Mothers & Children

P: Waiting on his San Simeon, Calif, doorstep last month, William Randolph Hearst had a shock. Word was brought him that a few miles away, Britain's top-notch socialites, Lord & Lady Plunket, arriving as guests in one of his newspapers' airplanes, had crashed and burned to death. Lady Plunket, 38, was the only child of Actress Fannie Ward who, at 66, still weighs 100 pounds, still wears size twelve clothes, still advocates her "cult of youth." and is known in England as a U. S.-born "perennial flapper."

Last week, departing for England on the Queen Mary with the ashes of her dead, Fannie Ward paused on the pier to sob into a microphone: "My friends of America. . . . I'm taking my two loved ones on their last journey . . . and I say this to every mother and father in the world: Don't let your children go in the air unless you want to suffer what I am today. . . ."

P: Last week Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. abandoned until summer search for its plane, lost near Fresno March 1 with nine aboard. Said Mrs. Jay Dirlam, whose son and daughter, Tracy and Mary Lou, were aboard the lost plane rushing south to their dying father's bedside: "I am convinced the disappearance of the plane was one of those unavoidable accidents. The plane was of the best and the pilots were among the best. Under the same circumstances I would still advise my children to take a plane."

P: For those two pronouncements U.S. airlines could have hugged Mother Dirlam and choked Mother Ward, for the greatest obstacle in the development of air travel is the public's fear of flight. To counteract the fear propaganda of Fannie Ward and other parents who do their broadcasting less publicly, United Air Lines last week had a new project afoot. It was a child's book called Air Babies, mothered by Elvy Kalep, a pretty Estonian aviatrix who once aspired to fly the Atlantic, colorfully. illustrating the adventures of two cheerful little winged sprites, Speedy and his sister Happy-Wings. Various other winged characters teach Speedy and his sister air lore, give them unending confidence in air travel. Its object: to take advantage of the fact that attitudes of mind are quickly and permanently affected by propaganda absorbed in childhood.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.