Spring Breaks Out in Cash Rash

The beer flowed, traffic jams abounded and cash registers jingled in the annual madness traditionally known as spring break in south Florida. Thousands of students poured onto the beaches and into the streets of Fort Lauderdale on the busiest weekend of the spring season, arriving by bus, car, plane and train in the annual “Great Escape” from college classrooms and winter’s chill. “At this point, the problems seem to be minor, compared to the rewards,” said Scott Cowan, chairman of the Broward County Tourist Development Council. Cowan and other city and county officials toured Fort Lauderdale’s Strip area early Sunday. “What I saw was a great deal of traffic, a fair amount of revelry and, in return for that, 100 million in tourist dollars going into the county in a 20-day period,” Cowan said. But some students were less happy, contending that too many were too drunk and getting out of hand. Janet Schlesser, 21, of Northern Illinois University, swore she would never return to Fort Lauderdale. “I get grabbed everywhere I turn,” she said. “I should have gone to Hawaii with my parents to relax. These guys are too rude.”

--More than 1,000 music lovers packed a Yale University chapel for the modern world debut of 33 previously unknown chorale preludes exhibiting the youthful genius of Johann Sebastian Bach. “This appears to be the American celebration of Bach’s 300th birthday,” said concert manager Carl Miller. Although Bach’s tercentenary is not until Thursday, the excitement generated by the chorale preludes attracted musicians and Bach connoisseurs from throughout the country to New Haven, Conn., to hear the recently discovered music, which was written before the composer was 25.

--President Reagan gets $200,000 a year, plus free room and board, but his ex-wife, Jane Wyman, is doing considerably better, according to a celebrity salary survey. The roundup said Wyman brings in $1.6 million a year for her performances on “Falcon Crest,” which leaves her still far behind Tom Selleck, whose $4.8-million salary makes him television’s best paid actor. People magazine also listed some of the “green giants” of show business, starting with the world’s richest musician, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who is worth about $500 million. Others are Bob Hope, who’s worth about $200 million; Jane Fonda; Wayne Newton, who gets $1 million a month when playing the casinos; Dolly Parton, who was paid $4 million for starring in “Rhinestone”; Frank Sinatra; Johnny Carson, who brings in $5 million a year; and Michael Jackson, who earned about $70 million from his “Thriller” album.