The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-02-04


 an uproarious comedy of CT Here is the behind-the scenes story of what happened:
 After publicly refusing to con- fer with Miss Perkins, the Gen. eral Motors head arrived secretly in Washington at 1 p. m. Friday and went direct to Miss Perkins' personal office. He used her private elevator.
 Act One
 His first act was to launch a bitter and vehement attack on John L. Lewis, leader of the auto- mobile strike. With flushed face, he paced up and down before Madame Secretary denouncing Lewis through the entire alpha bet.
 Miss Perkins listened quietly. Finally, as the eruption sub- sided, she suggested that such an attitude would lead nowhere and proposed Q meeting be- tween Lewis and Sloan just to talk things over.
 After a lengthy discussion Sloan departed, via the private elevator, leaving Miss Perkins with two definite impressions: (l) that the General Motors chief had been convinced of the de- sirability of meeting Lewis; @ that he was remaining in Wash- ington for the night.
 Second Act
 Meanwhile i1ewsmen got wind of the big story developing behind Miss Perkins closed doors and stormed her office. There they obtained no information, but posted watch at her door.
 Sloan left Miss Perkins (via the private entrance) at 5 o. clock. At 6 she emerged from her office, met the press, and denied that Sloan had been there. Newsmen refused to ac- cept this statement, and after some sharp questioning, Miss Perkins admitted that she had conferred with the General Mo- tors executive.
 Having made this admission, Miss Perkins then issued cheer full report on developments. She said that Sloan had left to con- suit with advisers, and that she would meet the reporters again at 10 p. m., to impart further in- formation.
 So they immediately wrote the "truce in the making" stories, appearing in the early night edi- tions.
 Third Act
 AT 10 F. M., the newsmen were back in Miss Perkins office. But she was absent. At 10:3O o'clock one of her secretaries announced that there would be no further developments that night.
 There was no explanation for this change but the inside reason was this:
 AT 9:3O F. M, Miss Perkins re- ceived call from Sloan. This came as a considerable shock. For she discovered that instead of being in Washington, as she had confidently expected, the general Motors president was in New York. He had gone directly from her office to the depot and taken a train.
 Still flabergasted at this news, Miss Perkins was even more shaken when Sloan in- formed her that after due thought he had decided not to meet Lewis.
 This shattering of her high hopes for a solution of the auto strike caused Miss Perkins to burst into tears. She went to bed.
 Curtain
 But about midnight newspaper reporteds, on a tip from New York, got wind of the fiasco and began battering at her door for information. Then followed the curtain scene. Miss Perkins declared that Soan had called on her at his own request and then had "run out. Confronted with this, Sloan issued an emphatic denial. asserted that he had conferred with Madame Secretary at her invitation.
 AND THE MOTOR STRIKE CONTINUED.
 Whatta Man
 Senator Bob Reynolds demon- stration of kissing Jean Harlow on the steps of the Capitol, with benefit of large corps of cam- eramen, evoked the open admira- ton of his colleagues.
 When the North Carolina widower entered the senate din- ing-room shortly thereafter he was greeted with cheers and halls.
 "Bob," asked one of them when the appIause had quilted, what was It Miss Harlow said to you when you finished that kissing act?"
 Reynolds grinned broadly, re- piled:
 "She said, Senator, you are wasting your time i'm Washing ton. You ought to come to Hollywood" OED THP pECNDN