The town is loaded with talent. Here's Bill Cosby, back on top as TV's No. 1 star, wandering into Enrico's to see Bandooch, who has been Cos' pal since the old hungry i days. Enrico is seated as usual at the family table with his wife, Robin, and their 6-yr-old dghtr, Allegra. Cosby, who is like a godfather to Allegra, only more so, says to her, "I'd like to buy you a present. What do you want?" "A piano," replies Allegra. At that, Cosby fishes out a huge roll of $100 bills, peels off $10,000 worth and drops the bundle on the table. As Banducci scoops up the money, Cos warns, "Now remember, that's for Allegra's piano." Bandooch beams and nods. Later he says to me, "So I'm getting her a piano. Something like the one Schroeder plays in 'Peanuts' would be about the right size, don't you think?"

Talent. The town was alive with it Sunday. The long-awaited "42nd Street" opened at the Golden Gate Theater, and it should be the toughest ticket in town. Any musical that includes "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me" has to be among the best, and this is even better: fast, funny and filled with showgirls. You get your money's worth and more, the plus being one of the great pit bands, with an old-timey drummer who doesn't miss a rim shot or a cymbal crash.

That night, at the warm and smelly Opera House (some people never take a bath, and they're always seated next to you), the American Ballet Theatre and Natalia (Natasha) Makarova made history. Years from now, balletomanes will be boasting that they were there on the night of Feb. 24, 1985, when Makarova performed "Romeo and Juliet" with Kevin McKenzie. This was her first full-length ballet since the backstage accident in Washington that almost knocked her into early retirement, and she was nervous. This only added to the tremulous magic of her triumph, which had fans crying, shouting and tearing up the seats. Between the second and third acts, Makarova suffered a foot cramp that almost stopped the show, which would have been a tragedy within a tragedy. There are those who whisper that this may have been the last full-length ballet the great star will ever dance.

Talent. Three years ago, David Bunnell started a computer magazine, PC World, in the spare bedroom of his house near 24th and Irving in the Sunset. Today he is chairman of PC World Communications on Potrero Hill, with 120 employees and two hot mags. PC World, which runs to 350 pages monthly, has a circulation of 300,000, and Macworld (geared to Apple's Macintosh), sells 175,000 monthly with 180 pages of ads. Last Fri. night, to celebrate the first birthday of Macworld, David took over Sutter 500, where another major talent, Chef Hubert Keller, produced six dizzying courses. Dinner music was by a chirpy Macintosh playing a duet with a live clarinetist. Guest of honor: Steven Jobs, Apple's chairman and the rock star of the computer world, who ate with one hand and cuddled a blond nymphet with the other. Sunday was Jobs' 30th birthday, and he had Ella Fitzgerald, backed by members of the S.F. Symphony, to entertain at a party in the St. Francis. When Ella sang "Happy Birthday" to a beaming Steven, it was the greatest coup of its kind since Luciano Pavarotti sang the same song to Gordon Getty on Gordon's 50th.

Software spinoff: For the definitive observation about Silicon Valley, John Joss nominates these words from public relations wizard Marty Winston: "The computer industry is journalists in their 20s standing in awe of entrepreneurs in their 30s who are hiring salesmen in their 40s and 50s and paying them in the 60s and 70s to bring their marketing into the '80s."

Onward: In case nobody has told you yet, Joe Montana and Jennifer Wallace were married Sun. at Redondo Beach, with the 49ers chaplain, Monsignor Peter Armstrong, performing the ceremony ... Cartoonist Gustavo Arriola, whose Gordo has been a breakfast staple second only to Shredded Wheat, has drawn his last strip. It appears, sadly, on March 2 ... Add sightems: Jessye Norman, the Met opera dazzler, stepping out of a stretch limo at Cala Foods a few midnights ago to buy herself some yogurt. She was here to do a bit of Mahler with the San Jose Symph.

Gary Lambert on the horn: "Did you know Huey Newton is forming a band with Lou Rawls and Lou Reed called Huey Newton and the Lous?" I believe that's a joke. {sbox}

This column, excerpted, first appeared in The Chronicle on Feb. 26, 1985.

This article appeared on page N - 45 of the San Francisco Chronicle