TIME CAPSULE/DEC. 20, 1973

PAPILLON, with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman (right), flies high at the box office; in supporting roles are Bill Mumy (formerly Lost in Space's Will Robinson) and Vic Tayback (later Alice's Mel). COUNTRY MUSIC's ''Silver Fox,'' Charlie Rich, strikes gold with his No. 1 pop hit ''The Most Beautiful Girl.'' Rich had first crossed over with that year's ''Behind Closed Doors''; both singles helped spark the C&W subgenre called countrypolitan. SPRAWLED ATOP the bestseller list is Gore Vidal's American Revolution novel, Burr. The multitalented Vidal (who made his movie debut in Fellini's Roma a year earlier) will go on to assay cameos in films like 1992's Bob Roberts, 1994's With Honors, and 1997's Gattaca. AND IN THE REAL WORLD, a Basque-planted car bomb kills Spanish premier Luis Carrero Blanco, heir apparent to Fascist dictator Francisco Franco.