Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 December 1951 — Page 45
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“In Indianapolis ‘By Ed Sovola -
“SANTA CLAUS” went out to measure chimneys and got stuck in more ways than one, St. Nick is on his own from now on, For the benefit of all the residents in the vicinity of Butler University who saw a bewhiskered, slim gentleman carrying an 8-foot ladder and looking at chimneys, I want to say, don't lose “faith in Santa. He’s really not off his rocker. Each year the local agent and assistant of St. Nick tries to do something to make the job easier for the boss, Measuring chimneys semed like an excellent project. Should have checked the wisdom of measuring chimneys even though time is growing short, It would have saved me a lot of “trouble. . Butler University supplied a ladder, a most important piece of equipment when you're trying to get on rooftops. For a block or two the ladder wasn't hard to handle. Before I walked off the campus, the ol’ bak was bending low, eo . CHIMNEYS LOOK a great deal different from the ground than they do when you're- sitting around the office. Most of the homes around Butler have roofs that are either too slanty, too high or too slippery. The one cottage on W. 49th St, that was built low enough to the. ground had an occupant that was so surprised when the request to measure the chimney was made, she could barely answer, Finally the lady of the house stammered, “My little girl is so small that Santa Claus won't be coming to visit her this year. You don’t have to
HOW ABOUT IT, SANTA?—Judy Ellen Maudlin helped a “measuring” ol' gentleman check the dimensions of the chimney for a - Christmas Eve visit.
It Hap By Earl Wilson
NEW YORK, Dec. 16 — So many movie stars have been claiming oil wells lately that one cynic said most of them don’t have any oil except -what they put on their hair.
Jack Carson explained to me the other day about his oil wells and how he hopes to become ‘an oilionaire. ; As he stands 6-3 and weighs 208, I believed every word. “It was one of the people that made deals with Glen McCarthy,” Carson said, sipping some of his favorite beverage, buttermilk.
“We got $5000 a week for putting on a show at the Emerald Room at the Hotel Shamrock. Then Glen put another $5000 a week for us into oll wells.
“So pretty soon I felt like an oil man. It's easy to feel that way in Houston. In that Emerald Room alone, we used to have at least 10 millionaires sittin’ around.”
Carson treated his investment rather lightly at first. Then one day McCarthy told him, “You put that piece of paper away and take care of it, You'll be a rich man some day.” This was fine with Carson but "still he didn’t really believe much would happen. Then one day’ McCarthy suggested that Carson go up country in Texas with him and see one of the oil wells he had invested in. oe o < “HOW FAR is it?” Carson asked. “Hundred miles,” McCarthy: thought. “I'm not driving any two hours to see a bunch of stinking oil wells,” replied Carson. “We'll fly,” said McCarthy. “It was my first ride in a helicopter,” Carson told me. “The day we chose to go, they hit a gusher. We got there 40 minutes afterward. They hadn’t capped it yet.” “Did you slosh around in the black gold in high top boots?” I asked. “No. But McCarthy felt the oil.” “He felt it?” = Ania “He bent over and touched it. They say a gardener is supposed to have a green thumb. 5 “I guess an oil man. is supposed to have a greasy thumb.”
Americana By Robert C. Ruark :
NEW YORK, Dec. 15—All the serious trouble I ever get into in this business where you wind up with one foot in your face and somebody else's on your rear seems to come when I get humorous “ without sticking a red stamp saying “funny” on the product. You see a man today hipdeep in personal apology for one of those transgressions in _ judgment; I guess, where you -burt feelings unwittingly and people you love get mad at you. .I'm referring to a plece the -other day about my old friend, Mr. Bernard Baruch, in which I undertook to kid him a little and wound up crouched way “back in his personal doghouse. ~ I thought it exceedingly - funny that somebody had snuck onto his properties down south and started a liquor still. I thought it was funny because, as everybody knows, B. M. Baruch is far and away the most respected citizen in the land, and such a stickler for strict attention to the letter of the law, that "he goey out of his way even to obey some of the stupid ones. Apart from that, I have more personal respect and affection for the old gentleman, as friend and citizen, than for anyone I know. © 80 1 WRITE myself a piece about B. M. B,, elder bootlegger, and laugh myself silly at my . own delicious wit. I find I ain't funny, McGee, Not only have I affronted a man whose friendship I value, but a lot of people write in and say what 18 all this about booze and Baruch? I guess there are times when your own sense of humor gets sO keen that you can fall down and stab yourself on it. : _ Believe me, citizens, our No. 1 statesman is “mot repeat mot in the bootlegging business, nor “does he cheat at canasta. Like I said, I once -knew a person so subtle he slipped in his own - subtlety and busted his neck. That would seem -to be me. Ea, : - ; ¢ * @
. THE BUSINESS of dealing in humor that is -niot- clearly marked seems to become more and “more ‘difficult. Either sarcasm or heavyfooted ~exaggeration seems more often than not to get “misconstrued by serious-minded folk, and there ~~ mre instances in which no be humorous, to himself.
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' the bell tower. wiggly iron ladder without once looking down.
ened Last Night
man finds himself to - + Mm’ ¥ »
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Chimney Puzzle Faced by Santa
bother to measure the chimney.” I noticed she was laughing when I turned to go away. OK, smiles is what we want. Onward, ever onward. No one answered the doorbell at another address. Just as well. I would have had to° borrow a higher ladder to get on the roof ‘unless, of course, the man of the house gave me a boost from the top of the eight-footer. ‘ School 86, 200 W. 49th St., appeared to be a -good stop, Two chimneys and a bell tower and children offered promise of real work.
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MRS. GRACE GRANGER, principal, welcomed Santa with open arms after she stopped laughing.
She thought the children would love to have the.
chimneys of their school measured. ts nek the children.” e pop) in on the first ders. Th - lion Santa ig made et his _. . I co ave carr a | ed the ladder to Beech veryone talked. Everyone wanted me ‘o come home and measure the chimney. They were all going to wait up for Santa. Diana Hook was going to leave some hot coffee in the chimney, The idea caught on. Rosemary Miller was going to leave some too. Stevie Harrison thought he'd leave some tea. Margie Silver switched to hot chocolate. Mike Zinkin said he'd leave a root beer. There is nothing Santa likes better than a cold root beer on a frosty night. Maintenance Man Herman Weichel was willing to pitch in and help measure the chimneys. The
{ question was how were we going to do it. He
didn’t have a ladder high enough to reach the
{ top of the chimneys.
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HE WENT UP to the third floor, .climbed an fron ladder to the attic. »Another 25 feet up was Santa followed Herman on a
When we opened the door in the bell tower
i and looked across the pointed slate roof, we both
edged back into the bell shelter, Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, might be able to get across that roof. Herman and I weren't about to try it. Bobby Brayton, 5540 N. Illinois St., and Susan Diener, 5024 Graceland Ave. were promised that the chimneys of their homes would get measured. Judy Ellen Maudlin, 230 E. 49th St., ran home after school and brought Santa some cookies and candy. Santa went to inspect the Maudlin chimney. <> < "we OH, WHAT fun it {s to walk down the street with a light ladder and a half dozen excited kids.. Everyone should be a Santa. Judy helped me up the ladder. For anyone except Santa Claus, the opening of the Maudlin chimney would be too small. But Santa is a special character, Nothing is impossible for him. “Ill be waiting for you, Santa,” Judy said. “I'll have more cookies and candy for you when you come down the chimney.” I'm glad I had a faceful of whiskers. Hid the lump in my throat that developed all of a sudden.
Carson ‘Getting Riek’ On Texas Oil Deal
“ARE YOU GETTING any money yet out o your oil investment?” “Some,” said Carson. “And I'm hoping to g«' a lot more.” Carson and the movie mob are willing to take a flyer in oil because nowadays an intertainer's future seems so uncertain anyway. . Back in World War II boom days, when Carson was introducing “Hubba Hubba" to the public—he picked it up first in a Texas Armp camp— it appeared that a star would never have any financial problem. Jack Warner said in those days that it was impossible for a movie star to lose money. ‘One exhibitor said he could put up a sign, “Absolutely Nothing Going on Here Today-—Ad-mission 25 cents,” and sell the place out.
<> THEN CAME the np Hollywood saw it had to make better pictures. “I've turned down 9 pictures since the first of the year,” Carson said. “I think I've got a good one now. There's no reason for doing a picture now if it isn’t a hell of a picture.” So TV beconed and he found a world of confusion . . . he found that everybody in America is an expert on show business, suddenly. “I went into a drug store and a soda-jerker said to me, ‘Did you see so-and-so’s show last night?’ Before I could comment about it, he said, ‘Wasn't that the lousiest lighting job you ever saw in your life?’ ” oe DX] 0 CARSON also gets appalled at the eagerness of some TV watchers to turn on somebody who's been a favorite. “Take ---------,"" said Carson, naming a big star who only recently went on TV. “He started out great and, in my opinion, he’s still great. “But yesterday I heard somebody say, ‘He's slipping.” He's only been on five weeks, and he’s slipping!” Carson groaned as he ate some ice cream, which, by the way, he feasts on frequently, because some football coach told him it builds energy. “If a guy can start slipping after only five weeks, I hope McCarthy's oil wells keep coming in!”
Mr. Ruark Is Very Sorry, Mr. Barue
I have never attempted to hurt anybody's feelings, except on purpose, and then the idea is to take the typewriter and beat the victim’s brains out. But on several occasions I seem to have created an enmity or a gratuitous teardrop without intent. This I do not like in me. My boss man has spent the last 30 years in this business hollering’ that subtlety is not a commodity to practice in newspapers, and I have spent the last 15 years trying to prove him wrong. I think I may have to concede finally that he was right, and throw away the machine with the unlabelled levity on the keyboard. Otherwise, I am apt to wind up with a permanent black eye and severe contusionstof the conscience. 3 * I BELIEVE I may say that I am more than ordinarily upset over this latest prattfall of mine, since it concerns a neighbor who has given so generously of his time, advice and friendship. I certainly know that this is the first time since I started this business that I felt moved to sit down and spend two pages saying sorry, please don't be mad at me, chief. I feel more or less today like a small boy who has just shot Santa Claus on Christmas, under the ‘mistaken idea that he was a burglar. And that is only a figure of speech, I hasten to add. I positively repeat postively did not intentionally shoot Santa Claus. Or a burglar, either. I don’t want any misconstructions on that one, or the kid lobby will be after me with a buggy whip.
Dishing the Dirt By Marguerite. Smith
Q—How can I remove dust from African ‘violet leaves” Mrs. John M. Toyne, South Bend. A-—This reader is concerned about the theory that African violet leaves will spot if water is allowed to touch them. But it is now pretty well established that if the water is warmer than the'leaves and if the plants are kept out of di-
dried, no spotting will occur. 80 give your violets a warm shower bath now and then if you like, Just be sure to do it early in the day so they dry off by . And keep them out of direct sunlight un leaves are dry. Better av wre 5%: (Duties .shower bath method, use a soft{brush or a match wrapped with a bit of velvet, or a pipe
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~The Indianapolis Times
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1951 PAGE 45
By MARY FRAZER Times Special Writer
NEW YORK, Dec. 15—A Hoosier entering the Great Hall of New York's Metro-
politan Museum of Art today would find spectacular proof that sculptors back home in Indiana have been busy indeed with chisel, hammer, and whatever else it takes to make a statue. : 5 There is, in fact, nearly. $10,000 worth of proof. The Hall and adjacent corridors contain, in company with 95. other prize-candidates of bronze and granite, terracotta and mahogany, plaster, lead and sundry other media, six products of the talented hands of Indianians. That puts the state third on the list of. contributors. Excluding New “York, which has the expected preponderance (56 from city and state), only California, with seven entries in this nation-wide competition, exceeds the half dozen from Indiana. :
Interestingly enough, said Roland McKinney, the Met's consultant on American Art, the Hoosiers who rated the show all still live in their home state.
” » » THE NUMEROUS “New Yorkers” have hometowns
ranging from here to Germany. But there's not a #ingle “Indiana” under the “Home” or “Birthplace” category of the New York sculptors, nor any of the other 18 states in the show,
Likewise, of impressive note is the fact that Robert Laurent, dean of Indiana sculptors and a member of Indiana University’'ss Art Center, was a dominant figure in the building of this first such Metropolitan exhibition-competition. He was a member of the distinguished jury of seven which selected the pieces. And, the Laurent statue, “Lot's Wife,” is one of the costliest pieces in the show.
We began our tour of the show, which officially opened Dec. 7, in a side room dedicated to the smaller statues, most of which are of the abstractionist of semi-abstraction-ist school of sculpture.
There, flanked’ by two nighonto unrecognizable blobs of stone, is David K. Rubin's “Little Man.” Praise be, it's a magnificent plece of recognizable art! In the 21 inches of plaster, the artist has captured the resignation and the world-
‘weariness that is, perhaps, sym-
bolic of today's-man, big or little. }
Hoosier Art Overwhelms Gotham
For identification of these works of art, see the type upside down at the bottom of the page.
Venn
A RESIDENT of Indianapoils, Mr. Rubin, who's 48, has exhibited in the John Herron Art Institute, New York and Mineapolis museums, won an American Academy fellowship to Rome in 1928-31, and the Inana Artists Exhibition prizes in 1936, ’40, ’44, '50 and 51. “I want my sculpture to affirm the human values in the most direct and understandable manner,” he says. And he has, in “Little Man,” a statue which has a price tag of $3500. (All of the Indiana statues, and most of the rest, are for sale.) Next, we saw Michael Hnatt’s “Happy Rooster.” Another school ‘of thought altogether, which—though merit it unquestionably has—is of the sort that provokes wry comment from the Non Cultured Viewer, A plastic lead creation, it has, to sald Non Cultured Viewer, an attraction chiefly of eery lines and fascinating curves, But then, you back off toward “The Scavenger,” a.contraption of wood and metal depicting a huge bird clutching a cracked egg that flaps, whirls, and otherwise disports itself, the work of Robert Howard of San Francisco. 4
6
GEORGE RICKE
sirice the mid-40%s. He is 48, and his most recent prize was second in the Fifth Annual National Veterans Art Exhibit in Santa Monica, Cal,
His “Mother and Child” which has an $800 price tag, is a _ 20-inch marble witha robust quality of strength aid great charm. 4
No work of an Indiana sculptor, incidentally, is in the Great Hall section designated as “conservative.” : There the area is dominated by a seven-foot-six-inch white marble statue of two Gls, titled “Buddies,” and done by Paul Manship of New York. The simple, striking, sincere piece eventually will stand at the American Military cemetery at Anzio, Italy. .
interpretation of the Biblical
Rickey, aged 43, likes to, “Make character's fatal error, the pes Ld responsive’ to the artist has a price tag of $7500. slightest breath of air, so that ! s » =» movement is constant.” MR. LAURENT, who is 61, The fascination of the mobile has a list of one-man shows has beén felt in sculpture circles that is indeed impressive, rangduring the past few years. And ing from New York's Daniel the Rickey example of mobiles Gallery in 1915 to New York's is, say the experts, an outstand- Museum of Modern Art in reing example of this branch, so ’ cent years. 8 very far afield from the tall And, from a Chicago Art Inmarbles of men and gods. It's gtitute’s prize in 1924 to second priced at $125, prize in the Hoosier Salon of Of the last two Indiana en- 31946, Mr, Laurent approaches tries which I saw, the Laurent gcylpture, he says, “Through “Lot's Wife” is of the advanced the simplification of line and school, Tom Lias’s “Mother form derived from knowledge and’ Child” more in the con- obtained by my observation of servative school--though far __and absorbtion in—the infrom strictly so. 3 toxication of life and nature.” “Lot's Wife,” caste in bronze A resident of South Bend, and standing 67 and a half Mr, Lias’s exhibitions and inches high, is a superb study in awards also cover a wide range line and form. For this unique of museums and places, chiefly
art department faculty, Artist
IT'S ALTOGETHER too realistic, you decide, and you allow that Mr. Hnatt’s absrtact bird is far better than fair, after all, “Happy Rooster” will
‘Couldn't Understand Her'— :
Girl Uses TV as Speech Teacher
cost you $225. By United Press | “Claire would try to/tell -us| “The closeups particularly emMr. Hnatt, a resident of PITTSBURGH, Dec. 15—Five-something but we couldn't under-\phasized the synchronization of Bloomington, is a veteran of Year-old Claire Porvaznik, who
was born with a cleft palate, has stand her simplest wishes,” he Mitzi's lips,” Mrs, Porvaznik exastonished medical experts by|said. “She had a voice, but we plained, and the recorder soufid learning to talk by watching tele-| couldn’t make out her childishiwas the help Claire got. : vision. words.” “Claire sat in front of the teleShe was watched today by| Surgeons repaired the cleft vision screen and mouthed along Mitzi Steiner, whose specialty is palate but they told Mrs. Porvaz- with Mitzi—and now she speaks pantomime at television station nik that Claire would need speech perfectly.” WDTV. therapy. Speech specialists were mystiNot until she was, 4 did her) The schedule of a local clinic fied by the startling results, When parents, Mr, and Mrs. John J. was filled until Dec. 7, 1951. Claire met Miss Steiner . today Porvaznik, fully realize the “awful]| While Claire waited she discov- she gave out with her strongest truth.” ered Miss Steiner on WDTV, (hug. %
the Army Engineers, aged 30, whose approach to sculpture seems to be epitomized in his statement, “As the mind's eye projects itself into an idea, it generates an immediately spontaneous experience.” 41 prefer the direct carving method. of sculpture,” says our third Hoosier, Raich N. Hurst, 33-year-old sculptor also from Bloomington. He holds his B. 8, and M. A. degrees in Fine Arts from the University, studied sculpture under Indianian Laurent at his Ogonquit, Me, studio. Hurst's delightful “Beach Woman,” carved . from river stone and but 14 inches high, reflects his belief. Remniscent of early Egyptian heads, the place has lovely lines % os...) A and pines, The asking price * 4 ck ois for “Beach Woman” is $300. » “ »
AND THEN there's George Rickey’s “Square and Caten-
Ba sma
PLANE CURB SERVICE~Two L-16 Army liai on planes, (above) prepare for take-off after being forced to land for refueling on a highway south of Bedford. In the lower photo they have taxied to the pumps to take on guisive, The planes were being ferried from Edgewood Arsenal, Md., to San Antonio, Tex. by Lts. ell V. Shaw and Larry Blumenthal of Ft. Campbell, Ky.
Lines aplenty. It's a mobile, which, to the uninitiated, is a moving gadget of wire, plastic, and sundry other materials, Modern as tomorrow, as a member of the sculpture family. Of the Indiana University