Evening star., 1942-02-09

Henry McLemere. q sort OF sponsor
Of Miss Chaney since 1887.
A few days ago, Mrs. Roosevelt did
an Eleanor Glide" of her own. She
glided Miss Chaney right into the
job Of head of childrens activities
of the Office of Civilian Defense.
This job pays $4,000 year and is
good, suppose, for the duration.
Nowhere in the United States
could Miss Chaney's appointment
have been greeted with more en-
thusiasm than right here in Los
Angeles, because Miss CLANCY is a
Los Angeles girl, and you know how
Californians are when 1t comes to
being proud of their native sons and
daughters.
Japs Reported Glum.
But pride was not all that Cali
fornians felt. No, indeed! A tremen-
dous feeling of relief swept over the
parents in this State, which is the
nearest of all 48 TO the theater Of
war. Not a mother or father I
talked to was able to hide her or his
! jubilation over the new trust placed
in Miss Chaney's hands. I'm telling
you, there was everything but dane
ing in the streets when word came
through that a dancer had been
placed in charge Of children's ac-
tivities.
The only glum folk were the jap
anese. Miss Chaney's appointment
hurt them deeply. They seemed to
sense that with a ballet dancer at
the head, any bombing that came to
these shores would be in vain. I
bought some avocados from a little
fifth columnist only this morning,
and he was as blue as If Attorney
General Biddle had cracked down
on him and made him move two
whole blocks away from an airplane
factory.
The happiness of the parents over
Miss Chaney's new position is easily
explainable. No one is more capable
of handling war emergency issue
than woman trained in the terpsi-
chorean art. You can study the
wars Of history, from the Trojan to
the present one, and you'll find
that dancers have provided the
balance of power. They have always
been called upon, when the going got
tough, to put aside their slippers
and get in there and pitch.
Alamo Had No Fan Dancer,
There is many a historian who
maintains that the Alamo never
would have fallen if Col. Travis had
been fortunate enough to have had
the advice of fan dancer. There
are other historians who insist that
Clusters sad fate was largely due to
the generals refusal to make a
buck and wing" gal expert head of
his general staff.
The part that dancer can play in
civilian defense is obvious. Say there
is bombing What could strike
more terror into the heart of the
enemy than to have the civilians
greet the arrival of the bombs with
a community demonstration of the
adagio. shag, or the bunny hug?
What parent would not be delighted
to know that in time of invasion by
the enemy the children would leave
the schoolroom or playground exc
cutting the third movement of the
dying swan" or leaping high in
the air with heel and toe clicks?
So secure do Californians feel,
after Miss Chaney's appointment,
that there is talk Of lessening the
anti-aircraft gun emplacements
around vital defense plants, giving
sailors two days of leave week. and
cutting off the airplane detectors
from noon until 5 in the afternoon.
What Might Happen.
There is a movement on foot now
w ildFC Vic lCSG VI Tile udIlC6TS III
the country appointed to high exec
utive posts. Do not be surprised If
Fred Astaire is placed in charge of
the Pacific Fleet, Sally Rand re-
places Macarthur in Luzon, Bill
Robinson Is made Ambassador to
Russia, Eleanor Powell gets Donald
Nelson's job, Gen. George C. Mar
shall is displaced by Ginger Rogers,
and Rita Hayworth is sent over to
help Wavell save Singapore.
Arthur Murray may soon play an
even more important part in ma
tional defense. Recruits will be sent
to his dance studios instead of to
Randolph Field, Fort Benning or
Camp Dix.
Hand me down my dancing shoes,
Son. I want to start working for
my commission.