"It's Nice Getting Back"

ARMY & NAVY

With the grinding strain of the war years suddenly lifted, top generals itched for a little relaxation. London street crowds shoved and craned in excitement last week, as once-grim brass hats appeared in theaters and night clubs.

Ike Eisenhower and Omar Bradley turned up together at the Prince of Wales Theater for a revue called Strike It Again. They got a thunderous ovation. Leaving the theater, the generals were confronted by a shouting mob. Said General Ike: "If all these people want to see me, I'm going to get out on the running board and let them."* He did (see cut) while Scotland Yard stood agape. After supper at Giro's (where General Ike had the first dance with his pretty WAG secretary, Lieut. Kay Summersby), the party moved back to Bradley's suite at the Dorchester. It broke up at 3:3 a.m.

Next morning a Dorchester valet discovered General Bradley up and dressed at 7:30. Said he: "Good morning, sir. My, sir, but you did a lovely job." The General grinned shyly and said: "Gee, it was nice getting back. The doorman, the head porter and clerks at the reception desk were all awfully nice when I arrived last night."

Meanwhile, General George Patton arrived in London, hurried off to see Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Love In Idleness. He, too, got cheers.

In the U.S., there were some who also wanted a look at America's victorious leaders. The Chicago Daily News clamored for Eisenhower's return, suggested parades down Fifth Avenue and Michigan Boulevard. Said the News: "General Eisenhower's visit would be like the seventh-inning stretch in a critical ball game."

* At week's end, SHAEF revealed that a double rode in General Eisenhower's four-starred automobile in France last winter. Lieut. Colonel Baldwin B. Smith of Chicago, who bears a striking resemblance to the Supreme Commander, volunteered as a decoy after Army Intelligence heard rumors of a German assassination plot.

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