Immortals

Cardinal Richelieu founded the French academy of 40 "Immortals." Benito Mussolini went Richelieu 25 better by found-ng the Italian academy of 65 "Immortals." That Mussolini's "Immortals" have turned out to be a luckless lot was sardonic news that leaked past Fascismo's censor last week.

Because they are not his friends, Il Duce saw no reason for including among his "Immortals" the inventor of wireless telegraphy, Guglielmo Marconi; the foremost Italian philosopher, Benedetto Croce, or that orchidaceous but heroic poet-conqueror who stole Fiume for grateful Italy, Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Instead of these three great names, the long roll of "Immortals" contains such unfamiliar names as Tittoni, Digiacomo, Beltramelli.

Recently the President of the academy, a senator named Tommaso Tittoni, was stricken with paralysis. A prominent member, Professor Alfredo Trombetti, went swimming at the Lido last summer, drowned in the lukewarm Adriatic. Giocchino Volpe, secretary of the academy, has had three recent operations on his defective ear. But of all the academicians, most luckless is Antonio Beltramelli, Fascist author of Il Uomo Nuovo, "The New Man," a paeon praising Il Duce. To celebrate his immortality he dyed his remaining hair a rich and glossy black. The hair dye soaked into his skull, affected his brain, according to his doctor. Previously he had married a lady, described by the Fascist press as "a Japanese beauty." Last week, sick, mad, and feebly tearing his raven hair, he was said to be in such condition that his keepers expected speedy Death.

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