Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 November 1943 — Page 19

" 3 . ] . ame ll Washington By Raymond Clapper uw." weno ov isin : . : Beatrice ‘who studied music for

, red, soldier

lights and the

: the pulled “blackout ~curtains and went to bed. Little pictures of my mother

raced across the darkness, = Pictures of nearly a life-| time. “Pictures of her at neighborhood aquare dances

+ long, long ago when she was young and I was a child.!

5 little dog ‘Snooks one who let ‘on, and on Joneliness cut me as deeply as " though she had shed tears, For Snooks spoke in her wordless aim- * Jessness the void that my mother + left.when she went away. ‘One drear evening in London, just at dusk, a friend

te pedestrians hurrying for home before blackbombers could catch them. We had gone about’ $" two blocks when we heard hurrying footsteps

behind us. 3t-was.a little bellboy. from my hotel,

The lad’s name was Tom Donovan, and he was the one who had showed. me my room on that first strange night months pefore when I arrived in London, . “This telegram just came for you, sir,” he said. “I thought, maybe I could catch you.” 1 thanked him and he started on back. There was barely light enough to see. I stepped over to the curb, out of people’s way, while I read the telegram. “What is it?” my friend asked. “More good news from home?” \ “Read it,” I said, and went on ahead. When he caught up he said, “I'm sorry,” and we walked on toward Leicester Square. The London night grew quickly darker, ani we spoke no more as we walked: It was the cablegram that told me that my mother, far away in Indiana, had come to the end of her life.

Living Seemed Futile

_ THAT NIGHT in London, back in my room alone, it seemed to be that living is futile, and death the final indignity, People live and suffer and grow bent

THE HOUSING shortage is so acute these days that housewives are almost afraid to clean house. They can’t get their work done for answering the doorbell—folks noticing the curtains are down and Wanting to know if the house is going to be for rent. -...A family, living in the 2200 block, N. Delaware st., solved the situation neatly the other day by hanging a sign: “No Vacancy,” on the front of the house before taking down the curtains. . Watching Manager Dick Miller during a hockey game {8 almost as much fun as watching the game itself. Dick plays the whole game from the sidelines, running - the gamuf of emotions. When his boys pull a particularly neat play (that's one that results in a score) Dick beams all over. When thé going gets tough and the Caps’ goal is threatened, he blanches and gnaws on his knucklés. And when the referee makes

"an unpoptlar ruling, Dick nearly has apoplexy. He

— gets red in the face and shouts: with the crowd; and “when the game's over he sometignes gives the referee a verbal lacing. All of which is amusing to those.

wie femenyher-Ae-days “when: ‘Dick tise to hoa

basketball -and : football pReteree, “himself, Now he’s the team’s No. 1 fan. :

Just-Like Custom Made IT TAKES VERY little. fo please people in these

days of shortages of this and that. For instance,

Burling Boaz Jr, the sign magnate, has beéh wishing

for some seat covers for his station wagon but _

couldn’t find any. Not long ago he stopped in a store in Broad Ripple and managed to pick up a couple

‘that fit perfectly. Now he's so proud of the covers

(and of himself for finding them) that he shows them to all his friends, remarking: “Look! Just like custom made!” , . , Alvah C. Waggoner, production

WASHINGTON, Nov. S~Election returns this week indicate the Republican current has such strength-&s to challenge the ability of the administra. tion to hold either house of congress next year. Republicans are almost certain to take the house of representatives, Already they are within 14 seats of the Democrats, Hitherto the senate has been considered beyond reach of the Republicans. Seats .of 21 Democrats must be filled next year. Judging by the way the Republican tide is running now, a dozen

of those seats are: in debatable -

“states. A change -of 10 seats would give the Republicans control. It could happen. “The Democratic administration is living now on borrowed time. — —— American political control has moved in cycles, each lasting through several elections. One slow swing of the long penduliim began in 1928 when Herbert Hoover was elected. The Republicans had 30 governors then. By 1934 they had lost all except — eight of them, Today they are back up to 24, and one more has just been elected in New Jersey, givihg the Republicans a majority of the state governments in the country.

Indiana Only Exception : THE REPUBLICANS now have control in every

populous state outside of the South, except Indiana. _ Harrison Spangler, chairman of the Republican na-

legislatures, and the Democrats only nine, with con-

divided in the remaining two. the Republicans have recovered grass-roots COMB CREDLE Bo oe eis 1

-séason tickets for basketball games. .

Pictures of her playing the violin, Pictures of her doctoring sick horses; of her carrying newborn me into the house on raw spring days. ra And one mid-afternoon when I was 9—the day I ever drove a team-in the fields all by myself. | She made many trips to the fleld that day, to bring| me bread with butter and sugar spread on it—and to| make sure I hadn't been run over by the harrow. 1

could see her, there in the London darkness, as she, &

came out toward that Indiana field more than 30 years ago. The pictures grew older. Gradually she became stooped, and toil-worn, and firially white and wracked | with age . . . but always spirited, always ar.

Hed -@ Fall Life C—O

ON THE afternoon that I was leaving London, 1 -called little Tom Donovan, the bellboy, to my room.

3 53

Mg. bags were packed: -One’ by one the OO SEFVRNTST |

had come in, and I had given them farewel] tips. But because I liked him, and more than anything|

- else, I suppose, becausé he had shared with me the}

message of finality, I wanted to do something more for Tom than for the others. -And so I started to give him a pound note. But a look of distress came into his face, and he| blurted out, “Oh, no, Mr. Pyle, I couldn't.” And then he stood there so straight in his little English uni-| form and suddenly tears came in his eyes, and they rolled down his cheeks, and he turned and ran! through the door. I never saw him again, $ On that first night, I had felt in a sort of detached

“JDitterness that because my mother's life was hard, it

was also empty. But how wrong I was, For you need only have seen little Tom Donovan in faraway London wretched at her passing, or the! loneliness pf Snooks, or the great truckloads of flowers they say came from all over the continent, or the/scores of Indiana youngsters who journeyed to her| both in life and indeath because they loved her, to! know -that -she- had Sten a full tite. And received | one, in return. A ]

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

manager for the Stehman Engraving Co, has discovered a new wrinkle in selling. A man called on him the other day,.sald. he represented a company making steel products. The man asked if Alvah had| any files to sell, said his company: couldn't: make any" ‘more apd was trying to buy up. some, -Alvah didn't t

“have any to sell. Then the man sald his company

also used to .make fine razor blades and he had a

® Indianapolis

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1943

few packages left and would Alvah like to buy some. |

He bought nine: packages. After the man left, it dawned on’ Alvah that he had just met a razor blade salesman with a super-duper approach, . . , We had a mental lapse (yes, another). vesterday and referred | to Capt. Ted Davis as Capt. Ted Lewis. Eicuseltpleage,

Good Work, Byron

BYRON E. WEAVER, 11-year-old pupil of the Oaklandon school, has the makings of a champion sales-| man. A bond selling campaign has been conducted

and Byron was among the contestants. He went out the other day and got a $3000 order. Not bad! Alto- | gether he’s sold something like $4000 worth. The | three pupils selling the highest total will get free "+. & motorist phones: to report a.rumor that the. * rthern. end. of

at. Lawrence Central’ high “school” (it “ends oT :

“the “state 18 flooded "with" gasoline—more than they

know what to do with” We checked the state OPA

" offices and got this answer. “Sure, they've got loads

of gasoline up .there. If they didn’t have, we'd be.in

a heck of a shape, because that'd where the Big re- |

fineries are. And, naturally that's where the storage tanks are.” , . , Plc. Howard R. Shepard, stationed on an island in the south Pacific with the marines, acquired a Bolo knife recently and, wishing to have his picture taken with it, got a native family to pose with him, He let one of the natives hold the knife and after the picture was taken coudin’t get the native to give it back. Finally he got it, but it cost him a day's food rations and all the cigarets he had in his tent,

ing off-the-record, would agree that Roosevelt is the only Democrat who would have a chance next year. He might be placed above the political battle because of his personal war prestige, the value of his intimate knowledge of the war and its usefulness in future negotiations, and the forceful argument against changing commanders during the war. No other Democrat would have that protection and would be exposed to the full sweep of the Republican wave. I question whether this is, for the time being, what iy started out to be—a revolt against Roosevelt, It is a revolt against domestic policies of the New Deal, accelerated by the natural movement of Republicans back into their normal territofy, Reforms produce many irritations, and countless toes are stepped on. Theré are maladjustmients. Times are better. Labor’ is bitter over wage repression. Taxes are high. Reforms 80 in waves. Then people become tired, Nostalgia is part of it and we're all dreaming of & whité Christmas. People want a change back to something that they won't get. They won't get it because the clock does not turn back.

History Will Be Repeated

REPUBLICANS WILL not abolish social security, or. collective bargaining, or the practice of finding work for the unemployed. Willkie and Dewey are promising that. The usual history will be repeated again, The reformers will be kicked out and the reforms will stay. ~ Whatever happens, it will: not affect the nation's new foreign policy. It is not a revolt against Roosevelt the war leader and world statesman, =o Fortunately, Republican leaders have established a remarkable degree of national unity, That is re-

BR | SS ——

Pvt. Beatrice

Waves ‘Baton

Over 40 Men

By VICTOR PETERSON -

WHETHER {t's ‘the martial strains of Sousa, the symphonic melody of Brahms or the boogie

‘woogie of “Fats” Waller, the Bill “ings General hospital thres-unit

band can handle all with polished ease.’ 5

units consist of a 33-piece military band, a 40-man concert orchestra and a 15-plece swing shift,

four years at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He did his post-graduate work as a civilian waving the baton before his own swing band under the name of Reno Rice. Stepping up to the big time, he trumpeted for Johnny “Scat” Davis and then moved into the Gene Krupa aggregation just before induction in 1942. " ¥ ” AND IT WAS through the ef= forts of Pvt. Beatrice and two buddies, Cpl. Roy Russell and Pvt.

Meyer. Richman, thatthe band

was organized originally down at Camp Pickett, Va, in Jan. 1943, About two weeks ago the musical group was transferred to

Billings and is now a part of the

medical section, 3591st service unit. Its members are on duty inthe various departments of the hospital with additional duty as bandsmen.” The band is now under the guidance of Capt. Mel.

~vin B: Schwarts, special service

Composed of 40 musicians, the

: 4

Gray; Cpl. Edward Bosh who played with Orrin Tucker, Lou Breese and the Chicago Civic symphony, and Cpl. Joe Vera whose cocktail band ran engagements at the Congress hotel in Chicago. the -‘Book-Cadillac in Detroit and the Roosevelt in Pittsburgh. * But that’s not all. The band can provide a full hoir and a half floor show consisting of band mu-

sic, solo and quartet singing, §

-comedy and the black art of magic. a Sn i ge

SHARING THE MASTER of

ceremonies spot are Pvt. Jack Mathers and Pfe. William Slusher, Pvt, Mathers is a vocalist who has sung the leads in the Broadway shows of “Rio Rita,” “The Student Prince” and “Show Boat.” Also

in the singing spotlight is Cpl |

Jerry Pavelcheck who was soloist for Ben Yost's Singing Vikings

and was on his way to-the Follies

when Uncle Sam said, “Come.” Rated one of the world’s top 12

magicians in 1940, Pfc. Slusher

provides the mystery to the band shows, Now in charge of entertainment and special events through the special service office,

: he was known on the American

stage as Preston, the Magician, He has appeared with Thurston, Blackstone, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, Ted Lewis and others. It's a big-time outfit and all G. I. (government issue),

2=-Preston, the magician, Pfc. William Siusher, and Cpl. Joe Vers:

3~—In three-four time, anytime, this quartet (left to right) consists of Pvt. Charles Fichers, oy

Wellace Eberts, Pvt. Stanley Coleman and Pvt, Enrico Sepe.

-, 4e=fiere’s brass and plenty of it. Left lo ight are Pri. Charis Wells and Cpl. Ray Basmell on trumpets and Pvt. Napoleon Cerminars on the trombone. 5--On his way to the Follies when Uncle Sam sald “Come” , , , Cpl. Jerry Pavelchek. 6—Pvt. Jack Mathers, singing lead of Broadway shows. He Jot his 2iart en & Mal. Bowes 7—Cpl. Vers, The “pub” sheet-says he hails from Mexico. He says, “I'm a Latin rn

leat reat. They: Sunt] states. which i119 Wi IN . 4

To China, Ea Tells Safety — MA

: NEWARK, N. they can't eop-up dice sesisiavce {the Japs, Mr. Van Patter sild that James H. R. against the Japs need help| oil is still being smuggled through minister to The famous Burma road, now in getting food, guns, bullets and| the Japanese lines and the Chinese necessary to reveal

—By MILDRED REIMER

By Eleanor Roosevelt

The: people" be paints’ are our Boys vith alt Hhets - aspirations and longings, hardships and dangers. When he describes his landing in Africa, you can almost feel the way the boys felt. :

cut off to the people who spent iner war material to the interior often fight off the Japs to do so. about his marital life with wealthy = weeks and months constructing it,|of China.” The freight system representative | Doris Duke Cromwell which he will play a more important part in|- When the transportation superin-| lived in Chungking, right in the 2 the future than ever before : .. it| tendent was in China, the Japs had will be the great connecting link of | cut off all but the backroad routes ing Olina; Burma aud India. ey, When “he left!

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