Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 April 1949 — Page 19

“eclipse - happen

“the "eclipse party."

Inside Indianapolis

By Ed Sovola|

‘NEVER LEAVE a ‘party early, not even an party, because something is bound to sooner or later. . Take the little affair the Indiana Astronomical Society. planned with the co-operation of the sun and the moon the other night. Early reports had me sold on the idea that it was going to be something of an old fashioned blowout. + What kind of clothes should a man wear to an eclipse party? I asked myself. How many people will Evans Field. next to Srabernacle Presbyterian Church, accommodate” Do astronomers bring their own mix? Well, and as you would expect with the weatherman we have, the sun and moon cooperated but he didn't. At 7:28 p. m. exactly the moment ‘when the eclipse was to start, if you had Jpokea east on 34th St, you would have seer a fancy cloud bank covering or eclipsing the sky. That's what I did.

Question and Answer

. EVANS FIELD was deserted except for three small boys batting a soft ball by the light of the street lamp. “Where are the astronomers, boys? I asked. .. “Why, you a cop or somethin’?” one of the boys flung at me. With that and the fact that it was dark, I retired to the steps of the church. Eclipse party, indeed. Lucky I didn't bring a bag of ice cubes. A gentleman approached slowly. Every few steps he would look over his shoulder towards the clouds, “Are you with the Society?” he asked. “No, are you?” 1 countered, hoping like everything he would say yes.

“There's the moon"

Troy 6. He Tet) id the talking to the assembled few.

_once for about 15 seconds and

“Pm sorry to say I'm not” said Charles A.! Breece, who came all the ‘way from 38th St. to attend the party. : So we stood in front of the church for 15 minutes before moving to the adjoining field. During that time the weatherman was raked over the coals several times, And the raking became a little more vigorous on my part when we were in the field. The boys quit playing ball by that time and I'm sure they found out what was in the wind if not the sky. As they crossed the field on the way home, clear as a bell, the words "Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” floated towards us. A few minutes later, Mrs. Emsley Johnson, wife of the president of the Society, informed Mr. Breece and me that Mr. Johnson wasn't feeling well anid wouldn't put in his appearance. At 8:05 p. m. it looked like it was going to be a bad night for all appearances. ; Troy G. Thurston, a member of the Society, appeared. minus his telescope, Incidentally, “and remarked that things didn’t look good at all. Mra, Thurston agreed with her husband. It never fails. You get four or five people in a field and spon you'll have six or seven. With| or you have a good chance of getting 10. Most .of the talk was about the eclipse that couldn't be seen. A couple of the ladies present) talked about house cleaning before Easter which,| I imagine, was all right under the circumstances.| Mr. Thurston mentioned that if Walter Wilkins! and Russell Sullivan weren't there at the time! they probably wouldn't show at all. i Four Boy Scouts, Gregor King, Phil Kennedy, Charles Rohm and George Bangs, who were being tutored by Mr. Thurston in hopes of getting merit; badges, asked several pertinent questions. | The questions started Mr. Thurston talking and if I'm not mistaken, he gave some mighty} pertinent answers. The moon peeped through a break in the clouds]

i |

half-hearted whoop. I found out that when the earth comes vétvieem: the sun and the moon we have an eclipse of the moon. When the moon comes between the sun and the earth We have an eclipse of the sun.

A Fairly Common Occurrence

WILLIAM GARNATZ, treasurer of the Society, joined the group, minus his telescope. He expressed his displeasure at the clouds but said it] didn't matter much since an "eclipse of the moon was a fairly common occurrence. 2 {

cio Mr.aGarantz kicked around some speeds of! ‘celestial bodies and I got dizzy. He. said the earth

rotates 1000 miles an hour on its axis, 66,000 miles an hour around the sun and 500,000 miles an hour

-in the galaxy. That's three different directions,

you know. The meeting broke up. Mr. Garnatz thought it was useless to stand out in the middle of the field that night. 1 was one of the first to second the) motion, Now, here's the part that knocks me over, Not! more than an hour after all on Evans Field threw up their hands in disgust, the clouds cleared and!

you could see the moon and the eclipse as pretty]

as you please. I watched until IT got a cramp in my neck. I've| always said the unplanned parties are the best,

Goldfish Bowl

NEW YORK, Apr. 14 — The whole post-war trend in popular housing seems to have reversed the original concept of man’s castle—namely, a place to come in out of the rain, where a man can

beat his wife in blessed privacy.

A close inspection of the journals devoted to modern shelter will convince you that the current ereed espouses the open-faced goldfish bowl, with everything but the bathroom either al fresco or sheathed in glass. It is practically against modern architectural law to install anything inside that can be located in the yard. If they cannot get you out of the house into the yard, then they fetch the yard inside the house, so that corn now -grows in what used to be the parlor, and rattlesnakes and rabbits romp happily with the hearthside kitten.

California's Error in Judgment

WE HAVE THE STATES of Florida and California—notably the latter—to blame for the mod-

- ern assumption that a house must have three

glass sides and a roll-back roof to be up to date in the Wigwam League. This rather broad error in judgment was predicated on the assumption that both states enjoyed such blithesome weather that you could spend 24 hours a day frolicking in it. This ain’t necessarily so. I admire a certain amount of communion with nature, but a steady diet of it is apt to irk. Every so often a man craves the snugness of four walls, with the curtains drawn and the roof nailed solidly to the joists, or whatever it is you nail a roof to. As for these indoor, roofless gardens, full of flowers, birds and bugs, I never saw the necessity for ‘em. The least you can demand of a garden is to stay outside where it belongs. Along the same lines, an occasional picnic is fun, but I have noticed that the people who live fn these transparent houses seem unable to cook on stoves. Unless the meal is burnt in a barbecue pit and served with 3 liberal sprinkling of ants, the hostess seems to feel that she has failed in her hospitality.

By Robert C. Roark

This kind of outdoor cuisine also breeds a type! of man who is miserable unless he is wearing a chef’s hat and discoursing endlessly on his special! recipe for barbecue sauce. I don’t mind eating the! stuff occasionally, but I hate lectures on it. It] all tastes alike, anyhow, and you can buy it by, the bottleful in any store, without the sermon. | One of these open-air pagodas may be prac-| tical for the rich man who owns a mountain, a lake or a slice of ocean-frontage on which to feast | the eves. But they are a little too all-revealing for the proprietor of the hailf-acre plot in a crowded neighborhood. | You feel like somebody is looking over your) shoulder all the time. Strangers saunter by and! stare interestedly at your television program, com-| ment on your wife's taste in furniture, husbands] and children, and provide a constant view of their] own dreary domestic doings.

Amuse—and Lose—Friends

IF YOU HAVE the kind of friends I have, en-| B®

tertaining them in such a wickiup is fraught with nervousness over the ever-present threat of dam-| age suits. My acquaintances are of the type who walk through glass walls, who stumble over foun-| tains, and fall into swimming pools situated too close to the door. They crisp themselves on bar-! becues, and contract pneumonia in the open air.

These sliding panels and removable walls are not altogether practical for a nervous man, either. It is disconcerting to come home and find the, dining room full of migrating geese, and with the| living room shifted to the other side of the house. | I like a house to stay put. If there's fidgeting to! be.done, I'll do it. | I hope to live in a house again some day, and! when I do it'll have four walls and non-shifting rooms in it. Flowers and animals will flourish outside, if at all. Glass will be‘ used sparingly,| and the roof will not roll back. Way I figure, a| man wants to live out doors all the time, well, why build a house at all? Vacant lot and a sleeping bag is all he needs. | |

"Tain’t Fair

By Frederick C. Othman

WASHINGTON, Apr. 14--You'd never think that oleomargarine colored blue, or even orange, had anything to do with the price of light bulbs, the troubles of the Western Union Telegraph- Co. or the lack of pockets on ladies’ hips. The explanation is simple. Congress is stirring this broth and all these unlikely items, plus lip rouge, the comfort of babies, and rides on rail-, road trains are ingredients thereof. ; For these many weary weeks the gentlemen have been considering whether to remove the tax on yellow margarine, including the suggestions of Sen. Edward J. Thye of Minnesota, that it be dyed blue and Sen. Raymond E. Baldwin of Connecticut that it be colored orange, So the Senators are getting ready to vote and best guess is that at long last they’ il take ‘on that 10 per cent tax on yellow oleo. 'Tain’t fair, cries Sen. - Edwin C. Johnéon of Colorado. What about the 20.per cent ‘tax on cold ¢ream? The 25 per cent tax on telegrams? The 15 per cent: tak on railroad tickets? And a whole slew of other taxes*besides?

Slips a Rider to Measure

THE GENTLEMAN from Colorado consequently has slipped into the big brown box a rider to the margarine bill abolishing or reducing

drastically all the war-time excise taxes, which:

have been a pain in the neck and/or pocketbook to all citizens now for nearly six years. : The latter are sore. though it seems that everybody has his pet hate in the excise-tax line. Most mothers are bitter about the.20 cents extra they have to pay when they buy a dollar’s worth of talcum for their babies. Western Union: claims that the tax on telegrams is keeping people from sending "em. Wom-

The Quiz Master

en seeking révenge from last year's suggestion] that they sew tax-free pockets into their skirts, have organized one of the most powerful lobbies yet against the tax on handbags. Travelers are in there slugging against the! take on railroad tickets and suitcases. And what! hurts me most is the 20 per cent tax on-electric) light bulbs. { I don’t:like the idea of laboring into the night] writing these pieces so I can pay my income tax, but when honest John Snyder, the Becretary of Treasury, slugs me for.the light I use, I like it less. Pool players are against the $20 tax on every! billiard table; movie-goers and Hollywood are) worked up about the 20 per cent tax on admission]

~ tickets; householders at bili-paying time hate ‘the

tax on phone calls, and jewelers are frenzied over) the tax that makes a $100 gold watch cost $120.

And Now-—-Comes the Rub

THE PEOPLE; in general, are behind Sen Johnson, and that is the rub, President Truman and Co.- want to hold. onto those excise taxes awhile. Say the country needs the money. They'd hoped they could keep Congress from even’ considering excises this year. i Now comes Ben. Johnson's P. 5 to (he mafgarine bill, which would cut about $600 million a year in excise taxes, The Senators will be forced to vote on it and the question is this: How many of them will dare hold out for a tax on baby oll? How many can face their own wives with the admission they've voted to keep the tax on ladies’ purses? How many can look me in.the eye, if they retain the tax on light bulbs? These questions the Senators have got to answer. Tougher still, they've also got to sign their names. They're going to get in trouble either with the President or the vofers. And you get one guess as to which they fear the most.

22? Test Your Skill ?2??

How long did the Dutch control Manhattan Islan :

da? The fifst discovery was in

poll late in the tall

Why does Maine elect Congressmen in. Sep-: tember? Election Day in Maine wus placed In September during the early days of the republic when

traveling facilities were poor and when bad roads 45 caliber revolver from a’ table.!I was away underlining sentences would have pre-!

and cold weather

frequen ventedl the rural inhabitants from going to the

With Opener Just Around Corner

25 people gave a;

The trip. part of the prize she Westmoreland, one of Princess ‘They say I'm putting on side, the victim said she had . ron inthe contest among girls Margaret's beaus. weight. You know: the food was hailed the cab, and the driver In Shooting Here from cotton producing states, was . “I expected them to be reserved, wonderful over there,” she said took $15 from her and attacked

‘right foot with a gun said to have

{Massachusetts Ave. was shot last to return.’

brood win. tu gia; disctatend. 4 Mise Bowell asia she bad: a

e Indianapolis Times -

SECOND SECTION : . THURSDAY, APRIL. 14, 1949 : ii PAGE FT)

Bor Indians Drill At Victory Field

Picture y tay by John Spictermire

Ra 9 A WEA nl

First 1949 practice on the home grounds . . . The

and here you see the Tribesters indulging in a spirited ~~ The Tribe will Span Indians took full advantage of yesterday's fine: weather

the season here Tuesday night infield drill on Victory Field's well manicured diamond. against Kansas City eat

tN a

Tom Saffell, in batting cage, gets set to swing ¢ on a fost one. Back k Hiom the Pirates, hol hold down

Manager Al Lopez and vice president Frank McKinney ye the his old middle garden position.

‘eye’ to the Indians at practice.

Left to right: David Bow

after a day's work: The rubber shirt is a load.

'49 Cotton Maid 'Louses Up’ =No, 'Slaughters' Grammar

“all in" Spring vacation brought the small fry out to watch the Indians practice.

man, Donald Gobrecht and Frank Claspill.

Frank Kalin, veteran outfielder,

1 — Question Taxi Driver About Robbery, Rape

with the “charming” Earl of War-| “And ‘Psat behind the Duchess Police questioned a. taxi cab Sue Howell Asks for Chocolate Bar wick in Warwick Castle, and ja#v of Windsor -at the International driver held on asvagrancy charge First Thing on Return From Europe Saturday lunched at. the Savoy jumping at the Palais de Sports. today in connection with the rein London with Gertrude Law- Bhe's 50 refined. I met Rita Hay- ported robbery and rape of a pas-

NEW YORK. Apr. 14 {UP)-Tall, blond Sue Howell of Bakersyi ; tit senger last night. field, Cal. the 1949 Maid of Cotton, arrived by air from a three. [ENCE the actress. {Worth and Aly Kahn, but it was Ee doy the woman's bill«.

week trip to Europe today and asked for a chocolate candy baf. | She was guest of honor at a Very:casual. - It took one hour for her to clear 18 pieces of luggage through cockiall party given by Sharman. She asked for another candy oid Te (ry entifiear customs. Douglas, daughter of thie Ameri- bar. The representatives of the X n ug no 5 8 posses She said she would like hominy grits for breakfast, but would can Ambassador to Britain, and National Cotton Council who ac- won y i was ares on her , settle for waffles met a number of titled young companied her didn’t approve of | ary on an ro . bY X : Englishmen, including Lord David her eating candy bars, she said. resident of the near-north-Held by Police

. her after driving through parts of - 1 stil have the city unfamiliar to her. : | She also told police he had [twisted her arm in forcing her to

terrific, but they are not,” she said. “They “But I'l fool them.

" a nickel left”

she said. 1 would like to go back some- are so friendly, discharged accidentally, was held time.” she said. She noticed re-

today by police - on vagrancy portems were. taking downs her Two Youths Arrested In Purse Soni |@rink liquor from a bottle he had. charges pending investigation. statements verbatim and added, a —————— John F. Mindach, 25, of 546% “Please change that to ‘T'd like An18- -year-old youth was held 1306 E. Raymond St. told police KIWANIS LIST SPEAKER Mother has been Writ-/by police on vagrancy charges to- She was walking in the 1100 block.| pred J, Milligan, president of E. Tabor St. when several boys: the Central Ohio Council Boy rushed toward her and grabbed’. Scouts of America and director as in custody of juvenile aid ner purse. {of commerce of the state of Ohio, Joused up—please authorities as suspects involved The two suspects were appre- will speak on “Mission Incomin a purse grabbing last night. 'hended by officers searching the plete” at the Kiwanis luncheom Mrs. Matilda McKeeter, 72, of area. itgmorrow w in the Claypool Hotel. H at a ed : ‘ hg

\ i « 5 rs : Na ; : : i a. \ 7 / “. = ; iy : ve

A bartender shat through the

night, he said, when ‘one of a ing me letters to watch my gram-iqav and his ‘17-year-old friend group of men in his rpom lifted a mar. She sent me clippings while lw!

Police also held on a 'vagrancy that I ‘had ¢harge one of five men in the make that ‘slaughtered.’ ”