Evening star., 1938-05-15

Darrow had batted Malone's ears down. Sure,
it was deliberate. One of the boys in the
upholstery shop had made her soft leather
cuff that fitted her leg just above the knee as
closely as her own skin and he'd studded it all
over with tiny tacks that were as sharp as
needles
He had to go to the dispensary to get his
hand dressed and the surgeon took one look
at it and called Operations" and told EN-
Malone was grounded until further notice
Then he wanted to know how come forty
'leven little punctures, of uniform depth and
evenly spaced, all over mans palm and
fingers 1t was week before Malone got the
Docs okey, that he could fly again and by
that time folks had forgotten his first name.
He was Tacks Malone and he'd never be
anything else
He couldn't take it. He knew that he was
the laughing stock of the whole line and to
a cocky kid like Malone there's nothing worse
than ridicule. 1t helped some, but not much,
when he was sent east to demonstrate new
pursuit job to the War Department and then
to 60 to the Nationals. He knew he was still
Tacks Malone when he came back to the coast
in November for the Pacific Air Carnival at
San Diego.
That's where Lois Kane comes into the
picture Queen Lois, resting at La Jolla be-
tween roles and beaming on her public from
box at the carnival When Malone won the
Conover Trophy. it was Lois who made the
official presentation. She didn't have to be
asked twice Arch Malone was front-page news
in himself - Conover Trophy Winner and a
mile ahead of the field for the Harmon award
- and she got big share of the publicity by
sweethearting him fourteen to the dozen.
She got him a screen test and did plenty of
talking about flying picture that would
make Wings" look like a one-reeler; herself
as star and Malone playing opposite. He went
pretty goofy about her. Here was one woman
- and what woman! - who'd never heard
the Tacks story and who never laughed at him.
He bought himself a plane three-place
Kestre with the big Monsoon engine so he
wouldn't have to deadhead ride when he
wanted to dash to Hollywood or Palm Springs
for one of Lois's famous parties. The world
seemed lot roster. Fan mail rolled in on him,
he hadn't seen Eileen Darrow since she'd been
transferred to the Salt Lake Omaha flight and
his contract with G-BAT expired the last of
the year. Then he d be free to take one of the
offers he'd received from the film companies
at three times the salary he was getting.
None of this makes Arch Malone look good
but it's painting him good bit darker than
he deserves. He knew that the ''Tacks" story
wasn't dead and he couldn't help carrying
chip on his shoulder as defense against those
who might be laughing at him. It's hard for a
cocky kid to take a rawhiding; it's sight
harder for him to appraise at its true value the
studied hattery of a woman older - and in
finitely wiser - than himself. Christmas was
only week off and he was walking on air.
Travel that Christmas was the heaviest on
record, with every flight running extra sections.
Co-pilots were moved up to pilots jobs and
qualified men from the waiting list were called
in to fill the co-pilots' seats.
Malone was all over the system, filling in
where he was needed. He was at Salt Lake on
Christmas Eve, the night that the Jim Br,dger
was forced down. Lou Kennedy had the
Bridger and one of the reserve men, Farnham,
was co-pilot. Fifteen minutes tefore he was
due at the Salt Lake, Kennedy reported that
his right motor had cut out cold about twenty