Speaking Up

Mae West, announcing that she would shortly appear on television, said: "It will keep dad home at least once a week."

Treasurer of the U.S. Mrs. Georgia Neese Clark confessed that life in Washington had played hob with her private budget: "It's just that no matter what I allocate for my personal expenditures, I always seem to have to transfer funds from my personal business account to keep from going into the red."

Onetime Heavyweight Champ Jack Dempsey paused in Montreal to give the citizens a warning "while there's still time. Television is ruining sports promoters in the States. It is ruining boxing and wrestling . . . Keep it out of here."

After living in the U.S. off & on for almost two decades, Actor Charles Laughton and Actress-Wife Elsa Lanchester became U.S. citizens. Laughton was so impressed by "the sublimity of the beautifully worded oath of allegiance" that he declared he would add "this exquisite gem to my repertoire--indeed I shall."

According to a letter printed for the first time in the current Atlantic Monthly, Bicycle Shop Proprietor Wilbur Wright wrote to his father (on Sept. 3, 1900) that he was going to a place called Kitty Hawk, N.C., to try a little experiment: "It is my belief that flight is possible and . . . I think there is a slight possibility of achieving fame and fortune from it . . ."

Carrying On

Manhattan's Luchow's Restaurant, a favorite hangout of Teddy Roosevelt and Jenny Lind, where Diamond Jim Brady went for bearnaise sauce, Enrico Caruso for pigs' knuckles and John Philip Sousa for imported frankfurters, was sold by Proprietor Victor Eckstein (an heir of Founder August Luchow) for about $500,000. Although the restaurant will carry on under new management, Oldtimer H. L. Mencken mourned: "It's the end of civilization."

California's Congresswoman. Helen Gahagan Douglas, candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator, announced that she would campaign in a helicopter.

In Rome's Church of St. Augustine, a requiem mass commemorating the fifth anniversary of the death of Benito Mussolini was attended by the dictator's widow, Donna Rachele, son Romano and daughters Anna Maria and Countess Edda Ciano. The black-clad Mussolini family stood throughout the long ceremony while a cordon of police surrounded the church. Arrested: one student who shouted "Viva Mussolini!" above the voices of the singers.

First Secretary to the Soviet U.N. Delegation Leonid A. Morozov signed a lease for the summer on the lavish, 47-room, 18-bathroom Long Island home of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, which was once (1945-47) rented by Amtorg as a haven for relaxing Russian bigwigs.

Acquitted of a "mercy killing" charge but barred from practicing medicine in his home state of New Hampshire, Dr. Hermann Sander was keeping busy with his beekeeping. While cameramen stood warily by, the bemasked doctor gave the apiary its annual spring checkup.

Cashing In

While a band sounded ruffles and flourishes, Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, 62, commander of the Seventh Fleet at the crucial battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct. 25, 1944), solemnly stepped for the last time off his flagship, the carrier Enterprise, at Brooklyn Navy Yard, went into retirement after 46 years of Navy service.

Taking one look at the painting of pistol-packin' Betty (Annie Get Your Gun) Hutton on TIME'S April 24 cover, the Communist-licensed Berlin daily Neues Deutschland shrieked that the U.S. had discovered a deadly new weapon: "a warmonger with sex appeal."

Honeymooning this week (see MILESTONES), Siam's music-writing King Phumiphon finally sold five royal compositions (Dream of Love, Falling Rain, 'Tis Sundown, Blue Night and an instrumental interlude) to Michael Todd's Peep Show, a Broadway musical now in production. At first fearful that having part in a Broadway show might impair his royal dignity, Phumiphon was won over when Todd pointed out that Margaret Truman is also a professional musician.

Even in a federal penitentiary, where he is serving a 20-to-60 month term for suborning perjury about his war profiteering, former Major General Bennett E. Meyers still had his troubles. He was divorced by third wife Ila Rae, onetime model.

On his 87th birthday, Publisher William Randolph Hearst got a heart-warming fan note: "As you round another year in the dedication of your firm voice, indomitable will and great moral courage to the building of an invincible America in an uneasy world, I send my warm admiration and gratitude for your unfailing faith and support which has been a source of constant strength . . . [signed: General Douglas] MacArthur."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.