SEPT. 26, 1961

HARPER LEE'S Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 1960's To Kill a Mockingbird, is No. 2 on the best-seller list. Though the 1962 film, with Gregory Peck, will be nominated for eight Academy Awards and win three, the racially charged book will later be banned from some schools. On TV, the Old West is best: The top three shows are Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, and Have Gun Will Travel. After a drought in the '80s, Westerns mosey back with the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove and, starting in 1993, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, both on CBS. THE HUSTLER (left), starring Paul Newman, opens in New York. Newman will get a Best Actor nod, but not until after the 1986 sequel, The Color of Money, will he win for his portrayal of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. AND IN THE REAL WORLD, the Cincinnati Reds clinch their first National League pennant since 1940; they will lose the World Series to the New York Yankees in five games.