Monday, Apr. 07, 1975

Read more: People, Apr. 7, 1975 - TIME

Five dollars plus expenses bought a prank phone call from Martha Mitchell to the victim of your choice. ("Did you know the CIA is investigating you?" she asked one startled Montana resident.) Ms. Editor Gloria Steinem turned taxi-dancer for one $65 song; off to the side, Washington Post Watergate Reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward sold phony spy disguises. In the kissing booth, Veteran Socialite Barbara Howar demonstrated her wares to Washington Post Executive Editor Benjamin Bradlee. The occasion: the second annual Counter Gridiron dinner, held to raise money for a journalists' …

…

Even Guru Maharaj Ji, 17, Perfect Master of the Divine Light Mission and well-known lover of sports cars, cabin cruisers and good living, may soon face some economic problems. At least he will if a British Columbia court believes Michael Garson, 35, the guru's former financial analyst. Garson claims that the mission has been more than $240,000 in debt for over a year and its donations are declining. He testified as a witness in a case seeking to prevent U.S. Heiress Darby McNeal, 31, now a British Columbia resident, from signing over an estimated $400,000 inheritance to the Divine Light Mission. Each week about $35,000 in donations and income flow into the mission's Denver headquarters, said Garson, and "approximately 60% of the gross receipts are directed to maintain the life-style of the Maharaj Ji and those close to him. So far as I could see, the whole function of the organization was to provide an opulent existence for the Maharaj Ji."