The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-02-20
Walter Winchell
On Broadu,ay i.

ceeded. But he stopped this when he
discovered he was not only In danger
OF expulsion but could be prosecuted
under the defense act.
Bob Casey Is the nervy newsboy
who succeeded at the start of the
war in getting from France to
Luxembourg and from there to
Germany. He then toured the Sieg-
fried Linen taxicabi :. And
he returned safely to France after
having made the Nazis look like saps
Once Col. Knox, who was
then his publisher, praised Bob for
a series he had written =. I'm
glad you like tEem.' replied Casey
amiably, because they cost you
about 5000 apiece"
This Is why reporters gray young:
When Edmund Taylor was covering
the war in Spain he asked for a
pass TO go somewhere Army
authorities assured him he could get
all the passes he wanted If he would
go to France, take some good clear
pictures Of the enemy's rear lines
and bring them back within SO
hours! j. Think about that story
any time you pick up newspaper
and want to complain about a
foreign correspondents work.
Drama critic John Mason Browns
new book, Accustomed AS AM
(Nortom,, contains many enjoyable
anecdotes. Here are two of them
One time an intellectual college pro-
fessor startled Mrs. B. at a dinner
by suddenly inquiring: do you
speak Latin?" /. But the critics
wife was equal to the occasion. At
ter a slight pause she answered
calmly: "Only to the servants"
Brown adds another little Wooll-
colt anecdote masterpiece to the
Well-filled gallery A dowager
once asked him what he thought
of a certain play. When he gave his
answer, it apparently conflicted with
her own -. Wrapping herself in
a huff, she sneered, After all,
that's only your opinion!" z. What
do you expect" Mr.. Smart Alec
retorted, my hair cornbings?"
Most reporters look on an edi-
tors blue pencil as a weapon de-
liberately invented to torpedo his
spirits =. H. r. Parker, the noted
Boston drama critic, used to edit the
work Of his staff until the writer
couldn't recognize his own stuff
When Brooks Atkinson was working
for him, he eagerly opened the pa
per to see a piece he had written.
But what he saw gave him sink
ing feeling :. (. . H. r. had done such
a drastic job of editing not one word
Of Atkinson's story appeared in the
paper.
With all the arguments going on
these days about drama critics, We
think Brooks Atkinson summed the
whole situation up best few years
ago when he wrote: blaming the
critics for writing unfavorable re-
views is a frivolous way Of putting
the cart before the horse. No one
would be silly enough to maintain
that the successful plays In the the
alter are the result of the critics
genius and clairvoyance. The credit
for good plays belongs to the auth
ors, directors, actors and producers
who have created them. 1t is equal
ly silly to blame the critics for the
failures; the authors, directors, &C
tors and producers are responsible
for them. In the ideal sense, good
plays engender good notices; bad
plays breed bad reviews. For the
function of the critic Is that of an
experienced theatergoer who differs
from the other members of the
audience in the privilege he has
of printing his opinion in public
place."
In Delbert Clark's washington
Dateline," q book on Capitol cor
respondents, the author, the Times
White Houser, profiles his. beat: mo
other assignment in the world Of
fers so many hazards to the bal
anced ego; no other Is so condu-
Give to the development of the
stuffed shirt" Clark tells how the
late r. v. Oulahan, another Times
staffer, once slapped down pa
tronizer. Senator Fess made Oula-
han sick telling what he wanted
to do for the newspaper boys,
so he queried: would it be too
much to ask what you expect to do