Of Dinosaurs & Men
SIR:
CONGRATULATIONS ON A TIMELY AND COMPETENT JOB OF REPORTING ON "DINOSAUR HUNTER" GEORGE ROMNEY [April 6]. TIME WILL PROVE BOTH OF US "RIGHT"--MY GOOD FRIEND GEORGE, AND US AT STUDEBAKER WITH OUR LARK IN GIVING THE MOTORING PUBLIC WHAT IT WANTS IN SENSIBLE, ECONOMICAL, COMPACT CARS.
HAROLD E. CHURCHILL
PRESIDENT
STUDEBAKER PACKARD CORP.
SOUTH BEND, IND.
Sir:
Let one Rambler owner inject a note of discord into your paean for American Motors' George Romney. My 1955 Rambler Cross-Country wagon is now on its sixth water pump, fourth set of universal joints, has never done better than 17 miles to the gallon, and lacks power enough to operate the air-conditioning unit and still allow normal speed.
JOHN S. EWING
Palo Alto, Calif.
Sir:
My Ramblers have been more reliable than a model T, and I've never had to back up a hill, either.
C. L. MEYER
Levittown, Pa.
Sir:
Although your article about George Romney is interesting and factual, your observation that Mr. Romney was given a plaque by the Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association in a "facetious" manner, must be taken exception to. The 138 members of this dealers association have taken the "slings and arrows" from Mr. Romney's merchandising outpourings for too many months--and have too much respect for this man--to give him anything "facetious." This plaque was tendered to him in appreciation, and out of respect of his great merchandising ability.
DAVID L.BLAUSHILD
President, 1958
Cleveland Auto Dealers
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Sir:
I felt a twinge of concern at the thought that Mr. Romney's company might try to combat Big Three competition by following along with the planned-obsolescence idea. Since the compact-car buyer is a discerning soul, he is not happy with yearly model changes. What he desires is gradual improvement where improvements count: in engine efficiency, better braking, lighter weight, lowered drag, better suspensions, readability.
EUGENE V. WERNTZ
Citrus Heights, Calif.
Sir:
I'm a little hesitant to identify one of the cars on the cover. It's the grey one with one headlight on the fender, the other on the hood. Is it foreign?
L. J. BARKER
Springfield, Mo.
P: It's an Artzybasheff-Bends.--ED.
Sir:
Gee whiz, TIME, how do you expect us little guys to pump gas all day and sleep well at night when we read about threats like that Romney character? Fire and brimstone on the Rambler! I say, "Man the gas pumps, men!"
JOHN BURRIS MAHONY
Jay Bee's Gas Station
Albuquerque
Sir:
I nominate George Romney for our next Secretary of State. Now that he has influenced the Big Three to bring out compact cars, possibly he could influence the Big Four to bring out a compact pact.
MILDRED WALLACE
Detroit
Disinherited
Sir:
Thank you for the April 6 expose of the horror motion pictures that are currently being made in England at the Hammer studios. Without this review I might not have known that my story, The Mummy, was being remade in a debased form. This story, as originally written by me, was a perfectly clean and decent archaeological "chiller," which I wrote expressly for Boris Karloff. This disgusting English remake was done without my knowledge or consent, and it has been a terrible shock, at the age of 75, to find such a work attributed to me, however wrongly and by indirection.
NINA WILCOX PUTNAM
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Se Here
SIR:
TTIME MMAKES IIT "SSEE" [in the April 13 reference to the Swedish picture magazine]. PPARDON MMEE BBUT YYOUR SSPELLING IIS WWRONG. IT IS "SE." DO YOU SEE NOW?
CHARLES FLORMAN
LONDON
P: TTIIMMEE saw double.--EEDD..
Green Thumb
Sir:
Kudos for your rare news items of April 13 about the power of prayer on plant growth. When I was a boy in Armenia, I had the rare fortune of witnessing my mother standing solemnly before our vegetable garden, making the sign of the cross, and pouring out her prayers on the seedlings of parsley, beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, etc., and, believe me, they flourished.
M. G. SEVAG, PH.D.
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia
Sir:
I have a suggestion that will save the American taxpayers some $5 billion a year. Why not have our Congress negatively pray that the surplus farm crop should not grow?
JAMES R. ABACK
Marlboro, Mass.
Expanding the Scope
Sir:
Your article on administered prices in the issue of March 30 leaves the impression that I am against administered prices. Actually, I believe administered prices are an integral and necessary part of our modern economy. Administered prices lie outside the scope of traditional economic theory, and, like many good things, they can be abused. The big problem is to understand under what conditions they can be abused and how such abuse can be avoided.
GARDINER C. MEANS
Vienna, Va.
The Name: Thomas F. Lohr
Sir:
In speaking about General Lemnitzer [March 30], you mention the copilot wounded in the attack by four JU-88s on our lone B17. This adventure has made the news several times, since it was General Doolittle who took over the controls from this nameless copilot. It always seems a terrible pity to my kids that I should remain forever anonymous.
THOMAS F. LOHR
Muhlenberg College
Allentown, Pa.
The Shape of Physicists
Sir:
Physicists are well aware that the picture of the charming person printed above my name is Dr. Bernd Matthias of Bell Laboratories [April 13]. Of more importance for those people who did not attend the American Physical Society meeting are the names of the physicists who performed the actual Brookhaven experiments (Professor Clifford G. Shull of M.I.T., Drs. Robert Nathans, Gen Shirane, Arni Anderson and Antonio Paoletti of Brookhaven) and my collaborator (Dr. Richard J. Weiss, Ordnance Materials Research Office).
Fortunately the shapes of atoms are more distinguishable than those of physicists.
ARTHUR J. FREEMAN
Ordnance Materials Research Office
Watertown, Mass.
Sir:
I deplore that under my picture and over the caption pertaining to my work the wrong name was put.
BERND MATTHIAS
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Murray Hill, N.J.
P: For the shapes of Dr. Freeman and Dr. Matthias, see cuts.--ED.
Way Out Western
Sir:
The Institute is highly gratified by the brilliant article on TV western shows [March 30], which bears out what we have said for several years: at last, the American people demanded and got their own folk drama on television.
E. MULLINS
Institute for Biopolitics
Chicago
Sir:
Thanks, pardner, for including me as one of the "younger writers" of westerns. You make me feel coltish, grey-haired as I am.
Another "younger" writer, whose book Shane you mentioned with approbation, wasn't named at all. "No story exists without an author, so let the name of Jack Schaefer be blazoned on your pages. He wrote Shane.
DOROTHY M. JOHNSON
Missoula, Mont.
Sir:
What Hercules wrote your green-tinged article, and what are his measurements?
LESLIE BARRIE
Philadelphia
P: 5 ft. 11 3/4 in., 158 Ibs.; 40-31 1/2-36; slightly stooped.--ED.
Pleasant Word from a Traveler
Sir:
We have been traveling for seven months through many countries of Europe and Africa. Even though we are in places where important news is happening, we usually don't get a complete picture of the situation from the local papers. TIME summarizes the situation concisely and, generally, accurately. Also, it places the situation in its proper perspective--looking at it from a detached position, free from local emotions. Besides, TIME often tells us some important news of the countries we are soon to visit, thereby preparing us for any possible changes.
EDWARD O'CLEARY
Durban, South Africa
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