Imperial Valley press., 1945-01-02
NUBBINS
BY
BURRIS JENKINS

Some years later this reporter re-
ceiycd another invitation to tea at
Cliveden. and Of course, accepted.
The first question asked of Lady
| AStor was, rs Mr.. Shaw here? And
did you ever get him TO so TO Rus
sia?"
Yes" she replied, II got him TO
go, in fact. l took him myself. That
was the only way ] could get him
to go. And promised to look after
his vegetarian diet myself too, which
1 did. lie got along well too; he had
plenty of vegetables and he didn't
lose flesh," this writer was deeply
| interested ia these facts because on
previous summer he had lost Is
pounds in Russia himself. And at
that time he hadn't much TO say for
the diet anyhow.
But" said Lady Astor, II couldn't
get him to 60 around at all when
l got him over there. To be sure
they handed him round on a silver
platter, gave him the keys to all
their cities, paid him all the atten-
ton they could have paid il he had
been the Prince of Wales, and more;
but he wouldn't go any place. Hc
Just sat around in his hotel room.
He didn't even take the trouble to
! walk to the window to look out. One
day when an important pageant was
going by 1 called out TO him, MIR.
Shaw, come here and see what's go
ing on He wouldn't do it, he simply
said. Il don't need to see IL. l al
ready know what's going on Just as
il did see it. So let it go at that
He would not go to the Red
Square and stand by Stain to re-
view troops, or workers, or young
folks on parade. He could have gone
anywhere and would have been
beautifully treated because the Sow
lets think the world and all of Mr..
Shaw. He claims to be Communist.
1 say claims, because l don't think
he is one at all or very near to being
one"
Lady AstOr. herself, is far from
being a Communist. She is. as every
body knows, hard and fast Tory.
She gave expression to such senti-
ments in that conversation for she
showed clearly that she, herself, was
far from being captured by the
Soviet Union. And at one point she
gathered up her rope of pearls or
IL ha hnn mt
necklace was she had on, into a
hand full and clutched it and shook
it, saying, "As for me, / shall hold
on to everything I've got" And she
made a gesture to include the estate
around her on the hills rolling down
toward the Thames. II shall hold
on to everything I've got, as long
as 1 can" And the same thing one
would imagine, would be true of
her great newspaper publisher of
husband. esgl
The Clivedon set, so called, were
in no sense Liberals or PrOgressives.
They were and maybe still are a
mixture of all sorts. Lord Robert
Cecil was present at one of these
two parties and if memory is correct,
SO were the Sydney Webos and
these three are far from being
Tories i'm any sense. The Webbs are
Just as near being Communists as
the Dean of Canterbury, himself.
Mr.. Shaw, however, had at that
time, and probably still has, strong
sympathics with the Russian Com
munists, if with no others. His SYM
pathies are powerfully with the Sow
let Union.
He manifested these facts plainly
enough in the conversation which
followed quickly after the informa-
ton that he had been to Russia. To
understand Bernard Shaw at all,
one has to take almost everything
he says at only about half of its face
value. He exaggerates egregiously
to make a point, to create a laugh,
to round out sentence. Usually
an Englishman's sense of hunor IS
better satisfied with heavy under-
statement. With Mr.. Shaw just the
opposite is true. He gets many OF
his best effects by Outlandish over
statement; and when he is talking
with you face to face, he takes away
from his exaggeration by uproarious
laughter. In fact. he seems to be
laughing most heartily all the time.
About one thing he is reputed to
be absolutely sincere and that is his
vegetarianism. He never violates 1T
on any occasion no matter how
great the temptation. He takes no