New Horizons

"Damn my own left-wing compulsions," said Sinclair ("Red") Lewis, 65 (Main Street, Babbitt, Dodsworth), to the New York Times at his chateau in Florence, Italy. "I'm always trying to tie ribbons on lampposts ... I don't know what to do about anything. I'm not a reformer. I really don't care . . ."

"The stupidest thing women do is to continually succumb to changing fashions," grumbled Lady Astor in London. "What would we say if men changed the length of their trousers every year?"

"Politics has fallen into the hands of old men," mused Veteran Socialist Norman Thomas, 65, after a luncheon in Manhattan at which he was paid tribute by some 1,300 admirers, including such friends of varied political persuasions as James A. Farley, Harold Ikes, Philosopher John Dewey, Adolph A. Berle Jr., Union Head David Dubinsky. "If you teach, you retire at 65. But in politics, you're just ripe to be chairman of a Senate committee."

In Toronto, Bridge Expert Oswald Jacoby stuck his neck out: "Canasta is the only game that my wife and I could play . . . with some of our half-witted friends. [It] can be enjoyed by everyone, unlike bridge, where a poor player can spoil the game for others."

At Manhattan's plush Versailles, Nightclub Satirist Kay Thompson solved a problem to her own fans' satisfaction. She likes to do her act in tailored slacks; some of her admirers demanded that she wear a dress. Her compromise solution: a new outfit she described as "pedal pushers surrounded by a split skirt."

In Manhattan, Soprano Margaret Truman signed a contract to sing for RCA Victor Red Seal records.

In Tokyo, Arthur MacArthur, 12, was a happy boy as he and his mother watched a U.S. Army guard hail the 70th birthday of his father, General Douglas MacArthur

(see cut). His dad said that of all the gifts he got, Arthur's handmade one pleased him most. The gift, which will give the general ample space for resting his famed corncob pipes and extra-long cigarette holders: a five-sided wooden ashtray.

That Old Feeling

"Some things in France are not yet up to the old standards," Musicomedian Maurice Chevalier told the American Club of Paris, "but French love is."

U.S. women are creating crises in their lives by wanting their husbands to be superior to them, Anthropologist-Author (Male and Female) Dr. Margaret Mead said in Manhattan. If women keep on like this, she warned, "they will create a group of men who get awfully nervous if their wives are any good."

Tyrone Power, Howard Duff and Montgomery Clift were chosen overwhelmingly as the three sexiest men in the world by 150 women movie extras, polled in Hollywood. The three sexiest women in the world: Ava Gardner, Jane Russell and Lana Turner. The biggest upsets: Errol Flynn and Ingrid Bergman got only one vote each.

Until something flossier came along, everyone agreed that the marriage of "Toodie" to David was Washington's biggest wedding of the year. Inside Connecticut Avenue's old greystone National Presbyterian Church, 700 invited guests witnessed the marriage of Mrs. Romaine Dahlgren Pierce Simpson (Manhattan divorcee) to Britain's David Michael Mountbatten, the Marquess of Milford Haven, a second cousin of King George VI. Traffic was held up for blocks around, and the crowd outside treated the newlyweds like movie stars when they left the church. Among the prominent guests: ex-King

Peter of Yugoslavia, Austria's Archduke Franz Joseph, and Lady Franks, wife of the British ambassador. Wedding gifts included a set of Doulton china from Princess Elizabeth, and, for David, six suits and a complete dental rehabilitation job on both uppers & lowers, from his friend, five-&-dime heir Woolworth Donohue.

The Restless Foot

Bearded Author Elliot Paul, 58, returned to the U.S. from a sentimental journey to Paris' Rue de la Huchette, which he pictured so tenderly in The Last Time I Saw Paris. About one-third of the 1,500 people who lived on the street in the early '30s were still there, he reported. Oldtimers included Mme. Fremont, the laundress, Taxidermist Noel and the chestnut vendor. The traffic was the same as 20 years ago, said Paul--it was a marvel anybody was alive.

Violin Virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, 33, pressing his luck in uncertain transatlantic flying weather, arrived in London's jam-packed Albert Hall on a time schedule thinner than an E string. Delayed two days in New York by fog and engine trouble, one day in Shannon, Ireland by fog, he found London closed in by weather, was landed 75 miles away and driven by car to the concert hall. In street clothes, he panted onto the platform an hour and a half late, played two concertos without rehearsal. The crowd of 6,000 cheered him for ten minutes. Said Menuhin: "It was a real gremlin trip." Then he was off for concerts in South Africa and Israel.

Tireless Traveler Bob Hope breezed into Washington to receive from Secretary W. (for William) Stuart Symington the Air Force's Exceptional Service Award. Symington had just flown back from Waco, Tex., where he received an honorary LL.D. from Baylor University.

Shirley Temple's daughter, Linda Susan Agar, was getting on. Mother Shirley, recently divorced from Cinemactor John Agar, treated Linda Susan to a vacation in Hawaii on the occasion of her second birthday (see cut).

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