The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-02-25
THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF A
 CUE IMPORTER

CUb NEkOHJEh
 Harry Ruby, the songwriter, Is Hollywood's NO. Baseball Fan. Even more fanatical (no pun, hon. estl) about the sport than Joe E. Brown or George Raft Harry would rather be mediocre with a ball and bat than sensational with sharps and flats He idoli2es Honus wagner more than Richard Wagner, and the only Hit Parade he bows to IS the Ted Williams Di Maggio-Mel Ott variety .. One day, a friend (unable to savvy how Q man could worship ball players rather than statesmen, scientists or virtuosos) said: Look, Harry, you have such Q childish attitude toward ball players. Len1ine put a question to you in a childish way: Suppose your father and Joe Di Maggie were On the edge of cliff and you had the chance to rescue only one. Who'd you save2"
 Harry looked ct his pal incredu- lously and calculated: Are you nutS9 Ny old man can't even bat .200p
 The current, curt and clear coin- Ser-coining being directed at once lucid (still lovely) Glare Luce, moves Herb Lyon to this: "In retaliation tor her neatly -phrased, poorly-con- hdered 'globaloney'," he says, "I'd dub her Congressional tea-room chatter 'Filly-bluster'l"
 "Dear WlnchelI," says wire,, sYour Midtown Vignette about for- mer Ambassador J. Kennedy may be- virtually true as to the episode, although 1t leaves open any answer that Kennedy may or may not have made. The day of Pearl Harbor, Jim Farley telegraphed the Presi- dent, offering to serve in any ca- pacity whatsoever. The answer was, In effect, Thanks, knew I could depend on you Farley has never heard from him since.
 "John J. Bennett, with a brilliant military record in the last war, one of the foremost American experts on , aviation today, offered his services to the Army before his term ex- . pired as Attorney General of N. r. State. He received polite acc knowledgement."
 Bob Hopes little Linda and her school-chum, Carol Thomas, daugh- of film producer Bill Thomas were being driven to school by Mrs. Hope, who still Is tittering over the little girls repartee.
 MY father" said Miss Hope, "went to the studio, too," said Carol.
 Yes" said La Hope, but my daddy makes picturesl"
 "No," corrected Miss Thomas, ''my daddy makes the pictures. Your daddy only works in them"
 EEere Haber would have you be- lievo she overheard this on a Madi- son Avenue bus, when cranky oveEbearing dowager got on, fuss- ing and fuming over the lack of seats. She finally anchored her. self next to Q weary workingmaYl. After c few moments of restlessness, he NApped her on the shoulder and said: Madam, would you mind get- tink Off,n my foot?"
 why don't you put your big foot where 1t belongs2n l4s.s. fse..ss.4. .a
 Don't tempt me, madam" he hrlstled, DON'T TEMPT MEL"
 The passing of Roudinis widow reminds us of the time the late headliner, famed for his talent of breaking in and out of anything or anywhere, met pr. Bodie, 8 magician, who specialized in re- marksble tricks with electricity. Houdini was with professional wiz called Datas, who was expert at re- members dates and figures. They were appearing on the same vaude- vile bill and all three were living In the same boarding house.
 Leaving a cafe one night together, Bodie volunteered to drive them home, but the car lights wouldn't work. After Dr. Bodie tinkered with the wiring for an hour, they abandoned the car and started walking. Then they found that Datas couldn't remember the street they lived on When they fin- ally located the spot, they were so late-the landlady had locked the door and gone to bed You guessed 1t. And Houdini couldn't get into the house!
 The stage was all set for the neWsreelers' dress rehearsal of the President accepting the first l94S Red Cross button {. :. Mrs. Dwight F. Davis (FDR's former schoolmate) was ready, button in hand, waiting for the cameras to grind {. But the tables were turned :. MT. Presi- dent reached for the Red Cross em- blem and pinned it on Mrs. Davis, explaining that as President of the Red Cross, 1t was his right to make her-the first contributor
 'sThe British correspondents in the U. s." wires H. Hutchinson, chairman of their committee, "re- gret that you should have given publicity to the draft-dodging slur- Implied by your comment in the column. I am sure you were not aware of the fact that nearly every British correspondent now here either came after the war began or has been home since and that all came here with authorization of ap- propriate military authorities. All gave pledges to return whenever called. hope you will set the rec ord straight for the benefit of read- CTS and British newsmen here."