Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 November 1950 — Page 39

SUNDAY, Nov. 0 Inside In a oy r huianapenis

IF THERE is anyone in the cify with a better | .. disposition than Mrs, Dorothy 3 wih I'd like

. : to know. ; a ne : Mrs, Carson is the lady in charge of the L. 8."

Ayres & Co. information desk. She is the lady with the silver hair, golden voice, sunny demeanor, unruffied patience, regal bearing and a fresh floral arrangement every day. The last customer of the day to ask where she can byy an outside thermometer gets the same gracious attention as the first customer of the day. A recent tally reveals Mrs. Carson

A VEY

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wer Chest

e¢ hardwoods, or maple fin- : fetal . pul Ila he

- answered 1681 questions.

During the - Christmas season, beginn right after Thanksgiving, more than hoy ne tions daily will be asked. And answered. Beside informing a bewildered shopper where she can purchase a lunch bucket for hubby, Mrs. Carson gives building locations, theater news, facts about the city, directs out-of-town shoppers how to get to the proper highway. * © 2 . WHILE I LEANED on her desk, ears flapping at the.questions people fired at Mrs. Carson, a woman wanted to know the symbol for a third wedding anniversary. Mrs. Carson opened a drawer and took out a blue sheet as she explained that she thought it was léather.” In a moment she would be sure. It was leather. The woman laughed, thanked Mrs.

Carson and was off.

Each day she takes a few minutes and visits a different department in the store with the definite purpose of learning something ‘new, something one of her friends might ask about. Everyone who comes to the desk is her friend. Has been for six-years. > The display department sends Mrs. Carson information about window changes. promotions. Pertinent store’ information regarding merchandise, programs, special services go to.tfie information desk. A Tea Room menu is in the drawer of Mrs. Carson’s desk. Many shoppers check with her before going to the Tea Room. While I was there a customer asked Mrs. Carson to make an appointment in the beauty shop. She reminded me in a way of ‘an Alexander

Dumas Musketeer. Only her foil was vast knowledge tempered with a fine appreciation for .the hundreds of people with hundreds of little wants who rushed her flowered bastion. And unlike a Musketeer, when Mrs. Carson was through, her “victim” felt better than before. SP IT WASN'T long before I asked if she took a special vitamin and disposition capsule. Why should she? ‘Everyone was nice and gratious, said Mrs. Carson. My point was that after the 49th person asked where the toy department was or if the toy department is in the same location it was last year, didn’t the monotony get her down? ' Didn't she ever feel like throwing the flowers on her desk? ; “Every question is impertant to someone no matter how many times it's asked. The toy department especially at this time.”

1 for a gag.

“Downstairs store. Take the escalator down

By Earl Wilson NEW YORK, Nov. 18—-0ld David Warfield is laughing at us kids as he sits in the window of his big rich apartment on Central Park West turning 84. “You don't look like 1 expected,” he greets me as I shake his soft old hand. “I thought You'd be a damned handsome fellow!” “Are you writing your memoirs like everybody else?” I ask him. : : “No!” he shouts. “Who the hell ever cares what an actor thinks? They don’t care much about an actor!” This is the laughing mood of this great old star of the day before yesterday. In 1926, when . he was 58, he retired, wealthy. LJ : THE OTHERS who kept working have nearly all dropped off, but Warfield 84 on Nov. 28 leans back against white pillows that make it XxX : easier for his tired fragile frame, and cracks Jokes, apparently a very happy man. . een : I think back. Why, it's 45 years. since he was . the big star of “The Music Master.” z First ‘Back in the days of hatpins, and peekaboo waists, Elinor Glyn, Fred Merkle, the Lusitania in / and “The Merry Widow.” 1 only know of these

r Is Open nday Nite ) o'Clock! \

things from hearsay, and from my dad and values _mother, of course. J . “Lotg, of other actors retired, too,” he says, for sitting there in his white linen suit that he enjoys in all wedther, “but there's a few dollars the fleating around-—and they're back after it.” o Now he watches TV. He's not 11+ sed by "home! criticism of it. 8 ] 4 oo @ .

“Lots of so-and-sos who don't keow a damn thing,” he snorts. ~ some people applaud an actor only to show the other people they know him, . “It’s that bunk stuff.” "1 ask about his TV favorites. Fred Waring's one. Milton Berle? “Milton Boil,” he laughs. “Always whistling!” “Do you agree that Chaplin's our greatest comic?” “Oh, my God, no!” Most every day he goes for a : ride. He gave up his card-play-et VISTEY to tire Eames Chiby3s nurse, Catherine Hallls, says always joking. ] va when he fed ga & Fields.

Mr. Warfield

; oo ; WHEN a maid, serving him dinner, said, “I havé some corn here,” he couldn't resist saying, . “See a chiropodist.” v

Americana By Robert C. Ruark

BIRMINGHAM, Nov. 18 — Charlie. Boswell looks you straight in the eye when he tells you Jabout his. golf game or his kids or his job or. his pet duck, whose name fis Willig Quack.” Charlie Boswell laughs large, haw, haw, and loves bourbon, and knows all about sports: and Broadway vs. Plays te Boswell is a big, handsome fellow who makes an excellent living as manager of the sports department of a big department store here. Charlie Boswell was a great halfback for the University of Alabama, and has played in the. : Rose Bowl.. He was a captain in the Army during H ; the war and served with distinction. ?

THE ONLY thing about baldish, jovial Charlie ; Boswell that. really sets him apart from you and _ : me is that he is blind completely, and without ) : { “ hope of ever getting his sigxnt back. He refers to his blindness as casually as a man might nid comment on athléte’s foot. : x

a : A man with eyes feels just a little ashamed Now |

fellow who has conquered ‘a shocking handicap more thoroughly than anybody I ever met. Especially when you consider that, as Charlie says: “The only blind men I ever saw before I ‘got blinded sold. pencils and tuned planos. It never occurred to me that I would be blind some day. But damn it, Bob, I can do anything you can do but read a newspaper, and the way the news is going today I am not sure I am unlucky.” i, Charlie was in the Ruhr six years ago on the 80th of November, He made one fateful trip in a tank. The tank got hit and Charlie crawled out. He was pulling a crewman out of the tank when the Krauts splattered a shell off the armor and Charlie caught the splinters in his face. He woke ww about five days later In a hospital—blind. For

of himself Wher he talks to Charlie, a robust

Nike ; ‘ “ \ bY »

“Say, where is the toy department?” I asked -

It Happened Last N ight

“Same as in a theater when .

‘ishe’d have to work her way as a stewardess.

Se . 5

5 3000 Answers Daily, And a’Smile With Each

Sermon of the Week— |

‘Thanksgiving’ sy re

~ "Information, please” . . . Mrs. Dorothy Carson knows all, loves all at Ayres. ;

and turn right at the bakery counter,” answered Mrs. Carson. A young housewife asked where she. could purchase handles for a ‘buffet. Mrs. Carson regretted that buffet handles could not be purchased at Ayres. “Do you Know where Vonnegut's hardware store is?” The housewife nodded her head. “You can buy handles there.” a " “Where is the bakery?’ a woman with a deep |

Southern accent asked. Mrs. Carson told her. In rapid succession the woman asked for the candy { department, where she could buy a cocktail snaker, feminine undergarments, whefe the Tea

Room was ! on 2 o>»

AFTER ANSWERING all the questions, Mrs. Carson wrote each item on a slip of paper and

the proper location it could be purchased. I was going to horn in and make a remark about Northern hospitality but hesitated. The customer was so pleased there was no use starting an

argument. 1 found out from a store official (Mrs. Carson, forgive me) that for a long time the in- | formation lady bought candy suckers and gave | them to lost children who were brought to the | desk. : oo Often ‘a child would raise a ruckus waiting for | a parent to appear.- A candy sucker .usually | turned off the tears. Mrs. Carson bought the | candy with her own money until the store found out about it and absorbed the cost. Ayres supplies. the candy now despite the objections of Mrs. Carson. Incidentally, there are several regular customers now. No kidding, if there is anyone in the city with a better disposition.than Mrs. Carson's, I'd like to know about it." -

Old David Warfield In a Laughing Mood

Now we're having coffee and when*I refuse sugar, saying, “It makes me fat,’ he says, "Fat-

ter than you are-already?” : Why, at almost 84, he’s the happiest man I know, just at ‘being alive, THE MIDNIGHT EARL —The Coaxial Cable reaches L. A. by Jan. ’'52 —-then--watch, TV go west. . . . Frankie flew to H'wood to woo Ava Pie .

and bring back his new producer Jack Donahue. '. Betty Impellitteri's to take over the Heart Fund. . . . The Averill Harrimans and Eddy Duchins celebrated Eddy's hospital release at 21. . .'» B'way's now hearing about a very juicy scandal which was quashed one day before election. . . . Margaret Truman and Atty. Marvin Braverman are to attend Caroline Burke's party shortly. . . . J. Ringling North's Turkish-bathing off 10 pounds he put on in Europe. . . . USO may soon be reactivated. . . Harry James went along with Betty Grable to ok part of her new George Jessel pic, so all's well there. . . . Cary Grant cheered his friend Producer Irene Selznick at the opening of her, “Bell, Book & Candle” where everybody -loved -bful Lilli, Palmer and Sexy Rexy Harrison. y

. », - 'e D3 “oe on

WISH I'D SAID THAT “Color television is just around the cornea’ Phil Baker,

» ’, *. ow oe oe

TODAY'S BEST LAUGH—“Two pints make one cavort.”- Joe Lewis. . :

*, 0 * > ow "oe oe :

EARL'S PEARLS-—We hear from Fred Allen that quite a _ lot of modern American women never know what to say, and do.

‘ * * oe oo ow

B'WAY BULLETINS -Hotel

Edison's Nathan Kramer is in § an oxygen tent after a heart attack returning from Al Jol-

son's funeral. . . . Justin Gilbert has passed the crisis in Rome. . « « Today's Daily Double: Georgie Jessel and Dorothy Kirsten. . . . In the airline mess, Mrs. Jean Wills (Mrs. California), who won a trip west via charter airline, took a bus ‘when told

Fred Allen

. « +, The Wall St. know-it-alls are buying up musk (an essential in perfume, which comes. from Russia).:> , . Herb (Blue Angel) Jacoby is scouttra fancy, restaurant. Apia A at one

time boxing great =

Re n Jimm Young en the coast Dec. 22 (Barney's birthday). George Shearing’'s convinced that an -incorruptible politician is one who's "been defeated. «+ . That's Earl, brother. z |

Blind Ex-Halfback Sees | Best Things In Life

months they told him his sight would return, and he lived on hopefully. It never did, and never will.

° 0 vd 3 oe oe oo .

CHARLIE WENT through the awful period of bleak desperation that attacks any lusty human being who has lived in constant enjoyment of skilled sinews and an animal awareness of the wonders of being alive. Then he got mad. He is still mad, in a way, which is why he does not. even carry a white . cane. It is why he rides the bus to and from his home when he goes to work—unassisted. It is why he knows every single. piece of stock in his inventory—its position, its price, its number. Charlie went to work for Loveman’s Department Store as a morale man and a lecturer—you know, public relations. He is now the manager and the buyer, on merit, not sympathy. { He is also champion blind golfer of tne - | world. Championships for the Blind; and this year he won the International. He shoots in the low and middle 80's, which makes me ashamed again, when .I consider I never busted 100 in | my life. And Charlie never played golf before he lost his eyes, x : * “I hate to get up early,” he says. <You got a dog, you got to get up early and walk him. You | got to wash him, Also, I will get some Yankee | dog from New Jersey and it will take me a month to teach him how to get around Birmingham. Also I don’t want to depend on a dog. He gets sick and dies and where am I? A man living alone maybe needs a dog's companionship, but with a pregnant wife, two kids and Willle Quack, the pet duck, I got more companionship than I can handle nowy.” :

We will have some more ot Charlie. He is quite |

No gi SL Py " frais

He ‘has won four straight National [J

This Sefmon of the Week was written by the Rev. Fr. Roland ~Averbeck, O.F.M., pastor of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

RATITUDE for favors re\F ceived is the natural response of the unspoiled human heart. Almighty God, “the Giver of all good things,” is at once our Father and our greatest Benefactor. We, His children, should thank Him. Recognition of these facts led to the origin qf “Thanksgiving Day.” The custom originated in 1621, When Governor Bradford of the Plymouth colony appointed a day for public praise and prayer after the first harvest. ! Historians of the day attempt to trace the origin of Gover-

Scripture: “All whatsoever you do in word or work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Col. 3:17.

nor Bradford's idea back to the old Hebrew Feast of the Tabernacle and through the ages to the ancient Greek Harvest Feast, Thesmophoria, the Roman Cerealia, and the English

| Harvest Home.

= = = BE THAT as it may, the first national observance of our Thanksgiving was when President Washington, at the request of Congress, recommended Thursday, Nov. 26; 1789, to the people of the United States “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by

v. Fr. Roland Averbeck

November as a day of national observance.

giving to Almighty God fér His

the government and people of the most prosperous nation in the history of the world should be more than mere lip service. It should, as indicated in the

: Role as Wilson Blocks "HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 18 (UP)— as a conniving Alexander Knox won critics’ ap-{in Columbia's plause ‘and an Academy Award years nomination when he portrayed skulld : oo. ~~ Woodrow. Wilson six years ago.lof unrelieved virtue TRUE and genuine Thanks- [He hasn't had a good job since. “I haven't been able to live it/ences too.” continued loving care toward ldown,” Mr. Knox said. “I've been *

typed as wise, virtuous and philo- Norwegian Girl 'sophical. It has done me no good.

{I can’t convince executives that I ican do anything but a dull part.”

Career

ok at | ¢

As DePauw Frat Queen

Rev. Fr. Roland Averbeck, O.F.M.

acknowledging with _ grateful hearts the many and signal favors 6f Almighty God.”

= n 8 THIS same proclamation exhorted the people to “beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to promote the knowledge and practise of true religion and virtue, and to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.” The words of President Washington are as true and applicable today as they were when he first uttered them and when President Lincoln, in 1863, started the modern custom by

text of 8t. Paul, be a daily and hourly expression “in word and | work” of our faith in God and | His

to live according to our réligious convictions and like a dutiful and faithful daughter,

Divine Son Jesus Christ, This means, in other words,

son or |! give expression to

Mr. Knox finally got tired of his : 3 occasional: immaculate and vapid Miss Bjorg Tromberg, Oslo, Nop= =

{parts that he wrote a play, “The Way, reigned last night at Kappa Closing Door,” and starred in it Tay

himself on -Broadway. The part ; lhe gave himself was that of a fraternity council's annual Fall

{violent maniac. : “And still, in_Hollywood,” he| Other candidates were the

isighed, “I kept on getting parts Misses Jo Ann Fisher, I :

GREENCASTLE, Nov. 79 —

Kappa queen of the inter-

(formal at DePauw University.

our gratitude by observing to the best of our knowledge and ability, the will of our Father who is in Heaven.

{that were notable chiefly for be-

now,

Gambling Hangout Converted to Church

DALLAS, Tex., Nov. 18 (UP)—

The Rev. A. B. Pearson has made

the biggest “conversion” of his ministerial career, He converted a one-time night

club and gambling den into a

meeting place for his Walnut Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church. Except for a few bullet holes that still .show in the walls and

floors, the transformati been complete.

An altar now stands where once A small

there was a dice table. bar was turned into the

lonce was decorated with a and bucking horse,

place.

naming the last Thursday of

office. The weather vane, which

has taken down and a cross put in its!

AMY |

nsville,

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