Evening star., 1942-08-06

armies has been more than faintly
remindful Of the technique Mr.. Sell
nick created and brought to point
of perfection in the selection OF q
Scarlet OHara" for his produce
ton of Gone With the Wind"
It will be remembered that Mr..
Selznick required almost two years
to find the proper Scarlet OHara."
He did his best to overlook no one.
He tested mattresses in Maine,
seamstresses in Ohio, drum major
cites in Louisiana, debutantes in
Maryland, telephone operators In
Arizona, trapeze performers In Del
aware, cat show judges In Georgia.
cotton choppers in Alabama and
oyster openers in Rhode Island.
From the moment he opened the
drive to locate . suitable actress for
tho role, until he finally decided on
Vivian Leigh, there we're always hall
a hundred supposedly red-hot car1r
didates In the field. Mr.. Selznick
tested their eyes, ears, nose ana
throat. He photographed them do
ing everything from operating .
single -oar scull to cleaning the bar.
rels Of q shot gun. The public was
In 4 constant state Of suspense.
Just when 1t thought that Maggie
Van Buren,, . home economies ex-
pert out of South Carolina, was to
get the Job, she would be passed by
and some other favorite would be
established.
-
That's about the way 1t Is now IN
the search for q generalissimo Tor
the United Nations forces. There
has been talk Of one ever since We
got in the war, but authority Is still
split up like money in . penny ante
poker game. Everyone has been
mentioned for the Job save few
scattered sergeants, corporals and
privates. For = while Gen. MacAr-
thur seemed to have the inside
track, but he now seems to be get
ting the bird's-eye treatment IN
Australia. Gen. Wavell had his day
but his profile must have been too
sharp because he hasn't been mem
toned lately. a
There was q time when Gen.
Marshall seemed q cinch for thu
Job, but he has lost ground re-
Gently and Gen. Eisenhower has
made q move from the top Of the
stretch. But. Gen Esenhowerb
challenge was met by Gen. Auchin-
leck. and he In turn was overlooked
when . boom was started for Gen.
de Gaulle. Just when this dashing.
fighting Frenchman was going
strong. talk Of giving the Job to
Gen. Chiang-Kai-shek took the at
tention away from him. Gen. Chang
in turn was forgotten when Gen.
Timoshenko's name was introduced
into the muddled picture.
The guessing as to who will finally
get the supreme commanders Job
has been made more difficult by the
insistence from some quarters that
it will 90 to any Of the men with
stars on their shoulder, but will
finally be given to either Presi-
dent Roosevelt or Prime Minister
Churchill.
We can only hope that some one
will get 1t. and soon. :.
A for the time and place a .
second front, 1t has this count5S
citizens guessing Ike nothing h6o
since Charley Ross disappeaso6
Every home has It's living room ssn-
eral, every street corner has -
wise and knowing strategist, every
bar its tactician. In the space Of .
day q man is almost certain to have
behind the lines Bonapartes give
him . score Of explanations - to
why the second front should be
opened at . score Of points. There
Is . Norway school. There II =
French coast school. There - an
italian school,. There u . school
that maintains that bombing raids
provide the second front.
Tho civilians apparently are not
the only ones who can't make up
their minds on the best Ste for .
second front. The military minds
appear to be tust ~ uncertain. The
only thing they seem to agree On
Is that now Is not the time.
Our guess y that
But, what's the ~ of second
guessing?
Tho Russians are probably doing
enough Of that, and who can blame
them?
Distributed ~ McNsusht eyndiests. ne.)
|