The Wilmington morning star., 1944-10-27

making people think.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright 1874. by King Features Syndicate)
NEW YORK.-That witty wag, Clifton Fadi-
man, who Stays you with his command Of I'M
up at lunching party the other day to intro
duce his fellow-traveler, Mrs. Roosevelt, and
said something rather roguish b o ut Mrs.
Glare Booth Luce, the Connecticut congress
woman, who also has a fairly rough edge to
her tongue.
He said Mrs. Luce was an Elizabeth Dilling
"redesigned by Bergdorff Goodman which is
heightened store, the implication being, as
get it, that Mrs. Luce is disloya1 Ameri-
can and, what's worse, rich.
Mrs. Luce is quite an eyeful, so well de-
signed and nicely tinted that when she makes
a speech she has tough time impressing
her political arguments on the bucks because
they just can't keep their thoughts on poll
tics. And she can do an imitation of Mrs. R.
for private consumption, as good in its way,
as w. c. Fields burlesque of Henry Wallace
promising a pint of double dry Martins to
every Hottentot every day.
She can handle Mr.. Fadiman, if she thinks
him important enough, because she has been
in the writing and editing business for years
herself, and has line on the boy prodigy
from the days Of the Red decade when he
was crouching over there on the left with the
theological hatcheteers, and an author who
didn't hew to the party line got his hair
parted with cleaver, and any literary or
journalistic trollop who did conform was &C.
claimed as genius and find
Mrs. Luce's looks and style are something
of handicap because those theology gals
are sallow, flat-heeled, horn-rimmed bags who
can truthfully say they are not appealing for
votes on the ground of their fatal beauty.
But this makes it seem that Clare isn't ad-
dressing the intelligence of the voters but
trying to vamp the males and break up hun
dreds Of thousands of happy American homes.
This may have the effect of alternating some
voting wives who otherwise might string along
with her, although, among the queens in my
circle the effect is different. These queens
figure that their loving helpmeets, being grey
and more or less bald and not too speedy any
more, are a perfectly safe proposition.
Anyway, they don't use handouts when they
go to Gare's meetings and they willingly
agree that If you give Clare hank Of old
cneese-cloth an apple and sprig Of parsley
she can turn out hat that would look like
something out Of the 500 showcase on her,
although on anyone else, 1t might be just
another mouse.nest.
But, seeing Mr.. Fadiman back in controver-
y,
a few years ago in which I caught him slum-
ming with the Bolos in the new masses and
fed his credo back to him, in print just at
a time when he was beginning to slip quite
a lot of blue chips into his secret pocket and
was becoming a tax-conscious and conserva-
tive capitalist.
I ran onto the wonder-boy's profession of
faith in some Communist trash which the
Dies committee had collected and called him
up before I wrote the story to ask for a
statement Of his present position.
Jaw. Peg Mr. Fadiman pleaded, climbing
into my lap and trying to wind an arm around
me, although, to this day, I don't believe
I have ever seen the guy. Jaw, Peg he
said, you aren't going to print that, are
you? I wrote that when I was young and
already it has cost me thousands Of dollars
in lecture fees
However, remembering the prodigys career
as book reviewer for Harold Ross, of the
New Yorker, who always says he isn't a
Communist but nevertheless buys an awful lot
OF copy from writer's who act an awful lot
like comn1es, thought would print the little
piece about Mr.. Fadiman anyway. And so
did and then old Hendrix Willem Van Loon,
another Of Mrs. Roosevelts house-pets, made
the mistake of cutting himself in for slice
OF the argument.
He wrote a letter to the Vox Pop saying
he would undertake to answer me from the
standpoint Of an expert in abnormal psycholo.
gy. Up to then I had always let Van Loon
alone, figuring that he was just a harmless
fifty dollar pitchman posing as an intellectual
and doing the best he could, although real
historians used to 60 into fathers over his
ignorance and inaccuracies and dispute him
with learned regulations which only adver-
tised him.
But when he pulled that thing about ad-
normal psychology wrote back, yielding the
field without struggle because me, I'm just
normal and no authority on queries, whereas,
said, he had had great opportunity to study
his specially in the circle of his friends and,
particularly in the field of introspection.
Van Loon subsidized with a low moan and
wnen the New Yorker ran a profile about
him year later, it said he went to bed for
three days after that
l guess l don't know my own strength, but
the big slob came around pleading for it.
Well, anyway, a few weeks after the Fadi-
man thing, Fadiman, the old revolutionary
now coming into the money and changing his
politics, said he was sorry he had only $780,
600 life insurance because if he had 5000, 900
worth, enough to take care of his loved ones,
he would surely STAY that Pegler and 60 to
the chair with pleasure. .
Unless he has raised his financial sights,
this might be good opportunity for Sidney
Hillman's Political Action Committee to I'M
derwrite that other 100000 and do mankind
a favor although, OF course, Mr.. Fadinan
didn't saw positively and he m y have
changed his mind. But, if the worst comes,
would some kind friend give me a place to
Ia9