Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 March 1938 — Page 9
. is a. very minor figure.
agabond From Indiana = Ernie Pyle
Western Movies Are in a Period Of Renaissance, but the Two-Gun Hero Today Sings as Well as Rides.
HOLLYWOOD, March 5.—Since it’s my policy to keep at least two kilometers ahead of any great public movement, it is now my duty to inform you that the Western movie is coming back.. ]
Utter honesty compels me to say that the :
Western has never really been away. But what I mean is that Westerns, through a change in formula and some mysterious trend of public fancy, are head-
ed toward acceptance by the world- -
at-large, and not just the neighborhood houses. It has been about three years now since the New Day began to dawn for Westerns. It started with the arrival in Hollywood of the singing cowboy. He caused a revision of the oldtime Western formula. It meant less shooting and more yodeling. The hero nowadays, instead of being a hard-riding, grim-lipped a ‘#2 son of the range, is a nattily uniMr. Pyle formed hero who stops in the middle of the chase to roll his eyes and sing the heroine a melody. Cowboy fan mail used to be mostly from little boys who wanted to be Jesse James. But nowadays 60 per cent of it is from girls and women, heaving over the charms of a Wild West crooner. It may be an indication that our national stamina is cracking up. I am not prepared to say. And for. some reason which the studios don’t seem quite able to explain, the heroine in Westerns No female “big name” exists in the Westerns today. There's a different leading lady for nearly every picture. The girls are inexperienced, and the pay is low. Sometimes a leading lady in a Western will get $150 a week while ‘the cowboy star gets $3000. About 80 per cent of a Western is shot outdoors. I've always wondered where they went to get their backgrounds. Well, they get them right here in California, but they do have to travel quite a way. There are two favorite shooting centers. One is around Kernville, about 160 miles north of here, in rough country not far from Bakersfield.
Many Ranchers Given Roles
The other is around Lone Pine, about 220 miles north in the Sierra Nevada mountains, right at the
base of Mt. Whitney. Here they can .get mountain
snow scenes all summer. All the mechanical crews, the -main actors, and some of the riders are taken from Hollywood. The big bunches of roughriding cowboys are picked up at the spot. Many a struggling rancher has sold out his cattle and now makes his living riding part-time in the movies. If they're just part of a mob on a cowtown main
_ street, they get $8.25 a day. If they ride, they get
$11 a day. If they furnish a horse, they get from $250 to $5 for the horse.” No Hollywood studio, I believe, owns its own horses. They find it cheaper to rent. Because of California’s lovely rainy winters, very few Westerns are scheduled for making at this time of year. Right now there isn’t a single picture being shot at Kernville .or Lone Pine. So I won't get to go up and show them the old Pyle Sideways DoubleRoll trick, performed while standing on six running horses stacked one above the other. I invented it
several years ago while asleép.
: My Diary
‘By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Washington Cab Driver Admits He
Formerly Sang With Civic Opera. ASHINGTON, Friday.—An amusing thing hap- ¥ pened when I arrived in Washington yesterday. I forgot to tell anyone how I was coming, sO when I reached the airport I took a taxi to the White House. We stopped for a red light and my driver said: “I have been wanting to talk to you for some time.”
* Then he added: “I started the Civic Opera here, and
though we had a great. deal of help, it wasn’t a success, but I do think it is needed.”
I asked him if he had been a singer and he an- -
swered that he had wasted a great deal of time studying voice under the impression that he had talent, and that he thought one of the reasons for a civic opera was to keep people from doing that. “Now I am driving a taxicab,” he said, “and I'm not a bit discouraged.” . Would you expect to meet an opera singer driving your taxicab? I feel as though I ought to do something about it and yet, knowing how difficult it is to keep the National Symphony Orchestra going, I wasn’t ‘very much surprised that he had found the support for a civic opera nonexistent.
Hoosier Wins Trip to Capital I went to visit a small charitable institution called “The, Good Samaritans, Inc,” which had asked me to come and see the needy children from one of the nearby schools whom they were feeding every day. A group of people has made valiant efforts to raise the money for school lunches for all the
needy children in the District of Columbia. I imag-
. square of right action.”
ine this rather small charity is doing a welcome piece of work, HE > Mrs. Thomas McAlister and Mrs. May Thompson
Evans, of the Democratic committee, brought in Mrs.
Claffey, of Indiana, who won the prize of a trip to Washington for -obtaining the greatest number of subscriptions to the Democratic Digest. I think she
is enjoying her visit very much. 4
New Books Today
Public Library Presents—
HINESE WOMEN, YESTERDAY AND TODAY (Houghton). Of the Chinese women in sition from the old traditional ways to the new customs of the West, Florence Ayscough writes with sympathy for both the old and the new, describing the impact
‘of modern ideas upon the old conception of “kuei
chu”—“the circle enclosing right conduct” and “the
REVOLT AT SEA (Putnam) by Irvin Anthony. The stories of many mutinies, from that of the revolt of Magellan’s men because they were homesick for
"" the warm sun of the Mediterranean to that of the ' sailors of the German High Fleet.
ers’
VERMONT: A GUIDE TO THE GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE (Houghton). - One of American Guide Series, which is being prepared by the Federal Writt. This is in reality much more than a guide book, combining general information about life in Vermont with details of city, town and countryside—
| and all adorned by photgraphs of great beauty.
FROM THESE ROOTS (Scribner). A provocative
| study of modern literature as it has been molded and
critical ideas. The author, Mary Gunning . Padraic Colum) is a literary critic ‘and
directed b Colum (
lecturer, and her book gives a refreshing interpreta-
tion of American and European critical minds and lit- | erary philosophies.
- A GUIDE TO AMERICAN ANTIQUE FURNITURE (Macrae Smith). Styles and periods pictured
¢« | and described in a simple but comprehensive guide written especially for the beginner, by Gustav A. Van
Lennep, Jr. ; : PATCHWORK OLD AND NEW (London, Woman's
Magazine Office). Agnes M. Miall sketches the ro-
mantic background of an ancient folkcraft to which she adds practical working advice on the art of quilting. Needleworkers will love this handbook for its
- excellent illustrations and diagrams as well as for its
enthusiastic style. : THE HOUSE THAT HITLER BUILT (Methuen) by Stephen H. Roberts. A. analysis of the first four years of Hitler's power, by a keen student of contemporary history. A readable consideration of Nazi ganization and policy and of the enigma which er. : a THE MAN TAKES A WIFE, a study of man’s marriage (Greenberg). A
probléms in and through interpretation
Ind
BEEN
1anapolis *
SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1938
Being a Pioneer in 1938
Is No Easy Task, Youths
On Memorial Trek Learn
To commemorate the trek of a band of pioneers in 1788 into the newly established Northwest Territory, the Government this year is sponsoring another “pilgrimage” which is duplicating the. original journey. This second - pilgrimage will arrive in Indiana in May and,
after touring Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, will come to Indi- ~
anapolis for a week in September. This is the last.in a series of articles on the first journey and its modern counterpart. :
- By Jesse Zousmer
Times Special Writer
EST NEWTON, Pa., March 5.—You just can’t be 3 real pioneer when your equipment includes $200 worth
of makeup. :
You can’t be too faithful in re-enacting an Ipswich, Mass. ,-to-Marietta,-0., trek of 150 years ago when you have to stop walking every few hundred yards to pose for amateur photographers, when young ladies who have seen your picture in newspapers write you mash notes, when others clip fringes of your prized buckskin jackets for
souvenirs. It’s a difficult job for the 86 young men who, sponsored by the Federal Government’s Northwest Territory Celebration Commission, are serving as the highlight of the commission’s attempt to recall the Ordinance of 1787 and the -settling of the Northwest
Territory to America. The caravan rests here now. Just as the original settlers of Marietta spent 10 weeks in this small town, then known as Simerall’s Ferry, so will.the modern caravan take equal time to build two boats, two canoes, a pirogue to carry
" them down - the Youghiogheny
River to the Ohio.
2 2 = T'S very difficult. How can a man act the part of a pioneer when his laundry is called for and
delivered to him?. When he is young and alive and catches himself “trucking” when he hears music from a passing auto radio? When you call your 2700-pound oxen Tom and Jerry—and that’s the only names they know—you must be departing from a practice of more than a century ago. And when your noise and coonskin caps and freely-dispensed food attracts two stray dogs who become permanent members of your party, and you~ decide to name one; Wick because the U. S.
Government 'is paying you $1 each day for your efforts, and the other
‘bonus, because you do get $100 if
you stay with the group until next November—that’s something too. And added to all this there’s no help to pioneering when in less than a half hour your manager or trail leader travels, in his auto, the distance it will take you all day to walk.
\
a
Side Glances—By Clark
. danced with the Jooss ball
ES SIR, it is tough being a pioneer today. Why, 150 years ago the 22 men who left Ipswich, Mass, had a unity of spirit, a common desire and inspiration that you can’t duplicate today. : You're in this modern Northwest Territory caravan as part of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission’s effort—bolstered by a $100,000 Congressional appropriation, of which $23,000 has been allotted for the: caravan —to “recall to all Americans the humble heroism and the constructive determination of the plain American citizens who first determined the type of gbvernment under which they willed to live, and then pushed that government westward across a continent, and to eminence among the nations of the earth.” . You're to emulate the accom-
-plishments of the 22 boat builders
and their assistants who, sponsored by the Ohio Company of Associates, were later joined by 26 surveyors and their assistants and settled the first Northwest Territory colony. But you're not any of this. You couldn’t be if you wanted to. 2 ” ”® OU’RE merely one of 36 young men chosen from approximately 1500 who applied for a chance for adventure and fun. Your scholastic record is good. Your character, citizenship, athletic ability have been attested to by your high school principal, college dean and coaches—and. you can “act” a little. : = And when you arrived in Ft. Devons, Mass., to begin your two weeks’ training period with its long hikes and athletic games prior to
the start of your trek you found
that your own background was as different from that of .the original 22 pioneers as was that of any other member of your contemporary caravan. Not a single boat builder was. in your midst but you did have a young man who is a pa.tner in a taxi company; another who has done graduate work -in scientific crime detection at Northwestern University; another who formerly et. You found among your companions for a year an ex-Marine; the clock winder of the Hamilton, Mass., Congregational Church; a professional actor; a former Greyhound bus driver; a school teacher; another who was added to the caravan because he could play the piano; graduates of 23 different universities. : :
" Entered
"as Second-Class Matter
at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.
1. The highlight of the caravan commemorating the pioneers’ trek of 1788 as it has moved across Eastern United States has been the ox-
drawn Con
wagon shown as it arrived in West Newton.
estoga 2. Carl Applegate (left) and Graham Johnson of the expedition are shown here as they were welcomed to West Newtion, Pa., by Burgess A. B. Adams. Mr. Applegate’s home is at West Terre Haute, Ind. 3. S. B. Montgomery (left), whose ancestors helped settle the old
town’s first settlers, he (right). _ NE member of the party is making the trip because his girl friend “dares” him.
Patterned more closely after
the life of sailors than the pioneering spirits who decided at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern to form the Ohio Co. ‘with a capital of one million “not worth a Continental” dollars for the purchase of land northwest of the river Ohio,: has been the life of these modern pioneers. Most arduous daily fask thus far has been pushing the Conestoga wagon u> hills too steep for the oxen. Other work has! included moving the duffle bags, which hold ‘each of the pioneers’ belongings, from sleeping quarters to one of the two trucks accompanying the caravan, and making their beds . . . sometimes. These young men actually have not walked the entire (48 miles from Ipswich, Mass., to West Newton, Pa. £ Each man, however, signed a contract with the Government
‘wherein, in addition to promising to refrain from intoxicating
liquors and immoral practices, he agrees to walk two or three days during the march to Marietta.
2 8.8 ONGEST walk on the 49-day Ipswich-to-West Newton trip was 30 miles; shortest 12 miles; average 151, miles, Three men claim to have walked the entire distance, -accepting no
rides of any kind, not even on the-
horses. ; Almost every town has staged a parade for the boys. An Indian attack, usually manned with enthusiastic Boy Scouts, with a quick trading of “What does white man seek, fight or peace”? for 8 “White man seeks peace” and a hurried pipe smoking and the caravan has moved into the melee of tooting horns, pointing fingers, questions, sirens, factory whistles. Once this reception committee Indian attack fooled the caravan.
. In Cambridge, Mass., when the
Indians began to fight a little too seriously, the pioneers discovered that they were being prodded by anticaravan Harvard students who were co-operating with a Boston newspaperman to make a good headline: “Pioneers Scared by Indians.” ; ] 85 | [HE nightly pageant has annoyed the young men and it is reflected in their “acting.” But the pageant is a big part of their show. : In it the pioneers portray the
Jasper—By F rank Owen
Seal
~h
3
t \ :
A | | fogies. Anyway, they exemplify the | | spirit of their age—a time of fast
. town, impersonates either Isaac Robb or Alex Simmeral, two of the admits to County Historian Lewis Walkinshaw
significant events leading up to the Northwest Ordinance, the formation.of the Ohio Company, the Continental Congress passing the ordinance and the westward trek which the modern caravan is re-
enacting daily. Designed to interest and inform students, the pageant is enacted with varying diligence. But in almost every town it. has met with good reception. The ox-team caravan so far has gone over big—especially in small towns ’
‘Members of Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, American Legion posts, Chamber of Commerce: officials, school teachers and superintendents have been in almost unanimous agreement: “We wish we could get the caravan back again. We had no auditorium large enough to hold all the persons who tried to see their pageant.” Lar TTR : N their long trip from Ips\Y wich, Mass., the men in the caravan have met with better receptions, acted before larger crowds, had a better time, in the smaller cities.
Many people feel, however, that the: Government is wasting the $100,000 Congressional appropriation for the celebration commission even though but $23,000 has been allotted the caravan, with the remainder being used for educational purposes, books, maps, pamphlets, etc., describing the Northwest Territory and the Ordinance of 1787. And just as the New England papers of 150 years ago tried to discourage travelers from going to the Ohio Valley so have some New England papers today tried to de- : flate the modern caravan. : But the 36 young men who walk - by day and act by night to revive the early settling of the Northwest Territory for the 57,000,000 people their trail will lead them within one mile of, are cooperative and interested in their work. ; Three Hoosier youths are included among the:36. They are Carl W. Applegate of West Terre Haute, William Diamond .of Logansport and Orland Leamon of Cromwell. ; They eagerly are waiting for the caravan to reach Indiana May 1s and start its long tour around: ‘the State which will bring it to Indianapolis for a week in Sepber. : St After the caravan travels through remaining towns in the original Northwest Territory, it will return to Marietta, O., about Nov. 1 and disband.
A WOMAN'S VIEW By Mrs. Walter Ferguson M= who dream of success plan their careers. Women who desire social prestige plan their movements. Both expect to make sacrifices to attain their ends. Is it not strange then that sa few
'| young men and women make plans
for their domestic security? : There is a strong trend toward more freedom and less responsibility these days. Thousands of couples seem content to live in furnished apartments, to deny themselves children and feel no sense of civic or national duty. They live only for
today. 1 “This belonged to my grandmother,” said an old friend as she showed me a piece of silver, quaintly shaped, a lively gleaming thing. “Pve saved it all these years for Dorothy but I don’t think she. cares anything about it. Young people
nowadays seem to hate the idea of |.
being burdened with heirlooms.” She is right, I suppose. Certainly
| there is an increasing tendency to
think of life as an automobile Who am I to say these youngsters
| are mistaken? Perhaps they are
smart and we middle-aged folk are
y
| desire to feel more comfortable.
tempo, quick change and staccato | living. When the heart is young and | ‘pack
{the body strong these . homeless, | | childless
Our Town
By Anton Scherrer | ~ Member of Commission Appointed To Select Site for City's First Cemetery Was First Man Who Died.
THE death of John Chislett, former super= intendent of Crown Hill, moves me to res
view the story of the old graveyards of Ine
dianapolis. / The first death in the settlement is & matter of some doubt. Nobody knows for sure whether it was a man or a woman. Some hise torians, Berry Sulgrove among them, say it was Daniel Shaffer, and some, like Matthias Nowland for instance,
are just as sure it was Mrs. John Maxwell. ! ! Be that as it may, this much is certain: The first woman that died was the wife of John Maxwell, who settled here in the spring of 1820. She died July 3, 1821, a victim of the malaria epidemic, and was buried on the bluff of Fall Creek near the site of the Long Hospital. Her grave i gull ihets,_ I dont tf expect you to believe it, but it’s a : errer fact nevertheless that the lively - Mf. Soh i gentleman known -as Charlie Maxwell over in the Fletcher Trust Building is her grandson.) . . . Le This much is true, too: The first man that: died was Daniel Shaffer, a merchant who came. here early in 1821, and died in the summer following. Ironically enough, Mr. Shaffer was a member of the commission appointed to select a site for a cemetery. . According to. Matthias Nowland, who was also a-member of the commission, they picked a Sunday in August, 1821, to do their work, and selected four acres on the east bank of the river in what is now the southwest of town. One week from that day, Mr. Shaffer was buried there. oe ini 4 This" graveyard served until 1834. Then came Union Cemetery which adjoined the first. cemetery and extended to Kentucky Ave. : \ he Sometime around 1860 somebody saw the need for another cemetery, and picked a plot north of both
' the old graveyards. It was known as Greenlawn and
lived to its name, but, for some reason, it. never was used’ much. In the meantime, in 1856, the 1 brews started their three-acre graveyard between Bluff and Three-Notch Roads, and a few years la Father Bessonies dug into his own pocket and bought 18 acres on the plateau of the north bluff of Pleasant Run for a Catholic cemetery. :
Bought 250-Acre Farm
Up to this time the South Side had all the grav yards. In 1863, however, a group of men led b James W. Ray bought the. n Williams fart about three miles northwest of the Circle and on east side of the Michigan Road. It had the thing that could be called a hill around-here. hah sain the farm. contained 250 acres and: cost The next year they engaged Frederick W.:Chislett of .the Pittsburgh Cemetery to lay out .the and superintend- the ; when it came time to : 3 of Lucy Ann Seaton died May 26, 1864. She lies at the foot of the . ot» Bion ee Mr. Chislett serv Crown Hill -until the: he died in 1899. After that, the cemetery was wal over by his son, Jo ett, ‘who was elected . fill the position left by father. 8 served the next 30 years, un 20, when he p He was the 82-year-old man who died in Califo: last Monday. Today he was brought back and bu in Crown Hill, the plot he and his father helped make one of the most beautiful cemeteries in world.
Jane Jordan— A Young Man Naturally Isn't Goi ¢ To Like a Girl His Family Choos
EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a young man of 20, living at home and arguing with my family about what I think is a silly question. I enjoy playing pool and drinking in my spare time. I work every day an have never received a complaint about my work. But they think I should be spending my time with some girl. I know they are not trying to get rid of me marrying me off, but they say it looks silly for | young man of my age not to be with a girl oe= casionally. I have had a few dates in my time, bt not within the last six: months, and they can’t see w I'd rather be sitting at a bar drinking or in a pool room when I could be at a movie with a girl my fams ily knows. I like her, but she bothers me continually and I'd rather be spending my time as I enjoy it. cannot see why I shouldn’t. Please let me know w. you think about it. BACHELOR AT HEART.
| + Answer—It is easy for an outsider like myself, whe
‘isn’t emotionally involved with your problem, to see in your behavior an attempt to break the family’s hold on you. Why do you frequent poolrooms and
that this is what irks you most?" ; You must remember that a man’s interest im
until a boy is 13 or 14 years old he prefers the coms panionship of his own sex. ’ ol : : Then a change takes place. .He begins to notice the girls he has scorned and wants to be noticed by
‘them. Some men never make this transition suc:
.cessfully. When they're too old to play marbles a ‘fly kites with the boys, they substitute other activitie more suited to their age, but the truth is they sti want to pldy with the fellows and not be bothered by the girls. : in a Please remember that the preference for yo own sex is an indication that you are not outgrowing a phase which belongs to childhood as rapidly as yo should. This, doubtless, is what your family feels they can’t put it into words. They just nag and it looks “silly.” 5 Of course you aren’t going to like -a girl whom your family chooses for you and who pushes herself on you. You need to find your own girl and will do so as you complete the process of growing up. A youn; man of 20 wants. girl friends unless some feeling © anxiety bars his approach to the other sex. ( he is timid and doubts his ability to please a yo lady. He is more comfortable when he is out wit! the fellows. His ‘desire to drink arises from But it is the task of each and every one of us to learn how to’ feel comfortable without artificial aid. ~~ = ~~ ° The normal person may drink on convivial occass sion and no harm may be done; but he who neve feels entirely happy or comfortable until he has a {
drinks stands in a dangerous position. Such a
indicates a conflict of one sort or another which m be solved bfeore he can lead a successful and satisf tory adult life. . . ~ JANE. JORDAN. . Put your preblems in a letter to Jane Jordan, whe will answer your questions in this column’ daily. A eT
Walter O'Keefe— NHICAGO, March 5—If the Government dc
The only advantage the little, businessmen ha filing their returns this th is the fact that ‘can deduct all those railway fares-to Washingtor