Americana

P: The Bureau of the Census announced that one out of every eight married persons in the U.S. has been married more than once. The Gallup poll reported that only 49% of U.S. husbands & wives would remarry their present partners if they had the chance of starting over again.

P: State Representative Edwin Snow rose on the floor of the Idaho legislature, was recognized by the chair--and asked pretty, redheaded State Representative Edith Miller to marry him. Said thirtyish Miss Miller, after order had been restored: ". . . on a point of personal privilege I accept Mr. Snow's proposal."

P: The Crowell-Collier Publishing Co. utilized atomic energy to lay the two-ton cornerstone of its new building in Manhattan; a miniature nuclear reactor split ten U-235 atoms generating an electrical impulse which burned a ceremonial ribbon, touched off a magnesium flare and caused a chain hoist to lower the stone one foot into position.

P: A job applicant at the Chance Vought Aircraft plant at Grand Prairie, Tex. filled in his name on a company form, "Jones, Rufus." The next line read, "alias or otherwise known as." Jones wrote, "Shot, hot."

P: The Haynes Furniture Store of Indianapolis ran a newspaper advertisement in which the timely legend S.O.B. was printed in large letters and the rest of the message, "See Our Bargains," in small type.

P: Joseph E. Penkala demonstrated a new approach to the voter during his campaign for treasurer of Warren, R.I.--he spent most of the week before election day at home baking pies (an art he learned as a Boy Scout) and distributing them to the electorate.

P: The Pyramid Friendship Club craze reached the Eastern Seaboard. New Yorkers added their own characteristic stamp: increasing the ante from $1 to $5 and guaranteeing to pay off $10,240. There were also wild rumors of a $100 Wall Street club, which was supposed to give the lucky winner a cool $204,800.

P: Bedford County (Pa.) authorities granted a group of citizens permission to exhume the body of World War II Veteran Reuben Rock. The soldier's body was dug up and stripped of its uniform, which was sprinkled with gasoline and burned. Then the body was dusted with salt, wrapped in a white sheet and gently reburied. Relatives announced that this was the only means of breaking a "hex" which he had cast on his widow, 22-year-old Mrs. Rosella Rock.

P: A 39-year-old ex-seaman named Don Haynes arrived in San Francisco in a strange contrivance--an automobile with the doors welded shut and the windows securely barred. He announced that, living on food passed through the bars, he had been inside for several weeks, was going to stay there (with a bed, a chemical toilet and a collapsible bathtub) for 14 months, thus win the long end of a $1,000 to $25,000 bet.

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