Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-04-19
He Didn't
Want TO Be
Crowned Kinq
PropheticaIIy Wise Peter
Now Rules as Puppet
By BENJAMIN DE CASSERES
SDUT, grandma, ! don't want
II 10 ha n kiuop,

Yugoslavia said, so pathetically.
when his father. King Alexander,
was assassinated at Marseille in
1884.
Peter was then IL years old,
but he must have been prophet
ically wise beyond his years. for
whose wears a crown in Europe
these days may lose his head.
Peter has been practically
slave of those who have been
grooming him to be a king. He
was dragged off to oxford for
an English education. Then a
lassical education" was
pumped into him. Then he began
his military training by being a
buck private
Now this boy-king The is not
yet 18) is so sensitive a being
that he refused TO go hunting
with the rest of the soldiers be-
cause he could not shoot a
rabbit"
Peters cousin. Michael. who is
a few years older than the king
of Yugoslavia is king of Ru-
mania.
Both of these boys are mere
puppets in the hands of family,
an army and politicians. They
haven't the freedom of the
dirtiest ganin of the PARIS
cutters.
Three years ago. I said in this
column:
II pity this boy Peter from
the bottom OF my heart, for he
is doomed to be king"
WHEN IRWIN COBB was
w born, says | 10 myself. in
stead of bawling he probably
sat on his mothers knee and
said:
MON, that reminds me"
Irwin Shrewsbury Cobb Of
Paducah.- Ky. newspaper man.
yarnspinner, actor, scenario
writer and gourmet of two con-
tinents, lays all his life and the
bags of tricks thereof on the
table in Exit Laughing"
Enthusiastically
This book of over 500 pages
is kind of footnote 10 the his
tory of America in the last SO
years or so Cobb is now 65).
1t is a book as full Of yarns and
anecdotes as a fish is full of
fish.
If you stand on the reviewing
stand with Colonel Cobb YOU
will see go by George AIDE. Sir
James Barrie. Rex Beach. Sam
Blythe. Bob Davis. Charley
Chaplin, Bozeman Bulger.
Damon Runyon. Cal Coolidge.
Woodrow Wilson. Charles
Chaplin OF The World. Teddy"
Roosevelt, Frank O'Malley, Gov
ernor Goebel of Kentucky. who
was murdered--and an army of
other notableS.
If you like good gossip and
some tall stories" here they
are-for Irwin Cobb. like all
good Americans, has a bit of
the Barnum in him. And why
not E? Away with the writer who
sticks TO hardpan facts! For.
also. Colonel Cobb has a bit of
the ould sod in his eye. an an
Gent Cobb being from County
Mayo. And when were the Irish
ever sticklers for speaking by
the card?
Exit Laughing" is a ,talky
book. Sit down 10 il. me lads
with a glass of 20, no, yol and
pipe. And bad cess TO them
who doubt the word of Colonel
Cobb of Paducah, Ky, sab,
"WHAT will always save
w America from any form
Of communism" said the pro-
lessor at our club, lifting out
the backbone of his smelt as
prettily as you please. els our
instructive lawlessness."
What" exclaimed Pete the
old mosSback, "You hold law
iessness to he virtue?"
I'm our case, yes." continued
the professor. I'm fact, II IL
virtue, for. generally speaking.
our lawIessness has been used
against some form of tyranny or
some bad law and typifies, in a
way, a sense OF Justice.
There was the little lawIe<s
tea party down Boston way, for
instance. There was prohibition.
There are the hundreds of dead
letter blue laws.
This wildness in our blood.
this love OF personal liberty Is
fundamental. And il will stand
us In good stead In ever a Hitler
or Stain attempts to take
over here. We are not a docile
people--not too docile, anyhow.
thank God. or course. when 1
speak OF our lawless instincts
do not mean TO endorse lynch
ing, vigilance committees, shining
and shopping up and downraur
streets. That Is a return to sheer
savagery." y
Prof" said Pete. you are an
anarchist
Don't try TO Brighten me with
words, you old hypocrite, for you
have just violated law In call
ing me an anarchist. I could sue
you for that. And. Pete, stop
drinking absinthe. The manufac-
ture OF absinthe is against the
law, too" -
% YEARS AGO TODAY