The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-11-24
Wa alter WinchelI
 On BrOadw0y 1.
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 t there, But leave Q razor blade
 and it's a gone goose, Arc cham.
 hcrmaiaS growing bearoS-tNNe
 they've got Co 90 south with the
 hladeSe Please, glrlS, they're gonna
 be hard Go act ,,N. Tho weeks
 prize patsy was tho Sonewriter who
 went to see his doc on what was
 giving hlm the fidgctS, Tho medteo
 Stung hlm $l0 for advice to cut down on coffee ., One theater man.
 ager said his house Is equipped with earphoneS for the hard or hear
 ing and with smoked glasses for
 the Pulitzer Prize commlttee--to
 keep them from knowing too much
 about the candidates,
 The angel OG costly musical saw
 the first performance of the show
 at an out of town spot, He at~
 tended a huddle afterwards with the
 producer, authors, composer etc,
 None of them wanted to admit in
 front of the packer what their tllr- key smelled like, so they put on
 an act to convince hhm he had a sweet property, Finally he said; I'm relieved to hear that you think the show Is good, Personally, l
 think it's lousy, but I defer to the
 judgment Of you experienced show men, 1 was prepared to spend a little more to get it fixed, But since you arc so well satisfied, and I am clear conscience" And that's a fact,
 Laval, who Is notoriously greedy rattcd for a smaller price than Beuito was promised, The way 1t looks now neither will get G thing, but when the Duce pcddled him- self as a slave to Der Feuhrer it looked as though he would pick up a few lira, The NaSt were rid mg high, They had Smeeked down the Low Countries, and Norway and Denmark. When France suc- cumbed Benito figured he could share the spells without riSk!ng his skull Sc he declared himself in, Look at him now, Laval didn't even have a promise, He went over to the Heel from Berlin when the frantic Fcuhrer didn't have a thing to offer him, Maybe he betrayed the French people for the sheer pleasure Of being LouSe, His whole record stamps him as Q guy who really enjoys doing somebody a dirty trick,
 There are lot Of things you can say about Laval -- most of them bad -- but until now nobody ever accused him Of being a chump, And his declaration for Na2i victory leaves him all the way out on q limb, Maybe the habit Of douhle- people has become so strong that he's double-eroSsing himself, Anyway, he's on the record as Ber- Inns ofneial boot-licker and flunkey, He speaks the woydage Joe Goeb- helS authors for him, For two years he had to fake his senti- ments and pretend to be working for his own nation When he cut loose last week his words didn't anybody. They were so The assault on FDR, the plot of the Communists and the Jews, the whole rigmarole, There hadn't been so much of 1t drooled off in one speech since tho America pulled in their neeks.
 Benito will probably go down as one of thhe great comics Of history, He cant even get hte Allies to hate him. The bulletins from the Rus sian front arc enlightening. The hate for the Nazis is fierce, but all the Fascist troops inspire Is belly laughter. Even the books of the correspondents who worked in Italy don't tear the pants off Ill Duce, The reporters regard him, Ciano and the rest of the crowd as stumble buns swindled by the smarter Krauts. The only reason Benitos balcony isn't In Berlin now is that it's too heavy to lug off.
 However, BenitO, unless he's for gotten how to chuckle, can have one at the expense of the boss. When the invincible Fascist legions got their schnozzolas rubbed in the African sand, Berlin hustled Rom mel In there to show Rome how to humble the British. That was the third sneed Berlin had for Benito, the other two having been sneered in Albania and Greece. But now that Rommel has turned tail and sprinted for cover Ca stunt be- lieved to be patented by the Fascist forces), Benito must feel better. It gives him and the master a lot in common next time they stage huddle at the Brenner Pass. Maybe that laugh Is all Musso will get out of thn hntnr