Three Great Men
Sir:
I have been a faithful reader of TIME for many years . . . but I was sadly disappointed lately . . . and so I feel were many of your readers. The month of April 1955 was marked by three momentous events: Churchill's retirement, Dr. Salk's achievement and Einstein's death. These events were conveniently spaced in weekly intervals and tens of thousands of your readers must have been looking forward to seeing these great men pictured on the cover. To be greeted instead by the true likeness of nuns and fashion designers was surely an anticlimax . . .
H. ROMANN, M.D.
Nairobi, Kenya
P:TIME has not neglected Reader Romann's three great men. Polio Fighter Salk has already appeared on the cover once (in 1954), Einstein three times (1929,1938,1946), and Churchill eight times (between 1923 and 1951).--ED.
The Purists
Sir:
Thanks for your excellent article on Caltech and President Lee DuBridge [May 16] . . . The water-filled meteorological balloon did indeed hold a lot of water but did not reach from "floor to ceiling." As an observer to this incident, I can report that it stood about 4 ft. high, and had a mushroomlike shape and a jellylike motion. The most fun came when ex-House President Tom Stix tried to maneuver it through his 30-in. door. With success almost in sight, the skin of the tightly squeezed object suddenly vanished, leaving the mountain of water standing for an instant in his doorway . . .
MARSHALL KLARFELD (class of '51)
Berkeley, Calif.
SIR:
MY SON ROLANDO JORDAN, AGED 17, WROTE ME A LETTER QUITE CONCERNED WITH HIS D AND C MARKS. YOUR ARTICLE CAME IN HANDY. SUBSEQUENTLY CABLED HIM ADVISING HIM READ SAME.
RAUL JORDAN
s.s. VAMOS (AT SEA)
Sir:
. . . There are many parents in Pasadena who would like to see the high scholastic standards of Caltech seep through its walls to our schools . . .
DOROTHY P. FLOWER
Pasadena, Calif.
Sir:
Caltech may have dropped meteorology, but I won't give up my memories of Long Range Forecasting Unit A, the Air Force weather unit that invaded the basement of Culbertson Hall for six months in 1943. Under Weatherman Dr. Irving P. Krick (then Major Krick), enlisted men plotted worldwide weather maps, and Krick and his forecasters endeavored to predict weather as far ahead as 30 days . . . One day, badgered (via Teletype) by Washington HQ for an overdue forecast, Krick could not get them to understand that the delay was caused by missing or unavailable data. Finally he blew up and roared, "What the hell do they think I use, tea leaves?"
JIM GALLAGHER
New York City
Sir:
Even back in 1892-93 when I attended what was then called the Throop Polytechnic Institute at Pasadena, Calif., the laboratories and manual-training shops outnumbered the classrooms about five to one. I had one grievance: after the professor had given me high marks on my lab notes, they passed under the sharp eyes of the English teacher, and she would sentence me to an hour every afternoon for two weeks among the short-pants boys in the prep department to learn how to spell. I wonder if they still do that . . .
Pittsburgh
GILBERT S. WALKER
P:Caltech's students are no longer stood in the corner--ED.
Sir:
The undersigned alumni of Caltech and graduate students here in the Midwest, have suffered severe and irreparable damage as a direct result of your very nattering article about Caltech. One of us read it the day before taking a final examination in a course on Techniques of Plant Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin. The ego-inflating article strongly implied that there was little need to study for the exam. The exam was flunked. The other, after reading the article, came to a similar conclusion regarding a homework assignment in Quantum Mechanics at the U. of I. At the present writing, the assignment has not even been begun.
ALAN H. HABER
University of Wisconsin
JIM PINKERTON
University of Illinois
Return to the City
Sir:
I find your May 16 account of young William Blankenship's death extremely disheartening. Far more tragic than the boy's death is the reaction of his father . . . Mr. Blankenship isn't whipped--at least he had better not be!
McMinnville, Ore.
HELEN GARLETT
Sir:
Because his child was killed [by a teenage hoodlum] gives more reason than ever for Research Chemist William Blankenship to carry on his work to rid the street "jungles" of such criminals and the causes that contribute to their creation. The young victim is a martyr to the cause. For most every good and lasting cause, someone has had to die.
MRS. MARTHA McVAY
Topeka, Ind.
P:Parent Blankenship, who first announced that he would leave his Bronx home and move to the country, has decided to stay and renew his campaign against juvenile delinquency.--ED.
The Long, Long View
Sir:
Re the projected Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs pictured in your May 23 issue: it may seem as "modern as ... aircraft" to its architects, but students of archaeology will find it a bit oldfashioned. The general layout recalls Khorsabad, which the Assyrian Sargon dedicated in 706 B.C., and Persepolis, which Darius I founded two centuries later. There also, low, oblong buildings with enclosed courts were grouped in the shadow of an imposing terrace topped by a temple, a throne room and a palace, or, in our parlance, a chapel, an administration building and a social hall.
GWYNETH HARRINGTON
Tucson, Ariz.
P:For the long view of Anthropologist Harrington, see cut.--ED.
Freighters in the Air
Sir:
. . . The three airlines mentioned in your May 16 Time Clock item as "non-scheduled"airlines are Slick, Flying Tiger and Riddle. All three are scheduled, certificated airlines. They were certificated on the claim that there should be scheduled service devoted exclusively to freight . . . Also, the item says that the three have just won CAB permission to fly mail at 18 1/2-c- per ton-mile v. 45-c- for scheduled lines. What the three were seeking was the right to carry 3-c- mail at 18 1/2-c- per ton-mile, which is the rate at which 3-c- mail is currently being carried by the scheduled airlines. The 45-c- rate applies to the priority 6-c- air mail.
Time Clock also states that all that stands in the way of the three is American Airlines. The request to the court for an interpretation of the law covering this matter was also made by Eastern, T.W.A., and United. The court suggested that CAB not proceed with its plan to give surface mail to Slick, Flying Tiger and Riddle pending a court hearing on the legality of the plan. CAB agreed . . .
WILLIS PLAYER
Air Transport Association of America
Washington, B.C.
Look Alikes?
Sir:
Is or is not that a photograph of Mabel Normand as "Peg O' My Heart" instead of Laurette Taylor [May 9] ? ... I am of the fallible opinion that a long time ago (30 years maybe) I saw Mabel Normand in the movie version of Peg.
MRS. ROARK BRADFORD
Santa Fe, N. Mex.
Sir:
. . . Look again at your picture of Laurette Taylor--I am sure it's Bebe Daniels; she did the movie, I believe.
RICHARD J. HOLMEAD
Washington, B.C.
P: TIME cast the right leading lady.
Neither Cinemactress Normand nor Daniels (see cuts) played in the movie version of Peg.--ED.
Sin & Sweden (Contd.)
Sir:
As a Philadelphian born and bred, I strongly resent the slur upon my native city contained in the May 16 letter of Dr. Robert W. Blair of Hollywood, in which he advises Correspondent Brown (late of Sweden) to seek sweet surcease of sex in Philadelphia. Every red-blooded Philadelphian from the Navy Yard to Willow Grove, from Tinicum Creek to the Main Line (inclusive) will rise in protest against this foul slander ... Of course it's a well-known fact that things are different over in Camden.
ALICE RUSSELL
Manasquan, N.J.
Sir:
I must thank TIME for several good laughs, all of them, strangely enough, in connection with Sweden. I was amused by the letters received in response to your review of the Swedish film One Summer of Happiness, but the letters on your article "Sin & Sweden" are even funnier . . . The last time I was in Sweden was in 1951. As a young man in search of, let us say, joie de vivre I must confess that I found less of it there than in most countries in which I have traveled . . .
ANTHONY THOMAS
Welling, Kent, England
Operation Brotherhood (Contd.)
Sir:
We appreciate TIME publishing our communication about the work of this organization for the refugees in Free Viet Nam [May 23], Unfortunately, our wire used the wrong address. The contributions to aid these brave human beings who left everything behind to be free can be sent to Operation Brotherhood, 62 West 45th Street, New York 36, N.Y. . . .
ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD
HARRY A. BULLIS
Co-Chairmen Operation Brotherhood
New York City
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