"Putzy" & 09" (Cant.)

Because he has little sense of what makes news, Dr. Elliott Carr Cutler, marshal of Harvard's Class of 1909, last month invited his old friend and classmate, Ernst Franz Sedgwick ("Putzy") Hanfstaengl of Munich, to '09s 25th reunion at Cambridge in June as one of his aides. Because he has a keen nose for news, huge, psychic Hanfstaengl, who is Nazi liaison officer with the U. S. and British press and Hitler's good friend, accepted last fortnight and promised to bring along a fine set of Nazi propaganda movies (TIME, April 9). Then he sat tight to see what the Harvard and U. S. reaction would be.

Alumni instantly let out a loud squeal of rage. Marshal Cutler, who is also a famed brain surgeon, protested feebly, "It seemed to me that Harvard alumni . . . have always stood for the fundamental principles of the right of free speech and the toleration of all beliefs." In a letter to the Harvard Crimson a Jew replied, "Hanfstaengl is the representative of a government which considers the intellectuals the dirt of the earth and free speech a rank poison." From Boston and Manhattan prominent alumni wired their protests to Government officials in Washington.

Dazed, Marshal Cutler put through a transatlantic call to Hanfstaengl's home in Munich. He talked for seven minutes, spent $80. Then, omitting to mention the call, he told newshawks that "Putzy'' had refused the invitation, letter to follow. Said Marshal Cutler: "I wish to make it clear that the appointment of aides at the alumni exercises is made by the chief marshal, who is elected by the directors of the Alumni Association, and not by the university authorities."

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