Bearded British Maestro Sir Thomas Beecham and ex-German ex-Auto Tycoon Fritz von Opel (recently detained 16 days by the British at Gibraltar) landed in Manhattan from the same ship, each stating his belief that England's chances of victory seemed slim at the moment. Lamented Sir Thomas: "The fact is we've been a feebly governed people for the last ten years."

Restaurateur George Rector, 61, whose fillet of sole a la Marguery was worshiped by Manhattan gourmets at the turn of the century, acted as a judge in a Boy Scout cooking contest, registered exquisite anticipation when handed the winning dish--a plate of fried flounder.

Asked at a Rochester University round table whether he thought the motion picture industry would eventually stop foisting "trash" on the public, Producer David Selznick (Gone With the Wind) replied: "If we don't give it to them, radio . . . will."

Evicted from her Manhattan apartment after losing a WPA job two months ago, Writer Nancy Lincoln, 47, and her sister

Tennessee, 52 (both lifelong Democrats), went on relief, wistfully wished their distant fourth cousin, Abe, was still President of the U. S.

Shrewd, old-style Governor Clyde Roark Hoey (pronounced hooey) of North Carolina heard Negro Contralto Marian Anderson at a Raleigh concert, was so pleased that he invited her next morning to a private, half -hour chat in the executive offices. Reported Governor Hoey, refusing to consider his action unusual: "I talked to her some about her singing. She asked about affairs in the State. . . .

I told her of our education program and pointed out North Carolina made very generous provision for the education of all races. . . . She was interested. I gave tier a resume. ..."

Homer Martin, onetime Baptist minister in Kansas City, Mo. (where he was known as the "Leaping Parson"), onetime labor leader (of the United Automobile Workers, from which he resigned after losing control of the union--TIME, May 6), revealed in Detroit that for a year and a half he has been a Buchmanite (member of the Oxford Group).

In Atlantic City, Dr. Reuben Friedman of Temple University told the American Association of the History of Medicine about Napoleon: he always posed with one hand under his waistcoat, said Dr. Friedman, because he suffered from dermatitis herpetiformis, an itch that attacks high-strung people.

Washington reporters were stymied in attempts to verify rumors of romance between waspish Senator Carter Glass, 82, and Mrs. Mary Meade, 50, Amherst, Va. schoolteacher. One reporter reached the Senator by phone, started off by saying timorously that he hoped the Senator wouldn't consider his inquiry impertinent. Cracked Carter Glass: "I'll say it's damned impertinent. I know what you're going to ask."

"So that she will not develop an isolated viewpoint," well-developed Shirley Temple, 11, terminated her contract (she will get a final payment of $300,000), retired from the screen.

Arriving in Manhattan for the opening of Lillian Russell, new movie in which they have a reminiscent sequence, Oldtime Funnymen Joe ("Mike") Weber, 72, and Lew ("Meyer") Fields, 73, promptly went into their 63-year-old act at Grand Central Terminal: Meyer cuffed Mike, shook him like an apple tree. When they paused for breath, Weber growled: "All people ever wanted to see us for is to watch Lew knock the hell out of me." Mourned

Fields: "You can't get away with that stuff todav." Published in London was A Kitchen Goes to War, ration-time cookery book designed to avoid waste, achieve "variety and a well-balanced diet." Some contributors: Viscountess Astor (Haddock Fin-landais); Sir Malcolm Campbell (How to Make the Best of Your Bacon Ration); Viscountess Halifax (Savoury Haddock); H. W. ("Bunny") Austin (Tomato and Asparagus Bundles); Sir Hugh Walpole

(Kedgeree of Kidneys), Savoy Chef Latry (Fried Swedes; Pickled Swedes*); Mrs. Neville Chamberlain (Fish and Leek Pudding).

* Turnips.

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