That's why I waited until after Labor Day, to see the local demand."

Even though the Starliner was refitted to meet the Coast Guard's stability requirements, large ocean swells could add more roll to the dice in the waters off Montauk than most gamblers like. And, there is no shelter from the storm: Inside the more protected state waters, the one-armed bandits will have to keep their hand up.

As a harbor, Captain Forsberg said, Montauk has an advantage for casino cruises in this regard.

Not only is the state/Federal boundary close - just four miles from Montauk Point, running due north to a point four miles off Fishers Island - but the South Fork will provide "a bit of a lee" for the Starliner when the wind comes from the southwest, a prevailing direction during the summer, late summer and, sometimes, the early fall.

Ferries' Fate

The admiral of the fleet of party boats and passenger ferries made his announcement in the same week that the Town Board was discussing the future of ferries in East Hampton, and Mr. Forsberg's ferries to Block Island and New London, Conn., in particular. Under town law, the casino cruise is not considered a ferry.

There has been concern that a local ferry service taking gamblers to and from Connecticut gaming tables, would create the same kind of traffic problems experienced in Southold Town. The Orient terminal of the Cross Sound Ferry accommodates New York gamblers heading for Foxwoods.

Only last week the Town Planning Board asked the building inspector to determine if Mr. Forsberg's two ferries could be considered as pre-existing zoning. That story is covered in an accompanying article.

Montauk Memories

Mr. Whalen said Tuesday that Captain Forsberg's ferry service and his new casino cruises were separate issues, and that the zoning code viewed a gambling excursion in the same light as it did a fishing trip.

However, he reiterated, the language of the Town Code, which is separate, appears to prohibit the possession of gambling devices.

The coming of a casino boat has jogged the memories of some older Montaukers who recall when illegal gambling, like rumrunning before, was an open secret. Montauk gambling got its start during the Prohibition era and continued, at various times, into the 1950s.

On The Seaplane

One restaurant owner recalled that he and his father worked at the Island Club (later the Deep Sea Club) on Star Island in the early 1950s.

"The only thing they ever got them for was wire-tapping, because it used to be that when the troopers came and called in that there was gaming going on, they'd hear it upstairs. They'd roll up the stuff, the band would start playing, they'd put it on a seaplane, and the plane would take off."

"Later, they used a moving van."

Reservations for the gambling cruises are required, said Captain Forsberg, and may be made by calling the Viking Fleet.

Man's best friend may be kept off East Hampton Village beaches at all hours next summer, if the Village Board has its way.

The Village Code bars Fido, as well as cats and other animals, from beaches from the second Sunday in May to Sept. 30 - but only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. What the Village Board wants to do now is keep them off the beach 24 hours a day during that period.

The season's crowds had barely disappeared when board members, at a work session last Thursday morning, reviewed the law that deals with such matters with the intention of revising it. Before any change is made, the board would be required to hold a public hearing, although that probably won't occur before Oct. 17.

Majority Rule

Only three board members, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., Elbert T. Edwards, and Edwin L. Sherrill, were on hand for last Thursday's meeting, but they would constitute a majority even if the other members, William C. Heppenheimer 3d and David H. Brown, disagree.

"There has been a proliferation of dogs on the beach this summer," the Mayor said, and "many calls with complaints about them."

Larry Cantwell, the Village Administrator, confirmed increasing complaints to his office about dogs over the past five years - mostly at Wiborg's and Main Beach - but he said the number of calls this summer had not reached a dozen.

"You do see a lot of dogs on the beach before 9," Mr. Cantwell said. He added that the complaints were not so much about the dogs per se, but about "what they have left" behind.

Pooper-Scooper Law?

Mr. Cantwell said some beachgoers inquired about the possibilty of a "pooper-scooper" law such as New York City's, requiring owners to clean up after their pets, but he said that would not be "practical, or enforceable" here.

In addition to the proposed ban on dogs on beaches all summer long, board members asked Linda Riley, the village attorney, to draft other changes to the Village Code governing dogs. The additions would, if an agreement can be reached, allow the town dog warden to impound dogs causing problems in the village.

Without such a law, and lacking an agreement between the two municipalities, the only violation for which the town dog warden can pick up a dog in the village is an infraction of the State Agriculture and Markets law requiring that dogs wear licenses.

Authority Lacking

In one instance this summer, for example, Betsy Bambrick, the dog warden, said, residents on Meadow Way repeatedly reported menacing behavior by a "pitbull mix," but she had no authority to act.

The town adopted its dog control law in June 1993. The village law, as does the town's, would stop short of a requirement that owners keep pets on leashes off their property.

Some of the provisions in the town law which the village may include are prohibiting dogs from being "at large" and "disturbing the comfort, peace, or repose" of a vicinity. The law also would hold owners accountable for failing to provide proper shelter for their animals and would bar anyone from beating or ill-treating an animal.

Metered Parking

In other village news, Mr. Cantwell reported last week that, to his chagrin, the computerized parking meter installed several weeks ago in the long-term Lumber Lane parking lot still was not up to snuff. The device, which was to have issued receipts to nonvillage residents, who must pay $5 a day to park their cars for more than 23 hours, was collecting water inside its mechanism instead of data, he said.

The makers of the device, Amtar of White Plains, had dispatched repair workers five or six times in the last month, and, as of last week, "it was operating," Mr. Cantwell said, but "still not right." Mr. Cantwell said the village had not yet paid for the $15,386 device.

Village police, instead of ticketing offenders, have been leaving warnings on windshields. Nonetheless, Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz estimated that the number of cars was "down by a third" from previous use.

To date, the village has issued 47 permits for long-term parking to nonresidents, which cost $165 each and are good through Dec. 31.

In other action, the board appointed C. Howell Scott of Windmill Lane, a retired banker, to replace Ted Borsack on the Village Design Review Board. Mr. Borsack resigned recently. Mr. Scott has lived in East Hampton for about four years.

The board also:

-Authorized payment of $16,975, half the cost of resurfacing the Herrick Park tennis courts. The East Hampton School District will pick up the other half.

-Accepted the low bid from Versandi Construction Corporation of $197,512 to renovate the bathrooms at the Main Beach pavilion.

-Decided to pay Orient Express Motorsports of Southampton its low bid of $13,073 for a new utility vehicle for the Police Department.

Exterior painting and repairs got under way this week at Sag Harbor's historic Old Whalers Church - part of a $3 million plan of renovation, which is to include rebuilding the 187-foot steeple that went down in the 1938 Hurricane.

A fund-raising campaign kicked off in June so far has yielded roughly $35,000 from many individual donations, Leonard Mayhew, its spokesman, said this week, while about $350,000 raised previously already has paid for asbestos removal, roof repairs, a heating system, and restoration of the church's fence and coffered ceiling.

Among recent gifts was $12,500 in state funds, which Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. obtained as a "member's item." Last year, Mr. Mayhew said, Senator Kenneth LaValle obtained $10,000 the same way for the 153-year-old church. A 13-member restoration committee has begun sending personal letters of appeal to members of the community and other supporters.

High Gear

The campaign, which the letter says, "is moving into high gear," has among its quests securing a tenant for the steeple once it is rebuilt. In June, Larry Carlson of Bridgehampton, the campaign president who is an executive vice president at Time Warner for Home Box Office, said he was talking with AT&T and other telecommunications companies about putting a cellular phone antenna inside the steeple.

As of this week, those talks were continuing. Also considering the possibility, it was reported, are several Long Island communications companies, such as Long Island Waves of West Babylon and Goggin Research of Calverton.

"We're not close to closure yet," Mr. Mayhew reported, "but I think we will be."

The church is one of only 200 structures in the state with national historic landmark status.

Alexandra Branyon believes she has "a very dramatic life." Not the sort that involves assassination attempts or high-speed chases but rather a continuing series of little mysteries, everyday struggles, front-porch adventures, and fleeting moments of laughter and absurdity. It is fruitful territory for a playwright, playwriting coach, drama critic, and performer.

Her Beach Hampton house, near the ocean in Amagansett, was quiet Friday morning except for the finches twittering between the birdbath and the feeder, but more often is "like Grand Central Station, all these people come and going, asking me questions, phones ringing. Sometimes I don't even know who these people are or what they're doing here."

She works incessantly, on two or three or four projects at a time. Her words, delivered in a fluid Alabama accent, are irretrievably swift. She pauses only to laugh, less frequently to breathe.

Little Mysteries

She seeks peace of mind but is not successful as often as she'd like. Long walks on the beach, these days with a new golden retriever puppy, Bo, instead present some of those infuriating little mysteries to twist and unravel.

One day Ms. Branyon found a parachute. "Who finds a parachute on the beach? How did it get there?" she demanded to know.

The next walk, she came upon a dead deer, with no sign of a bullet hole. "I had to call my cousins in Alabama - they know about deer - and they said maybe it was hit by a car and wandered down there."

Mystery solved, maybe. But the next time she went to the ocean, there was a bowling ball.

"I just want to walk on the beach and find a seashell. What's going on? I just want a calm day," something she said she hasn't seen in years.

Drama Everywhere

Her high energy level and ability to find drama everywhere has fueled a prolific and successful career. Her play "Passed Over," about two widows who together face old age and death in a nursing home, won the 1989 Golden Gate Actors National Playwrights Competition, saw an extended run in the 1995-96 season by the Detroit Repertory Theater, and has had staged readings across the country.

Since receiving an M.A. from the University of Hawaii in 1967, Ms. Branyon has completed nine other works for the stage - musicals and black comedies, a nightclub act, and a drama - has taught playwriting in private workshops and at Manhattan's New School, and has published three cookbooks with her friend Karen Lee (not the Bridgehampton restaurateur), a noted chef and caterer.

With some trepidation that the collaboration might damage their friendship, Ms. Branyon agreed to help with Ms. Lee's three cookbooks. She quickly learned she should have been more concerned about the work itself.

Three Cookbooks

Ms. Lee cooked while Ms. Branyon wrote down the recipes, starting with "Chinese Cooking Secrets," published in 1984.

"She would have five dishes going all at once during a class and there I was with a stopwatch, trying to keep all the cooking times straight. It was very hard. You have to be able to fold wontons because I saw her fold wontons. You have to be able to bone a duck because I saw her bone a duck. But, it made me visually specific as a writer."

Then began "the Great Post-It War," Ms. Branyon becoming increasingly "amazed" and finally "infuriated" at the mistakes introduced in the text by copy editors. (Szechuan Province, in one case, became an island.) She marked each mistake with a Post-It and demanded a meeting that lasted until all the Post-Its were crumpled on the floor.

Overwhelming

Ms. Branyon also plays piano and clarinet, writes musical comedy lyrics, is a theater correspondent for Parco Playbill magazine in Tokyo, and pursues a career as a freelance journalist for The New York Times, Working Woman, and Food and Wine, among others.

She writes in English for the Japanese publication and said she has to consult only occasionally with her "excellent" translator, who works in Japan. Once, a reference to a "bar" of music raised questions. Did she mean a tavern, perhaps one offering entertainment? The puzzle was cleared up when Ms. Branyon sang, long distance, the first bar of "Happy Birthday."

Overwhelmed with work in recent months, she has suspended her playwriting workshops for a year to have time to revise two plays in progress and review four Broadway productions a month for the Japanese Playbill.

"I do like a balance. I think that is what I'm missing in my life," she chuckled.

On Friday afternoon alone, she was under deadline for two reviews, of "Mere Mortals" and "Bees in Honey Drown," and was wondering whether to change the Hamptons setting of one play to somewhere less trendy. "What do you think of Malibu?" she joked.

Her workload has also forced her to decline a "huge" grant from the Japan Foundation, which would have bankrolled a documentary on a Japanese student at Juilliard, where Ms. Branyon herself went to learn to write music.

"How many hats can I wear? I was walking on the beach, where I am clearest, despite the bowling balls, and asked myself, do I really want to be a documentary filmmaker? Yes - but someday."

She misses her playwriting workshops, saying her students have done her proud. One, David Temple, spent a year and a half with her developing "Purple House on Page Street," named runner-up in the most recent Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference.

Spraying The Market

Mr. Temple now has an agent, a possible production deal, and a pleased coach who said he and others have successfully borrowed her "shotgun technique" for marketing one's work. Spraying the market in a wide pattern is better than sending one copy at a time to select agents or producers, she asserted.

To help with the spraying, she had built in her home office a grid of cubbyholes. In each one, she puts copies of an article with her own byline, a review of one of her plays, or some other career-enhancing literature. A request for background information prompts a rapid whisking of one sheet of paper from each cubbyhole. Voila, an instant press kit.

"I designed this. It makes it so easy," she said cheerfully.

Shotgun Technique

The shotgun technique is hitting its target for "Passed Over." After "Detroit's toughest critic," Lawrence DeVine, said the play sounded like Tennessee Williams (and Harold Pinter and D.L. Colburn), the author included Shirley Knight, for whom Williams wrote "A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur," on her mailing list. Ms. Knight wrote back, saying she was interested in playing one of the leading roles.

For all her cheery efficiency, Ms. Branyon has solemn moments of self-doubt. She told the esteemed board of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, which had honored her musical comedy "Lousy Lucy" in 1980, that "there has been a terrible mistake." The two-act work, she insisted, was lousy.

She said she felt at that moment like George Bernard Shaw, who once faced an applauding audience and a single heckler. "You and me against the world," Shaw told the heckler.

Meditation

Walks on the beach being what they are for Ms. Branyon, she also seeks peace through daily meditation, not always finding it. On a recent visit to the Maharishi Ayur-veda's meditation center and spa in Lancaster, Mass., instead of enjoying the tranquillity she queried the employees about the working conditions and nearly incited a strike.

"I think they should have a lunch hour. Don't you?" she laughed. And she sometimes thinks, she said, about how the Maharishi charges $700 or $800 for a one-word mantra while most writers make 10 cents a word.

Raised in Fayette, a one-cinema town with a few farmers and a cotton mill, Ms. Branyon grew up unburdened by any awareness of the South's weighty contribution to the theater but gained an appreciation from her mother, a former drama coach.

"Southerners really do sit on the porch and tell stories," she said.

Alabama Mame

Ms. Branyon described her mother as a colorful, headstrong, adventurous, and mischievous woman - "the country version of Auntie Mame" - who instilled in her daughter a sense of dramatic timing, a dry wit, and the feeling that she is "not at all usual."

Leaving their father, a great reader and wordsmith, at home, Mrs. Branyon took her children on trips all over the world and taught them to live as the Romans do, so to speak, in Europe, the Mideast, and in Japan.

"I could never keep up with her. She was the eternal teenager. Someone once asked did I ever have a child. I said yes, my mother."

She recalled the red convertible Austin-Healy that had been shipped from England, as a graduation present for her brother, to New Orleans. Her mother determined to drive it to Alabama herself. A man on the dock instructed her in the operation of a five-on-the-floor gear shift and concluded by showing her where to find reverse.

"I don't need the reverse," she snapped.

And that, says her daughter now, "is how I feel about my own life. No reverse."

The pleasure of dining outside is twice as great in September, when the specter of fall is fretting on the sidewalk looking at his watch and waiting to take your table as soon as you've finished your coffee.

And then there's the thrill of not making a reservation, but just dropping in at 7:30 in the evening and finding a table for five in the best spot of the patio, as we did this weekend at the All Seasons Cafe in Sag Harbor.

There's no doubt that it adds to the zest of a meal to sit there and watch the purposeful dogs out for their evening paseos, the no-hurry strollers, and the masts and slapping stays of the boats in the harbor.

A Higher Level

The restaurant, which has been open since July, is owned and run by Pete and Pam Miller. Though Mr. Miller has recently been a chef at Nick and Toni's and Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, the couple first met when they worked here, in an earlier incarnation called the Bay Street Cafe.

The interior of the restaurant still has the same pleasant, casual atmosphere as in the past, and some old favorites like clam fritters and fried brie, but the food, which was very good before, appears to have risen to a higher level.

(A friend who was eating there on Saturday evening reported that as she was leaving a woman at an adjoining table grabbed her arm and asked, "Was your food as good as ours?")

Soups Of The Day

The menu is a down-to-earth selection of soups, salads, pastas, and entrees with an emphasis on imaginative and original accompaniments.

Prices for appetizers range from $6 for soups to $10 for spicy kebabs. Entrees are from $18 plus for pastas to $26 for roast lobster with tarragon vinegar and asparagus.

We tried both soups of the day on Sunday, including a shrimp bisque that was a lovely, old-fashioned, to-hell-with-the-cholesterol cream soup. The gazpacho was icy and sparkling fresh and a wonderfully successful summer soup.

I just wish it had been called something else, because to me gazpacho should have neither cilantro nor chili - as they say in Spain, A mi me gusta el pan pan, y el vino vino. I like my bread to be bread, and my wine, wine.

Good And Simple

Salads seemed a good choice for a warm late-summer evening, so we tried a simple red and green leaf salad with red onion and cherry tomatoes - fine; a Caesar salad - fine, and a special salad with smoked salmon - outstanding.

A pasta of orecchietti, the little snaily ones, with fresh tomato and spinach, stuck with the tried and true rule of keeping pasta simple and was very good indeed.

In keeping with the pretty presentation of all the dishes, the salmon came with a heaped pyre of shoestring potatoes, shaved red onions, and a small arugula salad. The fish had been fiercely seared, so that all the juices were sealed inside a crunchy coating.

While that was good, it was outshone by the blackened tuna, which was about as good as tuna can get (not to mention that the tuna had just swum in from Montauk whereas the salmon had probably had a tiring ride on the Jitney).

Cooked to the point of rare perfection, it came in a horseradish sauce and was served with a simple cherry tomato salad and mashed potatoes laced with chopped scallions.

For those who spent the years of nouvelle cuisine weeping into their chrysanthemum-carved carrots, the huge marinated pork chop is a delight. But it was the accompanying concoction of tomato, eggplant, chickpeas, and toasted cumin that really impressed us.

The special entree of the day, monkfish with a sweet-potato puree, was rather a disappointment. It's a tricky fish and its treatment on this occasion just didn't quite nail it to the ground.

A Discovery

It's worth noting that among the entrees we didn't try - including risotto and ribeye steak - is a spaghettini with clams in a white wine sauce, a dish that many people go out of their way to find.

We tried three desserts: a light, lukewarm, and delicious bread pudding, an outstanding creation called a chocolate pate that was everything its name suggests, and a rather heavy key lime pie.

At the risk of being repetitious, it still surprises how the quality of East End food has improved in the last five years or so. And it's still a surprise when you can turn to each other at the end of the meal and say, "Hey, looks like we've found another good restaurant!"

The Hamptons International Film Festival is spreading its wings. The festival, scheduled to open on Oct. 15 with a premiere and big party, will occur at the Sag Harbor Cinema and the Westhampton Performing Arts Center this year, as well as at the East Hampton Cinema and Guild Hall as before.

Also new will be three films by three international directors at different stages in their careers; Subversive Cinema, late-night screenings of three dark-natured films; other possible changes to festival venues; changes to the short film programming; a new corporate sponsor, and perhaps more awards.

The additional venues will allow more people to see the films with the largest ticket demands, as well as allow the festival to add to the number of films it shows, bringing this year's total to 65 or 66, Stephen Gallagher, program director, said. The full lineup is not expected to be finalized until the end of the week.

Quite A Number

"Things change every day," he said. But, he promised, "we have a really strong lineup."

One insider surmised this week that the festival was reluctant to announce its selections until the Sundance Film Festival, the country's premier festival, had done so. It is expected to inform filmmakers chosen for inclusion this week. Sundance will not accept any films that have been shown at other festivals.

About 650 feature length and short films, not including student films, were submitted for this year's festival, Mr. Gallagher said, the highest number ever. Among them are three chosen for a new category of films, Subversive Cinema, which will be shown once in East Hampton and again in Sag Harbor.

One of these films is "Funny Games," a contemporary Austrian film about a family terrorized by two Austrian men who call themselves variously Tom and Jerry and Beavis and Butthead. The film "both revels in and condemns . . . [television] violence," Mr. Gallagher said.

"Pan-Hamptons"

The other two are the English film "Preaching to the Perverted," about a politician in an election year who sends a young aide into a fetish club he wants to close down, and "Killer Condom," an American film noir shot by Germans in New York.

The scheduling of films as far afield as Westhampton will allow the festival to be "pan-Hamptons," Mr. Gallagher said, adding that festival organizers hope to attract more film-goers than in the past.

There are other possible changes in venues. The Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor may no longer be the site of panel discussions, since its distance from the festival's epicenter in the Village of East Hampton makes it difficult for festival staffers to attend.

The tent under which opening and closing night parties and other events take place may not be set up in the parking lot of Nick and Toni's restaurant on North Main Street in East Hampton, either. A bigger field that can accommodate a bigger tent is hoped for, Mr. Gallagher said, noting that ticket sales to these events could be increased and the tent could be sectioned off for use for other festival functions.

With "far fewer" high-quality short film submissions this year, the festival will screen one of the 10 short films selected before each of the 10 independent American features competing for the Golden Starfish award.

Picking the winner of the Golden Starfish award will be Anouk Aimee, the French film star, A.M. Homes, the novelist, the actress Rosie Perez, and the two winners of last year's Golden Starfish award: Matt Mahurin, the director of "Mug Shot," and Jay Chandrasekhar, the director of "Puddle Cruiser."

Inviting past winners back as jurors is a tradition the festival hopes to start this year, Mr. Gallagher said.

Lifetime Sponsor

Two autonomous programs of shorts will be scheduled as well, one titled "Cartoon Noir" and another, as yet untitled, that will highlight shorts done by or for women.

The women's shorts segment is being sponsored by a new festival sponsor, Lifetime Television for Women, which is considering giving an award for the film that best addresses women's issues, Mr. Gallagher said. As part of Lifetime's sponsorship, he added, the festival will include a special screening of Lee Grant's "Say It, Fight It, Cure It," a Lifetime film about breast cancer.

Making this year's Contemporary International Cinema feature different from past festivals' will be a special tribute to Sogetel, Spain's largest film production company, and the Three-by-Three program. Six films that were produced or co-produced by Sogetel will be featured on one day of the festival.

Spanish Films

In addition, three films directed by the Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem, and produced by Sogetel, are slated to be included in Three-by-Three, though Mr. Medem's participation was not confirmed by Monday. The Three-by-Three program will showcase three films by each of three filmmakers that are not well-known to American viewers in what Mr. Gallagher termed "mini tributes."

Each trio will include the filmmaker's most recent project as well as two from earlier in their careers.

Three-by-Three serves two purposes, Mr. Gallagher said: "One is to introduce terrific international directors to the American public," and the second is to show how filmmakers and their styles have changed during their careers.

Documentary Jury

Also to be highlighted in Three-by-Three are the Argentinian filmmaker Alejandro Agresti, and Nicolas Phillibert, a French documentarian whose most recent film, "Every Little Thing," will also compete for the festival's juried best documentary award. The film is about the residents of an insane asylum outside Paris, rehearsing a play written by an absurdist theater director, Mr. Gallagher said.

The documentary film award jury will include R.J. Cutler, the producer of "The War Room" and director of "Perfect Candidate": Robert Hawk, the associate producer of "Chasing Amy"; Bill Greaves, a veteran documentary filmmaker whose most recent project was "Ida B. Wells: Passion for Justice"; Ian Birnie, who heads the film department at the Los Angeles County Museum, and Renee Tajima-Tena, a documentary film director who most recently made "My America."

Student Submissions

Meanwhile, student film submissions for this year's festival continued to roll in on Monday, the deadline day, and this year's entries are different from those of the past: They have come not just from American students but from such places as Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia.

That the festival had opened submissions to international film students this year was not widely publicized. However, the number of submissions continued to be in the area of 150 said Jeremiah Newtown, co-founder of the festival's student awards program.

As in past years, monetary awards will be given to the five undergraduate and five graduate film students picked as the cream of this year's crop. The jury, which will meet next week to screen the films, will include Candy Clarke, an actress, Gill Holland, a producer whose latest film, "Hurricane Streets," is expected soon, and Gerald Dolezar, a music representative and short film producer.

The quality of the student films continued to be "very good" this year, Mr. Newtown said. The only problem, he added, was that "the students are making longer films." The logistics of having to fit five films into each of two one-and-one-half or two-hour segments is not easy, he said, when some of the films are as long as 60 minutes each.

"I get a lot of calls from high school students saying, 'What about our films?' " Mr. Newtown said this week. "And they're right."

More Awards?

The festival may expand the number of awards given, the program director added, and jurors may be given the freedom to recognize more films and actors as they see fit. This year will be the first that an award for the film with the best original score will be given; last year, the jury declined to award the brand-new honor.

There are even more possible changes for Hamptons International Film Festivals of the future, Mr. Gallagher said this week. The possibilities include screenings at the Movie at Montauk and the Southampton Theater, script readings at a place like the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, and a category for films made by high school students.

Mr. Gallagher said the media were showing increased interest in the festival this year, as well, perhaps because filmmakers are turning to the smaller regional festivals like this one, where films have a better chance of being noticed and recognized.

The festival will run through Oct. 19 and is expected to end, as it has in the past, with a free day of films on Oct. 20.