Worth the Wait?

By DAVID ELLIS/

After more than a decade of anticipation, Francis Ford Coppola's third installment of the Godfather film saga opens on Christmas Day. The hiatus between episodes was longer than the duration of both World Wars. But other megaprojects are marinating out there at their own dilatory pace. Examples:

THE OLDEST DEAL For 35 years, a congressional committee has dithered about the design and funding for a memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Plans have now been set for a nine-acre, $47 million garden plaza in downtown Washington. Groundbreaking will occur next year for a scheduled 1995 dedication.

THE SEARCH FOR SCARLETT II Margaret Mitchell refused to write a Gone With the Wind sequel, yet publishers were undeterred. In 1988 romance novelist Alexandra Ripley was selected to write the saga, but Warner Books, which paid $5 million for the rights, let the autumn 1990 publishing date slip.

THE LORD'S WORK Construction began on upper Manhattan's Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1892, but the Gothic structure's three elaborate stone towers remain unfinished. In 1980 master builders started to teach local youths the art of stone carving and hope to finish the job -- in about 60 years.

THE GREAT AMERICAN REVISION The literary world has been waiting for New York writer Harold Brodkey's The Runaway Soul since a 2,000-page manuscript was delivered in 1976. Brodkey, who began writing the book nearly 30 years ago, has been revising and arguing with publishers ever since. His "exploration of American consciousness" is now due in late 1991.

With reporting by Linda Williams