Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 December 1944 — Page 11

rance!

Far From Home By William McGaffin|

I (Emnie.Pyle ison vacation) =. * = 4

A U. 8. ARMY HQ. IN THE PACIFIC, Dec. 28. Prom .the foxholes of ‘Mindoro to the hospitals of Hawali, there is Christmas. in the air. : * Sure, our boys are lonely and would like to be home. Of course, it's crazy to celebrate on a dried-up atoll, maybe just this side of the .equator, with coral dust instead of snow, and a blazing sun over all. But it is Christmas, and our boys are making it so. # Some sailors have been given a little help by real live Christmas trees, a couple of hundred being flown to advanced Pacific bases . by naval air transport planes. But the G. I's on Christmas island, 105 miles below .the equator, and treeless Kwajalein

“ «

manufactured their own out of .

old tent poles, lathe scraps, plywood, wire, paint, green crepe paper—and imagination. Incidentally, this isle, 105 nautical miles below the equator, always has a “white Christmas,” thanks to its perpetual blanket of salt-bright coral dust. One of the luckiest men on Christmas island, in the estimation of his buddies, is Pfc. Clarence R. Mraz of Berwyn, Ill. His folks sent him a 12-inch-high tree that has been visited by practically every=one up and down the company street.

Carols on Saipan

ON SAIPAN, Christmas is being celebrated. with religious services, beer parties, dehydrated cranberry savce and 50,000 pounds of pork loin in place of turkey, which could not arrive in time. _

On Christmas eve, Saipan, which a year ago was In Jap hands, echoed to carols as a 60-voice choir, composed of members of the Superfortress crews who bomb Japan regularly these days, strolled the company streets. Afterward there was the traditional Catholic midnight mass. . Chicagoan, T. Sgt. Raymond W. O'Brien, will do his bit for the yuletide spirit. He is in charge

of the post exchange warehouse and will supervise the distribution of beer.

“We are allowing every outfit an extra half ration of beer for two weeks around the holidays,” he says. Our boys include "natives in- their Christmas plans. One Superfortress outfit bought gifts for children of Japanese civilians living under protective custody .in the ipan camp. A large choir of Chamorro sang carols in their native tongue. At Kwajalein, natives from outlying islands are coming in by oufrigger canoe for the holidag. feast of breadfruit and other delicacies.

300 Tons of Turkey

ABOUT 300 TONS of tarkey—canned and frozen— will ‘be consumed this moon by the G. I's in the Pacific ocean areas. Dehydrated cranberries, canned pumpkin and canned mincemeat will help create the illusion of Christmas. On Kwajalein, one army organization will celebrate Christmas’ this afternoon. with a traditional eggnog party, according to Capt. Russell H. Miller, and T. Sgt. Vin Bogert. “Exactly where the flavoring for this bit of Christmas cheer came from, is ‘a military secret,” according to these combat correspondents. Among the boys speriding Christmas on Kwajalein are Sgt. Charlie C. Williams, Richmond, Va. This is Charlie’s’ fourth Christmas away from home. He maintains that each Christmas he gets farther away—but he remains optimistic: “I figure that since the earth is round and I keep moving in the same direction, eventually I will be home again.” Pvt. Robert P. Carlson of Des Moines, Ia, has another problem. His ‘beautiful wife says she is worried about his kissing native girls under the mistletoe. “In the first place,” says Bob, “these native girls do not exactly look like thy Lamour, and in the second place, I have no mistletoe.” Christmas for Pvt. George G. Fillmore of Champaign, 111, is marred by another problem. For weeks he has been walking around with a dark scowl. When asked why, he answers, “It would be a darn sight merrier Christmas if Notre Dame’ hadn't beaten Illinois 13 to T. } .

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

STORE SHELVES were so depleted by the Christmas shopping throngs last week that shoppers even tried to buy somé of the store fixtures, For instance,

one woman was so taken with a display at Ayres'—a model of Santa and his reindeer—that she insisted : . on buying it. The surprised clerk explained it wasn’t for sale. “I don't care,” replied the customer; “I want it.” The ensuing attempt to decide on a price for the fixture threw the administrative force of the store into turmoil for quite some time, There was no record of what it had cost, and so no one know what the ceiling price would be. Finally, the execs decided on what seemed a fair price and hoped they wouldn't get in trouble with the OPA. . . . Ayres’ darolers had a hard time finishing one of their programs the other day. Right in the midst of one of the carols, some of the group of singers looked down from the balcony and noticed, in the crowd of listen ing shoppers below, a soldier with a young woman holding his-azm. The soldier, who wore overseas ribpbons—apparently overcome by the simple beauty of the songs—had his head down and was sobbing. The sight brought a catch to the throats of the singers, particularly those who have loved ones in the armed forces—far from home. ‘

Gosh, No, Lady!

A YOUNG ARMY captain, accompanied by a young woman, walked into the Clothe-A-Child headquarters at Senate and Washington one day last week. They arrived just after a group of donors who were calling for children to clothe. One of the Clothe-A-Child attendants stepped up to the captain and said “hello.” Commented the captain: “I had a hard time finding the place” Asked if he had an appointment, he looked a little puzzled and replied that he didn’t. “What age child do you want?” he was asked. He

World of Science

ON CHRISTMAS, the wish in the heart of the American scientist echoes that in the heart of every other citizen. It is a prayer for victory and peace. As he views the present crisis in the European theater of war, he realizes that he must redouble his efforts in the laboratory to help make that wish come true. He knows that he must steel himself against the weariness that comes with long years of war effort. For undoubtedly, the scientist is growihg impatient as the war stretches on. The astronomer now teaching navigation to navy officers would like to return to his study of spiral nebulae. The physicist. working on a radar would like to get back to cosmic rays. The chemist engrossed {n the improvement of high explosives would like to resume his prewar researches. They look

- forward to the day when war work can be forgotten.

Study Must Continue

YET THE WISE BCIENTIST realizes in his heart that it will never be possible to forget this war unless we tant to insure the arrival of world war III He knows that whether we like it or not we must commit ourselves to a constant of research in the weapons of war. We must continue the study

~ of faster fighter planes, more sensitive radars, more

accurate robot bombs, more violent explosives, To this end Dr. Gaylord P. Harnwell, distinguished

didn’t answer—just looked startled. “But didn’t you come here to get a child?” asked the persistent attendant. “My gosh, no, lady,” replied the embarrassed young captain. Whereupon he backed out and de-

parted hastily. Some of the donors chuckled, They|

couldn’t figure out where he thought he was. “Maybe he saw the lineup and thought . you- were selling cigarets,” suggested a spectator.

Not Such a New Idea

GEORGE M. DICKSON JR. noticed .the recent item telling of Dutch Behrent's’ suggestion that a huge parking garage be built beneath University park. “The idea's 35 or 40 years behind the times,” comments George. He says his father, then general manager of the old National Motor Co., suggested a similar idea along about 1908, and it was played up in the papers of that date. Oh, well; it's still a good idea. . . . Remember Herb Fisher, who a few years ago was the city’s most aviation conscious young man? We just received a postcard from him, from Egypt. The card showed a picture of the Pyramids of Giza. Herb, senior test pilot for Curtiss, says he picked up a copy of The Indianapolis Times over there and decided to write when he saw this column. He says he has “been in India, China and Burma the last eight months helping the boys fly our Commando (planes) over the. Hump. I am now in this part of the world for a short time and expect to see the states by Christmas, Will be in Indianapolis after the first of the year.” Drop in and see us, Herb. ... Ray Henricks reports that Walter Newport, 361 Albany st, “smiles smugly at the cigaret shortage.” Mr. Newport, Ray adds, “fills his pipe with what is probably the only tobacco grown in Indianapolis this year. Mr. Newport is employed by the Custom Bilt Pipe Company where the employees and management recently gave 1500 pipes to wounded veterans. His home grown tobacco was a late alldition to his victory garden. The plants were given to him by his father-in-law, a tobacco grower near Terre Haute.”

By David Dietz

suggested the establishment of military research fellowships in the physical sciences. Under this plan, brilliant young scientists who had won their Ph. D. degrees, would give several years to working on important projects for the army and navy to make certain that the nation did not slip behind others in technical developments. These fellowships would carry special honors with them to compensate the men for the time thus withdrawn from their own special fields.

Soldiers Cannot Forget

PERHAPS SOME READERS will prefer not to think of these things on Christmas. But soldiers in the fleld will not be able to forget the war even on Christmas day. * These -are the things of which we must think if we would realize the great dream of peace on earth to men of good will. The chief lesson of the last 25 years is that we eannot avoid war just because we hate it. World war II caught up with us despite every wish to avoid it. y scientists think that the United States will do/ better to go henceforth on the theory that wars cannot_be avoided by wishing. They think that one important contribution to keeping the peace of the world will be the maintenance of American strength. The scientist 1s particularly concerned about a permanent peace because he knows the direction in which his researches are moving. He knows that one of these days the weapons of war will be so terrible that he will not guarantee the ability of civilization. to survive a third world war.

imes

SECOND SECTION

THEY'RE THE TOPS

' By ROSELLEN CALLAHAN NEA Staff Writer

EW YORK, Dec. 25.— Silly, swooney and simple is the radio’.entertainment order of Mr. and Mrs. Average Listener. Give them a gag they can laugh at, a song they can sway to and straight from the shoulder sales talk and they'll vote you tops, as they have Bob Hope, Hildegarde and Frank Sinatra. And catering to the armchair audience pays off, for sponsors watch listeners’ polls as closely as a doctor does a patient's fever chart. . 8 =» AS ‘THE fever pitch of audience

‘ enthusiasm mounts, so do the

stars’ salaries. Those “few minutes” of air time each week, for instance, drop $312,000 a year into the sock of Bob Hope. The Voice—Frank Sinatra to you—rakes in $8000 a week for his two regular network shows, plus $5000 more for each extra guest appearance.

Which is just«a drop in the $1,--

250,000 yearly bucket of salary

which his recordings, night club’

and movie jobs help to fill, ” » » HILDEGARDE, darling of the supper clubs, after years of trying to make a go on radio, has at last hit the top of thé list of listeners’ favorite femme warblers. She is nicking her sponsor

for $10,000 a week for her “Ra-

leigh Room” appearances. Of course, this isn't all gravy. The little girl from Milwaukee with the hard-to-place accent has to peel off a few “C's” for guest talent and music, But some of the biggest moneymakers in radio are hardly known by name. They're the soap opera stars and hard-working announeers. 8 8 ” CLAYTON COLLIER and Karl Swenson, who play in at-least a half-dozen shows a week, keep the wolf from their door to the tune of nearly $100,000 a year, Pert Julie Stevens and -bluessinger - turned - actress Gertrude Warner vie with their radio sisters for top place at similar salaries. Announcer Ben Grauer, who has shied away from vocal gymnastics and stuck to a straight style of announcing for 14 years, has outlasted many of radio's personality boys. Working six days a. week from 10 o'clock in the morning to midnight, announcing long wave shows in English, short wave OWI.shows in French, narrating,

Julie Stevens is one of the soap opera qileens, while Bob Hope wears the comedy crown,

news casting and occasionally act-" ing Grauer collects close to $50, 000 a year. . . u TOPS though they are today, staying there is something else again. ‘ Jack Benny and Kate Smith, replaced in the public's favor by Hope and Hildegarde, fell from top place by a throat-cutting piece of air-time programming, with the two slugging it out over rival networks.

But Benny, with a five-year-

‘non-breakable contract at $10,000

net a program, and Kate Smith with almost two years to go on her evening show at $13,500 a week plus $2500 more for weekly afternoon shows, aren't worrying too much just yet about dropping out of first place in polls.

EASY though it sounds, comedy is a tough business. Hope and his four gag writers, for instance, work 48 hours a week on each show. Hope lays out the situation idea—it might be the Army-Navy football game or the morning after New Year's eve—and the gagsters go to work on writing around it. Then Hope edits and rewrites it in his own style, making certain -that he’s the butt of all jokes, which seems to be the secret of his tremendous audience appeal. ‘

“oe (Second of a Series of Articles)

Hope and Sinatr

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1944

a Reap Radio Gold

In a show geared to the wishes of bobby-sox fans, Frank Sinatra

and his featured vocalist, Eileen

Barton, upper- left, have hit the

jack-pot of fame. Hildegarde, right, has hit her stride in radio with a show that transfers night club atmosphere to the air waves.

COMPARED to Hope, Sinatra is a rank newcomer, Seldom has at star risen so fast. In 1936, when Hope had finally hit high “C” as an entertainer, Sinatra was a Jersey City sports reporter taking his girl Nancy (now Mrs. Sinatra) to see Bing Crosby. Her “oohing” and “aahing” over the crooner decided Sinatra to switch from sports to singing. He collected popular orchestra arangements, bought a public address system and rented them to local school and club orchestras— along with himse]f;as a featured singer, ” » n AN AUDITION with “Major Bowes’ Amateurs” won him a first prize and a tour and later a spot with an orchestra. Tommy Dorsey signed him. He appeared in two movies, and after buying up various pieces of himself owned by those who knew a good thing when they saw it, he was on his way to grossing a million a year.

RADIO CRITICS called Hildegarde a flop at first. She wasn't getting over the warm welcome and flirty personality that made her a hit in intimate clubs where the atmosphere was cozy. This season her energetic manager, Anna Sosenko hit the right answer — she put Hildegarde’s night club on the air, atmosphere and all. The studio is set with tables and filled with famous person= alities for Hildegarde to heckle and tease as she has done always so charmingly. ” " »

AND THERE'S no more programming of songs the sponsor's wife or such want. She sings only those typically Hildegarde numbers that cafe society has okayed. Rafings now say she’s tops, but Hildegarde’'s keeping her eye on that dynamic ditty-singer Dina Shore, who's way up there in personality polls and record sales, and inching. her way up on the airwaves. So you see, not so easy lie the heads that wear the radio crowns.

THE EMIRITON—

New Electrical Piano Played at Russian Concert

Times Foreign Service MOSCOW, Dec. 25.—A Moscow

audience the other evening heard an entire concert of Tchaikowsky,

Kreisler, Borodin and Cyril Scott. It was played exclusively by a new electrical piano invented by the musician I. Ivanov, and engineer A. Rimsky-Korsakov, grandson of the famous composer. The new instrument, known as the emiriton, is said to produce the entire range of sounds which the human ear is capable of detecting. It is played like the plano or organ. Instead of a keyboard it has a panel of sensitized material which produces a sound. of different quality wherever the player's finger happens to touch. The emiriton is now being manufactured in limited quantities. " The Moscow conservatory of music has opened a class in emiriton playing. ’ The instrument's promoters have been in correspondence with Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia orchestra. The conservatory ‘plans to send him special emiriton recordings.

and The Chicago Dally News, Inc.

By 2D LT. MILBURN McCARTY Jr. U. 8. Marine Corps OMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC. —The big marine transport plane speared its way threugh dark clouds, wind and rain. It was flying an uncharted course over enemy territory to deliver flame throwers to the hard-pressed marines on Palau. Seven hours ago it rose from a secret Pacific base into the tropic night and began the long {light over a water route that no American plane had traversed before. Ordinarily, . in such weather, the flight would have been canceled, but the marin® on Palau desperately needed the flame throwers.

The Last Lap They had been flown from the States upon urgent request. This was the last lap—a job for SCAT, the South Pacific combat air transport unit operated by marine airmen. The pilot, Maj. Theodore W. Sanford Jr, Kansas City, Mo, looked at his watch. It was a little before 7 o'clock in the morning— and the plane was due in at 7 that evening. Sgt. Charles M. Wilson, New York City, sweated over his instruments in the tiny navigator's compartment. Rain beat around the plane and

leaked in on the flame throwers. There was nothing but noise—the

Up Front With Mauldin

battering of the wind, the grindIng of the engines and the creaking of the plane itself, an ancient DC-3 with more than 225,000 miles of flying on its log. Peer Through Clouds The co-pilot, 1st Lt. George W. Ross, Newburgh, N. Y., and the student navigator, Sgt. Raymond D. Boyer, Seattle, Wash. peered through the clouds looking for land. “Things aren't so good,” 8gt. Leland P. Blackwell, Tonkwa, Okla., commented. “The navigator thinks we're south of Palau, the major thinks we're north.” Seven o'clock came and no Palau 7. .then 7:30... then 8. We were covering a wide area, searching for land. All we saw was clouds and water. For miles at a time we ran into

BUILT-IN GIRDLE— Pneumatic Pants Guarding Fliers From 'Blackout’

Pneumatic pants, complete with built-in girdles, suspenders, leglacings and air bladders, are saving

foe of combat pilots known as the

“blackout.” When a flier attempts to turn or

blood rushes to his lower extremi-

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (U. P.) —

allied fliers from that dangerous |

bank sharply at high speed, or pull] | too quickly out of a power dive, the

FLYING IN FLAME THROWERS TO PELELIU—

Hot Cargo—and Cold Rain

rain storms and couldn't see anything at all. The radio operator, rence. A. Gregory, Mich.,

Sgt. LawGrosse Point, tried frantically to make

contact with the field at Peleliu.

But no luck. We did not know it at the time but the plane had passed its destination and was flylng around between Palau and the Philippines. Two Hours of Gas Left

At about 8:30 Sgt. Boyer announced there was only two hours of gas left. “If we don't see land

pretty soon we're going to toss the

flame throwers overboard,” he said. ‘It'll give us another hour in the afr.” Finally, after almost two hours of searching, the crew spotted land. The only problem then was to make sure it was Peleliu, and not one of the Palau islands still held by the Japs. Maj. Sanford sent and received the proper signals and set the plane down neatly on the Peleliu strip just as another rain storm began. Four thousand pounds of flame throwers were at their destination after being flown some 10,000 miles in five days. Grateful marine infantrymen hurriedly unloaded the cargo. and sped toward the front lines. As the plane stood by to take on wounded and other passengers for the return trip, the crew watched the flame throwers go into action just 800 or 900 yards away.

HANNAL <__

PAGE 11

, creature as the

Labor—

{Union Battle

Moves Onto World Stage .

By FRED W. PERKINS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25.-The struggle for dominance between

the American Federation of Labor

and the C, I. O, will go.on a world-wide basis early in the new year, through separate Lotidon meetings’ i in which the rival American organizations will take part without formal recog= nition of the other. The series of London meetings opens Jan, 17 when com=- 1 mittees of the > International Labor Organization will convene to consider -particu= larly the results of the Dumbarton Oaks parley in Washington and the subject of world unemployment after the war, This will be followed by meetings beginning Jan, 25 of the gov= erning body of.the international organization, which will follow through on the work of its com- |

mittees and also-on the ‘results

of the I. L. O. international meeting several months ago in Phila~ delphia. = Tag 2 The American labor represen tion in the I. L. O. gatherings will be from only the A. F. of L., because of a requirement in the 1. L. O. constitution that a country's labor delegation shall be from {ts predominant or majority labor body. ; The A, F. of L, has been able to bar the C. I. O. from any par~ ticipation up to this time, despite efforts that at One time were aided by President Roosevelt. ”n » .

FOLLOWING the IL L. O. meetings, the general council of the International Federation of Trade Unions will have a gathering, beginning Jan. 31, of representatives of countries that are judged to have “free” trade unions—that is, not governmentally dominated. The A. F. of L. also will provide the American representation for this affair—the delegated spokesman being Robert Watt, an international representatives of the A. F. of L., who also serves as a labor member of the war labor board. Then follows, on Feb, 6, a meeting of a new body, the world trade union conference, in which the C, I. O. will provide the American representation, headed by Phillp Murray and ‘Sidney Hillman.

AN IMPORTANT difference is that the Soviet Union will not be

‘ represented in the meeting of the

International Federation of Trade Unions, but will take part in the World Trade Union Conference. One reason, as stated by William Green, A. F. of L. president, is that “the A. F. of L. cannot participate in a conference where government-fostered and govern-ment-dominated unions, which follow totalitarian philosophies, are represented.”

We, the Women=— Women Strive To Be Pretty

As a Picture

By RUTH MILLETT THE FIRST LADY ‘is out of step with the times. She is threatening to take down and burn up a portrait of her because it. is “too pretty.” That in a period when the pin-up girl: is the symbol of feminine charm. No living and breathing girl in the world is as gorgeous a

pin-up portrait, Neo of which is the achievement of bs a photogra- 4 pher who ‘can AA take a fairly pretty girl, the right kind of cosmetics, including false eyelashes that swoop, a brief cos tume, flattering lights, and turn

ties. His heart is unable to pump enough blood. to his brain. It results in a blacking or dimming out of vision and ofttimes in momentary unconsciousness.

physicist of the University of Pennsylvania, has

My Day

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 On this Christmas eve T would like to send a message to the many men and women in this country who, with heavy hearts, approach this Christmas day. Preparations for another joyous Christmas for the children must go on come out of their sacrifice.

in many homes where sorrow has hs That is, after all, the whole story of Christ's life, visited during the past months. opine’ pettér was to come out of His It will probably be most difficult for mankind... : for the women since they do the ‘If on this Christmas eve, men and women who little things which either make or Sorrow, can think primarily that those who: have gone, went gladly, just as Christ did in the hope that something

out a picture that boosts morale from France to New Guinea. And it isn’t just the models for pin-up portraits who are demanding glamor from the camera these days. Because of the keen competi= tion from pin-ups, the sweet= hearts and wives of the men in service are asking for glamor, too, when they visit a photog=- : rapher, They want the kind of g§ The navy did not _ describe Its picture a man would get a kick anti-blackout. But the army said J \ out of showing his buddies. its “G suit” (Gr for gravity) resem- |} 5 p s = 8 ' : bles tight, high-waisted pants with ) AND MOTHERS of three kids built-in suspenders and a girdle. turn up their noses at pictures Alr bladders fit over the abdomen, | of themselves that logk any less thighs and calves. alluring than a photograph of a # =» ] movie star. “It's too matronly,” THE PILOT plugs the suit into they tell the photographer, who his air lihe when he takes off. An ‘appafently is never too tactless automatic valve causes the suit's , to_say, “But you ARE a matron, bladders to inflate in two seconds my dear.” : when the force of gravity exerts And in this age of “make In {too hard a pull on the flier. The luscious” . photography aleng bladders are deflated as ‘quic comes First Lady with 1 when the pull is gone. : complaint that a portrait of here The Canadian ‘suit, known as self is “too pretty.” Sa | “Pranks flying suit” for its in| IM bet that i a photographer ventor, Wing Cmdr. Willlam R. ever heard that one qo } | Pranks, is roughly similar to the dead. “Too old,” “too sert |army’s outfit. Ei “too matronly,” “too grim, "The army said disclosure had now fat,” “too thin.” . But “too

p N

| . Sw ; - A A Co ads : . \ ; \ \ By Eleanor Roosevelt 3 ON MW er, . ml : . *A\ NN) A CENSORSHIP restrictions now : have been lifted to permit disclosure that the U. 8. army and navy, as well as the Canadian and Australian air forces, have developed “black-

out” suits to prevent this dangerous phenomenon.

kind of love; the love which should rule the world. | It is also the symbol for which all good men from time immemorial have given their lives. Men rarely fight and die for an individual benefit. It is usually because of loyalty to a group of a nation, and Jeriale it is always in the hope that something better