Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-06-09
Manhattan
Memo
By NELL DoDSoN RUSSELL il


N. Y. Peoples Voice
Passing Parade: Marva Louis
looking much thinner but very
pretty, exiting from Franks res
taurant on 125th. E. A few min
utes later Mollie Moon, with
blonde lady and two naval officers
in tow, comes in. Mollie knows so
many people it wouldn't surprise
me to see her turn up one of these
days with Eisenhower, the Duke Of
Windsor and Queen Mary all tied
neatly in a package. Genial
Louis Henry, one of the better
known Main Stem figures boarding
a Seventh av bus accompanied by
his usual grin and cee-gar. Louis
is a barometer of whether or not
local shindigs are pulling the Gus
toners past the turnstiles. If he's
around the event can be put down
as a success. E. Scribe Floyd Smell
son introduces Professor Herman,
the peer, on 125th and Seventh
while l suppress a tremendous urge
to ask the Prof. to produce his
crystal and a D-Day prediction.
Tee hee! . =. a letter from Brook
lyn matron asks what should be
done with a husband who is a
chronic skirt chaser. Lady, let him
chase. He'll run out of gas one Of
these days, get stalled, and yell
bloody murder for you to come to
the rescue with a tow-truck. -.
Emcee Ralph Cooper motoring by
the picketline in front Of NEGRO
rvs, sticks his head out of the car
window and yells at cop: How
about that" agree, how about it?
l wish something could be done
about these long-haired street cor
ner hangers-on who mar the Har-
lem scene on warm afternoons.
They stand in groups of fours, fves
or skies with their hair curled,
creased and hanging sloppily to
their coat collars. They're zoot-
suited to the extreme and as a rule
none too neatly. Some pose and
shipper, others annoy passing wom-
en- with loud remarks that are
neither funny nor entertaining. If
they're employed they must be on
jobs calling for strange hours be-
cause they come out late in the
afternoon just before dusk. To
sightseers passing through Harlem
on buses, they must seem like the
obvious and ideal answer as to why
the Negro should be kept in his
place. Unfortunately, intelligent
looking, decently dressed Negroes
are home minding their own bust
ness, on the job, or otherwise oc-
cupied and therefore not apparent,
and so visitors from all over the
world viewing the capitol of Negro
dom from bus top have only what
they see to give them picture Of
what 100000 of Americas larg-
est minority group looks and acts
like. For the most part, what they
see certainly doesn't encourage
inter-race relations.
Civic organizations, churches and
clubs could help remedy the sit
uation by unified campaign based
on the adage: He who demands
respect must first command it.
Incidentally, l wonder how serv-
icemen on furlough from the hell
of southern Army camps must feel
when they see these silly-looking
loafers standing around having a
high old time, untouched by the
war, unproductive in the nations
defense effort and thoroughly use
less?
This unfortunate experience is
being repeated only because it may
save other Army wives from doing
something equally as dumb. A few
weeks ago l got the sudden notion
to call my husband long distance
at his camp in Florida. didn't