THE JONATHAN ZIZMORS.

Among the innovations with which patrons of the New York City subway system have recently been faced--rising fares, the puzzling and unsatisfying introduction of the V line--perhaps the most startling are the new advertisements for the dermatological services of Dr. Jonathan Zizmor, who has been promising relief from unsightly bumps and ashy skin to subterranean travellers since the early eighties. Gone is the scary before-and-after shot; instead, the new ad, which had its debut in May, features a nightscape of indeterminate skyscrapers and includes not just a photograph of the ageless Dr. Z but a picture showing a handsome woman in a big pale hat, and a slogan that reads, "Doctor and Mrs. Zizmor Salute New Yorkers for Their Strength and Courage."

Naturally, this raises two questions: Why are we being saluted now, twenty-one months after our peak of courageousness? But, first, where has Mrs. Zizmor been hiding all our lives?

Well, Mrs. Zizmor explained over tea at the Four Seasons Hotel last week, she was being Mrs. Friedman, during her first marriage, which ended eight years ago, and before that she was being Ms. Alexandra Levin. (Dr. Z's previous marriage also ended in divorce.) "We have only been married for two years," she said, speaking from under a dramatic, wide-brimmed straw hat, which is one of about a hundred hats she owns. Mrs. Zizmor has beautiful skin and the self-possession that suggests a career on the stage, though she was, until recently, a sales and marketing consultant for technology companies. Every now and then, she took the hand of Dr. Zizmor, who sat next to her and looked on with admiration. He has a pallid complexion and russet-colored hair, and was wearing a tie printed with the subway map.

The Zizmors met when each was having dinner with friends at the Four Seasons restaurant and the proximity of their tables led to conversation. "The first thing I thought when I met him was, He's normal, and he's really, really smart," said Mrs. Zizmor, who is forty-four years old, which makes her fourteen years younger than the real Dr. Zizmor, though about the same age as his subway representation. "I'm from Chicago, so I had no idea who Dr. Zizmor was. I told a friend of mine, and she said, 'Zizmor! Jonathan Zizmor! He's a big guy!' I said, O.K., but I didn't really get it."

"She had never been on the subway," Dr. Zizmor, who speaks in a shy mumble, said.

During their first date, at Le Cirque, she mistakenly ordered two entrees instead of an appetizer and an entree. "But he didn't say a word," she said. "He had a lot of class, and he let it go."

"And she ordered milk," Dr. Zizmor said.