Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 237, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 February 1934 — Page 9

Second Section

It Seems to Me By Hey wood Broun NE of the nastiest accidents which can happen to >’"< - cal " UP<m^no"d h ”t does not die onee but many mes In the funny stories written with and about him m the columns of the daily P**- . ten-ton • rra„ k Dw has just been

truck,” says the city eauor • Run up to the hospital and get a funny story from him if hes still conscious.” And when Mr. Doe marries, elopes, dies or gets the Nobel prize he still will And his favorite sayings a little mangled in the rush to make the first edition. He is a noted wit, and he must stand and deliver. To be sure, anything he says will be gratefully received. But unfortunately for him anything he didn't say will be met with precisely the same hospitality. U 8 ** The Fate of a Noted Wit THE noted wit watches for papers the day after the

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Hey wood Broun

P vcnt with horrible forebodings. On a good spot on P ice 2 he will see that he has been discovered in the p Si. Pat and Mike anecdote in which he i V"d dead a „e anrrow that he has been arch, he nas oeen whimsical and he has been taken down to the sea m I received a note from Elmer Dav ° once a reporter, in which he complained that the witty sayings attributed three famous humorists after a recent episode at the Waldort were without distinction. • One has a right,” he says, “to expect of them on this historic occasion, somewhat bonner mots thP But one has a right to expect from a veteran like Elmer Davis a more sensitive nose for the nuances of the newspaper craft. He ought to remember that the witty sayings assigned to famous men and women should always be taken with a feW ains 0 camphor. Why camphor? Im glad you asked me —to keep the moths away. . .. Possibly Mr. Davis may be shocked at the insinuation on my part that we newspaper folk are not altogether trustworthy in dealing with the vviu. But can he expect perfection? Look back on Elmer ° Your city editor tells you that Dorothy Parker is a picket or a prize winner and that you are to go up and get a funny story from her. Suppose when you arrive Mrs. Parker assures you that there is nothing to laugh at and that she doesn't know any jokes. Os course, you can go back to your office and report, "She didn't care to say anything funny. a a a The Line of Pure Ethics WE need not argue that this is your ethical course. But consider the temptation. You have come back from Newcastle with hands not only clean but empty. What will your city editor think of vou? Now’ and again the temptation is too much for us newspaper men. We simply write, Mrs. Parker said. 'Or vice versa.' " And we trust that in some mysterious and magical w'ay it will turn into an epigram. , .. Naturally it is not my intention to malign the craft which Elmer Davis once adorned. There are raconteurs who attempt to play the role of fire horse and answer every alarm. Not every failure of every noted wit can be blamed upon the reporter’s imagination. For instance, the greatest wit of our age invariably tries to get off a good one when he meets the press at dock or dinner. George Bernard Shaw throws pearls where angels fear to tread. And I will admit that even in such GraecoRoman encounters the old gentleman certainly can catch-as-catch-can. But sometimes he fails, and when a Shaw gag falls flat it is like the collapse of a giant oak in the heart of a primitive forest. You see it sag and shudder and then tumble relentlessly. Eardrums being lacking, there is no sound. As least I think a giant oak might fall like that in the heart of a trackless forest, although I never saw one. I have seen Mr. Shaw oviposit, and that is agony enow. a a a Keeping I'p With the Denials IF*Elmer Davis only kept up with the denials as well as the news he would have learned that both Alexander Woollcott and Dorothy Parker have disclaimed the bon mots at which he cavils. I saw a wire from Robert Benchley, and although it was a trifle cryptic I gathered that he was mad. My vague impression was that he was chiefly mad at me. with the New York Times and the capitalist system running neck and neck for second place in the Lack Lustre Stakes. I thought that in swearing off a sense of humor I might win a few friends. It hasn't worked that way. Particularly I can't understand why a man who can be funny on regular schedule three days every week should have it in for me. When I cast off my sense of humor I did not precisely toss away pearls of great price. I merely deteclarized myself. i Copyright. 1934. by The Times)

Your Health -BY DR. MORRIS FISIIBEIN-

YOUR foods have been classified according to their ability to give you a sense of satisfaction. When the stomach and the upper parts of the intestines contain food and when the digestive processes are going on normally, you have a feeling of satisfaction. You no longer perceive the sense of hunger. This is not wholly because your stomach and bowels are distended, for it has been shown that merely distending the stomach will not develop this feeling. It is a combination of the two factors. For example, meat remains in the stomach from three to four and one-half hours and stimulates a certain amount of secretion of gastric juices; hardboiled eggs remain about two and one-half hours; soft-boiled eggs about one and one-half hours, and raw eggs slightly more than one hour. The same amount of bread by weight as of meat will remain in the stomach two and one-half hours, or one to two hours less than meat. Both substances will develop about the same amount of secretion of digestive juices. mam 11 has been found that bread and potatoes rank low foe giving satisfaction if eaten by themselves, but when combined with either meat or fat, their value is increased greatly. This may be one of the reasons why bread and butter frequently are so taken together. Green vegetables do not have the same satisfying value as meat, but sugar gives a distinct sense of satisfaction, and a meal containing a sweet remains longer in the stomach than one without. Roughage in the form of coarse, indigestible foods is not particularly satisfying, because such foods pass rapidly through the stomach. Moreover, roughage seems to be responsible in some persons for a considerable amount of abdominal discomfort and even pain. Some persons simply can not tolerate coarse and indigestible toods. 9 9 9 IT must be remembered that man is perhaps the only living being w ho eats regularly without being hungry. The animals eat only when they have the desire for food. In the human being, the reaction toward food depends largely on the mental point of view as well as an the physiological factors involved. It Is simply because the human being has the choice that he must be especially careful in selecting his foods wisely.

Koll Logged Wlrg Serrlcg of the rniteil I'regg Association

Jim Doss—-Never at a Loss When It Conies to Handling Words

This is the twenty-ninth article of The Indianapolis Times series about the members of its editorial staff. Today's article is about S. J. Doss, city editor. a a a BY NORMAN E. ISAACS Times News Editor ONE quaint bit of fiction still adheres in the newspaper business. All city editors are pictured as being ferocious, bustling, shouting ruffians who eat their cubs and shout into telephones at their reporters to “go back in there and tell him he can’t scare me.” "Taint so. And for Exhibit “A” we present to you S. James Doss, city editor of The Indianapolis Times. Mr. Doss is a very mild-mannered, softspoken gentleman with southern manners and a tendency to take it easy. And there is no evidence of his ever having raised his voice above the low “do.” A book-worm in the full sense of the world—he reads constantly— Jim Doss is a wise and erudite individual, who prides himself upon his skill at repartee. Quick on the trigger with quips, he is alleged never to have been caught napping in an exchange of verbal blows. A gentleman of decided opinions, he will debate an issue for hours ■until it finally is settled. Agile with words, he is one of the best newspaper “writing men" in Indiana. Slim and just under average height, Jim Doss likes his books well written and his coffee black.

HIS full name is Saurie James Doss Jr., but he prefers the James because he charges that people maliciously mangle the first name—a family one. Born in Bartholomew county, near Columbus, on Feb. 28, 1903, James spent practically all of his childhood days in the south. Back in Columbus, he was educated in the high school there and admits he went away to school, but doesn't elaborate. He was given his first newspaper job by the late Don Mellett, militant crusader, whose death at Canton, 0., at racketeers’ hands was a national sensation several years ago. Mr. Mellett then was managing editor of the now defunct Columbus Ledger, and our James started his newspaper career in making the railroad stations for personals and covering the morgue. His progress was rapid and soon he was allowed to cover circuit court. And Jim's biggest news'paper thrill dates back to those days. He rode to the scene of a murder in a taxicab with the sheriff, the prosecuting attorney and the city editor of the opposition paper. Jim had a high opinion of the city editors in those days and it tickled his vanity to be on an assignment with the opposition city editor. Jim confesses it was only a “mine-run” murder, in which a tenant farmer had slain his employer with two blasts from a shotgun. Vaguely, James recalls that the affair had some aspects of a triangle, but nevertheless it was a real-for-sure murder, and somehow the murders Jim has covered since have seemed pretty tame incidents to him. a a a FROM Columbus Jim went to Ft. Wayne, where he worked on the Journal-Gazette and served four years as the sports editor of the Ft. Wayne NewsSentinel. He had a “short sentence” on the Chicago HeraldExaminer and has been with The Times for the last five years. While in Ft. Wayne, Mr. Doss

Life Study of Eskimos Is Portrayed on Screen at the Palace; Actiny of Sylvia Sidney , Fredric March ‘Rescues* Drab Movie

'T'HOSE who are interested in the morals of the Eskimo will be interested in the W. S. VanDyke directed movie, “Eskimo.” If I wanted to be flippant and remembering the funny escapades of traveling salesmen in “Convention City,” I would say that all Eskimo men have the alleged traveling salesman instinct. “Eskimo” is not a Hollywoodmade production, but actually

filmed in the far north in the home of the Eskimo. The Eskimos are not actors, but types chosen by Director Va nDyke. The only professional actors in the cast are Mr. Van Dyke, who plays a northern police role, and Peter Freuchen, an authority upon Eskimo life, and a

few white men who make up the crew of a white trading ship. ••Eskimo” probably is entirely authentic in showing the strange standard of morals of the Eskimo. The chief Eskimo is Mala, a marvelous type of a man who at times fishes in the far north clad only in trousers. Mala has several wives and is true to them in his fashion. When Mala feels sorry for a friend who has had twenty sleepless nights, he follows the custom of the Eskimo. He rubs noses with his wifeless friend and then with his wife, picks up his hunting equipment and goes out for several days so his friend will have no sleepless nights. man Under the Eskimo code of morals, Mala's wife must not leave their ice hut, and no other male must be entertained but the friend of Mala. And yet when the white captain of a trading vessel violates this rule. Mala kills him and for that crime Mala becomes a hunted man by the Canadian police. Here is a serious study of Eskimo life woven into an absorbing story photographed before a marvelous background of snow, ice, whales and polar bears. • Eskimo” gives the best views of life within the ice houses of the Eskimo I ever have seen. Their going to bed preparations at night certainly are different than one would suspect. Here is real home life among the Eskimos. The natives in the movie speak only their native tongue, but subtitles in English are thrown on the screen while they are talking. Mala is a marvelous man and at times in all of his simplicity he is so pathetic that you want to cry. “Eskimo” is mighty worth while for those who want the real cus-

The Indianapolis Times

‘WE MAKE YOUR NEWSPAPER’

came within a few feet of losing his skin. A Negro stooi pigeon suddenly made up his mind he had been double-crossed by officers and went for his gun. “He was all ‘coked’ up,” recalls Jim, “and his aim was bad, but he certainly could shoot fast. He cut loose with five shots at two undercover men before Linus Meridith (former United States marshal) grabbed his gun hand. Linus got a burn between his thumb and first finger from the last shot. I was within range, about fifteen feet away, but I wasn’t there long.” Another alarming incident in the career of our city editor came when he accompanied officers on a dry raid. The infuriated bootlegger cut loose with a shotgun blast that tore through the top of the touring car ahead of the machine Jim was in. There was no one in the back seat of the car ahead, but there was in Jim’s automobile, and that legger might just as well have picked out the second machine. a a a ONE afternoon, while supposed to be on a lengthy assignment, Jim cleaned up the story in a hurry and went to a club to while away the rest of the afternoon playing bridge. After an hour’s play he bethought himself of his city editor and reached for a phone near the bridge table. Just as James was in the middle of convincing his superior in his most dutiful tones that he had encountered unexpected difficulties, one of the bridge players shouted: “Hey, Doss, it’s four spades up to you. What are you going to do?” Jim spent a pleasant half-hour explaining to his city editor. Mr. Doss also admits the dubious distinction of taking in a movie one afternoon while theoretically on duty. He sat himself plump down in front of the managing editor. He spotted the boss and fled before the lights came on.

toms of strange people presented as natural drama. On the stage is “The Cotton Club Revue,” an all-Negro show. This revue is good only in spots. Lucky Millinder is director of the Blue Rhythm band on the stage. He is one of those athletic directors w’ho jumps all over the stage. Until he calmed dowm, he annoyed me. There are two high spots in this revue. One is the tap dancing of the Four Flash Devils. Here is marvelous dancing. The other high spot is the singing of “The Last Roundup,” by George Dew’ey Washington. The comedian of the troupe is Nicodemus, known as “Lazybones.” Now at the Palace. a a a Good Acting in This SPLENDID acting in a rather drab and colorless vehicle is the answer to “Good Dame,” the picture starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney at the Circle this week. The less said about the

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Mala

story the better. It concerns a certain young and attractive chorus girl, played by Miss Sidney, and a young and attractive card sharp, placed by March. They meet on the grounds of the carnival show' for which the card expert is working. His pal lifts the

girl’s purse and that puts an obligation on the shoulders of the young gambler who suddenly has become interested in this girl, whom he christens a ‘‘good dame,” and thereby hangs a tale. He determines to pay back the money he has taken as his cut in the purse-lifting. The girl is no piker, and although she has kept her edeals ever before her, she "knows alll the answers,” as they say. And she takes quite an interest in the young gambler. In fact, she causes him to go almost straight for a while. But her love for him gets the best of her and she falls, both, of them going “merrily to hell.” But the story turns out happily, even if it is a strained ending. Fredric March does a flawless piece of characterization in his portrait of the young man who is a professed hater and an actual pursuer of the opposite sex. His language, slang and all perfectly mold the part into a whole so that there are no loose ends. He is seemingly just having a good time as he dashes through the modern dialog of the picture in a happy-go-lucky fashion, but

INDIANAPOLIS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1934

M IPPllSil \ real

City editors are supposed to be ferocious, bustling and shouting ruffians, but Jim Doss, city editor of The Times, neither looks nor acts that way. Here he is at a telephone.

“I guess,” he says softly, “that it w r as a stalemate. I never heard anything about it.” a a a BUT seriously speaking, Jim Doss is a very capable young man. To him belongs the orchids for the outstanding local “scoop” of 1933. That was the exclusive and complete forecast on Governor Paul V. McNutt’s reshuffle of all state departments and functions. The scoop was scored at the expense of all the state’s newspaper political experts who are reputed to have all the contacts. Incidentally, it is rumored that the Governor still is wondering where the story came from. Mr. Doss won’t even tell the office, Governor. Jim went on the copy desk W’hen he joined The Times, serving there three years. For more than a year he was editor of the Pink editions, later going on “the street,” and covering the trial of the , Indianapolis policemen indicted for an alleged ljquor conspiracy. While thumping the pavements for The Times, Jim was handed a

BY WALTER D. HICKMAN

whatever his method is, he delivers the goods. Beautifully, Sylvia Sidney portrays the part of the poor, disillusioned girl, who thought that there still was some good left in the world, and proved it. Miss Sidney also proves that she is the ideal teammate for March. If you care for Fredric March or Sylvia Sidney, or even if you get a thrill out of just plain “good acting,” you may like the picture, “Good Dame.” Now at the Circle.—(By the Observer) . a a a Pursell Is a Treat JUNE PURSELL, platinum blond singer of the radio, stage and screen world, returns to her home town this week to give the Lyric patrons a treat. Her singing style is not that of the usual

“blues” singer. She depends upon the loveliness of her natural voice and the charm of her person ality to put her song over. None of the hi-de-hi stuff for Miss Pursell. At the performance I attended, she was called back for several encores. Another head-

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liner on the Lyric stage this week is the dialect comedian, “Senator” Murphy, whose senatorial quips concerning the condition of the country and other momentous questions are, at times, most fitting, if not so proper. He presents his “address” with the house lights on, and the effect is that of a real political speech. Variety is added to the bill with RED CROSS TO START CLASS IN FIRST AID Persons Over 17 Eligible for TenLesson Course. A course of ten lessons in first aid instruction, sponsored by the Indianapolis chapter of the American Red Cross, will be conducted in the American Legion building, 777 North Meridian street. Classes, membership in which is limited to persons over 17, will begin tomoiTow night and will meet every Tuesday thereafter. The senior standard certificate will be awarded those completing the course. Dr. Herbert T. Wagner, director of first aid at the local Red Cross chapter, will supervise the instruction.

Miss Sidney

The Theatrical World-

Miss Pursell

choice assignment. Former President Herbert Hoover and Governor Albert C. Ritchie of Maryland, both candidates in the last presidential campaign, came here for political addresses on the same day, and Mr. Doss was handed the difficult task of covering both of the distinguished visitors. Governor Ritchie arrived here an hour late at 2:30 in the afternoon, but Jim interviewed him in time to write two columns for the final edition and then galloped madly for Union station to meet the Hoover party, arranging the picture coverage, eating on the run, covering the Hoover address that night at the fieldhouse, and then riding back to the station with the President to make sure that nothing happened. “Day?” says Jim. “That wasn’t a day. It was a nightmare.” a a a JAMES has a passion for bridge, a passion that exceeds even his love for books, if that be possible. And our Mr. Doss is nobody’s “chump” at the game Ely

the advent of Marshall Montgomery and his “dummy” in a very interesting ventriloquist act. The act is better than the average of its kind. Montgomery has an actual scene for his tricks and eats, smokes, walks about the stage as his “dummy” carries on the conversation. Very good showmanship. Joe Christie and his partner chip in with some goofy comedy and songs, Reed and LaVere play humorously on the violin, guitar and banjo, Reed doing some clever tap dancing, and Mammy and her Log-Cabin boys complete the bill, with fast dancing and old southern melodies. The Lyric “streamline” chorus presents three nice routines on this week’s bill, dipping into the classical type for one number featuring “The Spider and the Fly.” The picture on view this week is “The Last Roundup,” a screen

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

,MMA j | ewwmiwia.iiitmmMTcff, . >1

“Go ahead..l'm listening.”

Culbertson has made famous, or vice versa if you like. Jim has card sense and he doesn’t need all the tickets in the game to win. He confesses to one desire in his bridge. He would like to pull off a perfectly executed Deschappelles coup. Mr. City Editor also is a sports fan and he is an ardent golfer. He has cracked 90, and golfers know what that means. For nongolfers: Mr. Doss will never give up golf now. He also likes to watch baseball and football games and admits a fondness for basketball. An H—horror of horrors —he dotes on wrestling matches! He explains that is because of his love for the theater and that the wrestlers who walk upright and “breathe just like men” are better actors than the Barrymores. Perhaps he’s just studying some of the more “swelegant” tricks of the “rasslers” so that he may some day grab a cub and really chew an ear off! Next—The author.

adaptation of Zane Grey’s story. It is rip-roaring melodrama done in the typical western mode, starring Randolph Scott, Barbara Fritchie, and Monte Blue. Now at the Lyric. (By the Observer.) a a a In City Theaters The Indiana is showing two features, “Six of a Kind” and “Miss Fayne's Baby Is Stolen.” The Apollo continues with “Carolina.” These pictures have been reviewed in this department. Travel Films to Be Shown First of a series of travel pictures will be shown at 8 tonight in the Indiana university extension division by Ford L. Lemler, I. U. visual instruction department director. The pictures will cover Alaska, Hawaiian and Philippine islands, the Bahamas and Jamaica.

Second Section

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler IDO not know whether little boys still practice left hooks and that fierce glower known as the fighting face before their mirrors, preparing to follow in the steps of Jack Dempsey, but if they do it is only right to intimate to them that times have changed. Little boys who wish to become major league baseball players might do well to consider the change, too. now that Babe Ruth, who still receives the highest salary in the baseball industry, has been

reduced to $35,000 a year. If I were counsellor to a young man of that age I would advise him to trade in his boxing gloves and his baseball equipment toward a secondhand typewriter and a pound of copy paper and to start putting down words and phrases. True, he might never get past the greeting-cards and the pulps, and always find himself outside the money, but, as a fighter, he never might go beyond the semifinals and, in baseball, he might fail against curve-ball pitching and always find himself a minor leaguer. And even if he should become the heavyweight champion of the world or the new Babe Ruth What?

is bankr(intend b £ avWeight ( tampion of the world have S <“• a,th ° Ueh “ s was In the writing business, however the vmmer mo™ cou and at least aspire to $200,000 a year .in e™ Hi she baffcfub t 0 Pay thC SBlaries ° f aII the rest of tt a Mr. Dickens Collects Too Late * TT says in the papers that the serial rights to an 1 unpublished story by Charles Dickens have just Sff S? rt , fOr s2 , lo< ?' at lhf rate o' *1 a w££ , hardl y ts to be regarded as the original ”™ o' tho s,or >'- because the piece has been ac- £ So £%&?£ ab e to take excellent care of himself in the clfnchet Edgar’^ r Vf h f'' ln e suffered much from ih ■? an Poe ’ the favorite horrible examnle nf Poe sold "she ll S nesS ''' 1 think 1 ha,e r °ad itat Mr although n i for 826 and bottle of whisky. havP hlnvH t ,? ay have been Manhattan island i contact to f M , r - TCmll ' so '’ ll “ Ho made a contract to sell his entire output to one publisher at J ate of $5 a word, sight unseen and ha f t be a reporter in phiooo u * Hecht, who used to last three years and ioo nnn’ S made . SSOO - o °o in the the last tta Mr." £i“b T* m thc of have received $3,000,000 from vie “GreP^P^f 13 l ° and it is the small tslt Jth f ,ree n Pastures,” McAvov wh i a3k ° f the frad o that Mr. J. P. been collecting a yearXselerS I ’^ Bo ' haS excursive of his royalties in a comic strto "° W ’ ihe Miss Edna and Mr D nn ald ° gde n-Stewart, years ago. Mr Garret? ° llle Garrett ' A Morning World fnd^i 0n ° ld leaving his good steadv inh + Ca 1 h i s nerv °usness on try a picture on a mov sla°, f J H ? llywooda a d steady job has vanished with d ’ but my inquiry brings^l J Morm n g World, has been making S9OOOO o 6 infoima tion that he SIO,OOO out Os SI wav T Snn ear m3 ' V b@ other. y ’ 1 su PPose, one way or the * n Mr. Coolidge Did It, Too S U th?pre“„The C aZSt W h h th ' bank ™l"'>’ nd the determination of avlaZLl! ‘ he “ Tlrl ' l never again to pay anybodv m?, 1 b 1 magnat es got would suggest to mp thot c3 i 88 abe Ruth practice fighting faces in thp t the lttls boys who -tv horn? runs 8 in ?’se^oS™JoTaKU” h “ <*£?!*?&&& rr'° “ca'vin about 4,000 words after he lef “the Wlfto h' 5 ° f because it seems to mp h ine Wb ite House, SSSSSwS sace A the y chanrl thg neht P rofossion must win that constant punching on the head will make him permanently foolish. ir, M? erC a / e n ° similar hazards worth cons f derim? in he writing industry. Os course, therl arc 3 writers who engage in swirls of ugly passion in pubAsto P rm CeS ß ut S rCCenUy in the Waldorf - Ascoria. But there is no reason to blame (hat on J“of us. CoUld haVe been jUSt the brute that I : _1934. by United Frature Syndicate. Inc.)

Today's Science - by DAVID DIETZ -

"O APID strides have been made in the field of AV engineering and particularly that of electrical engineering during the last twelve months. Some of these accomplishments are summarized in a report Pre i )a T d en £ ineers of the Westinghou.se Electric and Manufacturing Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world One of the largest, as well as one of the most important engineering jobs now under way is the fabricating and welding of the eight huge water gates to regulate the intake towers at Boulde- Dam Four million pounds of steel and other metals will' go into these gates and it will take eight and a half miles of linear welding to put them together. Two of the largest waterwheel generators in the United States are also under construction for this project. Each is rated at 82,500 kilowatts. A still larger generator, but of a ifferent sort, is the new turbine generator being built for the Philadelphia Electric Company. It is rated at 183,333 kilowatts. The rotor, or rotating unit, of this generator is thirty-tw’o feet long. Although the efficiency of this machine will be remarkably high, its losses at full load, mainly in the form of heat, will amount to 2,000 kilowatts, enough to light a fair-sized town. o am A TUNNEL, 5,700 feet long, leading from Boston, under the harbor, to East Boston, will be completed during the year. One of the problems connected with the tunnel is that of ventilation and lighting. Both, naturally, must be unfailing. . • Fourteen motor-driven blowers and fourteen exhausters will take care of the ventilation problem. The tunnel is being equipped with four separate electric feeder lines, so arranged that even if three went out of commission, electrical service and lighting will still be maintained. , 4 *

T r H - <

Westbrook Pegler