Birthday Scene

On April 29, 1933 William Randolph Hearst was 70. Hearst executives and empoyes were obliged to think of him as an old man. Since he rarely budged from his Enchanted Hill in California never showed himself outside his home state the notion grew that he was all but doddering. Whenever his name arose in Hearst offices, talk was apt to turn to his imminent collapse and the burning question is who would succeed to control of his publishing domain.

Last week all Hearstlings were given evidence that the Chief was still able to sit upright on his throne. Hearstpapers trom coast to coast blossomed with pictures of a virile-looking Hearst on the tennis court with his three eldest sons fat George, thin William Randolph Jr. and John Randolph (see cut). The pictures were taken on Publisher Hearst's 71st birthday and broadcast by his able picture chief, Walter Howey.

Walter Howey was one of 76 birthday party guests at San Simeon. He had flown out from Manhattan with Thomas . White, general manager of the Hearst publications, Richard E. Berlin, chief of Hearst magazines, William A. Curley managing editor of the New York Evening Journal. Mrs. Eleanor ("Cissy") Patterson arrived from Washington. Mrs. Winifred Black ("Annie Laurie") went down from San Francisco. Hollywood was represented by a huge delegation including

Marion Davies, Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, Gary Cooper & wife. All donned costumes (by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) of the year of the great man's birth. Men paraded about as Union or Confederate officers. Women wore crinoline gowns, hoop skirts. At the birthday dinner an enormous cake, wired for sound, sang out: "Dear Mister Hearst: This is your birthday cake speaking to you to give you the greetings of your friends assembled here and your friends all over the world to wish you happiness this day."

What interested alert Walter Howey most was the fact that Mr. Hearst, at 71, still has every one of his teeth and reads newspapers without glasses. And he either plays two hard sets of tennis or rides a spirited horse 15 or 20 miles every afternoon before going for a swim. That, said Walter Howey, should be put on the record. He persuaded the Chief to let an M-G-M cameraman take action pictures of him on the court. Back in Manhattan last week he offered the pictures to all the Press.

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