Solidarity

Sir Thomas Beecham, explosively opinionated conductor of the London Philharmonic, exploded again, this time not with a bang but a phfft. In May, recently home from a U.S. tour, he had called Hollywood "a universal disaster compared to which Hitler, Himmler and Mussolini were trivial." Now he qualified his damnation, decided that it was "the last word in triviality and morbidity."

Leon Blum, at the dedication of a monument to Vichy-murdered Georges Mandel in Fontainebleau, came up with a good Gallic symbol of Gallic solidarity: to his political antagonist, Rightist Paul Reynaud, France's Socialist elder statesman gave an unscheduled, non-compulsory buss.

The Duke & Duchess of Windsor, back at their bomb-nicked Cap d'Antibes chateau, royally entertained a group of U.S. reporters on an Air France publicity junket. Bubbled the New York Herald Tribune's food editor, Clementine Paddle-ford: "Two ice-filled silver buckets . . . sandwiches, one-bite big . . . again and again came the silver trays with fresh glasses of the bubbling champagne."

The Duke was in fine fettle. Someone mentioned that Andrei Gromyko took in the Louis-Conn fight. That was one decision, he quipped, that Gromyko couldn't veto.

Women's World

Lady Sylvia Stanley, ex-Lady Ashley, widow of Douglas Fairbanks, sued her titled third husband for $14,732 of household pin money, which she now considered a bad debt (recently he filed a separation petition, charging adultery). A London court awarded her $431.60. Lord Stanley's attorney, Sir Patrick Hastings, summed up his idea of the case: " 'Hell hath no fury. . . .'"*

Gonna Walslca, Polish ex-soprano and husband collector (total fortune of her first four: $125,000,000), got rid of her sixth, Yogi Theos Bernard, but not without costs and regrets. He had provoked her in many ways, said she. First, he had caused her great mental anguish by insisting on living alone with his father in the "penthouse of the gods" (which she had bought for him), then he had tried to force money out of her by1) invoking Yoga powers, 2) "well-nigh choking and strangling me," 3) suing for separate maintenance because of a rheumatic heart which kept him from working (but not, thanks to the life-giving powers of Kundalini, from standing on his head for three hours at a time).

Finally Walska's patience gave out. If the self-styled White Lama would kindly clear out of her penthouse and take his father with him, she would divorce him, pay him $1,500 a month alimony. That was all right with the White Lama.

Mrs. Wales Latham, descendant of 300 years of New England Yankees, became a Commander in the Order of the British Empire--for wartime Bundling (chief organizer, president) for Britain. Another new member of the Order: Rabbi Stephen Wise's artist wife, Louise Waterman Wise, who headed the women's division of the refugee-harboring American Jewish Congress.

Madeleine Carroll, cinemactress who became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor for wartime Red Crossing, was reported married again, two months after her divorce from Cinemactor Stirling Hayden. Her third, said Paris' Le Monde, was one Henri Lavorel, an officer of the French underground.

Matters of Concern

Major Woodrow P. Swancutt, pilot of the Bikini 6-29 Dave's Dream, made an 8,000-mile top speed run from Kwajalein to a high-priority objective in Tampa, Fla. He reached the target area 26 hours before B-hour, when Mrs. Swancutt presented him with a 7 Ib. 9 oz. son.

Louis Bromfield, bucolic novelist-theorist, was the hero of a little rural drama on his Ohio farm. He momentarily left his heavy sedan, with two boxer pups inside, in gear atop a lake's bank. One dog playfully shifted into neutral. Down went the car, completely submerging. Bromfield followed, made a successful underwater rescue.

Howard Hughes's fight for life (against shock, one collapsed lung, nine broken ribs, chest burns, threatened pneumonia) was a matter of concern to President Truman, who wired, "I feel sure you will win"; also to Jane Russell, Lana Turner, and Linda Darnell, all of whom waited at the hospital for news, and to the Johnston Office, which postponed its move to revoke the Production Code seal from The Out-Jaw because of Hughes's advertising methods. Meanwhile the fallen flyer amazed his doctors with his recuperative powers, asked: "Will I live?"; insisted on dictating memos to the Army on what caused his test-flight crash (TIME, July 15).

*Misquoting from Congreve's The Mourning Bride:

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,

Nor Hell a jury like a woman scorned.

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