All in Good Time

Invited by the Pennsville, NJ. Veterans of Foreign Wars to make a Memorial Day speech, Major General Harry H. Vaughan regretfully refused. Explained the President's senior military aide: "Unfortunately, my experience with the gentlemen of the press over the last several years has forced me to retire from the field of speechmaking. It is not really part of my duty. Every time I try to help somebody out, I seem to get into trouble ... So I think it is better to just refrain from making speeches."

The household furnishings of West Coast Gambler Mickey Cohen, currently charged with gypping the government on income taxes, were advertised for sale by a Los Angeles auctioneer. Included: "One of the finest collections of antique firearms. Mr. Cohen's personal guns, and bulletproof doors."

Novelist James (Lost Horizon) Hilton let Columnists Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg in on a well-kept secret--the origin of his famous Shangri-La. "La means 'mountain pass' in the language of Tibet, but the Shangri was my own idea . . . made it up out of whole cloth because it sounded so Tibetan, you see. Later on, a Far Eastern scholar wrote and told me that Shangri means 'secret' in Tibetan, so there you have it ... Rather surprising, what?"

In Miami, Walter Winchell announced his new super-award plan for the best work in the fields of theater, screen, literature, radio and television. Title: the "Annual Damon Runyon Awards." First member of the board of judges so far named: Bernard Baruch.

Illinois' Senator Paul H. Douglas announced that he had concluded a satisfactory bout with the Internal Revenue Department over his 1949 income tax return. It started when tax sleuths sent him a bill for an additional $90; after straightening out a few figures, it all ended with the Government's sending him a refund check for $140.50.

The Common Touch

Denmark's King Frederik and Queen Ingrid, escorted across the North Sea by three British destroyers, arrived in England for the first state visit by a Danish sovereign since 1914. After a Buckingham Palace banquet and a Guildhall luncheon, King Frederik was host at a Danish embassy party where he calmly broke tradition by smoking during dinner, was calmly imitated by his guest of honor, King George VI. Frederik, proud of his un-kingly tattooed dragons and birds, picked up during his navy days, also had time to phone his "compliments" to an old friend, British Physical Training Instructor George Walsh who had added 6 1/2 inches to the royal chest. Crowed Walsh: King Frederik is "the strongest monarch in history."

A miner in Chester-le-Street, England explained to Princess Margaret why the men had given her such a rousing reception on her inspection trip to the local rehabilitation center: "Because of your tour, we are getting extra free beer."

After Etiquette Expert Emily Post assured a waitress-correspondent that it was perfectly all right to pour a little spilled coffee from the saucer back into the cup, a horrified reader wrote: "Never, never, Mrs. Post, does one pour spilled coffee back to the cups. No housewife or waitress should ever be told to do such a thing. The place for this saucer-coffee is down the drain!" Somewhat abashed, Arbiter Post hurried into print with a slight amendment: "I certainly didn't mean to offer this as general practice . . ."

Hither & Yon

Piloting her jet (French version of the Vampire) at an average speed of 508.4 m.p.h. around a loo-kilometer (62.1 miles) course, Jacqueline Auriol, 33, daughter-in-law of France's President, set a new speed record for women. Former speed queen: the U.S.'s Jacqueline Cochran (Mrs. Floyd Odium), who set a 1947 record of 469.5 m.p.h. in an FSI Mustang.

While the Senate in Washington w-L-p giving unanimous approval to his four-star promotion, General Matthew Ridgway waited anxiously at Tokyo's Haneda Airport for the first sight of his wife and two-year-old son Matt Jr. since last December. When they arrived, photographers caught a beaming reunion, reporters some beaming comment. Said Mrs. Ridgway, "This is the happiest day of my life." Echoed the general, "I'm thrilled beyond power of description."

With reporters panting on her trail, elusive Rita Hayworth, dressed in blue jeans, and a sweater, slipped into Glenbrook, Nev., near Reno, for the start of her six weeks' divorce residence (TIME, May 7). At first, communiques about her parting from Aly Khan came through intermediaries. The reason for separation: "She couldn't stand Aly's 24-hour-a-day gambling." Then Rita granted reporters an audience, answered a question about future plans. Said she: "Nothing has been decided about anything." Finally, Rita's Manhattan lawyer came up with something solid: She was asking Aly for a $3,000,000 trust fund for daughter Yasmin, and would carry out her promise to raise their child in the Moslem faith.

In Amsterdam, General Dwight D. Eisenhower answered a familiar question (Would he be a presidential candidate?) with the same old ease: "My job is right here and I am staying here; I am not thinking about doing anything else."

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