Lucky Buncombe

The English language owes a debt of incalculable size to Buncombe County, N. C. for a fine eight-letter noun that aptly identifies certain types of insincerity. The U. S. Senate owes a debt of questionable size to the same county for Senator Robert Rice (''Roarin' Bob") Reynolds. Last week Washington newshawks had fun with an incident that concerned Bob Reynolds and somehow seemed to recall the name of the county of his birth.

Word went around that an advertising representative of American Tobacco Co. had persuaded ten U. S. Senators to endorse Lucky Strike cigarets at $1,000 an endorsement. Newshawks scurried here & there buttonholing Senators to pin the story down. They made a lucky strike when they ran into North Carolina's Reynolds. Senator Reynolds, never one to hide his light under a bushel, admitted that he had endorsed Lucky Strikes, collected $1,000. Newshawks were surprised for two reasons: 1) most North Carolinians smoke Camels, their State's most famed product, as a matter of pride; 2) they could not recall seeing Senator Reynolds smoke any brand but Camels. Senator Reynolds admitted that he smoked Camels but he assured questioners that he did smoke and enjoy Lucky Strikes on occasion. No other Lucky Strike-endorsing Senator would speak up but that there were more was clearly indicated one night last week when smart, socialite Alice Roosevelt Longworth commercialized herself in Washington over a nation-wide Lucky Strike radio hookup. Mrs. Longworth set a new high of some kind when she described the superior clarity with which the voices of Lucky Strike-smoking Senators could be heard in the Senate gallery.

Whether Bob Reynolds achieves national publicity in cigaret advertisements or not, he had the satisfaction last week of kissing glamorous Jean Harlow before Washington press cameras (see cut).

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