Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 1938 — Page 22

From Indiana=Ernie Pyle

_ Buenos Aires, One of Great Cities Of World, Proud of Being Modern

—Reminds ‘Americans of Chicago.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 2.—This Buenos ~~ Aires is quite a little collection of humans—around 3,000,000 of them. It is the sixth biggest tity in the world. And that brings up a question. What are the five bigger? ' Since. we don’t have our World Almanac along, We can’t look it up handily. So we have discussed it with our friends. And they don’t know either, for : sure. But we think this is right— New York, London, Chicago, Tokyo and Berlin. I kept holding out for Dana, Ind., but the Buenos Aires boy who was born in Galesburg, Ill, wouldn't hear of it. At any rate, Buenos Aires is awfully big. Last night we met an American here named Joe Walstrom. He turned out to be a cousin of uur cousin Sid Houston of Washington, and a close pal of our friend Don Wylie in San Francisco, and he knew dozens of other people we know. ; We had a train ride into the suburbs last night. Went out to the home of some American newspaper friends for dinner. They have a house and yard and dog and maid and baby just like people have at home. The downtown station was just like one of the big. pommuter stations in Chicago. I don’t know why I keep thinking of Chicago and Buenos Aires in the same breath. They don’t exactly look alike; and yet I guess Buenos Aires is the Chicago of South America. The city is flat and sprawling. It is only a few feet above the River Plate, which is so wide here you have to go to the top of the highest building to see the opposite shore. The highest building, incidentally, is an apartment house. There are fine buildings and magnificent parks, yet the city seems to me without outstanding charm. On the whole, I would call it less beautiful than Chicago. But it is not so darkly gray, nor so grimy. It is a vast white patch on the green pampas. Buenos Aires is not what we at home have pictured as South: America at all. It is nqt in the tropics, you know. It has winter and summer like we do, only in reverse.. Its winters are not nearly so cold as ours. Yet you feel cold, because Buenos Aires, like the rest of South America, has a fundamental aversion to turning on the heat.

Cars Drive to the Left .

Buenos Aires seems more European than South American. The people are mostly descendants of English, Italian and Spanish. They even speak Spanish differently here from the other Latin coun- | tries. ‘They mix it up with Italian. This city is proud of being modern. They claim they have everything that New York has, dial phones, night, clubs with outlandish prices and a local Coney Island. They even have three subway lines. They drive on the left-hand side of the street. The first left-drive country we have hit since leaving Panama. I always look the wrong way when crossing the street. Most of the cars are American, although there are lots of European. All steering wheels are on the right-hand side. It looks funny to see a shiny new American car with the driver on the right side. Most of the streets are narrow, although very wide avenues cut across the city diagonally. As in most South American cities, the trolley tracks are laid on one side of the street. You have to keep a sharp eye as you walk along the sidewalk, or you'll get clipped by a streetcar. The most famous street is Florida Ave., pronounced «Flo-reed-ah.” It is a narrow street of swanky shops. iAt 4 o'clock every afternoon the street is closed to traffic, and people walk in the street. It gets so jammed you can hardly move. Parading on Florida is one of the big moments’ for Buenos Aires. They say girls spend all day dressing {up just to come down and march up and down Florida at tea time.

{ Mr, Pyle -

‘My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Visits Animal and Reptile Farm; Dignified Owl Winks on Request.

~ARASOTA, Fla, Thursday—I certainly spent an interesting hour yesterday afternoon at the animal and reptile farm on the outskirts of Sarasota. Animals are always interesting, particularly when handled by someone who has no fear of them and who knows how to treat them so they trust him. We saw two of the most poisonous variety of snakes, rattlers of various kinds and the cotton-mouth moccasin, Their poison is “milked” every Thursday

and given to the medical center in Venice, Fla., where a scientist is carrying on experiments in making serums which will benefit arthritis and neuritis as well as to save people who have been bitten by snakes. The alligators, the crocodiles and the monkeys are all interesting, but the owls appealed to me especially, particularly one dignified gentleman who, when asked to wink one eye, did so. There is an eagle who laughs and all the birds spread their feathers and show off at command. A little group of Seminole Indians is settling down in the Indian village next to the farm so that people may see their mode of life. : I am glad to say that they are being taught: to live in a somewhat more sanitary environment than the tribe which I once visited farther south in Florida. I will never forget my horror on that occasion when I realized under,what unsanitary conditions we allowed these wards of the Government to live. It was almost impossible to keep the flies away from the food and, incidentally, the babies. The Seminoles wear the.most colorful costumes, but the little girls wear such voluminous skirts that I wonder how they move around,

A Truly American Story The man who runs the reptile farm told us his

% gtory with such zest that I do not think he would

mind my telling you about it, because it is such:a characteristic American story with its courage and success. Three years ago he had no money but he was in love with a young lady who had as much courage as he had. “I was out with her one evening and I sat her up on a wall and I asked her if I should go up to Atlantie City and take a job and wait until we were better off, or should we go get married and start a reptile farm together? She decided that we might as well begin together so I borrowed $14 and my friends helped me and we came out here to live. Today I own the place and all the animals. - People know I give them a good home, so I have been given several interesting animals, besides being allowed to train some for well-known animal fanciers.” In this couple’s home, where all the baby animals as well as the family seem to be housed at night, ‘his attractive, plucky wife looks after the little store, where you may buy various things made of snakeskin and be quite sure that the article is genuine. Isn't that a truly American story?

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, Dec. 2—Some narrow minded people seem to resent the fact that moving picture stars use doubles when there is dangerous action in the picture. I think doubles deserve a lot of credit, but I don’t think we should feel sorry for them because they actually like their work and they appreciate a star throwing work their way. One day a big apartment house here in Hollywood caught fire and a famous actress came out of her window and stood on the ledge of the seventh floor with flames lickin’ all around her. The firemen stood below her with the net spread, but she didn’t move. Finally they hollered, “Jump, lady, jump!” The actress looked down at ’em indignantly and said, 1 do nothin’ ofytwem™ Send for my double at

he Indianapolis Times

en Third Section

(Last of a Series)

By Jack Warfel

Times Special Writer

and frightened.

turn.

times it’s a story of suicide..

wages. Always the extra’s plight has been a tragic one, but conditions have been vastly improved since 1920. Then Hollywood had half a dozen agents whose offices overlooked vacant lots. Daily these “bull-pens” were crammed. Receiving an order from a studio, the director would step to his window, scan the crowd below, and yell, “Hey, you with the bottle nose!” or “You, there with the derby!” Salaries were paid off in the back rooms of saloons. :

In 1925 Los Angeles women’s

clubs appealed to Will H. Hays to remedy conditions. That was the start of Central Casting Corp. The office establishes minimum rates of wages, hours of labor and certain general working conditions. ® 8 =

ODAY it is not necessary for the extra to appear personally for employment. All placements are made by means of a specially constructed “Garfield” exchange at telephone headquarters which enables players to call in for work at any time. Records of the corporation indicate that as many as 1000 inquiries for employment

But dusk creeps over the colony and the telephone has summoned only 500 extras for one day of work. What of the other thousands? : It’s a story of heart-break and starvation. Some-

The average annual’ earnings per extra in 1937 was $187, according to Central Casting Corp. Several thousand extras earned less than $10 the same year and only seven received comfortable

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 2.—Morning light breaks over Hollywood and 62,000 rpovie extras hope desperately that the new day will bring them employment. Who are these players? Former stars, - once famed, now old, hungry, penniless

Discarded stage players, now bewildered, facing a bleak, friendless future. Young men and women, their ambitions long since shattered, unfitted for other work, praying that their luck will

have been received in a single hour. >

Let’s visit Campbell McCulloch, vice president of Central Casting, for an inspection tour. “Isn’t there some way of impressing young people with the facts?” he asks. “Each day hundreds of men and women éome here from the East and beg for employment. We stopped accepting new applications June 1, 1937, when the guild was formed.”

He leads us into an office where six casting directors sit at desks and listen to names issuing from loud speakers. “Extras are typed

" according to their wardrobes, abil

ities, ages and other characteristics. When the casting director receives his daily list of required extras, he tunes into the speaker broadcasting his particular brand of player. When a certain extra next. calls in, he or she is told when and where to appear and what to wear.

“This board shows which players are available. Cards bearing the players’ names are reversed when the player is summoned.” Colored thumb tacks adorn each card. Red tack means “Good wardrobe.” Blue indicates “Owns

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1938

automobile.” Yellow shows the amount of work the extra has had since the first of the year.

» » »

OP rank extras, still in de- g

mand for speaking roles and enjoying good salaries include Bryant Washburn Jr., Julia Faye, Jean Acker Valentino, Rosemary Thebey, Mary McLaren, Eve Novak, Frank Mayo. Other names, once as famous as Garbo, Tracy, Crawford, are printed on cards showing fewer than six days of employment since Jan. 1. Most saddening is the list of once famous names registered at Motion Picture Relief Fund offices. Names once household bywords, now are affixed to a list that represents desperate, starving cases. “Of 45,000 extras during the last 13 years, only 16 have risen to stardom,” says Mr. McCulloch. “They are Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Bud Flannigan, Gary Cooper, Janet Gaynor, Fred MacMurray, Bernadine Hayes, Adrianne Ames, Raquelle Tores, Jean Harlow, Frances Dee, Ann Dvorak,

Randolph Scott, Sally Eilers, Edwina, Booth and Jon Hall.” Most recent ascendency was Bud Flannigan, who was renamed Dennis O’Keefe and starred in

' Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

So, You Want to Be in Pictures?

Jobs Pitifully Few for Hollywood's Army of 62,000 Extras

After visiting moving picture studios in the Hollywood colony, Jack Warfel today tells of the unemployment in the “extra” profession, .

In M-G-M lunch room (right), Dennis O’Keefe tells Mr. Warfel how it feels to graduate from a dress extra to a star overnight.

Looking over a script for oneline bit roles (left) are King Baggot and Flora Finch, famous stars of yesteryear. Carole Lombard (below) relaxing on the set, recalls days when she was a Mack Sennett extra.

“Bad Man of Brimstone.” One of the oldest, most beloved extras today is Flora Finch, Hollywood's “First Lady of Comedy,” once leading lady for the late John Bunny. Several decades ago, Miss’ Finch was the toast of London and Broadway.

2 » t & ODAY Miss Finch lives in a small apartment, drives her own car to and from the studio lot when she receives bit parts. In

«Tce Follies Ballet” she has one speaking line with King Baggot, another star of yesteryear, now an extra. For a few favorite extras, life still is roseate. But for the mul-

titude, the future is bleak and

‘hopeless. - Most tragic are extras ‘graduated from their first youth who try desperately to preserve the Hollywood “front,” smile hard, jaunty smiles, and appear bored with horrid restrictions of wealth and fame. Behind that “front” is the story of boiled shirts turned yellow with . "waiting for studio calls, hair dyed platinum but dark at. the roots for lack of the price of a retouch. From dawn to starlight, operators at the Central Casting switchboard wrestle with plugs and drone, “Sorry, try calling later . . . sorry . . .” Monotonous, harmless words, but their pronunciation creates throat lumps and despairing sobs in a thousand Hollywood rooms.

Psychiatrists Map U. S.

Program

By Science Service ASHINGTON, Dec. 2.—American psychiatrists today had

entered the lists in defense of “peaceful unity and democracy” on this side of the oceans as their answer to the present state of world madness. Under the guidance of Prof. Harold D. Lasswell, University of Chicago political psychologist and member of the faculty of the William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation here, they present “Continental Security,” a program that calls for freedom of science, overthrow of “monopolism” and the postponement of war. It is published in the journal, Psychiatry.

of Security

“Progression towards a world democracy has ceased,” the journal declares. “The partition of Czechoslovakia and the coincident sinking of Britain and France from premier goles in world politics destroys our vestigial hopes of collective security

in the world today.

menace the people everywhere.”

humanity,

and collective.”

“Paranoiac creeds of racial and other differences are the order of the day. They rationalize the barbarian ruthlessness of ruling cliques in the totalitarian states, but they

As physicians to the ill minds of the publications committee explains that psychiatry as a science “has a basic role in making sense of human affairs, individual

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Everyday Movies—By

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—From which aviation field did Charles A. Lindbergh start his nonstop flight to Paris? 2—By what score did the United . States recently defeat Australia to retain the Davis Cup? 3—Name the sickle-shaped peninsula, forming the southeastern extremity of Massa=chusetts. 4—1Is a child born in the United States of alien parents a United States citizen? 5—Who was the tallest Presi dent of the United States? 6—To which country does the island of Curacao belong? » » ”

Answers 1-Roosevell Field, Long Island,

2 Three matches to two.

5—Abraham Lincoln. 6—The Netherlands. 8 ” »

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a' 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact er information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St., N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can

New Books Today

PAGE 21+

stitute had a picture by Andrea del Sarto

have a look. For two reasons: (1) Because

two years.before Andrea was married, and (2) bes cause of a suspicion that maybe the picture is as good as it’s cracked up to be because his wife didn have anything to do with it. - 1 bring Andrea’s wife into today’s piece because if it hadn’t been for her, Robért Browning wouldn’t have had any reason to. write his grand poem. Nor could Algernon Swinburne have written his penetrating essay, in the course of which he charges Andrea’s wife with the noticeable difference in the early 2nd later Josey of the great B orentine painter. errer Be that as it may, the hand- Me Sen some woman whose face recurs in almost every one of Andrea’s pictures (except the one at the Herron).

in the Via San Gallo in Florence. Andrea was fase cinated by her charms, and after the death of her husband, in 1513, took her for his wife. But the long cherished desire brought him little peace. Lucrezia’s

pupils, while her vanity excited his jealousy and her

top of that, Lucrezia brought her father and sisters with her, too, and in order to provide for them, Ane drea was compelled to lead a life of incessant toil. In 1518, Andrea accepted an urgent invitation frem the French king to come to his court. He left his wife at home, but she raised such a rumpus that withe in a year he obtained leave from Francis I to return to Florence and bring Lucrezia back with him. Buf once at home in the company of his wife, Andrea forgot all about France and never returned.

Realized He Was Slipping

As years went by, his style became more and more artificial. The faultless skill was still there, but the

Andrea himself. right out of his mouth: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a Heaven for?” : In later years, Vasari tells us, the painter never ceased to look back regretfully at the time he had spent in France. And finally when Florence was taken by the Spaniards, the plague broke out and Ane drea was one of its first victims. He died alone, dee serted even by his wife, who fled in terror. . Lucrezia survived her husband 40 years. One day Empoli was copying one of Andrea del Sarto’s paint= ings, an old woman of 80 stopped to speak to him and proudly pointing to the figure of the handsome woman in the picture, Seems that she never did get wise to herself.

namely that the great thing about the picture at the Herron is that it was painted before Lucrezia tried to

Jane Jordan— Wife Tired of Staying Home Urged To Reach Compromise With Mate.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a young married woman of 23 and the mother of children, but for me life is more or less empty. My husband won’s take me out and doesn’t want me to go with friends. He thinks that if you have a home you should stay

doesn’t want to go I can’t see any harm in his watching the children while I go to a show once

to stay. I don’t think this is fair and I say it is what breaks up a lot of homes. I have always been faithful but if I don’t get some fun out of life with him, I am going to get it without him. I love my hus band and would be happy just to be with him if he would pay a little attention to me. If he would make over me a little to show me he loves me, life would be more bearable, but he thinks that is silly. Please tell me, am I right or wrong? ; ¢ TIRED OF DOING NOTHING.

Answer—The situation you describe is one of the oldest problems of marriage. If your husband could exchange places with you for a while he would have more sympathy for your need for diversion and change. If you could exchange places with him you would understand the fatigue which overcomes him at the end of day and makes it hard for him to entertain a .bored wife. As it is each of you feel abused and misunderstood. | Compromise is the only solution. Your husband should be willing for you to have one night out a week to go to the show with friends. : For one thing your days are too dull and monoto= uous. Can’t you get someone to sit with the children sometimes while you go out with your women friends? If you can find some companionship during the daye time you won't be so restless and discontented. - Every married couple should have others of similar interests who drop in during the evenings to chat or play cards. Friends are essential for a happy life and those who do not have them feel the pinch of loneliness. Your husband has some outlet for his so cial tendencies in the people with whom he works, but it is not enough. Surely you|can teach him to enjoy other friendship at home. ANE JORDAN.

answer your questions in this column daily.

Public Library Presents—

‘A FRIEND, Dear Reader, inevitably will approach you to ask, bright-eyed, “Dauphne Du Maurier’s

it?” And he’ll want to talk! Strangle him if necesthe narrator wishes to tell to you alone—and in her own very special way. [= She wishes you to see Manderley as she knew it: when as a bride she came to it—tq sense it there, ine scrutable, like a slightly sinister jewel, in its income. parable setting, a sea of many moaqds to the West, while about the piled gray stone of

-| perfect house, the lawns and gardens and the too

row, winding drives lay in ancient dignity. And wants you, too, to know Rebecca (and how well sh succeeds) as she grew to know the first mistress of Manderley, a little at a time. | 2 She hopes you will try, as she tried, to fathom the. presence, an emanation so vital that one almost hears’

the stair, and the disturbing echo of her laugh floating from the West wing, where in beputiful rooms filled with the murmur of the sea, exquisite belongings lay always ready for a woman whose| broken body had been taken long months before from the restless water, Living through the quiet desperation of those few: weeks, with the story unfolding against the backdrop: of a conventional English country|life, experiencing & man’s travail and a woman's love and loyalty gale lantly maintained, one realizes that it is by means no ordinary skill that the daughter and

nous Du i one.

Our Town By Anton Scherrer B

That del Sarto at Herron One al Of Artist's Best Because Painted Prior to His Unfortunate Marriages |

OON as I heard that the Herron Art Ine + on exhibition, I made it my business to. |

of the age of the picture, it being pretty well i i established that it was painted in 1511, or = |

was the wife of Carlo di Recanati, a hatter living

violent and overbearing temper drove away his best :

NC a

extravagance involved him in constant difficulties. On

spark was gone and nobody knew it better than . Indeed, Browning took the words

TE REESE

in the winter of 1570 when the painter Jacopo da.

told him that it was her portrait, Well, that’s the only point I wanted to make today,

run her husband’s life. v ei

a week. He is free to go all day and sees and talks to his friends so when he comes home he is ready, .

new novel, REBECCA? (Doubleday). Have you read. a sary, but refuse to listen. For this is a story which

stretching away:

the rustle of her gown through the trees, her step on

rev

te sn

in it. Now he is 10 years older than I am and has 8 seen and done just about everything; so if he

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan who win; £ y