Word: runway
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...higher-octane fuel helped British planes outmaneuver their German foes during the Battle of Britain; how gasoline shortages slowed down Rommel and frustrated Patton; how the fuel situation in Germany near the war's end was so dire that a newly developed jet had to be toted onto the runway by cows...
...SPRAY THE MODELS! PATTI, COULD you get me some perfume?" Straight pins bristling from her mouth, safety pins stuck on the black cashmere sweater wrapped around her waist, designer Donna Karan is stalking the runway where she is about to present her spring collection to the fashion flock. She was up for most of the night, coping with the usual crises. The oversize linen hats, for instance. A nice theatrical touch, but they didn't fit through the entrance to the runway. (The models learned to take them off and put them back on, fast.) Then there was the jewelry...
...constant motion behind the curtain, tucking, smoothing, adjusting angles by an imperceptible (to anyone but her) fraction of an inch. Nothing escapes her eye. Everything has to be perfect. "Are you accessorized? . . . I told you I need a beret! . . . Lynn, move the belt!" From out on the runway comes the sound of Madonna singing her version of Peggy Lee's Fever as each model passes through Karan's last-minute scrutiny and touch-up. "Little black glasses! Who's next...
Case in point: Monrovia, Liberia, where Purvis arrived a month ago on a chartered flight just after rebels started shelling the airport runway to impede Nigerian troops. He spent a scary night holed up in a dilapidated beachfront hotel, he says, "listening to artillery fire mingled with the sound of crashing waves as I filed a story on a laptop computer." On his way out the next day, three Liberian "security" officials detained Purvis in a small room at the airport and shook him down for a $60 bribe. It was pay or stay. "They each got $20, which...
...walked down the runway and I got almost as much applause as Madonna...