Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 1947 — Page 15

2, 1947

"TION, sson’s

. Blue, ..7.98

THERE 1S A SANTA CLAUS, And I'm on the side of Billy, Susan, Johnny, Patty, Tommy and Sally

@hey. can't be wrong. If they are mistaken in

their little minds about Santa, ‘I'm going to buy

a one-way ket to Timbuctoo where I'll start a dodo bird ranch. I'm serious. As serious as the couple of hundred children who sat on my knee and told me what they wanted Santa (fe) to bring them for Christmas. My sojourn into “Christmas Wonderland” which exists, whether we like it or not, because we've always needed to make up our “Wonderland,” began merely to see what “Santa Claus” has to put up -with while on duty in the several department stores which feature Old Nick. v My quick run began at Block's, “Santa” Francis Long let me borrow one of the red and white suits. He also made my cheeks and nose red and briefed me in the gentle art of talking to children, Even before I took my ‘seat as Santa in the basement the itch of my beard was forgotten. “Hi, Santy,” “Oooh, there's Santa Claus,” and “Look, Mommy, Santa Claus,” makes a guy feel good with the sudden popularity. As the first little tyke slipped a small arm around my neck and stared at my beard, I knew Christmas wasn't all commercialism, something to stagger through and say, “Bah, I'll be glad ‘when this 1s over.”

When Santa Really Is Real

AND WHEN YOU LISTEN to little Patty tell you about a doll house, dollie clothes, a “real” baby

"AND A DOLLY" —Little Mary Ann Healy

of Evansville tells "Santa" [Mr. Inside, who also believes in Santa Claus) what she wants in her

Inside Indianapolis

By Ed Sovola

he Indianapolis Times

buggy and a game with more genuine believing than you thought possible,. Santa Claus begins to become a.real person, indeed. % Of course, you can't overlook the sharp young- | ster who asks why your eyes are brown instead of blue like they: were “last year.” Or the little boy | who told me I didn’t bring him everything he asked for last Christmas, That's when the job becomes tough. That's when the whiskers on youy face ‘bégin to itch, perspiration appears on your forehead and you fervently hope the sincerity that's pouring out isn't suddenly shut eff. Goodbyes are hard, too. But Santa has a schedule to keep. He has to be at Ayres. There I climbed into a chimney and watched the same unblemished phenomenon. With perfect timing, Kenneth H. Symons, Ayres Santa, took his leave to ac convenient stockroom. Only one youngster out of about 40 I talked to noticed that T had suddenly lost my “tummy.” “Remember the train you brought me last Christmas?” asked one little fellow. Of course, Santa remembered. “Well, I want some more track, switches and a tunnel,” I was told. It was reassuring to get a wink from Daddy. He was standing close by and Christmas was written all over his face. At Sears, John E. Rayburn refinquished his throne for part of the morning. Children are so alike and Santa Claus is such a wonderful person to, them it almost made my hair (the real stuff) stand up on end. I wish I could explain the pleasantness of having tiny fingers grasp your hand and squeeze. There's no make-believe about that.

Sweetest Gal Outside Land of Oz

AT CHARLES MAYER & CO, the kids restored | Santa's composure. Charles Stansberry missed seeing | pne of the cutest little gals this side of The Land] of Oz when he let me take over. It was hard to] let her off my knee. I had her tell me twice what | she wanted under her Christmas tree. Ed McElroy at The Star Store told me, “They still believe in Santa Claus. Isn't that wonderful?” | as I took my place in his chair, One little boy named Billy had me worried for a minute. He told me his Daddy put the presents undgr the| tree and I merely came and saw that everything was| “all right.” I'll settle for that. At Leader's old Santa was almost tripped up. | A bright youngster with a million-dollar personality | had talked to Otis Pearcy. He must have had an] afterthought because he came back. I asked what | he wanted. “Don’t you remember? I just told you,” he said| with a look that told me tears were not far behind. Lucky he-didn't ask me to go over his list. All he| wanted to tell me was that ‘the bow I promised | to bring should have a 25-pound pull. Santa, I don't mind admitting, was mighty hot | under the collar. | As I said, there is a Santa. I knew that more’ than ever after I shed my suit and whiskers and| walked toward home. Not one little hand waved. Not one little head turned to smile and call “Hi, |

SECOND SECTION

i NO TROUBLE AT ALL—The touch of spring in the

stocking. bh Santa,” I was so alone. voice of Miss Alice Springer, meteorological aid at the Federal weather bureau here, is enough to melt the Bear at the Bar By Robert C. Ruark | blasts of winter. One of her many duties is to answer | 8 multitude of public questions about the weather.

NEW. YORK, Dec. 2—One of the nicest things about this town is that you never stop feeling bewitched. For instance, I saw a bear—a live bear— get out of a taxicab the other day and lumber leisurely into the Stork €lub. If the bear had asked me what time it was, I would have told him.

Before I get any- deeper into this thing, I would like to say that I am wittingly on the shill for Coca~ Cola, the United Nations, the aforementioned tavern, and Steven Hannagan'’s public-relations foundry. But if Manville gets married for a hobby, and Mr. Truman plays the piano in a White House, and Fred Allen attacks sponsors, then I figger I can fall into the itching hands of the hucksters every so often. To get back to the bear, he ‘was going to a party. A children’s party. It was paid for by Coca-Cola, a beverage I upderstand is. on with the public. It was pitched in the Stork Club, a ginmill which has become famous.

Children of 27 Nations

THE PARTY WAS HURLED for the children of the United Nations. There were 92 children, representing 27 nations, including Uganda and Russia} present, Present, also, were a clown, a parrot, a pony, a magician, an organ-grinder, and a trained chicken. The party was contracted by the publicity concern of Mr. Hannagan. It cost $3000. It was purchased from a firm called Cub Parties, Inc, which is co-operated by a former hired hand of mine. This firm arranges parties for children, if some mercantile institution will foot the tab. It is a very popular business .in New York, now, herding together innocent babes and presenting them with happiness, plus balloons. ~ *

By some peculiar coincidence, Coca-Cola was

served along with the ice cream and cake. Balloons tumbled from the ceiling. There was a grab-bag— and I must say the little girls acted disgracefully. | They almost upset the cage, from which a small |

human, made up as a parrot, was handing out| WEATHER AROUND INDIANAPOLIS just can't get Into the spirit favors. | of the “good old winters” old-timers love to tell of. Sherman Billingsley, who had donated his pub = “yroupe the rpason for this is that old-timers’ winters have grown to the cause of One World (J. G.) was jubilant, He! in the same proportion as the fish that got away. was beaming. He was roseate. Those who like nothing better than to sit with feet extended to a “I got a picture with one of the Russian kids,” } tireplace will say: —t Mr. Billingsley said. “I got him holding an Amer- | “We sure don’t have the winters | of three months with a fall of 16.1 ican flag, with a bottle of Coca-Cola on the table we had when I was a boy. Why I| inches. and a Stork Club ashtray in full view.” . lean rememniber—" { The average total amount of snow As the flashbulbs popped, I was shuddering over| mp. weather hureau remembers, falling in any one of the three the fate of the parents of the four Russian kids. |too, and all their remembering is months is from five to six and a I was thinking what was going to happen to their| , ite, Gown in neat record books. half inches. That's what it would fathers when Pravda finds out that they've gone | Hoosier winters haven t changed. | total at the end of a month if none over to the Stork Club. But the kids didn't pay| melted off. any attention to the photographers. NOW, THE weather bureau can| But it's pretty hard to Xeep that The children were having a great. time. They refute old-timer claims back only | on the ground when, for example, quietly chortled at the antics of a spurious sea-lion, | 5 years, but there aren't mahy| last December the temperature one the product of a theatrical warehouse with 4 person around who were cuffing snow by day shot up to 65, in January to inside the papier-mache. In Feb-

their toe 25 years earlier when In-| 64 and In February to 56 Our Children of Tomorrow

dianapolis was founded. uary, 1932, -the mercury rose to a December, January and February balmy 73 for an all-time high. “IS IT A LITTLE GIRL SEAL or a little boy are the alleged winter months. It can get cold, too, as evidenced seal?” a small voice asked. |. December averages a temperature | by a fine, brisk day in January, “A little girl seal, of course,” another small voice of 32 degrees. Last year it sweated | 1884 when Grandpa's beard froze to piped. “I can see her bracelets.” | the month out at 35. January has}his face at 25 below zero. At the end, an announcer was bawling into the a 75-year-average of just three deé- r While it doésn't get too cold and mike that the cars were waiting at the door, An- | grees below freezing but this past! only kicks a little snow on the averother English lady was desperately summoning some- | January couldn't do any better than age of once every five to seven days, thing called Juniper, which turned out to be a little (34. February made up for it a bit {the sun doesn't do too well by us, girl. The waiters were sweeping up. The moth-|with an average of 22 against the' however, chewed bear had departed, once again by taxi. The all-time mean of 31. { little Chinese and African ‘and Russian kids were | In none of the months is tne!

filing out, laden with b’loons. | mercury expected to go below zero: the sun to shine 202 hours; it aver- : | more than twice. ages 112. January: could provide

Average December Reading Is 32°; Monthly Snowfall 5 to 6'/2 Inches e

By VICTOR PETERSON

Oily Problem

— eo [302 hours but offers up only 128.

By Frederick C. "Othman

He was a mighty short man and {hours but the rays filter through

| would have had to have been alive for a mere 139.

S————— WASHINGTON, Dec. man at the moment, I guess, is Sen. Kenneth 8. Wherry of Nebraska, Republican. Free enterpriser. The tawgiver who did his utmost to kill the OPA, who officiated joyously at the funeral services of rationing coupons, who , , , But you get the idea. In all tHe government there is nobody so bitterly opposed to federal controls of business as the gentleman from Pawnee City, Neb. So there he was in a cellar hearing’ room of the Senate, saying things that seared his soul. Nearly all the big oil companies, it turned out, had made a deal with the Senator and his small business committee to spread out the fuel oil shortage as equally as possible. This,was a voluntary rationing -scheme by the industry, itself, and the hot-tempered Sen. Wherry was smiling benignly. When, blooie!

2—America’s unhappiest

A big, bald, red-faced citizen identified himself as

R. M. Barlett, vice president of the Gulf Oil Co.

Nothing doing, he said. All his oil's been sold already

FF ‘and he's not going to invite law suits, taking it back

from one customer and giving it to another.

Federal Control, Eh?

“YES,” CRIED Sen. Wherry (and cry is the proper word), “but—sob!—if voluntary measures fail we may have (it hurt him to say it) federal control.” Mr, Barlett said a contract was a contract. He said an egg was difficult to unscramble. Then he touched one of the sorest spots of the government in this shivery winter of 1947. He said if the master minds kindly would quit arguing among themselves and put about 50 oil tankers back to carrying oil, nobody’'d go cold this winter. “I do not believe in a police state,” Sen. Wherry retorted, “but your kind of thinking just invites it.” “Mr, Barlett said he was sorry the Senator felt

that way. Sen. Wherry said he'd feel still sorrier| lin February, 1910. That month | if any more complaints piled up from frost-bitten | saw the deepest snow in the history Christmas. | clients of the Gulf Oil Co.

This argument, went.-on..for_a couple of hours, Flagpole Sitter to Greet Icebreaker Picking Up |

getting hotter as it went, if that's any comfort to householders whose oil tanks are empty. And then Santa in Helicopter Lake Light Keepers CHEBOYGAN, Mich,

it developed that the oil business is afflicted with al PATERSON, N. J. ‘Dec. 2 (UP)! dark gray market, almost exactly like that of the shortage-plagued steel industry, | Harry Frechette, 47, steeplejack, Howard P. Sears of the Sears Oil Co., Rome, N. Y., | will climb the city hall flagpole told about it. He's the middleman who trucks the today and remain there until Dec. oil to the furnaces of his customers, or would, if he 8, on the lookout for Santa Claus could get it. He told a tale of phone calls, certified y 1 y lichecks, oil brokers, agents and bills from--one oil} tr sthegtled to arrive by he company, and deliveries from another. P. B. City merchants will

‘Paid Premiums,’ He Said Mr. Prechette $200 for the five days.

HE NAMED NAMES, listed dates, and charged that his involuntary adventures into the back yard| of the oil industry forced him to pay premiums get any fuel at all. One shipment, he said, cost him $50,000 more than the standard, listed price. “You ever phone this fellow here?” asked Sen. | Wherry, indicating the pink-eared Barlett. { “I tried to phone nim,” Mr, Sears said. “But I| never got to talk to him. And if we don't get better | co-operation from people like this Mr, Barlett (who | sat in the next chair) we've got to have government | controls, I'm willing to live and let live, but this man isn't.” | And there we are. With a vast supply of oll in tank cars at gulf ports and no way of getting it to the eastern seaboard. One Hundred war-time tank-| ers have been ordered sold abroad, the attorney gen-| eral is trying-to decide whether this is legal and at) the moment 50 of these vessels are rusting at the docks.

sion today to bring ashore the Lake | Superior lighthouse keepers. The icebreaker scheduled land-| ings at Huron Island, Manitou,

up the keepers,

Carnival—By Dick Turner

Movie Slump

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1947.

Remember ‘Good Old Winters? So Tough

Well, They Weren't

IN DECEMBER it Ts possible tor|

AND AS FOR the old- timer plow- Short-month February is capable| the thermometer records the rise in| |it deeper than an inch. Of these,|day many years ago, it never gob ing through snow up to his hips—|of letting the sun beat down 300 heat during the day.

All of which brings us around to|

(UP)—The Coast Guard to reakel) Mackinaw was on its winter mis-

|Standard Rock, Devils Island, Rock |save up to 60 per cent on your heat} of “Coxey’s_ army” pay of Ages and Outer Island to pick ing bill, the U. 8. Bureau of Mine

| If you have a coal furnace, keep! [the bénd would be the total amount

; PAGE 18

A CLOSE WATCH—Warren J. Rice, meteorologist, carefully studies the barograph, a device for recording air pressure. This instrument is most delicate and* serves to indicate to trained weatherme n what is on tap for local residents. The local bureau, headed by Paul A. Miler, C hief Meteorologist, has records which data back 75 years.

afr

NOW, IN 1877—Fred Akdlow, met garclagical oid (left), and Mr. Miller pour over book after book of records to provide the facts on which the accompanying article is based. Hardly a local question on weather could be asked which would stump these experts.

Junior hasn't a chance with that! Christmases, while snow fell on’ 30.) “The girls couldn't run around in sled or pair of ice skates. |Of the 30 only nine contributed) the same type of bathing suiés the For 76 Christmases the tempera- | more than half an inch. Snow has| Florida gals did. Here they had to ture has averaged 29 degrees. Even'laid on the ground 27 of the 76 have ‘em fur-lined. | 80, the ice probably will be slush as| Christmas Days, but enly on 11 was | You see, kids, on that cold, cold

five parceled out snow deeper than warmer than 59 degrees above zero three inches. land plummeted to a low of 55. Yes, sir, it was mighty rough Mr.| Move over, old-timer, I want to Old-Timer. You had a right cold get my feet in front of that fire 13 Merry| Christmas back in "77. place, too.

Rug Under Door |Coxey, Now 93, Wants Aid Cuts Fuel Costs Paid Off by Bookkeeping

‘General’ Who Led Jobless Army in 1894 | WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UP)=—

i 1t ‘you want to help lick the fuel Blames World's Woes on Collecting Interest

|shortage this winter and perhaps] MASSILLON; 0. Dec. 2 (UP)~!Gen.” Jacob 8. Coxey Sr. leadep of another century, said today he wasn't worried 8 | because the dollar isn't worth 100 cents. |bas the formula. Money has no purchasing power, anyhow, he said. for “debt cancellation.”

James Boyd, bureau director, said years of research by govern-| The 93-year-old, one-time presidential candidate said he still bes {ifeved in “money for cost” and had

ment experts showed that the main | . ways to cut fuel. consumption are|® Plan that would “solve the Euro- on Tamla I better firing methods, cleaner | Pean ald problem, prevent wars and Mr. Coxey, who now makes his |equipment and prevention of heat depression, lower prices and raise living by manufacturing a. laxative {losses through insulation. | wages.’ and selling inner-soles for shoes hat And there are assorted tricks| The former Mayor of Massillon, | .qyive out rheumatism, draw the lsuch as putting rugs under doors who marched into prominence in| pni064 to the end of your toes aud and keeping furnace exit dampers 1894 as the leader of an “army” of keep your feet warm,” didn't say closed. 120,000 unemployed that converged where the European nations would Repair the Leaks on, Washington demanding Jobs, raise the money to repay the loans, Mr. Boyd sald a government said that collecting interest on even at 2 per cent a year. lstudy disclosed -a fuel saving of 15 money was all wrong. Interest Of Sem Tr F

to 70 per cent with weather. stip all -sorts should be abolished, he| WORD- A-D AY

pF « d. [pine alone; 25 to 30 per cent with, By BACH

weather stripping plus storm win- Bond in Lien of Interest ANGUISH

dows; 40 per cent for weather strip- | Mr. Coxey said his Plan for aidping plus half-inch insulation, and| ing Europe was “simply” this: INTENSE MENTAL OR PHYSICAL. SUFFERING; PAIN; TORTURE;

” » OF THE CHRISTMAS Days on record, only nine have been clear. [There + was rain on

It's good only

{plenty of fuel in it and be sure all|0f money they owe the United

By Erskine Johnson

——————— HOLLYWOOD, Dec, 2—What's wrong with the movies? My mall proves that people who used to go twice a week, now go only once or twice a month, There are 139 million people in the United States, Fifty-seven million are movie fans, Fifty-eight million are either under 12 years of age, in hospitals, or institutions, or are blind or deaf. That leaves 24 million people unaccounted for-— 24 million people who do not go to the movies, Why? The answer, 1 think, is that motion pictures today are being made for the -12-year-old mind. Every picture produced is made for immature mentalities, with enough so-called clever dialogue and | Sotion thrown in to try to lure the adults into the eater,

Story. Stands Still - ITS AN OLD formula, but its high time they

n “

made a change, When the picture business wren it began with flickers and melodramatic Stories, Since it was new, it was a novelty .and people went | for that reason. Then Hollywood discovered sound and talking] pictures presented the nation with a new novelty. The next step was technicolor, and people went to | see this latest innovation. The technical developments in the film business have gone ahead with rapid progress, but the dramatic elements have lagged behind. ' |

Patron Takes a Chance

NOW IT IS time for Hollywood to change its; methods of dramatic presentation, and to catch up

n-z’

about 50 per cent for storm win-| The nations which want aid AGONY

| leaks are repaired. | States already. Some Mor§& Tricks | A 5 per cent exchange fund would | Mr. Boyd suggested these other be established to provide for the (tricks: Put reflecting shields behind costs of the loan. The exchange radiators to keep the heat out of fund would run into the millions,| 'the walls; lower window shades at the printing presses would then be night; shut off rooms not needed: started and enough money would be |and shut off—rather than turn (TUN off for the loan, with the seals | down—the radiator and alr regis- | of both ations stamped on. both ters at night. | sides and with the money spendable He said tests have shown it 1/10 both countries at face value. |«

more economical to let the house U. 8. Could Collect | {cool off at night even though extra| The debtor nation would then pay| heat is needed to bring the tem-|back 2 per cent of the total amount | perature to normal the next morn-|for the first four years and 4 per | ing. cent the remaining 23 years.

COPA. 1547 BY NTA SERVICE INC. TM. REO. 1. 8. PAT. OFF. a

to the physical technique it has perfected,

‘ The program is part of the gov-| This plan, Mr. Coxey said, would

When It costs from $250 tp $4 for tite average wage earner to take .his family to the movies for one evening, he does not want to get gypped.

"This little pamphlet goes with them—it tolls how to convert them into a pair of splints!

| ’

ernment’s campaign fo meet an ex-'enable the U. 8. to collect its 4.ast | pected shortage of heating ofl, gas | war’ debts and at the same time! ald!

and certain types of coal this winter. | war-torn nations “without seeming