Married

DON'T GO TO bed angry. If the couples who told author Sheryl Kurland their secrets to 50 years of happy marriage have one secret in common, that would be it. Don't let anger be the bundle lying between you in bed at night. If you can't resolve the argument, resolve to banish it until morning. There is plenty of other good advice in Kurland's new book, Everlasting Matrimony: Pearls of Wisdom From Couples Married 50 Years or More (Noble House, $39.95). "Remember your children will hear if you lived right," wrote Alice Chancey of Tampa, Fla., married to Guy since 1931.

In Hollywood, married couples sell magazines. Their nuptials make the cover of People. Their divorces make the cover of National Enquirer.But do married couples sell movie tickets? Surprisingly, they often don't. The latest example is Warren Beatty's and Annette Bening's "Love Affair," which debuted the weekend of Oct. 21-23 with a surprisingly weak $5.4 million box-office take.Is it because we really didn't need another "Love Affair" -- TTC especially after its plot points were rehashed in last year's "Sleepless in Seattle"?

America is a nation divided, according to the thinking of those who make TV. There are the sharp, hip, sophisticated people who live in the major markets. Then there are the simple-minded hicks and rubes - anyone who doesn't live in a major urban center. A really major urban center. Illustrative of how TV thinks, a network executive once referred to Atlanta-based Matlock as "a rural show." The latest example of this snobbish thinking, Married to the Kellys, is one of the most flagrant.

I got married in February but later found out that my young husband, who doesn't work, had $60,000 in credit-card debts. I have worked as a legal secretary for 36 years and last year finally managed to establish good credit. In horror of hubby's debt, I filed for an annulment. I need to know if the credit-card companies can go after my income. Second, he is thinking of filing for bankruptcy protection. I need to know if his filing for a bankruptcy will affect my credit standing. If you're a regular reader, you know how important it is to discuss finances before you say "I do."

The Republicans must be the love party. They've voted to cut the income tax only on married people. Singles will just have to lump it. Republican Sen. William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware says the tax cut was aimed at "families." Hmmm. He can't mean the cost of children. This bill cuts taxes for all married couples, even if they have no kids. And there's zero tax saving for singles, no matter how many kids they have. Even if you turn away from unmarried mothers, is there something wrong with families headed by widows, widowers and the divorced?

The voice on the other end of the line is familiar . . . from too many Sunday nights spent in front of the television. It's the voice singing out of the tape player that's a surprise -- glossy, evocative and sure.Thing is, it's the same voice. She's actress Katey Sagal, Peg Bundy on Fox's "Married . . . With Children." And singer Katey Sagal, whose new pop/R&B album, "All Is Well," is getting respectful notices in the pop music press.As well it should. It's a pretty decent record. OK, so songs like "September Rain" and "That's How Love Goes" are overblown and endless.

What on earth is "Married To It" supposed to be about? What does its weird title even mean? I have no idea.This is one of the most peculiar big-studio films ever made, a strange and misbegotten piece that seems to be about the perils and pleasures of acquaintance. Great, I like a movie that takes a stand on a tough issue: It's in favor of friendship.It traces the tangled interminglings of three completely mismatched, Manhattan married couples who somehow come to meet and depend on each other through a series of dreary and completely arbitrary crises.

Q: My ex-wife married a man who appeared on the scene only a month ago. She said she was married civilly and plans a church wedding in the future. My concern is for our kids, 9 and 12. We have joint custody -- alternating every two weeks. (I think she told me the part about the church wedding so that she could live with her friend until then, with the kids in tow.)I wish her well, but the children do not know this man. I myself have never met him. Should I be worried?A: Concern is more fitting here, since you are not a long-distance parent and will be with your children two weeks out of every month to check on their welfare and provide stability.

Five years after marrying into the Kizilos band of brothers (Peter, Paul and Mark), Rina Kizilos received the gift she'd long been waiting for: sister-in-law Nancy, who married Peter in 1995. "I liked her right away," said Rina, 38, who has been married to Paul for 16 years. "Here was a woman I could be close to." The two sisters-in-law were equally delighted when Melissa married Mark seven years ago. With seven children ages 10 and younger among them, the three women share parenting advice and recipes, take walks and throw birthday parties, and find time for girls' nights out. "I have said many times, they are like the sisters I never had," said Melissa, 38. "I trust and rely on them.

At age 13, Tina Lynn Akers was too young to consent to have sex with anyone, but she was not too young to marry her 29-year-old boyfriend and father of her child, and therein lies a legal twist.That twist, and some front-page attention from a national newspaper, have placed Tina, now Mrs. Compton and mother of 3-week-old boy, her family and various politicians running for office into the media spotlight.Hours after the story of the marriage of Tina, a seventh-grade dropout, and Phillip Wayne Compton Jr., a roofer, landed on the front of the Washington Post yesterday, the girl had signed a contract with "The Montel Williams Show" in which she promised not to talk to reporters.