Tom Pryor

Newspapers cover show business as a matter of course, so why shouldn't Daily Variety break a 54-year tradition and report on world events? The Hollywood-based entertainment trade paper launched a "World Briefs" column on Tuesday, and editor Tom Pryor says it "is here to stay." Some staffers said they were surprised by the new column and attributed its birth to the paper's new owners, Cahners Publishing Co.

"It's interesting being a consultant," Tom Pryor said over lunch at Musso & Frank's a few days ago. "You just wait for people to ask you questions." It is an unaccustomed role for Pryor, a feisty and strong-willed Irishman who had been the editor of Daily Variety from 1959 until he eased into the consultancy spot at the trade paper earlier this year. Pryor is 76, so the idea of setting aside the daily pressures of the editor's chair is not exactly astonishing.

"It's interesting being a consultant," Tom Pryor said over lunch at Musso & Frank's a few days ago. "You just wait for people to ask you questions." It is an unaccustomed role for Pryor, a feisty and strong-willed Irishman who had been the editor of Daily Variety from 1959 until he eased into the consultancy spot at the trade paper earlier this year. Pryor is 76, so the idea of setting aside the daily pressures of the editor's chair is not exactly astonishing.

Newspapers cover show business as a matter of course, so why shouldn't Daily Variety break a 54-year tradition and report on world events? The Hollywood-based entertainment trade paper launched a "World Briefs" column on Tuesday, and editor Tom Pryor says it "is here to stay." Some staffers said they were surprised by the new column and attributed its birth to the paper's new owners, Cahners Publishing Co.

As a reporter who worked for, under and with Tom Pryor at Daily Variety years ago, I enthusiastically endorse Charles Champlin's kind words about him ("The Daily Variety in Newsman's Life," Oct. 6). Pryor was indeed a "hard taskmaster"--and one who insisted that Variety's readers receive the best, most accurate, hardest-punching stories. Pryor personifies what Ben Hecht etched in "The Front Page": Don't call me a journalist, I'm a reporter! EDDIE KAFAFIAN Los Angeles Hoxsey and Cancer

It is inconceivable to us, as veteran observers of and participants in the entertainment industry, that a story could appear in the Los Angeles Times about Variety without so much as a mention of Tom Pryor. Former assistant film reviewer and motion picture editor of the New York Times, and later Hollywood bureau chief for that paper, Pryor brought Daily Variety to its preeminence as a lucid, influential and highly respected trade journal during 25 years as its editor. During his tenure, in a revolutionary move, Pryor redesigned and modernized Daily Variety's format and contents.

Mark Trakh, Brea-Olinda's highly successful girls' basketball coach, got some unexpected gifts after gaining his 300th career victory Saturday night in the Ladycats' 61-30 victory over Gahr. Tom Pryor, the opposing coach, presented Trakh with a hand-carved Ladycat clock, and the Brea-Olinda boosters gave him a engraved watch.

With a 66-43 semifinal victory over Woodbridge in hand, Cerritos Gahr Coach Tom Pryor will take his Gladiators to the girls' Southern Section II-AA basketball final, their first trip to a final since 1982, when he lost to a Riverside Poly team that included Cheryl Miller. Pryor has been to the semifinals five times since 1982, falling each time.

It came as quite a shock to some people when Daily Variety's usually acerbic Will Tusher was honored with the Publicists Guild's Press Award. But the aftershocks of his acceptance speech at the guild's April 8 luncheon were even greater. According to accounts: Tusher thanked God that he was a journalist--because otherwise he'd be working at Rogers & Cowan. He told the crowd to take heart because "if you fail in everything else in life, you can always become a publicist."

If you can bear with the preposterous plot turns in "Snow Kill" (at 9 tonight on cable's USA Network), you might find the murder, terror and suspense in a bloody winter wonderland the ticket to chill a summer night. David Dukes' wry killer, quick with a quip, is the show's throttle. Terence Knox as a vengeful mountain trapper and Patti D'Arbanville as a steely executive on a wilderness expedition are the heroes.