The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-20
' Fair Enouuh
BY WESTBROOK prc1

N" ''>' fep' I9.--l hav,
received several intimat.ons to,,
my persistent yapping ana further
moring at certain of oily labor
unions is having a quail.a-dav Of
feet on the readers of ,nese d;s.
patches, who, therefore, nav NO
glad to receive assurance .Ca> IN,
is change of pace, a pleasure
which doubtless will be shared bv
William Green. Anyway. i hav,
long had it in mind 10 sa, that
my idea of a first-class pewsranar.
man is little fellow mat few
people outside New York, excer>
other newspapermen, ever hearI
of, and to fill you in on some Of
his characteristics, because t5a
type is a vanishing bresd nova.
days, what with the devetaanen.
Of social : consciousness AID mis-.
sions-in-life among the members
Of our set.
Our subject is Sidney WhippIo,
who does theaters for the World.
Telegram and who can d. lust
about anything anybody tan ask
of him around the editorial side
Of a newspaper or press assoc.
alton and do everything well. He
can write foreign stuff from the
cables, for instance, turn out
noon or closing lead on tns mar.
ket. 90 out and get story by
band, whether an interview or an
up the dark and creaking
stairs piece about sick Child in
a tenement, toss off jinsle-verse
almost as fast as he can pay the
typewriter, read copy, file wire,
fill in on sports or compose an
editorial for or against anything.
Versatile
There never were many Is YER.
satile as Sidney, who, for extra,
can tell cockney jokes dating from
the time when he worked a trick
in London and spent mis- nights
frequenting the 'alls, play piano
by ear like an old-time professor
in a Joint and when we were very
young, could skin the cal as neat
as you please on those Wnite-enam.
eled strap-hangers' handles in The
subway. That was in the early
days of prohibition when there was
a horrible goats nest in an old
building down behind the old World
where a couple of boys WHO were
prohibition agents sold sherry
made out of syrup, red pepper,
tobacco juice, liquid soap ard
painters alcohol which we used to
drink for choice, because the rye
and scotch were unreliaole and
might contain harmful elements
After work at the old United
News, about 2 or 8 am, Sidney
. and I, and often Henry Farrell,
the day-side sport editor, ard may
be one or two others, would do
little relaxing in this place and
when we all got fairly we'll re-
joiced and started home ne would
hop up, grab those handles ard
turn himself inside out ami back
again with his change and papers
showering out Of his pockets all
over the floor.
Very Young
But, as I say, we Wers very
young then and full Of gay spirits,
and, anyway, we were putting IN,
it seems to me now, about II o.
IL hours a day of steady writing,
and the choice of amusements was
pretty limited after 3 am. You
had to get some fun out OF Life.
Before that Sidney had baen
city editor in Syracuse, and since
then he has been a managing edl'
tor in South Bend and Denver, and.
although he hasn't the Chapin or
Bovard temperament a d dlscl'
pline under him would be pretty
Informal, will say that any
young reporter who worked for
him and really paid attention was
bound to learn the business II ne
was any good whatever.
In our time Europe was oup
bling every day, and Ireland was
in a terrible state of war agalnS'
the Black and Tans, and Sidney
would come in late in the after
noon, and by S o'clock, when the
wire opened, would have NICE
stack of as clean and musical copy
as ever you read, all prepared
for the operators. Then he woulo
file the wires and continue VIII
ing.
He would skin the afternoon pa
pers, too, without having to De
told or advised, and pick out may
be half a dozen little harmless
brighteners which he would whip
into items of from 100 to 200 WORDS
and the night the big navy dlrlgl'
BILE pulled the cap out OF her nose
at the mast in Lakehurst and pie"
out to sea in storm he sat thele
banging away for hours Wlthou'
getting out of his chair as Jerry
little bulletins came in over 'hs
ticker or correspondents phoheu
from down the coast.
I think he wrote a play oice'
and I know he did historical oL
biographical novel - so ne can
strut, too, but mainly he is Jus.
a thoroughbred newspapermah " ~
championship class - when, ua
course, is one reason why 1heis
haven't been more OF him anu
aren't more of him now IN oU1
business.
You know why he is so goou'
aside from his natural class! Oe
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